Uno was a Vanguard, a supreme defensive class that boasted impeccable defensive power. He alone could fill in the role of 20 normal tank classes, yet due to his character, he loved to engage enemies through a mixture of aggressive defending and aggro-focusing.
And that's what had made the 'Godless Paladin' special in the previous timeline. The majority of tank class fighters had developed the mentality that their only job was to receive hits and let the others handle the damage output. Uno had drawn the line and had opened a new field of play by tanking while also focusing on dealing damage with status effects, mostly stuns thanks to the hammer.
He had perfected his style to a degree that it had been recognized as the 'proper' way of playing a tank class, so it was natural it would excel even greater in this timeline after Eva had drilled the foundations into him and had guided him into the proper direction.
In the shadows of the battlefield, a svelte male form stalked around, almost completely impalpable to all parties not allied with him. The people in his party could see his outline, but those he preyed on could not even smell his expensive perfume.
｢Extreme Stealth – Passive skill
Effect: Remain invisible to all enemies below your level. Those at your level have an 8% chance to detect you, while those above you have varying chances to do so. Does not consume stamina.｣
Cobra removed an Epic Rank stiletto from his inventory. It was difficult to acquire Legendary Rank items despite the general wealth of Umbra and its top echelon. Most had decked themselves out with at least Epic items and were patiently waiting for Draco to finish his Unique Quest, so he could craft them something unique like he had done for Slim Fatty.
Cobra had no worries with his current abilities. His Slayer class was a whole stage above a mere Assassin, which was on par with the Legendary Rank Hassassin class. The Slayer class was more suited for vampires and dark creatures who liked to slink through the night to draw the blood of their unsuspecting victims whereas the Hassassin class was for trained killers who used various means like poison, illusion, and smoke to achieve their goals.
Cobra stalked up to a busy Rank 2 void monster that was trying its best to avoid Loving Aunt and Warm Spring's auras. Had it been stationary and vigilant, it would have had an 8% chance to pull Cobra out of stealth. Alas, since its attention was on its movement, there was almost no chance whatsoever to suss him out.
The moment the void monster was unlucky enough to run beside Cobra, he struck out. Like a snake that had been coiled in a patch of grass, waiting for its target to scuttle along before attacking, Cobra stabbed his weapon with shocking speed into the head of the void monster, specifically one of its glowing eyes.
Void monsters did not and may not have the typical biology of matter-based beings, which was fine, but his Aether-imbued weapon would definitely deal extra damage if plunged in such an area.
It didn't matter how abstract a being was, or how complex its biological structure, stabbing into its determined ocular faculties would definitely deal egregious damage.
Case in point, a scary number of -12,000,000 appeared above the head of the Rank 2 void monster. It only had 15 million health, and it had just lost 80% of it in one go.
What was even more terrifying was the fact that Cobra had not used a skill yet. No, his absurd damage was a result of a special item and passive skill he possessed. The item was something he had bought from the Guild Shop recently, while the passive was courtesy of the Slayer class.
｢Ring of Alacrity – Ornamental Item
Rank: Legendary
Durability: 1,000,000/1,000,000
Effects:
Passive 1 – Sleight of Hand: All skills and techniques that require the use of Dexterity are boosted by 120% and the use of stamina is reduced by 15%.
Passive 2 – Fleetfoot: Movement speed increased by 60% when crouching or in stealth without compromising detection.
Active 1 – Ambidexterity: Activating this skill allows the user to gain the ambidextrous talent for 24 hours. Cooldown: 1.5 days.
Description: This ring was crafted by a Grandmaster Blacksmith for his wife who was a talented rogue. She used it her entire life and achieved many great feats with it before eventually retiring into old age with her husband and family.
This item has reached its pinnacle and can no longer be evolved.｣
｢Blood Aura – Passive skill
Effect: An air of murder surrounds the User, granting a 30% increase to damage and defense when using small bladed weapons. The User's execution chance is fixed at 60% per strike when an enemy is below 30% HP.｣
Blood Aura, the passive skill, combined with Sleight of Hand, a passive of the Ring of Alacrity, made Cobra the perfect assassin. He struck a weak point using an Epic weapon, boosted by 120% + 30%, dealt fatal damage, critical damage, and enjoyed the crazy modifiers of both.
Heck, had the fellow used a skill, he might have offed it in one hit! The power of the core members when it came to combat was insane, especially the Five Generals.
They might not totally occupy the top slots, but they had the most stable rate and the most adept handling of the battlefield. As for Cobra, he simply stabbed his weapon into the void monster again, triggering an instant execution since it had less than 30% HP.
A flat 60% chance was simply insane, and his Luck stat was high enough that he entered that range more often than not.
"Owryeeaaa!" Boyd roared as he brought his poleaxe down, simultaneously cutting a void monster in half as well as smashing it to one side. The fellow was like a crazed beast that had smelled blood, his new Maverick class showing its prowess on the battlefield.
The void monsters around him roared in defiance, empowered by his own berserk nature to display their inner hostility. However, the more they attacked Boyd, the more he became stronger, faster, and generally more dangerous.
｢Bide – Passive skill
Effect: The User acc.u.mulates damage received from enemies to increase their own damage through built-up rage. The threshold is 100% damage increase per combat encounter.｣
He had long since reached the damage threshold, so his attacks all dealt twice their base damage. Of course, this dangerous fighting style meant that Boyd could not easily solo enemies, but Uno generally stuck close to him, while Warm Spring and Hikari focused their heals on him.
