The massive dust cloud hung in the air, obstructing the vision of everyone in the lobby, except for the brothers, who had activated their Mana Sight the moment the cloud formed.
[We’ve got company.] Cynrik’s eyes flicked around the lobby, targeting several Mana signatures, which represented the several grunts who were preparing to go to battle downstairs.
Cynrik counted approximately 14 Tier-1 beings in and around the lobby, by rough estimate. As he looked around and found the hidden enemies, a random thought popped into his head, making him pose a question to Tobs.
[Hey Tobs, I know that we burn our proficiency for our Affinities by using the Over-Break Mode, but why does it feel like we are closer to those elements than before?]
-Currently, due to the Over-Break Mode drawing a massive amount of Mana Particles and infusing them with the Host’s body, the Host has temporarily surpassed the Tier-1 limit and reached Tier-2 Fire Elemental Affinity.-
[Tier-2, interesting, then let’s try out some constructs, kuekue!] First, Cynrik closed his eyes and felt the mass of Mana particles swarming within and around his body. Then, taking a deep breath, Cynrik emulated what he saw Myer do earlier, and threw out both his hands like a conductor, and gripped the air. In doing this, swarms of particles peeled off his skin and gathered in his hands before molding into a replica of his SunFlare, the only difference being it was made of Fire instead of metal.
Beside him, Brance was doing the same thing, except instead of two swords, he created two pointed shields made of glowing Earth Mana. These shields were oblong, his whole body’s size, and tapered at its top and bottom. They resembled Cap’s shield if it was a long oval instead of a circle. In addition, the underside of the shield had a single cylindrical handle that allowed him to hold both shields on either side of his body comfortably.
[Really…two shields… no sword…] Cynrik saw his brother’s choice of weapons and had to mock him while admiring his own Fire swords.
But Brance was just as quick with the mockery, [Really…fire swords..che, no originality at all. Clocks ticking; let’s deal with the mobs before finishing off the boss.] Brance looked behind him into the pit that was still covered in a cloud of dust. It’ll take him a minute to get back on his feet.
Usually, I’d say let’s just go down and murk him…but with how much of that Plague Mana is circulating down there, even without Over-Break Mode, I’m not sure if we could get close. There’s something off about it. If I weren’t covering myself with Mana, that shit would start decaying my skin or something. Better to let him get up and beat his ass again. But first… Cynrik waved his hand, manipulating the Mana particles again, and created five more Fire swords, which circled him while hovering in the air.
Letting out a slow breath and slashing down his left arm, the five Fire swords flew off at speed untraceable to the naked eye and buried themselves into five unsuspecting Tier-1’s.
Ignoring the kill notifications, Cynrik disappeared from his spot in a flash of Fire and appeared within a cluster of four mobs, and started slaughtering them like chickens.
Shooting a glance at the timer indicating how much time was left till the forced shut down of Over-Break Mode,
-Time remaining 03:10-
Brance vanished and reappeared in a crowd of Tier-1 mobs before hacking away at them with his two shields.
Unlike Cynrik, Brance didn’t need the Dual-wield passive since technically shields weren’t counted as weapons but instead equipment. That and, Tobs wasn’t registering Mana Construct equipment part of their loadout.
Within 20 seconds, Cynrik and Brance massacred their way through the 14 people surrounding the lobby and returned to where a bloodied and battered Myer was clawing his way out of the large crater.
Neither brother wanted to give the man the opportunity to collect himself, so they dashed forward and attacked.
Brance made it to Myer first and, using his shields, slammed Myer’s head into the ground hard enough to make the man ricochet off the ground several inches from the impact.
The attack brought Myer dangerously close to passing out as his limp body raised off the ground and was subsequently flung vertically by Brance, who used his shields like a springboard and tossed the man straight up into the air serving him on a silver platter to Cynrik.
Quickly noticing what Brance was doing, Cynrik waved both his arms, directing all 7 of his Mana Constructs to fly forward. The Flying swords instantly covered the distance and, while being manipulated by Cynrik, started slashing and hacking away at Myer, who could only retaliate by flailing his arm around franticly.
