Chương 124: Chapter 123: Old Friends

"Stay back," Lothras said, without turning his head.

"All of you." Three CC players who'd been moving to flank me stopped. One of them, a Rogue with daggers already drawn, looked at the Paladin with confusion.

"Sir, we can—""I said, stay back." His tone was flat and final.

"Nobody interferes." The Rogue hesitated, exchanged a glance with the other two, and withdrew. They moved off to the side, watching. Lothras returned his attention to me. The Shield of Failed Triumph sat on his arm, his longsword angled behind it, and his weight was settled in a low stance.

"You've gotten stronger," he said.

"So have you, I imagine."

"Let's find out." Lothras came at me with Holy Charge from a standing start, the golden light erupting beneath his boots and carrying him across the fifteen meters between us in a heartbeat. His shield led the charge, angled to deflect anything I could put in his path, and his sword was already ready for a follow-up strike. I Leap Attacked straight up, launching myself five meters into the air as Lothras's charge carved through the space I'd occupied moments ago. I fired a Piercing Shot downward at his helmet.

He tilted his shield upward without looking and caught the arrow clean. The deflection was so smooth it barely interrupted his momentum. He pivoted on his heel, already tracking my descent. I landed eight meters to his right and was drawing before my feet touched the floor. I sent two basics in rapid succession, aimed at his sword arm and left leg. The first ricocheted off the plating of his new armor. The second he simply sidestepped, the arrow passing a hand's width from his hip. A Paladin who dodges arrows.

"Nature's Howl," I activated the buff, feeling my attack speed and damage spike upward, and started circling to the right, trying to establish the distance that would let me dictate the fight, firing in the process.

"Holy Ground." Golden shimmer spread beneath his feet, mitigating the damage I'd been doing. I fired three rapid shots, staggering the timing to make them harder to block, but he was no slouch. The fourth shot, however, I delayed for half a second, waiting for him to commit to the third arrow's trajectory, and aimed at the gap beneath his raised shield arm. It connected, punching into the chainmail at his ribs. A solid hit.

Lothras grunted, but the heal from Holy Ground ticked, and the wound closed before I could follow up. He kept advancing as if I hadn't touched him. I needed to break his rhythm.

"Arrowstorm." The arrow sailed skyward, and I immediately Shadow Traveled through a nearby patch of shade, reappearing ten meters behind my original position. The relocation bought me time and a different angle, and Lothras had to choose: face me or weather the incoming storm.

"Light Curtain!" The walls of golden light erupted around him just as the mana-arrows began falling, forming a dome that absorbed the barrage. I could hear the impacts, dozens of arrows hammering the barrier from above, but when the skill faded a couple of seconds later, Lothras was untouched, and he was already moving in my direction. Too close. He came in with Smite, and I Quick Stepped sideways. His sword shattered the stone where I'd been standing.

I countered with a point-blank basic shot at his exposed neck, but Lothras was already pulling the shield up with impeccable reflexes. He transitioned from the dodged Smite into a horizontal sweep without pause, the sword cutting a waist-high arc that forced me to duck. I dropped low and fired a Burning Arrow at his feet. The fire erupted across the quarry floor between us, and Lothras had to step back or burn, and the half-second of separation was enough for me to Leap Attack backward, regaining my distance.

We circled each other again, looking for an opening. Lothras was faster than a Paladin should have been, and I knew his reaction speed was nothing to scoff at, either. His shield work was beyond reproach. Every shot I aimed at his body had to get past a wall of steel and a pair of eyes that had studied my shooting patterns across two dungeons. He knew my timing and the angles I favored. Fighting someone who'd been your teammate was fighting someone who'd read the manual on you. I knew him just as well.

And that knowledge told me he was about to push.

"Purging Flame." Holy fire erupted along his blade, and Lothras came at me with a combination that was faster than anything I'd seen from him before. Three swings, each trailing golden flame, the first a diagonal slash, the second a shield bash that doubled as a feint, the third a thrust aimed at my chest while I was recovering from dodging the bash. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

I twisted sideways, the thrust passing close enough to cut the edge of my cloak, and fired Withering Light at point-blank range as I spun past him. The golden beam caught him in the side, and I saw his health bar dip meaningfully for the first time. He stumbled half a step, and I pressed the advantage. Piercing Shot followed, aimed at the same spot. Lothras blocked it.

The arrow hit his shield at an angle that should have been impossible to intercept, but somehow his arm was there, as if he'd felt the shot coming through the impact of the previous hit. He countered immediately.

"Holy Charge!" Another burst of speed, closing the gap I'd just created. I Quick Stepped through it and felt the wind of his passing, the golden trail brushing my arm. Before I could create distance, he was pivoting, driving an elbow into the space where I was appearing, and the shield's edge caught my shoulder. The impact spun me. I turned the spin into a roll, came up facing him, and fired Fan of Arrows from up close. Lothras did something I'd never seen a Paladin do.

He dropped to one knee, angled his shield at forty-five degrees, and activated Reflective Shield. The arrows that hit the shield bounced back toward me as pulses of force, and the ones that went wide passed over his crouched form entirely. Only one connected, grazing his shoulder. The reflected force hit me in the chest, and I staggered, losing a chunk of my health to my own skill. We were both breathing hard now. Two minutes into the fight, and neither of us had established clear dominance.

