As Guan Yu swept his guandao towards Ruin, he felt a sudden sense of danger coming from right next to him.
"I won't make it." Those were the words that crossed Guan Yu's mind which forced him to change the course of his attack to defend his right side with his guandao.
Cling!
A strong force slammed into Guan Yu and knocked him aside. However, thanks to his quick decision making, he was able to avoid taking any major damage as he parried the attack on time.
Just as Guan Yu recovered from being knocked aside, he looked at down at the object that collided with his Guandao before it surprisingly floated away in midair in Ruin's direction.
"A hammer?" Guan Yu said to himself. Although, the object did not have the appearance of a normal hammer. It was silver in color and the top end was almost circular in shape.
"If you're going to rush in, at least give us a heads up first!" Zi Yi said in a frustrated tone of voice. While she understood that Guan Yu was upset from being insulted, it was still dangerous for them to act without knowing a single thing about their opponent.
Zi Yi reacted swiftly when she saw a spear approaching Guan Yu that was set on a course to pierce through his back.
Woosh! Woosh! Cling!
An arrow exited from the void a few feet away from Guan Yu's back and clashed with a spear. The power from the arrow was enough to alter the direction of the spear's attack as it missed its intended target and quickly flew towards Ruin. When the spear reached Ruin, it floated in midair behind his back along with the hammer from earlier.
"Sorry, it's just that guys like that really piss me off." Guan Yu said as he calmed himself down. He was nearly put in a difficult situation because of the fact that he let his judgment become clouded by anger. He had to take a moment to regain himself and cool his head.
"Brother, I think it's safe to say that we all feel that way. That's why it's only fair that we all should get a part of the action." Halls said as he managed to catch up to Guan Yu. Although they were both plate users, Guan Yu was still much faster than Halls.
Even as Halls closed in, Ruin remained unmoved from his spot. A faint red glow encased Halls' sword as he slashed out fiercely at Ruin.
Skill Name: Ferocity Slash
Skill Level: 1/4
Skill Rank: B
Requirements: Level 26 Rebound Champion, 'Sword' Equipped
Active: Deals 110% of the user attack as damage. Increases the amount of damage the user does to the target by 5% for 20 seconds(MAX: 20%). Increases 'Threat Level' by 50%.
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Description: If you must strike, then strike with ferocity!
Cling!
"A bunch of annoying pesky insects buzzing around." Ruin said as the hammer that was behind him rushed out to meet Halls' Ferocity Slash head on.
However, just as Ruin intercepted Halls' attack with his hammer, an arrow suddenly appeared next to him. Without even batting an eye, the spear moved forward to block the incoming arrow.
Guan Yu took advantage of both Ruin's weapons being occupied by Halls and Zi Yi as he accelerated towards Ruin and thrust his guandao forward.
But, what happened next was something that shocked everyone present. A third weapon, this time a sword, spun rapidly and met with Guan Yu's guandao. Ruin was using three weapons at the same time! Such a thing was unheard of within RML. The even stranger thing was that he was not required to actually hold the weapons in his hands to use them.
"How is that possible?" Zi Yi furrowed her brows as she closely examined and studied Ruin's movements to try and discover a weakness. Originally, she believed that his weakness was a limit of two weapons and his overconfident, as he severely underestimated them without reason.
However, it seemed that she was wrong when it came to the limit of weapons Ruin could use at once. If he was capable of exceeding two, then there was a good chance that he could take it a step further and use four. At this point, who knew what limits he had if any at all?
At the same time that Guan Yu's guandao met with Ruin's sword, a thin string slithered on the ground and made its way towards Ruin. That thin string came from Valentine's direction and it was the Encompassing Mana String.
The moment the Encompassing Mana String came into contact with Ruin, it instantly encased him and locked him into place. Valentine was finally taking action.
"Zarkox First Sequence: Release." When Valentine finished his casting, he used the second command of his Encompassing Mana String skill, Shatter. The cocoon that encased Ruin shattered, however, his agility was reduced for two seconds by 80% in the process!
Valentine was unsure if this would slow down the speed of his floating weapons, but at the very least, it should prevent Ruin from escaping the range of his spell.
"Hey, wake up. I hate dealing with magic." Ruin said in a nonchalant way as he looked up above him and saw the numerous magical symbols and sequences form over his head.
When he first spoke, the others were unsure of who he was speaking to. But then they suddenly remembered that there was a total of three people who arrived here.
One of them was Aegis who Izroth was currently fighting against. There was Ruin who they were locked in battle. The third person was someone they had ignored because she did not appear to be a threat. In fact, she was just sleeping peacefully even in this cold weather with a fight happening right next to her.
"Mhn..." The woman made a slight noise as if she were responding to Ruin's request, however, she did not take any sort of action.
