#Melee
"HOLD UP! At least stop at the entrance!" I called out to the person I was chasing after, but despite my best efforts, the distance between us only increased.
*Godamnit!*
Takamiya, as expected, did not heed my advice and ran straight into the enemy camp, and by the time I reached the entrance, the battle has already started.
The sight that greeted me was astounding.
Takamiya was running parallel to the human wave that was trying to get him, much like a surfer riding a big wave, with the wave (the bandits) always crashing just behind him, whilst having his right arm stretched over to his left side with his sword extended.
If you looked closely enough, he wasn't simply running fast, but he varied his speed to mess up the enemy's timing.
By the time he reached the other end of the "wave" almost all the bandits at the front line had been injured in one way or another. None of them were dead, which wasn't a big suprise, since a quick check verified they were all above level 40, a big difference from the few bandits I killed on the road.
*This is madness!*
(No, this is Patrick!)
Deciding to do what I can to help, I picked out one of the bandits that was attacking Takamiya and fired a shot at his head.
Critical Hit!
*Eh.... I guess no matter how good the shot, you simply can't kill them in one hit. Oh shit! Aggro!*
With an arrow still stuck in his head, the bandit that I shot started to run towards me with a large axe in his hands and an arrow still stuck in his head.
Quite frankly, it was a slightly disturbing image.
Reloading and aiming as quickly as I could, I fired at his head once more.
The shot kicked back his head for a moment, but didn't stop his progress.
He raised his axe up high and brought it down towards me with all his strength.
I easily dodged this attack by sidestepping and cut him with my weapon once before retreating to a safer distance.
After pulling his axe out of the ground, the bandit drew back his arms and swug his axe at me in a painfully slow arc.
*Takamiya was right, these guys have absolutely no fighting skill!*
In order to defeat this guy, all I did after that was to dodge telegraphed strike after telegraphed strike, while insterting my own attacks wherever I could.
Shortly after, he fell over and his corpse disintegrated into nothing, and my exp bar shot up by a significant amount, in addition to some I already gained without noticing.
*This amount of experience, it means that Takamiya killed three of them while I was fighting one?*
Looking back to my party member, I saw that he had somehow managed to avoid getting surrounded and was fighting multiple opponents with considerable skill.
A single one of his sword strokes would slice at several enemies at once and his stabs would go through the smallest opponenings. He could defend his left side amazingly well by spinning and striking or simply by kicking at the enemy.
For an instant, one of the bandits tried to attack him from behind, but Takamiya reversed his grip and stabbed backwards so quickly the the enemies around him didn't even have time to take advantage of the opening before it was gone again.
Not to be outdone myself, I drew an arrow and considered my next course of action.
*Simply shooting at a nearby bandit will cause aggro and make it harder for me to fight. Therefore, I should shoot at those in the back row, who will not be able to reach me.*
Aiming almost straight up, I guesstimated the angle I needed for me to hit the enemies further back and fired a shot.
Critical Hit!
The bandit I hit turned to look at me and tried to push his way through the crowd, but failed and turned back and returned his focus to trying to get to Takamiya.
With this many enemies, I simply had to aim and fire at the general location of the crowd, and I could score a headshot effortlessly. Beyond that, all I had to do was unload arrows as quickly as I could and hope for the best.
It was very unlikely for me to actually kill anybody with this method, but as the battle progressed, majority of the bandits have had their hp bars reduced, some almost to death.
Your "Stubbornness" skill has been triggered!
Your start to gain stat bonuses!
By this time, there were about 85 bandits left, quite dissapointing considering that we've been fighting long enough for my "Stubbornness" skill to trigger.
Only occasionally would an enemy fall dead, and of those only 2 of those were mine (not counting my first kill).
But if you look at it from another viewpoint, since many of the bandits have already been weakened, it could only get easier from now on.
Due to your success rate in high angle shots, you have learned a New Skill!
Skill Learned!
