Skill Name: First Sword Form: Converging Paths
Skill Creator: Izroth
Skill Level: 1/4
Skill Rank: B
Requirements: Sword Equipped
Passive: After successfully striking a target with a sword, the user's next sword attack can be used instantaneously. The sword attack executed using this sword form has a 100% critical hit chance. This effect can only occur once every 1 minute 30 seconds.
Special Note: This skill can also be leveled up through repeated usage and proper execution.
Cooldown: 1 minute 30 seconds
The cooldown time was much higher than Izroth initially expected, however, that would most likely change as he leveled the skill up. There was something which caught Izroth's attention, and that was the fact that this specific skill could also be increased by using it repeatedly.
Izroth had only seen such a thing with S-ranked skills. Though, it may be because of the unique nature of the Way of the Heavenly Sword. After all, even though this system assisted players with their actions, Izroth felt that if one used skill points to level up the sword forms, the skill's potential would be limited.
Izroth's plan was to learn as many sword forms as he could while within the Chaotic Dogma Realm. They would come naturally to him in battle as long as he executed them properly so that the system was able to perceive it as a possible skill.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!
All of a sudden, the Silverline Entity emitted a loud screeching noise that sounded as if someone were dragging their nails across a chalkboard. The body of the Silverline Entity glowed brightly and released a brilliant white light which blinded everyone around it.
Everyone could not help but cover their ears at the ear-piercing noise, but a few seconds later the noise came to an abrupt halt. When the white light dimmed down, the Silverline Entity had changed in its appearance. Now, the boss monster appeared more humanoid.
The Silverline Entity stood around two meters tall and had a well-defined body. Although it still possessed no facial features, at least its form was closer to that of a human than a monstrosity.
However, just because it looked weaker with its current appearance, everyone could sense that its strength had not fallen due to its change, but rather increased by leaps and bounds. It was as though something was warning them about the Silverline Entity.
Woosh!
Zi Yi's arrow flew through the air, empowered by the skill Void Jump. Since the Silverline Entity already possessed the skill, she was free to use it as she saw fit. The arrow disappeared into the void and reappeared behind the back of the Silverline Entity.
But, just as the arrow was got ready to pierce through the body of the Silverline Entity, it suddenly vanished.
For some reason, Halls felt a chill run down his back and immediately turned around with his shield raised into the air. He activated his Rebound skill, however, there was nothing behind his back!
"Halls, below you and don't hold back." Izroth called out in a fast manner. To everyone else, the Silverline Entity may have disappeared, but for Izroth it was different. He understood exactly what happened because of the skill used by the Silverline. It was a skill he was very familiar, Shadow Movement!
The Silverline Entity had not truly disappeared, but instead used the skill Shadow Movement to enter into a shadow form. Doing so, it managed to avoid Zi Yi's incoming arrow while simultaneously launching a sneak attack against Halls from below.
The most frightening part was that Izroth had not used the skill Shadow Movement during the entire duration of this fight. That meant the Silverline no longer required them to use skills in order to copy them. It was perfectly capable of obtaining their skills by its own methods.
Halls reacted quickly to Izroth's warning and jumped off to the side. Since he missed the timing on his Rebound skill, he could only rely on his regular block. But, he did not just depend on his block skill since he did not know the current strength of the Silverline Entity after its transformation.
Halls used another skill from his class, Rebound Champion, called Rebounding Aura.
Skill Name: Rebounding Aura
Skill Level: 2/4
Skill Rank: A
Requirements: Level 22 Rebound Champion, Shield Equipped
Active: Encompasses the user in a constant Rebound Aura which reduces all incoming damage by 60% for 6 seconds. During this time period, all damage dealt to the user is reflected back to its source for 50% of the attack's original damage amount.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Now that he activated the skill Rebounding Aura, Halls was confident that no matter what attack the Silverline Entity threw at him he would be able to take it head-on.
Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
One of the Silverline Entity's arms had transformed into a sword that resembled Izroth's Blade of Lightning. When it made contact with Halls' shield, a loud ringing sound echoed throughout the surroundings. One could actually feel the soundwaves pressing up against their body.
«Blocked»
-2,140
2,259/6,756 HP Remaining! (Halls)
What a powerful attack! It had actually managed to damage Halls for over 2,000 damage even though he blocked and used the skill Rebounding Aura. How high would the damage be if he did not take such precautions?
The Silverline Entity's attacks no longer possessed any of its previous pauses. Now, it attacked without halting its assault. This caused the pressure on Luna to increase by a great deal. She immediately cast a Heal on Halls which brought up his HP to 3,744. She made sure to keep the skill Healing Essence constantly on him so that he would always have some form of healing.
However, the Silverline Entity was relentless in its attacks and Halls' HP kept constantly falling.
"Everyone, you no longer have to hold back with your skills. The Silverline Entity no longer needs us to use them in order to copy it. Therefore, there's no longer any need to be polite." Izroth said as crackles as lightning started to sound from his Blade of Lightning.
Bzzzzt... Bzzzzt!
A few moments later, a field of lightning appeared and covered fifteen meters of the area Izroth stood in. He activated the skill Lightning Field which was attached to his Blade of Lightning.
