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Between their gear and the way they composed themselves, Matt recognized them as akin to the team of ten they’d encountered on the previous floor. Perhaps they were part of the same training regiment, or some Guild was trying to optimize their participation. In either case, Matt wasn’t too concerned about the risk they posed as they struck.
He was wrong.
Very wrong.
They focused on him, since he was somewhat isolated from his team, but didn’t seem worried about hitting Long Zhiyuan in the crossfire. The Young Master used the opportunity to retreat to the portion of the ruin he had already cleared, scrambling on three limbs—and cradling his mangled arm—to escape.
Matt brought up a [Bulwark] to block the first pair of attacks—a white spear and a tiny fireball that his spiritual sense veritably screamed was dangerous.
The white spear partially penetrated [Bulwark] without breaking the spell but got stuck before it could pass all the way through. The fireball wasn’t even slowed down by the shield, passing through it as though it were a mirage. It didn’t strike—Matt had already shifted to dodge it—but as it detonated against part of the scenery behind him, it felt less like a [Fireball] and more like a miniature sun flickering into existence.
He responded with a flurry of [Fireball]s himself, like so many glittering stars, but one of the team’s mages deflected them upward with a dismissive wave of their hand. Given just how quickly they’d been wrenched from his grasp, Matt assessed that mage as a dedicated pyromancer, and a good one at that. They may not have had quite the same finesse that Liz did—Torch could steal a fireball from him without him even noticing—but they had the power to more than make up for it.
He sent his assessment to the rest of his team and started pouring willpower into his AI. Minkalla lifted its restrictions on it, and it sped up accordingly, swiftly creating, discarding, and improving battle plans about as quickly as he could think.
Both attacks showed substantial armor penetration capabilities and were about as strong as he’d seen at his Tier. All their gear was high quality, but not mastercrafted, and definitely seemed to prioritize some level of visual conformity, favoring a particular shade of royal blue that Matt didn’t recognize as associated with any major factions. However, there were definite concessions made to individual functionality. Four had enchantments that were more mage-like in nature, five were more geared toward physical defense, with heavy armor plates that more than likely indicated warrior combat styles, and the tenth Matt couldn’t quite pin down.
His outfit was decorated with more silver buttons than his peers, while the fabric itself shone and shimmered in a way he couldn’t quite follow. Their gear was similarly mismatched—two carried swords, one was unarmed, one had only a shield, one wore spiked gauntlets, and the final attacker carried a glaive with a handle that doubled as a potent staff. The mages also had their own gear—two staves, one wand, and one crystal orb that floated at head height.
Their gear was exceptionally well-maintained in a way that spoke to the degree of reverence they held for their tools, but Matt could pick out the faint traces of blood left on some of their weapons that spun tales of a lot of bloodshed, not that he expected anything else.
He dropped [Bulwark] as he started to fall back to the rest of his team, and the white spear embedded in it vanished in a flurry of sparks, reappearing as a bolt of lightning in the hands of the unarmed warrior, who promptly threw it once more.
Lightning crackled along its length and shot out from the sides, connecting the projectile with its surroundings and its thrower, with each tiny bolt accelerating it more and more. His AI warned him that it was starting to bend mid-flight, but pointed out several safe zones he could escape to, and Matt quickly positioned himself into one of them. True to his AI’s prediction, the spear bent toward him, but it couldn’t redirect itself as much as it needed to strike him, and it obliterated a tree nearby instead.
He had enough of a head start to make it back to the rest of his group before the squad of ten first caught up with him, but as he took the final step to rejoin the circle, Matt found himself going in the wrong direction. He suddenly became very, very disoriented and crashed to the ground.
He broke out of the dizzy spell in less than a second, but the first thing he could process was a foot mere inches from his face. It smashed into his mouth, and while [Cracked Phantom Armor] stayed firm, the kick’s energy passed straight through it and his mask alike, shattering and caving in several of his teeth.
Matt spat blood and teeth onto the ground, then rolled over to block a punch aimed at his head with [Bulwark]. The spell held firm, but the impact sent reverberations vibrating through his magic, disrupting the spell and giving Matt an odd sort of headache.
Not wanting to take the second hit from the next man thrusting out with his sword, Matt cast [Icicle] at his crotch, causing the man to flinch back.
With that opening, Matt was able to stand and cast [Sword Twin] twice by draining most of his mana stone reserves, and with two copies of his blade floating out and giving him some cover, he cast [Wind Cutter] at the man with the armor bypassing ability.
The man dodged the s***h of wind, but before Matt could follow up, one of the swordswomen rushed forward, intercepted one of his blade copies with her shield, and cut out at Matt with her own blade while the other man slashed out with a fire spell.
Matt twisted, dodging and blocking the two attacks, but opened himself up to a rib punch from the gauntleted man, sending painful vibrations through his entire body and disorienting him enough that his counterattack was easily dodged. A high-powered pulse of [Endurance] cleared his head, just in time to take a [Shield Bash] to the face.
- Writer
