Chapter 237 Mind Playing Tricks?
Izroth's first strike connected successfully. Immediately after that happened, his entire body spun twice in quick succession as his sword swept across the Netherworld Specter. With the added power of his Essence behind his strikes, Izroth's attack caused a great deal of damage to the creature.
-833
-1,667
-2,500
Suuuuuo!
Izroth did not stop his attack there. As soon as the last blow of his Phantom Strikes cut through the Netherworld Specter, a sharp sword intent was released from his Sword of The Storm. There was some kind of incredible piercing energy encompassing Izroth's blade as the surrounding atmosphere seemed to become heavier with each passing moment.
A few moments later, a powerful energy surged from Izroth's sword as he made a slicing motion with his blade. However, his attack was so slow that a turtle could move out of its way in time! What was Izroth thinking?
At the rate he was attacking, their vision would once again be limited to nothing but mist before they were able to deal with the Netherworld Specter. If that situation occurred, it would be exceedingly difficult to guarantee everyone's safe arrival outside of this thick mist.
But, Zi Yi who possessed a better sight than all of those present was shocked. It was not that Izroth's attack was slow, but rather, it was too fast!
Izroth's attack had long since connected with the Netherworld Specter, however, there was a solid afterimage that his attack left behind which gave the illusion of his attack moving in super slow motion. Even though no one besides Zi Yi understood what was going on, they knew that Izroth would not waste time on nonsense. He was definitely up to something.
Everyone soon found out just how right they were. A brilliant flash of light came from out of nowhere. No... Nowhere was not quite right, in fact, that bright light seemingly cut through the thick mist and shone down upon the Netherworld Specter. However, it was not just any kind of light and it encompassed the surrounding fifteen meters.
At first, there was an almost eerie silence. However, around two seconds later, a loud and ear deafening sound rang and exploded throughout the area. The sound was similar to the sound of a thunderclap!
...BOOOOOOOOOOM!
It was the same skill Izroth used against Aegis back in the Undying Maelstrom, the Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder.
Skill Name: Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder
Skill Creator: Izroth
Skill Level: 1/4
Skill Rank: A
Requirements: Sword Equipped
Passive: +10% Attack Speed
Active: Empowers the user's next basic sword attack against an enemy target, dealing 280% of the user's attack as physical damage. The user has their attack speed increased by 100% during the execution of this skill. If the user possesses a sword with the lightning attribute attached to it, the damage of this attack is converted into lightning damage and the attack speed boost is increased by an additional 100%. This skill has a 25% chance to «Paralyze» its target for 2 seconds.
Special Note: This skill can also be leveled up through repeated usage and proper execution.
Cooldown: 4 minutes 30 seconds
While all sword forms were relatively equal in power, the same could not be said for the Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder. This was due to the fact that out of the first six sword forms, it was the only sword form that allowed one to tap into the power of the elements. This was initially Izroth's biggest concern with attempting to learn this particular sword form.
However, it appeared that the system, instead of using the "power of the elements", decided to use Izroth's weapon of choice as a catalyst of sorts. When he first learned this sword form he was using the Blade of Lightning. Now, he was the Sword of The Storm which not only possessed the wind attribute but the lightning attribute as well.
So, while it was far from perfect compared to the original third sword form, it was still a powerful skill within RML. However, the third sword form was not the only skill Izroth's used during that attack. He combined it with the First Sword Form: Converging Paths!
This granted his attack a 100% chance to critical hit! With the added damage of the holy attribute, as well as, the damage being lightning instead of physical based, it completely bypassed the defenses of the Netherworld Specter.
-15,557
A huge portion of the Netherworld Specter's HP was shaved off by Izroth. That attack, along with the barrage of attacks from the rest of the party members, quickly dropped the HP of the Netherworld Specter down to 0.
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated a Netherworld Specter!〉
〈System Alert: You have earned...〉
After the Netherworld Specter was defeated, the effects of the Ghastly Specter Touch wore off. At nearly the same exact time, the light provided by the holy attribute dispersed and Izroth, as well as, his party's sight was filled with nothing but mist.
Luna releases a small sigh of relief as she removed a mana potion from her inventory and drank it. Being unable to pause in between heals was just spending MP was very taxing. Fortunately, Luna was not the type to panic under such a potentially stressful situation and handled it in a skillful manner.
"I'm never letting one of those things near me again." Zi Yi said as she shivered inwardly just thinking about that creepy ghost creature phasing through her body.
"I'm with you on that one!" Guan Yu said in agreement with Zi Yi.
The Netherworld Specter did not drop any loot, however, the experience that it gave was a generous amount.
"Going forward, I'm sure we can all agree to avoid being touched by the Netherworld Specter." Luna stated, but of course, everyone already was going to do just that even without Luna's warning after seeing how terrifying specter type monsters could be.
