Chapter 57: Alpha Needle Worm
"Whaaat?"Safo's jaw nearly dropped down. BlackSly was also impressed by Luna's capabilities.
"Sometimes it does not matter what tier your weapon is, weapon is just a tool in its owner's hand. If the hands are steady, the weapon will do its job, if they are shaking and hesitation then the weapon will turn dull." BlackSly also knew that the position of an archer in the team was in most parts very convenient, while tankers and DDs were on the front lines archers could clear the field from small fries from the distance. Especially when all of the enemies were concentrated in one small pit.
"Luna you are doing good, go on. You attract enough mobs for us to deal with, and we will keep them busy from throwing needles at you." Miloud motivated Luna. Not that she needed any motivation, she was determined to enjoy and live, giving everything that she got in the game. She was on her path to reach level 9, her limit in the current cube.
"I heard a lot about her bow but it is my first encounter with it. Majestic is the right word, I guess." BlackSly had a tendency to dive deep into his thoughts or talk about simple things from a philosophical point of view. It might be because of his age, no one knew exactly.
"There are many varieties of bows in this game, while some are focused on agility or damage power, others mainly made with the purpose to be beautifully dangerous. This one is one of those types of bows. A "Rainbow Crane", a Tier 3 weapon. It will increase the owner's damage by tenfold and will add an extra seven or eightfold, not sure here, elemental damage to the arrow. But do you know what its beauty is?..." BlackSly paused, to show Safo an arrow that flew above them. An arrow wrapped in red flame. "In its arrows, it can transform the cheapest, most simple wooden arrow into an elemental arrow. Every time randomly creating a powerful arrow for a mere second only to reach its target and vanish." He still was dazed by the variety of colors flying from the boulder to the other side of the rocky valley.
Red for fire, blue for water or ice, grey for wind, and brown for earth elemental mini rockets, launching from the most picturesque bow in the game.
"Hey old man, stop slacking and come kill some worms already." Miloud snapped at him after being surrounded by 5 worms. When they had no needles to spit they could just suck into the skin and drain one's HP.
Reluctantly, a bloody creature of meat and bones moved out of the protection of the shield and quickly threw himself to the heat of the battle. Safo followed him to learn some moves, Miloud told him to stay safe, if he died, he had to walk an hour and a half again to reach his teammates.
But the worms were distracted by Miloud; he could have a sneak peek of some profound moves of his master.
"So, isn't it overpowered if the weapon has x18 damage? She can kill anyone with ease, no?" Safo tried to learn more about the fairness of the game.
Miloud in the middle of the intense match with several worms answered. to that question "Indeed it is overpowered, but only in Cube 1. When going higher, the rest of the archers will get arrows that will already have elemental damage built in. So the second attribute of the bow will become useless. It will still have its extra x7 damage for elemental arrow though, so in the end, the bow is not bad."
Suddenly fifteen or so of the worms exited from the pit to exterminate the enemies disturbing their peaceful idyll. A rain of yellow needles came flying. Hastily Miloud and BlackSly jumped towards Safo's shelter.
Some of the projectiles missed their target others flew right to the shield.
[Shield health: 10/15]
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It was the first damage that Safo's shield took. The impact from the missile shook the shield, jerking Safo slightly back, his shoulder felt numb. But he pushed himself back and propped up the shield.
[Shield health: 5/15]
Another yellow needle placed itself into the shield cracking it up. Everybody stood ready to jump out of the shield's protection at any second. Miloud's plan was good, he placed a tank character in the front line, which saved them some time. But the durability of the Tier 1 shield wasn't much.
[Shield health: 0/15]
"What a piece of tras--" Safo wasn't able to finish his curse. A needle squished its way to his side and came out from another.
The world stopped moving for a moment while Safo slowly moved his branchy head to look at his skewered body. Long yellow quill, surprisingly thicker than usual, made a hole in him.
[Health: 28.5/30]
'Huh? I thought I'm done.' Safo was dumbfounded, his body was literally pierced through while he lost only 2.5 points of his HP. 'It is nice to be in the game. it was wise to put the pain perception to 5%.' With that, he scattered away from the spot into another direction from Miloud and BlackSly.
When he turned around to observe his teacher he saw that Miloud was already engaged in a fight with worms and was swarmed by enemies. For Safo's shock, he noticed BlackSly's method of fighting and his queer weapon. The pale green semi-transparent blade, seemingly made of glass, was very short. Being no longer than an index finger with a handle that was longer than the blade, the knife looked at least strange in a world where people owned longswords, giant war hammers, and enormous axes.
With his foldable pocket knife, BlackSly dissected the worms, moving fast but quiet, like a ballet dancer, in a zigzag pattern. However, two short needles were already darted in his body successfully.
On the other hand, Miloud had no injuries despite being surrounded once more. He created gaps between himself and enemies and made his opponents dash to nowhere while he damaged them with his Tier 1 short sword that he looted from the monster on the way.
His footwork was a masterpiece, his strikes looked to be critical at most times due to constantly killing poor worms after several hits. His weapon-wielding hand was so fast and unpredictable that Safo lost it sometimes. Only blur movements could be seen while enemies around him died split apart.
Dazzled by an incredible sight of the battle for a moment Safo snapped out only when the wind blew at his face. An arrow flew by him and hit to death the worm that crept up to him from behind.
"Thank you, Luna."
Safo raced to the battlefield with his hands itching, ready to fight. As he ran he couldn't miss the fact that newly came worms were bigger than previous. If before their length was only a meter or so, now they stretched all the way up to two or three meters long. That meant only one thing, those were the higher-level Needle worms. As Miloud was telling them, soon will emerge the alpha.
Before the boss fight, Safo and the team needed to clear the stage.
Without stopping his pace Safo dropped his fist upon the head of the worm that tried to lift it to attach itself to him. The sinewy head squirted red slimy substance for being smashed to the ground.
"UGH! Disgusting." Safo ran, shaking off the waste left by the former lively worm.
As Luna kept her barrage of arrows rain from the sky, worms kept coming towards the trio.
"Why are these damn worms so low on the ground? My back hurts already." After carrying the heavy shield for an hour and a half and currently bending over each time to deliver the blow took a toll on Safo's endurance. His punches became slower, less critical damage was dealt by each minute. And creatures refused to die after only one successful hit as it was before, as their level increased several times.
"You will be nostalgic of these merry times when you face monsters on higher cubes, mark my words. Some of them will be as big as Cilla Village." BlackSly half jesting reminded Safo that he was in kindergarten. Real-life was far ahead.
"Is it true?" Safo turned to Miloud in disbelief.
Never stopping his assaults and dodges Miloud in his indifferent manner replied: "Yes, it is true. However, you can see those monsters only at Cube 6 and above. Most of them are castle defenders. You will get there. For now, focus on your current task, don't die. Put dodging from hits in priority over hitting them yourself. We are learning to react, fast but calmly." Miloud never missed the chance to lecture Safo, he was a teacher for Safo after all.
After eighty or hundred flying needles, crushed and cut open worms, the alpha showed itself.
It was bright red and had muscular rings unlike the rest pinkish weak subordinates of its. Nonchalantly, as if it owned the place and the lives of its cruel enemies with it, the Alpha Needle Worm emerged from the pit.
"Remember what I warned you about. Do not rush to fight with it. You can distract it but I have to kill it or else everything that we did today will be in vain."