“You… ugly butt!” I hurled my lame insult at the Buttress. I couldn’t think of a good pun, half surprised and half annoyed by the loss of my [Greater Pyro Shell]. A chunk of AS and my shell’s cooldown were wasted for nothing. “How dare you remove—hang on. Do ants have butts?” I wondered while trying to escape the speedier Bastions.

The red Garg-Ants headbutted me as an answer.

Retreat or stay?

My original plan was to exit and fight in the narrow passage to this room. But that meant Megan and Nitana couldn’t reach the Brios and Buttresses hanging back if they were outside. We should fight and win here.

I headed to the walls while minor static shocks plagued me. Getting surrounded by Bastion Garg-Ants would be unideal; their overlapping purple flames hurt bad, especially with a Brio coming to debuff me.

I couldn’t reach the actual side of the spherical room because it curved up, and I’d slide down. But it was enough to limit the Bastions into a concave instead of full encirclement. Plopping [Gnawing Rot] beneath my hooves, I spun to face the red Garg-Ants and placed [Withering Brand] on the closest one.

Bastions had a blue outline beneath them, indicating the buff from the Buttress. It wasn’t only a movement boost; their attack speeds also increased.

Usually, I’d be happy with fast-attacking enemies—they’d dig their graves faster with the retribution shovel. But since [Greater Pyro Shell] was unusable, courtesy of the Buttresses, the Bastions were an actual threat. I endeavored to catch every attack with my shields and cast [Healing Touch] each time it was off cooldown.

“What’s taking them so long?” I peered over my shield to check Megan and Nitana. I was barely hanging on. The Bastions weren’t dying fast enough because of Brios healing them. Pesky healers.

To make matters worse, the Buttresses weren’t done being ugly butts.

[ Status | Skill Lock: Cannot Recast Any Skill Used for 8 seconds ]

Divine Bovine! What fresh crap was this? It would’ve been fine if only one Buttresses was being a butt. But four of them kept me in perpetual [Skill Lock].

“Pardon me, my good insect sirs,” I told the Buttresses. “What did I do to deserve—? Oh, that’s right. We’re killing your colony.” [Healing Touch] was my only healing skill; [Skill Lock] might as well be silence in this scenario. Left with no sustain, I popped a [Frigid Yew Salve].

Frigid Yew Salve | Item Level: 15

Epic | Consumable | No Requirement

Derived from the cursed toxin that permeates the seeds, leaves, and bark of the hoarfrost yew tree, this potent healing ointment restores 5% of Maximum Health per second for six seconds while inflicting Silence on the user, preventing usage of all skills for the duration. However, Arcane Brewers found a way to extend the defensive properties of the hoarfrost yew tree to the user, granting a 25% chance to Freeze enemies that deal direct damage while the Salve is in effect.

The Buttresses kept dispelling me.

Jokes on them, I had Silenced myself and couldn’t cast [Greater Pyro Shell] anyway. And thankfully, they couldn’t remove the effects of [Frigid Yew Salve] as it was a consumable. Being passive skills, [Ancestral Constitution] and [Cleansing Flames] buffs were likewise untouched.

Was this the first time I personally tanked difficult content for a party? This was a reminder that tanking wasn’t only about getting hard but also staying hard throughout. One had to be prepared for the possibility of buffs getting removed or losing access to sustains. Having my own dispels to remove enemy buffs would also be great.

“It’s not like I need help here or anything!” I shouted. Some Bastions would get encased in ice, but other Garg-Ants would push them back and take their place. My health bar steadily went down despite the [Frigid Yew Salve]. I drank basic health potions in my inventory—rewards from random quests—but I was still dying.

Is this the end of Herald Stone? Am I not hard enough?

Explosions engulfed the Garg-Ants and me.

“Herald, we’re here!” Megan said. “Sorry we couldn’t immediately come.”

Nitana trotted behind her. “Just going to put on record I hate these blue ants. That Skill Lock thingy is so annoying, ugh! If I were a giant, I’m gonna step on them.”

“Thanks for the save and nice work,” I said, giving them a thumbs up in Kezo’s place. They both giggled, picking up the reference. “Now, let’s finish the rest of this room.”

Knowing how the Garg-Ants worked, we methodically killed each pack. I’d taunt the Buttresses—they’d [Skill Lock] me instead of Nitana and Megan—and pull them away from other Garg-Ants. Bastions didn’t need to be taunted as I’d be in their midst, damaging them with [Blight Cloud]. They’d angrily chase me, leaving behind the Brios.

Megan and Nitana aimed for the healer and debuffer greens first. Then, the buffer and dispeller blues. And last were the tanky DPS reds.

The Garg-Ant ‘parties’ didn’t follow the original trifecta of DPS-Tank-Healer, and I appreciated them for that. I myself was a connoisseur of unconventional compositions. MCO’s system allowed anyone to be a complete party by themselves, mixing different types of Ocadules and Shards.

Nonetheless, as Melonomi had told me, public parties still preferred players with specialized builds—full support healers, and so on. It was the same in the real world, with experts in niche fields commanding a premium.

“Erm, do we have to kill these too?” With her hoof, Megan tapped a [Lvl 30 Arcane Blighted Garg-Ant Egg]. After clearing the room of Garg-Ants, we were left with their eggs—dozens of them. “I might’ve accidentally hit one during the fight, and I think it gave Blighted Tokens.”

“One way to find out,” Nitana said, shooting a fireball at a Garg-Ant Egg. It immediately cracked open, with Essence and Gli sprinkling toward us. And Tokens. “Oh boy, that’s a lot of Tokens.”

