GH - 227

“You can’t what? Your spears would make short work of this Glacial Ifrit. It isn’t a powerful named monster like that many-headed snake.”

(The dead, my horns will not meet in combat,) said Mr. Inuus, lowering his head. (It’s rest, I will not disturb. I can protect us, but this is an enemy I cannot fight.)

The Glacial Ifrit continued firing from its mouth as I processed this nonsense. Ice continually built up and exploded on the other side of Mr. Inuus’ barrier, several times faster than my [Ice Cocoon] shattering rate.

“We’re fighting the spirit inside the dead body, not the body itself.” I was tempted to grab Mr. Inuus’s horns and shake his head to make him understand. “The corpse is already disturbed by the Glacial Ifrit. We’re not at fault here. Destroy the corpse and it’ll truly be at peace. If it’s in pieces, evil spirits can no longer possess it.”

(That, I cannot do, musical friend. You, however… as a Mardukryon, have the right and duty to wrest your kinsman’s body from the thief.)

“It works that way? Goat society rules are weird,” I said, scratching my tusks “Are you telling me to fight it?”

(That is so.)

“Okay, I now understand what’s going on—this is a mandatory encounter for the player to do some lifting and not completely rely on you. I get the point, but this is unfair to me. The enemy’s level isn’t scaled to something within my reach. Did the devs expect that only parties or a really strong solo bloke can reach this far? They shouldn’t underestimate the divine guidance leading Herald Stone to stumble upon future greatness.”

(Fear not, I’ll keep you healthy,) said Mr. Inuus as he cast even more buffs on me. (Your task, you focus on. Return your kinsman to his rightful rest.)

“Right, right. Might I also register a complaint that this is a bullshit situation for a support build? No danger of dying, sure. But I don’t have much firepower to kill this guy either. Or maybe I do?”

I knew this popsicle corpse was very brittle. Even though I wasn’t a DPSer, I should be able to destroy it. Deprive the Glacial Ifrit of something to possess, and Mr. Inuus could step in and destroy it. That was the answer to this trick question!

I took out [Mehubanarath’s Old Sling]. Been a while since I had used this. It was a very weak weapon, but with Mr. Inuus buffs adding hundreds to my Might, I had a very respectable Attack Power.

“I’m sorry for this.” I let loose a projectile from the sling.

It hit the reanimated corpse… and did nothing.

The heck?

To make sure nothing was wrong, I shot at the wall of ice. The ice was blown away, exposing the stone beneath. And my shot cratered the hard wall of the tunnel. The tremendous buffs of Mr. Inuus made me a decent mid-level DPSer. The enemy was simply way tougher than it looked. It was the same in games with undead enemies; they may look rotten but were actually very tanky.  

Next, I used [Poison Bottle Cast]. I didn’t have high hopes for this because of the huge level gap between me and the Glacial Ifrit. Mr. Inuus's buffs helped in resisting negative status, not inflicting them.

Purple bubbles crept across the enemy’s ashen skin. That answered the question of whether a corpse could be poisoned. Perhaps it depended on the poison? The Glacial Ifrit’s life bar ticked down, albeit slowly. A surprise. I didn’t expect to deal damage with poison ticks at all. Though level sixty-four, the Glacial Ifrit had abysmal regeneration. It also didn’t show any healing skills.

Hopes rose that the fight wasn’t as helpless as I first thought.

Too bad I didn’t have different kinds of poison to layer the damage. The only other DoT I could inflict was an extremely weak Burn with my sling’s effect, so negligible that I didn’t bother with it. When I find Mezhu Nue—not if—I should take time to craft more [Morabodry] and [Frigid Yew Salve] to improve the Akhos Ocadule I got from Bawu. Higher levels of [Research Akhos Poisons] unlocked more brews. For now, I only had [Morabodry].

Morabodry | Item Level: 10
Rare | Consumable | No Requirement

A mild poison brewed from the extract of choice herbs and infused with toxic effects by arcane magic. It causes the poisoned unit to lose (1% of Max Health+24) per second. It also hinders the senses and induces sluggishness, reducing Accuracy and Attack Speed by (7%). (If applied to equipment, it has a 10% (+10.5%) chance of poisoning the enemy per damage instance. Poisoned Status lasts for 4(+5) seconds.)

Duration: 15 Minutes
Uses: 5/5

Slow and steady, I thought. At least I was doing damage. I’d eventually kill the Glacial Ifrit.

But eventually didn’t come. After several seconds, the purple bubbles disappeared. Couldn’t be a high Poison Resistance. I did poison it so easily.

The zombie remained standing inside the [Morabodry] cloud; it got poisoned again. I exhaled in relief. I was right that its Poison Resistance wasn’t high. But this second instance lasted shorter than the previous. Just three seconds or so. It got poisoned for the third time and shrugged off just as quickly. Barely a flicker of purple on white.

(The Glacial Ifrit will protect its host with all its might,) Mr. Inuus explained before I could ask the question. (It will gradually adjust to threats.)

Not Poison Resistance but a dispel of sorts maybe? DoT wasn’t going to work.

I wore my [Greater Pyro Shell] and stepped out of Mr. Inuus’ dome of a barrier. I had to test every option for damaging the popsicle zombie. A lot of spells still protected me, so this shouldn’t be too risky. With [Horde Stampede], I rushed forward to close the gap and get the enemy within the AoE of my shell’s explosion. The Glacial Ifrit, or the dead guy it was possessing—this was getting confusing—strafed the wide tunnel sideways.

I ducked. The icy laser passed over me going left.

