EmEs_etherious
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Chapter 147- Siege Breaker
🕑 Added 2024-04-09 23:29:10 +0000 UTCAuthor's note: Since my last announcement, a lot of people have reached out to me with their advice. For that, I can only thank you. At the end of the day, the conclusion that I've reached, is that I can only let things lie as they are and go on.
The sites on which my stolen work is posted will go on existing irrespective of my, or anyone's actions and those who wish to support me will continue to do so. For the amazon problems, I'll just have to stay on my toes and keep an eye out.
Sincerely, thank you for all your support. The chapter releases may be a little sporadic over the next two-three weeks as I get back into the hang of things, but I'll try my best to make up for anything that I may miss out.
Chapter Begin--->
Arthur glared at the black orb of darkness hovering in the air. According to Iris, they had a little less than a minute before it burst open. With captain Arencia- a man Arthur knew next to nothing about- coming in two minutes, that left them with sixty seconds to damage the ascended Bloodbeast as much as possible. As Iris had put it, the battle and the fate of planet Earth itself all depended on the next few moments.
The pressure hung over him like physical weight and he was perspiring far more than he thought possible with such a robust body. Iris had set up several rituals to level the playing field and the fact that she could go against a territory's natural state spoke of the mastery of her skill. Her first ritual increased the damage of all his skills by a whopping 50%, simple and efficient. The second ritual was a little more finicky. In her words, it would decrease the possibility of the ascended bloodbeast landing a fatal blow on any of them. How that worked, Arthur had no idea but he was thankful for it nonetheless.
Most of the other rituals were debuffs of some kind of the other, preventing the territory from actively and passively aiding the monster, most notable amongst them one that would lower the creature's defence by ninety percent. It would, unfortunately, only last for the first five seconds of the fight. That was the moment Arthur would use his strongest attack.
The Poisoned Fang of The Hydra (Epic+)- The Hydra is notoriously renowned for its deadly poison. You have learned to harness that power for yourself. Channel your energy to release a single devastating strike. Damage is dependent on the target's magical and physical defence. Attack ignores 10% [+20% from Enhancement orb] of the target's defences. Inflicts the debuff [Hydra's Ire] and [Slowing Heart]
[ Hydras ire ]- Inflicts ongoing poison damage to the target over "any a twenty-hour period equivalent to 75% of the damage dealt by the initial attack.
[Slowing heart ]- Reduces target's stamina, health and ether regeneration rates by 30% for 30 hours.
Cost: 3000-> 30,000 Ether Health used to fuel this skill will be adjusted to work on a 2:1 Scale instead of the usual 3:1
Cooldown: 10 minutes->3 hours (Can be ignored but doubles remaining cooldown time and increases the cost by 25%)
The skill had changed very little with his new class, though Arthur would argue that the minor change was the best thing he could have asked for. Before, the skill had a static activation cost but now he could channel it and adjust the power output to suit his purposes and utilise his much greater resource pool. The increase in efficiency for health-to-ether conversion was just the cherry on top. In the current battle, Arthur would of course be attacking with maximum destruction in mind.
"Mr Ward, if you could just stand a little to your left. Arthur followed Irises instructions bemused. " a little more...perfect". Arthur's new position was now situated towards the left of the orb, exactly one and a half metres away from this close, he could feel the caustic energy released in pulsating waves, uncomfortable even through his incredible defences.
" I've got enough in me to set a final ritual" Iris explained. " Any more than that and the fragile equilibrium I'm maintaining with the territory will be broken. That'll cause a series of cascading failures and all our preparations will end up useless."
Arthur understood her words only on a surface level. He lacked the knowledge of ritual magic that would otherwise provide some context.
"That's not the half of it." Ayesha scoffed. "Creating a single ritual, even the simplest kind is all but impossible inside a hostile territory. Our resident seer over here has created a dozen and all of them are masterclass stuff. Ritual magic, at least the kind Iris is using, needs to work in conjunction with the ambient ether present, the lay of the land and a shitload of other factors I'm not entirely sure about. Layering two in the same area raises the difficulty exponentially."
