Mr. Back Attack
[It's your turn.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
The hourglass lit up.
I expected it, but experiencing it firsthand is even more insane.
Mr. Back Attack, that is.
The moment the battle began, Back Attack vanished, and the hourglass activated automatically.
Just like when a goblin tried to slash my neck right after entering the labyrinth, or when Yernil stepped on a trap.
It means a critical danger has arrived.
And yet, I can't see Back Attack anywhere.
"Hoo."
I didn't realize it when playing the game since it was quarter-view, but this is what it feels like in first person?
'He's probably behind me.'
What kind of skills would a thief like Back Attack have learned?
For the past two days, I simulated a fight with him over and over in my head.
The skill I'm 100% certain he has is 'Leaping Ambush.'
The same technique used by the beastman thief Jikal.
A skill that turns the user into mist and teleports them behind the enemy, stabbing them with a dagger. Back Attack must have used that skill. That's why he disappeared from my vision, and why the hourglass activated for me.
'I knew he'd open with this.'
Even in the game, when a thief has archers and mages on the enemy team, they always target the mage first, and if the range allows, they use Leaping Ambush first.
That way, they close the distance, secure the enemy's back, spend only 1 action point, and still preserve long-range movement skills like 'Shadow Leap.'
Of course he'd use it first.
I mean, his name is Back Attack.
"Lightning Shock."
[Action Points: ■■■□]
That's why, from the very start, I had my right hand tucked under my left armpit. I positioned the wand to face behind me from the beginning.
While waiting for the cooldown, I shouted the incantation nonstop.
"Lightning Shock!"
Back with the goblin, its blade grazed my neck, but Fireball was much faster, letting me blow it away in time.
"Lightning Shock!"
Lightning Shock is an instant-cast skill that's even faster than that, so your blade won't slit my throat, and you'll take four consecutive bolts of lightning instead.
"Yernil."
I'd already laid out what Yernil needed to do next.
"When he's electrocuted and collapses, pour the water from the barrel on him immediately!"
Die, you bastard!
"Lightning Shock!"
[All action points have been consumed.]
[Ending turn.]
[The hourglass is flipped again. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]
Boom! Kaboom!
Four Lightning Shocks firing backward.
And the chilling sensation of a dagger brushing my nape, along with the sound of the Black Hornet egg shell being scraped apart.
"Kgh."
Mr. Back Attack collapsed, afflicted with the Electrocution status effect.
Electrocution doesn't last long. Even in the game, it only disabled enemies for one turn. Here, it lasts just an instant. I saw that with the Bald Guy.
But that instant is enough. Once his legs give out and he drops, it's over.
Splaash!
Yernil tilted the barrel and poured water over Back Attack's head.
You're now in the 'Wet' state. And then—
"Ice Spike!"
I quickly chanted an ice spell on top of that. But—
"He disappeared!"
Back Attack vanished suddenly, causing the Ice Spike to slam into the ground and shatter.
"That's even better! Yernil! How much water is left?"
Back Attack disappearing means he used Shadow Leap. There was no other choice for him.
I saw Back Attack reappear about twenty meters ahead.
Now that guy has neither Ambush nor Shadow Leap. I successfully forced out both of his teleport skills.
"There's still plenty! More than 80% left!"
"Pour it all out in front!"
"Yes!"
Yernil tilted the barrel with all his strength, turning a wide area ahead into a flooded field, and I aimed my wand there again.
White frost slowly gathered at the tip of the wand. Ice Spike has a five-second cooldown, just like Fireball. Two seconds now, one.
Tatadak!
With all his movement skills gone, Back Attack charged straight at us, but—
"Ice Spike!"
The freezing magic created an enormous icy path between him and us.
"Yes!"
Yernil shouted, now with his bow equipped.
'Now then, Back Attack. What are you going to do?'
Unless you came wearing crampons, running across this ice won't be easy. If you slip even once, while Wet, you'll freeze solid immediately.
'Careful Steps, or Wall Walk.'
"C-Caleb. The egg shell on your back is completely shattered…"
Yernil spoke from behind in a frightened voice.
Earlier, along with Lightning Shock, Back Attack's dagger missed my neck and instead shredded the egg shell on my back.
I know.
Because I've been feeling cold air leaking in ever since.
This thing is insanely sturdy, and seeing it get wrecked in one hit means his damage output is seriously insane…
Bang!
Suddenly, a magic dagger flew in and stabbed into my chest.
'Holy shit, that scared me.'
The skill Magic Throwing Dagger.
Now the front is wrecked too, not just the back.
But to use this instead of Careful Steps or Wall Walk?
That was a mistake, Back Attack! If it were me, I wouldn't have thrown a dagger from that distance.
"Caleb!"
"I'm fine! It didn't pierce me!"
The customization paid off. If I'd designed my body to be a bit bulkier, the blade would have sunk into my chest.
But I blocked it again!
Clack!
As Back Attack flicked his hand, the dagger was summoned back into his grasp, and then—
Pop!
He vanished. If this were the game, a message saying [Invisibility] would have appeared.
Exactly as expected.
"Yernil!"
I bellowed the name of the king-god-emperor Sound Mapping ability user like an incantation and aimed my wand at the maggot.
"Ice Spike!"
"Kiiik!"
I instantly blew the maggot apart.
Tatadadak!
Then I snapped my head toward the sound coming from the wall.
Wall Walk!
Yernil was already firing arrows in that direction.
