Lenn lost a frightening amount of HP. However, with a healer to support him he wasn't troubled. Melodious Edelweiss let her hand glide over her lute. A green note floated through the air, landing on Lenn, sending a comfortable sensation through the tank's body.
[+2501!]
Meanwhile Braag let out an excited laugh:
"Haha, Lenn. Thanks for the gift!"
With a grin he aimed his bomb launcher towards the cultists, who had been pulled towards one spot by Lenn's decoy.
The launcher turned red-hot, its muzzle bulging dangerously. A moment later a large bomb sailed through the air, which was Braag's [Big Bertha] skill.
Boom!
The entire temple trembled under the large explosion. Dust fell from the ceiling and the cushions were ripped apart.
[-3545!]x4
"Nice one! I didn't think you'd pack such a punch, Braag."
"Of course. My Big Bertha is already rank 2. That damage should be expected!"
Braag grinned smugly as Lenn complimented him for a change. However, inwardly he knew that his attack still didn't unfold its full potential.
Braag was one of the few people who knew about tier 2 characters. Unfortunately, his skills were difficult to train in real life, and he was advancing slower than he'd wish to. He had previously contemplated moving into the gaming house to be close to a state-of-the-art gym but with a wife and kid he couldn't do so.
He somehow had to find a solution suitable for himself. Perhaps he simply had to accept that he wouldn't become one of the very best. Having such thoughts Braag was momentarily disappointed but remembering his daughter's joyful laughter he had no regrets.
Honestly, under these circumstances Braag was already doing quite well in the game. His powerful AOE attacks were a blessing for every party. Liam wouldn't invite him to missions if he was deeming the dwarf too weak.
It was in situations like the current one where Braag revealed his power. With the weaker enemies standing close together he swiftly brought out another skill, dealing more AOE damage.
Next, Fortune, Quickstep, and Liam unleashed their own attacks, and the common enemies easily fell. Throughout the fight Lenn barely had to tank anything, saving half of his stance.
"Good job guys."
Liam praised his group lightly, glad about their coordination, while Braag walked around looting everything he got his fingers on.
The dwarf's passive applied 'Wealth' stacks to his enemies, which increased their loot after they die. Of course, common enemies wouldn't suddenly drop unique equipment, but Braag was elated about every extra coin.
After being with Dream Avenue for a while Braag had already amassed quite some wealth. But in his mind, he could never have enough. Especially since some of his skills forced him to spend money.
Originally Braag sought out Hotpot and especially Liam after the latter earned a lot of money by selling some herbs. Braag planned to learn from Liam about easy ways to make money in the game. Yet every time he asked Liam to teach him, the expert got distracted or was just generally busy.
But Braag didn't want to give up yet. Having looted all the enemies, he turned towards Liam, just about to ask once more when Scholar Feng suddenly spoke up:
"Not bad, adventurers. Not let us make haste and regroup with my guards. Let's go!"
The scholar appeared quite anxious, hurrying to leave the temple. He didn't dare to engage the high priestess. He could feel that the elf was somehow connected with the temple. In here, he wasn't her match.
Watching the scholar walk away, Liam addressed his party:
"Ok guys, we have no time constraints in this quest. Let's recover fully before we follow the scholar."
"Sure, boss."
"Alright."
The group was ready to take a quick break. They only had to recover Melodious Edelweiss's mana and Lenn's stance and they were good to go. Braag saw his chance, quickly approaching Liam.
Yet at that moment the world suddenly dimmed. A cold breeze began to blow through the temple, sending chills down everyone's spines. The group instinctively looked towards the temple's entrance.
There, three demons had suddenly appeared. Two of them were female with red skin and short clothes, flickering their long tongues. They flanked an eerily slender male demon. His upper body was bare, showing off his pale skin. Long, black hair fell down his shoulders and curled horns grew out from on top of his head. His hands ended in extremely sharp, black claws.
Liam's gaze immediately hardened as he stared at the three demons. The one to the left looked back at him, giggling flirtatiously:
"Our lord didn't tell us that the people we are hunting are so handsome. Maybe we should take them back instead of killing them?"
