by Nikita Thorn
That, however, slowly changed as the group settled into a rhythm. Seiki soon realized that the damage dealers were carefully watching him for cues. His attacks on enemies marked them as immediate targets, and as soon as he withdrew his sword, several ryoushi arrows and ninja Shurikens would follow to finish them off as soon as possible.
“Is this how mass tanking is supposed to work?” said Seiki as he stabbed a fresh Level 17 Demonic Assassin with Focused Strike. A second later it dropped dead, riddled with six ryoushi arrows. The sight was incredibly satisfying.
Ippei was a little more relaxed now that the group had recovered. “If we’re not better than the Corrupted Beast events, I’ll never claim to have played Beta again.” He chuckled as he stole a quick glance around to reassess the situation.
Above the Mani Shrine pagoda, the two dragons were still engaged in a vicious battle, spilling more blood and spawning more demons, who continued to rush out of the shrine gate to support their growing army.
The raid group had managed to gather most of the players in one place, but that only made up two-thirds of the members. Seiki spared a moment to look for the rest of them.
Six people had initially run further down the street in the direction of Mani Shrine in an attempt to avoid engaging the spawning enemies, and were now surrounded by new demons emerging from the shrine gate. In the midst of the players, there was only one samurai, who was having a difficult time keeping the demons off the remaining ranged players. Luckily, he was Level 18, the highest in the group, and that allowed him to dispatch some of the lower-level demons with relative ease.
“He can’t hold forever. We’ve gotta go to them,” said Ippei. “Any of your heals reach?”
“Only my Enhanced Ward does,” said Kentaro. The other houshi shook her head.
“Okay, try to keep them up; we’re all coming off potion lockout pretty soon so we can take care of ourselves. We’re going to try to cut through,” Ippei shouted.
“It’s impossible!” cried Shiho, the female samurai holding the line next to Seiki. “There are too many of them.”
The White Dragon’s thundering mental voice suddenly roared through the group:
The foul beast is made of fear itself. I can temporarily keep it occupied, but to defeat it, you will need all of my combined blessings.
“Sorry, what blessings what?” Mairin shouted.
Seiki stepped in to stab a Level 15 demon in the neck, quickly dispatching it. “He said something about all the combined blessings.”
“What does that mean?” cried Yamura.
“Combined blessings… oh, oh, he means buff tiles!” cried the kitsune. “The White Dragon’s scales spawn buff tiles. It’s like the Corrupted Beast events. Look! They’re all over the ground.”
Seiki had no attention to spare as he struck away another leaping Demonic Assassin [Level 16].
“I see, so those Corrupted Beasts were supposed to give us some practice to handle this,” said Ippei.
Meanwhile, someone had a different idea. “Aren’t we supposed to fire at the evil dragon?” A burst of blue fireworks shot towards the dragons, despite a few people yelling, “No, don’t!”
Another person launched their rose-colored Warimono Fireworks, followed by a green rocket. The intertwined dragons spun violently right, left, then right again, like a compass needle passing over a magnet, all the while shedding more scales and blood.
“Stop! It’s not doing anything!” Ippei’s advice was finally heeded before more damage could be done. The samurai stifled a grunt. “At least we know the fireworks still spin the dragons around… and spawn more demons in the process.”
“It spawns more demons and buff tiles,” said Mairin. “It’s not totally one-sided. Look, here’s one!”
A soft crack sounded behind Seiki, and a notification popped up.
A Tile of Protection has been shattered! Your chance to dodge has increased by 5% for the next 8 seconds.
The effect felt like a tiny surge of something vaguely resembling hope.
“Just like the Corrupted Beast event,” explained Mairin.
Seiki took time to glance down to search for faint runes, but the ground around his feet was obscured by constant dispersing black smoke from fallen demons.
“Okay, keep doing that, Foxy,” said Ippei.
