The Gamer Chapter 1615 – Raid and Adventures 11 – Smooth Sailing. (Patreon)

The Ambassador Double, Undine, Metra, Aclysia, Nia, Lydia, Nightingale and Salamander, those were the eight that were currently advancing through the dungeon.

They moved in an awkward formation. Invisible enemies made standing too far from each other an unreasonable risk. At the same time, the sweeping strikes of the Skinwalkers were too far in reach to clump together. Not even John could formulate an entirely adequate answer to that problem. There were too many angles of attack to properly space out their frontliners.

Moving as a loose collective was the best they could do. The all-encompassing darkness of the camp was gradually making room for a dreary twilight. At a fifth of the regular speed, the sun rose. At the moment, it was little more than a red shade past the horizon.

Breaking the midnight veil was an oddly inconsequential change. In a way, it even was detrimental. When there had been absolute darkness over the silent camp, that had engaged the senses. Paranoia was healthy caution when dealing with invisible creatures. As visibility improved, the human (and human-adjacent) mind naturally went to the assumption that the danger lessened.

They were hardened enough to largely overcome that instinct through manual dedication. Still, it was a factor to consider.

The centre of the party, the only certain thing in their loose formation, was Nightingale. The harpy carefully walked, like a stork wading through shallow water, constantly scanning the environment. All else were doing the same, but only she moved before it was too late.

Suddenly swinging one of her wings, Nightingale launched three purple chains from her dark feathers. They flew past Aclysia, connecting to something, before being yanked back. Air burned and flickered as the illusion disintegrated. The massive Skinwalker took half a step forwards involuntarily, its descending fist staying course to slam into Aclysia.

John took a deep breath.

A warning was enough for Aclysia. The katana in her hand allowed her to turn ephemeral, the carapace-covered fist harmlessly passing through her. Stepping aside, she turned solid again. Eclys was replaced with Salver, the dagger, shimmering silver and black. The terrible ice of the first maid shattered as the weapon was rammed into a depression between the fused ribs of the monster. Shards stuck to the carapace and began to multiply like flowers in bloom.

The cracking multiplication continued, even after Aclysia used the second activation of the Reality Fracture Attribute to get herself out of range of the counterstrike.

Salamander and Lydia simultaneously launched projectiles at the monster next. Metal and meteorite were shattered by the sweeping limbs attached to the monster’s back. The explosion of the latter put a cloud of dust between it and Metra – a planned obstruction that the wolf woman used to obscure the throw of her halberd.

Her form was as flawless as that of an Olympic competitor, its effectiveness boosted several hundred fold by her Stats. The halberd crossed the distance at near sonic speed, yet failed to penetrate deeper than a hand’s width into the Raid enemy.

‘Behind you!’ Nightingale cautioned Metra.

The First of Wrath used Rip to remove her weapon from her enemy, then called on its Loyalty Attribute to make the dislodged weapon return instantly to her hands. In one smooth motion, she turned around and executed an upwards slash against the Skinwalker that had appeared behind her.

Again, the usually devastating strength of the ancient weapon failed to do more than deliver a shallow cut to the massive humanoid’s torso. Three crab-leg-like limbs curved around its sides, slamming into Metra at various points and locking her in place for the hammer-fist strike about to follow.

Arcane energy washed over the back of the monster. Mana Chains, launched both from the Unstable Arcana and by manual activation, fired at and latched onto the creature, supported by several purple chains that Nightingale had created.

Gamer and night goddess strained their magical might against the incredible brawn of the blueish white Skinwalker. The frown of its exposed skull seemed to grow wider, almost returning to the grin that exposed teeth were supposed to have.

Purple chains shattered as Nightingale turned her attention around. A third Skinwalker had appeared behind Undine and would have turned the slime woman into a splatter, had a swiftly woven illusion not made the Skinwalker hesitate. Suddenly incapable of properly spotting its target, the creature swiped randomly, missing the moving dark blue goo entirely.

“Back!” John shouted, after delivering a Blast Ray powerful enough to free Metra of her current predicament. The signal was all the party needed. As one, they ran back the way they came, weaving through retaliatory attacks. As soon as they were out of range of the Skinwalker’s attacks, the first two cloaked themselves again. Only the one affected by Nightingale’s trickery kept on swinging its fists in search of a target. “Nia!”

“It will be done,” the pariah answered, her emotionless tone cutting through the noises of hurried motions. Turning her weapon into a black sphere, she raised one of her arms. The thin muscles of her light frame tensed, then relaxed. A wave pulsed from the lightless sphere, swallowing… something. John was assaulted by a headache, as his eyes tried to comprehend what colour was missing from the affected area.

The colour of invisibility was not to be found, but the Skinwalkers were in its absence. Gargling, the creatures turned their attention to the pariah, who teleported away the second they both collapsed on her position. When she re-emerged, she was already running with the rest of them. Once the distance got too large, Nightingale’s illusion broke, and the third Skinwalker chased them.

