We were able to take out all fifteen underlings without attracting the attention of the boss. As the preliminary survey suggested, they had all been immature lesser vampires, ripe for the slaying.
Had we arrived at the site a fortnight later, there would have been twice as many underlings, and they would have gained the knowledge of how to fight as a group. Lesser vampires lacked the intelligence to employ advanced tactics, but in greater numbers, their combat skill improved.
Once that happened, there would be nothing we could do. The rewards for defeating lesser vampires were lucrative. We were working to make sure we got everything we could out of them, when—
“The boss is about to launch a ranged attack! Vanguard, retreat!” I shouted.
Lloyd, the Swordsman, and the Warrior, Walter, obeyed my order and instantly withdrew. A moment later, sharp tentacles flew out from the boss’s back. With a sound like breaking glass, it slammed into and then shattered the invisible barrier our Healer, Tanya, had just put up.
The lesser vampire boss was powerful enough to destroy the barrier by touching it. If they had been a second slower to retreat, the barrier wouldn’t have gone up in time and our vanguard would have been shredded alive.
But I wasn’t concerned. Everything was going according to plan.
“Tanya, put up another barrier for them! Lloyd, Walter, engage!”
“Got it!”
“Roger!”
“On it!”
Though Lloyd was party leader, I called the shots during battle. Why? Because all my orders came with supporting effects.
Tactician was a Talker skill. When I used this skill, giving orders to my party members boosted the efficacy of their actions by an average of 25 percent, according to our appraisers.
And that’s not all I had to offer.
Battle Voice is a Talker skill that increases HP and MP by 25 percent and also accelerates recovery rate. I applied this skill at the beginning of the battle, so the rest of Blue Beyond was able to fight at maximum capacity for an extended period. This gave us an advantage in the battle.
Now that we had dodged the boss’s tentacle attack—his last resort—all he could do was delay the inevitable. Lloyd closed in with his sword, Walter with his battle-axe. I could feel the panic rising in the heart of the beast.
But there was a problem none of us had foreseen.
“Ambush!”
Tanya realized it first. When I heard her scream and looked up, I saw three lesser vampires hanging from the ceiling, baring their snaggleteeth. They’d been lurking in the one place we’d failed to check.
We were on the verge of victory, but these beasts could turn the tide. The two fighters heard Tanya’s scream and froze in place, unsure of what to do.
I decided for them.
“Stay calm! Keep fighting!” I said, invoking Talker skill: Peer Support. This stabilized the target’s mental state and reinforced their willpower. My order renewed my team’s fighting spirit and eliminated fear from their hearts.
Naturally, I didn’t order them to press on just so we could all die in battle. I had quickly calculated the odds of victory. Rearguard positions—Healer and Talker—tended to be held by the more intelligent members of a party. Talkers were generally the smartest of all. And I was among the most intelligent and quick-witted of Talkers.
“So, eighteen seconds,” I muttered to myself, verifying the strategy I’d put together in my mind. We couldn’t lose. Victory was guaranteed. We just needed eighteen seconds.
I pushed the button on my stopwatch and relayed new orders.
“I’ll take care of the riffraff! You three concentrate on the boss! Tanya, keep throwing barriers up! Lloyd and Walter, concentrate on feints and dodging. Prepare to activate your limit breaks!”
I was using Talker skill: Tactician again. And one more, Marking. This skill assigned a target to each member and increased their damage dealt and dodge ability in regard to their assigned target. My party members would suffer damage and dodge reductions against other opponents, but I was going to deal with the ambush so they wouldn’t be affected.
I turned back to the ambush flying down at us from the ceiling.
“Stop!” I yelled out. The lesser vampires suddenly lost their wits and hit the ground hard.
Talker skill: Stun Howl. This skill stopped opponents. Higher-ranked bosses could resist it, but it worked fine against the ambush. I threw back my long black coat at once and unholstered my silver flame, aiming it at the ambush troops.
The silver flame was a gun that shot magic bullets: a .38-caliber, eight-chamber revolver crafted of mithril, a material with high magic power conductivity. The grip was carved from beast and redwolf fangs retrieved from an abyssal depth of 9. The life ring inside was also engraved with a spell that increased the power of the magic bullets. Because Talkers lack magic attack skills, the silver flame was my only weapon in combat against beasts.
Of course, magic bullets were expensive, so I couldn’t just shoot at will. All I currently had chambered were a pair of ice bullets. I fired the first round at the ambush.
The ice bullet hit the ground and froze everything around it. It wouldn’t kill instantly, but it froze the limbs of two ambushers. The third, who had quickly recovered from Stun Howl, dodged and ran at me, zigzagging, spoiling my aim. I had no aim assist skills to help draw a bead on such a fast-moving target, and I’d have to wait ten minutes to use Stun Howl a second time.
Fifteen of the eighteen seconds had passed. The beasts’ claws would reach me in four.
It was all going according to plan.
I turned my silver flame toward the boss and bellowed from my abdomen, “Now! Lloyd and Walter, use your limit break on the boss!”
✦ ✦ ✦
I squeezed the trigger. Of course, there was no way I could hit a target behind me. However, since I had been busy with the ambush, my sudden attack on him made the boss flinch, just for a split second.
That split second would be fatal.
The ice bullet barely missed the boss, hitting the wall instead and freezing the surrounding area. During the moment the boss was watching the bullet whizz past, the vanguard leapt.
“Aura Blade!” “Deadly Drive!”
They each had their own skill, and both had the ability to momentarily increase their attack power fivefold. The boss tried to parry the attacks with his claws, but it was futile.
Talker skill: Assault Command. The power of all ally attack skills increased tenfold for ten seconds. I had embedded that in my order.
Assault Command was the strongest of all my skills, but it came with a strong blowback, too. Attack skills are depleted immediately after the ten seconds are up, leaving targeted allies weak and vulnerable for several minutes. Assault Command had to be used at exactly the right time. And my timing was perfect.
Their fierce blades sent the boss’s severed head flying through the air. The claw of the ambusher stopped short right in front of my eye and fell to the ground.
I stopped the stopwatch and checked the second hand.
“Precisely eighteen seconds. Confirm the enemy is deceased.”
As the one issuing orders to the party, it was crucial I plan my tactics down to the second. If my judgment was off, even by a millisecond, the entire party could die. That was why I always timed critical moments such as these to make sure my calculations were correct.
I grinned, just a little, at my achievement in commanding a perfect battle.
“Battle complete. Great job, everyone.”