After walking forward a bit, Izroth unsheathed his Sword of The Storm, activating its holy attribute and allowing him to see clearly. Everyone was confused by his action, however, they understood once they saw what he did next.
Izroth removed the Realm Chart from his inventory to make sure that they were on the correct path. After all, even though he could not see anything, he could still make rough estimates using the provided coordinates.
However, Izroth found something odd on the Realm Chart that was not there before. It was a small unnamed village that was positioned somewhere outside of the area of the mist.
'Strange, this was not here before...'
Izroth had a perfect memory, therefore, he was positive that the village was not there the last time he checked the Realm Chart. However, it was located outside of the mist and away from their current position, therefore, he decided not to pay too much attention to it.
But, he would definitely be mindful of it when it came time to leave this place. He still felt it was best to share this detail with everyone and, therefore, made sure that everyone was aware of the sudden change on the Realm Chart.
...
Around twenty minutes later...
Izroth and his party finally reached the other side of the Netherworld Mist. During their time in the mist, they encountered a total of six elite Netherworld Specters. Fortunately, they were not attacked by more than one at a time, or else they would have been a headache to deal with.
After the two fights, everyone had a much better understanding of how the Holy Blessings enchantment worked, as well as, the attack patterns of the specter. They found out that the Netherworld Specter attacks were not random, but rather, it went after those players who were least active in the fight.
For example, Izroth believed that the specter was originally attacking him as retaliation. However, it was actually going after Guan Yu who was located behind him. After Guan Yu became active in the fight, it then changed its focus towards Zi Yi who had yet to attack since Luna had already cast a heal and Mariposa, as well as, Halls attacked as well.
Therefore, it was decided that everyone would attack while Halls would basically be a meat shield that absorbed all the attacks by doing, well, nothing at all! He would just stand there every fight and allow the others to take care of the Netherworld Specter.
However, Halls felt extremely gloomy by the time they arrived outside of the mist. He had to experience that creepy invasive feeling every single time they fought after the first fight! How could he be in a good mood after that?
He nearly cried tears of joy when they made it to the other side of the mist. He no longer had to be a meat shield! Well, hopefully...
But, there was a bizarre expression on everyone's face as they took in the view before them.
"How is this possible?" Zi Yi said with a frown on her face and with furrowed brows. She could not believe the sight before her even with her own eyes.
"Could it be that the Realm Chart was incorrect?" Mariposa questioned with a peculiar look on her face.
Even Izroth was beginning to doubt his own perfect memory. He removed the Realm Chart from his inventory and took another look at it.
'It can't be that I truly remembered wrong.'
In front of Izroth and the others was a village. In fact, it was the same village that Azalea had warned them about before coming to this place. But, that was not an unusual thing. What was unusual was the fact that this village was not supposed to be here! According to both the Realm Chart and the words of Azalea, this village should be located outside of the mist, not inside!
'No, there's definitely something strange going on here.'
Izroth refused to believe that his memory could be wrong. When he first viewed the Realm Chart, the village was nowhere to be found. Then when he viewed it again inside of the mist, he found that it was located outside of the mist itself. Now, the village was suddenly here on the other side of the mist?
They could not have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way because their current coordinates matched that of their original destination. So then, what was going on?
Izroth once again removed the Realm Chart from his inventory. This time, however, the village was no longer located outside of the mist, but rather right at the same location as their previous destination where some kind of tomb was supposed to be located. This entire situation was completely baffling.
"The way I see it, there are a few possibilities here. The first is the most obvious; we took a wrong turn somewhere. However, I've already checked out coordinates and this should definitely be the place. The second is that we're in some type of illusion." Zi Yi speculated.
However, Mariposa quickly disproved that theory as she said, "That was the first thing I checked when we arrived. I can guarantee you that this is no illusion, otherwise, there would be small and irregular distortions in the surrounding space."
"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Halls said shocking everyone present. They all looked at him with a weird expression on their face.
"Brother... Are you feeling okay? Did you hit your head somewhere and start spewing out smart-sounding things?" Guan Yu said in a concerned and brotherly way.
When Halls saw how everyone was looking at him, he wanted to strangle every last one of them. Did they think that he was just some natural kind of an idiot and he could not say anything smart?
"So I enjoy Sherlock Holmes, sue me!" Halls scoffed.
"He's right." Zi Yi muttered to herself, however, it was still loud enough for everyone around her to hear. She had her chin rested up against her thumb and index finger taking up a thinking pose.
"I am? I mean, of course, I am." Halls was dumbfounded at first, but he would not let this moment slip him by. Even if it was by complete chance and he only said those words because it sounded cool to say in a mysterious situation.
"If this isn't an illusion, and we all have eyesight that's not completely terrible, then that leaves us with another possible solution." Zi Yi said drawing everyone in.
"Somehow, the village is able to shift locations. Be it randomly or at will." Zi Yi stated.