Legendria - the emerald cave, Sheko ruun, Knife Juggler
Although Sheko didn’t do much in the Tanzanite Cave, he still gained a few levels in his Knife Juggler job, unlocking the first tier for all three of his skills. With Sting Like a Bee, his thrown attacks now reduced the enemy’s END by 10% of his DEX if they couldn’t defend against the attack. The other two skills were active: Sleight of Hand was a simple but common skill that allowed him to equip an item that fit in his palm directly from his inventory, and Steady Hand, Eyes On The Target was an incredibly powerful skill in Sheko's opinion. It gave his thrown attacks some level of homing, based on his AGI, which had reached a surprising level.
Sheko realized the extent of his agility when he exited the cave in just 10 seconds during what he considered a light sprint, without even pushing himself to his limits. Starting from a standstill, and considering the cave’s length of about 400 meters (by his rough estimate), his speed was impressive. The cave’s winding paths, with sections rising or dipping at angles as steep as 45 degrees, made it difficult to judge the exact distance. However, Sheko estimated that the cave’s farthest edge was no more than 10 meters below him and possibly within a 100-meter radius. He could sense the unknown beyond the cave's walls, likely separated only by layers of hard rock.
After waiting another 20 seconds, Mai and Nue finally reached the entrance. Raggedy wasn’t with them, and Sheko was about to ask about her when Mai raised her right hand, showing her Master Crest—a symbol resembling a raggedy doll with pins sticking out, like a voodoo doll.
Mai took a moment to catch her breath. "How... are... you... so... fast?" she panted. "And why do I feel short of breath here?"
Nue answered the first question for Sheko. "Well, he’s an AGI build. For him, that was just a short sprint. But if he had to run for a while, he'd probably fare as well as you, having to sprint the whole way. If I had to guess, he probably has a little less AGI than me. Maybe around my mom’s level. Considering he's still under level 100, and he finished yesterday at level 67, his AGI is impressive. It would be a little less impressive if he had a high-rank job, though."
Nue then turned to Sheko. "You don’t have a high-rank job yet, right?"
"No, I just maxed out Matador yesterday with you. Now I’m working on Knife Juggler. But wait, why did it take you so long to get out of the cave then? And no, I don’t know why you’re feeling short of breath, Mai. That sounds awful."
Nue answered Sheko with a playful tone. "Because I’m here to escort you and fight by your side. Since you decided to rush ahead, I figured you’d survive alone for a bit, so I prioritised escorting Mai instead."
She teased "Your choice of jobs confuses me though. Matador is a strictly melee job. Why would you switch to a ranged job? Are you getting scared of the frontlines?"
Sheko, annoyed by the insinuation, replied, "I’m not afraid. Knife Juggler is a mid-range job. I’m planning to mix up my combat style with ranged attacks since Odysseus has a synergy with ranged attacks, allowing me to temporarily mark them."
Mai interjected, "That sounds less like a synergy and more like an enabler so you can even use it with ranged attacks."
"Fine, fine," Sheko grumbled. "But I didn’t hear you complaining when I saved Raggedy from the Cockatrice."
Mai shrugged. "I thought it might’ve been a concussion from Nue’s hit to its head."
"I wish! I do have a skill that stuns enemies, but the Cockatrice resisted it," Nue responded,
"Come on, its whole leg turned blue with Odysseus's pattern. You didn’t realize? What, you thought I just nicked its leg and that was it for the entire fight?" Sheko complained
Nue and Mai both answered in unison, "Yes."
Mai added, "I assumed you were just weak for your level and needed time to get your embryo up to par. I mean, it didn’t even deal damage in the end—you just threw its strike off course. Someone throwing something bigger could’ve done the same."
By now, Sheko was getting angry. "I was trying to be a team player and stay at the back. But if that’s how you feel, why don’t you stay back and I’ll show you what I can do?"
Nue and Mai shrugged and whispered to each other. Sheko knew Mai was provoking him on purpose, but he didn’t care. He was feeling wound up too, especially with the ticking clock and the entire raid depending on him.
"Keep up!" Sheko shouted, equipping a pair of knives in his left hand while holding his spear in his right. With that, he sprinted into the cave.
Legendria - the emerald cave, Mai Higaisha, Venomancer
Mai was starting to grow tired of Sheko getting on her nerves. He acts like an overactive child. Maybe he is and just lied. But I doubt a child would have his level of understanding about skills and game mechanics. Then again, he is somewhat forgetful and prideful. Not to mention Finn—he’s a child or at least a teen, and he's pretty composed. Maybe I don’t know him well enough to judge. Either way, Sheko will either learn a lesson in humility and teamwork, or I'll need to reassess my opinion.
