Chapter 943 (1/2)

Rather than getting upset, Randidly simply used Aether Detection to inspect it for a split second. Unfortunately, it was not something that he could simply unravel with his understanding of Skills; not without a great deal of time. And for all that Randidly had an advantage, that wouldn’t last if he had to let this Curse of Weakness continue its effect on him. Even now, its influence was rapidly growing.

Truly, Mrs. Hamilton’s Skills were more dangerous than he expected. There was an immediate, noticeable debuff to his Physical Stats. If this kept up, even Randidly would be worried that Donnyton could catch him even through the veil of his image.

As they say, Quantity has a Quality all its own. Fighting this many people who are above my Level and have a Fate is difficult. But I still think...

Donny had regained his footing and dashed back toward him, attempting to hit Randidly with a Shield Bash. Shaking his head, Randidly simply raised his left arm and used Raucous Phantom’s Finale. He could feel that the energy within the arm was running low, but that didn’t matter right now.

Randidly’s physical stats were simply too high. He didn’t need the Skill to add any extra oomph.

The punch to his shield stopped Donny dead. In fact, the young man stumbled a half-step backward, trying to regain his balance after abruptly having his momentum dispersed. Instead of following up, Randidly simply looked down at the growing tattoo on his arm.

Chimeric Avoidance.

Before his very eyes, Randidly’s flesh rippled like the surface of a pond in a rainstorm. Slowly, the speed that the tattoo was spreading slowed. Then, as the ripples concentrated around the tattoo on his arm, the black lines slowly shrunk.

Three seconds later, the Curse of Weakness was gone. Acri struck left and right, smashing arrows and mage Skills out of the air. He had made it through the process whole and swore to himself not to allow the Curse to happen again.

Unfortunately, Randidly had ripped through a huge chunk of Stamina in order to utilize Chimeric Avoidance in that way. But with the tools at his disposal, that wasn’t nearly as debilitating as it used to be.

Cursed Appetite of the Wraith.

The Grim Chimera hovering over Randidly opened its mouth and a huge wind sprang up. The armor of the wounded around Randidly rattled as he pulled Stamina and Mana toward himself in a huge wave. Empowered by the oppressive image that was surrounding the Donnyton forces, this time he absorbed almost four hundred of both Attributes in a split second gulp. While this amount was relatively small compared to the size of his pools, it did give him enough capital to play with for now.

After all, his monstrous regenerations would take care of the rest from here. Provided, of course, that he wouldn’t blow through his Stamina in the next few minutes.

Seeing her curse disappear and feeling the strength pulled her body, Mrs. Hamilton’s expression darkened. “No more holding back! Hit him with everything we’ve got.”

Instantly, the expressions of Donnyton’s elite hardened. Sam raised his arm and simply threw his hammer toward Randidly. The air around it began to slowly spin as the strange energy contained in the hammer exploded outward. Very quickly, it became clear why Sam had taken that course of action: the energy released by the hammer interfered with Randidly’s images.

Like a storm, the cold winds surrounding the hammer rose up. Yggdrasil pressed downward on the hammer, but its passage through the air seemed to activate some passive ability of it. The more it moved, the more chill air gathered around it.

Yet that wasn’t enough. The Grim Chimera roared its dominance, and the aura produced by the hammer slowly shrunk. Ambient energy was effective against Randidly in the broader sense, but that was only when it wasn’t faced with a condensed image. As it was, the Grim Chimera reached out and slashed. The hammer was smashed to the ground, its energy dispersed.

Another wave of those dark grey blades shot outward, cutting through those individuals that barely had managed to withstand the previous wave of assaults. Of course, there was a cost to lashing out like this; Donnyton’s true heroes had another second to gather themselves.

But with more blood on the air, Randidly knew that Helen would become even more troublesome for Alana to deal with. Even now, he periodically used Infinite Fingers of Yggdrasil to strike at their legs. But as Donnyton’s attacks against him grew more concentrated, he spent more and more attention making sure to track all the threats surrounding him.

At that thought, Randidly’s gaze slid sideways to that distant battlefield. The combination of Dozer and Alana was trouble, even for him. Although Helen couldn’t face them directly, her empowered Domain gave her enough mobility to avoid their debilitating strikes. But what Randidly didn’t understand was why they weren’t using those two to pin him down.

Randidly’s gaze tightened. If they don’t want to reveal their tricks, I’ll just force the issue; They won’t be able to hold out forever. Man is Proud, but the Chimera Takes.

The ground beneath Randidly’s feet shattered as he threw himself forward. The two-headed bear’s paw smashed the ground where Randidly had been standing a split second later, enlarging the crater in the arena. Roaring in fury, the bear raised both of its head and attempted to locate the evaporated Randidly.

Instantly after moving, Randidly appeared before Ptolemy. Once more, that point of terrible cravings and resentment swirled around Acri, forming an irresistible weight. However, unlike the bear, Ptolemy’s body had none of the resiliency necessary to handle this strike without being obliterated immediately.

But once again, Donny appeared, bringing his glowing shield up to smash toward Randidly. It seemed that Donny possessed Skills relating to saving others because there was no other way to explain the sudden bursts of speed he displayed in the last instances right before Randidly was going to strike.

Yet Randidly just smiled. Taking Ptolemy out of the fight would certainly make it easier to pick off Donnyton’s fill-ins, but that wasn’t such a big deal. But Randidly had been sure that Donny would move himself to block Ptolemy if he struck. In Donnyton’s mind, likely the value of a combat medic was extremely high.

If you think his Mana pool matters against an image, you are a fool. But on the other hand… Randidly’s eyes once more pierced through to trace the strange shapes of Aether around Donny that he couldn’t understand. It’s much safer to take you out now. Don’t blame me for being rough.

The Chimera Weeps as Man Mourns. A dozen blows curved outward in a dense web, not toward Donny, but toward Paolo, Kayle, and the three more elite Classers that had moved to surround Randidly as he struck at Ptolemy. Truly, they wouldn’t allow him to have time to isolate and strike at any single individual. But it was time to test the limits of their ability.

This time, they all acted defensively in response to his blows. But still, Acri traced several deep gashes across the arms of the elites. Yet with their experience, Paolo and Kayle were able to endure and stepped forward to attack again. Small amounts of energy gathered toward their strikes as they mimicked Randidly’s ability to use images in an extremely crude way.

Ignoring them, Randidly’s left arm blurred into motion. Instantly, Donny’s shield whipped upward to block. Yet when Randidly used the metallic arm to seize the lip of Donny’s shield, he could sense the younger man’s shock.

Stalemate Breaker.