End Online: Volume 6 (24 page)

Ladon’s attacks are
ruthless, unending, and have an uncanny accuracy. He constantly sends multiple
swordlight attacks at me, and whenever I get close, flashes with an
instantaneous movement that allows him to teleport 10’ in any direction and
blows me away with a backhanded slash of the sword.

I manage to get a few
attacks in, but his health has barely decreased by five percent. In the
meantime, my health is nearly at half. I have to keep flying above the ground
too, because the swampy surface of the forest is an ankle deep pool of water
and slows my movements. It has the same effect on him fortunately, otherwise I
don’t know if I would be capable of holding out as long as I have.

Ladon appears to be
getting tired of the constant back and forth attacks; his swordlight attacks
are coming more frequently with no sign of stopping. I can’t even get the
chance to fly higher in the sky to give myself more freedom of movement, as
each time Ladon counters with a torrent of attacks that force me to descend.

I prepare to dodge the
next attack and charge forward again, but he suddenly does something unexpected
- Ladon thrusts his sword into the moist ground. I didn’t expect the move and
don’t manage to react until that very sword erupts from the ground beneath my
feet and stabs into my leg.

I fly backward in panic,
but not before receiving around 200 points of damage, a little more than five
percent of my total health. Ladon sends out another swordlight attack and goes
to repeat his dimensional stab again but a thick shield of ice surprises him as
it forms beneath and in front of me, blocking the two attacks.

Ladon’s eyes dart to the
side and his gaze locks with Fen’s.

“Fen, you’re here!” I call
out while breathing a sigh of relief.

“I’m here,” Fen replies
timidly while staring intently at Ladon, who has halted his attacks.

Ladon gazes back at Fen,
but the look in his eyes contains no worry about defeat at all. If I had to
describe his expression, it would be one of confidence and arrogance.

Ladon moves his mouth as
if to say something, but Fen suddenly attacks with a hail of small ice needles,
cutting him off and forcing him into a defensive position. A whirlwind forms
around Ladon, blowing the ice needles away before they can reach him. At the
same time, he attacks Fen with several swordlight blades.

Fen raises an ice wall in
front of her which, while gradually being cut into pieces, still defends
against the attacks. I see my opportunity to attack at this point and use the
Sacred Art ‘Backstab’, vanishing from my position and appearing behind Ladon
like a ghost.

Before the AI swordsman
can react, I swing my twin god-tier short swords down and cut into his back,
dealing the most damage I have done so far. Ladon reacts quickly, blindly
thrusting his sword behind himself. I have already retreated to a safe
distance, but still took some damage from the windstorm in the process. Ladon’s
sword suddenly seems to pierce the distance between us and stabs me in the
chest.

‘Damn it! Another one
of those dimensional stabs!’
I curse
to myself as my health falls to a near critical state.

Fen throws several heavy
ice spears which pierce through the defensive gale. The spears hit the shallow
water and burst into thorny flowers of sharp, icy petals. They also freeze the
swamp water and lock Ladon’s feet in place so he can’t escape.

The AI swordsman snorts in
contempt, twisting his body at an impossible angle and cutting apart the thorny
flowers that attempt to pierce him. He isn’t completely successful however, as
the icy spears are too numerous and some still manage to stab into him.

I take the opportunity to
take out a bunch of homemade health potions from my inventory and, holding my
breath to stifle the taste, pour one after another down my throat. The speed at
which I recover health won’t increase from taking so many potions, but the
duration of health recovery will continue until the effects of all the potions are
consumed.

I hear the sound of
cracking ice as Ladon frees himself by forcefully pulling his feet out of the
frozen swamp. The ice shatters around him and swordlight flutters around the
area, pressuring Fen. The wolf girl seems to be holding her own against him for
now, but I can see her slowly being suppressed.

“Well, Lost, it appears
you are having some trouble,” a nostalgic voice comes from behind me,
accompanied by many footsteps splashing in the water.

I turn my head to see
Chronix and the rest of his party. Chronix smirks at me while looking at the
battle. I furrow my brow at him and prepare to attack, but he then does
something that completely surprises me.

Chronix orders his party
to attack Ladon, coordinating them to circle around through the trees and
attack from behind the AI. As he leaves me to recover health, Chronix flashes
me a grin that makes me both anxious and worried.

As Chronix and his party
are getting into position, Fen’s defense finally falters. Several sweeping
swordlight blades pass through her thick ice barricade and land on her body,
sending her back several yards and doing considerable damage.

Fen and I could barely get
Ladon to lose ten percent of his health, yet each one of his attacks can do the
same amount of damage to Fen. I can see where his earlier confidence came from.
He isn’t anywhere near the strongest AI we’ve encountered, but he is definitely
stronger than us. Fortunately, while he has quality, we have quantity.

Chronix and his crew
finally circle behind Ladon and, with one swift coordinated attack, his party
unleashes a barrage of skills. Two high class magic spells are launched: one, a
supportive type that will slow down the target’s speed, and the other, a fire
type that will deal heavy damage and possibly burn a target for continuous
damage over time.

There are also four Sacred
Art attacks at the same time. Some elemental sword strikes and a single
defensive art which forms a large shield in from of the party to protect
against any counter attacks.

The defense of the party
is an excellent tactic that proves to be lifesaving. Ladon suffers four of the
unexpected attacks before performing an instantaneous movement and thrusting
his sword at the party. The sword pierces into the shield, but it stops halfway
through without being able to fully penetrate.

Ladon appears enraged by
Chronix’s party as he focuses his attacks on them, tearing their defenses apart
and forcing them to retreat while still taking damage. As to be expected of a
rich party from a large guild, they rapidly pull out health potions of the
highest quality and drink them like water.