Myer was in pure desperation mode. He was burning all of his MP to try and deflect each attack, but his efforts were in vain. For every slash or stab he blocked or dodged, three would make their way past his guard and rip through his body.
Beads of sweat trickled down Cynrik’s forehead as he pushed himself hard by the second. It was proving difficult for him to control all seven Fire swords simultaneously. But, that wasn’t all; Cynrik was keeping a close eye on his HUD and the timer, so in total, he was micromanaging nine different things at one time, and it was wearing him down.
[Let’s finish this shit.] Noticing that Myer’s HP had nearly bottomed out, Cynrik moved seven of his fingers, one for each sword, and controlled the swords as if they were attached to invisible strings, to stab Myer in each shoulder, hip, and knee, before sending the final blade straight through his chest, before slamming both his arms drown dragging the lifeless man to the ground with a loud BANG!
Silence descended the lobby with the crashing of Myer into the ground.
Cyrnik sneered while gripping his fists tightly and then releasing his fists, which caused the Fire swords to break apart and assemble back into the storm of Mana surrounding his body.
The instant the Mana Constructs broke apart, Brance stepped forward and delivered the final blow without giving Myer a chance to say any last words. He ruthlessly slammed the tips of his shields into the man’s neck and waist, decapitating and bisecting him simultaneously, creating a shower of blood and intestines.
-You have completed the hidden part of Emergency Chain Quest Haylons Shadow: H1- Defeat Mid-boss, Myer Avio-
The instant Brance eviscerated the man, the song ended as if it was predetermined, and Over-Break Mode deactivated, alongside Myer’s death announcement.
Upon its deactivation, Cynrik and Brance nearly collapsed to the ground, overcome by an intense wave of exhaustion. After the exhaustion wave came a surge of pain that spanned their entire bodies, which was the nail in the coffin that caused the boys to fall to their knees and made them both spit up blood.
[HOLY FUCK TOBS, LIKE FUCK!!] Cynrik aired his grievances as he tried his best not to scream out because of the ridiculous amount of pain he was experiencing. [THIS IS WAY WORSE THAN THE FIRST AWAKENING!]
Aside from the ripples of pain flowing through every fiber of his being, Cynrik’s head felt like it was about to explode; this was directly caused by him trying to control seven different Mana Contsturcts when he wasn’t even close to being Tier-2. He knew there would be a hefty kickback, but he didn’t believe it would be this bad.
Brance wasn’t faring any better. He kept wiping the trail of blood pouring from his nose with the back of his hand, only to repeat the process a second later.
Both brothers were in terrible shape. The backlash from using the Over-Break Mode spanned beyond the simple loss of Stats and Proficiency. The Over-Break Mode used the overabundant Mana from their Proficiencies at its core. It forcefully caused it to explode before infusing it directly into their bodies, turning them into a siphon for the external Mana. This congregation of Mana particles allowed the brothers to exceed their Tier-0 limits and become pseudo-Tier-2 beings for a short time.
The drawback of taking so much Mana into their bodies was that it would quickly start eroding their skin and bones before making its way to their souls and cause a chain reaction, with the final result being them turned into meat paste. Luckily, and unbeknownst to them, Tobs had placed a limiter on them to regulate these particles just enough not to surpass Tier-3, which caused the end result to be a painful yet straightforward backlash instead of a gory demise.
-Final Costs have been calculated and paid, the Hosts have lost 8 points from each Stat.-
-The Host’s Stats have returned to normal.-
-The excess Mana stored within the Host’s bodies has been expelled.-
-It is recommended the Host takes the time to go through all their notifications.-
[Yeah, yeah, that can wait. Tobs, can’t you see I’m dying here. LOOK, I CAN’T EVEN STOP MY ARMS FROM TWITCHING!] Cynrik flailed his arms over his head, where he imagined Tobs was floating invisibly and showed off how they were constantly spasming.