The Magic Guy's the last opponent, and once his buddy goes down he's pulling back from the doorframe.

His arms move as he retreats, and while it'd only take a second to leap forward and catch up, it seems too dangerous.

It's better to deal with him from a distance.

Half the hitpoints were gone with his first strike after all.

Whether it reset the stamina, the currents still numb the fingers and the armor sparks.

t's like overdosing on energy drinks so bad, you get a seizure.

The backpack is on, so switching to archer mode and shooting an arrow should be faster than rushing him.

Let's hope it's safer too, who knows what other nasty spells he can do?

He's readying one as he runs, and the revolving red light doesn't help with the aiming.

The Brigandine is also stiffer than I'd like, and missing him from six meters would be lame.

The tip of the arrow sparks as it's let loose.

Regardless of the electric charge, the shot doesn't bring him down.

The attack hit true and he only wears his robes, yet the logs show the injury was minimal.

Three points. He might have the stone skin spell to protect him, or it could have been a bad roll, this isn't the recurve bow after all.

The system logs don't delve into the details.

The median is three plus three, which means a 2d6, so it can dish out anywhere from two to twelve.

This last one could have been a low roll or something serious that blocked it.

It would be nice to know which one.

Thinking about it now, the bow has a better potential than what the gladius can do.

Except the next arrow on its way misses, damn, the stress and the lightning strike did a number on me.

The previous one at least interrupted his spell, doing not much else.

That's not the end of his attempts.

His hands wave in strange patterns, the chanting much quieter now, yet he's still going.

How long does it take to cast something? Can the bow shoot again before he finishes?

Thanks to the quiver Dragi gifted for the bandit mission, it's way faster than before.

It won't matter if it misses, so let's give it an extra second to aim.

The red light fades out letting the cold white of the corridor illuminate him better.

This Brigandine is cumbersome, and the fingertips are still numb, but he's going down.

[03:26:59 Hit with a Bandit's Bow + Bodkin Arrow on Insane Wizard. You lost 0.2 Stamina. +10 Damage. You killed Insane Wizard +228 Exp.]

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

That's more like it, that ten on the attack roll came close to maxing out what the bow can do without getting a crit bonus.

It means he didn't wear armor or have active strengthening spells. At least the character's not the only one squishy here.

A well-placed shot or slash can kill anyone.

Humans have around ten hitpoints on average, and wizards have less.

It doesn't matter if they're low or high-level mobs, that Gavin guy, the Guildmaster had nine as well.

And he has five hundred levels to go with it.

Wounded or not, that would have done him in regardless.

At last, the minimap's counter reaches zero.

It's time to catch my breath. It's crazy that Magic Dude gave so few Exp when he was way worse than the marksmen.

Once he's dead, the sparks stop, putting the limbs to sleep.

A break is in order, and let's grab some food to speed up the healing without wasting more potions.

The bedroll could help to speed it up more, yet this room is too disgusting to lay it down.

Besides, there's some loot to rummage over.

Let's hope there's something useful, as the Brigandine's great but the rest underperformed.

So what does this mean?

Did the avatar do better than DragonSlayer and beat the Guardians already?

While it seems unlikely, only his main character is crazy high-level.

That guide attempt was with a fresh alt, one with Premium, and access to more slots and auto-battle. How much would they matter?

Without any of that, it was tough. And he has thousands of hours in the game too.

Let's not forget, it would have been over if Mace Guy decided to strike me rather than Plate Dude.

Whatever caused them to fight each other, I should be thankful.

On top of saving my life, he rewarded the character with the Exp for the kill.

Is it because the dagger caused injuries, and NPCs can't get experience?

No, looking at it that way, getting pinned down is what killed him.

In that case, a note to self: having mobs kill each other might boost the levels too.

Talk about that, the character is at his seventh now, the popup was easy to miss while fighting for survival.

So does it mean the hard part is over? Will it be weak swarms of enemies until the boss room? No, it seems unlikely.

The system didn't call them Poltergeists as the guide suggested.

It could be a new patch, and the browser is off-limits to check when Dragi wrote that guide, so let's assume the worst.

Or rather, that the worst part is yet to come.

They dropped something interesting, a parchment I found after lighting the oil lamp.

It details the Mercenaries' mission to clear this place and has some lore-related info.

It's cryptic and you have to read between the lines, but this is the best it can get without access to the browser.

Compared to Dragi's verbose writing, this is as dry as a dictionary.

They mention mutants, psychic powers, and an investigation.

[The adventurers we sent earlier didn't return or lost their minds in a rampage. Assume that everyone will try to kill you, and wear strong artifacts to protect your minds. Beware of the monsters the survivors called Poltergeists.]

Well, it clears things up. So these weren't the Guardians.

People indeed go insane down here, and there's a reason they attacked the Mercenaries.

It looks like I managed to slaughter the good guys, damn it.

And what strong artifacts did they wear?

Nothing of the sort dropped. So what else is here?

Those two-handed weapons could work.

They're heavy and expensive, but who'd leave them after the mobs gave them for free?

No items in the inventory scratched the plate, so they're more useful than dealing with the boss alone.

Of course, the greatsword didn't drop, nor did the crazy armor.

The only options are the axe and the last guy's mace.

Oh, and the crossbow, with a few bolts.

They're hard to find even after lighting the oil lamp, and glancing at their stats is enough to give up. They're garbage.

Aren't crossbows supposed to be stronger than regular ones?

One d6 for the weapon, and the bolts don't add anything.

The price estimate is like the recurve bow, but there won't be any looting for money, it's a one-way mission.

Useful items can come because the deeper the avatar can reach the better, no fancy dead weight though.

It's heavier than the current gear and does half the damage, get out of here.