The AI swordsman doesn’t
get to attack Chronix’s party for long. Fen’s attacks force him to turn his
attention back to her. The arrogant expression on Ladon’s face has diminished,
now replaced by one of concentration.

“We’re here!” Verde’s
voice travels from between the trees as she, Sir Laurence, and Gladox appear.

“Be careful,” I cautiously
warn them, “This swordsman, Ladon, is incredibly powerful. He fights with wind,
and his sword is capable of piercing space and attacking distant targets. He
can also instantaneously move 10 feet in any direction when attacked!”

The three new arrivals nod
and quickly join me as my health finishes refilling and I prepare to re-enter
the battle.

“Sir Laurence, we will be
relying on your defense.” I place my trust in the idiot who only thinks of
girls and hope I won’t regret it.

Ladon is currently
besieged on two sides. His windstorm defense protects him from small to
moderate attacks, so everyone is forced to use their strongest techniques to be
able to hit him. As a result, the two parties’ combined efforts have managed to
take him down to seventy percent health.

Sir Laurence, Gladox,
Verde, and I go help reinforce Fen, who is in a bad position and already down
to fifty percent health. I pass her a few potions, ignoring her scrunched up
nose, and tell her to quickly drink them. Unfortunately, she only drinks one
before throwing the rest away.

“No. I hate them,” Fen
says in disgust.

Sir Laurence tries to hand
her some normal high quality health potions, but she refuses to accept them. I
frown and am about to tell her to just take them, but Ladon’s next attack
arrives.

Sir Laurence steps forward
and raises his shield, a bright ethereal force emerging from the edges to cover
just enough space to protect the whole party. It successfully blocks many of
the swordlight blades, but Ladon’s sword soon pierces space and stabs into the
physical shield, resulting in the ethereal force falling to pieces.

Thankfully, Fen steps in
at this moment and raises an ice wall larger than before to keep us protected.
We hold off our assault until Chronix’s party’s attacks cause Ladon to turn in
rage and attack them back.

‘How strange, I
wonder why my auto aggravation doesn’t seem to be effective on this AI. Grael
said he felt like attacking me, but he was able to ignore it. Could it be the
same with all the other AIs?’
I wonder
to myself as Fen banishes the ice wall.

I throw five of my
throwing knives at Ladon just in case, but as expected the windstorm
surrounding him blows them away before they can reach him. Fen attacks with a
torrent of ice spears while Gladox charges forward with his huge two-handed
sword poised to attack.

Ladon instinctively
glances behind and frowns at the attacks. Rather than trying to defend against
them, he uses his instantaneous movement to dodge 10 feet to the side. The
windstorm that was surrounding him slowly disperses, and another quickly forms
around the location he transitioned to.

Gladox reacts with inhuman
speed, changing direction the moment Ladon vanished. He manages to slip through
the windstorm before it comes to full effect and swings his sword down in a
deadly chop. Ladon counters with his sword in a full arc to deflect the attack,
but Gladox cunningly shifts his weight and changes the trajectory of his swing,
avoiding Ladon’s sword and cutting through the AI mercilessly.

“Hmm, you have some
skill,” Ladon says begrudgingly to Gladox as his sword speeds up, tearing
through the air and slashing Gladox before he can react.

Such a heavy swing, yet
Gladox’s health bar only showed a reduction of barely five percent. I’m green
with envy over the enormous amount of health points the top level player in the
game has. The same attack would have taken nearly half of my health if it
landed like that.

Chronix’s party renews
their attack now that they aren’t forced to defend themselves. We have taken
Ladon’s health down to 55 percent and have an incredible advantage at this
point. Despite that, the swordsman hasn’t shown any indication of fleeing, as
if he is still apparently confident in his victory.

I use a considerable
portion of my stamina to use ‘Multi Mirage’, turning into over a dozen flying
copies of myself. Each and every mirage, including my true self, charges at
Ladon with a speed incomparable to anyone else.

Ladon’s windstorm still
hasn’t come to full effect, so the mirages manage to pass through without being
dispersed. My sudden burst of speed greatly surprises Ladon, who glances around
him warily before randomly swinging his sword, dispersing one of the mirages.

I can only move this fast
when I carefully plan the trajectory and distance to move, else it is
impossible to control. I can always use ‘Perceptual Sight’ to greatly enhance
my reactions and appear to slow down time around me, but it always brings a
splitting pain in my head that I don’t want to suffer. I still occasionally
have residual headaches from the last time I used it.

With the ability to change
which mirage is my real body, I change my location to the nearest mirage and
use ‘CrossX’ to slash across Ladon.

“Found you,” Ladon says as
if it is inconsequential, turning around and thrusting his sword into my ‘real
body’.

Unfortunately for the AI,
I have already changed to a different mirage. Just as the mirage Ladon stabbed
disperses, I attack again with another, this time using ‘Triple Thrust’. Gladox
coordinates with me perfectly, attacking from the other direction and trapping
Ladon between the two.

Gladox uses a special,
unique, wind-based Sacred Art that makes his sword glow green for a moment. At
first I thought using the wind element against the AI would be pointless as it
is his element, but Gladox only used it to bounce his sword off the swirling
air around us to do instantaneous shifts in momentum, bringing his incredibly
heavy sword back to perform quick, unpredictable attacks.

This process repeats
itself several times, trapping Ladon between us while leaving enough room for
the rest of our party, and even Chronix’s party, to attack. Ladon falls to
forty percent total health under the barrage before hissing in frustration and
using instantaneous movement to escape.

The swordsman AI appears
dishevelled, panting and glaring at us with anger. Being ganged up on by eleven
people would definitely be frustrating. I have been in similar situations so I
can empathize. Unfortunately, for Fen’s survival, I must be cold hearted.