NOVEL NEXT Chapter 62
[Cast: Coefficient Adjustment]
“Hmph, what are you doing?”
Even as I cast my spell, the knight let out a snort and ignored it.
So, this level of magic doesn’t bring him down, huh?
Whether it’s because of good balance or the armor itself having excellent anti-magic treatment.
Either way, it didn’t matter much.
There was still one more spot where I had cast my magic.
“Nyahhhhhhh!”
Adella slipped from the knight’s grasp and tumbled onto the ground.
If I grab her ankle now, it will feel like trying to hold on to something heavily greased.
Crawling back toward me, Adella caught her breath.
“Heh… Heh. Are these guys really going to gang up on us?”
As the knight raised his great sword from his waist, Adella gulped.
She must have experienced that sword strike already.
With her twisted ankle, her value as a combatant was nonexistent.
In the end, time dragged on, and I found myself facing the worst situation of having to take on 20 opponents alone.
To make matters worse, Adella had given the enemies time to organize themselves.
Quickly, I started turning my brain.
Can I use the terrain to my advantage?
There were some options, but the guards would be more familiar with this area.
The number is 20, but an all-around attack is out of the question.
I can’t rule out the possibility of skirmishers.
Though I’m not sure about it, I’ll have to leave my back to Adella.
“You won’t be spared even if you surrender.”
The knight spoke in a low voice.
“I didn’t expect it anyway.”
I quickly thought of useful weapons around me.
‘A branch? No way, too weak. A rock? If it gets blocked by armor, that’s the end.’
Just as I was looking around, Adella’s necklace sparkled under the moonlight.
“I’ll borrow this.”
“No! That’s mine!”
I grabbed her necklace and yanked it off, throwing all the orbs to the ground.
If I use the string from this necklace, I should at least be able to restrain them.
“That witch is a wizard! Don’t give her time to cast!”
The guards refused to give up the initiative either.
The ground shook with a thud.
Dust and dirt swirled in the air.
The knights charged recklessly at terrifying speeds.
Two blades homed in diagonally toward my shoulder.
They had fallen right into the deliberately shown opening.
[Cast: Rapid Cooling]
The string from the necklace hardened.
I split the string in half and hurled it toward the knights’ helmets.
“Aah, my vision!”
A well-trained knight wouldn’t change his designated sword path.
Bending one knee and lowering his stance, he elegantly dodged both points.
One string successfully pierced his eye and took him out of the fight, but the other just covered his line of sight.
However, even after removing the string at a temperature nearing minus 150 degrees in this humid environment, the frost that had formed on the knight’s helmet remained.
Good thing there was a sharp rock behind me.
Surrounding my foot with as much aura as possible, I kicked the knight away and snatched the sword from the groaning knight.
I thought I’d at least graze my back on the rocky edge, but the guard stumbled around and tumbled off the cliff instead.
What a fool! You’d think an AI would have better sense.
[Remnant Observatory Guard (1/20)]
“… Good, now it’s fair.”
No spears? Luckily, none.
If the concepts of reality apply even in a virtual reality game, it would take three swordsmen to take down one spearman.
It’s a fact often overlooked because of games or movies, but reach is that important in combat scenarios.
Conversely, a wizard wielding a sword becomes a dangerous foe even at close range, so I could initiate a psychological battle.
I check the priest’s skills.
[Beginner Heal lv.1: Restores 160 health over 4 seconds.]
[MP Cost: 30, Cooldown: 20 seconds]
[Acceleration lv.1: Grants 20% movement speed and 15% increased attack speed for 5 seconds.]
[MP Cost: 50, Cooldown: 15 seconds]
The skills available for direct combat were exceedingly inadequate.
[Please select a weapon suitable for your class.]
[Current Penalty: Attack –50%, Defense –50%]
Just wielding a sword, and I incur this penalty.
Never have I looted a weapon that a priest could use on my way here.
This must be the effect of the exploration difficulty 10.
But the loophole in the system can be exploited.
I separate the sword blade from the handle with aura and then split it vertically into two pieces.
[Cast: Thermal Conductivity Adjustment]
[Cast: Soldering]
I merge the two sword blades with the back of my hands.
[Penalty removed.]
As expected, the penalty for wielding a sword has vanished.
It feels reminiscent of some old game’s berserker.
Using the aura-infused blade, I create a sword aura.
The loss of health from my skin breaking was within the range my priest skills could handle.
“It’s been a while, so I’m not sure if my body will move as I want it to.”
*
Just as there are general strategy guides, it was only natural for there to be specialized guides for nightmares.
Full of passion but struggling to raise arena scores, the guides personally written by rankers served as a glimmer of hope for gamers.
With hundreds of thousands of guides in the community, when asked what class newcomers should recommend, they unanimously replied, “Tank.”
Just the sheer advantage of being able to recover from a ‘mistake’ was more than enough.
Even if they stumbled in their strategies, they could revive through the knight’s resurrection abilities.
Shield Knights, Blood Knights, Dark Knights, and Paladins stood as popular “gukbap characters,” guaranteeing at least tier two in every arena meta.