A few more meters to the popsicle zombie. The laser returned. I leaped with all my might, pressing my legs close to the bottom of my body. I soared. The beam sliced the air beneath me, barely an inch under my hoof. I landed, completely healthy. I couldn’t believe that I pulled it off. Herald Stone, Evader Extraordinaire.

The Glacial Ifrit opened its mouth wider, ripping its cheeks. The ice singular beam split into several, rotating like the lights of a disco ball. I was too close. Too many lasers. No way to avoid getting hit.

My [Greater Pyro Shell] exploded. The blast engulfed the Glacial Ifrit. I held my breath, eyes on my health bar.

I barely took damage. But with my shell and other buffs gone, I veered away to safety.

The ever-reliable Mr. Inuus made me so tanky that I could trivialize the Glacial Ifrit’s attacks. The defensive buffs had another effect. Because my Armor and Ancestral Shroud were pumped sky high—directly and through the huge dump of primary attributes—the base damage of [Greater Pyro Shell] also drastically rose. I chunked off a not-that-small portion of the Glacial Ifrit’s health. It was something.

“Rebuff me, please, and thank you,” I said, taking shelter under Mr. Inuus’ barrier. “This is doable.”

The Glacial Ifrit didn’t agree with me. I turned around and saw that it wasn’t satisfied with making its mouth wider. It continued deforming itself, making its Mardukryon features unrecognizable.

Disgusting cracking and squishing noises filled the air. The arms of the reanimated corpse extended almost to its knees, segmenting into multiple joints like the limbs of an insect. Its body shriveled up like a juice cartoon sucked dry. It shed a lot of its dried white skin. Simultaneously, its legs lengthened as its lower bull body shrunk. Was it transferring flesh and muscles to its legs?

And it wasn’t done. Its mouth parted vertically down the middle, opening its face up. Its hands and hooves were gone, molding into sharp points. Soon, it looked like a bizarre giant insect. The horns and tusks were its remaining parts that still looked like a Mardukryon.

“Is this its adaptation ability at work? Way past adaptation, you ask me.”

(Such a horrid desecration! A wretched existence, this Glacial Ifrit.)

“I’ll put an end to its existence, Mr. Inuus.” My [Greater Pyro Shell] was off cooldown and I headed out for another bombing run.

The Glacial Ifrit was also running. Away from me.

With lengthened limbs, it scrambled up the side of the tunnel. It latched onto the ceiling, hanging upside down, its spiked legs buried into the ice and stone. The ceiling wasn’t that high. I could reach it with my shell’s explosion. I tried to get right below it, but it zigzagged at speeds uncharacteristic of its size. Difficult to predict its movements and time my shell’s explosion.

The zombie insect rotated its head a hundred-eighty degrees and from its monstrous maw spewed swirling snow. I suspected that it was trying to Freeze me, but [Ice Cocoon] was saying no to that. It then shot me with icicle spears the size of my own [Heavy Spear]. It detonated my shell while I was a few meters away.

It was my turn to flee.

“It’s countering everything I do,” I complained to Mr. Inuus as I returned to his side.

I had faced annoying enemies before, like the Squall Banshee that always stayed in the air, but this was a different type of annoying. It actively adjusted to what I was doing instead of just mindlessly going about its mechanics. Maybe this smarter-than-average opponent was to offset the huge help of Mr. Inuus.

Herald Stone was not legally allowed to give up. I tried another bombing run. It failed, of course.

But I didn’t return to Mr. Inuus for rebuffs. I told him to focus on healing me instead of putting shields on me again. [Greater Pyro Shell], with its small AoE, might not reach the Glacial Ifrit on the ceiling, but [Ice Cocoon] could. I just needed it to absorb a whole lot of damage during its charging phase. For that, I should be less tanky. Also, no other shields should soak the damage.

The problem with that plan was I was I’d suffer a lot of actual damage because the [Ice Cocoon] absorbed only twenty percent at maximum charges. This was the time to see if Mr. Inuus could keep his promise of keeping me healthy.

(Take care, musical friend!) Mr. Inuus shouted at me. (Attack it while avoiding its attacks. Survival is paramount!)

“This is my way of attacking,” I said, running away from Mr. Inuus. He was chasing me, trying to put me under the umbrella of his auras and barriers. “Please focus on healing me.”

Ice shards coating my body were in maximum bloom. The Glacial Ifrit was ferocious in its attacks. My health bar was a roller coaster, at times going as low as ten percent left. I chugged some health potions; they didn’t do much because my health bar was huge. Then I used [Healing Touch].

“Huh? Did I heal by that much? Why is it—? Oh, the formula includes Vigor and Ancestral Shroud.”

Lvl. 4 Healing Touch: Use a touch of your revitalizing Ancestral Flames to heal yourself or an ally for (400 + (Vigor x 3.5) + 6% Ancestral Shroud) Health Points, and grant the target a buff that heals over time by the same value over 10 seconds. (Heal buff does not stack for a target.)
  Generate for target: 1 Rejuvenation Charge
  Cost: 35 Ancestral Shroud
  Cooldown: 3 Seconds

I was liking music magic buffs more and more. I wouldn’t be surprised if, among the tons of buffs I had, there were also Healing Increase and Received stats.

I weathered the barrage of the Glacial Ifrit for fifteen seconds. Then the [Ice Cocoon] shattered, shooting shards in every direction. The Glacial Ifrit couldn’t evade. The damage was twice that of my shell’s explosion.

“Yes! This is doable—I’m not mistaken this time. Come on, attack me more!”

The Glacial Ifrit didn’t heed me. It stopped attacking.