Chapter 194 - A Marsh Battle (1/2)
”Can I go ahead and start the attack if I am confident of gathering the beasts aggro, but I feel that other beasts might join it if we wait for the two berserkers to reach it?” asked Balthazar.
Puba would have usually reprimanded a player for asking that question as it would tend to piss off the attackers. Assassins considering other players slow and unable to attack a beast at the most vulnerable time was a cause for common conflicts in many games and he didn't want the members of his group to get into such a dispute now.
But he was warned by scouts in both Ardent Ronin and Kiriti, that Balthazar had a very high offence and also that he had a crossbow which he is quite adept at using. One of the archers told him that Balthazar was almost as precise and accurate as him despite being an archer. He also told that being an archer would give him better firing speed and that it was a waste that the player chose to be an assassin instead of archer with that skill. Little did he know that Balthazar was that good because he had practice in his past life and he chose a crossbow as it was similar to a gun and he couldn't actually use a bow with much ease.
Before he could respond one of the berserkers from the group who was an independent player already flared up. ”Just because you are fast and have stealth. Don't think that you could get its aggro and come back safely in time. You will also need to land a few attacks on it to gain sufficient aggro before you lack any strength. If you were in an actual situation that you described, you would bring its friends along with it by the time you gain aggro,” said the berserker angrily.
”Ya ya, then we would have to protect your sorry self,” said the paladin who was also pissed off by the Balthazar's attitude. ”Don't expected us to help you in that situation,” she added folding her hands. Balthazar who hadn't thought of all this and had just asked it because his true level was higher, the same as the beasts and it would make his work easy if he was given the freedom to attack the beasts on his own.
”That is true, fleet-footed. Though you have a high speed and a crossbow that allows you to attack from a certain distance despite being an assassin, it wouldn't be easy to get aggro of a beast without sufficient damage and we wouldn't be ready to hold off more beasts if they attack you. You might die, in that case,” said Puba trying to convince that the others made a valid point. As the others had already started to talk against Balthazar and had given a valid argument, he just repeated their words while including the information about Balthazar so that they would underestimate the assassin too much.
”I am pretty confident of being able to gather their aggro even though they have a higher level. I have been scouting all this time and I know their weak points which when attacked generate a lot of aggro,” said Balthazar. ”If it looks like I am getting overwhelmed, I would just suggest that you go back and inform that I got caught by a beast's sudden attack and you guys weren't able to save me,” he added.
”Damn! This guy is harder to control than what Kiriti told me,” thought Puba as he heard Balthazar. ”And he is very rude. Can't he realize the situation. Does he really think that he doesn't need a team when fighting multiple higher level beasts.”
”Let it be that way, then,” said the elementalist Frozen bullet suddenly. He was also a member of the raiders and had been warned about Balthazar. ”We shall do as he says. If he isn't capable to handle himself in a situation of his own making, it is clear that he is not a team player and would only hamper our efforts and might even make our situation worse, later. If he is actually capable of what he told us, it is a waste to prevent him from using his best skills,” he added looking at the others.
”So, we really will move away if he wants us to get back. That is ridiculous,” started berserker again.
”Yes, in forward team, we have the chance to kill beasts more than the others. It would affect our pay, we don't want this guy. Can't we have a change of personnel. We can get some other player from the scouts, right?” asked the paladin.
”The teams are fixed. Can't change that. If any loss of players happens, we are supposed to go back and join the others. That is all,” said Puba seriously. ”Only thing that we can do is to accept his idea. It can't hurt to try. There won't be any rearrangement of groups as it would disturb other groups too. Took a lot of planning to set these. They have no intention to indulge in such requests.”
Puba was actually angry at the elementalist the most. He felt like he would be able to get through to Balthazar and convince him, but the guy had to go and provoke Balthazar. Hearing those words, he was sure that any assassin would try his best to prove himself let alone the crazy guy who started this conflict.
”Cool, I will move ahead in that case,” said Balthazar as he went into the area. He had good reason to want to be ahead of the others. In a team made of a players who don't know one another, the experience distribution would be set to do according to the effort put by the individual in attacking, defending and healing. Else, no one would be willing to put in their best for people they didn't know.
The bipod serpents and gharials which had high magical and physical resistances respectively weren't his focus. The bipod serpents were like serpents with to legs just beneath their heads. They squirted bursts of water as their attacks along with bite attacks which could poison the players. They were weak towards physical attacks. The gharials which attacked physically with their tails or tried bite the players were very immune to physical attacks, but susceptible to fire.
Though he could get their aggro, he didn't want their aggro, he wanted experience the most. So, the horned toads were his focus as he could kill them alone. These were poisonous, faster and smaller. It was extremely hard to take down such a small target moving at high speed. Long-distance fighters had it very hard to hit such a small target and close combat players had it worse. They had to take special care to avoid them, blocking wasn't an option without a shield. Trying to block with a weapon wouldn't be effective as the skin was also poisonous to touch. The only thing they could do was to evade and cut at it which was very hard in the marsh area due to lower mobility. The horned toads were also slightly intelligent and tended to attack at the joints and bare and thinner areas of their armor with their horns. Their horns could actually get through cloth armor and poison players.
The players have already begun removing parts of their armor to lessen their weight to counter their loss of stamina due to the water. This was necessary, else the tired player would be easily killed by a couple of ambushes. Due to this there were in much more danger of being poisoned by the toads, but it was unavoidable.
If they were poisoned, the players would lose health at a fast rate along with a slight paralysis which was very dangerous in that environment. So, within a few minutes, the nature of these toads was determined and everyone in the battalion were made aware of them and were advised to avoid physical confrontation with them or provoking them.
Balthazar had previously kept his speed in control and didn't work to the best of his capabilities all this time as he didn't want to let anyone know of his attributes. He chose this time to attack these horned toads. The best part was that unlike the gharials and the serpents which spent most of the time underwater, these toads lie on top of floating plants or grass. They even float on the top of the water for most time as they can't spend long duration underwater and this allowed him to attack them with his arrows.