Chapter 326 - Bladeheart And Lina Vs. The Weapons Of Pride (I)

With Tina proceeding right ahead to Lemis, Lina and I are stuck with Tina's father and mother. The king and queen of the Insect Kingdom, Queen Glass, and King Goliath. I didn't personally see Queen Glass in the past timeline as I have heard that she was only in the supporting job while King Goliath was in the front lines. Of course, King Goliath died after the awakening of Lemis and Remis in the past timeline and I also heard Queen Glass also got killed by the demons in the end so, in the end, they still died in the process.

This time, they have already been turned into undead and it looks like they are no longer proven useful and were just used to stop us from going. However, I won't underestimate them even though they have turned into undead especially with King Goliath seeing that he still looked like he has retained his personality that has been brainwashed and if that is the case, he still holds fire and danger in him. As for Queen Glass, I have no idea about her.

"Lina, be careful. We have no idea how strong they are going to be. We have to make sure we will not be defeated in this matter."

"Don't worry Master, we will have to make sure that they will be properly rested back to their grave before we help Tina to her battle against the demons. I am ready whenever you order me to attack, Master!"

"Alright, that is very fine! Let's get them back to their graves!"

"Ughhhh...die heretics... die...enemies of the kingdom..." King Goliath assumed a combat stance and roared wildly.

-you have been inflicted with [Fear(Small)]. Due to your high stats, you resisted it.

-you have been provoked. For 2 minutes, all attacks will be forced to be directed to the user who cast the skill.

Then, before I can assume that there is something wrong, Queen Glass who was just staying in the background, all of a sudden raises her hands and immediately released a spell that immediately caused us to jump back away.

BANG!

The concrete ground didn't even last from it and it melted before it can even handle the brunt of the force.

"[Liquid Acid?!]"

Alright, that was now confirmed. No wonder King Goliath just cast a Provoke skill, although I suspected it at first, it seems like my suspicion on her was correct. Queen Glass is not just an undead that is just in the background and has nothing to do with the battle. She is an enemy that has the possibility of defeating us without being able to damage her in the process.

Oddly enough, I don't see their HP bars at all, it was like they didn't exist at all despite being enemies.

"Lina! Make sure to not take any attacks from her that look like a liquid just like earlier! That's a flesh-eating acid attack! Once the Provoke effect is over, be sure to target the Queen!"

"Understood!"

I know Lina is capable of dodging those things but judging from the speed of the attacks of the f*cker, it wasn't just something that we will be disregarding.

With the Provoke-type skill on effect, I decided to focus my attacks on King Goliath. With his shield and spear, the best weapons that can deal with them would be long-range weapons and high burst and firepower type weapons. To cancel the effects of the Provoke-type skill, I need to knock down the boss for a bit.

I rush towards the king and around 5 meters of distance between me and the king, Queen Glass swings her hands, and patches of web landed right in front of me, stopping me from my tracks from rushing forward. However, I quickly improvised and changed my weapon into a katana and performed a two-quick slash.

The webs were easily cut off and I continue to charge towards the king. When I was almost near to the king's, I changed my weapon into a cannon, and without flinching, I shoot a cannonball, straight to them.

BOOM!

DANG!

Followed by the explosion is a dull thud that came from the shield of King Goliath. When the smoke is cleared, I finally saw that my attack didn't go through to the enemy like what I expected it, instead, the shield that King Goliath is holding stopped the cannonball like it was just a pellet from a gun.

"What the hell?!"

And before I can react, King Goliath quickly pushes his shield with the cannonball in front of it and reflected the attack. The speed of the cannonball coming to me is twice the speed that I shoot towards King Goliath. It was so fast I didn't even get to block it with a shield or anything.

"GAH!"

I was sent flying by the cannonball I shoot earlier without a fail. And just by that cannonball alone reduced my HP to almost zero. It didn't fully reduce my Hp due to the high defense stat of my armor and some passives from the Paladin and Holy Knight job classes. If I didn't take those passives, I clearly have died in the process.

"Master!"

"I am fine! The Provoke effect should be gone by now! Attack!"

Lina heard my order and quickly attacked using one of her spells, as for me, while the enemies are preoccupied with Lina, I heal my wounds back to the full percentage.

Just as I was about to return to the battle, a notification popped up,

--you have been provoked. For 2 minutes, all attacks will be forced to be directed to the user who cast the skill.

"The f*ck?! So soon?!"

Followed by that is Lina's scream as she was sent flying. I didn't wait for her to land on the ground and just went ahead and throw a bottle of splash potion, a potion that didn't need to be used as a drink but can be used by just splashing all the contents of the potions to the one who needed the effects.

I quickly realized now what the effects of the shield were this time after what happened to the two of us after we attacked and the fact that King Goliath used another of that Provoke-type skill that I have no idea what it was, it was clear that the effects were none other than the shields itself is the cause of this.

The ability of the Shield of Vanagloria is Complete Reversal. Basically, it works similar to a Perfect Counter, a skill that any class can learn except for the Long Range classes, where any attack that has been inflicted while you are in the middle of doing Perfect Counter will be returned to the attacker with twice the amount of damage that should have been inflicted to the person who did the Perfect Counter.

However, Perfect Counter only works if you managed to get the timing of the attack and used it during that timing. If you missed a single second of timing by either casting it too soon or by casting it too late, the skill will be worthless. Also, Perfect Counter only works on melee attacks, magic skills, and long-range attacks do not work. However, the Shield of Vanagloria seems to work similarly, but not the same thing as a perfect counter.

All attacks directed at the king seems to have been "absorbed" and stored before it was released back to the attacker whether it is long-range attacks or magic attacks.

"Can you stand, Lina?" I asked as I helped her up.

"My legs are weak but I am fine, Master."

"Let's not approach carelessly."

One thing that baffles me is how fast the cooldown of the Provoke-type skill that King Goliath used. After all, provoke-type skills should have at least a 5-minute cooldown before they can be used again. They don't come again after the effects of the provoke skill ended as that will be really broken in the process. That is how the balance should be and not just like this. It all applies to players and enemies alike.

We assumed battle stance again. I still have no idea what the spear is capable of. Since it has the same origin as the Shield of Vanagloria and is part of one sin, the Spear of Superbia should also have at least similar effects.

"Let's do the same tactic but this time, target the Queen. While the Provoke-type skill is active, refrain from attacking."

Lina and I went separate ways to charge towards the two. Then, the message once again appeared of King Goliath using the skill. As much as I want to attack them now if we wanted to avoid the same fate as earlier, we have to refrain from attacking at all times and wait for the right time to deal with them.

Queen Glass didn't stay idle and screamed. It was so sharp that it felt so bad in the ears just by listening to it alone.

-you have been inflicted with Defense Down. The defense has drastically decreased!

-you have been inflicted with [Panic(Small)]. Due to your high stats, you have resisted.

If this goes on, things will really go bad.. We have to finish this as soon as possible.