Vol. 4: Chapter 11
Unlike the other teams, Orion’s group consisted of only two players, him and Rena. But when they stepped through the portal, they brought a third party with them: the Lord-rank boss Kael had given them.
[Norlun (Lord-rank)]: Level 35
HP: 60,000,000
Physical Attack: 16,000
Physical Defense: 12,000
Magic Defense: 6,000
Skills:
[Devour]: When attacking a monster of Elite-rank or lower, has a chance to swallow the target whole. Digestion Time: 10 seconds.
[Summon Ant Servants]: Summons 4 random Elite or Leader-class ants. At least 2 will be Chieftains. Cooldown: 1 hour.
[Tongue Lash]: Uses its tongue to grab an enemy unit within 40 yards, holding it for 3 seconds and dealing damage equal to 1.5x Physical Attack. Cooldown: 12 seconds.
[Swarm Rush]: Summons a massive swarm of ants to surge forward, dealing damage equal to 1.2x Physical Attack per second to all enemies in a 35-yard area. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
[Berserk]: Activates when HP drops below 30,000,000 and again at 10,000,000. The two stacks of Berserk are cumulative.
Orion stared at Norlun’s stats and skills, completely dumbfounded.
"You're telling me this thing is a summon?"
"Sixty million health... Is that a joke?"
Rena watched Orion stare, captivated, at the creature, completely ignoring her. A pout formed on her lips. She let out a sharp Hmph!
"Are you done staring? If not, you can take it home and cuddle with it all night."
Orion quickly closed Norlun's stat panel and sidled up to Rena with a sheepish grin. "Hey, I was just getting a handle on our new secret weapon! He's our ticket to clearing this place, you know."
Rena rolled her eyes. "What's there to look at? It's a summon. Just point it at the monsters and let it go."
Orion shook his head vigorously. "It's not that simple! This thing is going to take a lot of micro. Norlun itself doesn't have that many skills, but the key is its own summons. I'll have to control them, too. And they have skills that need to be activated."
"I doubt it's as hard as you're making it sound. Let me try."
With that, Rena took control of Norlun and had it walk around in a few circles. The controls were perfectly smooth. She shot Orion a smug look. "See? I've already mastered it. You were just making it sound complicated because you were afraid I'd want to play with your new toy."
Orion just shook his head, a weary smile on his face. Arguing with Rena, he thought, was a battle he'd learned long ago he could never win.
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Just then, several rats scurried into view up ahead.
[Brown Rat]: Level 37
HP: 200,000
Physical Attack: 12,200
Physical Defense: 6,200
...
[Hamster]: Level 38
HP: 250,000
Physical Attack: 11,000
Magic Attack: 13,200
Physical Defense: 5,100
...
"Alright, ace," Orion said. "Have Norlun take out those rats. And don't forget to buff it first."
"Just watch a master of multitasking at work," Rena declared, marching Norlun forward.
The moment the rats spotted the massive creature, they charged. Norlun, however, just stood there dumbly, taking hits.
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Rena frantically directed Norlun to swipe at one of the rats.
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From Norlun's perspective, she turned back to gloat at Orion. "See? You just attack like this, right?"
Before Orion could respond, she witnessed a horrifying sight. Her own character, Rena, was raising her staff and charging into the fray.
When a player's primary character is left without commands while controlling another unit, its AI will default to attacking the nearest enemy. By putting Norlun into combat, she'd inadvertently sent her own squishy character on a suicide run.
The sight made Rena shriek in panic. "No, don't you go over there!"
Orion couldn't help but chuckle. "You need to switch back to your main character!"
Watching her avatar get closer and closer to the rats, Rena started to mash her controls in a fluster. "I'm trying... I'm switching... How do I switch?!"
She finally managed to regain control of her own character and immediately scrambled back to safety. Norlun, now without a pilot, went back to standing perfectly still while the rats chewed on it.
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Not one to admit defeat, Rena parked her character in a safe spot and switched her focus back to Norlun. Seeing all its skills lit up, she decided to use all of them. In a flurry of panicked clicks, she used Tongue Lash on one rat, activated Swarm Rush, and then hit the summon ability, bringing all four Chieftains into the world.
[Stonejaw Ant Chieftain]: Tank-type boss
[Carrion Ant Chieftain]: Armor-shredding curse-type boss
[Acid-Spitter Ant Chieftain]: Ranged DPS-type boss
[Myrmidon Ant Chieftain]: Agile transport-type boss
Normally, gaining four powerful allies would be a cause for celebration. For Rena, it was a nightmare. She stared at the four giant ants, at first thinking they were enemies. After checking the color of their nameplates and confirming they were friendly, she then tried to control them. But every time she selected one ant to move, the other three and Norlun itself would stop and stand around idly.
What should have been an overwhelming display of power devolved into a chaotic, uncoordinated mess.
Off to the side, Orion was covering his mouth, trying desperately not to laugh out loud. He wasn't idle, though. He had opened the game's video recording function. And he was capturing every second of Rena's glorious failure for posterity.
The more Rena tried to juggle the five summons, the more flustered she became. Finally, in a burst of frustration, she abandoned the controls, letting the summons fend for themselves, and switched back to her main character.
It was only then that she saw Orion, standing nearby, practically vibrating with suppressed laughter.
She stalked over to him and planted a firm kick on his rear. "I knew you were laughing at me!"
The kick was the last straw. Orion's forced composure broke, and he collapsed to the ground, howling with laughter.
"Hahaha! Oh, that was priceless!"
"Stop, stop kicking," he gasped between laughs. "Let me just... laugh for a minute..."
Rena was fuming. She raised her staff and began to whack him with it.
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Her physical attack may have been low, but against a squishy Diviner like Orion, it was more than enough to break through his defenses.
"Ow, ow! Stop, stop hitting me!"
"I'm dying!"
"Help! She's murdering me!"
Orion scrambled away, dodging Rena's relentless pursuit. He quickly traced a healing sigil in the air, restoring his health.
Seeing this only made Rena angrier.
"You dare to run?!"
"You dare to heal?!"
Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, Orion continued to dodge her attacks. All the while, in the distance, the magnificent Norlun and its four Chieftain summons stood perfectly still, being slowly gnawed to death by a handful of rats.