However, players often gravitate more toward dealers than tanks.
Those who had moderately grown accustomed to nightmares sought out dealer characters.
While they assured immense firepower in the arena, the clear difficulty skyrocketed exponentially, making wizards and archers classes reserved for only a select few.
So, what about healers?
Healers didn’t need a guide.
At least, up until now.
Struggling with the healing class’s balance issues, the organization that created Wagal, ’Wearsoft’, ultimately raised the single-player difficulty for healers.
As the clears became harder, the actual pick rate for healers plummeted, and arena balance was deemed overpowered or god-tier, meaning that the opinions of the minority players who chose healers as their main characters were disregarded; a successful strategy.
Since healers spend more time in gameplay, nobody wrote strategies on evolving boss patterns.
The only thing to be found was a shaman’s (Nightmare 3/3/3) clearing guide, boasting the highest score.
However, after ‘Dae-sal’ raised the Paladin guide (Nightmare 8/6/7), healers soon split into two distinct classes.
Physical attack capable healers and magic attack-only healers.
The former surged beyond tier one to tier zero; the latter cemented their place at tier five through repeated patches.
What caused such a change?
The answer lay in the Dimension Descent Scroll’s second-circle spell ‘Organ Regeneration,’ which could be used infinitely.
By spending all MP only on magic casting, the Paladin maintained maximum health and could sequentially defeat boss monsters with hundreds of thrusts, using no mana.
Thus emerged the “concluded character” with Combat Power 100,000.
Essentially a character that no longer required further leveling up, having even one such character made players objects of envy in Wagal.
‘Dae-sal’ had once wasted two weeks to increase the Paladin from Nightmare 8/6/7 to a tier cleared of 8/7/7 difficulty.
While he decided to give up on his arena score, the desire to lead the healers at the forefront resulted in a reckless challenge.
If a Paladin faced such a challenge, it was common knowledge that a priest, lacking physical attack means, could not clear 10/10/10 difficulty.
Furthermore, NoName’s first venture into Wagal prompted advice to create a new character.
Yet, NoName’s performance was unbelievably flashy and original.
As she swiftly took down two knights, the eighteen companions lost their rationality and charged in.
NoName didn’t falter.
With a swish,
She didn’t counter every swing that came her way.
She dodged the vertical swings while redirecting the horizontal ones, crossing the paths of her allies’ charges.
As blades clashed and sword techniques met, the battlefield morphed into a chaotic melee, indiscriminate of friend or foe.
Even when a guard died impaled by her own sword, the guard behind him charged furiously.
They had lost their rationality, driven solely by the instinct to tear NoName apart.
Whether it was two or three guards, even ten, it was something beyond their understanding.
Yet, NoName held her ground.
She was someone who knew how to use her small, nimble frame.
She didn’t use [Acceleration] when dodging attacks.
Her movements were instinctive—almost precognitive—catching blades aimed to slice her.
Only at the precise moment her ruthless sword technique pierced through a guard did her skill activate, accelerating her blade.
Not stopping there, when her skill was on cooldown, she swung her sword while simultaneously perfectly casting a magic circle with her other hand.
[1st Circle Uppercasting: Assigning to Polar Coordinate System]
At the moment she seemed about to take a horrific blow, NoName flipped the knight’s sword path 180 degrees.
It was a perfect timing to deal with the agile prey, leading the knight to utilize explosive aura on his blade, which became his blunder.
BOOM!
With a bang, billowing smoke soared into the air.
[Remnant Observatory Guard (20/20)]
[Perfect Clear!]
No way!
Was this priest originally such a character?
Her playstyle surpassed mere creativity.
Dae-sal immediately thought that this had to be shared with the community.
[World of Arseria Gallery – Healer Class]
[Challenging Nightmare 10/10/10 as a Holy Priest]
Author: Daehagwonsaengsalryeo
Just broke through the Observatory courtyard!
(Perfect clear photo of the Observatory Guard.jpg)
– With 500 viewers, it’s not just a fluke!
ㄴ The only viewer left in Wagal is pretty much me; this person used to play League of Legends! (female)
ㄴ If she’s a girl, we should definitely check it out, lol!
– What is that? There’s no way it’s hacks, so how did she pass with full health?
ㄴ It’s insane, you really have to come and see!
ㄴ Link point
ㄴipfs://www.twish.ch/noname
– Dae-sal, stop watching and post your Paladin guide instead!
ㄴ If you watch my Holy Priest, I’ll think about it!
[Who is this?]
(Video of her impaling a guard.mp4)
Is she a zealot or what?
– LOL how did she do that??
– LOL she drops health and quickly heals it back up!
– Isn’t this madness? Even in a game, it’s too brutal to follow!
ㄴ Scorched flesh without hesitation!
– Character creation is super pretty; did she make it herself?
[Well done, Adella, again today.]
0 kills, 0 deaths, 39 assists.
Simply GOAT.
– Gotta be Am-Della; I wanna smack her so bad, ugh! lol
– Most didn’t even get assists, by the way?
ㄴ Just accepted it and kept posting consistently.
– Where did she create that character? It’s so beautiful!