“Blazing meatballs!” I spat in surprise, gripping my shields harder. The Damage-over-Time was bad enough; a diminished healing modifier made it worse. I didn’t recast [Greater Pyro Shell] even if it was off cooldown. The Cragodon might have other dangerous abilities in this phase. “Nitana, don’t use your barrier until I say so!”

The Cragodon’s branching horn radiated steel blue adorned with crackling purple lightning—a new skill!

I healed myself—a quarter of my health bar still missing—and wore my shell. Horn met shields in a loud crash. My shell gave way in one hit, exploding in the Cragodon’s face.

That did no damage? I didn’t have time to puzzle over my shell’s wonky blast. My vision swam in red. I was dangerously close to dying.

“Nitana!”

“Got you!”

Panes of orange glass assembled to protect me—Nitana’s barrier sprite. A tremendous stomp shook the cavern. I steadied my footing. Hoofing? The barrier shattered, but I was safe, the sprite catching the proverbial bullet with my name on it.

I squeezed in [Penitent Fortune Healing] and a [Healing Touch] as the Cragodon charged its horn bright red. Double healing procced. I blurted a triumphant shout, cut short by the Cragodon’s horn smashing my shields again.

[ Status|Internal Bleeding: Lose 185 Health every second, Reduce Healing Received by 15% for 11 seconds ]

“It’s stacking the Bleed?” The DoT and debuff increased, and the duration refreshed. Should I use [Cleansing Flames]? But I’d lose its passives!

After letting loose its fearsome skills, a moment of respite followed. The Cragodon returned to using its regular attacks.

“Herald, are you okay?” Megan called. “Should we stop?”

“Continue!” The Cragodon Calf wasn’t tanky. But with only two DPSers working on it—I wouldn’t count myself as one—the fight dragged. However, we couldn’t back out now. We had no choice! Granted, the choice to bail was there, but I was horribly allergic to that. “It’ll die soon. Just keep at it.”

Even if the Arcane Blight didn’t slowly kill its infected host like the original version—Bawu must’ve done something to improve it—the Cragodon was still afflicted with poison, Burn, and its own Bleed due to [Cloak of the Plaguespreader]. A few more minutes and we’d shower in Blight Tokens.

Just continue with your normal—Damnit!

The Cragodon bellowed, swinging its boulder of a head back, its horn glowing red. The [Internal Bleeding] it had inflicted on me was about to wear off—its duration must coincide with the cooldown of its skill. I couldn’t run, or it’d charge my party mates. This wasn’t like the Blighted Vinereaver fight, where I sacrificed others to save myself. The Blighted Tokens were untradeable—all of us should be here to share the rewards of killing it.

[ Status|Internal Bleeding: Lose 285 Health every second, Reduce Healing Received by 25% for 11 seconds ]

Too painful! I spared half a second to consider cleansing my debuffs. But before I could do anything, ice crept up my legs, locking me in place. Waves of rolling snow emanated from the Cragodon as it exhaled, pattering its stocky feet like an excited dog.

I couldn’t cast any skill. “Meg—!” was all I managed to shout before the ice completely encased me.

Swirling blue became raging red. Megan used a fire spell that specifically removed the Freeze status. The moment I was unstuck, I ran out of the localized blizzard, casting [Cleansing Flames] to stop myself from dying.

“Oh my gosh, I made it in time,” Megan breathlessly said. “You were like almost super dead.”

“Thanks for keeping it at almost!” I rounded the Cragodon in a wide curve, tracing a path right outside the radius of its ice spell. I redid my sweet-and-spoiled foods routine. This fight was getting expensive, but I was willing to pay the price not to get humiliated by defeat.

“We got an opening,” Nitana said. “Don’t get distracted, Meg! Keep firing!”

The Cragodon continued to channel its ice spell. Its combo was to apply painful Bleed stacks, then continuously Freeze its target, waiting for him to die from the DoTs. I would’ve reunited with my Mardukryon ancestors if Megan didn’t save me.

I blinked, noticing something odd. “Are some of your fairies not hitting? Is that a shield or—?”

“Pesky evasion!” Nitana curtly interjected.

I wasn’t imagining my shell not doing any damage. The Cragodon’s second phase increased its Evasion—nothing we can do about though. We didn’t have any way to remove buffs, if that was even possible, or a debuff that lowered Evasion. Boosting Accuracy might probably work, too, I supposed.

“Game logic,” I muttered, half-smiling at the thought of not hitting a minibus-sized target. Even funnier that explosions could be dodged while right next to them.

This must be why some Fleagants were unscathed by my [Greater Pyro Shell] even if the blast caught them. I doubted many monsters had high Evasion. PvP was a different matter; there'd be some players, DPSers especially, who’d pile up on Evasion.

I didn’t particularly favor dodge tanks. One lucky—or very unlucky—shot could deal a ton of damage or even outright kill the player, as they’d have next to no investments in actual durability. A mixture of both tanking aspects wouldn’t jive well because they’d require unconnected attributes and different gears—an exception to the rule that it was better to invest in different defense modifiers than focus on one.

I should also be aware of skills that need Accuracy. [Enraging Call] didn’t, but [Fiery War Stomp], one of the choices for Rank Two of my Mardukryon Cidule, probably did. As much as possible, I’d prefer Crowd Control skills that didn’t require Accuracy.

The whirling winds died down. Fully buffed, I met the Blighted Cragodon Calf charging toward Megan, confident I could hold it. Victory was so close that I could taste its sugary goodness. Another round of the Cragodon’s skill rotation, and it met its end while snorting snow.

