Dungeon Core Online 177 Chapter 177

"Clucky. Nooo." James cried out as the dicken that was paired to him let out a surprised cluck, before it simply poofed out of existence. James grimaced as he pulled the spear from his chest, the wound completely gone as the missile was removed. He had made the cardinal error of being a squishy caster. He had let himself stay in one spot for too long, and in doing so, had taken a spear to the chest. And, because of his lapse in judgement, Clucky had paid the ultimate price.

Alright, he may have been being melodramatic. Even after his mass heal of his three summoned mobs, they were all still taking damage. After all, everywhere around him there was fighting, and it had been all he could do to keep the life of his mobs above their 50% mark. His lapse in judgement had simply allowed The Candied Queen to land a critical hit on James's Avatar. And because his Avatar was a caster class, it naturally had a lower health pool, and defense stats, than other classes. Meaning the physical attack, from an Avatar that was already higher level than James's, given BLANKs theorized rank 6 in Avatar research, meant the damage was enough to kill of his lifeline. James was on his own, at least, for another 30 seconds, until his mob point returned, and he could summon another dicken.

"Ignore the mobs, burn the Avatars." The Candied King called out, even as he stomped once more on the ground. He wasn't going for his large damaging spell anymore. Nope, he had resorted back to killing off his own players for more of his holy hand grenades. Seriously, how come BLANKs players were even agreeing to that?

James shot a quick glance down to the players, who were huddled behind the Avatar's feet. That quick glance told him all he needed to know. Those players were still in their teens. Hell, it seemed some of them hadn't even hit level 10 yet. Around them, higher leveled players seemed to be keeping them in line. They were literally sacrificing their low-level players as ammunition for the dungeon Avatar. James's distaste for BLANK grew even more, something he hadn't realized could happen. It was one thing to sacrifice a dicken or a summoned mob. But killing off your own players. That just went too far.

However, James knew he had a bigger problem to focus on. The attack from the Candied Queen seemed to have confirmed to BLANK just how James's class was working. Trying to burn down the mobs' defenses, especially Monty Python, was a pointless, fruitless task. It was easier to attack the Avatar's themselves, as any damage they took was transferred back into the mob they were linked to. And Rue definitely had a much lower defense stat than the mobs did. To be fair, BLANK would have been more successful using AOE spells if it was just a bunch of dicken summons, like James had originally planned. But against Monty Python, it definitely made more sense for them to just try and burn Rue down.

Rue, during this situation, seemed completely uncaring about her mount. Monty Python had encircled her and The Candied Queen following the spear throw, and was also doing its best to keep any other enemies from reaching Rue, while also launching its own attacks at the outsiders. The AI was apparently well aware of the fact it could withstand a whole lot more damage than Rue could, and was doing its best to keep her safe. James had to wonder if his AI had somehow influenced the AI that was protecting her, or if this was just one of those dumb luck situations. Either way, it was at least helping a little.

"Dodge." Oak's voice called out as The Candied King launched a holy hand grenade in their direction. The Avatar was now fully focused on killing James, even though the Candied King's eyes were occasionally darting towards the rear of the battlefield, where Exodia was raining down death and destruction on BLANK's forces. Even more red threads attached to the dragon now, showing it was draining more and more of BLANKs players. It seemed that skill from Grandma Jenkins triggered even after her Puppet Show had fallen. Seriously, she was proving to be extremely valuable in this fight.

James's instincts kicked in at Oak's command, and he dove to his right even as a holy hand grenade impacted the ground near him. James's massive frame smashed against some trees as he rolled, and he did his best to come up on his feet as gracefully as he could. Sheepishly, he realized he had landed on a few unlucky players, including some of his own. Luckily, none of his seemed to have died.

"Seriously, for someone squishy you do stand around a lot." Oak grumbled. He had his shield raised, and James realized he had tanked the entire holy hand grenade himself. Which was good, considering James knew just how much damage that attack could do once it detonated. Still, James had to know how had the man managed it? Sure, The Knights Who Go Ni had grown to level 40, meaning they, like SoulDemon and his gang, now had access to a total of three additional multiclass options. But James hadn't checked yet what The Knights had chosen.

"Not used to walking." James grumbled as he stood up. He checked over Oak as he did, wondering just what had happened.

Oak

Level 40 Fortress Indra

"Fortress Indra?" James mumbled, shaking his head. He could tell The Candied King was just as confused as he was about the fact that Oak was still standing. On top of that, Oak seemed to have taken practically no damage from the attack. Obviously, Oak had blown a cooldown, but James wanted to know which one.

"What do you normally do, fly?" Z was moving towards Oak's side, his eyes focused on The Candied King and the battle ahead of them. "Or do you just ride a dicken?" As Z spoke, his dicken, which was still alive, unlike James's, let out a cluck like a chuckle… or a cluckle. Damned bird.

"I could always throw you at the Candied King." Was James's reply as he began moving towards the two adventurers. He really didn't intend to throw them…though the more he thought about, it could actually be a good idea. Did DCO have falling damage? If not….

"Errrr, we can do a much better job of protecting you from here." Z retorted, motioning into the tree line at a group of approaching players. A group James recognized all too well. He was wondering when they would show up.

"You do your best job, doing whatever it is you do. We will keep you alive." The leader of the Knight's Who Go Ni flashed James his trademark smile, even as he motioned for James to fall back slightly. James was already doing that, as he could see The Candied King readying another one of his Holy Hand Grenades. James knew he needed to figure out some way to stop the Avatar from using his players as a sacrificial pool. At the same time, he needed to stay alive, so he could keep Rue alive.

The berserker was still going toe to toe with The Candied Queen. Rue's axe was swinging with intense speed and strength at the Spartan, who in turn was deftly dodging and parrying attacks with her candied sword. From what James could remember of history, combined with the fact The Candied King had made a comment about Spartans, sparked the knowledge in him that the candied short sword was called a Xiphos. A weapon Spartans had been known to be extremely proficient with, which excelled at close quarters combat, and precision thrusts and slashes. In fact, the smaller size of The Candied Queen's Weapon was what was giving her an advantage it seemed against Rue and her massive battle axe.

James knew he needed to get a heal off on Monty Python soon, as well as needed to do something about The Candied King's crowd of fodder. He also figured he may need to reevaluate the battlefield, and figure out a way to help push back the enemy forces. After all, BLANKs army was on their doorstep, and if they were going to overcome this battle, they needed to forced BLANK to retreat, so everyone could regroup, and make use of the essence they were likely earning.
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A glance back towards the forest, and the group approaching, also reminded him of one other thing. He needed to first and foremost make sure he stayed alive. Something he was confident Z and his party could do. James was putting his faith in the Knights to bring down Soul Demon's party.

Chapter end