The first bolt of lightning struck down and paralyzed the Silverline Entity. Although it did not last that long, it was still enough to impede the movements of the Silverline Entity as long as it remained within the field of lightning.
Valentine was not just sitting back and enjoying the show. He had been casting a skill this entire time. It was the same one he used against the Earth Devouring Groundbull, Zarkox First Sequence: Release.
The pentagonally shaped magic sequences appeared above the field of lightning and over the head of the Silverline Entity. The beam of light crashed into the monster's body without mercy. Thanks to the Lightning Field, Valentine did not need to resort to his own method of crowd control in order to ensure his skill would successfully strike its intended target.
That's not all Valentine did, he also infused two points of his Essence into the skill, increasing its overall power by a total of 10%.
-500
...
-500
Izroth's Lightning Field managed to control the Silverline Entity's movements quite well and it was unable to escape the range of Valentine's attack. Valentine damaged the Silverline Entity for a total of 2,500 damage thanks to the increase he received from his Soul Essence trait.
"This trait truly has a limitless amount of possible uses...!" Valentine muttered to himself when he saw how much more effective his Zarkox First Sequence: Release became with the infusion of just a bit of Essence. At the moment, he only possessed twenty points of Essence, therefore, he had to manage it carefully.
It was the same for everyone else as well. They did not receive an abundance of Essence and so they had to pick and choose how they went about using it. But for Izroth, it was different. He had 120 points of Essence to spare.
However, Izroth only integrated small amounts into his attacks every so often. He would do so until he learned more about Soul Essence and got a good feel for how much needed to be used in order to cause Soul Weakness.
Izroth's Blade of Lightning slashed outward towards the Silverline Entity at the same moment it was paralyzed by his Lightning Field. Thanks to the effects of his Lightning Field, Flow of Essence, and Hellfire Rampage skills, his current agility was at 786. Although the Silverline Entity was fast, it had not been able to maintain its stacks of Hellfire Rampage and so it slowed down considerably.
-680
Izroth did not stop there with his assault. As soon as his Blade of Lightning made contact with the Silverline Entity, it released an oppressive aura. Since Izroth never actually used the official system made sword form skill he recently acquired, it had not gone on cooldown. Therefore, his next attack came instantly and with a force that was twice as strong!
His Blade of Lightning descended upon the Silverline Entity's body with deadly accuracy as he unleashed the skill First Baneful Sword: Destruction.
Izroth poured twelve points of Essence into this attack, boosting its overall strength by a total of 60%! Add that along with guaranteed critical hit from the First Sword Form: Converging Paths, the damage against the rare boss was frightening!
«Critical Hit»
-8,700
With a single attack, Izroth had knocked off nearly 5% of the Silverline Entity's massive HP of 180,000!
Everyone began to rain down attacks on the Silverline Entity without mercy. Halls maintained a nearly perfect aggro lock on the monster, except when it would randomly choose a target to attack. Though, that was completely out of his control.
As Izroth and his party chipped away at the Silverline Entity's HP, they began to realize something. The Silverline Entity had a limit! It could not just spew out high ranked skills without a cooldown period. Also, it had not used any of Izroth's S-ranked skills. Either they were just lucky or the Silverline Entity was simply incapable of copying S-ranked skills.
The latter was the most probable answer. After all, ever since it transformed, it would mostly use the best skills at its disposal. Such as Valentine's Zarkox First Sequence: Release. However, another weakness of the Silverline Entity was the fact that it did not know how to chain skills.
Valentine's Zarkox First Sequence: Release skill was incredibly easy to dodge if the target's movements were not impeded by anything, such as Valentine's Encompassing Mana String. Therefore, it did not cause the group any trouble. The HP of the Silverline Entity began to dwindle rapidly.
25%...
20%...
15%...
10%...
〈Battle Alert: Silverline Entity has entered an enraged state〉
It was here, the most dangerous state of any boss monster, the enraged state. However, since this was the Chaotic Dogma Realm, it was even more dangerous than usual.
The Silverline Entity finally formed its first facial features; a pair of crimson red eyes. Soon, a mouth that resembled melting liquid formed as the Silverline Entity released a loud roar.
Although its stats increased while within an enraged state, it was nothing Izroth and his party could not handle. After figuring out the limits of the Silverline Entity, they just had to be cautious of stray attacks. The group did not panic and rapidly cut away at the Silverline Entity's remaining 18,000 HP.
Izroth, Halls, Guan Yu, Zi Yi, and Valentine were all ruthless in their assault. Luna was constantly casting Heal on Halls to keep up with the damage the Silverline Entity dealt. Her mana was rapidly draining in the process, however, she was confident at being able to outlast the Silverline Entity.
Woosh!
A few moments later, just as Luna was about to go through her last bit of mana, Guan Yu's guandao cut through the body of the Silverline Entity with nothing there to block its path. It was the skill Arcing Armor Crusher.
-1,072
With that attack, Guan Yu had reaped the life of the Silverline Entity. Its entire body melted into a pool of silver liquid and within the puddle sat various items.
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Silverline Entity〉
'It's over.'
Izroth sheathed his Blade of Lightning as the battle ended. They had, at last, defeated the Silverline Entity, a rare boss within the Chaotic Dogma Realm! Now it was time to reap the fruits of their labor.