Chapter 78 - An Example (4)

However, even though my Ice skills had a short cooldown, I could not use AOE skills in quick succession. So, I used mainly Ice Spears and Multiple Ice Arrows, sometimes interspersed with Ice Shield and Ice Prison, as I waited for my AOE skills cooldown to come back up.

But they didn’t show any sign of backing off.

“Step back! Aside from its damage, his skill cooldowns are also unusually short. But don’t worry. We just have to show him how we can deal with him as a group.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Eleven of them were killed, and 53 were left.

Of course, aside from Soktae Kang, there were 52 people.

Suddenly, the group started moving in a more organised fashion, and increased the distance between us. Their tanks stood at the front while the melee attacks were positioned behind them. Then the long range attackers in the rear launched several attacks, while preparing to escape from my AOE skills.

“We can destroy him slowly. No matter how strong he is, he can’t beat a large number of troops.”

“Got it, sir!”

“…”

Just like it takes two to tango, you can only inflict damage to the enemy if the attack is successful. In the past, I had never worried about this because the monsters I encountered were usually those who attacked first, except for the stone squirrels. And my previous battles against other users ended after my first few attacks. Of course, there were some times when I ran away, but I had never fought against an enemy like this. So, I needed to come up with a new combat method right now.

***

Japan’s Mitsuya Group secretly operated several medium-sized guilds in Korea. Of course, all members of those guilds were part of the Mitsuya Group, and they were usually used to collect information and perform other various tasks, including initially taking over the area where the stone squirrels appeared.

And one of them was the Samurai Guild. Of the several guilds under Mitsuya Group’s Chairman Ryu Sechi’s command, all the members of this guild were combat personnel, so he paid a lot of attention to this guild. Of course, this guild did not have many members.

Anyway it was the Samurai Guild that moved to eliminate Asirante.

Some of the members who were not competent were forcibly moved to other guilds like Soktae Kang, the former Gahwa Guild leader.

While Lumen, or Asirante, was in the middle of fighting against those Samurai Guild members who appeared confident on the surface, the Samurai guild chat room was filled with urgency and nervousness.

[BBD: Damn it! I can’t believe that guy’s skill is so powerful. How come 40% of their Health disappeared with just one attack?How does this make any sense?]

[Money: By the way, isn’t it necessary for them to widen their attack range before he uses his AOE skills? Man, the power of that guy’s AOE skills are just dreadful.]

[Kant: That’s the problem! Don’t you think it’s weird? Damn, why can’t he die? He’s definitely a wizard, and an ice wizard at that, right? How can a wizard…]

Their chatting mainly focused on Asirante’s abilities that far exceeded their predictions.

That’s why the chat room was so active.

Sakamoto immediately opened his mouth after checking the guild chat room.

[Sakamoto (Guild Leader): Don’t be embarrassed or impatient. He is fighting alone, so there is a limit to his ability to fight us. We can fight against him like we have been until now. Except for the tanks, never allow yourself to get hit twice in a row even if it’s a low level skill. You not raise his morale by being killed like that. ]

In order to quell their nerves, Sakamoto emphasized that there was only one enemy confronting them, and they could easily win using their superior numbers.

Although he said that confidently, he too was nervous deep down because Asirante was so powerful.

Of course, Sakamoto knew well that Asirante was powerful.

Although Sakamote didn’t confirm his strength directly because that greedy pig Soktae Kang did not use the Memory Bead to the end as he wanted to save money, he knew that it was absolutely impossible for anybody to win a battle against enemy forces of 300 and 700 overwhelmingly unless he had extraordinary power, even if they were a motley group of unorganized minions.

But even taking that into account, Asirante was simply too strong.

Sakamoto thought to himself, ‘Damn it! How is this possible? Why is the normally fist-sized Ice Ball as big as a head, and how come Ice Bolt which usually has minimal penetrating power can pierce holes like an awl?”

Was it because Asirante only used low-level magic?

Sakamoto could understand it because it was important for Asirante to balance the composition of his skills, considering their cooldowns.

That’s why even those with a Heavenly Level had a few low-level skills.

However, even if it was a low-level skill, it should still appear like one.

For example, it would not be surprising if Asirante used it to keep someone at bay, but it was too strong. So much so that Sakamoto cowered before his repeated attacks with low-level skills. Scary. But Sakamoto didn’t express it outwardly because if his men found out that he was scared, they would no longer follow him.

So he constantly cheered them up.

[Sakamoto (Guild Leader): You can attack him while holding out like this. After all, he is a wizard relying on attack power. It would be impossible for him to hold out any longer. And I will increase the reward to 300 million won instead of 100 million for the person who lands the final attack. Moreover, I will double the rewards for those killed in action. So, fight against him aggressively!]

In no time the atmosphere of the Samurai guild chat room became lively as if nothing happened. After confirming this, Sakamoto thought it was fortunate to meet this man named Asirante now, for if he encountered Asirante in the future after he grew stronger, he would definitely have been defeated.

‘And there should never be such a strong person in Korea!’

Sakamoto hated Korea after abandoning his Korean name Ji-wan Oh.

So, he thought that he should nip this Korean guy Asirante in the bud before he became stronger not only for himself but also for Mitsuya Group’s Chairman Ryu Sechi who saved him.

‘Anyway, he is going to be killed.’

Sakamoto found himself being concerned about Asirante for some reason, even though he was busy defending against his men’s endless attack.

“Ice Shield.”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

My Ice Shield defended against the enemy’s attack with much difficulty.

Puck! Puck! Puck.

But the enemy encircled me now.

Since it was impossible to spread my Ice Shield 360 degrees, it was difficult to defend against attacks coming from the rear or from the sides outside the range of my Ice Shield.

Of course, I could still withstand these attacks because of my high health and stamina.

I paid more attention to the enemies’ movements.

‘Hmm.’

They were still cautious of my AOE skills, ready to attack me after avoiding them.

In fact, I didn’t need anything like strategy or tactics in dealing with enemies previously because they were helpless before my attacks. They could neither block my attacks, nor could they hold out.

But these guys managed to block my attacks, holding out strongly.

They kept defending against a series of Ice Spears, Multiple Arrows and Ice Balls even when they endlessly rained down on them. And those who cleverly avoided my attack hid straight behind the tankers again.

‘Should I change my strategy?”

I felt that the fighting would drag on and on under this situation.

While I was lost in thought, the Ice Shield that protected me firmly began to show cracks here and there. Of course, I wasn’t disappointed because it successfully defended me longer than I expected, given it was a level 3 Ice Shield.

‘By the way, did I use it more than I should during these past ten minutes?’

Suddenly, I thought that I had used Ice Shield more often during the past ten minutes than I did since I first obtained it, which I didn’t like.

So, I didn’t reuse Ice Shield this time when I noticed it could no longer withstand the enemy’s attack. Standing there, I looked at the place where the healers and enchanters were grouped together.

I could destroy them all if I simply used Ice Field and Ice Blast even without reinforcing it with Multiple Thin Ice, but the problem was that they were located far behind the tanks and melee attackers.