"MOVE UP! FRONTLINE NEEDS SUPPORT. NOW!"
The rear group surged forward, their hesitation barely masked by urgency. Boots scraped against concrete as they rushed up the stairway, weapons clutched tight, eyes darting toward the chaos ahead.
They saw it immediately.
The Rift Walker didn't charge like the others.
It simply appeared mid-strike.
A student in the second row raised a metal sword, shouting something half-formed, but the sound never finished. A jagged limb tore through his chest in a single, precise motion. His body lurched forward before collapsing onto the steps, blood trailing behind him.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"Don't let it close in!"
"Shields up!! hold the line!" Rohan shouted commandingly.
Rohan stood at the center of the formation, shoulders tense, arms trembling from accumulated damage. His breathing came in heavy bursts, but his stance didn't break.
"Keep the line!" he shouted, voice cutting through the panic. "No one falls back!"
The Rift Walker flickered again, its form splitting into multiple positions for a fraction of a second before settling just long enough to strike. It didn't move like a creature from before. It repositioned like something that didn't follow the same rules.
Another attack came, faster than expected.
Rohan braced.
The impact slammed into him with brutal force, driving him backward across the concrete. His shoes scraped hard against the ground before he dug in and stopped himself, muscles screaming under the strain.
"Is that all you've got?!" he shouted, forcing a grin through the pain.
The creature's body warped in response, its outline tearing and reforming like broken frames stitched together.
"ROHAN! LEFT!" someone yelled.
The warning came too late.
The next strike didn't come from where it should have. Rohan twisted instinctively, turning what should have been a fatal hit into a grazing blow across his side. Pain flared sharply, but he stayed on his feet.
"Damn it…"
Aarav didn't fire.
His gun remained lowered, his eyes fixed on the Rift Walker. The chaos around him blurred into background noise as his mind processed what he was seeing.
It wasn't just fast.
It wasn't just unpredictable.
It was… inconsistent.
"Archers!" Aarav called out sharply. "Stop firing blindly!"
A few of them hesitated mid-draw, confusion written all over their faces.
"But we can hit it....!"
"No," Aarav cut in. "You're wasting shots. Watch it first. Don't waste your mana".
The Rift Walker lunged again.
Rohan stepped forward to meet it, arms raised just in time to block the incoming strike. The force shook his entire frame, but he held.
"Frontline, don't chase it!" Aarav commanded. "Hold your ground! Let it come to you!"
"Then give me something better to work with!" he snapped back. "Because this thing's not playing fair!"
"Then don't try to fight it on its terms," Aarav replied evenly. "Survive. That's enough."
Rohan let out a short breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
"…Yeah. Thought so."
A player from the rear rushed forward, desperation overtaking judgment.
"Together we can take it down!!!"
The Rift Walker shifted.
Aarav shouted, "Noo... Stop."
He disappeared from where he stood.
No warning followed. No reaction time.
The body dropped behind them.
"You idiot".
The line faltered.
Fear spread faster than any command.
Rohan saw it happen. The hesitation, the breaking focus... and immediately snapped back.
"HEY!" he roared. "Eyes forward! You freeze, you die! That simple!"
His chest rose sharply as exhaustion began to catch up with him. His arms felt heavier with every second, his reactions just a fraction slower than before.
I can't keep this up much longer…
He wiped blood from his mouth and locked his gaze onto the Rift Walker.
"…Fine," he muttered. "Let's try this atleast. It better be good."
A surge of energy pulsed through his body.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
ACTIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: BAIT
Draws all enemy aggression within range, making you the primary target
Endurance- +25%, Strength- +25%.
The effect was immediate.
The Rift Walker stopped shifting erratically and turned toward Rohan, its fractured form aligning just enough to focus.
Rohan exhaled, rolling his shoulders as strength surged through his body.
"Yeah," he said, a grin forming despite everything. "Look at me."
The creature lunged.
This time, Rohan met it head-on.
The impact echoed across the stairway as he absorbed the force, legs bending slightly before locking in place. Pain shot through his arms, but he didn't let it push him back.
