Tyler's POV
'Hmm, hmm, good thing it worked. I was quite worried for a moment.'
I thought, watching the NPC, who previously had crying emojis, tombstones, and repeated holes due to the current's influence, drink the wizard's potion. It was a total shot in the dark and quite risky, but since experience shows that most NPCs often bend over when I touch them, I figured that would make her see the potion Gregor left in front of her.
But it was risky, after all, that same experience showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that just a few touches are enough to make a perfectly healthy ordinary NPC die instantly (note: that screen problem happened again, with much less force, but it happened, why does this keep happening?). However, despite everything that had already happened, she was the least affected in terms of damage, so I decided to trust my gamer instinct and bet that her HP was more on the full side than less.
I won't lie, not being able to control items after they leave the inventory is pretty annoying, even though it still applies to NPCs and characters. Originally, I wanted Gregor to use the wizard's potion to become a dual-character.
Of course, I don't know if that was possible in this game, but it wouldn't have hurt to try (oh no, actually it did cost more, usually OVER 100 DOLARS!!! 😭😭😭).
But in the end, he just equipped the tunic and the axe and returned to the fight after using the HP potion.
If things had continued as they were, he might have ended up being killed by the mentors, the mission would have failed, and I would have wasted more money (oh yeah, of course, my pride as a gamer would also have been affected... of course, that's as bad as losing money…( '⁰͡ Ĺ̯ ⁰͡ ) )
Anyway, before she drank the potion, I used my newly recovered divine power to use the shield and buy more time for the NPC. While she was "turning into a mage" (maybe), I decided to get a little revenge on this "Boss" who had blocked me. Using both hands, I clicked on all the monsters she had created simultaneously 3 times quickly.
[-5]
[-5]
[-5]
.....
I managed a total of -15 HP on all of them shown at once, unfortunately it didn't help much. Even my punishment skill (kind of like a basic attack, in a way) being at level 5, didn't do much damage.
This is just my theory, but maybe the amount of red aura creates a synergy with the attack and the level generates an additional bonus. Since the NPC I was supposed to protect didn't have a red aura, the damage to her was much less but still effective [-2] HP which corresponded to almost 1/6 of her HP.
But even though we all lost -15, they didn't suffer much, both because the aura was large and because they were also on the train with the red aura. In contrast, the "Boss's" dark aura grew, and the little figure's red color became more intense.
Obviously, I've already tried attacking her, but it always ends up with [0] damage; it seems the black aura has a shield effect.
'I bet she wouldn't withstand it if I sent a lightning bolt at her, but my divine power reserves are practically exhausted.'
[Name: Tyler
Type: Recognized Deity
Lv. 10
Titles: —
Domains: Green Field Village
Karma: 4/1,000
HP: 100/100
PD: 2
MP: 110/120
…]
It's annoying that even though I still have so much mana to spend, the only ability that consumes it is defensive in this case... Well, there's the Storm, but it would be a mass attack that costs 30 MP at once, or 10 divine power, so I'm not very confident it would be a good alternative.
...If I still had divine power, I could create another shield that would also heal, but that would have to wait a few more minutes, and I don't want to end this fight once and for all!
Storm, lightning, shield—these three abilities are still usable with mana, but they cost more and are less effective than when using divine power.
'Are they worth the cost?'
Well, as I said, I want to end this once and for all, so… AN ABSOLUTELY YES!!!!.
And the boss doesn't want to prolong it any longer either; after reciting something for a while, she sent another wave of dark energy to the ground, but this time it only formed chains that immobilized the NPCs or me.
The villagers closest to the area who hadn't yet fled were caught, and their bodies began to change; in less than 3 seconds they turned into smaller versions of the monsters she had created with the minions. The only differences I could see were the size and the number of tentacles, with them only having 2 coming out of their backs.
'Tsk, I hate bosses that don't let me think. (that is, practically all the bosses in all the games)'
The shield protecting the 3 hasn't even reached half its durability yet, so I'll leave it as is. There are at least 3 of them heading towards Gregor, but luckily they're together. I circled with my finger the place where they would pass and pressed the button; when they entered it, a flash of light appeared, and the 3 took significant damage and were pushed away.
[-25]
[-27]
[-23]
But like any mob created by a Boss, her HP wasn't low, thankfully another advantage that mana-activated abilities have over divine power. They don't have a cooldown, ironic, right?
The Boss created a total of 10 smaller monsters, plus the 5 larger ones and herself. So there were still 16 enemies to deal with. Or so I thought, but then one more of the smaller ones appeared, inside the shield.
'Are you kidding me??!!!! When did they dig??!!!!!!'
It didn't matter, the wolf had entered the henhouse. Gregor also saw this and tried to distract the monsters and head towards the shield. The 3 he was fighting, and very well I might add, blocked him and used some kind of dark energy-based attack which he skillfully repelled.
[Gregor used [Counter] causing additional damage]
With that, the 3 monsters were at varying degrees of 1/5 health. But I doubt he can dispatch them in time to help.
Honestly, even if he could, it wouldn't make a difference:
1st, the other 2 wouldn't stop attacking the shield.
2nd, even if he managed to get past them without fighting, I don't know if they could get through the shield. The monster that entered the shield went towards the main NPC of the quest, but the other two positioned themselves in front.
The man tried to attack but was easily overpowered and repelled by the monster, the second NPC even more easily. The first one didn't give up and tried to attack again, seemingly holding a kind of knife this time.
[J**** attacked, lesser corrupted creature, -2 damage]
Hmm, why did this message only appear now? Like in Gregron's case, it's been appearing since the beginning (actually since I gave him the tunic and the axe), but even his full name hasn't appeared yet. Why is that?
Another mystery of this game for me to try to understand later.
As expected, the mob, a lesser corrupted creature, retaliated forcefully.
[J*** received -15 damage]
For a normal NPC, that's practically half their HP. And yet he still tried to attack again.
[J**** attacked, lesser corrupted creature, -2 damage]
And again he took a strong counterattack.
[J*** received -13 damage]
He hung by a thread, his image pixelated in low resolution and clearly bloodied, and yet he fought again. When the corrupted creature was about to finish him off, the second pixelated NPC appeared and threw something at his head.
[L*** attacked, lesser corrupted creature, -1 damage]
The creature responded with one of its tentacles, relentlessly moving towards the fallen NPC.
[L*** received a critical hit, -25 damage]
The tentacles pierced her and threw her against the shield near one of the larger monsters attacking. She was probably still alive, but her HP was going down visibly fast.
Maybe the female NPC wouldn't endure more than some seconds.
As soon as the smaller corrupted creature reached the fallen NPC and was about to deliver a final blow, it was sent flying to the edge of the shield by a blue energy sphere, resembling the shield itself.
'It was about time.'
I thought, seeing the main NPC finally becoming a character. Maybe it was just my imagination, but in the high-resolution pixelated image on my phone screen, she looked extremely animated and enraged.