The Rift Guardians dropped Guardian Essences along with Rift Stones and Numbered Items. Plus, you got extra EXP for defeating a Guardian, so you could tell this monster was juicier than the others.
The problem is that they were much more difficult to defeat.
But a big contributing factor to their difficulty is the active effects on their respective Fissures.
For example, the Glacier Cave, one of the Fissures on the first floor. There we had to fight under the effect of hypothermia. The same thing happened to us in the White Temple on the third floor. The difficulty of those battles skyrocketed, as we had to fight with a bunch of debuffs on us.
However, now we were not in the City of Light.
A Milayel without a Heavenly Magic Circle or any of the guardian angels?
It was an incredible advantage, so I was a little disappointed when we had to run away from it earlier. And yet, he had followed me here.
«Behel-aaah!» I raised my shield and gave him a warm welcome charge.
¡Bum!
He tried to skewer me with his spear to stop me, but it was impossible for something like that to work. When he was thrown back by my body blow, his gun flew into the air before landing back in the water. It seemed like everyone was in their battle formations now.
Splish.
I didn't bother chasing him with my hammer and lowered my shield a little. If he combined Demon Crusher with Swing, he could deal a decent amount of damage, but the DPS should be left to the DPS types.
[Myul Armin has released Supersensitive Skin.]
[Myul Armin has released Weakened Soul.]
[Myul Armin has released Spirit of Self-Destroying Vengeance.]
As Myul Armin cast his series of curses, the rangers began their broadside.
[Jackson Janvil has released Blanco en Movimiento.]
[Sharlot Emblut has cast the rank four Spiral Needle attack spell.]
[Nua Merbochi ha lanzado Precise Shot.]
[Garton Cultner has launched Stone Cannon].
Wizards, priests, special ability users, archers... all classes launched countless attacks of all colors.
Since Milayel had quite thick skin, he continued to attack me with his spear while being bombarded from all sides, but I continued to push him outside so that the rangers would have an easier time hitting him.
[The Lancer of Heaven, Milayel, has released Blessing of Light].
A minute later, the light shot out from his poor body. This signaled the end of the first phase, which meant that from now on he would start using other things besides just Return.
This is much easier without guardian angels backing it up.
Of course, you would have to keep an eye on several things during the second phase. Blessing of the light would allow you to recover a large percentage of your life, reduce your Coolings and increase your basic resistances and stats. But the most important thing is that I would start using that combo during the second phase.
[Heaven Lancer Milayel has released Return].
In other words, it was time for him to show off his most broken ability.
[Heaven Lancer Milayel has launched Disintegrating Comet. All projectiles are duplicated].
The singular spear he threw into the air suddenly splintered into dozens more that rained down on us, instantly turning a guaranteed impact and amplified damage throwing attack into a lethal AOE ability.
However, since he had done a good job securing his attack, things were a little different.
¡Fweung!
Like guided missiles, the dozens of spears aimed at me instead of my companions. And he had nothing to fear.
¡Clang, cling, clang!
Just covering my head with the shield, the spears bounced like bullets.
[Successful defense. The Aegis Wall has absorbed all the damage.]
This was why Union and Gigantization were such a critical combo.
When a shield increased in size, the area it protected also increased. The biggest weakness of any shield, even one as incredible as this one, was that it could not block attacks larger than the shield itself or aimed at a wide area.
Anyway, it seems that I have passed the first round well...
After that, just like in Phase One, his attack pattern repeated itself. He raised the spear stuck in the ground to charge at me, and I pushed it back.
¡Clang, clang, clang!
So once there was some distance between us, the rangers hit him with everything they had. Normally, when you fought Milayel, all kinds of monsters and guardian angels would get in the way, so it was impossible to aim this kind of concentrated fire at him. But this was a normal map, not its territory.
Chispas!
When we attacked it with our combined force, the dozens of spears scattered across the beach suddenly disappeared.
This was why Disintegrator Comet was such an annoying ability. Its duplication ability gave rise to all kinds of ridiculous traps.
[The Lancer of the Heavens, Milayel, has recovered the Giant Green Spear. Until the end of combat, Return's strength increases slightly].
[The Lancer of the Heavens, Milayel, has recovered the Giant Green Spear. Until the end of combat, Return's strength increases slightly].