She pointed at Iris. The fae woman flushed in embarrassment. "She's done ten times that amount. In a chaotic territory too. Iris is actively adjusting and maintaining all of these rituals at the same time. I could have three thousand willpower and I'd still fail to replicate the feat. I'd call her a savant, but it'd be the understatement of the century." Ayesha finished primly, smiling at her best friend. The prodigy in question glared at her but there was no heat in it.
"So I guess Iris is a pretty big deal then," Arthur said as he began to channel his skill.
"The vampires would give up this territory to recruit her," Ayesha replied without hesitation. It took him a few seconds to realise she wasn't joking.
Damn, I guess I was seriously underestimating her, then. She's more than a pretty face. He tuned out the ensuing bickering that took place between the women and focused wholly on his task. Arthur understood that some people liked to joke in times of great stress, and needed to even. Ayesha looked like she belonged in that group. Arthur didn't. One by one, his distractions fell away and he turned his focus inward. Whatever happened, all that mattered was that he performed his best.
The skill matrix appeared in his mindscape, a complex tapestry of interweaving pathways. It appeared dark green and had flecks of purple running through it. The skill's input zone had a strange mechanism attached to it that he hadn't seen before which he guessed was responsible for the charging element the skill possessed. Five seconds into his channelling, Arthur realised there was a problem. By all accounts, this was his first attempt at using this ability, and it showed in how inefficient he was. Six seconds and he'd only converted two thousand health worth of ether into the skill. In the minute he had to prepare, he'd be hard-pressed to get the skill charged up to even half capacity.
"I thought we'd run into this problem," Iris said. "The final ritual should help with that in three, two... one." A notification flashed into his eyes and he spared a half second to quickly read it.
You have become the focal point of The Swift Breeze, a rank-two ritual. For the next two minutes, whilst remaining within the ritual circle, your proficiency with class skills will increase by 40%.
Arthur grinned. This was perfect. Already, he could feel the enhancement come into play, and the skill practically filled itself with energy. No longer forced to devote so much focus to the ability, Arthur opened his eyes and looked at the target. The black orb hung suspended in the air and was rapidly losing energy. Hai-thin cracks ran along its surface and he could tell that it was thinning in certain places. I could probably break through it now. He didn't act on the impulsive thought, though and instead waited for Ayesha's signal. The poisoned fang of the Hydra was a skill that generated a concentrated mass of poisonous energy. It could be used either through a limb or a weapon. Arthur, naturally, was using his soul-spear as his focal point. The weapon in question had gained a green tinge and was rapidly darkening by the second. At ten thousand ether, the spear began to feel heavier, at fifteen thousand ether, the shaft began to heat up. The attack contained more energy than most people did their entire ether pools and he was nowhere near finished yet.
When Arthur reached twenty thousand ether, Iris had to throw up a talisman barrier to avoid taking any damage. For a moment, the shield rippled, and he saw her eyes widen in shock. Fortunately, the magic stabilised itself and he let out a sigh of relief. It wouldn't do if he killed his allies by accident before the fight even started. Right now, Arthur was certain that there wasn't a single human on the planet who'd be able to touch his weapon without taking significant damage. Anyone under level 100 would die instantly. It was his own magic and still, he felt threatened by it. He was engulfed in green flames now, pure poison affinity ether made manifest on the visible spectrum because of the sheer quantity he'd concentrated into a tiny zone.
Ayesha thought she was fresh out of fucks t give, but the mini tornado f ether surrounding Arthur told her otherwise. Iris' expression of shock... and something she wasn't sure she wanted to identify told her she wasn't overreacting. The sheer magnitude of energy the soul mage was channelling practically screamed uncontrolled magic.
Arthur meanwhile, was starting to struggle with his weapon. It was vibrating like crazy, as if someone was running 300 volts through it and it was all he could do to keep it in his hands. 27000,28000,29000 It took him forty seconds to fully charge the skill, just in time it turned out. "The bloodbeast going to come out in eight seconds," Iris shouted. He could hardly hear her over the loud droning his weapon produced. The spear suddenly bucked in his hands and he almost let go of it. The thing kicked like a horse.