Shower:
Magically split your each projectile into several arrows upon firing.
This skill can only be activated when using a high angle shot.
The power of each projectile is decreased by 30%
Number of projectiles each projectile will split into will increase by +1 for every skill level.
Mana cost will increase per skill level.
Current number of projectiles: 2
Mana cost: 50
*A mid-to-end-game skill, since it will be hard to hit the target with only 2 arrows, unless in special situations like this.*
Even with the reduction in power, since the number of arrows is doubled, my damage output actually increases.
However, since I never added any points into intelligence, my mana was relatively low, and I could only use the skill a few times.
My sense of achievement at learning my new skill was short-lived, as the bandits had managed to push us against the camp wall and have cornered us, and my sense of despair deepened at what happened next.
KrrlaaanG!
As he tried to parry a hammer, the durability of Takamiya's longsword finally reached 0, causing it to shatter into two, leaving him with the handle, which he promptly threw at the nearest bandit, miraculously killing him.
"Hah! A swordsman without a sword is like an Angel with wings! You're no longer a One-Winged Angel, you're a No-Winged Angel!" shouted one of the bandits.
"""NO-WINGED ANGEL! NO-WINGED ANGEL! NO-WINGED ANGEL!""
After chanting for a short moment, everyone fell into silence, as though waiting for a reply.
With the tension in the air, I didn't even dare to fire another shot.
"You're wrong on three points, silly man!"
Takamiya calmly walked towards the bandit that spoke. He was a barbarian carrying two short-swords, and was slightly thinner and taller than the rest. He was possibly the one who called himself "Two-Sword Mantis" earlier on.
"Firstly, you assume I am helpless without a sword, but I am only slightly less dangerous unarmed."
Step.
"Secondly, you believe me unarmed, that I don't have a weapon. But let me tell you this: "All the swords in this world belong to me!" As long as there is a sword nearby, I am never unarmed!"
Step.
"And lastly, though you're not entirely wrong, you believe that I am called the "One-Winged Angel" simply because I am a "One-Armed Swordsman"."
With one last step, Takamiya stood face-to-face with Two-Sword Mantis.
The size difference between the two was almost laughable, with Mantis more than a head taller that Takamiya, and twice as wide. Yet they stared at each other as though they were equals.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"YAAAARGH!" Two-Sword Mantis was the first one to make a move, bringing both swords up and slashing them back down in the classic "Hulk Smash" manouver.
But Takamiya calmly took a step backwards and evaded the move.
Taijutsu! Kasairyu!
"体術! 火砕流!"
Unarmed Technique! Volcanic Eruption!
With pinpoint precision, Takamiya slid one foot between the two swords and hit Two-Sword Mantis in the belly with a back kick, and with some miraculous flick of his legs, managed to toss him into the air.
(Hey...)
(Yes mysterious voice in my head?)
(This is kinda hard to imagine...? so...)
(Oh fine...)
http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...ce27e7.png [http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-2-21-307_zpsf7ce27e7.png]
http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...f37e34.png [http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-5-30-319_zpsc0f37e34.png]
(Like that! Except more of upwards and less of backwards.)
(Ah, okay, thanks.)
Due to the force of the kick, Two-Sword Mantis's left hand momentarily loosened its grip on the sword. Takamiya quickly took advantage of this oppurtinity and snatched the sword out of his hand.
"Allocate all unused stat points into Dexterity," uttered Takamiya as he entered a low stance.
*Eh? He still has unused stat points?*
Ougi! Katayoku no Tenshi!
"奥義! 片翼の天使!"
Hidden Technique! One-Winged Angel!
What I should mention right about now is that Royal Road has an "Afterimage" system, and what it does is that it allows objects that are travelling quickly enough to leave an afterimage. If a person were to slash fast enough, it would leave an afterimage at the location of the sword just before it moved.
What this means, is that should only be able to leave one afterimage per attack.
