Dungeon Core Online 162 Chapter 162

"Axel." James cried out in response to SoulDemon's attack at the same time FlashFyre did. The necromancer had just finished off the high-level wizard she had been hunting and turned back in time to watch Axel get stabbed. James couldn't help but feel for her. She and the summoner obviously had a thing, and her summoner had just been run through. To Axel's credit though, that attack hadn't one shot him. Why hadn't it one shot him?

"Bah." Axel42 looked down at SoulDemon, who's red eyes glowed with hatred, even as a faint hint of surprise flashed in them as well. SoulDemon was level 43 now, whereas Axel was only level 34. The PhantomBlade, using his cooldown, and given his high attack power, and the fact James was sure that attack would have landed as a critical, given SoulDemon had attacked with a surprise attack, meant Axel42 had taken a lot of damage. And, he was a summoner, he was supposed to be squishy.

"What just happened?" James glanced around the battlefield, his eyes darting around quickly as he tried to process what was going on. How in the- he paused as realization flowed into him. There was a skill, on the summoner tree, for those above level 30, that made sense. A passive ability that would explain how Axel42 had avoided getting one-shot by the PhantomBlade.

The skill, called Summoner's Bond, was a passive skill Summoner's could unlock past level 30. It allowed a summoner to gain differing stat increases, dependent upon the types of mobs they had summoned. The increases were dependent upon how many summoner points worth of mobs you currently had summoned, as well as the type of the mob. There was also a cap on it, though the more skill points a player put into the passive, the larger a bonus they could receive. Considering Axel42 was still standing, James figured the summoner had to have leveled it up at least three times.

"You've underestimated my power." Axel42 grinned as his skin, which was already a darker tone, with glowing red runes around it, began to blacken. His slightly pointed teeth grew into large fangs, as horns began to sprout from his head. His white hair, tied back in a ponytail, began to float ominously behind him, and two leathery wings sprouted from his back. At the same time, his form nearly doubled in size, as demonic energy flowed around him.

"It seems Axel42 has released his final form." Rue chuckled as they watched. To SoulDemon's credit, the Phantom Blade recovered quickly enough, beginning to launch a flurry of attacks into Axel42's demonic form. The form, granted to Axel42 as a cooldown related to his race of devilkin, gave him an increased health pool, enhanced attack and defensive stats, and a small amount of damage reduction for a given duration. The amount of the increase, as well as the duration, scaled based on the player's level. At level 1, it lasted for 10 seconds, with only a 5% increase to stats. At level 10 it jumped to 20 seconds, and a 10% increase to stats, at level 30, it jumped to 30 seconds, and a 15% increase in stats.

That boost in stats, combined with the boost of stats Axel42 was likely receiving from his Summoner's Bond, meant what should have been a squishy magic class, had now become a temporary tank. Oh, and there was also the fact that in his demon form, Axel42's attacks had a life steal effect to them as well. So, even as SoulDemon began laying into Axel42, the demonkin summoner began launching attacks of his own, using two velocity-raptor daggers he had summoned in his hands.

"You cannot defeat me." SoulDemon hissed, and James, as well as probably Axel42, were well aware of that fact. First off, SoulDemon's class was designed purely around damage output. Even with Axel's stat boosts, the Phantom Blade had the advantage on DPS. On top of that, SoulDemon's cooldown was still up, meaning he had a large increase to his dodge chance. So, for every 4 attacks Axel42 was making, only 1 was making contact, meaning he was not draining enough life to keep the attacks going.

"No, I can't." Axel42 grinned, flashing his fangs. "Luckily, I'm not alone." The devilkin chuckled deeply as a golden light flowed over his form. His wounds, bleeding a dark ichor, instantly began closing.

"You think they did that on purpose?" Rue motioned behind SoulDemon. The source of the golden, healing light was instantly evident, and James was beginning to wonder just how much of this the duo had planned for usefulness, versus shits and giggles. FlashFyre, the necromancer, had used her cooldown as an Angelkin, to take on a celestial, angelic form. Her burning red hair had changed to golden, and now flowed freely behind her as she keep herself floating gently above the ground with her feathery white wings. Above her head, a golden halo glowed. The necromancer was an angel, who could heal while she was in her angelic form. The summoner was a demon, who could tank while he was in his demon form. Videogame logic. The duo was definitely meta gaming it up.
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"Nah, they just spun the wheel and lucked out with a random chance on their races." James responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Of course, they had planned this out, much in the same way as The Knights Who Go Ni had planned out their race, merely so they could have the increased move speed to get world first at finding his dungeon. Rue glared at him but turned back towards the battle without saying another word. James was pretty sure she was bottling her anger to take it out on the enemy. Otherwise he was certain she would have lashed out at him over that sarcastic comment.

SoulDemon glanced backwards towards FlashFyre, who was now using her mana pool to pump healing spells directly into Axel, keeping him alive. All the while, Trogdor's party was hard at work trying to revive their fallen friend. James knew they just had a few more seconds to go before the Dragonkin was revived, and then he was certain everyone was going to flee. Which was good, because James was really itching for his players to make it out alive. If James was thinking about it correctly, if he assigned the right mob to Axel42 with his spiritualist ability, it could combine with Axel's Summoner's Bond trait, and boost his stats even more, while providing him with the additional health pool and damage reduction that came from James's skills. James really wanted Axel42 alive for when James was summoned as an Avatar.

"You really think I would have run into this situation if I was worried about losing?" SoulDemon's voice grew deep, as red runes began to glow across his skin. Of course, he was a devilkin too. Why wouldn't he be. The one thing that drew players towards the kin classes, was that for the most part, during character creation, they could completely alter how much their human form showed of their related kin type. Meaning you could have a beastkin, like Rue's avatar, that looked completely human. Or, the more popular style James saw, was beastkin that looked completely human, save for perhaps cat ears and a tail. It was only when they blew their cooldowns to take on their full beastkin form, that their body underwent its complete transformation.

SoulDemon, it seemed, had purposefully made his character look completely human for its normal form. Likely as a way to try and ensure he always had the upper hand whenever he went against other players. After all, a big part of PvP was knowing your enemy's strengths, weakness, and skill sets. So, keeping what you could about your class or race hidden, gave you an advantage in those situations.

SoulDemon's form took on that of a greater Demon, growing larger even than Axel42's demonic form. Which made sense, since the Phantom Blade was level 43. It also meant his stat increase was greater than Axel42s. Meaning the summoner, even with the healing he was receiving from FlashFyre, was doomed.

"I don't really care about winning or losing." Axel42 shrugged even as his attacks continued. "I'm just here to have fun." He leapt away from SoulDemon, and an instant later a wave of fire rushed towards the Phantom Blade. Trogdor was back in the fight.

"Well, I hope you, and all of your dungeon's players, have fun losing then." SoulDemon folded his wings in front of him, allowing the leathery appendages to block the flames. It didn't' negate the damage, but it was likely a way to reduce damage as a devilkin in demon form.

"After all, we've already ensured your doom is at hand." The earth shook, and SoulDemon let out a wide grin. "You see." He lifted himself off the ground with his wings, his weapons sheathed. Which was completely unlike the Phantom Blade. "Our dungeon is a lot deadlier than yours." The earth shook again, and James couldn't help but feel a sense of dread wash over him. Whatever was coming, James had a bad feeling about it.

Chapter end