[ Loot: 4,870 Artas, (12) Arcane Toxic Goop, (6) Frostores, (6) Cragodon Hide, (75) Blight Tokens ]

[ Increased: Cleansing Flames Level to 3 ]

Awesome! With the two GSPs on it, [Cleansing Flames] was now at level five.

Lvl 5 Cleansing Flames: Purify yourself from ailments with the flames of the Mardukryon ancestors—remove four (4) negative statuses. Let suffering give you strength, be resolute amidst adversity, and gain courage from the knowledge that you are never truly alone. Stand resolute until aid comes.

(Passive) For every negative status you have (Max stacks [5]):

+130 Armor and Magic Resilience, +10% Healing Increase and Received, +4% Resistance to all Elements, 2% Resistance to all Ailments

Cost: 50 Ancestral Shroud

Cooldown: 10 Seconds

On top of increasing bonuses per stack, the maximum stacks had also risen from four to five. It was apparent that the devs didn’t intend the stacks to be up all the time, given how strong they were. But leave it to Herald Stone’s, the Unboxlike Rebel, to do otherwise.

“That was way too much work for a measly seventy-five Tokens,” Nitana ranted.

“What do you think, Herald?” asked Megan.

“This was faster to do,” I said, “but gave much fewer Tokens. This quest is better for strong parties that could shred through boss after boss. They wouldn’t waste time walking around, clearing tunnels and caves.”

We spent the next few hours repeating the Garg-Ants’ quest, mixing in Toady Tokens a couple of times to stir the blandness. Once, we tried another boss extermination mission, opting for a lower-level one. We were pitted against an Arcane Blighted Fengharl Cub—a Mardukryon-sized baby bear with a coat of shimmering icicles and golden crystals for claws and fangs. Or they used to be golden before the Arcane Blight turned them purple.

Though weaker than the Cragodon Calf, we had trouble with the Fengharl Cub because it couldn’t be Burned. Might’ve something to do with its literal ice armor. Mardukryons heavily relied on Burn, from DPSers to tanks, so it was a pain in the ass for the whole party.

I had problems casting [Greater Pyro Shell] as my [Mantle of Kindling] couldn’t activate to refill my AS bar.

Damn that stupid bear! Shouldn’t they be hibernating during the winter?

Then again, it was always ‘winter’ around these parts.

[ Increased: Player Level to 25! ]

“Yes!” I banged my shields together. “Finally!”

“What’s up?” Lavender sidled next to me as we walked to the cavern’s exit, having just cleared it of Garg-Ants. “Did you finish collecting Blighted Tokens for the item you want?”

“No, I leveled up,” I said. “Now, I can wear this.”

Smoldering Hooves of Kaghao| Item Level: 25

Relic | Med-Armor | Feet

220 Armor

15% Movement Speed

Leave [Tongues of Flames] in your trail, lasting 5 Seconds

25% additional Burn Chance and Duration

Requires: 83 Might, 45 Vigor

--------------------

+3 Seconds Burn Duration

+14% All Ailment Duration

+12% Burn Resistance

As my hooves clip-clopped on the ground, [Tongues of Flames] grew where they had trodden. The [Tongues of Flames] looked like giant sea anemones, knee-high tendrils that were dosed with gas and set on fire.

“They look… suspicious,” Lavender commented, giggling for some reason.

“You and your nasty mind.” Jani shot a small fireball at Lavender. It harmlessly poofed on her head. “Let’s leave this place before you embarrass us in front of Herald.”

“I’m not doing anything!” she chased after him with her hammer, trying to keep down her laughter.

I trotted in circles around our party to ring them with [Tongues of Flames]. “I’ll check what this does in our next run. And I’m almost done gathering Tokens to buy the Shard I want. Maybe two or three more quests.”

“Um, Herald,” said Megan, tentatively stepping over a clump of flaming tendrils. “I think this is our last one for the day. We have a gathering in an hour. Just of friends. Us here and a few others more.”

“Oh! I nearly forgot,” Lavender said, stopping with her hammer held high.

“Better wrap this up,” Kai said. “Lavender needs an hour to shower. Going to be the last one to arrive again.”

“Really sorry, Herald,” Megan said. “We can continue later tonight or tomorrow if…”

“No need to apologize.” I waved my hand. “Have fun with your get-together.”

I exited the tunnels alone, the others having logged out—time to find a party of newbies to display my new footwear. I pictured them amazed by my pulls, dragging mobs while Burning them. An hour or so of the lowest-level Arcane Blighted quests, and I’d complete the fifty thousand Blighted Tokens I needed.

“World quest!” came a distant yell.

“World quest! World quest!” Others echoed the call. Players about to enter the tunnels reversed course and streamed to the ‘arena’ where the quest boss would appear. I let myself get swept away; I could earn a few Blighted Tokens there.

The Mardukryon horde clashed with Blighted creatures led by [Lvl: 79 Arcane Blighted Mardukryon: Menom-Tophi]. The deluge of purple monstrosities was swallowed by flames and lava, disintegrating into blue and purple glitters. There were so many players that this wasn’t even a challenge anymore.

The world quest boss would soon fall, so I hurried to hit one of its many tentacles buried in the ground with my [Heavy Spear]. Then I had to wait until the strong players took care of the Blighted boss to get some loot.

“A summoner?” I mumbled, my eyes following a Mardukryon flanked by two ethereal hounds made of blue flames. “Wait a minute… is that an Asipu user? Someone who had also met the Big M?”