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World: MSS - Loading...
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There are three different types of Totems for the orcs: Watcher Totems, Guardian Totems, and Avenger Totems.
The actual number of totems themselves are endless. Eagle, Owl, Lion, Wolf, Alligator, Squid, Bison as many as there are animals in the world. You choose one of them. Then, they receive the appropriate stat bonuses and choose a skill from their totem’s skill tree, depending on which type they are.
Depending on which Totem you choose, your character fits into the archetype for a party. Naturally, Guardian Totems are suitable for tanks. Avenger totems are best for Bladers or the DPS of the party. Watchers are usually reserved for stealth-oriented characters, rogues who can double as a Scout; I.E a Wayfinder or Pioneer in MSS terminology. If you’re going for a damage-oriented rogue, it’s better to go with an Avenger totem so there is some overlap between the three.
To my knowledge, the Crow was a Watcher Totem.
This entire time, I thought Arrosh was a Blader –a DPS just like me.
He wasn’t.
He was a speed-oriented rogue wayfinder.
Of course. The [Kudan] Core could be used to make-up for the Orc’s lack of [Smell] or [Hearing] stats. In this world, Cores weren’t limited to what they could be used for in the pixel RPG game of MSS. They were only limited by my imagination and no doubt that Arrosh had been the Wayfinder for the [Sword Saint] and his party, using the [Kudan] Core to look at the future and decide which path to take.
If it weren’t for the battle that was going on, I would have smacked myself on the forehead.
The moment Arrosh delivered his warning, he shot out in front of me; the sword reflecting what little light was available in that gargantuan arena. He leapt up into the air and then shot forward like a bullet, bouncing off of invisible platforms in the air and changing directions mid-flight. [Air Jump], a skill from the Crow Totem skill tree that allowed one to double or triple jump depending on how far one took the skill. Arrosh leapt over Tanya and aimed himself straight at Coum, cane-sword gleaming with deadly black lightning.
But two [Players] were no slouch. Coum wasn’t one to hold onto pride knowing that he had no chance against Arrosh in close-quarters, he stepped closer to the dwarf who held up the Colossal shield, meeting Arrosh’s charge with a wall of steel.
Leaving their back wide open to me.
｢Lock Slaveborn casts [Share the Load] ｣
The translucent manacle launched itself out of my wrist and clasped itself around Tanya’s ankle.
“Fuck! He’s debuffing me!” She cried out, “Coum! Change the field!”
Coum rose like a specter of dark-blue paint and the tentacle-tattoos on his bald-head went mad with rage, in contrast to its owner’s own emotionless expression. He stared at me, like studying a bug –an ant that tried to bite him but failed to break the skin.
“I thought you were broken.” He whispered, weaving arcane sigils in the air. Once, I had seen Kyrian do something similar but Kyrian’s had been yellow and blue, all thin stylized lines. But Coum’s dripped wet paint, fat ugly strokes dripping with red and dark blue. “It seems I must teach you fear.”
“Bring it you bald freak!” I snarled, closing the distance in front of us and my heart screaming in protest as we headed straight towards the source of trauma.
Coum put his back to Tanya and raised his hands like he just got hit by a big wave then dropped to the floor, touching the ground with both palms.
｢ Coum Raculum casts [Mire] ｣
Waves of deep blue –so dark that it was almost black– pulsed out of the man in multiple layers, churning the dry dirt and turning it into a veritable swamp. Immediately, my feet were stuck and I slowed down considerably; thick mud and debris getting caught in the joints of my armor. Snarling, I disengaged [King’s Guard] and grabbed the Lunar Shield. Grabbing it by one of its ‘horns’, I channeled Aura into the Plurality and threw it like a flat spinning disc straight towards Coum’s head.
Coum raised his hands, which were not dripping with mud and looked clean like a baby’s butt, and slammed them into the ground again.
A freaking wall made of rock and mud rose out of the ground, hiding them from my view and blocked the shield as well.
“Master!” I cried out and used [King’s Guard], bringing the shield back.
I immediately sidestepped but the wall was bigger than I had thought, it was U-shaped and around eight feet tall. This Coum, he had a better understanding than I did of the spells in MSS and what they were capable of. There were no U-shaped defensive spells in MSS, not that I was aware of anyways. Is this what [Players] could do if they became Mages? Abusing in-game knowledge combined with the laws of this world now that the limitations of a videogame had been lifted? Could he be creating his own spells?
