Chapter 122 Wounded
This was the second source of Shadahi energy Izroth had felt within the Chaotic Dogma Realm. Though, just like with Silent Step, this Shadahi energy was many times weaker than that of a true Shadahi.
Izroth believed that it was unlikely for two players with the same Shadahi transformation skill to be inside of the Chaotic Dogma Realm. If there was, then Silent Step would not have been the only one to transform in the fight against Aegis. After all, for two different teams to contain ties with the Shadahi was highly improbable.
Therefore, Izroth concluded that this aura belonged to Silent Step. Given what he'd learned from Mariposa so far about Silent Step, it was safe to say that if Luna came across him by accident sometime after she was transported, then she could have gotten into some kind of trouble.
Izroth looked around quite thoroughly and could not locate any type of magic item. However, Mariposa had a slight look of disbelief on her face from what she discovered.
"This... There's actually such a huge spatial anomaly...!" Mariposa was shocked. The size of the spatial anomaly was only around two meters long, however, that was terrifying enough. Spatial anomalies were usual subtle and hard to discern. This was Mariposa's first time seeing one of this scale.
"Did you discover something?" Zi Yi asked curiously. She had been using her time to search the area nearby, but she did not see anyone or anything that was out of place.
Mariposa explained her findings to both Izroth and Zi Yi.
"You mean to say that it's possible something really did happen at this location?" Zi Yi did not notice anything strange, but based on the information Mariposa provided, she had to rethink things. She could not look at this in the simple way of what she could physically see.
But, how could any of them have known that a shocking event called upon by Silent Step was the reason for the dome and the unusually large spatial anomaly?
'A magic item capable of influencing the surrounding 100 meters of space is definitely one that's at least S-ranked.'
There was one positive thing about this. Thanks to whatever caused this, the black specks that interfered with Izroth's perception had been cleared out. But, he would not be able to sense anything that was too far away while being this close to the spatial anomaly.
"I'm going to go look around for a bit." Izroth said.
"What a-" Zi Yi was going to ask what he was planning, but all that remained in the spot Izroth stood just moments ago was a flicking silhouette.
...
"That was close..." Luna let out a sigh of relief. When that overwhelming dark force engulfed her, she acted just in time and managed to preserve her life. However, she barely made it in time. If she had been just half a second late, she may have already dissipated and experienced an existence wipe.
Luna could not help but frown due to the skill she was forced to use. "It'll be another two hours before I can use that skill again." She stood up straight and studied her current surroundings. Nothing appeared unusual and the environment was still intact with no noticeable destruction.
"How could such a powerful attack leave behind no damage?" Luna was bewildered. She was sure that at the next moment she opened her eyes, she would be greeted by a wasteland of destruction. After all, the scale and force of that attack were simply too monstrous.
Luna wondered if the players who were caught in that were okay. Though, she doubted that anyone could have survived that without some type of major lifesaving skill.
Chsh... Chsh...
Luna instantly went on high alert when she heard the sound of something dragging on the ground. She immediately felt a sense of danger and was ready to retreat once more. However, before she could do so, piercingly cold energy flashed by her almost taking her head with it in the process.
"Hold it right there!" A voice shouted from the direction of the sound and where the piercingly cold energy came from.
When Luna looked down a few meters in front of her, she saw a throwing knife sticking out of the ground. She froze and various thoughts started to form in her mind. At the moment, she did not have any damage skills that could do a great deal of damage. While she was confident in her ability to survive, her mana was still low.
After the fight with the Silverline Entity, she was transported and although she regained some of her mana back, she used most of it casting the skill to protect herself. Right now, she was not in fighting condition. However, that did not mean that she would simply bow her head and accept defeat.
She turned around and saw Silent Step who was still transformed like a Shadahi. However, she noticed that he was alone and the last player of his party no longer accompanied him. Silent Step himself appeared to be in a sorry state. But, Luna did not underestimate him. After all, she had witnessed the power of that transformation in his fight against Qi Jiguang.
"What do you want?" Luna's tone of voice was cold and distant. To greet her by launching an attack was something she saw as disrespectful and rude.
Silent Step facial expression darkened when he noticed Luna's rude attitude towards him, however, he kept his calm. "You're a healer, right? Then heal me." Silent Step had already used a potion, however, it was not nearly enough. He was currently walking on a thin line between life and death.
He discovered that Luna was a healer class due to the small image of a goddess attached to her cleric's robe. It was the main goddess of healing and prosperity within RML that nearly all healer classes had attached to their cleric's robe.
If it were any other player he would have kept hidden, however, how could a mere healer be of any threat to him? In fact, this was a chance! If he healed up then he could immediately go and hunt down anyone who may have survived, even if the chance of their survival was unlikely.
