Reset: DPS to Support?!

Chapter 141: Cursed (5)

"Ugh..." At the sight of the rising dead that was making their way over towards the group, Ethaniel groaned at the growing numbers. Compared to the time they were fighting off against the possessed RenrythThe monsters were much more. "...I'm supposed to aggro all of them?"

"Well, you are supposed to be soaking up all the damage," Shinto muttered out helplessly. "In any case... The number of enemies is to be expected butit's best we go all out on the target up front."

"Ignore all efforts on the small fries and go all out on the boss, huh?" Ethaniel sighed as the grip on his sword tightened. In the next moment, he swung his sword in an arc, swiftly shooting out three arcs of light over towards his surroundings. "Follow closely behind me if you don't want to get surrounded."

"Right behind you," Shinto nodded his head as he and Raina soon followed after Ethaniel who was searing through the frontlines, making a clear path over to Sanke.

"Kukuku... You're the kind to get straight to the point huh?" Sanke chuckled. "That's no fun. Come play around with my minions first."

"Kiiik!" The skeletal rats screeched out as they leapt from the sides over to Ethaniel.

"Gloop..." Meanwhile, the slimes shot out sticky purple substances from their body over to the direction of the group.

"Tch... Such a nuisance..." Ethaniel clicked his tongue as his blade swept away the mobs around him. "Is this your meaning of fun?"

"I've been quite bored you see," Sanke, who was lazily sitting on his throne uttered out. "So do entertain me before your deaths."

"Grr... Just shut it," he scoffed as he swirled his blade onto the oncoming enemiesIn turn, grouping them up within a small area. Soon after, seizing the opportunity, Raina held out her staff as she murmured words of chants onto the space around them.

"Blaze through waves!" Raina shouted out as a burning flame shot out from her staff onto the group up enemies.

[ Burning Wave ]

"Kikk..." Although the dead felt no pain in their body, Raina's burst of flames melted through the skeletons as they slowly crumbled away.

[ You have defeated Skeletal Rats! ]

[ You have defeated Skeletal Rats! ]

[ You have... ]

[ Your level has risen to level 28! ]

"...that's one wave down... And more to go," Raina murmured as her eyes scanned around the area, noting the countless waves of enemies slowly closing the distance on them. "...hey, Shinto. How do we reach Sanke like this? I don't think our AOEs can keep up..." Turning to Shinto, she asked in a concerned voice.

"Ugh... At the rate this is going at, we'll be more overwhelmed than I thought," Shinto frowned as his eyes moved towards the man on the throne. "But... That's beside the point. We're moving much faster than them, so all we have to do is to reach Sanke before they reach us."

"Easier said than done..." Raina mumbled out. "Is that even possible?"

"What's your agility?" he asked.

"...41," Raina awkwardly answered.

"...that low?" Shinto inwardly sighed as he soon shook his head. "Nevermind that. I completely forgot that most mages invest in intelligence and stamina rather than agility..."

Shinto was originally a DPS turned Support. For him, his priorities lie in dodging enemies whilst simultaneously kiting the enemy with his basic attacks. However, his playstyle wasn't all suited for classes like [ Mages ] with low mobility.

In the case of Raina, she had been focusing on clearing large waves, thus she invested her early stat points into Intelligence, and to increase her survivability in the case of the enemy's aggro switching to her, she invested into stamina as well.

Why didn't mages invest in agility? At times, they have to if they play solo. However, oftentimes than not, mages would scurry over to a party due to the difficulty of playing solo as a mageThus their mindset was set to leave the aggro and damage soaking to their front liners.

"What do I do then?" Raina questioned with slight worry in her tone. "...I just used all my stat points into intelligence. Though from the previous level up, I have 10 remaining."

"For now, invest those ten into agility and raise it to 51," Shinto stated.

"Hey! You two! Why wasn't this discussed earlier?!" Ethaniel scoffed. "Bah... Whatever just hurry it up and help mow down those waves up ahead!"

Despite having a discussion within a battlefield, Shinto and Raina weren't falling behind Ethaniel whatsoever. However, with their focus elsewhere, their basic attacks that were shot out to help Ethaniel's burden wearn't as high as they liked it to be.

"Cough... You ran out of AOEs?" Shinto questioned as he averted his attention over to the enemies in front, nothing that a horde of them was grouping up to stop them from advancing forward.

"The only AOE I have left is Flames of Etheral but..." Raina stated. "I don't want to waste the few charges I have on the enemies."

