Around two seconds later, a spatial rift appeared right next to the black sphere as Mariposa stepped out and stopped only a couple of centimeters away from it. She furrowed her brows and took a moment to study the black sphere.
"It's similar to an isolated pocket of space, however, there's still a small connection linking it to this area. It's almost as if it's tethered to the village itself. If that's the case, then that should do the trick well enough..." Mariposa muttered to herself.
If the space had been completely isolated without being tied to the Roaming Village of The Netherworld, then Mariposa was not sure that she could do anything to free Guan Yu. She would have to reach a higher level of spatial magic and unlock more powerful skills in order to forcibly enter into a totally isolated pocket of space.
However, since the village was virtually mimicking the traits of a spatial beacon that was constantly bouncing off the isolated pocket of space, Mariposa felt confident in breaking through to pull Guan Yu back to their location.
Meanwhile, Halls was having a difficult time maintaining a suitable distance from the enraged Puppet Chained Assassin.
"Hey, how much longer do I have to run?!" Halls yelled as he would not dare stop for a moment with the NPC right on his tail. He knew that he was incapable of outrunning it and if not for him using a skill similar to Unimpeded Rush, then the NPC would have already caught up to him. However, he did not have many tricks left up his sleeve.
In less than fifteen seconds, whether he wanted it to or not, the Puppet Chained Assassin would be within attack range. By this point in its enraged state, it would probably strike him for 5,000 damage even if he did manage to block its attack. If that happened, then Halls understood that in just three to four shots he would be dead!
"When I give you the signal, run back towards this way at full speed! When I say to, use your Rebound skill!" Zi Yi shouted loud enough so that Halls could hear her. She had to prepare a backup plan just in case Mariposa was unable to free Guan Yu from that black sphere.
"Alright, but whatever you're gonna do make it fast! I'm not into this kinda thing! Well, maybe if it was a pretty woman..." Halls mumbled the last few words under his breath.
"Luna, I need you to..." Zi Yi quickly exchanged a few words with Luna and by the time they finished speaking, Luna had a confused expression on her face. However, it was not because she did not understand what Zi Yi wanted her to do, but rather, she thought such a plan was insane! The amount of risk it carried if things went wrong was beyond high.
"So, do you think you can do it?" Zi Yi asked. She realized that she was asking the impossible of Luna, but desperate times called for desperate measures. If it failed, then she would take full responsibility.
"I can't promise anything since I've never tried to use it in that way before, however, I'll give it a try." Luna said with a determined look on her face. To be honest, she too was interested in if it would work or not.
After Zi Yi got Luna to agree with her plan, she strung an arrow onto her bow. Then, after three seconds passed by, she released it. Just like most of her attacks, the arrow disappeared into the void after traveling through the air a bit.
"Now, run!" Zi Yi's voice echoed throughout the village and made it to Halls.
Halls instantly shifted his direction and darted towards Zi Yi and Luna's current location.
The Puppet Chained Assassin reacted in a heartbeat and immediately adjusted its heading to match Halls. The moment Halls turned, he shaved a few seconds off the gap between him and the NPC, therefore, it was literally three seconds away from catching up.
Halls felt as if he could feel the Puppet Chained Assassin breathing down his neck from how close it was behind him.
"Forget it!" Halls said as he foot slammed into the ground and then in the next moment, his body shot forward at a great speed and widened the distance between the NPC once again. Although it was a risky move, Halls used the actual skill Unimpeded Rush. There was a golden rule of using Unimpeded Rush and it was to make sure you always hit your target.
If a player missed their target, then they would be left completely defenseless for a brief period of time. Needless to say, without any target before him, Halls suffered the drawback of the Unimpeded Rush and he became unable to perform any action for a short while.
"Luna!" Zi Yi said as Luna gave a slight nod in response.
Luna took a deep breath and focused her sights onto the Puppet Chained Assassin.
She then opened her mouth as an intense sound wave swept through the surroundings followed by a surge of powerful magic energy.
"Haste." Luna only spoke one word, but it reverberated through the atmosphere and echoed into the ears of everyone in the village.
"Halls, Rebound!" Zi Yi said in a hurried tone of voice. It was due to what occurred once Luna's voice magic reached the Puppet Chained Assassin.
The instant the NPC was affected, its speed shot up through the roof and its figure actually blurred out from the sudden boost. Luna had actually increased the speed of the Puppet Chained Assassin to a dangerous level!
Halls, who had just recently regained the ability to take action, was frightened out of his mind when he turned around. That was because of the Puppet Chained Assassin who was less than three meters away from him. His heart skipped a beat and time seemed to slow down at that moment. Everything turned silent and the only thing Halls could hear was the sound of his own beating heart.