In my mind it took forever but it had only been a few seconds. I cleared the wall and saw Tanya using [Gigantification], the dwarve’s racial trait.
She grew to be near ten-feet tall and unlike the Scavenger Dwarf, she had [Arms Race] as well, meaning that her colossal shield and harpoon grew with her. The Shield was near fifteen feet tall and when she slammed it into the ground, I was thrown off of my feet from the aftershock.
Arrosh pivoted off of the air and then landed on her shield, running up the vertical surface like a freaking gecko, his sword hissing and spitting black lightning from the [Biyu (비유)] Core. He cleared the fifteen feet hunk of metal easily and flipped, lashing out with a two-handed side slash towards Tanya’s eyes. But the dwarf was used to having her eyes be a target at that size, she hunched at just the right second and took the blow to her forehead which was covered by a metal circlet.
Then she slammed her foot on the ground. Hard.
｢Tanya Leukira casts [Wind Barrier] ｣
It’s been awhile since I saw this Core ability, way back when I was tangling with the adventurers from the Turina Empire. But those guys had been regular sized humans. Tanya was a ten-feet tall avatar of steel and blood, a fierce grin on her face as the wind picked up around her feet.
She didn’t just have stage two of her racial trait, she had stage three: [Augmentation].
｢Tanya Leukira has the [Gigantify] Status ｣
｢ [Wind Barrier] receives the [Gigantify] Status ｣
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Holy crap.” I spat, trying to get to my feet and out of range of the wind.
By wind, I didn’t mean any old summer breeze. It started as a strong gust then worked itself up into a freaking tempest that buffeted everything in the entire arena and I screamed as it tore my boots free out of the mud and threw me into the air.
｢ [Wind Barrier] reacts with [Mire] ｣
Everything on the ground began spinning as Tanya summoned a squall of mud, sticks and rocks. One corner of my mind worried for Arrosh, he wasn’t built to take as much punishment as I was. I wiped at my eyes trying to find Arrosh’s form in the distance.
There!
Arrosh flitted through the storm like a bird, looking calm and determined. Jumping off of the air, he landed on the ground and stabbed his sword into it, holding firm. But there was too much debris flying about, I saw him get pelted with rocks and clods of mud. Holding out a hand I used [King’s Guard], sending my Lunar Shield flying towards Arrosh to guard him.
This was good. I had been unable to gain any stacks because of Coum. By defending Arrosh with the Lunar Shield, I could get some stacks while-
“Tanya.” I heard Coum say.
Tanya stopped the ability and the rising winds died down. [Wind Barrier] never came to completion.
I landed back on the muddy floor with a thud, never having risen above six feet.
My Lunar Shield didn’t block anything which meant no stacks. No stacks, no debuffs.
Not only that, Coum wasn't hitting me with any magic. No stacks for [Shadow Blink] or anything for me to abuse my [Shadow Mimic Wolf] Core.
Coum stared out at me, his empty eyes just flat. Tanya’s, on the other hand, looked smug.
These fuckers knew what kind of Cores I had and my fighting style. The Colosseum. They must’ve been there. They had been spying on me. Just how far had they planned this?
“You slimy-” I started.
“Calm, sparrow!” Arrosh snapped and I held my tongue.
I hated this whole situation. In the first place, this was a horrible match up. A blader and a wayfinder against a shielder and mage. We had the damage on our side but they had everything else. The shielder could tank for the mage while he dealt out damage plus any debuffs, changing the terrain to their liking. In MSS, a match-up played a big part. It’s not like there was an official answer for what was the best 2-man party, but if someone asked me what was the best composition, I’d be tempted to say Tank and Mage.
Damn it. We needed to split them up.
“We need to split them up.” I muttered. “Get the shielder away from the mage.”
“...A parrot only knows how to repeat.” The thread of annoyance in Arrosh’s voice almost made me smile. “Do not be a parrot, sparrow.”
He was basically saying that’s what he’d been trying to do. But of course, I hadn’t been holding my own weight in this fight.
