—-

Not only did Wrath Eruption serve as protection for Kieran, Alice, and the Obsidian Criollo in their vicinity, the force of the eruption expelled the sand in a large radius. Deserea would have to expend greater amounts of Mana if she wished to control her sandstorm as a medium to launch imminent attacks.

In this way, Wrath Eruption wasn’t just a skill capable of unleashing heaps of damage in a split second. If employed correctly, it also had the makings to become a great utility skill in the wake of undesirable environments.

「 Wrath Eruption (Lv.2)

Skill Rank: B

Skill Type: Active

Mastery (00.50%)

Description: This skill funnels the user’s blood through a compact Mana channel, causing a violent increase in pressure. The skill can either be used on surfaces or in the air. However, its effects vary based on the chosen method of utilization. The burst of violent blood deals 600-1,450% of the user’s Attack Power depending on the enemy’s condition.

Consumption: 4% Health and 60 Mana

Prerequisites: Blood Mania

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Note: The user can integrate this skill with other True Berserker skills to create new effects. 」

Although the upper limits of Wrath Eruption were high, Kieran understood why it was only considered a B Rank Skill and not an A Rank one. The disparity between its lower and upper limits was too great, which could cause a significant variation in damage.

Additionally, it was a skill heavily dependent on the enemy’s condition to deal the greatest damage.

Considering that Kieran’s class operated by inflicting Bleed damage, it was safe to assume that the upper limits required the maximum number of Bleed stacks. Of course, skills like Deranged Spirit were excluded since they temporarily heightened the number of stacks that Kieran could apply to one enemy.

Skill damage generally scaled off base stack values and not any additive presented by unique skills.

Nevertheless, as long as Kieran had the attack speed and Sanguine Slashes, increasing Bleed stacks on an enemy wouldn’t pose an issue.

Afterward, Kieran patted Alice’s back and instructed her to assist the others while he handled the opponent before him.

Deserea watched as Alice joined the fray but didn’t react. This action alone was a testament to Deserea’s confidence and conveyed how much she looked down upon Kieran’s teammates.

“Hmph,” Deserea harrumphed with a cold expression. She had used a considerable amount of Mana to create those twisters, so in her eyes, someone at Kieran’s level shouldn’t be able to counter them with a single attack. Furthermore, the lack of damage further irritated her.

However, her expression lightened when she noticed her subordinate’s effectiveness. Even with Alice joining the others, the Desertborn Brigands possessed the upper hand.

When it came to Alice’s fight, she could only activate small skills with 1.5-second or shorter cast times before the brigands responded. She was neither proficient in Dual-Casting, Mobile Casting, nor Silent Casting, so she produced tells every time she activated a skill.

This was no longer a fight involving monsters that followed established patterns. The human-like movements and thought processes made these NPCs challenging opponents.

Kieran followed Deserea’s gaze and frowned. Because while Sera healed everyone in the party when she could, Bastion and Nemean were each forced to take on two opponents while Altair tangled with the two Sand Dancers.

“Are you sure this is something you want to follow through with?” Kieran asked coldly. Naturally, watching his teammates struggle to overcome the abundance of somewhat stronger NPCs angered him.

“Does that question require a response? I presented myself while intending to claim this cargo and your lives, so I’ll accomplish both—starting with your allies. It seems they are not quite the same caliber as you are. That’s good; that means my subordinates need not worry.” Deserea gave Kieran a smug smile that made his blood roil.

He tightened his grasp on Crimson Ashrune with narrowed eyes while taking a single step forward. “You and your team may be at an advantage for now, but let’s see what happens when I paint the floor with your corpses.”

“Oooh~” Deserea shivered while mocking Kieran’s threats. “I’m so scared, you big bad man. Why don’t you come and prove it to me then?”

…

On the other side of the battlefield…

Nemean frowned as he experienced the coordinated attacks of two Desertborn Henchmen. Even though he could defend against two attacks simultaneously because of his class advantage, it wasn’t ideal since it limited his ability to counterattack.

While his class was loosely based on the Pugilist subclass, he didn’t obtain the Reinforced Limb passive that the class possessed. Thus, his legs and arms couldn’t be considered weapons. Currently, his physical attacks scaled based on his base Attack Power.

The small Attack Power bonus provided by his class passives didn’t include attacks performed without a shield as its basis.

“This is insane! I can’t find an opening for the life of me!” Nemean howled while attempting to create space. However, the two Desertborn Henchmen were like bloodhounds, mirroring his every move.

“Oh? OH?! Do you think you have it bad? These damn Sand Dancers are like bar soap when wet—they keep slipping away!” Altair roared back. Altair could only land a single successful hit before the second Sand Dancer appeared with an unusual attack reinforced by the sand surrounding them.

Even a single kick turned into a sand whip as it followed the flexible motion of the Sand Dancer’s leg.

“This damn artificial sandstorm doesn’t make it any better; I can barely see **! The attacks are already in front of my face by the time I can see them,” Bastion groaned while being constantly pushed back.

The entire team faced their fair share of difficulties due to the disparity in numbers. The outcome wouldn’t be so harsh if their focus were limited to a single opponent, but it wasn’t.

