Chapter 175 - AOE Bombardment 1

The sun that was gathering in the air shocked and intimidated all people, regardless of species. Its presence and magnificence directly suppressed all thoughts of fighting or fleeing.

But that was only for a few seconds. Rina's face had turned black when she realized that the skill had such an absurd casting time.

30 minutes!

This would already be annoying in the real world, much less in Boundless where the presence of stats and items made people do everything faster or smarter. Combat which might last 5 minutes in the real world could be over in less than 5 seconds in Boundless.

Who was going to sit there and patiently wait for Rina to finish?

The shock and awe of the giant sun soon wore off on the void monsters' side, and they began to focus on Rina as their aggro shifted. Now that the previous army of the Allied Guilds had been wiped out, it was Draco's bunch of players who were closest.

They roared and rushed at Draco. The players behind him felt chilled just from the sight of these aberrant monsters with no concrete form that only numbered in the tens of thousands coming towards them.

For comparison, the players behind Draco were just about 1 million, yet they got intimidated by a bunch of monsters they outnumbered many times.

It couldn't be helped, as they had witnessed these same monsters rip an army of almost 170,000 to shreds in seconds, when their numbers had only reached a mere thousand at best.

The problem was, many of these monsters continued to emerge from the portable portal with each passing second, turning the situation worse and worse.

However, was Supernova the only skill that Draco had which had a large AOE? Far from it!

Draco unsheathed Fragarach and used its active skill for the first time.

Lugh's Might!

｢Active 1 – Lugh's Might: Swing the blade down with unparalleled force, dealing 500% sword damage over a large area. Cooldown: 3 days.｣

500% sword damage over a large area was a scary concept, when one considered that Draco's practical damage with a sword was - at minimum - 30,000.

Draco followed the motions of the active skill, which was to raise Fragarach into the sky and rise into the air like an angel ascending to heaven.

Lugh was the original owner of Fragarach and his heroism had granted the blade unparalleled status in history, as well as reality. It was infused with bits of his will, so Draco found that the actions were similar to what he'd expect Lugh to do.

Draco rose to an impressive height - with the help of Fragarach's ability to control the wind - and stopped. Then, he suddenly spun Fragarach in mid-air and shouted.

"For the light!"

He fell to the earth with rapid force, the blade of Fragarach gleaming with a grayish energy that seemed to be able to cut an onlooker with just its visual presence.

Draco connected with the earth, and this grayish energy erupted like a shockwave across the land. It harmlessly passed over players and NPCs, not because they were immune to it, but because they were regarded as allies.

As for the void monsters, they could not claim such benefits happily. The sword energy washed over them, dealing abhorrent damage to every single one within range.

The Void Monsters were immune to physical attacks and extremely resistant to magic attacks, so Draco had imbued all his stuff with Aetheric Energy. However, he hadn't done so for Fragarach because there was no need to.

｢Passive 1 – Unstoppable Force: No armor or defense can stop this blade.｣

It didn't matter whether one was immune to damage or not, everything would be pierced through by Fragarach. Unless you somehow acquired Divine armor, even if you were fully equipped in Legendary armor, it would mean dogshit in front of this blade.

As such, the Void Monsters felt the full damage of the active skill.

-225,000!

There were four kinds of Void Monsters. The Void Fodder with 15,000 HP, the Void Monster with 150,000 HP, the Void Killer with 1,500,000 HP and the Void Destroyer with 15,000,000 HP.

Draco's single skill killed almost every single Void Fodder and Void Monster, while damaging the Void Killers and the Void Destroyers.

His experience gain was massive, as he got 541% from just one attack at his level. This was proof of how lucrative it would be to hunt void monsters compared to normal monsters, but the truth was that hunting void monsters was impossible.

One could only hunt them with a group, and even then, one would need to use Aetheric Energy to imbue their weapons as well as armor. Putting aside the value of an Aether Crystal, where could mainstream players find a person to imbue their items?