Clang!
Mr. Back Attack deflected Yernil's arrow, and his invisibility wore off.
As Back Attack flipped through the air and dropped down from the wall, his hand moved to his waist, sweeping his cloak aside.
Toward the grenade hanging from his belt.
I was waiting for exactly that!
'You won't get to throw it.'
I swiftly raised the wand to eye level, closing my left eye.
[It's your turn. Remaining time: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■]
I flipped the hourglass.
Special Ability: 'Momentum of Slaughter.'
In the game, it's an ability that restores 2 action points when you defeat an enemy.
Now that the game has become reality, it works a little differently. The description I saw in my dream was as follows:
[Special Ability]
▶ Momentum of Slaughter
When you defeat an enemy, you obtain a temporary hourglass worth 2 action points that lasts for 60 seconds.
This hourglass must be activated manually.
This special ability can only be used once per battle.
I dragged myself all the way here, barely clinging to life, feeding bacon to that maggot, just so I could use this.
And now that I've finally activated the temporary hourglass—what does my posture look like?
It's almost identical to a handgun shooting stance.
I tossed away the Ice Spike wand I was holding in my left hand and raised the Lightning Shock wand to eye level. My right arm stretched straight forward, my left hand bracing my right wrist.
I tilted my head slightly toward my right shoulder and closed my left eye.
So that the direction my right eye was looking and the direction the wand was aiming lined up perfectly.
I aimed at Mr. Back Attack's waist, just like the pistol stance you see in movies.
'I have to hit this.'
So far, goblins by the hundreds, the bald slave team, the Venomic Spider, even explosive barrels thrown by dwarves—
I've put on a magic show with near-perfect accuracy against countless targets.
But this time isn't easy.
'Because the target is a bomb the size of a ping-pong ball, floating ten meters in front of me!'
How do you take down a high-level thief with a two-man archer–mage party in the game?
First, you control the area—using something like an icy path—so they can't approach easily.
Second, you force out as many of their movement skills as possible. We've already removed both Ambush and Shadow Leap.
And third—
You must stop the 'bomb.'
No matter what insane method it takes.
As the game's difficulty increases, getting hit by even one bomb is an instant party wipe.
In the game, the best option is to apply crowd control so they can't even think about throwing it. If that fails, the next best option is stacking every defensive measure you have and enduring it.
The worst option is 'restart game,' which is obviously unacceptable.
Unfortunately for us, we don't have the resources for either the best or second-best option. If only we'd farmed some solid defensive scrolls over the past two days.
The egg shell armor, already shredded to rags, won't stop a bomb. And Yernil would probably be left in a state where even soul preservation couldn't revive him.
At worst, I might be able to save my own life by using the last remaining Magic Armor—but our chances of winning would plummet.
'I have to intercept it mid-air!'
Use 1 action point from the temporary hourglass to fine-tune the firing angle, then the remaining 1 point to cast Lightning Shock.
The moment my turn ends, the enemy will move again—but Lightning Shock is an instant-cast skill.
At a speed of 100,000 kilometers per second, negative electrons make Mr. Back Attack and the bomb look completely frozen in place.
The problem is the angle of the wand!
If the lightning misses the bomb when I cast—
'I don't even want to imagine it.'
If I'm lucky, I might incapacitate him with electrocution and stop the immediate throw—but once the hourglass runs out and he pulls out another bomb, it's still game over.
'This has to end here. With a hit.'
[It's your turn. Remaining time: 28 seconds]
[Action Points: ■□]
"Hooooo..."
Sweat trickles down as I make micro-adjustments to the wand's tip.
This must be how the protagonist in a disaster movie feels when choosing whether to cut the red wire or the blue wire.
Please. Please. Please.
Master Jin Jong-oh.
Lend me your strength!
"Lightning Shock."
KRA-BOOM!
A violent explosion erupts, accompanied by a burst of flames.
Fragments of the bomb scatter and rain down.
"Kyaaah!"
Yernil screamed in surprise, while I clenched my fist and shouted in triumph.
"Yes!"
I did it—but even to my own eyes, that was insanely badass.
"Yes!"
The lightning struck the bomb dead-on, sending Back Attack flying more than ten meters away in a massive explosion.
My stamina sucked back in the army, but my shooting was top-tier, damn it!
"Yernil!"
"Yes!"
Through the smoke, flames, and thunderous echoes of the blast, Yernil caught the heavy thud of Back Attack hitting the ground.
"Over there!"
I immediately pulled out the Ice Spike wand. Yernil grabbed my hand and arm, steadying my aim for me.
"Ice Spike!"
I chanted the spell.
Up to this point, everything had gone so perfectly it could almost be called a miracle.
Then what about Ice Spike?
KWAANG!
As the smoke cleared, I saw the Ice Spike embedded in Back Attack's lower abdomen as he staggered on the ground.
"Yes!"
Even this worked!
I can see the path to victory now.
There aren't many skills left that this bastard can use.
"Kgh..."
White frost spread across Back Attack's lower abdomen where the Ice Spike had pierced him.
He was frozen.
The fourth rule for killing a thief:
'Burst damage comes after crowd control.'
"Yernil!"
I ran the calculations in my head at lightning speed. Back Attack had lost all of his movement skills, and even if he tried to dodge with pure agility, the freeze applied an evasion penalty.
This was guaranteed to hit.
"Shoot!"
From Yernil's bow, an arrow of deathly poison was released.