Chapter 1089: Not According To Plan
"This is a good chance to see how far she has come. It also gives me a chance to use that skill.'
After completing the quest Hidden Guardian of the Mortal Realm back at the Night Lord's Crypt, Izroth received a unique class skill, Master of Skills. It allowed him to analyze, archive, enhance, and combine skills. More importantly, he could turn skills analyzed by Master of Skills into a skill book.
Izroth had been storing information within the Skill Archive of Master of Skills; however, he had yet to use its other functions.
Master of Skills was a one-of-a-kind support-type skill because it could permanently increase a player's overall combat ability. If others knew what it was capable of, Izroth would have no shortage of people lining up to request he grow their skills.
Furthermore, Master of skills was completely separate from the ability that he obtained after reaching level 50 to create skill orbs.
Unfortunately, skill orbs had a downside. While Izroth could create skills using skill orbs and turn a B-ranked skill into a growth-type skill with SS-ranked potential, there was a limit to how many different skills orbs he could create.
Izroth could create one skill orb; however, the number of slots for making different skill orbs was limited to one per every ten levels.
At the moment, Izroth was level 61, and he had already made one skill orb, Phantom Shift. This meant that he could currently create five more skill orbs.
Master of Skills, however, he did not have such a limit. In theory, one could use it to create an endless number of skills!
"Make it fast. We still have a search to continue." Izroth stated calmly as he gave his approval.
"Yes, teacher," Azalea replied respectfully before raising her head and turning toward the crowd of Defiant players with a cold gaze.
Zinnia furrowed her brows. Surely, he did not expect Azalea to face so many enemies alone. Even if Azalea was in the top ten of the event leaderboards, a large number of those on the opposing side were still made up of Defiant's elite players. Not to mention, there were more than thirty of them. To face those kinds of odds alone, one had to be either extremely confident or incredibly foolish.
As Azalea stepped forward, Zinnia looked over at Izroth and said, "Palace Master Izroth, if the guild leader sent the two of you as reinforcements, then shouldn't we join hands to prevent any unnecessary losses?"
Zinnia could tell that Azalea was upset at having been insulted by those from Defiant. However, it was too reckless to let one's anger guide their actions.
"You can relax, section leader Zinnia. It will all be over soon." Izroth responded without adverting his gaze.
Preventing unnecessary losses? This was the best way of doing so.
Defeaning Silence smirked when he saw Azalea stepping forward. It appeared that his provocation worked, after all. Initially, he wanted Sleeping Gardenia's side to be the first to attack so that he had another way to justify the attacks of Defiant as self-defense if necessary. At first, he thought it would not work because of how cautious Zinnia acted; however, it looked like his worries were for nothing.
Defeaning Silence glanced at the person next to him and gave a meaningful look. After doing so, that player walked out in front of the group.
It was a thin male with messy dark brown hair and a pair of eyes to match who went by the name Quick Edge. He wore leather armor and had a two sai at his side. There was a look of arrogance on his face as he walked forward.
In situations like this, it was common practice for top guilds to test the waters by sending out someone with a similar class type as the other side. If the first exchange went well, whichever side won would be the one to gain momentum while simultaneously lowering the morale of the other side.
"Hey, kid. Be good and step aside while the grown-ups are talking." Quick Edge said mockingly as he stopped a few steps in front of Azalea to block her advancement.
However, Azalea did not halt her steps as she continued onward.
"Hey, I'm talking to you-" Quick Edge started; however, something bizarre happened the next moment.
'Oh? It's truly a shame that I could not gift her the Umbral Imp Horn.'
In the blink of an eye, tens upon tens of tiny cuts started to form all over Quick Edge's body. At the same time, Azalea did not halt her steps as Quick Edge turned into countless particles that she casually walked through as if there was nothing in her path to begin with.
Defeaning Silence and the players from Defiant were left dumbfounded. What was that? A surprise attack from a distance? A hidden magic item? Some kind of powerful curse magic? They had no clue as to what happened to Quick Edge. One moment, he was standing there perfectly fine, and the next, he had already begun to turn into particles and perish!
However, there were no tricks involved. No surprise attack or magic item like they thought. Rather, it was just Azalea's insane agility and attack speed at play paired with the Stalking The Cicada and Dark Ambush skills attached to the Obsconis Hunting Dagger. She had not used a special skill to deal with Quick Edge, only a barrage of basic attacks that took place faster than anyone from Defiant could see!
Defeaning Silence and the players from Defiant were not the only ones confused by what just took place.
Zinnia, Starry Aster, and the players from Sleeping Gardenia were just as baffled by Quick Edge's fate.
But, while everyone was momentarily stunned by what they had just witnessed, Azalea vanished into thin air.
After seeing Azalea vanish, Defeaning Silence felt cold sweats run down his back as he quickly snapped out of it and shouted, "Careful! It's a high-ranking stealth skill! Use AOE skills to draw her out and break it!"
After Defeaning Silence gave the order, several players from Defiant started to cast AOE skills in different areas in an attempt to reveal Azalea's location. Under normal circumstances, such a method would work. However, there was just one thing wrong with their method-Azalea was not using a stealth skill.
Out of nowhere, three players on Defiant's side turned into particles. But, no one seemed to notice as a phantom-like apparition skillfully weaved its way through the crowd of players completely undetected.
Four players...
Six players...
Nine players!
"We're under attack!" One of the players from Defiant cried out.
After the ninth player turned into particles, one of the players from Defiant finally realized what was going on in the chaos of AOE skills being cast.
However, just as that player finished giving his warning, he fell silent as he became the tenth player in the crowd from Defiant to be eliminated.
One by one, the members of Defiant were dropping like flies as they were unable to track the phantom-like apparition. From their point of view, it was no different than dealing with a stealth player since they were unable to follow Azalea's movements.
But, this was not strange. When it came to movement skills, the Dance of Phantoms being used by Azalea was among the top in RML.
Many players had misconceptions about how agility and speed worked in RML. They believed that as long as one had a high agility stat and movement speed, one was the fastest. While that was something true on paper, in reality, it was not that simple. In order to truly be the fastest, one could not just have high agility and movement speed, one needed to have masterful control. And, most importantly, their senses needed to be able to keep up with their
own speed.
Izroth taught Azalea the importance of balancing her speed with control and senses using a method he learned back in the Seven Realms during his youth. As long as Azalea followed his instructions, forget the players from Defiant. Even those core players from the top guilds would never be able to lay a single finger on her!
Azalea mercilessly dashed through the crowd of Defiant players. Every time she seemed to attack once with her daggers, she actually attacked ten, fifteen, twenty times.
After a few moments, Defiant's thirty plus players quickly got cut in half!
"Stop her! It's just one person!" Defeaning Silence roared.
This situation had unfolded to one that was embarrassing. How could he show his face to the guild leader after handling things in this manner?!
Defeaning Silence knew that if he did not do something to salvage things, forget a promotion -his position as a section leader in Kifa Karsts would be in jeopardy!
What infuriated Defeaning Silence the most was that his existence was completely ignored. Was it not a common tactic to take out the enemy's leader first? Then, why was everyone around him falling while he still stood? She was obviously looking down on him!