However, Altair glanced toward Bastion for a brief moment. “Wait, don’t rely upon your eyes, fool. The sandstorm is robbing us of our visibility, but it doesn’t hinder our Perception! Focus on that.”

” You’re right!” Bastion gasped as realization hit. Kieran was priming them for Stage 1 Realism, and in doing so, he inadvertently created a solution to a problem he didn’t account for—enemies who could decrease their visibility.

While the team’s Perception wasn’t at a level where they could completely take their eyes out of the equation, it was potent enough to act as an alarm system.

Bastion’s first few attempts at relying upon his Perception were shoddy, but he became accustomed to the feeling the more he focused.

Eventually, he arrived at a point where he could feel how the enemies awaited their ally’s final movements before starting their attack. “I’ve got you now!”

Bang! Bang!

Bastion swiveled his shield from left to right, blocking both swipes from the Desertborn Henchmen’s kukris. However, as a class with little to no attack skills, he wasn’t very effective in dealing damage after deflecting the attack.

Regardless of his insufficient Attack Power, Bastion’s fortified body turned him into the perfect means to buy time. “Hahaha, come and get some! You won’t be getting past this daddy!”

Phew!

The lead Desertborn Henchmen released a strange whistle that made Bastion’s eyes widen. Not because of the pitch but because the sand beneath his feet crawled up his leg and held him in place.

“Crap!” Bastion exclaimed.

Suddenly, a dim aura appeared around Bastion’s body as he slammed the shield to the ground. This aura blew the sand covering his legs back and dispersed the restrictive effects. The skill employed, Cleansed Guardian, was similar to a Cleric’s Dispel, except it was limited only to crowd-control abilities and was unique to the Guardian Knight class.

Bastion didn’t remain motionless after dispelling the effects of the Sand Bind. He moved about despite the considerable impact on his Stamina. One of the drawbacks of the plate armor worn by Knight classes was heavy Stamina consumption.

Meanwhile, as Bastion struggled to maintain his generated momentum, Nemean also heeded Altair’s suggestion. Rather than stay on the defensive most of the time, he made the most of his current Perception by interrupting the flow established between the two Desertborn Henchmen.

“Not on my watch… I’ll be damned if I make this easy for you,” Nemean growled.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Nemean used swift strikes to stun one Desertborn Henchman before ramming his shield into the other. At the same time, a pleasant aura encompassed his body, returning some of the Health he lost earlier.

Whoosh! Shnk!

Altair spun his dagger and attacked from an odd angle that surprisingly countered the unusual movements of the Sand Dancers. ‘I’ve seen this style before. It’s similar to capoeira, but they aren’t limited like humans are. Their movements are fluid, deadly, and precise. But most of all, they transcend normal human capabilities. I wonder…’

Rather than feel the pressure, Altair became engrossed in the fighting style of these Sand Dancers as he mimicked what they did. Sometimes these movements left him vulnerable, but his superior Control let Altair parry strikes before the situation grew perilous.

‘An Assassin should be light. Although this class tends to operate in the shadow, it’d be best if I’m not limited in frontal assaults like the many other players who chose this class, Altair thought.

Altair wasn’t aware of it yet, but he had crossed the initial threshold into a realm that defined stellar players—Technique Creation. Despite the lack of information related to this game function, most experienced players who questioned the limits of their class would eventually come in contact with it.

…

A light smirk appeared across Kieran’s face as he watched his teammates adapt to their struggles without his guidance. ‘As expected of those who caught my eye, I don’t need to spoon-feed them. Guiding their stat allocation will lead to their eventual realizations.’

However, while Kieran enjoyed the situation, Deserea detested it, especially the smug look on Kieran’s face.

“Is something funny?” Deserea coldly remarked. She flung her arm forward, causing several sand projectiles to appear behind her. A snap followed this action, propelling the sand bullets at frightening speeds.

Kieran immediately sensed the target and dashed before the Obsidian Criollo, followed by a downward slash. A large blood current appeared, colliding against the several sand bullets.

The attacks neutralized each other, but Kieran continued by lifting his hand and unleashing another Blood Wave.

“Ugh!” Deserea scoffed. She swiped her hand, conjuring a pillar of sand that rose from the ground and intersected the Blood Wave.

However, before Deserea could comment, three more large Blood Waves followed in quick succession, the last one successfully landing on her body.

-23,470

One might question how Kieran could repeatedly unleash Blood Waves as if there was no cooldown to the skill, but the answer lay in its description.

「 Blood Wave (Lv.2)

Skill Rank: B

Skill Type: Active

Mastery (00.50%)

Description: The user can unleash a condensed burst of blood power in the form of a large blood wave. The skill deals 555% of the user’s Attack Power. This skill can be used up to 5 times consecutively before falling into complete cooldown. The remaining cooldown period for each charge will accumulate.

Consumption: 1% Health per charge

Prerequisites: Blood Mania

Cooldown: 18 (90) seconds 」

An 18-second cooldown was on the lower end of Kieran’s skills, but the fact it could be fired consecutively made this skill a crucial skill in terms of unleashing rapid damage. If not for its comparatively low singular damage value, its true ranking would be between A or S.

However, skills required utility effects to cross the divide between B and A Rank classification. Aside from spam potential, Blood Wave didn’t have much else use in its current state.

Still, Deserea released a shrill cry as she glared at Kieran.