With Silent Acacia being focused by Toxanerla, it was difficult for him to retaliate. Luckily, he wasn’t alone. With a wave of his hand, Zorn appeared on the battlefield.
The alligator stared at the enemy, waiting for Silent Acacia to give the order to attack. Her master quickly used a skill. [Deep Connection] temporarily strengthened the beast hunter’s pet depending on his own attributes.
“Zorn, attack!”
The pet finally received an order from her master. A condensed sphere of water gathered in its maw, quickly shooting at the witch.
[-108!]
Silent Acacia was quite satisfied with the damage. Since Zorn died during the world boss fight, he had to retrain her from level zero. Now it was already level 17, barely enough to take part in the boss fight.
Toxanerla glared angrily at Silent Acacia, gritting her teeth. Drops of water dripped from her soaked clothes. Her blouse stuck close to her figure. Luckily – or unluckily – the white fabric was prevented by the game form turning transparent.
In Liam’s past life some groups of players tried all means to get some indecent glimpses at those gorgeous NPCs. But Fate of Crunaboul wasn’t that kind of game, thwarting any attempts.
Eventually one of these groups even complained loudly in the global chat and tried to garner public support to convince C to change.
After a day of chaos no one heard from those players again.
Later, a relationship system was introduced allowing players to perform certain actions if they both confirmed to be in a relationship.
However, only because it was impossible to take advantage of those NPCs didn’t mean that they would appreciate certain actions.
NPC often considered the players attempts as attacks, retaliating in kind. Just like Toxanerla right now.
The witch was basically fuming, speaking in a threatening voice:
“You freak dare to lust after my body?”
However, Silent Acacia didn’t care that much about the NPC’s reaction. He wore an embarrassed expression, looking at his girlfriend:
“Qu, Quickstep, I didn’t plan for this. S… sorry!”
Quickstep glanced over her shoulder, staring at her boyfriend with judging eyes. But seeing him flustered she couldn’t uphold her façade, breaking out in laughter.
“Haha, it’s alright.”
Suddenly a cough could be heard.
“Guys, we are still fighting. Acacia, watch out!”
At this moment, Toxanerla waved her wand again. The shadow of a giant toad enveloped her, forming a stark contrast to her usual graceful image.
A deep croak left its throat, shaking the entire space. Suddenly something red flashed through the air. Silent Acacia barely managed to jump to the side thanks to Liam’s early reminder.
A sound like a striking whip followed as the tongue was fully unrolled, remaining in place for a short time.
“Quick! We need to attack that tongue!”
Liam urged his friends before moving into action. His full skill rotation came into play. He knew that they couldn’t let the toad attack again since Silent Acacia was now out of stance.
Seeing Liam going all out, Quickstep also didn’t dare to hold back. A whirlwind engulfed the tongue, and a bright explosion went off above its head.
The shadowy image couldn’t endure it. Cracks formed on its skin before the toad quickly broke apart, dissipating into the air.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Only Toxanerla remained, holding her head, obviously in a weakened state.
“That’s our chance! Go!”
The trio attacked quickly but after just using most of their skills they felt quite awkward with their normal attacks.
Only Silent Acacia still had some tricks up his sleeve. With a thought Zorn fell into a rampage, her eyes turning a deep crimson. She dashed towards the witch, opening her maw wide. Blood red mana played around her sharp teeth as she snapped at the enemy’s leg.
[-660!]
An enormous damage was dealt to the witch, brining her HP below half.
“Ah!”
With a startled cry Toxanerla woke up from her weakened state. She saw Zorn clinging to her leg. Toxanerla’s skin was suddenly tinged by a green shimmer.
“You all can die now!”
Letting out ominous words the witch instantly gathered a large amount of mana, infusing it into her body. Suddenly the human made of flesh and blood dissolved, turning into a green liquid, which seeped into the soil.
“Careful, spread out!”
Liam warned his friends calmly in anticipation of the next skill. But before he could explain more, two puddles of poison appeared to the left and right of Silent Acacia.
The hunter was confused, wondering what the purpose of the skill was.
“Dodge!”
