Chapter 30: Can't Do It
Tenacity Prayer
Holy Light School Active Skill
Mastery Requirements: Holy Light Knowledge Level 1
Cost/Restriction: 15 Mana, 10 Faith, Requires Language Function
Effect: Prays for the designated target, increasing their Constitution by 3%, Stamina recovery speed by 5%, and significantly alleviating bleeding effects. Lasts five minutes, cooldown 120 seconds.
Remark: Perhaps you will eventually die in battle, but please try to hold on for a few more minutes to make a final confession and boost my performance.
Mo Tan's reaction was arguably the fastest besides Ned's. He had already acted almost as soon as Ned finished speaking, casting Law Decree Shield on Shuang Ye, who had the weakest Constitution, and then immediately cast Tenacity Prayer on Ned, who was charging at the front. The interval between this divine spell, which currently offered a strong buff, and the previous Holy Word spell was less than a second.
In Innocent World, there is no such thing as a global cooldown for spellcasting. Theoretically, if a player's actions are fast enough, they can continuously use many skills not on cooldown. However, this theory is not entirely valid, because even the most basic and mindless skills require corresponding actions, gestures, or incantations to be performed simultaneously with activation. Even some low-tier warrior skills require an action like raising a weapon.
Shooting requires drawing a bow and arrow or pulling a trigger; spellcasting requires chanting or making gestures. If you use a Whirlwind Slash, it would be unreasonable if the person didn't spin, right?
Mo Tan's two skill activations just now might not have been much in the eyes of some NPCs or battle-hardened high-level players (who weren't around yet), but for a new recruit and new player, they were textbook examples of skill usage.
While Mo Tan was quietly chanting Law to Shuang Ye, his other hand was already steadily aimed at Ned. Then, the moment Law Decree Shield took effect, he immediately turned to Ned and made two gestures that carried the meaning of 'blessing' in the denomination.
(PS: The skill description states to lightly touch the pinky and thumb, slightly bend the index finger, extend the ring and middle fingers flat, and then perform a palm-down, forty-five-degree angle motion.)
This was not because he was naturally gifted and born to be good at games, but because Mo Tan had a very clear advantage compared to Shuang Ye and other players.
Experience!
Although the character Black Vatican had only used one skill since creation, and it was merely a lighting skill, this did not mean Mo Tan had no relevant experience.
As Tan Mo, he once faced two Red Ridge Beasts simultaneously and subdued them at the first opportunity.
As Mo, he also accumulated a lot of combat experience under the attacks of numerous cannon fodder enemies.
Although the skills mastered by each character were relatively limited, if combined...
"Nice!" Ned, who was drawing his sword with his backhand, praised Mo Tan without looking back, then waved his hand backward: "Follow me!"
Yinna, who had been a bit listless just now, was the fastest. With the elves' innate grace and flexibility, she tightly followed behind Ned after just a few leaps. At the same time, two feathered arrows were already nocked on her longbow, which was pointed diagonally at the ground. Her pointed ears twitched slightly, and she loudly reported: "About four hundred meters ahead, behind the slope, people are fighting. I can't tell the number!"
"So unreliable!" The Lizardmen monk Salazar stomped his feet, which were twice the size of an ordinary human's, heavily on the ground. The next second, he was already seven or eight meters away, with several wisps of energy faintly flowing around his gauntlets. While quickly catching up to the two in front, he shouted back: "Krab, you take Black Vatican and the other one!"
Black-Skin Orc Krab, who seemed to be from an African tribe, had already gotten up by now. He muttered with a pouting mouth, "You don't need to tell me."
Then he strode towards Mo Tan and Shuang Ye...
"Hey! Wait a minute! Big guy, what are you doing?" Combining Salazar's earlier words, Shuang Ye suddenly had a bad Premonition.
Krab chuckled, tucked his axe into the leather sheath on his back, and grabbed both of them under his armpits, one in each, then started running forward with large strides: "You two spellcasters are too slow, someone needs to look after you."
Shuang Ye immediately dispelled the Fireball in her hand, lightly covered her nose with her sleeve, and kept rolling her eyes.
Even if Krab was a clean Orc and didn't have any strange odors, she still felt a bit psychologically unable to accept it if she didn't do this...
Mo Tan, who was tucked under the other arm, was much calmer. He was currently staring at his character panel, calculating his mana and faith recovery speed, and trying to learn more about his character.