The first two were bleeding a sparking blue substance where Metra’s halberd had struck them. Arcane essence was oozing at a slow trickle from their wounds. The Mana Bleed was unlikely to hamper them enough to prevent further casting, but it could hinder. The Black Ice was unlikely to freeze the first Skinwalker solid, but it would hinder.

“Here!” John shouted, after they had retreated for about a hundred metres. With that single word, the entirety of the party turned around. Aclysia and Metra slammed into the second and third Skinwalker, while Nightingale took out the first, the one affected by the Black Ice, by putting a dense cocoon of midnight around it.

That put the harpy out of commission for the rest of the fight, the sheer strain of keeping the spell up akin to the effort of locking down Arkeidos. ‘These might be even more powerful on a pure physical level,’ John thought. ‘Pretty ludicrous to think about.’

Lydia immediately went to help Metra. The First of Wrath was in a constant whirl of motions, just desperately trying to avoid getting locked down by the various additional limbs again. Pulling in all of the metal generated during their retreat, Lydia provided moderate relief through a storm of restricting scrap assaulting the monster’s back.

‘Get them closer,’ John instructed Aclysia. The weaponized maid sent back a grim determination. Constantly, the lay of the battlefield was filtered through him into her awareness. She took a step back. True Block let her use Tiemarath as if the giant cleaver was a regularly sized shield. Another step back. The fist of the Skinwalker slammed right into her torso, but her HP barely dropped, courtesy of a swift activation of Fortification and her Glacial Exoskeleton. Another step back. Then, suddenly, she rushed backwards, using Aid to simultaneously escape the swing of the monster’s fist and neutralizing a strike of the other Skinwalker aimed at Nia.

There was no signal necessary for John and Salamander to attack simultaneously. The two Skinwalkers were now close enough together for effective use of the area attacks. An Unstable Arcana spawned, sending out arcane waves at rapid intervals, creating weaker versions of the Mana Chains with each tick. Unleashing, Salamander launched a cataclysmic attack. The only reason why the super-condensed comet of fire and brimstone did not turn the landscape into a glass floor was its Gaia-made nature.

Chains yanked at the monsters, preventing them from being pulled away by the ensuing shockwave. Being pulled in one direction and pushed in the other put enough confusion on them for Nia to turn her attacks from bothersome stings to coup de grace. Her form a streak of colourless white, bright gold, and the icy blue of her eye, she moved with a singular non-sound on her lips.

“[Execution].”

Her entire being phased through the Skinwalker. Her long sword cut a line through the existence of the magical entity, barely wide enough to be seen. It glowed, at least to John’s eyes, before the vacuum filled itself with a wet squelch of flesh being sucked into the empty space.

Somehow, the Skinwalker remained alive after that. Its head now attached crookedly, half collapsed into its neck, it swung its arms. The motions were sluggish, unrefined, clearly lacking the previous motor function and attention to detail the entity had been capable of.

Aclysia charged back at her original opponent, but underestimated what speed her handicapped enemy still was capable of. A spasmic swing of a singular tendril swiped her feet out from under her. She rolled to the side, dodging a stomp, then made it back on her feet.

Glacial winds howled around Aclysia. Her damaging aura had been affecting that particular Skinwalker for a while now, and was even starting to drag down the second one notably. It gave her the space for mistakes like this, for Undine to manifest from shadows and replenish HP, and for Nia to deliver a second strike to the opponent’s back while it was distracted.

From hip to neck, the pariah sliced up the spine, causing the creature to scream in a way too high-pitched tone. A shriek of pure terror, that almost made John feel bad for the entity made to be hostile towards him. The touch of unmaking must have been horrid, but such was the lot of the NPC.

One enemy defeated, everyone collapsed on the second Skinwalker. Lydia and Metra had done a splendid job crippling and occupying it, and with the full attention of six damage dealers focused on it, dispatching it was a matter of a swift combo of attacks. Limbs locked by pieces of Hydrasteel scrap and Mana Chains, it did not have the manoeuvrability to do more than throw a desperate illusion in their path. A momentary distraction, before it was beheaded by an arcing swing of Rex Magnar.

“Three seconds,” John shouted and Nightingale nodded. Everyone swiftly surrounded the cocoon of darkness that had kept the last enemy locked out of the fight. After the countdown had elapsed, Nightingale revealed the first and last of the Skinwalkers. The Black Ice had crept over much of its left side, turning one leg into a half-stilt.

The entirety of the party immediately blasted it with their ranged attacks. John launched a triple Arc Ray, slicing and drilling into the shoulder of the monster. Metra threw Rex Magnar with all her might. Aclysia spewed her freezing breath at the enemy. Lydia formed a javelin from the Fusional of Strimata. Salamander put in the final blast, charging up a meteorite that, while not as strong as her Unleash, was enough to make the Skinwalker topple over.

Again, Nia charged in immediately. She charged, disappeared, then fell from above, sword pointed downwards. The impossible weapon pierced without penetrating through the head of the prone monster. Its every limb twitched. Nia twisted the blade, causing it to phase through magical flesh, rending what little sense there was to the supernatural biology of the Skinwalker and turning it into a neutralized goop. A second later, the creature turned to dust.

