Dreary Traveler's numerous handpicked undead were chilling in his special realm. Despite largely being able to, he had no intentions to allow them to partake in this battle.
At least, not while there were so many other corpses to raise. The corpses of Immortal Adventurers were far more valuable than those of NPCs for they retained some of the players' gear, albeit at reduced Ranks.
They also had higher chances to manifest as higher Rank undead like Skeleton Lords, Kings, Knights, and Mages due to the fact that their Immortal Spirits already made players into a de facto superior version of undead.
On top of that, they often retained combat skills from the players who left these bodies and markers behind. To Dreary Traveler this World Quest was like having a field day, especially with his Lich class's exemplary reanimation skill.
｢Rise Up – Active skill
Effect: Command every corpse within an Area Zone to rise up from their graves and fight for you under your banner. Corpses will always have a 20% base chance to retain all their power, skill, and personality from life.
Cooldown: 6 days.｣
Compared to his former Necromancer skills, this new one was godly. Every corpse in an Area Zone would rise up to fight for him, and at Rank 2 the skill had gained a base 20% chance to make it so they would be summoned at their peak strength. This skill had no written limitations, meaning that if Dreary Traveler was to find a Rank 7 corpse, he could bring it to life as well.
OP!
Then again, one would expect no less from a Legendary Class. So far, Dreary Traveler had only been using his old Necromancer skills to reincarnate corpses. His chances with player bodies were high enough and he was saving his Lich skill for a truly useful situation, and this wasn't one of them. At least not yet.
A void monster managed to slip through the fights and struck at Dreary Traveler. Its mouth curled into a mocking grin, thinking that it had managed to one-shot this matter-based prey that dared to exist close to it.
However, its expression changed to that of shock when it saw the 'defenseless' Dreary Traveler raise his head and c.o.c.ked it at the beast with a smile. Like Silent Walker, Dreary Traveler's looks had been fundamentally changed by his Class Up.
His formerly brown hair was now pitch black and his unremarkable brown eyes had taken on a blood-red color. Not only that, but his cornea had also taken on a dark hue. So in a sense, he was similar to the Lord of Shadows, who had black cornea and white pupils. They both had creepy eyes now, just that the color of their pupils varied.
His skin became slightly less healthy, and he radiated an aura of decay. It felt like just being around him for too long would grant the dreaded <Decaying> status effect. He also had the tattoo of a skull on his neck, right above his adam's apple.
Since he no longer needed a staff for his casts, he had exchanged his usual baggy black robe for a refined nobleman magicians' garment, with gold buttons, a lovely black leather jacket with a black inner vest, tight black pants, and ankle-length black boots.
(Author's Note: Kinda looks like this, without the various accessories of course: i.imgur.com/3q0hiHS.png)
｢Undeath – Passive skill
Effect: The User is resistant to all forms of damage by 80%, except for light or fire-based skills or spells which deal 160% damage. The User is also unable to be sent to respawn, and will only be put into a short period of recuperation upon defeat.｣
The void monster was not ready for Dreary Traveler's insane class abilities, especially his Undeath passive that basically made him an alternative void monster, only that he lacked the corrosion effect.
Dreary Traveler grabbed the void monster whose claws were still inside his body and held on tight, the monster panicked and tried to break free, but to no avail. The fellow simply braced himself with a crazy smile and tossed the monster as far into the battlefield as he could.
While such an act might seem foolish since he had it dead to rights, the results were shocking. A large and extremely thick bastard sword cleaved through the monster, creating intense shockwaves as it did so.
It could only turn its eyes at the last moment to see its killer, who turned out to be an exceedingly pretty woman with unreal proportions, even for human standards. She had neat auburn hair and sharp brown eyes that pierced her foes.
Usually, she was reserved and very bothered due to her low self-esteem, but on the battlefield, she became a merciless War Goddess. Especially with her new class that made her sword skills shoot through the roof.
Slim Fatty was different from her older brother Deployed Soldier who preferred stable control or Draco who destroyed his enemies through pure skill and speed. She fought with sheer dominating force, crushing all foes in her path like they were toys.
This was mostly due to one of her class passives and the special weapon Draco had made for her.
｢Sword Mastery – Passive skill
Effect: Equip any sword without facing any penalties. The attributes of the sword are magnified by 20% and its weaknesses are suppressed by 20%. Can also seize swords from the hands of others and bind them.｣
As such, Draco had created Swordblade, which aside from its terrible naming, was a sword so heavy and so dense that at Rank 2 only someone with his Horned Demon body or Local Lord's superhuman strength could even lift it.
However, her skill negated all penalties when wielding a sword, meaning that in her hands, it was as light as a paper. Not only that, the sword was buffed by 20%, and its flaws were weakened by 20% as well, making her weapons even more outrageous.
Of course, nothing held a candle to the fact that Slim Fatty could strip any sword user of their blade and soul bind it right in front of their eyes, cucking them out of it for eternity.
