54 Not A Typical Game

They discussed Exile's theory for a bit, before deciding that they should at least attempt to exploit it. If he was right, then it would make escaping the tomb much easier. If he was wrong, they could always retreat behind the barrier and attempt a fresh approach. Their expressions became sharp with determination as they prepared themselves to face the horde.

Clay took a deep breath before he let out a shout! That was the signal for all hell to break loose. Old Un started the fight with a spell that fired three golden bolts into the enemies before detonating. 'What spell was that?' Exile wondered as he raised an eyebrow. He was certain that the system had never offered him it.

Still, he had no time to examine its effects as Clay dashed forward and struck at the nearest mobs. Leggy glowed with a golden aura as he dashed to Clay's right, which meant Exile had the left side to deal with. Meanwhile, Old Un kept himself close to Clay's back. He was using him as a shield to fire off his spells.

Exile broke into a grin as he clashed with the Lost Warriors. His theory turned out to be correct. They were reluctant to attack for fear of striking their allies. Even though the mobs were densely packed in front of him, he only had to deal with two or three attacks at a time. The whole affair became much easier on them once they realised that they really could exploit this feature.

By the time Old Un ran out of DP, they had forced their way into the crowd by several feet. Now, the Lost Souls were attempting to go around them to attack from the rear. However, Old Un was now free to cover that space. The party slowly formed a tight square formation to watch each other's backs. Exile checked his health while wearing a frown. '61/70… Not bad… How are the others doing?'

His mind turned its attention to the rest of the party. Clay's health had dropped to 78%, Old Un's health was at 95% but Leggy's health was the worst case with only 58% left. Exile's frown deepened as he ducked behind his shield, narrowly avoiding the axe aimed at his neck. With a brief glance over his shoulder, he spotted Leggy wildly swinging his weapon without caring for defence at all.

'That explains it…' Exile heaved a sigh. He knew that he would have to be prepared to grab Leggy's orb soon. Either that or he could risk using his healing now. It was a tough choice to make. If he healed the party, they could maintain the maximum damage per second for longer. However, it meant that he would be unable to use Cleansing Flame to its greatest potential if he had to make a break for it.

As he slashed at another Last Warrior, finishing it off, he waited a while longer before making his decision. It would be a waste to use Raging Hearth right now as they would not gain the maximum effects from it. He would have to lose another eleven HP and Old Un would probably need to drop to around 80% of his health for it to truly be effective.

[-3 HP]

Exile cursed under his breath, he was caught up in his thoughts and failed to react to a spear that struck his right side. 'It's only the weapons that use Speed or Authority for their damage that can hurt me…' He had taken more than a few attacks before he reached this conclusion. His endurance had already reached a level where the mobs that used strength could no longer harm him.

However, there was no way for him to pinpoint what stat each weapon used. For example, one spear had used speed, but another had used strength. He even suspected that there were weapons out there that could use endurance for its offensive. 'The game doesn't allow you to neglect any stat…' Exile hummed as he blocked a hammer blow.

'Strength to pick up certain items, endurance for health, speed for faster travel, and authority to access powerful abilities. But all of them can be factors in your offensive damage or what you're capable of defending…' Even though he was in the heat of battle, he never stopped analysing the game. 'The traditional idea of a tank or dps build has been thrown right out the window.'

There was no solid strategy for building a character based on any of these anymore. It was relative to what stats your opponent had dumped their points into. 'I guess it will really come down to your spells then if you want to focus on something…' A complicated expression crossed Exile's face as he considered his own spells. They pointed toward him being a healer/support build.

Which was a far cry from the usual dps build he normally played. 'I can only hope that moving up the tiers will give me access to more offensive options.' Exile sighed yet again as he bashed an enemy aside before slashing at its exposed back. By this point, they had crossed through the halfway mark. It took a brief moment for Exile to check everyone's health again, and his eyes went wide.

Their health had dropped drastically while he had been thinking over the game's mechanics! 'Damn!' Exile glanced around him before he decided it was worthwhile to try and keep everyone alive. He immediately cast Raging Hearth and over the next four seconds everyone regained a valuable chunk of health. The brief suppression on their opponents' stats allowed the party to cut down the closest mobs that had been hounding them.

Clay subtly glanced at Exile's back with a raised eyebrow. 'He's more reliable than I thought… I was sure he would save his DP to let himself escape…' Although he was willing to trust that Exile would recover their orbs if they died, he did not expect him to decide to reduce the casualty rate as much as possible. A small, yet sad smile played on Clay's lips as he parried a sword that was aimed for his heart…