Immediately a punch came right for her waist. The demon let out a cry as she crushed into the temple's wall. She glared at the male demon with resentment:
"Can't you be more gentle, Kreinon?"
"Hmpf. Stop playing around. You are not even injured. Remember why we are here! We can't disappoint our lord!"
"Whatever..."
Liam's group watched in confusion as the female demon stood up again. Fortune turned towards Liam voicing everyone's thoughts:
"Is this still part of the quest?"
Liam slowly shook his head.
"I'm afraid not. This should be the effect of our Initial Devilslayer title..."
Fortune was still puzzled, quickly searching her character panel for the title.
[Accomplished achievement: Devil? So what?]
[Received title: Initial Devilslayer]
[Effect: You have a 20% resistance against all status effects when facing devils or their minions. But devils will randomly send minions to hunt you down from now on.]
[You slaid your first devil. Now you have their attention.]
Finally, Fortune understood. But if these three were the minions of a devil, could they even handle it? Or perhaps the devil Paradynim was kind enough to send only her weaker minions? A quick [Inspect] revealed the truth.
[Right concubine of Kreinon
Rank: Elite
Level: 42
HP: 31.000/31.000]
[Demon official Kreinon
Rank: Lord
Level: 42
HP: 35.500/35.500]
[Left concubine of Kreinon
Rank: Elite
Level: 42
HP: 31.000/31.000]
"Looks doable..."
Fortune let out a relieved sigh. But her words sounded quite grating to the ears of the demons.
"Are you looking down on us? Hmpf."
The two concubines let out angered snorts at the same time, rushing towards the group. The fight suddenly started.
The concubines appeared extremely agile, their feet almost gliding over the floor. They reached the players in no time at all. Fortunately, Lenn reacted in time and once again deployed his decoy.
However, he knew that its effect was weaker against the superior enemies. Thus, the tank warned his team mates not to attack yet and rushed forward, slamming his shield into the enemies.
With this move the aggro on the left concubine was secured.
"Let's take the elites down first!"
"Got it!"
Everyone followed Liam's orders. Braag raised his bomb launcher, taking a deep breath. He was getting ready to use his [Big Bertha] again. But since the skill was capable of friendly fire, he had to aim carefully so he wouldn't hurt Lenn.
It took him a second. Visualizing the blast radius, carefully adjusting his aim and... fire!
The huge bomb sailed through the air, passing over the two demons and crashing into the floor a bit further away. Instantly a heavy explosion erupted, sending a shockwave in all directions. Braag's aim turned out to be slightly off, but it wasn't bad. Instead of hitting the two concubines he instead hit the right concubine but also barely reached Kreinon who remained standing in the back.
[-1524!]
[-1876!]
From the single attack the group directly knew what to expect. Obviously Kreinon didn't boast a strong physical resistance.
His strength obviously lay elsewhere and the demon was ready to show it. He raised his arm elegantly, the tips of his long claws touching. Opening his fingers wide he spoke with an arrogant voice:
"Maul them to death."
Suddenly a translucent, big maw appeared above the decoy. It bit down with great power. The bent metal let out a grinding noise as the teeth left behind deep marks.
"This might hurt later..."
Just as Lenn murdered this, the maw appeared again. This time it was directly above his head. The tank shivered as he reacted on instinct. The shield in his hand, appearing small at first, suddenly let out a burst of steam and abruptly grew taller. It only took a moment to become as tall as the dwarf wielding it.
Now properly equipped Lenn swung his arm in a wide arc, colliding with the maw. A vast power forced him back a few steps but at least he successfully blocked the skill.
[Stance -24]
Kreinon was not prepared to give up yet, however. His next target was Liam. As the veteran rushed towards the enemies, a maw appeared above him.
Liam barely cared, though. Staying calm he sped up for a moment, leaving the skill's range and reaching his target. His ultimate skill activated, and a barrage of attacks landed on the left concubine.
[Stance -17]