"Ugh... Then it can't be helped. Just brute-forcing it is," Ethaniel leapt forward as he swayed his sword in a single line, swiftly slashing at the monsters in rows.  "Do you have any unnecessary skills you can use?"

"I wanted to save this for Sanke, but never mind," Shinto stated as, from his ring, he quickly shot out a cloud of rain above the mobs. In the next momentslime began to befall them.

[ Slime Arts - Rainy Slime ]

"You have AOEs and you thought it was a good idea to save it for Sanke?!" Ethaniel frowned. "Bah... With your damage, you might as well use it on the mobs!"

"Ahem... I had figured if you guys can clear out the waves faster than me, I might as well save my skills for him," he explained. "Me using my AOEs skills on them would take a much longer time to clear..."

"Bah..." Ethaniel scoffed as his blade thrust forward onto the enemies in front. Aided by the rain of slime on the enemies, the monsters swiftly turned into grey-ash.

"Hmph... It seems you're clearing out my minions too easily," Sanke frowned. "That's no good. Let's raise up the difficulty a bit." Quickly as he said so, Sanke began to murmur out a chant. Following that, dark clouds began to protrude out into the area.

"Ugh... What's this?" Ethaniel frowned at the cloud of darkness enshrouding his vision.

"Looks like he's beginning to cast curses," Shinto clicked his tongue as he was alerted by the rising notifications on his bar.

[ You have been cursed by Sanke! ]

[ 'Curse of Blindess' has been taken into effect. ]

[ Your vision is impaired! Accuracy is lowered you can only see shortsightedly. ]

[ Due to the Eyes of Altric, you have completely nullified the effect! ]

[ 'Curse of Fatigue' has been taken into effect. ]

[ Total stamina has decreased by 20% whilst its consumption is greatly increased. ]

[ You have partially resisted! ]

...

"Stamina consumption is increased..." Raina mumbled out as she thought to herself. "...It's fine. I'll prepare to cast the spell now. Shinto, could you please direct me to a gap?"

Unlike Shinto who could partially resist its effect, Raina had to take the full force of the curse at full power. However, with her unused spell, she could nullify it at a given notice.

"Right," Shinto nodded his head as he and Raina scurried behind Ethaniel, closing in on the distance between Sanke.

"Hah... What's this?" Sanke frowned. "One of you fully resisted against my curses and the rest is so and so? Hmm... It looks like my magic in person doesn't work. How useless..."

"Yeah, so your fun's ruined," Ethaniel ridiculed as his figure appeared in front of Sanke. Soon after, a pillar of light was shot down from the sky onto him.

"Argh...!" Sanke cried out in shock at the man's appearance in front of him. However, before he could react properly, Ethaniel connected another skill, sending three consecutive flashes of light onto Sanke's body.

"Raina! Aim your staff to the sky and shoot it out!" Shinto stated as he pinpointed the opening for Raina to shoot out her spell. Following that, he casted out a veil of shadow onto the surrounding area, buffing up Raina and Ethaniel's stats by 5%.

"...to burn against the darkness, one must try for the flames against death," Raina murmured out as flames began to envelop around the tip of her staff. "Continuing on the legacy of Etheral, blaze through the void..." As the flame charged up to its full potential, Raina connected it together with [ Basic Magic Dissection ]. "Turn tails of the purifying heat, reach for the judgement!"

Ending her chant, a burning heat of flame filled with purification shot out from the staff of Raina. Quickly, with Shinto's help of direction, the spell moved at a fast-paced trajectorySuccessfully colliding with Sanke.

[ Two curse effects have been taken away from the user! ]

[ Your vision and stamina have been fixed. ]

"It hit!" Raina cheered, however, she wasn't done just yet. She still has two more charges to hit. "Let's continue."

"Right," Nodding his head, Shinto began to cast out his own set of spells too. Though, before he could do so, he suddenly felt a dense aura of darkness in front of him.

"Kukuku... How fun. Is this all the flame of Uriel could do?" Sanke chuckled as it soon turned into a maniacal laugh. "Then... I won't fool around any longer."

"...?!" Ethaniel's eyes shook slightly as he soon was enveloped in a sudden burst of darkness from Sanke's side, quickly pushing him back over to the two mages.

"For darkness and sin, hear me of the shadows," Sanke uttered out a demeaning voice. "Call upon curses and vicesHeed upon my call and fill this world of corruption!"