A moment later, Seiki was already engaged in warding off the extra incoming demons, knocking a Demonic Swordsman [Level 18] back with Sweeping Blade. This was one with the highest level, which would take at least a full combination to take down. Seiki pulled back his blade to attack again, but suddenly a single ryoushi arrow thudded into its chest, immediately dropping the demon.
“Yes!” cried Yamura from the very back of the group. “Okay, the attack buff is pretty sweet. One-shot kills over here, baby.”
“I’m out of potions!” yelled the Level 18 samurai Kazato from across the army demons separating them.
“And I’m nearly out of energy again,” said Kentaro.
Ippei cursed.
“Hey, I can pull the next wave of demons coming out of the shrine this way,” Yamura suggested as he wove his way to the front. “That will keep the pressure off those guys a little bit.”
Ippei hesitated for a moment, before gritting his teeth. “Do it.”
Yamura let out a gleeful laugh. “Oh, man, I’ve always wanted to do this.” He found a gap in the frontline and fired successive Rapid Shots at the shrine gate, before retreating back into the group as the fresh demons snarled and changed directions.
“Frontline, potions now before the initial hit,” cried Ippei.
Seiki chugged his universal potion to fill both his health and energy.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” muttered Shiho, the samurai girl next to him, as she watched the approaching reinforcement of at least thirty demons.
“Foxy, now,” said Ippei.
“Okay, help coming,” cried Mairin. “Here come all the buff tiles.” Kindred Spirit phantom foxes burst out in the midst of the group, just as she herself started running around, shattering all the hidden tiles on the ground with Dash to provide a sudden influx of resources just as the growling sea of new demons reached them.
A Tile of Vigor has been shattered! 10% of your maximum energy has been restored!
A Tile of Vigor has been shattered! 10% of your maximum energy has been restored!
A Tile of Swiftness has been shattered! All ability lockouts have been reduced by 2 seconds.
A Tile of Longevity has been shattered! 10% of your maximum health has been restored!
Seiki dismissed the rest of the notifications as he stepped up to unleash a Sweeping Blade, sending the demons right in front of him stumbling backward into their incoming comrades.
“Good job, Foxy.” Ippei raised his voice. “This is our chance, go!”
The buff tiles continued to be activated, and the group went into a frenzy of hacking, slashing and shooting as they cut their way through the enemies. Mairin’s hunch was correct. Wherever were pools of the Shadow Serpent’s blood, there were also buff tiles that had spawned from the White Dragon’s fallen scales nearby. As long as the group was gaining grounds, they also came within range of more of these hidden blessings.
With concentrated effort and liberal use of the available buffs, the group finally managed to carve a path toward the stranded six players, and Ippei breathed a sigh of relief as the healers saved the Level 18 Kazato from the brink of death just as the man collapsed. Restored to full health, the samurai proved to be an important ally once he could join the frontline, and they all started to have a much easier time holding off the enemies.
As the raid organized themselves better, Seiki felt the pressure on him lessen, to the point he could afford to experiment with more daring moves, like freezing the enemies with his stun before knocking them off with a Sliding Sweeping Blade, allowing the group to gain more ground forward. He also made it a personal challen
ge to practice his Reflection variation, and trained himself to strike out at low-health targets every time he took damage.
“This is going to be an endless horde,” said Ippei as he glanced up toward the two dragons. “At this rate we can hold pretty indefinitely, but we still need to figure out the trick. What did the dragon say about blessings again?”
“I don’t think we can hold forever,” someone pointed out. “Look at the White Dragon’s body.”
Shinshioka’s guardian deity had been taking damage from the prolonged battle with the Shadow Serpent. Instead of a health bar, however, it now had a long jagged line of dimmer scales along its side, stretching from the neck to the middle of its body.
It was a timer, Seiki realized. The moment the damage line reached the White Dragon’s tail, the encounter would be over.
“Do we have to figure out something before then or do we only need to hold?” someone wondered.
“I’m guessing the former,” said Kentaro. “What do we need to do again?” the houshi shouted toward the White Dragon.
The thunderous mental voice repeated.