[The Lancer of the Heavens, Milayel, has recovered the Giant Green Spear. Until the end of the fight...]
With a single use of Disintegrator Comet, he gained multiple power-ups at once.
Soon, Milayel threw the spear into the air once more. This time, the combo would be twice as powerful as his previous attempt. However, that didn't make much of a difference to me. So what if he was stronger?
[Successful defense. The Aegis Wall has absorbed all the damage].
In front of the strongest shield in the world, no matter how strong his attacks were.
Yes... Reducer is the best.
It was supporting an attack pattern that should have been cyclical and distributed among multiple tanks. Honestly, I was just controlling the main Second Phase combo.
[Heaven Lancer Milayel has launched Disintegrating Comet. All projectiles are duplicated].
When he finished throwing the combo for the third time, we entered phase three.
It took us four minutes to get here...
Maybe we could finish this in six.
Milayel's pattern in Phase Three was simple.
[The Lancer of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Descend].
He used what I call a berserker pattern.
¡Fwoosh!
He curled up and began to shine, and wings of light sprouted from his back. They looked like Ainar's Wings of Greed, but they were fundamentally different, and not just because they looked much more elegant.
¡Fwoom!
These wings allowed real flight.
«Wow! It has wings!»
As Ainar looked at him in amazement, Milayel continued up. However, and perhaps it was because this was not his usual map, but an island...
It doesn't even look that cool.
Normally, the outer walls would collapse at this point and an army of Spirits of Light would rush down the sides.
[The Spirits of Light gather, feeling divine energies in the air.]
Wait what?
It seemed like that part remained the same even though we weren't in the City of Light. This didn't happen when a normal Titanus used Descend, so I always assumed it was some kind of Kalheum-only field effect.
I guess it's a special ability he has as a Rift Guardian?
I couldn't be sure, but keeping our hand-to-hand fighters stationed in the rear turned out to be a good idea. Although I wouldn't say exactly what I expected. Rather, he had placed them in the rear so we could concentrate on the fire without bodies involved.
«In training!»
«We just have to hold on, so don't overdo it!».
In any case, Versyl seemed to command the troops quite well, so I didn't have to worry about them. Instead, I twisted my neck to look at the guy rising into the air.
«...The day of judgment has arrived».
It seemed to me that he had no right to say something like that after being brought to the brink in just four minutes, but he couldn't do anything else. He could only repeat the lines he had been given.
But really, what are these guys?
A thought struck me, and not for the first time. What exactly was this world? The people of the city behaved like conscious, thinking beings with a life of their own, so why did the monsters in the maze continue to act as if they were directed by the game's AI?
Ah, what a bummer.
Milayel threw another spear at me, interrupting my thoughts.
I shook my head and refocused on our opponent. «Erwen, how long until?». I shouted, concluding that it was time. There was a reason he had saved her until the end. «Get ready!»
«¡Understood!»
As soon as Phase Three started, I made sure to prepare Erwen's lethal combo. Once the monster was in the air, its evasion ability skyrocketed.
[Erwen Fornacci di Tersia has summoned the Elemental Ruler of Darkness, Dicloe.]
Therefore, hitting him without giving him time or space to dodge was the best way to handle it.
¡Bang, bang, bang!
Orbs of darkness flooded the sky and exploded like fireworks in a destructive but beautiful picture. However, while orchestrating this show, Erwen was also busy straining her bow to launch Concentrated Fire. And so the countdown began.
[All resources of Erwen Fornacci di Tersia have been exhausted. A mysterious energy manifests itself after the depletion of all resources].
The moment he waited for the Chaos Circuit to activate, the monster's cracked and battered flesh crumbled, revealing pale white skin beneath.
[Heaven Lancer Milayel has cast Cracked Shell].
Hmm, although calling it skin would be somewhat inaccurate. It shone like a fluorescent light bulb.
¡Shaaaa!
The dazzling light covered his body and, with the enormous spear in one of his enormous hands, he descended towards us with slow flutters. When I stared at him at that moment, he really looked like some kind of celestial being. Well, I was still going to die.
«Deadly». He didn't know if he was aware of it when he started talking. «Your greed has sown the seeds of destruction».
