Chapter 279 - 279. The Experts Appeared
"Say what?" Manager Steelhand asked.
"He has two classes," Scarface repeated. "A Warrior and the other most probably a Mage. That's the most likely explanation. That is also why his attributes have been so high. He must have survived the Hellish Explosion spell by using the Mage's Barrier spell."
"But how is that possible?" Queen Magenta asked.
"Don't know. There is much to this world that we still don't understand," Scarface replied, then to the others he exclaimed, "everyone! No more holding back! Send your experts in. We no longer have the luxury to whittle him just with numbers. And if you have any support forces nearby, call them in! Don't forget that there are still White Scarfs and those independent players on their way here."
"This matter is becoming more trouble than it's worth," Prideful Josh grumbled.
Jack at the moment was returning to his previous pattern, charging straight into the enemy's rank while killing everyone that got in his way. He had also activated his Heightened State, allowing him to abuse more of his skills and spells. Most that he targeted were rangers and magicians, as they had lower HP. A couple of his normal slashes was sufficient to send them to the afterlife.
He took the chance to drink basic healing potions once in a while. His defense and endurance were too high, the damages from enemies were not enough to put him in danger.
As he was wrecking through the enemy's rank, he found himself stumbling into a familiar face. It was Boulder and Flowing Fox, he had not seen the duo since the fight started. It turned out that Boulder and Fox were cunning and cowardly bunches, they were not willing to take the risk as the others. They and their guild members had been slowly moving themselves away instead of clashing with Jack.
However, calamity couldn't be avoided. They still ended up stumbling into Jack.
"Fancy meeting you here," Jack called out to them, before quickly adding, "goodbye!"
Jack swung his Power Strike at Flowing Fox. Even a level 20 Magician could not survive Jack's Power Strike, much less a level 12 one. The woman died while being thrown far away by the skill, unwillingness in her face, she had not vented her grudges at Fierce Flame. She had been so looking forward to dealing the killing blow on her once this matter with Jack was done, but she did not expect that it would be her who died first before Fierce Flame.
"You…!" Boulder was clearly agitated when he saw Flowing Fox died again.
"I'm sorry, are you in a relationship with that woman?" Jack asked when he noticed Boulder's anger upon Fox's death. However, it did not mean that Jack stopped moving. He was giving Boulder an empathetic look while at the same time not stopping at hacking away at the man's comrades.
"Get him!" Boulder shouted out in anger. His subordinates who had been following him at sneaking away from the battlefield all this time, had no choice but to follow the order.
They swarmed at Jack, trying to use numbers to overwhelm him. They had witnessed the effectiveness of the human wall tactic against Jack, they did not believe that Jack could use that fiery aura buff again.
Jack instead, started forming a rune on the tip of his magic staff. The rune slowly took shape as Jack clashed his sword against the masses that tried to surround him. The rune then flared and came to power, a blue circular ring swept outward, crashing everyone in the vicinity. The Ice Ring spell dealt damages ranging from 260 to 290. Some rangers and magicians were outright killed by that single spell, while the fighters were heavily wounded.
A few of the surviving ones had a thin layer of ice covering their entire bodies, freezing them into stagnancy. While the rests were covered by specks of ice, they were not frozen. Yet, their movement speed had been slowed.
The spell had functioned as Jack had hoped for, he did not regret to have used the Ice Seed on the Mana Detonation spell. He used Swing to cut off those that were still alive near him and then rushed forward hacking the remaining ones that had survive his spell. The Ice Ring spell was very effective in complementing his melee prowess. His victims were unable to flee as they were frozen and slowed.
Boulder was at the periphery of the spell's area of effect. Sadly for him though, out of the few ones that got frozen, he was among them. He could only see Jack as he approached without being able to do anything.
"I'm truly sorry about that woman, but no worry, I will send you to accompany her," Jack said when he arrived.
Just as Boulder's frozen status expired, Jack's rapid slashes took his life.
"You mother**r…!!" He screamed, but no voice came out of his mouth, since his HP was zeroed already.
Jack proceeded in another direction with the most crowd. He took out another basic healing potion to drink as he used Magic Shield to block all the range attacks.
An unseen arrow suddenly lodged at his waist. Jack looked over and saw an Archer not far away. The guy notched another arrow on his bow while a group of level 20 Rangers and Fighters, with a few Warriors and Knights, led by a Knight in golden armor were coming over. from another direction, a row of level 20 Magicians were casting their spells at Jack, they completely did not care if their spells hit their teammates.
While Jack was busy blocking with Magic Shield and cutting using his sword at the incoming spells, the ground underneath him suddenly shone.
"Retreat! Retreat!" He heard Peniel's warning.
Right before Peniel shouted, he had also instinctively started backing away from the shining area once the ground started showing the anomaly. He did not know what it was, but it would not be anything good. After all, the spells that were cast at this place if not from him, would only be from an enemy.
The light in the ground burst out with high intensity, several colorful wisps appeared and danced in the area. Jack had been moving very fast to break away, but he was still caught by the spell at its edge. He received Disoriented status and whenever the wisps passed by him, he received damage. Luckily he was closed to the edge, despite the Disoriented status which slowed his movement, he managed to escape from the affected area before suffering too much damage.
"Is this…"
"Yes, it's the Arcane Turbulence spell," Peniel answered before Jack could finish his question.
Jack turned around and finally found the Mage who had cast it. He was standing behind the row of Magicians. A Mage's range was longer so he could afford to stay behind.
By this time, the melee group led by the golden Knight had arrived. Because his movement speed was slowed from the Disoriented effect, Jack had to meet them head-on. He tried his best to trade blows with them, but his slashes swerved sometimes.
F**k this disoriented status! He cursed in his mind. A tiny marble appeared in Jack's hand at that moment. It was one of the Liberty of movement he had bought. He used it and his movement speed return to normal, but his attacks still missed sometimes.
He could only endure until the status effect expired. He immediately activated Charge to break out of encirclement once it did. However, the Knights had already taken position on all of Jack's four sides, and all of them were equipped with shields. The Charge was blocked by the Knight. The Charge pushed on the Knight, but it could only push a small distance. The Knight was sturdy enough to survive the Charge, not to mention there were his comrades holding his position from behind.
In addition, the Knights' whole armors started to be covered by a thin bluish light.
'What is that skill?' Jack asked Peniel.
"It's Endure, the advanced skill received by Knight when they reached level 20. It reduces all damage received by 30%, and also reduces all knockback and knockdown effect," Peniel informed him.
No wonder his Charge had little effect. Jack could not use his usual method to wreak havoc within encirclement. With that skill, the Knights were sturdy enough to withstand Jack's strength and held their ground.
The Warriors in the group had their hands blazing with red aura as their swinging speed increased. Jack recognized that as they using the Adrenaline Rush skill, which gave them additional attacking speed and damage. Jack also activated the same skill in order to cope with their frontal clashes.
Jack could only rely on his high attributes combined with his martial art moves which he had returned to practice diligently every morning, to cope with the attacks of these many opponents.
Something that he had to be grateful of this group was that they were blocking his line of sight from the Magicians. So they would not be able to attack him without harming these Fighters. Or so he thought, before an arrow went through the gap between the Fighters and lodged itself on his shoulder.
What the…! That Archer could hit him via such a small gap? He could not help but be impressed by the Archer's accuracy.
Heck! So the ones before were only warm-ups? Jack uttered in his mind when he saw this group of experts gunning at him.