I'd landed more hits, but his healing was undoing my work. He'd gotten inside my range twice, but I'd escaped both times without taking critical damage. This was going to come down to who made the first genuine mistake. I switched weapons. The Emberwood Longbow came out, its amber glow familiar in my hands. Lothras saw the switch, and I caught his jaw tightening. He knew this bow, and he knew what skill came with it.

"Arrow of Ash & Flames." I charged the shot while backpedaling, putting distance between us. Lothras didn't wait for me to release. He sprinted at me, shield up, trying to close the gap before the charge completed. I released early, sacrificing some of the charge for a faster shot. The arrow streaked toward him at ten meters, trailing fire and cinder, and Lothras made a split-second decision.

The Paladin twisted sideways with Quick Step, and the Arrow of Ash & Flames sailed past him and detonated against the quarry wall behind. Rock and fire erupted outward, and the shockwave caught Lothras from behind, staggering him forward. I already had Spriggan's Will back in my hands, and sent a Burning Arrow into his exposed back while he was off balance. The fire caught and spread across the breastplate's white plating. I wonder what armor that is, I thought.

I knew he had access to the level 25 Rare Ravenkin Feather-mail, and that was a beast itself, so if he wasn't using it, this new set must have been incredible. Lothras spun to face me, fire licking at his armor.

"Oath of Healing." The regeneration aura kicked in, golden light fighting the fire ticking across his body. He was trying to outheal the DoT while resetting the fight, and against most opponents the combination of heavy armor and healing would have worked. I couldn't let him breathe. The Rafael fight had taught me what happened when a Paladin got to reset. Web Trap. The silk snare launched from my bow and hit the ground at his feet, the adhesive mesh locking his boots to the stone.

Lothras looked down, then up at me, and his expression carried a flicker of annoyance. He started cutting himself free with his sword, Purging Flame burning through the web, but the second of restricted movement let me fire three rapid basics. Two hit, one missed as he wrenched his foot free and sidestepped the third. Lothras ripped free of the last strand and came at me again. He was done testing. And now, he was fighting to win.

"Stalwart Defense! Oath of Steel!" His defensive buffs layered on top of each other, and his entire body seemed to harden. The fire on his armor dimmed as his resistances climbed, and when I fired Piercing Shot at his center mass, the arrow hit his breastplate and barely left a mark. He closed the distance in two steps and swung. The blow was heavy, committed, and I Leap Attacked over it, firing downward at his head. Lothras caught the arrow on his shield without looking up.

I landed behind him and immediately switched to the Threadweaver, firing Silk Shot at the wall to yank myself sideways just as his follow-up slash carved the air where I'd touched down. The silk pulled me ten meters in a direction he hadn't expected, and I used the momentum to swing around a stone pillar and emerge on his flank. Spriggan's Will came back out, and I fired a basic. Entangle triggered, and jade vines erupted from the floor and caught him in his steps.

"What the—" For a fraction of a second, Lothras was pinned. Withering Light. The golden beam lanced across the gap and hit him square in the chest, driving through his layered defenses and taking a visible bite from his health bar once again. The root ran off, the fire had faded, the DoT expired, but the sustained pressure had done its work. I was winning. Then he straightened, drove his sword into the stone, and started channeling. The blade glowed.

White-gold light climbed from the hilt and extended the length, stretching, growing, until the weapon was twice its normal size, made of pure radiant energy.

"Radiant Edge: Light Emperor!" I expected the skill. I didn't expect the upgrade. He ripped the blade from the stone and swung. The crescent of holy energy was enormous. It carved through the air in a wide arc that covered the entire space between us, too broad to dodge sideways, too fast to outrun. The radiant light filled my vision, and the sheer power behind it made the air itself vibrate.

"Woe's Last Gasp!" The ethereal state wrapped around me just before the crescent hit. It passed through my translucent body, the holy energy phasing harmlessly through my form, but the skill ended right then and there, which meant that the damage I'd just mitigated was far greater than anything I'd expected. Lothras stared, and it took me a minute to realize he'd never seen my ultimate ability. I looked around quickly and almost froze in my steps. The upgraded Radiant Edge had ravaged the surrounding area.

The environmental damage is comparable to Flame Hydra!

"New toy?" I asked.

"New power," he corrected me. I quickly loosed a Burning Arrow after drinking a mana potion in the aftermath of our previous encounter. He saw it coming. Lothras planted his foot, wrenched his shield arm across his body, and activated a skill.

"Golden Dawn!" Holy light exploded outward from his body in a radiant pulse. It hit me even at range, washing over me in a wave of blinding gold, and I felt the impact in my bones. The heal was ticking his health upward while the offensive pulse pushed me backward and disrupted my aim. My next shot sailed past his head and embedded into the quarry wall. We looked at each other. Ten meters between us, both breathing hard, both damaged, both running low on major cooldowns.

I saw a smile on his face, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, Orion," he said.

"It's time one of us went down."

"I agree," I nodded.

"Let's end this."