"ARCHERS!" Aarav's voice cut through instantly. "Now!!! fire!!!!"
Arrows flew in a tight, coordinated volley.
This time, they hit.
One pierced through the creature's upper frame. Another struck deeper into its core. A distorted screech followed, something between a mechanical glitch and a living scream.
"It's working!"
"Keep firing!"
Hope surged through the group.
Rohan let out a breathless laugh. "See that? Not so untouchable now, are you?"
The Rift Walker reacted.
Not with pain but with change.
Its body fractured further, edges dissolving into unstable fragments. The air around it warped, bending in ways that didn't make sense.
Aarav's expression sharpened instantly.
Something's changing.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
BOSS SKILL ACTIVATED: PHASE COLLAPSE
The Rift Walker destabilizes its position in space, becoming partially untouchable while creating delayed "real" points where it can strike.
The battlefield distorted.
The Rift Walker split into overlapping forms, each slightly delayed, each existing just out of sync with the others. Arrows passed through one image, missed another entirely, and vanished before reaching anything solid.
"What is happening?!"
"It's not there anymore! Look out!"
Rohan's grin faded as he felt the shift.
"…That's not good."
The creature moved again.
Not toward him.
Not away from him.
Everywhere at once.
The focus of BAIT shattered.
The Rift Walker no longer committed to a single target, its attacks breaking across multiple positions in rapid succession.
Rohan blocked one strike, but another came from behind before he could react. The impact drove him down to one knee, breath knocked from his lungs.
"ROHAN!"
"I'm fine!" he snapped, forcing himself back up despite the strain.
Another player stepped in to help.
The Rift Walker appeared in front of him for a split second, just long enough.
Then the player collapsed.
The formation broke.
"Fall back!"
"No...hold the line!"
"Where is it now?!"
Panic took over.
Aarav didn't move.
He didn't shoot.
He didn't react blindly.
His eyes stayed locked on the Rift Walker, filtering out everything else.
Not speed. Not invisibility.
The creature wasn't avoiding attacks.
It was controlling when it could be hit.
Each strike followed the same sequence.
Distortion.
Shift.
Impact.
A delay.
Small, but consistent.
A pattern.
"This is just like a game. How tough a monster doesn't matter because they all have a pattern and that makes them killable."
Rohan forced himself upright again, breathing hard.
"You got anything figured out yet?!" he shouted.
Aarav raised his gun slowly.
Not aiming yet.
Waiting.
"Yeah," he answered.
Rohan let out a short, strained laugh. "Good. Because I'm running out of options here."
Aarav's focus narrowed completely.
The Rift Walker shifted again, preparing another attack.
This time, Aarav didn't follow its movement.
He watched for the end of it.
For the moment it had no choice but to exist.
"Everyone," Aarav said, his voice steady but firm, cutting through the chaos.
"Stop attacking."
Confusion spread instantly.
"What?!"
"Are you serious?!"
"Do it," Aarav repeated.
Even Rohan hesitated for a second before shaking his head.
"…You better be right."
"I hope so"
Aarav thought to himself, "Only a small part of it's body becomes real when it attacks. Please make deadeye detect that small part as a vital spot."
The Rift Walker lunged again, space collapsing as it closed the distance.
Rohan braced himself for impact.
Aarav didn't look at the movement.
He watched the exact instant before contact. The point where distortion ended and reality snapped back into place.
That single fraction of time.
That was the opening.
His finger tightened on the trigger.
His eyes glowed slowly activating deadeye skill.
Bang.
BONUS:
__________________________________
[ PLAYER STATUS - ROHAN ]
Class: Tank
Role: Frontline Defense
Weapon: Reinforced Shield + Short Axe
__________________________________
[ ATTRIBUTES ]
Strength: 5 (+1)
Endurance: 10 (+1)
Speed: 2
Mana: 4
Stamina: 4
___________________________________
[ SKILLS ]
Active Skills (1/2):
1. BAIT (Lv.1)
2. - Locked -
Passive Skills (0/4):
1. - Empty -
2. - Empty -
3. - Empty -
4. - Empty -
_____________________________________