“They’re the Toady Tokens of this quest,” I said.

“Yoohoo!” Lavender called the entrance. “You guys done?”

“Just going to scramble some eggs,” I said. Megan chuckled while Nitana rolled her eyes. I wondered if someone had already invented the time machine so I could return to the past and stop myself from giving that atrocious reply.

The rest of the quest was more of the same—rooms with varying amounts of Garg-Ants and Eggs.

Settling in the flow of the battle, my mind shifted to my learnings.

I had a new appreciation for [Greater Pyro Shell] after the Buttress Garg-Ants denied it to me. Adding a barrier that I could refresh was, essentially, a combination of additional health and healing. I had grown to rely on my shell because, beneath it, I was a tanky healer with meager DPS, not a full tank.

Rather than getting discouraged from using [Greater Pyro Shell], I wanted to lean more into it—I do like a challenge.

Could Mehubanarath have a better version? The Greatest Pyro Shell?

To be more consistent, I needed an answer to dispel, Silence, and the like. And I also wanted to use my health, untouched under the barrier’s protection, as a resource. Spreading poison with [Cloak of the Plaguespreader] was a start. My health would ‘safely’ get damaged by poison while my shell protected it.

Such an unboxlike concept—I love it!

“Let me have it!” Lavender held her hammer high over the last Garg-Ant Egg in the final room of the colony. It only had a flake of health remaining. She brought her hammer down. It bounced off. The Egg didn’t die.

Jani quickly shot a fire spell, getting the kill.

“You, ass!” Lavender exclaimed.

A small quake preempted any more argument. A section of the room collapsed, revealing the exit.

“Did this quest give us more Blighted Tokens than the first one?” I asked, eyeing the thirty thousand-odd Tokens in my inventory as we headed to the exit. Twenty thousand more to go. “I couldn’t recall how many I started with.”

“I think so,” replied Megan. “Like a couple hundred more?”

“Garg-Ants were also faster to clear once we got the hang of it,” Nitana said. “That’s what it feels to me. No fricking toads hopping away.”

“We’ll compare the Garg-Ants to the Cragodon quest,” I said. “Then decide which one we’ll keep doing.” I looked over my shoulder at Lavender, Jani, and Kai. “Unless you want something different? We can do quests in your range so you can level up faster.”

“It’s better we focus on the highest Blighted Token quest we can clear,” Kai said.

“By ‘we,’ Kai means you three,” Lavender said, gesturing at me, Megan, and Nitana.

“The more Tokens, the better,” Jani added. “This world quest isn’t going to stick around for long.”

“True,” I said, nodding. “And getting good Shards can help your leveling later—an investment.”

“Let’s move to the next quest already,” Nitana said. “I’m thinking of getting a new fairy Shard.”

I smiled, turning my head away so they couldn’t see. Nitana and Megan planned to switch races after the Great Hunt. Apparently, they had changed their minds, even inviting their friends to Mardukryon Mountain. That was the life-changing effect of Herald Stone’s arrival—indeed, a momentous occasion.

“Okay…” Megan slowly exhaled, shaking her hands as if to psyche herself up. “We’ll fight the baby Cragodon.”

Amidst roaring fire and clouds of deadly poison, the [Lvl 46 Arcane Blighted Cragodon Calf] and I danced in mortal combat.

Melodramatics aside, the two of us just stood before each other.

Cracks marred the Cragodon Calf’s rough hide like drought-ravaged soil. Purple slime oozed through the gaps, coating its flank and giving it a toxic-looking glow.

The Cragodon’s nose horn slammed my shields. It alternated in hoof stomps that caused AoE damage with debuffs and Freezing snorts. [Cloak of the Plaguespreader] allowed me to demonstrate my generosity in sharing ailments.

Look at me, Mum! I’m tanking this big guy! I celebrated in my head while outwardly acting like this was normal. I had tanked weaker Blighted bosses for new player parties, but those were for public relations campaigns and showing-off purposes.

This was an actual challenge, with an audience to boot.

If I failed, I could chuck it off to being under-leveled—a ready excuse in my back pocket. But I didn’t want to use it.

I am Herald Stone. I don’t reach into my back pocket unless it’s for my thick wallet.

Megan and Nitana kept the Cragodon under Burn status—something I couldn’t consistently do alone. Burned enemies hit less hard, thanks to [Mantle of Kindling]. My AS also replenished because of it, allowing me to cast [Greater Pyro Shell] and other skills each time they were available.

But my shell couldn’t last halfway through its cooldown. The Cragodon Calf hit like a truck, not that I had experienced that in real life. The times I was ‘naked,’ I walked the fine line of survival. I used [Penitent Fortune Healing] and [Healing Touch] whenever possible. I also made sure the boss was under [Withering Brand].

Nitana helped me tank with her barrier sprite absorbing some hits. Megan enclosed me with a wall of fire, a skill I hadn’t seen before, that reduced the damage I took and kept me from Freezing.

All that wasn’t enough. Health potions were required to keep me alive; I had to buy more after this.

When we got past half the Blighted Cragodon Calf’s health bar, it decided to up the ante. Its furious bellows echoed as its horn glowed deep crimson.

“Show me what you got,” I said, knowing full well I could quickly die if it had a much stronger second phase.

The Cragodon Calf gorged me with its horn, inflicting not only fearsome damage but a worrying ailment.

[ Status|Internal Bleeding: Lose 135 Health every second, Reduce Healing Received by 10% for 11 seconds ]