Mai was jolted from her thoughts when Nue began running ahead, following Sheko into the cave and calling for her to catch up. She started sprinting forward but felt sluggish compared to Nue’s practiced running form and Sheko’s shrinking silhouette, moving in a controlled, deliberate pace. Weird to think I’m running faster than a world record pace right now. I know AGI has strange scaling—it’s not like I’m 15 times faster than when I started—but still, probably around 10 times faster now.
Between breaths, Mai called out to Nue, “So, what do you think about him?”
“I assume you mean Sheko? Or maybe Finn?”
“Yes, Sheko,” Mai replied. “Though I guess we have time, so tell me about Finn after.”
“I think I’ll reserve some judgment for now. But from what I’ve seen, Sheko’s a self-centered ass with just enough talent and skill to justify it. Unless he’s a smurf, his save back in the tunnel—throwing the Cockatrice off course—was either the luckiest thing I’ve seen or proof that he’s more talented than my mom, at least in knife throwing. Also, I think you’re underestimating the force behind his embryo’s ability. The Cockatrice might look like a giant chicken... well, it is, but it was also as strong as my mom. Or at least, as strong as she was when she dueled me. I don’t think she was using her full strength, though. The only reason I wasn’t smashed into the cave wall was because I activated Immovable Stone before it hit me.”
As Nue finished, Sheko hit the first turn, prompting Nue to increase her pace. Mai had to push herself harder to keep up. A sound like a whip cracked ahead of them.
What was that? Did he bring a whip, too? How much gear did he buy? No wonder he’s broke.
A second crack echoed further ahead, and they finally reached the turn in time to see the disintegrating bodies of two giant, poison-spitting lizards—both with their heads twisted nearly 360 degrees.
Up ahead, Sheko was engaged in combat with a pair of quartz golems, each standing a head taller and half again as wide as him. The left golem swung its right arm at Sheko, but he slid under it, grabbing the swinging arm with his gauntleted hand. Using his embryo's ability, he twisted the marked arm, cutting it off at the elbow and sending himself into the air, just in time to dodge the other golem’s overhead strike.
Midair, Sheko stabbed forward with his blue spear, which spun as it bore into the second golem’s head. As he landed, the first golem moved to attack again, but Sheko parried the strike with his spear, cutting off the golem’s arm just as he had done with the first. Disarmed and desperate, the golem tried to crush Sheko with its body, but he dodged easily. Without hesitation, he bore into its chest, just as he had done to the second golem’s head.
Mai was about to congratulate Sheko on his impressive display against the golems, but he wasted no time and simply started running ahead again. She saw his next pack of enemies—a group of six spiders with crystal-tipped legs. The spiders dropped from the ceiling to block his path, but Sheko didn't hesitate. He threw a knife at the closest spider on his left. The knife flew unerringly at the spider, and then, mid-flight, it suddenly accelerated its spin, cutting through the spider's head effortlessly. It continued on, altering its trajectory to slice through a second and then a third spider before Sheko reached melee range. He stabbed the first spider on his right through the abdomen with his spear as it tried to lunge at him, then threw another knife at the two remaining spiders, cutting through them just like the first three. Sheko quickly grabbed the knife closest to him and bolted ahead once more.
Yeah, I think I'm with Nue here. He's definitely skilled. Maybe he is a smurf, but then how does he only have a second-form embryo? Mai took a moment to think about the lizards at the entrance. They were weak, but I don't know if they were one-hit weak. Maybe he lied about his embryo level. Actually, it would make more sense if he wasn't worried about the Cockatrice because he thought he could solo it. I'd like to see that if he really thinks so.
As they passed by the spider corpses, the one Sheko had stabbed through the abdomen suddenly jumped at Mai. Nue intercepted it with a lightning-fast strike, obliterating its head.
"I thought he killed it," Mai exclaimed in surprise.
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"I guess he's just focused on clearing the path forward as quickly as possible..." Nue paused as a realization dawned on her. "Oh, he's definitely crazy."
"What? What happened?" Mai asked quickly.
"He's not looking to defeat the Basilisk after the Cockatrice respawns. He said, 'we have 5 minutes'—5 minutes until the Cockatrice respawns, and my mom will have to defeat it alone. He's trying to race my mom."
Mai thought it over and agreed with Nue's assessment. Yeah, that's pretty crazy.
Nue called to Mai again, "You think you can move faster? I wanna watch."
"No, I'm already at my limit," Mai admitted.
Nue then slowed down a bit, crossed her hands behind her back to make a cradle, and said, "Get on."
As she said this, another crack echoed from up ahead, followed by two more.
Come on, I can run on my own. This is humiliating.
"Don't think of this as getting carried. Think of this as doing me a favor," Nue added when she realized Mai wasn't going to let her carry her.