And even if they found such a person, just how much would they charge?

Not everyone could have a handy reincarnator around to always know what to do and how to do it. The reason why Draco ignored every other player except those in Kamisuo, Desecrators, and Meiren was because they were fodder at best.

Sure, there might be a hidden gem somewhere among them, but they would have to come to Umbra for polishing, otherwise, it would take ages for one to grow by themselves.

Even if one were to rise to become famous, whatever the normal playerbase could achieve after a decade would take them merely a year.

They came to the battlefield knowing jack shit about their enemies, with typical armor and weapons without Aetheric Imbuement. Even worse, most of their stuff was either Common Rank or Trash-tier. Some of the better ones had Uncommon items, but that wouldn't make a difference in this fight.

Draco placed all that experience into Pair Dadeni, bringing it to 1,555% out of 50,000%. The players who were with him in battle, the spectators in the crowd and the remnants of the Allied Guilds were greatly astounded by Draco's actions.

In just one attack, he had killed so many monsters that had seemed unbeatable. What did this mean? It meant that he was either too strong, or the monsters were too weak!

Judging from how they had ripped apart a whole army on their own, it could only mean that Draco was too strong, right?

However, only a select few made this conclusion. A great many reasoned to themselves that they could handle the monsters as well if they fought cleverly.

Sure, Draco was strong, but they weren't weak either! They could also put up a fight, because they were players! They also had a numerical superiority over the monsters.

In this world, there naturally existed intelligent people and then there were fools. The two were present in any gathering of human beings, so they each repped their side appropriately with their thinking and actions.

Draco returned to his position with Umbra and watched as many of the other players rushed into battle. He didn't take and step forward, and every member of the four guilds just watched on with slight smiles.

Those elite and expert players stayed behind to watch how the pro and below players who had eventually come to follow them handled the monsters. In a matter of minutes, their inquisitive expressions morphed into one of horror.

The players who rushed to battle were unilaterally destroyed on contact by the Void Killers, as well as the new Void Fodder and Void Monsters who arrived through the portal every second.

They weren't even able to deal damage. All their attacks registered as -0 without fail, no matter if it was from ranged classes, melee classes or even spells. Their skills also did diddly squat, making the situation very tense.

Hundreds of thousands of players who had charged into the midst of the abyssal entities were killed with a single hit from the Void Monsters, their armor reminiscent of toilet paper.

Draco laughed as this occurred. So many players would be suffering from horrifying death penalties that would see their accounts become almost useless.

Of course, the first death under a void monster wasn't so punitive.

It was subsequent deaths under the same medium that was destructive. These entities of the Null Realm corrupted the matter that made up all living things from the material realm.

Umbra, Kamisuo, Desecrators, and Meiren stood still - along with some clever elite and expert players - while these hefty amounts of players were slaughtered and unfairly punished.

They did not even look like they were willing to make a move to save those players, and this chilled the spectators.

Just like in the real world, the strongest party was expected to carry those at the bottom 'for the good of us all'. Whether it involved countries, societies or even families, the 'strongest' were the ones everyone relied on - whether they liked it or not.

In such a manner, everyone expected Umbra - the number 1 guild - to protect everyone and handle this catastrophe. However, Umbra stood aside and laughed while players were ripped apart, even though they had the firepower to stop this.

For the first time since Umbra's formation, players finally understood what kind of guild this was, as well as the kind of person the number 1 player of the world was.

When the mass of players who rushed to fight were culled by the Void Monsters, Draco nodded to Riveting Night. The Lady Boss who had become lowkey ever since Draco returned from the Flora and Fauna quest showed exactly why she was the object of the Guildmaster's obsession.

First, she activated one of her most powerful, but never before used active skills.

Light of the World!

｢Active 1 – Light of the World: Activating this skill allows the user to summon the Heaven's Eye to send out a giant beam of light energy. Cooldown: 7 days.｣

In the skies above the hanging sun, a giant eye spawned. The attention of every living thing was captured by this all-encompassing eye that looked like it could see all.