But wait, have you ever heard these lines of dialogue before?
«Your arrogance has brought about the end of this world».
I thought it just said, «I'll judge you»...
«I will judge you».
Yes, that was usually his only line.
...Well, this isn't the only time I've noticed something different in the game.
I didn't worry too much about Milayel's speech. What mattered now was his transformation - specifically, the transformation of the huge red spear he held -.
[Final Lancer, Milayel, summons the true form of the Verdurous Giant Spear].
Just as the monster changed its outer shell upon entering its final phase, the spear also cracked to show its true form beneath: a giant spear bathed in a blinding green light.
¡Bzzt, bzzzt!
Sparks flew across the surface of the spear and everything about it seemed to give off a power that no other weapon could match.
Honestly, it wasn't very far from reality. When using this spear, all penetrating damage dealt by the user increased by 1,200%. His Natural Regeneration increased in proportion to the time spent in combat. It was almost indestructible and came with an immunity to all damage inflicted by divine power.
When he used an ability while holding the spear, he could recover 50% of the resources consumed within a minute, and when attacked by a mental-type ability, it was nullified and reflected entirely on the attacker. Additionally, when you used the spear's innate active ability, three other traits were activated.
All damage dealt by the spear tripled.
All healing effects tripled.
And finally...
You received the best drilling bonus in the game. The spear that could pierce anything. If something like this really existed, the Giant Spear Verdurous would be the leading candidate for the title.
However, this posed a problem.
¡Bzzzt! ¡Creak!
The spear that pierces everything and the shield that blocks everything, what would happen if they collided?
«...Disappear!»
Actually, I already knew the answer.
[Successful defense. The Aegis Wall has absorbed all the damage.]
The shield would win.
With that, I asked Milayel, whose attack had just been called off: «Do you know what the most creative weapon in the world is?».
As expected, he made no effort to answer my question, but it wasn't that big of a deal. And? I kept talking.
«The answer... is the shield».
Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to explain why.
«Ah, oops.»
Because Erwen had finished pitching.
It wasn't a sound, per se, but...
¡Flash!
The moment I registered the sensation of something whistling next to my ear, the island was tinged with a bright white light.
Alright, let's check the time...
Six minutes, seventeen seconds.
Damn, I didn't make that race under six.
[You have killed the Lancer of Heaven, Milayel. EXP +8]
[Elite Guardian death bonus. EXP +5]
¡Flash!
Then another light came, the light that indicated the defeat of a monster.
Dozens of adventurers stared at that beam of light as someone hungry would stare at a buffet. That was because yesterday he had told everyone that it was not an ordinary monster, but a Guardian that could be found in the eighth floor Rift.
Let's see...
What did he drop?
Since we all had our eyes fixed on the same place, we all saw when it happened.
Grifo.
First, a Rift Stone, one of three possible rewards a Guardian could leave behind, did not fall.
«Tsk...»
Nor did a rainbow essence fall.
Disintegrating Comet would have been great for Erwen, so I was hoping it would show up. But even though I had Beginner's Luck on my side, no luck. It was a shame, but that doesn't mean he didn't leave any loot.
To be honest, I had a hard time believing about the reward.
«That's it...!»
After turning into light, the Sky Lancer, Milayel, dropped a Numbered Item.
The chance of a Guardian dropping a Numbered Item is 33%.
On top of that, an object that would have only had a 3% chance of being a numbered object ended up falling.
«It's the spear that guy was holding...!»
No. 7: Lanza Gigante Verdurous de Milayel.
When I saw it, the feeling that invaded me was closer to restlessness than happiness. To be more precise, I would call it restlessness. Because... I had just gotten the Aegis Wall, but now we suddenly had another single-digit Numbered Item in our possession.
...Why am I so lucky?
It was exactly what I expected, but when my wish came true, I felt a strange pang of fear. It was the visceral instinct of a child who had grown accustomed to misfortune.
However, people were thinking creatures. Although my heart was pounding with worry, my mind lit up with excitement.
Green Giant Spear...
Our current group had no one to use a spear. However, one of the joys of Dungeon and Stone was adapting to using the items that gave you the best you could.
«Hmm ... »
So who should I give this to to demonstrate my excellent judgment?