The foul beast is made of fear itself. I can temporarily keep it occupied, but to defeat it, you will need all of my combined blessings.
“Yes, we know!” shouted someone. “But what combined blessings?”
“It’s gotta be the buff tiles, right?” said Mairin.
Seiki glanced at his feet, and found a soft-glowing yellowish rune on the ground. Just as Mairin and several other people had said, it looked like what he had seen during the Corrupted Beast events. He stabbed it with a Focused Strike.
Your Hikari’s Focused Strike has absorbed the combined power of a Tile of Longevity and a Tile of Vigor. Unleash it with another Focused Strike.
“Longevity and Vigor,” Seiki noted, wondering if it was significant. Glancing around, he spotted another rune, dim and grayish, which he hit with another Focused Strike.
Your Hikari’s Focused Strike has absorbed an added layer of the combined power of a Tile of Longevity and a Tile of Strength. Unleash it with another Focused Strike. Combination incomplete (2/6).
“I got two,” cried Seiki. “This one’s Longevity and Strength. And now it’s… uh, two out of six.” He was interrupted then by two Assassins lunging at once, and Seiki struck them away, careful not to use Focused Strike lest he prematurely unleash the combination.
“I’ve gotten three in a row once,” said Yamura. “Like, similar colors seem to stack. But it’s weird. The white ones sometimes work and sometimes don’t.”
“Okay, okay, okay, let’s see…” Mairin was whispering to herself as she tried to comprehend the mechanics. She went silent for a second before letting out a gasp. “That’s because… they’re not all white. Some of them are silver. Seiki, could you get that one?”
She pointed to a faint-glowing gray symbol on the ground. Seiki shattered it with his Hikari.
Your Hikari’s Focused Strike has absorbed an added layer of the combined power of a Tile of Strength and a Tile of Protection. Unleash it with another Focused Strike. Combination incomplete (3/6).
“Three!” cried Seiki. “Strength and Protection.”
“Oh, I get it!” cried Mairin. “Ippei, we’re on to something. Seiki’s got three links now and we need the whole range, and to do that we need very specific ones.” She pointed ahead toward within Mani Shrine. “The problem is… most of the buff tiles are in the middle of the demon horde way over there.”
“We can move the group in.”
“There might not be time,” said Mairin. “Uh, can you just pull and we make a run?”
Ippei glanced around to gauge the state of the raid. Then he nodded. “Okay, go for it!”
“Let’s go.” Mairin dashed off in fox form.
Seiki only had a vague idea of her plan, but he trusted his friends to know what they were doing. The white fox, with her superior speed, was already halfway toward the front gate of the shrine, and Seiki broke into a run after her.
“Don’t look at the demons, don’t attack. Just run,” Ippei shouted.
Fighting against the instinct to defend himself, Seiki swerved to avoid two of the newly spawned Demonic Assassins heading toward him. The enemies were about to give chase, when several ryoushi arrows struck them in the chest, calling their attention away.
Mairin dodged to the right to avoid the trail of incoming demons. Seiki followed her through the gate, noting the lack of the usual Mani Shrine welcome message. It made sense, given that the sanctuary had now become enemy spawning grounds, but it suddenly made Seiki wish a terrible death on the whole Demonic Clan, especially the owner of the red-jeweled dagger.
“What are we looking for?” he asked.
Mairin turned back into a human girl. “Light blue,” she said as she scanned the ground. “It’s not going to be really blue, but kinda bluer than other tiles. Either that or kinda purple.”
Seiki was not sure that was helpful. “So… they’re… based on colors?”
The kitsune grinned. “Yeah. They’re kitsune colors. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it after all the times doing the Corrupted Beast events. White for health. Gold for energy. A combination of those become cream, and you get half health and half energy.”
Seiki vaguely remembered the concept. “So… wait, there are purple kitsune?”