The Heaven's Eye gazed upon the land with its eerily gold pupil. Its focus landed upon the multitudes of void monsters on the battlefield of the Fleeting Forest, those that were already present as well as those that came afresh.

All the ambient Worldly Energy of the area rushed into the Heaven's Eye, and its pupil began to glow in an eerie manner. This glow was emitted in the form of a pillar of light that rushed down to the earth.

It was like watching an orbital strike in a sci-fi movie. Everyone except Draco and Riveting Night had to shield their eyes from the bright light that collided with the land.

The world shook at the collision and the very ground was sheared away due to the heat of the pillar of light.

When the brightness receded and everyone could see again, they weren't even able to muster shock due to numbness. After all, they had seen Draco cleave away more than 70% of the Void Monsters in one blow.

So, it wasn't surprising that Riveting Night's skill did almost the same amount of damage, however, they still lost their cool when they realized it the difference in damage!

-10,000,000!

Riveting Night was of the optimal class and she had the Eye of Heaven itself to boost her light related damage by 30%.

But how could an Epic item's active skill do more damage than that of a Legendary item???

A 30% boost and a 500% boost were in two different leagues altogether!

｢Eye of Heaven – Ornamental Item

Rank: Epic

Durability: 500,000/500,000

Effects:

Passive 1 – Light Amplification: Light-based magic, skill, and techniques are boosted by 30%.

Active 1 – Light of the World: Activating this skill allows the user to summon the Heaven's Eye to send out a giant beam of light energy. Cooldown: 7 days.

Note: Heaven's eye will possess a rank of the player's + 3. Maximum Rank increase is capped at Rank 5.

Description: This talisman was created from the condensed essence of the Heaven's Eye, a mystical being that occasionally emerges in the world to purify all evil.

Further abilities can be unlocked by sacrificing experience points. 1,550% of 30,000% needed to upgrade to Legendary rank｣

However, the Eye of Heaven that was summoned functioned similar to the former Guinevere's Necklace, in that the active skill benefitted from a boosted rank.

OP? Relatively.

The active skill was freakishly overpowered and cheat-like when players were Rank 1. To prevent it from being ridiculous, it was capped to be unable to go over Rank 5.

However, once Riveting Night reached Rank 7… then what?

This was the problem with most Epic items. They were naturally overpowered the earlier you got them, but once one reached the higher Ranks, they became extremely obsolete.

However, at this point in time, it was naturally great.

Still, compared to Fragarach, a discerning eye would still be able to tell that the Eye of Heaven was crap. Fragarach could 100% ignore all defense or protection, regardless of type.

Every hit from the sword treated you no different from dancing n.a.k.e.d before Draco. It could also deal a default 300% wind damage on every swing, meaning that distance would not protect you.

If you were within 3 feet of Draco, you would enjoy the sweet caress of the breeze on your body… the hard way.

And most of all, he dealt 500% sword damage with the active skill. Unlike the capped Light of the World, this skill would display more power depending on Draco's own strength.

Another weakness was that Lugh's Might dealt damage over an extremely large area, enough to wipe out a medium-sized army, whereas Light of the World only hit a small area that was about the size of a small militia group.

As such, Riveting Night had smartly concentrated it on the Void Killers and Void Destroyers who were smaller in number due to their strength.

They were resistant to magic and immune to physical damage, but that was only within the next two ranks. Against the level of a Rank 4 Eye of Heaven, it was inconsequential.

(Author's Note: It has been brought to my attention that I have – more than once – foolishly skipped over the Lieutenant Rank in between the Sergeant and Captain Rank. This is a pretty big issue that retconning or the like cannot fix, so we'll tweak the lore a bit going forward.

If you're as disappointed in me as I am in myself for making this error – repeatedly – I have a Patreon in which you can support in order to punish me.)

It wasn't enough to kill the Captain Rank Void Destroyers, but it certainly culled the Sergeant Rank Void Killers without fail. Even though the quantity was far fewer, the quality was far higher.

