Chapter 74 – Four Eyed Shadow Sharpshooters

The Dreagan’s reaction to the damage it took was different from what Darya expected. The tar-black surface wobbled. Hundreds of mounds appeared and bulged out like muscles.

All the bulging mounds ballooned up in the next instant and popped with a series of violent mana bursts. Each explosion carved a neat sphere into the Dreagan, leaving the gaps as a frame. Shadows flew from each sphere like a disturbed colony of bats.

“Oh, fuck. It tossed out all the Shadows at once!”

It was more bad news than good news. The good part was that she had hundreds of entity anchors. This was closer to the locust swarm solution Fominel suggested. The bad part was not being able to handle this many enemies at once, even with Terminate.

She had to act before they spread out.  She grabbed another stick, imagining the world’s largest fly swatter.

The Dreagan had other plans. The gaping holes on its surface filled up with white flesh as it grew slightly smaller. It rotated in the opposite direction faster than before. Mana distortions grew outward like a shockwave.

[Vainfall: Ter–]

She didn’t even get to finish the thought trigger. The next time she blinked, she was tumbling into the ocean with a white mess of dissipating clouds. All the air had left her lungs upon impact. Darya breathed in, extending all her limbs to gain any amount of control.

She couldn’t use the telescope with this tumbling. The entity anchors Lurim placed for her weren’t useful for this situation. At this speed, crashing into the ocean wouldn’t be any different from splattering like a watermelon on concrete. She targeted the Dreagan.

[Vainfall: Frame Selected Entity]

In that same split second, she realized a major mistake. With the mana pulse sending her to the waves, and the Frame command zooming him back up, the forces acting on her could tear her in two.

[Vainfall: Terminate]

Almost fucking died. Always use the Frame after Terminate. Feels like I made this mistake before.

Joints popped in places that she never expected. Her hip clicked, and she felt weird electric shocks. This was more dangerous than the Dreagan. She had been ‘stretched’ like a piece of rubber, even with a microsecond delay in activations that she thought was negligible.

The Shadows that the Dreagan tossed out had also been affected by its mana pulse. They had managed to correct their trajectories with their wings. Now they were spread out in all directions. The worst-case scenario had already happened.

She had to think bigger. That was always part of the plan, but now she had to think even bigger than that. This Dreagan definitely had more tricks up its tar-covered sleeve.

Where did it even get this many angel corpses?! This is like a town population.

Some of the flying black silhouettes looked unique. Different kinds of wings, larger figures, and different limb-to-body ratios. This was an assortment of angels.

A glowing spear of mana came at her from something flying closer to the Dreagan. She saw the line flash for a split second, and that was the only warning she got, and only because it was several hundred feet away.

[Vainfall: Terminate]

It was about two feet away from her chest. She let herself fall out of the target point as she stared at the silhouette of the figure it came from. She could see similar figures in every direction.

She had a spell for this situation, but she wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough.

[Spell: Sense Sphere]

-3 MP/s • Sphere • 90s Duration

[view more]

Mana burst outward from her skin, immediately wrapping a faint spherical mist around her. It was around twenty feet. Barely enough time to activate Terminate.

At the same time, this was the worst situation to chain Terminates. She could fire four of them, open the void, and then come out of it just in time to get skewered by a mana spear thrown by a flying sniper.

Not even a second passed before she felt something break the Sense Sphere boundary from behind.

[Vainfall: Terminate]

She turned just in time to see the spear inches away from her chest. The one who threw it had already blended into the mess of flying Shadows. She twisted in place, letting herself fall away from the target point. Turning around to face the Dreagan, she couldn’t see the first one.

Already lost both. I have to kill these spear throwers on sight.

The Terminate finished. Another second in free fall and the Sense Sphere detected something again. She flipped around at once. She was ready to zoom straight at whoever threw the spear this time.

It wasn’t a spear thrower. It was three Shadows dashing in a line. She hadn’t even heard the flaps of their wings.’

[Vainfall: Terminate]

The first one passed through her. She knew why she hadn’t heard anything the moment she saw its wings. They were tucked close to its body. They weren’t flying at her. They were falling on her headfirst. The elbow joints of their bent wings glowed green with mana.

