Ch36. Buff Buff Buff

Ylven watched Rei and Solution discussing their strategy of facing the Evil Cursed Tree and couldn't believe they actually planned on facing it even after seeing it. For her, it was clear as a day they stood no chance! Just look at the size difference! The tree trunk of the Evil Cursed Tree was so wide, it could fit forty people with a place to spare. Ylven doubted a sword would even hurt the tree, yet, the blond woman, Solution, actually wielded a mace while Rei was weaponless. In Ylven's mind, they had no chance.

She thought she would show them the tree and they would decide to leave, giving up their folly. Alas, that didn't happen so she could only anxiously observe and hope she was wrong.

Finally finished with their strategy, Solution and Rei decided to engage.

Solution slowly walked towards the tree in a calm and controlled gait as if she was having a pleasant stroll while Rei stayed back, preparing to start a barrage of spells at moment's notice in case it was needed.

Sending Solution first was a no-brainer for Rei. Not only did the woman regard herself as his shield and would argue until he relented if he even thought about keeping her away from the fight, but she was also made to be a tank. When Rei made [Minerva's Might] into a passive skill for Solution, he had many ways he could min-max her build but he knew he could make her best at everything.

By the game's jargon, Rei was a squishy caster. He was somebody focusing on agility and spell-casting with devastating offensive effects. It worked well for him. Unlike others, he never specialized in one magic tree like others so his versatility and spell flexibility carried him through anything. He simply had a spell for every occasion, so to say.

Solution was, however, a tank caster. Thanks to [Minerva's Might], Rei didn't need to focus that much to strengthen her offensive spellcasting and it would be a shame not to maximize her defense since she was a slime with innately high physical resistance.

In the end, Solution had maxed out bonuses for Holy Magic, Healing, and Buffing spells. She was in no way offensive caster by any standard. If one looked at her build, they would say she was more of a support. Only [Minerva's Might] turned into a passive skill made her overwhelming magical damage dealer on par with somebody who fully focused on offensive spell-casting.

The reason why Rei made Solution into a 'buffing bot' was simple. [Minerva's Might]'s doubling the spell effects worked for buffs too. As such...

Solution was almost halfway through the clearing, just a few steps shy of reaching the place where the black grass started to grow when she suddenly stopped.

"[Widen Maximize Magic: Titanic Durability]"

Solution applied a buff on herself that was supposed to boost her Physical Defense by twenty with all the bonuses for buffing spells she possessed. Because of her [Minerva's Might], however, her Physical Defense that was already exceeding the limit, increased by another forty instead of just twenty.

"[Widen Maximize Magic: Celestial Physique Boost]"

Since this spell was classified both as divine magic and buffing magic and the effect of bonuses to both stacked, Solution's stats affecting her body increased by twenty-five all across the board instead of ten. This was actually the most used spell for classes focusing on tanking that had divine magic such as paladins or people playing angelic races.

"[Widen Maximize Magic: Holy Preservance of Michael]"

Solution's and Rei's HP and Resist increased by a massive amount as this area of effect holy-attributed buff affected them. Rei found it amusing that he, an archdemon, could be buffed by something with such a name.

"[Widen Maximize Magic: Divine Magic Shield]"

An almost invisible white-ish magic shield appeared around Solution, emitting a holy aura. This was a buff that gave a secondary HP bar in the game that had to be depleted first before the actual HP started to be affected. Rei furrowed his brows when he realized it didn't work that way in reality. Still... it was a boost to Solution's defenses so he didn't pay it much attention. For now...

"[Widen Maximize Magic: ... ]

Solution continued to buff herself and Rei for five minutes straight, using thirty-six buff spells in total. An absurdly jaw-dropping amount that not even hard-core raid parties in Yggdrasil used. She definitely had more buffing spells but her mana pool was already half-depleted even with this amount so she decided not to cast weaker buffs. Casting thirty-six tenth-tier buffs would have to suffice.

Amused Rei and pale Ylven, who was given a magical ring that allowed her to do so, felt that with every cast, Solution's mana pool slightly decreased but the pressure her body was releasing increased exponentially, her magical aura almost leaking while the ground under her was cracking.

Ylven who stood at the edge of the clearing paled even further, taking a step back, stumbling, and falling on her butt as she stared with wide eyes full of fright at Solution who was engulfed by a faint holy aura, making the grass around her start smoldering.

The poor weak elf felt as if a mountain was pressing on her, her throat was parched and her skin felt dry. Rei didn't care though. He told her to leave and she didn't listen. It was her decision to stay and this way, at least she would not take them lightly during the negotiation.

Rei sheepishly chuckled as he felt the pressure Solution was exuding, 'I might have overdone it with making Solution overpowered.' Even he was feeling quite threatened. Who wouldn't? Solution who was previously in the range of 'reasonability' for a cheesy character made possible only by exploiting the game was now, after buffing herself up, a total cheat even by raid boss standards.

Rei never showed her build to anyone and kept it secret exactly because of this. He didn't delude himself that the developers would let her existence pass if they knew about it. No... the second they discovered her and how her build worked, how it stacked buffs, how unreasonable her skills were, how overpowered her setup was compared to a level 100 player, they would instantly delete Solution and give Rei some crap compensation without even asking him first.

That was also why Rei couldn't make his own character blatantly overpowered. An NPC... nobody checked for that. It was easier to hide Solution's existence and with her focus on buffing and healing, she was perfect for Rei's purposes. After all, her buffs could be used for him too.

With all these buffs, all her stats exceeded the limit, some, like her Physical Defense, Magical Defense, Resist, and HP were firmly above 200 while others were not far behind that number. She was, after all, created to single-handedly tank raid bosses. Rei's own Magic Attack and Agility were also slightly above 200 after she was done with her buffs, making him smirk. Oh, he indeed made a great call making Solution into a buffing monster.

Rei didn't lie to Ainz. As impossible as it sounded, he could beat Solution in a fight. But he could do so only because he had a special way that countered most of her advantages. It was so specialized, he didn't even bother contemplating the possibility of someone else doing the same. After all, it required ten limiter-type abilities, of which, even one was a massive drag to acquire. Only Rei's game cheesing and unhealthy spending habits allowed him to acquire so many of them. And even if somebody bothered with it, they would need to know what exactly to limit in Solution's wide repertoire of spells and abilities to bring her down to a manageable level.

Rei looked at the Evil Cursed Tree and chuckled. Even if it was indeed at the level of a raid boss, he was not afraid. After all, he owned his own personal raid boss and her holy magic countered cursed magic.

The poor sapling was simply shit out of luck.