John let out his held breath. “Clean performance, everyone,” he said, while letting them all take a moment to relax and replenish their mana.

“Disagreed,” Aclysia stated, clearly unhappy with her own showing in that fight.

“You did what you were supposed to. If these enemies weren’t capable of fighting back, they wouldn’t be Raid enemies,” John assured her. “It’s unreasonable to demand flawlessness against these things. They’re bigger, faster, and stronger than you are.”

“Yet, I have made mistakes that can be fixed. I will improve.”

John gave his maid a curt nod. As long as she understood that she was giving him the expected performance, he wouldn’t chide her for wanting to exceed. “How are you holding up, Nightingale?”

“Currently, I face no issues,” the harpy responded and turned her head towards the rising sun. “My performance will decrease as the day begins proper, however.”

“Think you will be unable to continue your function?”

“It will become more straining, but the lockdown of one at a time, I should be able to perform?” Uncertain, her lavender gaze turned to him. “This is new ground for me, John. This is my second proper combat experience as a goddess. The Norse pantheon tested me. Their resources did not allow such well-scaled challenges.”

The Gamer nodded and broke the leader persona for a moment to give her a quick kiss on the lips. “You let us know if you feel like the burden grows too large,” he whispered to her. “We’re relying on you to spot the enemies early.”

“I know the value of proper communication,” she assured him with a smile.

John put another peck on the corner of her mouth, then stepped away. “The party leader has favourites, boo him!” Salamander cackled. Only Metra joined into the following. “Boooo!”

“I bet he even sleeps with her.” Undine did her best to emulate the bitchy tone of a gossiping guild member. No, ‘bitchy’ was the wrong moniker, that sounded like it was gossip between cheerleaders rather than the envious disgruntlement between nerds that made up a MMO raid guild.

Whatever the proper adjective was, Undine failed. Her melodic voice was strictly too beautiful to hit that pitch. Something she could have fixed, being a shapeshifter and all of that, but did not.

“Better look out, he might let her pick loot first,” Metra said, playfully stubbing the sitting queen with her toes.

Lydia rolled her eyes. “All this time and I am glad that half your jargon still passes me by.” She opened up her braid and redid it, the plate covering her fingers not inhibiting her dexterity in the slightest. “And frustrated that I understand half of it.”

“It’s good, effective language,” Nia chimed in. “Do you prefer the flowery language of the court?”

“…A valid question that I have no satisfying answer to.”

Three seconds of silence. Nia spoke up again, “Do we proceed with this strategy?”

Their current plan had four core steps. First was to advance carefully until they made enemy contact. Second was to keep fighting until three Skinwalkers had revealed themselves. Third was to then pull those three enemies back to a known, safe location. Fourth was to then properly fight them, Nightingale taking out one while Metra and Aclysia tanked the two others.

There were various optimizations to that plan, such as applying debuffs like the Mana Bleed and the Black Ice early on, using Nia to disperse the illusions so they could have a clean engage once they turned on them, and keeping the enemies together so they were all affected by the various area effects. There were also a few hiccups in that plan, primarily in them not knowing whether an area was actually safe. Several of the Skinwalkers were on patrol and sometimes they had just luckily or unluckily not met one that then fell into their back.

Three to four, however, was a manageable number. Even if things didn’t go quite as smoothly as they had in that attempt, they had enough emergency measures that they could use one after another to tide over the difficulties without anyone being too exhausted to continue afterwards. They had found that, if they fought in the area where they first made contact with the enemy, they would typically have five to eight on their heel – which was almost always gruesomely difficult, if not downright impossible.

Fact was that this new group composition was, although not an automatic win, an assurance for smooth sailing. With Gnome, they likely would have been too slow for the retreat. Without Nightingale and Nia, they could not have dealt with the illusions that well. Their damage was lower than normal for these groups, but they had the crowd control, which was more vital in these engagements.

John felt pleased with this. Limiting his party size and throwing different kinds of enemies at him forced him to innovate and switch out who he took along. It entertained his gamer mind and, luckily, he could still hang out with everyone regardless, since he had two extra bodies at home. He got the cake, and another cake, and another cake, and he ate all of them.

“We proceed with this strategy,” John answered, the whole mental diatribe having happened so quickly in his brain that it put no pause into the conversation. “We’ll try to optimize a bit more. I’d like to reduce our rest periods a tad.” Currently, they needed to wait for at least five minutes between encounters for everyone’s mana to fully recover. The main ‘offender’ on that front was Lydia. “Mind if I have Delicia prepare a few vials of liquid metal for you?”

“If you value your time more than those investments,” the half-metal elemental answered.

“I’d request you use them on my order during regular encounters. During Raids, you can use them as you want.” That had the queen’s agreement. “Think there’s anything you could use to accelerate your mana regeneration, Gale?”

“A splendid question… perhaps she can try to extract something from the Moon Lavender?”

“I’m bringing it up,” John told her.

Nightingale raised one of her finely swung eyebrows. “Right now?”

“Right now,” John confirmed.