As such, she tore through the battlefield in her usual full-plate medium armor and the heavy Swordblade. One should note, the weight of the weapon wasn't removed, but only rendered null in relation to Slim Fatty.
That meant that whenever she swung it, it sounded like a huge pole being whipped around, not to mention it created a small shockwave strong enough to blow skirts up.
One could just imagine the fate of any void monster hit by this. Even if it hadn't been Aether-imbued, Swordblade was insane enough to ignore their physical resistance and crush them.
However, this alone was not enough to make Slim Fatty a total monster. What secured her spot as the number 1 damage dealer of all the core members was her other passive skill.
｢Sword Supremacy – Passive skill
Effect: All sword damage is increased by 40% and sword skills, as well as techniques, drain 60% less Stamina. The User can also remotely control up to three swords in battle.｣
Since time immemorial, Slim Fatty had always been the number 1 damage dealer, with Jada and Jade coming in second then Kiran coming in third. This arrangement seemed to still hold up even though everyone had gained a Legendary class at the minimum.
The increase in sword damage was helpful, but not the rulebreaker here. It was the reduction of stamina cost for sword skills and techniques that made this woman seem like the reincarnation of Jeanne D'arc as she tore through the battlefield, rapidly using many sword skills in her repertoire.
Included were many of Draco's own sword skills, most of them in the first 90 that he had left with Eva for her to distribute as she wished. That wasn't all though, for as Slim Fatty exhausted her system skills, she shouted and jumped up.
"Blade Skill 1: Overhead Bisect!"
Her blade was coated in a strange light as her class synchronized with her own talent, causing her to perform a specific set of movements that would not be possible out of the game.
The result of this was an overhead strike that cut a whole Rank 2 void monster in two, dealing almost 9 million damage to it straight up.
It seemed as if Slim Fatty had taken a page from Draco's book and decided to start her own series of techniques, only that she didn't have Control or a bizarre innate technique generator, so she had only managed to create this one technique up until now.
But practicing and theorizing in a private room were nowhere near as effective as being in a battle. Slim Fatty felt many ideas course through her mind as she dashed, bashed, and sliced at foes, putting them into practice.
With every enemy felled, she got closer and closer to creating her second Blade Skill, but it would still require time and more refinement to achieve it.
On another side of the battlefield was Rambunctious Buttlover, the ex-Battle Bard now turned Orator, who was casually swinging a thin sword around as he slashed at foes.
However, his swordplay was neither remarkable nor really effective in terms of aesthetics or skill, yet it was always accurate. Even Deployed Soldier and Slim Fatty could not boast the same accuracy in strikes as Rambunctious, which should be impossible.
However, this was all facilitated by one of Rambunctious' passive skills from his new Legendary class.
｢Deceptive Words – Passive skill
Effect: Speak a string of lies and half-truths at all times, making all listeners subjectively feel like your words are pure truth.｣
Of course, such a skill didn't work autonomously. It required expressions for it to activate, and anyone who noticed Rambunctious' movements up till now would notice that the fellow's lips had been moving the whole time.
However, what exactly was he whispering to his targets that made them so susceptible to his strikes compared to fully-fledged swordsmen? Let us zoom in and eavesdrop on what he has to say…
"… so his friend said he could only take one spoonful, and then the fellow took out a comically large spoon which made his friend gape with shock. Honestly, it was very hilarious…"
"… and he turned himself into a pickle. Funniest thing I have ever seen…."
"… ever hear the tragedy of Dork Plague the Wise? I thought not. It's not a story the Void Devourers would tell you. It's a Human legend. Dork Plague was a Powerful Healer of the Church, so powerful and so wise he could use Creation Energy to influence matter to create life… He had such a knowledge of the existence of matter that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. The presence of matter is a pathway to many abilities some void monsters consider to be… natural. He became so powerful… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice corroded him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from anti-matter, but not himself…"
…
It was clear that Rambunctious was doing fine on his own. While Eva had no f.u.c.k.i.n.g clue what he was talking about, since many of such things had been lost after World War 3 and the corrosion of time, she still felt like listening for too long would reduce her IQ.
However, she was impressed by his ability to regale the void monsters with such crap that they lost focus on battle and allowed him to strike them. In fact, it wasn't just his Deceptive Words passive alone, but his other class-based passive that assisted him.
｢Sweet Talker – Passive skill
Effect: All enemies who listen to the speech of the User are slightly charmed, and their hostility reduces as they fall into a short daze.｣
This was similar to Loving Aunt's skill, allowing Rambunctious Buttlover to traverse the battlefield unhindered as long as he kept his tongue working but spewing out interesting bullshit, which he was a master at.
At the same time, he also cast his good old Uncommon Lyrical Words skill.
｢Umbra Local Party Announcement
Player Rambunctious Buttlover has boosted the party's morale through speech! The enemy is cowed by his verbal verbosity!
All players:
Attack +25%
Defense +35%
Speed +15%
All enemies:
Attack -25%
Defense -35%
Speed -15%｣