“Just because we need to split them up, doesn’t mean we need to split up ourselves, master.” I gave him a look, hoping he’d understand.
The blind orc smiled. “The Disciple wants to lead the Dance? Then after decades of following, this quick rabbit shall show the slow turtle what it is to truly follow.”
I stepped in front of him and held out a hand, the [Lunar Shield] snapping back into orbit. I held the falchion sideways, the hilt across my forehead. Arrosh stepped behind me and I knew that the slender swordmaster was ready to burst forward at a moment’s notice. In the corner of my vision I saw his sword gleam in the light.
Tanya scoffed and a burst of wind from her gigantic nostril (not an insult, just facts) actually reached the ground. “Coum. That orc isn’t going to turn. Let’s just kill them both.”
Coum stared at us, making his decision. “Understood.”
Without a word, Arrosh and I surged forward at the same time, the world becoming a medley of colors and sound.
Instead of meeting us mid-stride, Tanya ground herself with her shield while Coum drew more arcane sigils, much faster this time. He held out a palm and slimy tentacles, as thick as my leg and long as my body, burst through the mire. They writhed and attempted to entangle our legs, trying to slow our charge.
I bent low, holding the falchion in both hands and mowed down the tentacles. Arrosh stepped off of my back and leaped into the air, throwing his cane sword at me.
It wasn’t something we discussed but what I felt was the right thing to do. My fingers wrapped around his cane sword and channeled aura into it. The [Biyu] ability worked like an enchantment, keeping the black lightning coated around the weapon. My stage-3 Aura fused with the primal elemental energy, turning black and forming jagged spiked teeth that broke off at erratic angles around the weapon. Wielding the falchion in one and the cane-sword in the other, I waded through the tentacles.
Arrosh jumped through the air, reaching Coum.
Coum’s hand weaved more signs while Tanya brought her shield around, laboriously slow. Seeing this, I threw the falchion and cane sword both at Coum, trying to get to him in time. But Tanya’s movements had been a ruse, she suddenly snapped the shield into position and knocked both swords away. Arrosh stepped off of the air and careened to the side, catching his cane-sword before it could fly further. I threw my shield at Arrosh and he leapt into the air, used my shield as a foothold to jump one more time, then gained height twice more using air jump.
Right above Tanya’s head.
Want to know something about dwarf physiology?
They have a short neck, so they can’t look up very well.
Arrosh’s momentum took him above Tanya’s head and behind her, outside of my vision. Tanya screamed in pain and the scent of things burning reached my nose. I ran quickly, picking up my sword and calling the shield back to me, seeing what Arrosh did.
The orc swordmaster had flipped and then drove his sword straight into the base of Tanya’s neck, coming straight down. The black lightning instantly cauterized what cuts it made. Tanya had dispelled [Gigantification] just in the nick of time and had avoid a fatal injury, the cut barely pierced the skin.
I sprinted across the distance between me and Coum, promising myself not to rely on buffs but to train my base stats as well once I got out of this. Coum saw me and tried to cast another spell.
I threw my shield at him, covered in Aura and it shot towards him like a shuriken from an anime. I had channeled as much Aura as I could cram into the thing and it became a streaking blade of death, more than six feet long and wide. The Lunar Shield sheared through his spell, leaving a four feet tall wall which I leapt over, finally seeing Coum face to face for the first time since I’d been tortured.
Tanya whirled, facing Arrosh in anger and the dwarf woman lost reason, stepping away from Coum.
“Tanya.” Coum said, and urgency filled his voice. His hands never stopped moving though and he threw this strange squid-like thing towards me, surrounded with teeth and the tentacles ending in tiny little mantis claws.
I ducked aside and snapped my sword in a reverse grip out of reflex, feeling something splattering the side of my leg and ribs. The creature thing had landed on the ground and leapt up at me, trying to hug my face like a pop-culture reference. Snarling, I brought my sword around to stab Coum in the neck and-
The blade was gone. It was just scrap metal.
Coum had counted on me blocking the thing, purposefully using a spell meant to dissolve the weapon.
Cursing the low-quality weapon, I reached inside my Dimension Ring mentally looking for a sword. Crap, why hadn’t I organized it before this. Where was a sword? Not this, not this either, goddammit, where was the- huh?
