Shivers ran down through everyone as they realized just how powerful the Skeletal was. Even more so for the professional players, especially the guild leaders.
He was able to summon creatures all along. Then why did he not summon then right from the start?
No. What kind?
Just how strong is he, for the system to place such restrictions on him to fight against 10 of the strongest rookies without regeneration, without the majority of his skills?
The Audience would’ve thought all of this may have been a mistake, but all of the members of the league now knew it. When all of the things were sealed, it only boils down to one individual aspect.
Control.
They were standing right in front of a monstrously strong individual. Just who was this person?
The top 10 rookies subconsciously took a step back.
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The Shoutcasters gave the audience a few minutes, before the countdown finally started running.
5…
4…
> Hide and Maze (Shoutcasters): “START!!!”
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Lunara drew and aimed as the countdown finally ended. Ace (Kaldr’s Agent) followed suit whispering in the temporary voice channel created by the system.
“Fifteen minutes… We only have to hold him for fifteen minutes…”
With the buffs from Hebi(The Priest of Hilder) having just came in, the two ranged experts released their longest ranged skills, just as the fighters charged towards the Skeletal.
Everyone in the audience watched as The Skeletal easily dodged bolts of lightning from the sky, as well as spatial rifts that would popout from random distances obstructing his path. Even the fighters who were charging at Levi was forced to take a pause. Wouldn’t the tribulation later on, kill him anyway?
Suddenly, the skeletal swung his axe using both of its hand. The axe perfectly bisecting nature empowered arrow while utilizing movement itself to dodge the near invisible bullet that had almost grazed it’s head. Roots started sprouting from where the arrow was split, but the skeletal was long gone from that platform and had leaped to the next one.
The domain shrunk further and further as the skeletal charged towards the portal. The Rookies soon found that although they were not the targets of the tribulation, they weren’t immune to them either. After seeing Shax(The Winged Arsonist) being bisected by a random spatial crack, the other fighters quickly abandoned their idea of charging in to hoard the glory.
Unlike the tribulation lightning which are easily predictable since they are all always aimed towards or on the path of the Skeletal, since majority of the fighters took Smoother [Muscle Control] or [Mana Flow] instead of [Mana Sense] during their first breakthrough of the Perception stat, they had no way to detect the upcoming cracks that could easily bisect them if they weren’t capable enough.
And even with [Mana Sense], it was too chaotic to detect everything as mana was constantly spilling everywhere from the skills being thrown up to the lightning and spatial cracks popping around the Skeletal. They didn’t even know how Levi could dodge all of those with his current stats.
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“Calm down!”
Margaret(The Daughter of Solcea) urged her teammates to settle but she herself was running out of ideas. The Skeletal was about 6 platforms away but was charging with accurate haste. The sniping as well as barrage of skills wasn’t really hitting this far in. And the steel and arcane barriers from both Hera(The Steelmaiden) and Pluto(Barriermage) as well as the Roots sprouting from the blessing of the World Tree was surprisingly ineffective since either an empowered swing of the Skeletal’s axe or a random spatial crack could easily cut them apart.
No. There’s no reason to panic, they would just have to keep the barrage then settle this up close.
Their skills would be harder and harder to dodge once up close. And with Hydal’s(The Blade of the Time Timekeeper) help, along with the roots and barriers, they should be able to hold the skeletal long enough to either die in the full barrage, or get killed by the tribulation itself.
Thinking about this Margaret cued in her teammates. There were some who didn’t agree with the setup. But eventually went along due to being outvoted. Finally having an agreed upon plan, the casters as well as everyone that can throw out spells and projectiles rotated by sessions in order to make sure that they will still have enough mana by the time the skeletal arrives in the last platform.
“As expected, it’s stats aren’t enough to dodge projectiles at such close…”
Everyone held their thoughts, as they saw the skeletal landing towards the final platform practically unscathed. the lightning and spatial cracks following sooth. With a defiant roar, everyone went full blast. Buffs and auras activated as they engaged the skeletal in a final standoff.
The Lycaon ShapeShifter, Beles was the fastest. He braved through the lightning as well as spatial cracks, transforming into the fabled beast, it’s claw directly aimed towards the skeletal’s chest.
It only needed 1 strike to put it out of balance and the tribulation would take care of it. Time around the Skeletal’s position slowed as Hydal’s skill activated, from the opposite direction from where Beles came from. Buffed by Hebi, the two easily navigated through the tribulation. On top of that a heavy barrage followed. Intent on sacrificing the two.
While the remaining fighters stood in position of the portal. Making sure that the skeletal wouldn’t just brute force it’s way towards the portal by overloading it’s mana to empowered it’s movements.
But just when the two was about to close in on the skeletal. Raithmar’s Pendant hidden deep within the skeletal glowed as a wall of fire ignited burning both Hydal and Beles. The interruption was just enough for the time expanded area to return to normal.
Before the two could recover from the shock however, they found themselves hurled towards the projectiles, Hydal unfortunately being toasted by lightning, while Beles’ massive hp easily plummeted to zero as it’s large body was bombarded by the desperate barrage of his teammates.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions, cracks, and lightning overloaded the place with sounds and lights, The tribulation making use of the momentary stillness to send a barage of lightning, but the 0.5 seconds of slowness was far from enough to really put the Skeletal in danger. It’s very high physique, unlimited stamina and innate form allowed it to use resource intensive movements without the need to take heed of stamina drain and bodily repercussions due to it’s durability.
Having taken care of 3 out of 10 people. The skeletal utilized the commotion to charged towards the Glasshard Mage, Mir. The mage attempted to detonate herself, but a quick beheading ceased all functions.
4/10.
Instantly adjusting, remaining fighters Margaret and Hera as well as the priest Hebi engaged with the Skeletal. Their senses even while not on par with such a monster, are able to predict and navigate through the tribulation, yet fighting within the chaos was an entirely different ordeal. As the battle went on Hebi got picked off by a stray tribulation bold, while Margaret got obliterated by a spatial crack. Hera simply died after being cracked open by the Skeletal while the remaining three rookies were easily dispatched by the Skeletal. The three attempted to delay the skeletal but Lunara, Ace, and Pluto weren’t really cut out for close combat fights. They might have enough control to kite against other pro players, but Levi outranked them in both control and stats.
Finally in front of the portal, Levi looked at the sky. Having controlled several Skeletal’s in first person through creator’s descent, while maintaining sensory control and manasense through multiple bodies… Levi felt that the battle was subpar at best. He was more concerned over the three that three deities that were even powerful enough to circumvent system system oaths. Making a mental note to remind her wife about making preparations against possible betrayal from the tri-elves. Levi waited for the last lightning bolt to form from the sky before stepping in the portal.
‘Hilder, Solcea, and the World Tree huh…’
Levi muttered as he exited the stage. The crowd roared as they finally saw the face of the winner.
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To be continued.