"Okay, fine," Mai answered reluctantly. She stopped to let Nue carry her, fumbling with her dress for a few seconds as the sounds of combat grew distant. Once Mai was finally stable, Nue shot forward, bounding off the walls and even the ceiling to avoid the few monsters Sheko had left alive. Sometimes she would drop down and finish off a monster mid-move. Despite all the acrobatics, which slowed her down a bit, and the fact that she was carrying Mai, it was clear that Nue was probably faster than Sheko. They finally caught up to him, and surprisingly, he seemed to hear their approach, sparing a glance back. They had already passed what they assumed was the 400-meter mark where the other cave had ended, but still, they couldn't see the Basilisk or the end of the cave. I guess the caves aren't all the same length. Makes sense. This one had fewer twists and turns and just went in a steady incline the whole way.
They caught up just in time to see Sheko struggling with a pack of ten small lizards.
Did he run out of SP and can't use his abilities anymore or something? This should be easy after all the other things he’s killed so far.
As Mai and Nue watched, they realized why Sheko hadn't finished them yet. Four of the lizards attacked from behind, transforming into green lightning bolts. Sheko spun on his leg to dodge three of them, making a painful-looking motion as he abruptly stopped, then tried to hit the last lizard with a knife but missed as it changed its path and struck his unprotected arm. Even from a distance, it was obvious that Sheko had taken a serious hit from the shock. But there was no time to rest—another three lizards launched themselves at him. Holding his spear awkwardly, he spun towards them, using skillful footwork instead of his embryo. The wooden shaft of his spear hit the lizards, leaving two of them marked by Odysseus's blue pattern. However, the lizards weren't ripped apart as Mai had expected; they were dazed but not seriously injured.
The last three lizards attacked, but this time Sheko was prepared. He threw his spring device at them, jumping as high as he could. The device unfurled mid-flight, and the three transformed lizards passed through the metallic spring unharmed, preparing to land and attack again. However, the device wasn't intended to take out the transformed lizards. As the strings connected to the weights reached their maximum length, the Lethal Spring, as Sheko had dubbed it, turned under his skill's influence, crushing and cutting the four lizards that had attacked Sheko first. The device then began to retract, but the metal weights went wild and crushed it, rendering it useless. Sheko gritted his teeth as he saw the device break down, then took another hit—one on the leg, another on the back. He turned and threw a knife at the lizard that hit his back, missing, but managed to redirect the knife to hit one of the lizards still on the ground.
Mai noticed that the two marked lizards hadn't attacked in a while. Looking back, she saw them trying to run in opposite directions but unable to move, as if they were tugging on an invisible rope. Sheko looked hurt, but not critically. With five lizards left and two incapacitated, Mai was sure Sheko would beat them. Almost like clockwork, Sheko threw another knife, cutting down three lizards just as they reverted to their physical forms after he disrupted their attack by swinging his spear shaft. He didn’t hit any of them, but they aborted their attack to avoid the wooden shaft, giving him the opening he needed.
Sheko then approached the two remaining lizards, swinging his spear to launch them into the air. He swung his spear downward, causing the lizards to accelerate and slam into the ground. He repeated the process until he was sure they were dead, finally taking a long, exhausted sigh.
Nue walked over to Sheko and offered a hand as he lay on his back, catching his breath. "Had enough, mighty master?" she said, her tone playful, like a friend teasing, not just a colleague.
Sheko responded, "Yeah, fine. God, you make it sound so awful. Please, never call me 'master' again. Use my name or my job." He lifted his arm and took hers, rising to his feet, still dazed from the last fight.
"So, how much time do we have?" he asked.
"Until the time runs out and the Cockatrice respawns a second time, or until your crazy idea of finishing the cave in five minutes fails?" Nue replied, teasing him again.
"The second, please. Come on, there's no way there are more fights like this. Maybe one more harder fight, and we're at the Basilisk, right?"
He seems more reserved now. Maybe he learned his lesson, or he's not a complete moron but still learned nothing, Mai thought to herself.
"Why don't you check your HUD? We have a minute, though," Mai interjected.
"It distracts me too much. Whenever I tried to keep track of it while training, I ended up getting hit. Now, let's get going," Sheko said, turning to move forward again. But Mai caught his arm.
"You proved you can fight. You don't need to take an insane gamble to show how cool you are. How much HP do you even have right now? Turn on your HUD," Mai insisted.
Sheko reluctantly complied and winced. "I have a bit over half HP, 80% SP, and apparently my leg has internal bleeding." He took a moment to drink three health potions in a row. "Happy now? Let's go. The other teams are almost done; I checked with Finn."
Mai confirmed what he said, then nodded and let go of his arm.
"Let's take the easy way, though," Mai said, taking out Raggedy's crystallized arm.
A smile spread across Sheko's face as he realized her plan. "Agreed."