Grunting, Arthur adjusted his grip. "If you have any debuff spells, hit it now. The shell is weak enough to get through." Iris called out. Ayesha threw a beaker filled with yellow liquid at the orb where it shattered and released a yellow smog. Arthur quickly applied Homonculi's Ire and Homonculi's draining on the ascended blood beast, wincing at the sensation of 22,000 health being ripped away from him. Wait a second, with my domain active, shouldn't my skills have been 25% cheaper? does it not work for charging skills? Tentatively, Arthur extended a stream of energy into the poisoned fang of the hydra. Contrary to his expectations, the skill could still be charged. Unfortunately for Arthur, he had neither the time nor the necessary control to make his spell any stronger. 30,000 ether was pushing his limits already.
The black orb cracked like an egg and like dominoes falling, its destruction rapidly accelerated. Parts of it were disintegrating into dust and Arthur got his first good look at the creature. The ascended blood beast looked like an artist's flattering rendition of the human species, a beautiful man akin to murals of fallen angels, nothing like the monstrous visage its name inspired. Arthur idly wondered if this thing had a beauty stat too. With his high attributes, a single second -whilst not an eternity- did represent a significant length of time and he spent it taking the monster in. The monster looked so defenceless. Its eyes were closed and it didn't look like it was even breathing. Five seconds had passed since Iris had called out her countdown and it was all he could do to not pre-emptively strike. They needed to get the perfect timing when all of the restrictive rituals had time to work. Instead, Arthur used Homunculi's eye. The results were more than a little disconcerting.
Ascended Bloodbeast level 293- Created through great sacrifice and pain, this creature poses a significant threat to all living creatures. The monster's true strength has been limited due to its energy reserves being focused more towards territory advancements. Highest stat: Strength Weakness: light magic.
Health: 730,000/730,000.
Time till detonation: 2 minutes 6 seconds.
A monster created through great pain and sacrifice, huh. I guess it's pretty easy when you're not the one who has to make them. Arthur clenched his teeth and tried to control his emotions. It was difficult when the perpetrators of all this suffering were getting away scot-free whilst he had to execute their victims. Ashley had been quiet for a while now and she sat listlessly on the ground, her unborn child's head cradled in her hands. It made for quite the macabre sight, if a pitiful one.
Reaching out, Iris cast a blue bolt of 'something' at the bloodbeast whilst Ayesha materialised gold chains to hold it in place. "Now, Arthur. Hurry! It'll break free the moment it wakes up." Iris shouted. Arthur didn't need to be told twice. In his hands, he clenched the most devastating piece of magic he'd ever seen, 30,000 points of poisonous ether, infused in a skill he'd stolen from the corpse of an apocalypse beast. For the first five seconds of the fight, the ascended Bloodbeast's defence would be lowered by 90%.
Even then, he'd been told it was impossible to end the fight in a single blow. He couldn't help but hope, though. The first form of the star spear revelations, a move he'd engrained into his muscle memory, Arthur launched his spear forward. From the corner of his eye, he saw Iris tear a golden barrier talisman, a necessary precaution for what was to come. Unfortunately for him, as the man dealing the devastating blow, he'd have no such protection. Two things happened at once. The monster opened its eyes, and Arthur's spear hit it in the chest.
One moment everything was calm and the next, it was like the sun had descended on Earth. A green one that spewed poisonous fumes that could melt rock. Arthur was sent flying backwards, but not before he'd dug his weapon deep into the beast's chest. Surprisingly enough, his body was only covered in superficial burns, though his right hand definitely felt fractured. Before he could fly too far, a golden chain wrapped him up and arrested his movements. Arthur couldn't help but grin at the notification clamouring for his attention.
Congratulations... You have dealt 2.3 million damage in a single strike. You have gained the tier-two title siege breaker.
Unfortunately, he didn't see a kill notification accompanying it.
Comments
tethra
Even if its not dead he does 1% true damage, that is still 23 thousand stat decreases right?
Gavriel
Heh, you edited that and added it's survival as a spoiler to π₯Ύ, π.
Gavriel
If we assume that the vampire adjacent undead doesn't have any skills to survive an instakill, or the kinetic resistance of a blood slime, definitely.
EmEs
It should definitely have been an instant kill, considering he did over twice as much damage as the monsters total health pool. And yet it somehow remains alive.
Gavriel
Fairly certain that was a one hit kill.