One.

She wasn’t sure what the effect was. She targeted the third one.

[Vainfall: Frame Selected Entity]

Zooming past the first and second, she appeared to the right of her target, gauntlet claws already poised for a slash.

She swung her arm slowly through the Shadow, watching the prediction dots rip open in a diagonal line.

Two.

As she twisted, she caught a glimpse of something useful. A glowing spear had been frozen mid-air to her left. The one who threw it was directly behind it, arm still outstretched.

[Vainfall: Frame Selected Entity]

Zooming straight to target, Darya drew her gauntlet back, charging it with mana.

[Skill: Wind Step]

-20 SP • 8s Cooldown

[view more]

She twisted as she passed through the Shadow, swinging her arm slower than the rest of her body. The gauntlet carved into its chest, passing through like a knife through butter.

She noticed the angel underneath the Shadow as she passed. It was a different species from the ones she had fought so far. It had swept-back ears, four eyes with two little ones on the cheekbones, and a jawline that could cut apples in half.

Never seen that in the VRMMO. This is all RLP. Four eyes. Is that why their aim is so much better?

Four eyes seeing the same image definitely wasn’t useful. The smaller two were seeing something else. Maybe a different spectrum of light, or a depth sense of their own.

[Inspect]

Character: Enthor Filvoran

Role: Striker Supreme (Sharpshooter)

Level: 58

EXP:  747,895 (65%)

HP: 1,759

MAX HP: 1,759

MP: 1,033

MAX MP: 1,033

SP: 1,031

MAX SP: 1,031

STR: 675

DEX: 675

CON: 340

RES: 337

A striker specialization. That wasn’t in the VRMMO either. Anyone with the right Manacer build could snipe anything.

The character level matched the threat level perfectly. Sarka was three times as dangerous, but he was just one. She was getting mobbed by these things. This was closer to fighting those Merfolk Shadows, multiplied by at least thirty.

Half.

The Terminate was ending. Just as she counted the last half second, she noticed at least four more mana spheres flying at her previous location. The four-eyed ones weren’t exactly rare. They could turn her into a pincushion at any point.

Darya thought about strategy. She knew she couldn’t win this if she was busy avoiding the Shadows. She couldn’t let them scatter either. The Desert Rose could be in range. A Sharpshooter Angel of this level could sink it by themselves.

Segner Strumfil Defeated.

Damage Dealt: 1,124 (89%)

EXP: +765 (View Axes)

That was one of the falling three. The four-eyed Shadow nearest to her ripped halfway through as the world caught up to the prediction dots. It lost one of the wings and tumbled out of the sky with an ear-piercing screech.

I have to get rid of the gauntlet. I can’t hop around punching and clawing hundreds of times. This is a stick problem, not a Manacer problem.

The Dreagan was preparing something else. A growing spiral of mana distorted around its silhouette. It wasn’t pulling inwards, or pushing outwards. The Shadows were buying time.

Darya started thinking like a Dreagan. She would want her target doing everything they can against the Shadows. Even if she gave up the Manacer and switched to her sticks, she would still be solving the wrong problem. By the time she was finished with the Shadows, the Dreagan would have its unpredictable cards ready to play.

Her target should always be the Dreagan. The Shadows could wait.

Sense Spear detected a new intrusion from her left.

[Vainfall: Terminate Twice]

Darya didn’t waste time looking at it. She grabbed her telescope and looked down. The mana pulse from the Dreagan had cleared most of the clouds. She traced a straight line from the island, tracing her way back to the point Nerima was.

Zooming in, she spotted the large white patch in the shallow water. The whale was still there.

Good. I can start again from there. Now I need to get rid of the gauntlet. It’s better used elsewhere.

She zoomed back to the island. The place she wanted to go wasn’t hard to find. It was the tallest tower of the ruined castle, directly below her. The place that she really wanted another entity anchor to be.

“Ah. He’s there!” Darya smiled as she muttered to herself. Emil was slumped against a stone wall. He seemed to be taking a nap.

[Vainfall: Frame Selected Entity]

“Wakey wakey.”