Tanya had managed to break away from Arrosh, slamming into me. My Lunar Shield automatically blocked her but her momentum was too great, she broke through the King’s Guard and sent me flying.
Coum came along with me, attached to my wrists by [Ryker’s Manacles] that I’d slipped on the both of us.
We landed, rolling over each other. Coum took out a wavy dagger from somewhere and got on top of me, putting his weight on the blade. I grabbed his arm by the wrist, face bared in a snarl, and the other directly on the blade itself. Blood dripped down from my hand and I pushed, my triceps burning as I kept him off of me.
“Got you now, bitch.” I whispered, totally ignoring the fact that he was in the advantageous position, on top of me.
“You are an insect. When this is over, I shall dissect you while you are still awake.” He muttered, his eyes two bottomless voids. He leaned down, I could smell his breath. “Be afraid Lock Slaveborn, for this time I shall truly leave nothing behind.”
“Let me ask you something.” I growled back. Seeing Coum’s face this close to me awakened something dark, something I’d buried deep within and it wasn’t fear.
“Ever heard of a breath mint?” Then I kneed him in the balls.
Immediately, I tore my hand free of the manacles, skin and flesh. The sound was sickening but I was used to it by now.
Coum’s eyes widened in shock, his nose dripping with blood. He fell back, grabbing the manacle and trying to pull it off of him but no luck.
I limped towards him, taking my time.
“Pull it off. You can do it.” I held up my mangled hand to him, free of skin and showing the whites of my bone on the back of my hand. “Come on. It’s pretty much a manicure compared to what you did to me.”
Something resembling panic entered Coum’s dead fish eyes as he saw my hand. He looked at my face and then the manacle again. He pulled at it harder, actually beginning to grunt and losing his previous composure.
I bent down and picked up the wavy dagger he dropped. “Come on, tough guy. You can do it.” Out of sheer malice I kicked at his fingers.
Coum hissed in pain and tried to scrabble away from me, turning his back and scurrying away like the fucking rat he was. But I was an adventurer and he was nothing but a mage –who was clasped to Ryker’s Manacles to boot. The fact that he showed his back to me, something that someone weaker than me would do triggered an instinctual lust for violence and for revenge. I was on him in an instant and started stomping on his fingers.
“COME ON YOU BALD FUCK! DO IT! RIP IT OFF ALREADY!” I started roaring and kicking him, not painfully but just enough to knock him off balance.
Every single time I kicked him, miniature ink-spots bloomed and then stabbed into his body. Even now, the Royal Oni's passive was working.
Coum never let out a sound but now his eyes were completely sunken with pain –and fear. He kept trying to get away from me but I never let up, kicking him on the back, rear, leg and anywhere I could. Then one lucky kick landed on the side of his head and he fell back, eyes dazed, bleeding from a dozen cuts, punctures and lacerations.
“The chased becomes the chaser, rats cornered, bite back. But what they thought was a lion is nothing but another rat, posing in the moonlight and making the shadows larger than itself ” I whispered, brandishing the dagger and watching over him. "Is that it? That's it? This simple?! Say something!"
He started drooling at the side of his mouth, twitching like he wanted to say something.
“Come on, answer me.” I nudged the side of his head with my feet. “I said answer me!”
Then I stabbed him in the hand. He screamed.
I straddled him and looked him in the eyes, hate and rage and all things ugly in my heart baring its way to the surface. Slowly, I placed my hand over his neck.
I’d killed before.
But not like this.
Not so full of… hate.
Never so personal.
“Keep your eyes open.” My voice didn’t sound like my own.
"Look at me." I whispered, which grew to a harsh hiss. "I said, Look at me, Coum."
He bucked. He fought back. He hit the side of my head with Ryker’s Manacles and desperately tried to claw out my eyes. His eyes weren’t the flat emotionless eyes of a predator anymore. He was scared and kept flopping around like a fish out of water, survival instincts kicking in. I think he shat himself because something sour hit my nose.
His eyes were open the entire time. Staring into mine.
Then… he stopped struggling.
He just stopped.
...
Mages are very fragile.
Us humans are very fragile.
All living things are, in a way.
...I’m not proud of what I did.
I’m no hero. I'm no protector.
I should have stopped there, to save what was left of my humanity.
I just choked harder.
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