Realistically speaking, he was the core member taking the most damage per second among the group, but his strength also increased proportionally. The Maverick class was all offense and no defense, the opposite of a class like Warm Spring's that was all defense/support and no offense.
Boyd happened to see Kiran activate his Attack Rush skill and tear through the battlefield. Laughing crazily, Boyd tapped his eyepatch and heaved his poleaxe onto his shoulder, even as a void monster bit and clawed at him.
"If you're going to break the unspoken rule and show off, then don't blame me for rising up to the challenge!" Boyd roared as he activated one of the Maverick class' most powerful and insane active skills.
｢Rash Charge – Active skill
Effect: Foolishly rush into a thicket of enemies with your axe swinging wildly, harming friend and foe alike. This deals a variable amount of damage and causes the user's stamina to bottom out. It cannot be canceled.
Note: The user is invulnerable for the duration of this skill.
Duration: 10 minutes
Cooldown: 1 day.｣
A reddish-purple light emerged around Boyd's dark skin that made him glow like a totemic god. He took his poleaxe and rushed around the battlefield, swinging his axe around with such strength and force that his victims were blown away like ragdolls.
All the melee class core members had exemplary battle awareness, so they avoided Boyd's attacks with ease and fought around him without even looking. Naturally, it didn't hurt that Boyd himself issued warnings through the Guild Voice Chat whenever he was too close.
Just because the skill made him move crazily didn't mean that he had become crazy. This was just one of many advantages that players possessed over NPCs at this point in time.
Just like Kiran during his Attack Rush, Boyd ended the lives of many Rank 2 void monsters and weakened many that were finished off by the ranged core members who constantly controlled the entire battlefield from the back.
Boyd's damage during his skill was nowhere near as high as Kiran who had twofold energies and could punch a hundred times in a second, but it was the duration that allowed the 'Mad Berserker' to almost catch up to the Dark Monk.
When Boyd come out of his charge, he fell to his knees as his stamina bottomed out, much like the skill described. However, he grinned widely when his stamina bar got refilled by a White Light Healing from Hikari in the sky.
On his two feet again, Boyd jumped into a group of void monsters to continue the slaughter.
Arguably, the most powerful person in this fight should be Rina. She, like Draco and Eva, possessed an actual Divine Class. It made no sense that whatever Slim Fatty or Fire and Ice Twins could surpass her.
If Rina went all out, she could likely clear out every single void monster minus the Rank 3 fellows. She just had to spam her various active skills, and on the off chance her Queen of Death title reset all cooldowns, spam them again.
But Rina, like the other core members, was conserving her true power. They understood that this was not the true battle, not even close. The reason why the core members up till now had hardly used their active skills and had mostly relied on techniques mixed with their passives was to save them against the true bosses of this event.
The Rank 3 fellows at the back.
Rina and Eva had not partaken in the fight up till now for that exact reason, though both of them could have ended it quickly. The core members were only deployed to handle the remaining 600 Rank 2 void monsters because Eva wanted them to stretch their muscles out.
As for the Rank 1 void monsters, they would all be eventually wiped out once the core members started spamming their Area Zone wide active skills, so no one really paid attention to them.
Less than 50 Rank 2 void monsters still remained after the rampage of a mere 18 people had torn through them like they were paper. Actually, that number had increased to 21, because there were three more outliers who stood out.
Eva had watched the three unlikely fellows who had been fighting together in one corner of the battlefield. Essence Stalker, the Dragon Knight/Void Dragon hybrid and his buddy Fitter Cleric the Luckmancer had surprisingly partnered up with Tunder Power the skilled Archer from Supernatural.
Eva had never pictured these three would ever be able to work in tandem, but not only was it happening right before her eyes, it was also amazingly effective.
He had been promised a new weapon crafted by Draco, but since his arrival was unfortunately around the time her soulmate had left for the Unique Quest, he had to settle for an Epic quality bow. Tunder Power was hovering between official core member status and a trainee.
His training technically wasn't over and it was hard to admit him as a full core member of Umbra as he was part of Supernatural. However, Eva had grown fond of him and his sharp mind, so she had left his situation ambiguous in case anything changed in the future.
She had taken a risk by providing him with the funds to try for a Legendary Class. He had nearly failed, but luckily, he had come out on top. His new class became the Ranger, a Legendary marksman that never missed his shots and could summon all kinds of animals as companions to fight alongside him.
｢Ranger - Legendary Class (Rank 2)
Skills: Wildheart (Passive - Rank 1), Marksman Supreme (Passive - Rank 1), Stampede (Passive - Rank 1), Lock-on (Active - Rank 1), Snipe (Active - Rank 2), Arrow Call (Active - Rank 2).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 70, End 10, Int 10, Spr 10, Cha 30, Lck 20
Exp gain rate: 90% (Rank 2)
Rank up difficulty: 50% (Rank 2)
Class weapons: Any ranged
Class skills: Any ranged and nature.｣
After his Class Up, it had taken Tunder Power nearly three months to reach Rank 2, given his solitary nature. His class' skills were straight-up OP when paired with his strange ability.
After all, it might be easy to forget, but Tunder wasn't normal or purely human. He was a member of Supernatural, and as they had explained once to Draco, everyone in the organization above the Thrall level had awakened a unique gene in their body that granted them powers that could only be described as magical.
Or better yet, Supernatural.