Rune Seeker - Book 3: Chapter 79: B-Rank Opponents

Instead of rushing right back in and wailing on Velina or Vule, Hiral channeled solar energy into his Rune of Time Dilation, slowing the world around him to a crawl. Unlike previous usages, he didn’t try to accomplish a dozen small tasks in the blink of an eye. No, this time, he just stood there and thought.

The Shaper’s B-Rank End was a major hurdle. Sure, he could probably inflict some real damage with the Emperor’s Greatsword, but he’d only have ten seconds with it if he wanted to take advantage of Ever Changing+. And he did. The 15% bonus to critical hit chance, plus the 40% bonus to critical hit damage, sounded like just the thing he needed.

Not to mention that once they realized how dangerous the sword was, they’d go to extra lengths to defend against it. No, when he brought out his S-Rank trump card, it had to be to finish the fight. It had to be when he had the max stacks of Vengeance+ and Ever Changing+ to do the most damage possible.

Which meant he needed another plan.

Okay, first off, what tattoos are they activating?

Vule had both of his meaty hands touching different tattoos. Simultaneous shaping? Didn’t know the oaf had it in him. Even with the images partially obscured from sight, Hiral had no trouble recognizing them, and he couldn’t stop a grimace. Good choices, considering who he’s up against.

The first tattoo would shape a weapon for Vule to use against Hiral—Technically a pair of weapons. Grinders. They’d be studded cudgels, each about two and a half feet long, but their appearance was deceptive. Invisible auras of gnashing energy would surround the head of each weapon like a magical meat grinder. Hence the name. The weapons weren’t very effective against hard objects, but they ripped apart flesh and muscle just as their names suggested. On their own, they wouldn’t be a huge threat against Hiral’s speed, but the second tattoo Vule was shaping changed that.

Time Slip. The tattoo would pause time for Vule—very much like what Hiral was doing—and let the Shaper move through that paused time. It wasn’t an automatic “win” ability, since it was only B-Rank with a hefty downside. For three seconds after coming out of the paused time, Vule wouldn’t be completely tangible, making any blows he landed inflict significantly less damage. However, the tearing energy of the Grinders would somewhat offset that.

And Velina?

The woman was only touching one tattoo, but it was another tattoo Hiral recognized immediately. And another good choice for an opponent like Hiral. The A-Rank Hundred Handed tattoo. While it didn’t actually create a hundred hands, it would give the Shaper eight spectral, telescoping limbs to harass Hiral.

Those arms wouldn’t have the same force behind them as one of her normal punches, but—annoyingly—they used Str in place of Dex for their speed.

Both Shapers had tattoos to deal with faster opponents.

Maybe I should be flattered they’re already pulling them out against me?

Putting that useless thought aside—though it was kind of nice they were taking him seriously—Hiral turned his thoughts to his options.

What do I know?

Emperor’s Greatsword is for when I’m ready to finish this fight. They have absurd End, which means all my other attacks will do mediocre damage at best, and they’ll likely have some kind of healing. Naturally high End offers intrinsic healing bonuses on top of plain old being durable, but… yes, they each have minor healing tattoos. Nothing as strong as the Waters of Frey he had, but Vule had a long-duration, low-impact regeneration. Velina, on the other hand, had one-shot bursts of moderate healing.

Necrotic energy from my Blightsteel Sabre should take care of both of those, but the weapon itself won’t do enough damage to threaten them.

Stormstrike wouldn’t be much more useful, though the movement ability could prove handy. Death Knell, though—that weapon did extra damage against living opponents with Sever Life. His Runic Blunderbuss might sting a bit, but his RHCs would do even less. Both would let him use Distracting Shot, which could slow down…

Wait. Debuffs?

Hiral looked closer at the papercut-thin wounds left by his Bestial Axes, and they were definitely bleeding. The Shapers were ignoring the Bleeding Wounds debuffs. And… neither of their healing abilities would cleanse them. Another quick look at the tattoos he could see—No, they don’t have anything to deal with debuffs.

That’s the play, then.

With his path laid out for him, Hiral let his hold on time fade, and none too soon, the pounding in the back of his head starting to feel like his skull was splitting. With the Sho-Val of the Valley still in hand—and a few seconds left before Ever Changing+ needed him to swap—Hiral charged straight for Velina.

Like before, she completely ignored the blurring blades of his spear even as they opened thin cuts across her. Unlike before, Hiral wasn’t trying to interrupt her shaping. Instead, he focused on simply hitting her as many times as he could. More hits meant more critical hits.

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Without the Shaper attacking him, he wasn’t able to stack up Vengeance+ any further, and Ever Changing+ wasn’t at max stacks, but he still managed to score a few crits. Unfortunately, the randomness of the Primal Chord’s Second Movement meant those all turned out to be buffs for him instead of debuffs on her.

He got a refresh on Lashing Vines—which was fine, since the whip-like appendages were attacking on their own and also scoring critical hits—as well as Troblin Might. Even better, though, was the Banner of Courage buff he got. Sure, it only lasted fifteen seconds instead of three minutes, but it offered a whole suite of juicy bonuses. The final buff he got had him hopping back at the same time eight ghostly blue arms erupted from Velina’s back and lanced out to pulp him.