They ran forward together, and as the Basilisk appeared, Mai released Raggedy from her crest. Once more, they worked together. Sheko spun Raggedy, sending the crystallized arm at the Basilisk. Their aim was good but slightly off. They thought their plan could still work, but then the Basilisk struck the ground with its tail, and an emerald wall appeared, blocking the projectile. The magic released turned the crystal tanzanite purple but left the Basilisk unharmed.
Their line of sight was blocked, so they reacted too late when the Basilisk dropped from the ceiling, almost swallowing Raggedy whole as the others retreated. Sheko was the first to act, trying to stab the Basilisk's side. However, its instincts were sharp, and its tail swung toward Sheko. All he could do was use Odysseus to turn and take the impact with his spear to avoid being killed. Sheko was sent flying, crashing against the cave wall, and dropped the broken spear from his shaking hands.
Nue attacked as the Basilisk sent Sheko flying. Her three-section staff ignited as she started pummeling the Basilisk, breaking two of its six legs. Loud cracks echoed in the dark cave. The Basilisk continued trying to swallow Raggedy whole, swinging its morning star-shaped blue tail at Nue. From the backlines, Mai ineffectually shot poison bolts at the monster. She was sure Nue would be taken out like Sheko, but she was surprised when Nue unleashed a bestial roar and struck back at the Basilisk's tail, parrying its strike and intensifying her assault.
The Basilisk spat out Raggedy and straightened, backing up as Nue finally stopped her barrage, winded and breathing heavily. Desperate to make a difference, Mai drank five full doses of poison, transferring all the debuffs to Raggedy. With their mental link, Raggedy struck the Basilisk just as Mai drank the poison, and her arm detonated, blanketing the Basilisk in toxic gas. However, the Basilisk seemed unaffected, shrieking and trying to slam its tail to the ground again. But the tail was stuck mid-air.
Oh, the marking. Sheko managed to mark its tail when he was launched backward. Mai glanced over to where Sheko had landed. He was standing over his broken spear, planted in the ground, cackling. "Should've finished me off when you could, you fat iguana."
Mai returned her focus to the Basilisk, which was thrashing, trying to move its tail. Nue had recovered, and with only 20 seconds remaining until the Cockatrice respawned, she relentlessly bashed the Basilisk's head until it was dead. To Mai, the scene was almost sad; the creature was pinned down, helpless, until it nearly broke free by dragging the spear tip its tail was linked to out of the bedrock Sheko had anchored it in.
Finally, the emerald door at the end of the cave opened, and Finn sent them a message:
"Good job, everyone. Congratulations to Sheko's and Mai's teams for beating two caves."
The chat, supported by Finn's embryo, continued to send supportive messages. Mai was reminded of what Finn had said at the start of the raid and ran over to Sheko, offering him a potion, which he accepted gratefully.
"Ha, this potion healed me a lot more than the ones I had. Where did you buy this?" Sheko asked curiously.
"I didn't buy it; I made it," Mai beamed. You might be better in direct combat, but I'm an alchemist. I'm a fighter and a crafter. Remember that.
"Wait, when? Didn't I help you brew everything when you logged in?"
"Well, I gave you the easy job with the poison since you were just starting. I thought they'd be useful and had some time after finishing my batch, so I made a few."
"Well, good job. I hope it wasn't too expensive. You got another?"
Mai wasn't sure about potion costs yet but handed him another potion regardless.
"How are you on SP? I got one, but they were harder to make, so I didn't have time for more," she said.
"I still have about 70%. Oh, wait, my HUD is updating because I leveled up. Says 72% now."
"How much SP do you have to keep going like this?" Mai asked, incredulous.
"Well, Odysseus is multiplying it by 2.5, so that's helping a lot," Sheko answered casually.
"By 2.5? That's insane."
"Well, don't you have a similar Status Correction?"
Mai remembered then that Raggedy gave her the same 2.5 multiplier to her MP. "Yeah, okay, fair. For me, it's MP. It just feels like it's not as useful in comparison."
Raggedy then spoke up, "Complain about it while you heal me from the crazy lizard, if you may?"
Oops. Mai quickly apologized and began healing Raggedy from the chemical burns she had received from the Basilisk. It had something like acidic bile or acid magic; Mai wasn't sure, and Nue didn't know either.
After resting for another five minutes, they finally confirmed with the raid that they could move on. Together, all the teams emerged into a giant, opulent cave that glowed with magical light. The ceiling was filled with intricate, curved imagery of unicorns made from intertwined crystals in all the colors of the rainbow. The raid stood overlooking a forest-like scene in the center of the cave. The plants appeared so lifelike, but the way light refracted off them broke the illusion. The entire clearing was made of precious gems, and at its center stood an enormous crystalline unicorn, shining brilliantly.