“They’re called dusky,” said Mairin. “And they’re just a bit more purple than pure black when you put two of them side by side, if you know what I mean. The White Dragon said we need all the blessings, so it means linking the possible colors.” The kitsune pointed to the grounds. “Actually, I think if you memorize the runes, you can use that, too, but it’s too late to try to learn them now. Oh, wait, is that blue?”
Seiki stabbed down at the dimly glowing tile she had pointed to, which, to him, looked more gray than anything.
Your Hikari’s Focused Strike has absorbed an added layer of the power of a Tile of Protection. Unleash it with another Focused Strike. Combination incomplete (3/6).
“Still three out of six,” Seiki reported.
Mairin grunted. “It’s hard to see when it’s all dark. It’s okay. The combo’s not broken. Light blue there! Wait, no, no, we need silver and blue, so not that one, sorry.”
“This is really nerve-wracking,” said Seiki as he stopped himself from shattering the tile in time.
They had reached the middle of the front courtyard of Mani Shrine, which was mostly under the shade of large pine trees, making it more difficult to tell the subtle colors apart. Despite the familiar location, the sanctuary felt surrealistic with two gigantic beasts roaring in the sky above, spilling scales and black blood down around them every few seconds.
The demons paid them no attention. Yamura and his clan mate Eijiro had broken away from the group to stand right in front of the shrine gate, and were now focusing on tapping the demons as soon as they crawled out of the shadow pools. Ryoushi were vulnerable in close combat, and so to counter that, several more damage dealers within the main group would then concentrate ranged attacks on the demons, steering them away from the two ryoushi.
Whether this was a common established strategy or whether Ippei had improvised, it was working well. Still, with at least six members not directly engaged in fighting the demon army, there was more pressure on the main group, and Seiki could hear Ippei starting to instruct people to shoot fireworks at the ground in order to get all the remaining extra buffs they could.
Going in circles around the dragons, Mairin managed to find the correct light blue, which she called ‘steel’.
Your Hikari’s Focused Strike has absorbed an added layer of the combined power of a Tile of Protection and a Tile of Luck. Unleash it with another Focused Strike. Combination incomplete (4/6).
“That one worked,” Seiki confirmed.
“Great! Luck is silver, and silver is dodge,” explained Mairin. “And now the only thing we don’t have is
red, which we need to mix with silver, so that’s pink. There!”
She dashed off again, with Seiki close behind her.
“Does this tile sparkle?” asked Mairin. “It’s important. If we mess up and this one is red and white and not red and silver, I think the combo breaks and we start over.”
Seiki had never had so much stake relying on whether something glittered. He stared at the pinkish rune in question. “Uh, yes, I think?”
“I think so, too. Do it!”
Wincing, Seiki shattered the tile with his Hikari.
Your Hikari’s Focused Strike has absorbed an added layer of the combined power of a Tile of Luck and a Tile of Swiftness. Unleash it with another Focused Strike. Combination incomplete (5/6).
“Okay, we’re safe.” Seiki breathed a sigh of relief. His Hikari was now glowing in such a wide spectrum of colors that he could barely recognize its original silver. “But… it’s still incomplete.”
Mairin blinked. “Incomplete?”
“Five out of six right now.”
Mairin let out a tiny grunt. “But we’ve got all the colors. There are six main colors for kitsune.” She lifted her fingers to count, before letting out a cry. “Of course! You can only draw five lines between six things in a chain. But you can draw six lines between six things in a loop. There are six steps to complete the combo. It means we have to close the loop.”
Her expression suddenly sobered and she turned to look at him. “It’s fate, Seiki,” she said mysteriously, only a hint of facetiousness in her tone. “The last one is your tile. Red and gold. I’ve always told you you’d be a copper kitsune.”
Seiki was relieved. Copper should be easy to spot. The problem, however, lay in the fact that looking for one very specific tile among eighteen total different combinations was still a challenge.
“Hey, any luck?” yelled Yamura from the front of the gate as he waved his bow to gesture at the dragons in the sky. “We’re almost out of time!”
Indeed, the injury marks had almost reached the entire length of the White Dragon, leaving less than a fifth.