"Pull back!" Valentine said to Halls and Guan Yu as the first beam from his spell was getting ready to fall. Even though they would not take any damage, the beam was incredibly blinding to those who were caught within, even allies.
Halls and Guan Yu both retreated as a powerful surge of magic shot down in the form of a beam straight down at Ruin's location.
"Eighteen Arms of Wushu: Safeguard." Ruin said as the hammer, spear, and sword he summoned earlier were joined by a fourth weapon, an axe. The four weapons formed a square formation and were connected by some kind of strong link of energy.
A shield made purely out of energy appeared at the very center of the square and blocked the incoming beam of light. All five beam of lights was blocked by the shield as multiple cracks formed on it before the shield made out of energy shattered into pieces.
Everyone was shocked. Not only did they attack Ruin from three different directions, but even with the fourth attack by Valentine, they did not appear to do a single bit of damage to him!
They were unable to see any kind of information about what kind of damage they dealt or information due to whatever prevented them from doing so within the Undying Maelstrom. The only time there was an exception to this was when Luna used her voice magic on the Fal'Jika hunters.
For a brief period of time, they could see clear information about the creatures. However, even after the creatures information disappeared, Luna and the others were still able to tell how much damage they were doing to the Fal'Jika hunters.
"Keep him busy!" Zi Yi said as she began to make her way over towards Luna after coming up with a plan.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Guan Yu said as he charged forward and swung his guandao at Ruin. He did not care if Ruin pulled over one hundred weapons, what he had to do would not change!
Halls and Valentine also pressed on with their attacks as they managed to keep Ruin's attention focused on them.
Zi Yi arrived next to Luna as she asked, "Are you able to use that voice magic skill again?"
Luna, nodded as she responded, "There are still three minutes left on its cooldown time. However, I managed to store the skill using the Silverline's Imprint."
Silverline's Imprint was the skill attached to Luna's headpiece that she received after their fight against the Silverline Entity. It allowed her to copy and store a magic type skill and release it at her own free will. The item even made it so that there was no cast time.
"I see, then this is what I want you to do..." Zi Yi then went on to explain her plan to Luna.
After listening to Zi Yi's plan, Luna said, "What if it doesn't work?"
"It will work. But, on the off chance that it fails, then we'll just have to hope for the best." Zi Yi responded.
At the moment, Guan Yu, Halls, and Valentine were focused on Ruin. The trickiest part of dealing with him was how freely his weapons could move throughout the battlefield and intercept their attacks.
Though, their efforts were not without reward. They found that when Ruin said he hated dealing with magic, it was because he really did hate going up against it. Valentine's magic was currently the only thing that forced Ruin to move from the spot he stood in.
But, there was more to it than that. Every time Ruin was on the move, his control over the weapons he summoned seemed to deteriorate. It was not long before they discovered a method of combat against Ruin.
"As I thought, it turns out he is incapable of using that energy shield frequently. I'll try to keep him on the move, take advantage of his lack of control over his weapons during that period of time." Valentine said as he fired off a Flaming Spear towards Ruin.
"Way ahead of you!" Guan Yu replied as he moved in from an opposite direction of Valentine's attack and pierced forward with his guandao.
As Guan Yu coordinated his assault with Valentine's Flaming Spear, Zi Yi made her way over to Valentine. She explained the important parts of her plan to him and what role he would play in it.
"How about it? Do you think you're up to it, magic freak?" Zi Yi asked.
"I'm always up for a challenge. But, what about those two?" Valentine responded.
"They can keep doing what they're best at and press on with their attacks. After all, I don't think that it's a good idea to overcomplicate things when it comes to those two." Zi Yi replied helplessly.
Valentine gave a helpless smile as he said, "You're right, never mind."
"Alright, wait for my signal." Zi Yi said as she then dashed away and resumed her attack on Ruin.
"She made it sound so simple and easy." Valentine shook his head as he muttered quietly to himself.
Ruin was becoming increasingly agitated. It was already irritating having to deal with Guan Yu, Halls, and Valentine, but when Zi Yi joined back in things started to become even more frustrating for him.
Valentine's magic forced him to keep moving and it seemed that every time he moved to avoid it, an arrow appeared out of nowhere waiting to greet him. Not only that, but Guan Yu and Halls stuck close to him and did not allow him to settle down for a single moment.
In fact, some of their attacks even started connecting as their timing became increasingly better with every moment that passed.
"Enough! I'm growing tired of playing these little games." Ruin shouted as the hood that covered his head fell down.
What showed was a man with a bald head and purple magical symbols embedded over his entire head and facial areas. His eyes were pitch black and made him give off a very eerie feeling. Right now, he currently looked furious.
Ruin clapped his hands together, "Eighteen Arms of Wushu: Proliferation."
Ruin became surrounded by a mighty force and soon after Halls and Guan Yu were both knocked back.