Chapter 288 - 288. Fighting The Guild Leaders
The guild leaders continued to retreat as they fought. During the fight, there was one leader who overestimated his ability. It was the leader of a guild called Six Rings of Prosperity. The guy was a level 20 Rogue. He was brave enough to try for an opportunity to backstab Jack, something that even Blackjack chose not to attempt at this time. Jack used Magic Bind scroll on him and then had him buried to the ground. The guy's name was Luck Holder. Not so lucky though, Jack thought.
When Jack killed his first coalition's guild leader, Scarface took the chance to cast his Entrapping Mana Claws again. Jack had learned from Peniel that the cooldown of that spell was only three minutes, so he had prepared for that spell, and he had a much easier way to counter it than using Barrier like last time. When the claws formed around him, he executed Flash Step. He was gone already before the claws could hit him.
But then he saw Manager Steelhand took out another magic Scroll. Jack did not take chance this time. He cast Barrier before a bolt of lightning shot from the scroll and struck at him. It was not the Chain Lightning spell he noticed. This Lightning was slightly weaker and it did not continue to jump at his friends. It was still strong enough to break his Barrier though and caused him around 200 damage afterward.
Four guild leaders who were melee class, including Fat Gregory, came near him at the time. One of them used Magic Bind at Jack, and they attacked at the same time from four sides, trying to deal lethal blows to Jack while he was incapacitated. Jack immediately countered the Magic Bind using Liberty of Movement.
He then used this chance to catch the guard leaders off guard. He drank the Reset Potion, and activated Life Burning Art and Dragon's Eye. The guild leaders' movement around him became slow motion. He easily evaded the simultaneous attacks from all of them. From an outsider's point of view, Jack suddenly exhibited inhuman martial expert's reaction and movement. He dodged all the attacks with slight shift and minimal movement, passing through their weapons at a hair's breadth.
Storm Breaker's Overlimit skill was activated at this time, together with Adrenaline Rush and Heightened State. Jack's offensive was at its top condition at the moment.
In such a close range, the four guild leaders had no chance to break away. Jack could see their responses to be as slow as a snail in his eyes. His transformed Storm Breaker, augmented by the Life Burning Art, slashed through their bodies with one fluent swipe. Even though it was only a normal attack, out of the four guild leaders, only one who was using Knight class, survived his attack. But Jack's second's slash still took his life.
Out of the eleven guild leaders in the coalition, only four were remaining there. Boulder of Weary Wolf had died first in battle. The Real Man had run away, an irony to his own name. Then just a few moments ago, Luck Holder, Fat Gregory, and three other melee guild leaders which Jack did not have the time to look at their names, had perished. Leaving only Scarface, Manager Steelhand, Queen Magenta, and Prideful Josh. Blackjack was standing behind them, he had wisely chosen to not engage Jack when the other melee guild leaders tried to have a go at Jack.
Jack rushed at them, now that their numbers were almost equal, Jack did not need to worry about his friends' safety too much anymore. His main target was Scarface. His speed after being boosted by Life Burning Art was even scarier. The Man engaged Manager Steelhand for a melee fight, while Flame assaulted Queen Magenta, Bowler supported them both from the rear. Jack shot Energy Bolts and Mana Bullets to the remaining others to distract them.
Prideful Josh still managed to cast Arcane Turbulence despite the range attacks. He placed the spell on the path that Jack was rushing at, but Jack used Charge and managed to cross through the spell effect area before the spell successfully came into effect. The extra speed boost from Jack's Charge added with Life Burning Art had thrown Prideful Josh's calculation off.
Scarface took out a scroll and used it right at the moment Jack appeared before him. A Magic Wall was erected between him and Scarface. Jack continued to swing his sword down, executing Power Strike. The transformed Storm Breaker crashed at the wall hard. The Magic Wall shook from the impact, cracks were seen on its surface. Scarface's eyes went wide, this was the first time he saw this elite defensive spell cracked after a single attack by a player.
His shock had caused him to pause, which Jack exploited by sending triple rapid slashes at the Magic Wall. The defensive wall crumbled soon. Scarface snapped out of his daze and was barely in time to cast Barrier. Jack used Sword of Light. The Barrier which was erected in an instant, crumbled with the same speed, leaving Scarface devoid of defense.
When Jack lunged at the now defenseless Scarface, he noticed a red dot came behind him. It must have been Blackjack. However, Jack chose to ignore it this time. His Overlimit was nearing its end, and he did not want this golden opportunity to get rid of Scarface to be wasted. The Sword of Light had already caused high damage to Scarface despite his Barrier, he only needed one more slash to finish him.
Jack felt a stab on his back as he sent his slash at Scarface. He suffered critical and increased damage due to Rogue's Backstab skill, but because of his high defense and high HP pool, this damage was not life-threatening. Jack's sword cut down at Scarface unobstructed. A damage number eclipsing Scarface's remaining HP appeared on his head.
It's finally done! Jack exclaimed in his mind.
But then he saw Scarface's arm was still moving, he pointed his staff at Jack's face. Jack glanced at Scarface's HP bar with confused feeling. The number on it indicated that he still had 10 HP left. Jack was still puzzled about it when a Mana Bullet exploded on his face at point-blank range. Scarface's Mana Bullet was an evolved version that had a strong knockback effect. Jack was thrown away by this effect. He rolled backward several times on the ground before getting back up.
The surviving guild leaders and Blackjack took this chance to break away. Manager Steelhand used another Magic Wall scroll to protect them from Bowler and Flame's range attacks. The Magic Wall also served as a hindrance for The Man and Jack in chasing them. Jack's Storm Breaker had reverted to its original state, he could not destroy the Magic Wall as easily as before anymore, he had to go around the Magic Wall in order to chase after the guild leaders.
A small part of the coalition army came to the guild leaders to protect them. Jack knew then that he had lost the opportunity to kill those remaining guild leaders. That doesn't mean he would just pull back though. With Flame and the others, he continued to go forward again and engage the coalition army. He chose to approach Silverwing's troop which was not far away.
"Hey, Peniel. What's the deal with Scarface just now? My damage clearly should have killed him," Jack asked the fairy as he proceeded.
"He probably equips or carries something that takes over the lethal hit," Peniel answered.
"There is something like that?"
"There are several things like that. Most probably it was a Sacrificial Dummy, it was a tool that takes over the lethal hit of its owner. Keeping the owner alive with barely a sliver of HP. It breaks after usage, and you can only keep one inside your inventory. It is a pretty rare drop, he must have got it from a quest or a boss kill."
Scarface drank recovery potions as they fled. He looked behind at the surviving guild leaders. He did not believe that so many guild leaders had been killed. This would seriously put a dent in their development. He gritted his teeth as he looked over to the man who was the source of this all. Jack was still killing his troops at the back. He could not help to think that he had still greatly underestimated the man, despite all this ploy which his comrades had thought to be excessive and even mocked him for it.
The Pyro Lynx that Jack left behind had finally been killed. The top experts who had fought with Jack were not pushovers after all. Even though they lost many subordinates, and many of them were wounded, they managed to corner it and chip away at the summoned creature's HP until it died. They felt like they had just battled the big boss of a dungeon, despite not receiving any experience nor loot.
The force of White Scarfs and Saint Edge were also gaining on their confrontation with the coalition's disorganized troops. The coalition themselves was a loose combination of eleven different guilds. They were a newly formed coalition, their coordination was not yet tempered. Combined with how they had been wrecked by Jack beforehand and the lack of instruction from the top, it was no wonder that they had difficulty in coping with the assault.