Not to mention that Riveting Night was still level 25, so she gained a massive 1,487% experience from her single attack.

She went from level 25, 78% to level 30, 0%. She gained 15 stat points which she placed equally in Dex, Lck, and End. Dex went from 35 to 40, Lck went from 35 to 40 and End went from 5 to 10.

Normal Assassins prioritized Dexterity and Strength, but Riveting Night chose Dexterity and Luck, as well as an equal balance of Intelligence and Spirit. Hence, she gained the Shadow Assassin class.

The remaining 1,009% was sent into the Eye of Heaven, which was her only growth item at the moment. This sent it to 2,559% of 30,000%.

The Void Monsters had some semblance of intelligence masked under that beastly consciousness, so they naturally felt fear from the sudden bombardment they were taking.

However, they were like vampires. Even though they understood that sunlight would burn them, they couldn't resist the urge to rush and suck the blood of a victim. With living beings made of corporeal matter before them, they couldn't hold back.

They rushed at the members of Umbra, as well as those who belonged to the other guilds. Here, Draco took a step forward towards the onrushing monsters, Dragorugio as well as Fragarach unsheathed and flourished.

Riveting Night, Rambunctious Buttlover, Boyd, Silent Walker, Cobra, Uno, Kiran, Loving Aunt, Slim Fatty and the other core members also rushed forward, heading into the fray right behind Draco.

Those who were ranged attackers pulled back and began firing salvos, with the exception of Rina. The melee players though, shouted with excitement as they dove into the mass of monsters, slashing and stabbing away.

Due to the purity of the Aether Imbuement, the damage from the attacks of the Void Fodder did not surpass 2,000 per hit. Even the Specialist Rank Void Monsters only dealt around 5,000 damage per hit.

As for the remnant Void Killers, they were monopolized by the core members of the four guilds as well as Noble Soul and Gentle Flower who led on that battlefront.

As for Draco and Riveting Night, they directly emerged among the Void Destroyers, who had about 5,000,000/15,000,000 HP remaining and began to unleash power they had never shown before.

Riveting Night held the Chrono Blade in her right and the Void Blade in her left hand. The two blades had abominable passive skills that should be on the level of a Legendary item due to the infusion of Aetheric Energy instead of Soul Energy.

｢Passive 1 – Shadow Kill: Every strike towards a weak point is an automatic critical hit. The execution chance is increased by 20%.｣

Shadow Kill was the passive of the Void Blade and its effects were a dream come true for every assassin class player in the world. If they struck a weak point, they would gain an instant crit and they had a default 20% chance to execute the enemy once it fell below 30% of its total life.

Whatever other chance they had due to being an assassin, or due to other items, was buffed by this passive skill. Even though the 'weak points' of various beings were extremely hard to find, Riveting Night naturally had the skill and knowledge to be able to locate them given time.

She had developed her Control in a different direction than Draco, and her body had been rebuilt by her bloodline from birth. She had techniques to suss out weak points.

To be honest, the Eyes of Caelo would be much more useful to Riveting Night than Draco…

｢Passive 1 – Light Cleanse: Every strike towards a strong point will inflict a 30% overall defense reduction and healing is weakened by 50%｣

The passive skill of the Chrono Blade was also fraudulent, but in a different way. If Riveting Night hit a strong point of any enemy - which was essentially every area aside from a weak point - that enemy's total defense would be reduced by 30% for the duration of the fight.

Not only that any healing they received externally - from an ally - or internally - through a skill or even natural regeneration - would be reduced by 50%!

This would cripple strong enemies with high defense, and make them more vulnerable for the Void Blade to deal damage.

The synergy between the two blades was exemplary, and it was shown from how their apparitions seemed to be two halves of one whole.

Riveting Night tore through the battlefield of Void Destroyers, combating more than 3 of them at once while dealing damage at the same time.

At this moment, she truly resembled a Goddess of Death.

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