Ch.6258 – Destruction of the Stronghold

[Casting: Friction Coefficient Adjustment]

“Hmph, what are you trying to do?”

Despite my spell casting, the knight snorted dismissively, paying no attention.

Perhaps this level of magic isn’t enough to make him fall.

Either his balance is too good, or his armor has excellent magic resistance.

Which one doesn’t really matter.

Because I cast my spell on one more place.

“NYAAAAAAAH!”

Adella escaped from the knight’s grasp and rolled on the ground.

If someone were to grab her ankle now, it would feel like it was coated in oil.

After crawling back to me, Adella caught her breath.

“Huff… huff. These jerks are ganging up on us?”

As the knight raised his greatsword from his waist, Adella gulped.

She must have already experienced that sword strike once.

With her twisted ankle, Adella had no value as a combatant.

Now time was wasting, and I faced the worst-case scenario of fighting 20 enemies alone.

To make matters worse, Adella had given the enemies time to regroup.

I quickly rotate my thoughts.

Can I use the terrain?

Not impossible, but the guards would be more familiar with it.

There are 20 of them, but they can’t attack from all directions at once.

I can’t rule out the possibility of scouts.

Though unreliable, I’ll have to trust Adella to watch my back.

“Surrender won’t save you,” the knight said in a low voice.

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

I quickly consider usable weapons around me.

‘Branches? No, too weak. Stones? Useless against armor.’

As I look around, Adella’s necklace glints in the moonlight.

“I’ll borrow this.”

“Huh? No! That’s miiiiiine!”

I tear off her necklace and throw all the beads on the ground.

The string from this necklace should at least allow me to subdue them.

“That woman’s a mage! Don’t give her time to cast!”

The guards don’t yield the initiative either.

The ground trembles.

Dust flies.

The knights charge with frightening speed and brute force.

Two blades aim diagonally for my shoulders.

They’ve fallen for the deliberate opening I showed.

[Casting: Rapid Cooling]

The necklace string stiffens.

I split the string in half and throw each piece toward the knights’ helmets.

“Argh! My vision!”

A well-trained knight doesn’t change his sword path once committed.

I lower my stance by bending one knee, easily avoiding the two prongs.

One string successfully pierces an eye, taking him out of combat, but the other only covers the vision.

However, in this forest’s humid environment, even if he removes the string that’s nearly -150°C, he can’t erase the frost formed on his helmet.

Conveniently, there’s a sharp rock behind him.

I surround my foot with as much aura as possible, kick the knight, and seize the groaning knight’s sword.

I expected him to just hit his back on the rock, but the guard staggered around and tumbled down the cliff.

Is he an idiot? AI-level pathetic.

[Remnant Observatory Guard (1/20)]

“…Good, now we’re even.”

No spears? Fortunately, there weren’t any.

In virtual reality games where real-world concepts apply, even three swordsmen wouldn’t be enough to defeat one spearman.

It’s a fact often overlooked because of games and movies, but reach is crucial in combat standoffs.

Conversely, a mage with a sword becomes dangerous even at close range, so I could engage in psychological warfare.

I check the priest’s skills.

[Basic Heal Lv.1: Recovers 160 HP over 4 seconds.]

[MP Cost: 30, Cooldown: 20 seconds]

[Acceleration Lv.1: Grants 20% movement speed and 15% additional attack speed for 5 seconds.]

[MP Cost: 50, Cooldown: 15 seconds]

These skills are too weak for direct combat.

[Please select a weapon appropriate for your class.]

[Current Penalty: Attack -50%, Defense -50%]

Even a penalty for holding a sword.

I haven’t looted a single weapon usable by priests on my way here.

This must be the effect of exploration difficulty 10.

But exploiting system loopholes is all about creativity.

I use aura to separate the blade from the handle, then cut it vertically into 2 pieces.

[Casting: Thermal Conductivity Adjustment]

[Casting: Soldering]

I fuse the two blade pieces with the back of my hands.

[Penalty removed.]

As expected, the system no longer registers me as holding a sword.

It reminds me of a certain berserker from an old game.

I channel aura through the attached blades to create sword energy.

The damage to my skin reduces my health, but it’s manageable with the priest’s skills.

“It’s been a while, I’m not sure if my body will move as I want.”

* * *

Just as there are normal story guides, there are naturally nightmare-exclusive guides.

For those with passion but struggling to increase their arena scores, guides written by rankers were always a beacon of light for gamers.

Among thousands or tens of thousands of guides in the community, when asked which class is recommended for beginners, they unanimously say “tank.”

The advantage of being able to recover from “mistakes” was enough.

It was a useful class that could survive even if you messed up the strategy.

Shield Knight, Blood Knight, Dark Knight, Paladin, etc. were so-called “staple characters” that guaranteed at least Tier 2 in any arena meta.

But dealers are always more appealing than tanks.

People who become reasonably familiar with Nightmare mode seek out DPS classes.

Because they guarantee powerful damage in the arena but make clearing exponentially more difficult, classes like mages and archers were only for a select few.

Then what about healers?

Healers didn’t need guides.

At least until now.

WearSoft, the developer of World of Arsheria who had been struggling with healer balance issues in the arena, eventually increased the single-player difficulty for healers.

