HPDBC Chapter 695: Grand Battle against Soul Beast Nestirad (3)
Chapter 695: Grand Battle against Soul Beast Nestirad (3)
Luck dashed forward from his mid-guard spot, covering 30m distance in a breath. 10m was the range for vanguard, 30m for the mid-guard, and 50m for the rearguard.
«Everyone, Luck is joining the helm to cast debuff better. Act accordingly to the plan!»
Given the huge gap between their battle formation against Nestirad, the «Transmission» was a lifesaver for the group. Nestirad was already appearing too much to handle, and if they'd to shout commands in a loud voice to cover the gap, they'd risk Nestirad already waiting in anticipation of their next move.
The space spirit Jigen—It was best of the spirit available in striking resistance and endurance—appeared beside Luck in the shape of upper body armor following the effect of Sophia's skill «Spirit Garb.» Soon, it transformed itself into a mass of spiritual energy and again appeared as armour on Luck.
«Sophia, channel your whole spiritual energy into me!»
"Roger!!"
Promptly, spiritual force diffused from Sophie and encapsulated Luck in it.
The armor hadn't completely materialised, but given its firmness, it had undoubtedly surpassed orichalcum in hardness.
—Spirit Garb Effect (Skill Level 9)—
[Skill User] Sophiarone
[Skill Type] Buff
[Mana (Spiritual Power) Cost] 10,000 (Spiritual Power)
[Effect] A gentle aura envelops the target's body.
[Effect 1] The target can wear the blessing of the spirits as armor.
[Range] 10 kilometers from the user
[Growth Potential] With each level up, the «Effect 1» would encompass one more person, irrespective of their spirit rank. At Level 9, the user can manifest one spirit as armor for each of 9 companions.
[Duration (second)] Spirit Power consumed / 100
[Activation Time] 60 seconds
[Cooldown Time] 1 hour
[Required Skill Experience] 10,000 required to reach skill level 2, with 10x more required after that.
—[Note 1] The spirit prioritizes taking damage for the wearer. When the spirit's endurance takes a hit beyond a certain level, it will be unable to manifest for one day.
—[Note 2] The number of spirits that can manifest may increase under the influence of the "Fountain of Life" skill, and it depends on that skill’s effect (Current Count - 10). ŗâ????ỌβÊŠ
—[Note 3] Multiple spirits cannot manifest on the same target.
—[Note 4] The spirits that manifest are limited to those contracted by the user.
※If the Spiritual Power (including MP) is 360,000, the duration lasts for 1 hour.
※The duration extends to 2 hours under the blessing of the Great Spirit of Time.
※The cooldown of skills like "Fountain of Life" would be revised to be one hour.
"Haaaa!!"
Luck made one slash after another on the abdomen of Nestirad with extreme agility, and with each contact the sacred artifact «Arc Jewel of the Spirit King» made, the spark would scatter in all direction.
«Begone. This one is seeking one's object. Enough with the hindrance!!»
But of course, Nestirad didn't take the attack lying down. And soon, Nestirad's left hand—this time, it wasn't enhanced with spiritual force—attacked Luck.
"Rrgh! Quiet the power it has. How do one even one against an opponent that's out of our league?!»
(Hey, hey, Great Spirit. How about you stop dampening the morale of our comrades first? I mean, of course we can see there's barely any silver bullet for us! It's almost like those detestable, pre-scripted inevitable defeat events!!)
Jigen promptly expanded the armor to shrug off the damage, nevertheless it still left behind a shocking impact, prompting him to share his true feelings.
As the battle progressed, Allen was made to think even clearing the trials of god and gaining strength hadn't been enough to close the gap with Nestirad. The gulf between them was akin to challenging the secret boss of a game without the sword of light.
«It's just come to debuff! It wouldn't be impossible to fill the gap if only Luck’s debuff could work. Focus, everyone, we must overcome this gap!!»
Knowing the importance of morale, Allen tried to uplift everyone's spirit.
When even the strengthened Merus brought to his knees with merely one attack, it wouldn't require any genius to understand they're like eggs against stone.
Nestirad was an unstoppable force in itself, and that was supported by its absurdly high resistance and endurance. It was evident no one's attack could even make a minute difference in the situation. But—just once, they just need Luck's skill to target Nestirad and inflict it with the terrific debuff they know, and then, they should have the way against Nestirad.
"... Leave it to me. Luck, just focus on hitting it with your skill! Keep attacking it again and again, I will not let its attention turn to you!!"
"Pfft!! You think this is time to mess?!"
Dogora unwittingly sprayed out his saliva when he heard the vague stance.
Allen had often challenge Nestirad alone with Merus in the past to chart its resistance level. While even thousands of spell were ineffective against Nestirad, the debuff, however, did apply at least one in every 100 chances.
Of course, it was an abysmal rate, but as long as the chance wasn't 0, it indicates a ray of hope against Nestirad.
Though even those debuffs required someone of Merus level. He had attempted using insec-type summoned beasts and tried to apply debuffs via techniques or awakening skill but neither succeed even once in thousands of time.
«Hey, Sophie. Buff cooldown should be ended, right? Help out Dogora here, his attacks are not even enough to spark an amber right now.»
"O-Ohh, it should be. Please wait a while."
"We would like a spirit too!"
"Umu! I want spirit garb too!"
"W-Whaat?!"
The voice of Freya, Fire God, suddenly addressed Sophie from within the sacred artifact Gagutsuchi.
The original one hour cooldown time had been reduced to mere 90 seconds with the grapes of equipment, skill.
«Oh dear, someone's swamped huh.»
Next, the Radiance Spirit Light muttered softly as she took Dogora in a sublime embrace.
[Current Cooldown Reduction Effects for Sophie]
—Bracelet 1: 50% reduction
—Bracelet 2: 50% reduction
—Spirit of Time, Quick: 50% reduction
—Royal Aura: 50% reduction
—Sky Dance [8]: 80% reduction
—Angel B's Special Skill "Crazy Dance": 50% reduction
—[Cooldown Reduction Calculation]
—For a 60-minute cooldown:
60 × 0.5 × 0.5 × 0.5 × 0.5 × (1 - 0.8) × 0.5 = 22.5 seconds
—For a 1-day cooldown:
24 × 60 × 0.5 × 0.5 × 0.5 × 0.5 × (1 - 0.8) × 0.5 = 9 minutes
Sophie activates the skill "Spirit’s Garb" on each of the companions' spirits, summoning one spirit per attack.
[List of Spirit’s Garb Combinations for Companions]
Luck: Great Spirit of Space, Jigen
Dogora: Great Spirit of Radiance, Light
Kurena: Spirit of Wind, Gale
Shea: Great Spirit of Thunder, Jin
The whole formation followed the plan and provided Luck the chance to do his work.
It had been nearly 30 minutes since the start of battle, and Luck should have stacked 300 sort of debuffs. But—
"Hex Slash!!»
«Rrgh»
«Haaaa!!»
After a long while, Luck felt a strange sensation as his sword pierced the chest of Nestirad.
It was as if a curse had been placed, as a poisonous skeleton appeared from behind the massive form of Nestirad, screaming as it tried to engulf him.