But the move that Takamiya used somehow managed to leave several afterimages, leaving a trail of phantom-swords in the wake of his attack, creating an eerie image of a single wing sprouting from his back.
What seemed like an ordinary upward slash instead sliced the enemy into several pieces horizontaly.
Counting the number of pieces and the number of images, it seems like the enemy was slashed a total of four times in an instant.
(Hey... Yeah.. Again...)
(God Damnit you stupid voice!)
http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...1baec5.png [http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-30-20-76_zps921baec5.png]
http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...8b93da.png [http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-30-37-59_zps5b8b93da.png]
http%3a%2f%2fyou.lolipop.jp%2fs%2fss%2f4%2fsasame.jpg [http://you.lolipop.jp/s/ss/4/sasame.jpg]
(That's as close as I can get!)
Silenced reigned for a short moment as the dismembered body parts fell onto the floor. However, perhaps due to their general dumbness and lack of sense of self-preservation, the rest of the bandits raised their weapons and charged us.
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What followed afterwards was the biggest melee of my life. Surrounded by 70 mid-boss level enemies with our backs to the wall.
Well, my back, at any rate.
Takamiya continued to run around evading all attacks. I swear there wasn't even a scratch on that Yukata of his.
His fighting style changed somewhat. Instead of the whirlwind of steel he was earlier on, he became more calculative, as it seems he needed the enemy to be wide open for him to use that strange move of his.
Throughout the battle he's had to change swords a number of times. Sometimes the swords were big and long, while others were closer to knives, but he had no trouble adapting to them on the fly.
As for me, it wasn't as if I had an easy time even with Takamiya at the front.
Many of the bandits that had arrows sticking out of their heads had a bone to pick with me, and even though Takamiya was thinning the crowd, I still often had to deal with them up close.
The "Bow Bash" was less useful than I hoped in this situation. Quite frankly I wasn't strong enough to reliably stun them with the skill, and to use it I had to get close enough to get hit by their bone-shattering strikes. Hence, most of my attacks were close-ranged shots, and I only used my skill when they were wide open.
By the time we were done, I was down to a handful of arrows, and it was a miracle that my weapon hasn't broken.
As my "Stubbornnes" skill wore off, an alert appeared in front of me.
Class Change!
Skirmisher:
Due to your proficiency in both close and long ranged combat, you have earned the oppurtunity to convert to an Advanced class Skirmisher.
If you accept it, you can learn both close and long ranged skills up to Advanced level.
If you accept it, you can learn exclusive skills for the class that are withheld from other classes.
You will be limited to one type of melee weapon.
Do you want to convert to Skirmisher?
"Decline."
Are you sure you want to decline?
Y/N
"Confirm."
You have declined the class change.
At first glance it seems like a good class, but if you think about it, there is also the Martial Artist class that can use ranged weapons alongside melee weapons. The only advantage of this class is the ability to learn skills of both sides, but this advantage is limited to only one type of melee weapon, and adds a skill level restriction.
In other words, it's a Jack-of-(almost) all-Trades kinds of deal, which I don't appreciate.
*But what's odd is that the quest is not yet complete.*
I opened up the quest interface to check.
Beyond the grave:
The ghost of a dead soldier cannot pass on due to his lingering regrets.Help him to pass on by finishing his mission for him.
Quest Objective:
Clear the bandit encampment
Quest Difficulty: C
Quest Requirement:
Must not be a production class
Must not be affiliated with bandits
Quest Reward:
Equipment based on your class
Bandits remaining: 1
...
...
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FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!
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Author's Notes:
Hello again!
Can anyone say "Early release"?
I've had more free time than usual this week, and could write a WHOLE lot more.
Plus enough time to make those images :D
Couldn't resist the urge to add that bit at the end.
Diablo 2 players and Path Of Exile players will get it.
No... It's not a boss, so don't get your hopes up.
As usual, all comments and criticisms are appreciated!