As the only support in the squad, and with one of his few skills being a flashlight, Mo Tan felt a bit stressed...
The distance of four hundred meters passed in a flash. Even an ordinary person wouldn't take two minutes to run that far, let alone Ned and the others.
In less than half a minute, everyone had already crossed the nearby low slope. The terrain here was relatively desolate, not far from the Marshall Territory border, and usually uninhabited.
But now...
Mo Tan had just been put down by a dazed Krab when he saw a tall figure fly through the air and smash onto the ground in front of them with a clang.
It was a young man whose entire abdomen was almost torn open. He was wearing a simple leather armor, with a flame emblem on his chest. His chestnut hair was matted to his temples in strands by sweat and blood. His lips, pale from excessive blood loss, trembled constantly, and blood foam continuously emerged from his mouth.
"Ah!" Shuang Ye almost instinctively hid behind Krab, covering her eyes.
"Many well-trained Orc soldiers!" As the only other female in the squad, Yinna's tolerance was much stronger than Shuang Ye's. She looked at the small, dense group of figures in the distance and loudly reported: "They have the Fire Claw Territory emblem on them!"
"I know! Let's check on him first." Ned's face suddenly turned grim. He knelt down and pressed hard on the young soldier's abdomen, but found that it still couldn't stop blood from seeping out of the many wounds on the man's body. He immediately looked up and shouted: "Black Vatican, he needs to stop the bleeding!"
Mo Tan, however, shook his head helplessly. Tenacity Prayer, which could alleviate the effects of blood loss, was currently on cooldown. His purpose in casting the prayer on Ned beforehand was actually to get the cooldown back quickly, to cover more people in potential future battles, but he hadn't expected things to turn out this way...
"If it were me as Tan Mo, I definitely wouldn't make such a mistake..."
Sighing with a touch of self-mockery, Mo Tan extended both hands. A faint golden light appeared out of nowhere around the severely wounded and dying soldier, then slowly merged into the many ghastly wounds on his body.
That's right, this was the 'Holy Healing' he had learned at the very beginning, a low-spec version of it...
A healing skill that restores a small amount of health to the target, with a cooldown of only one minute~
Of course, Mo Tan didn't forget to take out the scripture, which cost 20 copper coins. Although it had no combat ability (please don't think about using it as a mace by attaching a chain to its corners), this off-hand equipment did add 1 point of intelligence, so it should have some effect, right?
As it turned out, it did have a little effect, though it was merely 'a little'...
The young human soldier swallowed a mouthful of blood with effort, and weakly grasped Ned's hands, as if trying to say something...
Ned quickly leaned down, while Mo Tan was staring at the Healing Prayer, which was about to come off cooldown. His other hand, not holding the scripture, was already pointing at the Burning Point Squad soldier.
There are 10 seconds left until the skill cooldown is complete!
If the bleeding could be stopped, there was still hope of saving him, even though the menacing Orc warriors were slowly closing in, but...
There are 4 seconds left until the skill cooldown is complete!
Almost there!
Just as Mo Tan was preparing to make the first gesture, Ned had already straightened up, letting out a long sigh.
"He's dead..."
"Skill usage failed, target status: Deceased."
The voice and the system notification came simultaneously. The Burning Point Squad soldier ultimately did not make it until Mo Tan's skill cooldown was complete. The Holy Healing earlier was merely a drop in the bucket, only enough to delay the footsteps of death and allow him to leave a last message...
"They're coming!" Salazar walked to the front of the team, his gaze fixed on the approximately twenty Orcs in uniform half-plate armor below the slope. He said in a deep voice, "It seems they don't intend to let us return in one piece..."
Ned stood up with a gloomy expression, his brows tightly furrowed: "Garbage game, terrible experience."
!?!?
Mo Tan, who had been somewhat dejected, and Shuang Ye, who had been hiding behind Krab, both froze simultaneously, looking at Ned with horrified expressions.
What did he just say...?
Garbage what? What terrible?
"I've witnessed many deaths." Ned raised his sword and murmured, "But this young man's last words are definitely the strangest... Alright, everyone get ready to fight! Otherwise, we'll die here too!"
Mo Tan and Shuang Ye exchanged glances and both realized that the deceased gentleman in front of them was not an NPC, but a player like themselves. After all, those 'last words' just now didn't sound like something an Innocent World native would say.
For some reason, knowing that 'death' was not just a bunch of data, but a living player, Mo Tan actually felt relieved. His somewhat heavy mood lightened considerably.