Luna stared coldly at Silent Step. First, he attacked her and now he asked her to heal him? Did he take her as someone to order around freely as he pleased?
"You attacked me and now you want me to heal you? Isn't that a little unreasonable?" Luna said while gripping her magic staff tightly in her hands. Since Silent Step had requested for her to heal him, his condition must be even worse than she originally thought it was.
If that were the case, then if he made a move against her, Luna would fight back with everything she had. She would bet everything on her mana outlasting his HP.
When Silent Step saw how Luna was not intimidated by him and even seemed to be taking an aggressive stance, he was infuriated. He had not been treated with so much disrespectful in his entire life as he had been in his short time inside of the Chaotic Dogma Realm.
"Do you know who I am? I'm the guild leader of Fatal Touch, Silent Step! If you ever want to have any peace while playing, I suggest you do as I say and heal me!" Silent Step said in a threatening manner.
"Who you are is irrelevant. Also, Fatal Touch? Never heard of them." Luna said with an unchanging expression.
Silent Step snapped at that response. He was already at the peak of his anger after being confronted by Qi Jiguang and now he was even being looked down on by some nobody.
"Then you can just die where you stand!" Silent Step did not waste any more words and unleashed a barrage of throwing knives in Luna's direction. It was the same attack he used against Mariposa and the members of Sleeping Gardenia.
Luna had already prepared for Silent Step's attack and although her agility was not high, this kind of attack would never be able to hit her thanks to the unique skill she currently possessed. She moved a few steps over and stayed perfectly still.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The throwing knives all passed right by Luna and missed her by a thread of hair!
Silent Step was surprised. She had managed to avoid his throwing knives? However, he believed that it was just dumb luck. He immediately dashed forward with his dagger in hand. His speed was extremely fast, however, due to her trait Soul Sense, Luna was able to grasp the general movements of Silent Step.
Woosh!
Luna stepped to the side and evaded Silent Step's dagger, however, the dagger suddenly changed directions in the middle of the attack. It was as if it had bounced off of thin air and shot directly towards Luna.
"I've already seen that trick once! Don't underestimate me!" Silent Step shouted furiously. He was still a top level player and could adapt quickly to various situations.
Luna wanted to evade, but her agility was simply not fast enough to keep up with her unique skill. The dagger made contact with her and shaved away almost 10% of her HP.
She immediately cast the skill Healing Essence, but right after she finished, another dagger attack was headed straight for her taking yet chunk of her HP away.
-164
+143
-164
1,700/1,885 HP Remaining! (Luna)
Fast! Although the power behind the attacks was not all that strong, Silent Step was capable of attacking multiple times in the fraction of a second. Luna had expected as much after she observed Silent Step's fight against Qi Jiguang. Watching it and experiencing it firsthand were two different things.
Qi Jiguang made things look easy, but that was just because of how skilled he really was. Plus, his class was more suited to close quarters combat.
Luna cast the skill Illuminate as a shining light appeared that caused Silent Step to close his eyes from the sudden brightness. Illuminate was only an E-ranked skill that Luna picked up back in Opal Town.
It cost 0.2 mana per second to use, but she only needed it for that brief moment to create some distance between herself and Silent Step. After all, if Silent Step continued on with his assault then her HP would not last very long.
Many healers would never think of using Illuminate as a move to throw off the attacks of melee players. In fact, the majority of healers believed that Illuminate was only useful as a light source for dark places. To use it in PVP was something that did not even cross their minds.
Silent Step was disoriented for a bit due to the sudden flash of bright light. Even though he was able to regain his sight in about one second, he was now even further enraged. But, before he could take a step forward, he was struck by a bolt of pure white light.
Luna deactivated the Illumination skill and cast the skill Superior Holy Smite on Silent Step. Just like the normal Holy Smite, it was able to be cast instantly. It also dealt 100% instead of 40% of the user's magic as damage.
-450
Silent Step grit his teeth and his character soon vanished into thin air.
Luna remained vigilant as she knew that it was unlikely that Silent Step retreated. He was an assassin-type class who would use stealth to his advantage.
Just two seconds later, Luna felt an ominous presence behind her. She instantly shifted her magic staff and cast the skill Illuminate once again.
Swoosh!
Silent Step's dagger hit nothing but air as he was once again caught off guard by the Illumination skill. He was even more shocked at that fact Luna could determine where he would appear from and act accordingly. He hated to admit it, but maybe he underestimated this healer. It was time he started to consider her as a true threat.
Luna was using her unique ability and her newly attained Soul Sense trait to the fullest. However, she could not keep that up for long. It seems that when one uses Soul Sense constantly in combat, it starts to drain Essence. If she pushed the Soul Sense trait too hard, then she may experience Soul Weakness.
There was only one thought in her mind at that moment, to finish off Silent Step before he eliminates her!