Halls shifted his position as the chain from the Puppet Chained Assassin was already soaring through the air at a speed that wanted to tear him to pieces.
"So this is what it feels like." Halls could not help but have those words cross into his mind as everything around him just seemed to be incredibly clear.
Of course, this was not a magical moment Halls was having, but instead, it was due to the passive skill he obtained from consuming a grade one pill given to him by Izroth, the Five Cycles Pill. But, it was not just any other Five Cycles Pill. It was empowered by the Blessing of the Craft!
Name: Five Cycles Pill(III)
Rank: Grade-Three
Usage:...
«Superior Perception»:...
*«Extreme Sensory»: During a critical situation, the user of this skill has a small chance of having their sense of perception increased by 1,000% for a brief period of time. This effect will not activate more than once every 24 hours.
Special Note:...
As Halls' shield rose to intercept the attack of the Puppet Chained Assassin, a thin layer of protective aura appeared around it. Less than 0.01 seconds later, the chain of the Puppet Chained Assassin crashed into Halls' shield.
Ding! BANG!
A loud crashing noise filled up the entire surroundings as the chain met with Halls' shield.
«Blocked»
-8,525
Halls received a massive amount of damage, however, the price was well worth it. The body of the Puppet Chained Assassin shook violently as an overwhelming force swept across the elite NPC. Almost a full second later, a black streak of light could be seen traveling far and deep into the village territory. The Puppet Chained Assassin who was just there a moment ago, was nowhere to be seen!
The black streak that just flew away far into the distance was, in fact, the body of the Puppet Chained Assassin!
Halls senses returned to normal. He released a small sigh and shook his head after it ended. He wished that he was able to enter such a state with his own free will. How useful would such a skill be?
A smile appeared on Zi Yi's face as she clenched her hand together tightly after seeing that her plan was successful.
"You never cease to amaze me, Zi Yi." Luna stated as she gave a helpless smile.
"What just happened? Where did the NPC go?" Halls asked as he approached Luna and Zi Yi while staying on guard. Things had happened to fast and his Extreme Sensory only lasted just long enough for him to perform a successful Rebound. Therefore, to him, it just looked as if the Puppet Chained Assassin vanished.
"That's a bit hard to tell at this point. But, it should be quite far away by now." Zi Yi said. After seeing the confused look on Halls' face, she chose to explain it to him.
When the Puppet Chained Assassin became enraged, not only did its attack power increase, but its agility and speed increased as well. By the time he struck Halls, the strength of the elite NPC had tripled from its original self!
Then, Luna used her voice magic to increase the speed of the NPC even further! If a guess had to be taken, then after Luna's voice magic was used on it and just before it struck Halls, the Puppet Chained Assassin had nearly five to seven times its starting agility!
The way Halls' Rebound skill worked was that the more momentum someone had when attacking, the further they would be knocked back after striking his shield.
Therefore, the Puppet Chained Assassin who was moving at an unspeakable speed, was sent so far back that they could not even see its silhouette! There was even a good chance that it actually left outside of its intended aggro range and would be reset!
In other words, even if it did return to their location, it should no longer be enraged. Without its enraged state, they were confident in handling one elite NPC even with just the three of them present.
As for why Luna did not simply use her voice magic to stop the movements of the Puppet Chained Assassin, that was because even if they left it alone for twenty seconds, it would have only gained even more strength in that time. If they attacked it, then the effects would have simply worn off.
But, even if she used a version of the voice magic that allowed her to miraculously stun the NPC for twenty seconds while they attacked, it would not have been enough time to take care of it.
Though the biggest concern was that the crowd control effect would be ignored completely due to the nature of an enraged state. After all, the possibility of crowd control effects working on an enraged monster was extremely low. Therefore, after taking all of this into account, Zi Yi finally came up with the plan that led to their current favorable situation.
"Amazing..." Halls muttered to himself. Even he could see just how amazing it was that Zi Yi had managed to come up with such a wild plan without a lot of time to work with.
Crrrrrrrrrck....! Ooooooooooom!
The sound of something shattering and collapsing into itself drifted into the ears of Luna, Halls and Zi Yi. When they all turned to look over in that direction, everyone could see cracks forming all throughout the black sphere. There were shards of the black sphere breaking apart and falling down to the ground.
"Did she do it?" Halls had a tone of excitement in his voice as he saw the black sphere being destroyed.
Meanwhile, Mariposa had a lovely smile placed upon her face.
"It would seem that I never cease to amaze myself." Mariposa said as she admired her work. She felt that other spatial magic casters could only sigh in amazement at what she had just accomplished.
...