Well, no matter how severe the death penalty, players wouldn't truly die anyway...
"Where are the rest of the Burning Point Squad?" Krab pulled out his battle-axe, walked over to Yinna, and asked her, "Are they... all gone?"
Yinna gave a bitter smile: "There are a few bodies in the distance. Comparing the numbers, the soldier who just died should have been the last one in their squad..."
Crack!!
Salazar suddenly lunged in front of Yinna, raised his arm, and chopped sideways, splitting a battle-spear that came flying through the air into two. He shouted, "Stop talking about this, they're here!"
No sooner had he spoken than the large group of Orcs not far ahead uniformly drew their weapons and charged forward with roars, rapidly closing the distance between the two sides.
Because they had delayed a bit trying to save that soldier, it was now unlikely for them to escape the enemy's attack range. Turning to run would undoubtedly result in being speared like shish kebabs by a barrage of thrown spears!
But if they faced them head-on...
The numerical disparity seemed a bit too great!
"We can't escape now!" Ned stood at the very front of the team and shouted, "Double right-angle formation, retreat! I'll be the arrowhead! Drag them towards Dieyan City!"
With that, he turned and swung his sword fiercely at an Orc who had just rushed up the low slope, forcing the opponent to block while using the momentum to retreat. But then he saw...
His own small leap had actually put him directly at the end of the team; the Fenrir Squad members hadn't even moved.
"What are you all staring at?!" Ned was so angry his eyes spun with stars: "Do as I say!"
"But Captain..." Krab was currently swinging his axe in a wide arc at an enemy who had just crossed the low slope. After making his kinsman, who tried to compete with him in strength, spit out three liters of blood, he blinked and roared, "What's a right-angle formation, and what does 'arrowhead' mean?"
Salazar grabbed an Orc warrior's shoulder with his backhand, stepped sideways, spun around, and delivered a reverse elbow strike heavily to the opponent's back. He then swung his tail, sweeping the Orc off balance, and finally completed this dazzling set of monk quick-strikes with a knee kick. He shrugged at Krab: "The captain said 'double right-angle formation.'"
"You understand?" Yinna seemed to have merged into Krab's tall shadow for a second, then reappeared simultaneously with three arrows that shot out, a dagger in her mouth, and tilted her head vaguely at Salazar.
"I don't understand." The latter shook his head very naturally, then pulled the somewhat dazed Shuang Ye back, helping her dodge a powerful jumping slash from a certain Orc, but almost getting cut himself: "Focus! The enemy is well-trained!"
By now, Ned had quickly rushed back, shielding Mo Tan and Shuang Ye, the two spellcasters, behind him, and chuckled dryly: "Sorry, I forgot we were a ragtag bunch."
At this moment, the small low slope had been completely overrun by the twenty-plus enemies. The two Orc warriors who had been knocked down earlier had also gotten up, appearing not seriously injured...
"Dogs of the Marshall Family!!" A gray-haired Old Orc wielding a warhammer roared as he charged at the group, his eyes bloodshot with fury, "You all must die!!"
Two streaks, one gold and one red, whistled out from behind Ned, forcefully halting the opponent's Charge!
Fireball, Condensing Light Arrow.
Mo Tan and Shuang Ye attacked almost simultaneously, but after stopping the Old Orc, they realized it was merely a drop in the bucket...
"Kill!!"
Roars tore open the curtain of battle. These Orc warriors, far from being a ragtag bunch, uniformly drew their weapons and charged, rapidly closing the distance between the two sides. They attacked the numerically disadvantaged Fenrir Squad fiercely and madly with weapons, bodies, roars, and teeth!
The group fell into a bitter struggle almost the instant the battle began. Ned, Krab, and Salazar each faced three or four enemies simultaneously. Yinna's agile and nimble movements were also rendered useless on this small low slope, forcing her to frantically dodge while occasionally seizing an opportunity to fire a few arrows.
As for Shuang Ye and Mo Tan, who were protected in the very center...
The former's face was pale. Although her short staff kept waving, the scattered low-level Fireball and Arcane Missile could only barely break the enemies' defenses!
They were all precisely calculated by their owner, fired at the best angles and rhythm, yet even these spell attacks, which would impress a Grand Magister, still made little headway.
As for the latter...
The moment all his support and healing skills were on cooldown, Mo Tan helplessly dropped his hands.
"I can't do it..."
"I... can't do anything..."
Chapter 29: End