Sway, roll, leap, and he dodged the worst of it, releasing his Sho-Val as he went. Out came his RHCs in both hands, and he strafed hard to the side while taking aim. Three blue runic circles formed in front of the barrel of the weapon in his right hand—Piercing Shot—just in time for him to squeeze the trigger.

The empowered bolt of searing Impact cut straight through the ghostly arm that came across to block it and slammed into Velina’s left shoulder. A hole the size of a small coin punched out the other side in a spray of blood and a surprised cry of pain from the Shaper.

Huh, maybe the RHCs are better suited for this than I thought.

While the bolt from his second RHC didn’t have nearly as dramatic a result, it did slap into her chest and inflict the Distracting Shot debuff on her.

Distracted (Debuff): Target suffers -10% chance to hit, critically hit, and damage for 6 seconds.

It wouldn’t last long or drastically swing the fight in his favor, but it was the first step in the climb to victory.

With Velina still reeling from the hole in her shoulder—and with his RHCs on cooldown—Hiral turned his attention back in Vule’s direction. And just in time! A studded cudgel materialized in the air, swinging for his head, and Hiral bent backward at the knees, dropping to the ground.

The air churned as the weapon passed above him, something tearing off the tip of his nose, and then his back hit the floor and he rolled to the side. A crunch sounded right next to him as Vule’s other cudgel slammed into the ground. Another roll, another crunch, Vule’s swinging shape coming into view like a slideshow as Hiral continued to roll away.

On his fourth such rotation, a new swarm of shapes joined Vule’s, and Hiral madly pushed himself away on a burst of Rejection. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. Four spectral hands joined Vule’s cudgel to pockmark the ground right where Hiral had been.

Four?

As soon as Hiral’s feet touched the ground, he dove to the side again, narrowly evading the other four hands that converged on his location. Since his Lost Echoes wouldn’t do anything to the hands, he didn’t even bother with his Echo Aura, and instead sprang to his feet and took aim at Vule. Pulling both triggers on his RHCs, two bolts shot towards the towering Shaper… only to pass right through the empty space where he’d just been standing.

A pull on the Chord of the Primal Echo had Hiral twisting his hip hard to the side, but it still wasn’t quite enough as Vule materialized right beside him. The main head of the cudgel missed shattering his bone, but the grinding aura that gave the weapons their names tore a chunk of his Coat of Ur’Thul off, along with some of his flesh underneath.

Owwww!

Doing his best to ignore the pain while High-Speed Regeneration+ went to work on closing up the wound, Hiral cartwheeled once, twice, three times to stay ahead of the follow-up swings. By his third flip, he’d put some distance between himself and the slower Shaper—though the man was clearly more solid after using Time Slip—and fired both barrels at the big man.

Vule scowled as the first bolt scored a hit, a Distracting Shot slowing him down, then changed that scowl to a wince. Hiral’s second normal blast had caught him in the pinky finger of his left hand just as he’d brought one of his Grinders in front of himself.

You have been buffed by Terminal: Swarm Healing.

Minor healing over time for 15 seconds.

The pinky was a critical hit?

Hiral didn’t have time to dwell on the notification window, though, dismissing it and sprinting to the side as eight spectral hands swarmed after him. Despite not hitting with the same strength Velina would, they’d still hurt, and moved surprisingly fast as they gave chase. Worse, as far as Hiral knew, the hands couldn’t be directly damaged. Even the one he’d shot through had reformed almost immediately. The ground cracked and crunched around him as he zigzagged to avoid the pummeling fists, and he pulled both triggers into Gunimat’s chest when he passed the man.

A barely noticeable pull on his PIM slightly re-angled Hiral’s aim to drive two bolts of Impact into the Shaper’s ribs with the audible cracks of breaking bone.

You have been buffed by Piercing Shot.

Your next ranged attack will ignore target’s defense and inflict additional damage based on Atn. Chance to pierce target and strike additional targets in a line based on Dex.

You have been buffed by Predator’s Eyes.

Gain +2% hit chance and critical hit chance, and +5% critical hit damage for each debuff on your target.

Dismissing the two notification windows at the same time the Chord of the Primal Echo yanked him hard ahead, Hiral kicked off a plane of Rejection towards the wall on his right. A Grinder swept through the air right where he’d been a heartbeat before, and he flipped in the air to land feet-first against the wall. A quick thread of Attraction held him there just long enough to pull both triggers in Vule’s direction before he leapt up at an angle.

His aim hadn’t been perfect, but buffed by Piercing Shot, one of his bolts punched a small hole through the side of Vule’s overly muscled abdomen. While the stone wall behind him rumbled under the barrage of six spectral hands, he dashed straight ahead through the air on planes of Rejection.

A flash of purple flame from one of the viewing areas told him Left and Right had made their move. Good. They should each be able to handle two C-Rank Shapers, and Nat will get the people out of here.

Without having to worry about the hostages, Hiral dropped out of the air and skidded on the arena floor as he spun around. The RHCs went back to his thigh plates, and he reached out with his senses to connect with Death Knell and the Blightsteel Sabre. The two swords smoothly swept in to hang in the air beside his hands. A thread of solar energy to each activated their enchantments, blades glowing blue and black, and he darted towards Velina at the same time Vule vanished again.