Since they couldn’t clear content, healer pick rates actually dropped, and arena balance was once again praised as “godly balance,” making it a successful strategy if they just ignored the opinions of the minority users who main healers.

Because playing as a healer takes longer, no one wrote guides for the changing boss patterns.

Even at the highest score brackets, there were only guides for Shaman (Nightmare 3/3/3) clears.

But after “SaveMeFromGradSchool” posted a Paladin (Nightmare 8/6/7) guide that caused a stir, healers were divided into two tiers:

Healers capable of physical attacks and healers limited to magical attacks.

The former reached beyond Tier 1 to Tier 0, while the latter settled at Tier 5 after repeated patches.

Why did this change occur?

The answer lay in the infinite use of the 2nd circle magic “Tissue Regeneration” with Dimensional Descent scrolls.

By using all MP solely for spell casting to maintain the Paladin’s health at maximum, and hundreds of thrusting attacks that don’t use mana, bosses could be defeated one by one.

That’s how the battle power 100,000 Paladin “end-game character” was created.

Meaning a character that needs no further development, those who had even one end-game character viable in Challenger rank were the envy of everyone in World of Arsheria.

“SaveMeFromGradSchool” once spent two weeks trying to clear difficulty 8/7/7, one step above 8/6/7, with a Paladin.

It was a reckless challenge born from wanting to lead healers from the frontlines, even at the cost of giving up arena points this season.

If even Paladins struggled this much, it was accepted theory that Priests with virtually no physical attack means couldn’t clear 10/10/10 difficulty.

Moreover, since NoName was new to World of Arsheria, I was about to advise her that it would be better to create a new character.

But the performance NoName showed was unbelievably brilliant and creative.

As soon as she subdued two knights, their eighteen comrades lost their minds and charged.

NoName didn’t back down.

*Clang*

She doesn’t respond to every sword strike individually.

She dodges vertical attacks and twists the direction of horizontal ones with sword energy to intersect with the charging paths of their comrades.

As sword meets sword and sword meets sword energy, the battlefield becomes chaotic with no distinction between friend and foe.

Even when a guard falls dead, impaled by his own comrade’s sword, the guard behind charges ferociously.

They have no reason, only the instinct to tear NoName to pieces.

This wasn’t apparent when there were two, three, or even ten guards.

But NoName holds her ground to the end.

She knows how to use her small, agile body.

She doesn’t use [Acceleration] to avoid attacks.

With instinctive, almost precognitive movements, she counters the swords trying to cut her body.

Only at the precise moment when her cruel sword energy pierces a guard does her skill activate, accelerating her sword.

Not stopping there, when her skill is on cooldown, she perfectly casts magic circles with one hand while swinging her sword with the other.

[1st Circle Advanced Casting: Polar Coordinate Assignment]

At the moment she seemed about to suffer a terrible blow, NoName reversed the knight’s sword path 180 degrees.

Because it was the perfect timing to deal with an agile prey, the knight’s explosive aura infused into his sword became his downfall.

KABOOOOM!

Acrid smoke rises with the explosion.

[Remnant Observatory Guard (20/20)]

[Perfect Clear!]

Impossible!

Was the Priest class always like this?

Her play went far beyond what could be simply labeled as “creative.”

SaveMeFromGradSchool could only think about immediately sharing this with the community.

<World of Arsheria Gallery – Healer Class>

[Challenging Nightmare 10/10/10 with Naxxramas Priest]

Author: SaveMeFromGradSchool

Just cleared the observatory courtyard

(Perfect clear of observatory knights.jpg)

-With 500 viewers you’re not exactly a small streamer

ㄴThis game barely has viewers except me? She usually plays LoL (she’s female)

ㄴOh if she’s a girl I gotta watch lol

-What is this? Can’t be hacks, how did she pass with full HP?

ㄴInsane, come see for yourself

ㄴLink please

ㄴipfs://www.twish.ch/noname

-SaveMe, don’t watch streams, post your Paladin guide instead

ㄴI’ll consider it if you watch Naxxramas

[What is this person doing?]

(Video of embedding swords in arms.mp4)

Are you a Zealot or something?

-LMAOOOOO how did she attach those

-LMAO she immediately heals the damage as soon as it happens

-This is truly insane? Even for a game, it’s too brutal for me to copy

ㄴShe’s burning her skin without hesitation

-Her character is so pretty, homemade?

[Adella delivered again today]

0 kills 0 deaths 39 assists

Simply the GOAT

-More like Useless-della, I want to beat her up lol

-Most of those weren’t even assists?

ㄴJust go with it, it’s a running joke

-Where did she get that character model? It’s so pretty

[First time seeing a Priest attempt 10/10/10]

Is that observatory perfect clear for real?

-The streamer fights so deliciously, agree?

ㄴWho was she before? Is she a WoA pro?

ㄴShe only chatted when I was there

ㄴIn LoL she’s Korea’s #1. Probably played over 50,000 games

-Am I the only one who thinks her spell casting speed isn’t human?

ㄴThat last one went by so fast I couldn’t even tell what it was

ㄴCasting two spells simultaneously? This is unacceptable

-The last one was Advanced Casting of Shi…bul…geo, the scroll and rune are identical

ㄴGrandpa, you shouldn’t use the word “scroll”

ㄴRead the room, you nerd

-Seriously, where did she get that character model? I want to make one too