Liam hastily tried to remind him, but it was already too late. A figure in the shape of Toxanerla but made of poison jumped out of one puddle, aiming for the other.
It almost appeared like a playful dolphin, but Silent Acacia, who was caught in the middle, wasn’t amused.
He tried to turn his body, but the figure still slammed into his waist. Viscous poison doused his body, dealing massive damage.
[-1162!]
Silent Acacia took a sharp breath. The frail hunter was close to dying from a single hit. His instincts immediately kicked in. A bottle of antidote appeared in his hand. Ignoring the bitter smell he downed it in one gulp, nullifying the poison stacks he received from the attack.
Next, he glanced around. Seeing the puddle sinking into the ground he took the time to quickly drink a basic health potion as well.
Looking at the couple hundred HP he recovered he could only smile wryly.
“Is this how it feels without Balm around?”
Liam didn’t have time to answer as he was the next target. Seeing the two puddles appear around him he didn’t think about counterattacking but hastily rolled to the side.
A splash could be heard behind Liam’s back as the skill missed.
“Oh no! Defend!”
Silent Acacia shouted anxiously watching poisonous puddles appearing around Zorn.
The alligator heard its master, curling its body. A white sheen flashed on its scales.
[Stance -41]
Silent Acacia let out a sigh of relief knowing that his pet was fine. He couldn’t bear to see her die again.
Afterwards Toxanerla targeted Quickstep and Liam. The two kept vigilant, moving at the slightest sign, causing the skill to miss.
A few moments later Toxanerla appeared again on the green plain. Her clothes were back to normal while her skin paled, looking smooth and tempting.
The party didn’t miss the chance. With their skills off cooldown, they immediately attacked with everything they got.
Liam started his rotation with a [Holy Wave]. Hit by the holy damage the witch reacted immediately. She took a bracelet out of thin air.
However, before she could put it on her arms, a sword strike shattered it instantly. Toxanerla glared angrily at Liam, but the veteran wasn’t deterred.
He followed up with his skills, stacking holy marks before triggering them with a [Double Slash].
But instead of being happy, an apprehensive expression was on his face as he had to watch Toxanerla gather mana around her staff and preparing for another attack against Silent Acacia.
Luckily the hunter knew his own situation. He didn’t dare to take another attack. With a thought the [Stalker] skill activated.
This was the evolved form of [Stealth] granted by Silent Acacia’s new class.
[Stalker (rank 1)
Cost: 16 Fury
Effect: Select a target as prey. You body will be obscured, causing enemies to ignore you. Three targets pointing out the prey’s weakness will appear on their bodies at random intervals. Attacks hitting the targets are guaranteed critical hits. But other attacks will only deal 50% of the damage.
If you have a pet, the effect will be applied to them as well.
Cooldown: 20 seconds]
Silent Acacia still stood in the same place, but a vague shadow enveloped his body.
Toxanerla had a confused look in her eyes. Suddenly she shook her head, turning towards Liam. Her wand, which had already gathered enough mana instantly unleashed an attack.
Even Liam was caught off guard. At this point blank range, he didn’t react fast enough, receiving a direct hit.
[-540!]
Liam’s body momentarily stiffened in surprise. The witch’s movements were incredibly smooth, something he wouldn’t expect from a low-leveled opponent.
He kept this lesson in mind while putting his concentration back on the fight.
In the meantime, Silent Acacia saw a small red cross on Toxanerla’s back. He didn’t miss his chance, instantly drawing his bow and releasing a powerful arrow.
[-481!!!]
With a grin the hunter watched his attack hit perfectly. However, while he was still happy about his success, another target appeared.
Silent Acacia was flustered, readying another arrow. But before he could fire, the red cross already disappeared.
[-240!]
The poisonous witch shook from the attacks. She took a deep breath while waving her wand, gathering mana in a desperate attempt to take her enemies down.
Green, poisonous clouds gathered in the sky.
However, her struggle didn’t matter anymore. At this point Quickstep, Bleary Mirage, and Zorn attacked at the same time. Toxanerla’s few remaining HP emptied out instantly.