Absolute Defense

As a paladin, you get used to keeping a shield on you at all times. Even in the calamity mage class, I had my shield on my back. Despite being a starter shield, it did a good job keeping me alive so far. That's why it felt a little uncomfortable going shieldless for once. However, I only needed to buy myself 3 minutes before the shield was ready.

However, my companions had already started fighting.

Daera and Shobe were already providing suppressive fire towards the juggernaut. Daera was aiming for critical joints with Failnaught while Shobe was buffing Arcana and Titan. Titan was wrestling with the juggernaut. Unlike his weaker friend, this juggernaut was significantly stronger than anticipated. He was able to throw Titan 20 meters without so much as a scratch thanks to his absolute defense. When Titan wasn't attacking, Arcana was fighting the juggernaut hand to hand. Whenever they parried each other, the ground would break around them. Whenever they happen to meet kicks, their blows would create intense airwaves. It was incredible to watch but I couldn't just do nothing!

"Daera!", I said. "How are you guys doing so far? The shield is being processed. It'll take another 3 minutes!"

"Brice. We have a problem. We can't break his absolute defense. We need something with enough power to break it!"

At first, I didn't know what to do but it was clear what was needed: The shield!

The shield that I purchased had the ability to negate damage but also deal it back once enough force was stored up. If I could parry enough of his attacks, I could break his absolute defense and end this already. I think I was too excited at the prospect of ending this because I subconsciously began to run towards the juggernaut!

"Hey! What are you doing Brice?!", Daera stated.

I decided to cast defensive magic while I was running and began to catch up to Arcana.

"Arcana! I'll distract him! Aim for his knees!", I said.

Arcana nodded and jumped from in front of the juggernaut. She proceeded to fly towards the back of the juggernaut. Titan was beginning to pounce but waited for my signal, as if he could read my mind. After running for a bit, I was finally in front of the juggernaut. His size and stature were staggering and his rage was uncontrollable. He spared no time swinging at me, which I attempted to block with my starter shield. As his Sledgehammer met my shield, it began to break. The pressure on my arm was increasing with every second.

"Now! Titan! Arcana!", I said.

As if in unison, Titan pounced on the juggernaut as Arcana flew to his knees. Titan had gained a footing and held the juggernaut in a chokehold, which the juggernaut was frantically trying to escape. Arcana began slashing his knees, enough to leave a medium tear. As the tear began to heal, Arcana began shooting arrows at it. As the bow's name suggested, she never missed her shot.

The juggernaut was now on his knees, still trying to get free of Titan's chokehold and trying to have his knees healed. The relentless onslaught of arrows from Daera had made his knees unable to regenerate. Luckily for us, Daera had Armor-piercing arrows for hunting armored beasts in the wild. As the 3-minute mark finally came, I received the light shield on my arm. I switched over to my main paladin class and took out the great shield. Thanks to some quick customization that I did, the shield was gray, white, black and had gold accents. As I had finally gotten my shield, Arcana ceased firing her arrows and allowed the juggernaut to stand back up. With his anger at an all-time high, he began to swing his hammer at me, which I blocked with my great shield. Luckily, I didn't have pressure on my left arm this time. I had confidence!

"Be Broken By The Dawn! DawnBreaker!", I shouted.

As I swung my shield at the juggernaut, his absolute defense began to crack. He staggered back, amazed he was able to be broken from his berserk mode. I spent no time speaking a monologue. I directed my companions to attack!

Fueled by their previous attacks being useless against the juggernaut, my party began to ruthlessly barrage the juggernaut. They landed enough attacks to eventually deform his body. Arcana began to slice him up while Titan applied slowness with void magic. Daera was aiming for every critical body part that she could find while Shobe was buffing Arcana and Daera simultaneously. I decided my turn wasn't over yet and began to attack with Arcana. As if we were dancing choreographically, we beautifully worked together to bring down the juggernaut. While she was attacking at the speed of light, I was meeting the juggernaut's slowed blows with my great shield. I couldn't stop myself from smiling since I wasn't using autopilot! I guessed that using autopilot trained me in basic combat enough for me to make it in a one-on-one with a juggernaut! We continued sparring with the juggernaut until we finally got him to fall. Daera was lucky enough to get the final shot to be in the head, where it finally pierced.

As the juggernaut began to disappear with Holy Devour, I realized that fighting without autopilot wasn't so bad after all. I was definitely more tired than if I had used it but it felt more...rewarding. We all couldn't help but fall on our backs, exhausted at the battle we just finished. I would summon the Mobile Fortress but we still needed to find the village before nightfall. We had spent around 3 hours on our mini-adventure in total so it was around noon. As I helped Arcana and Daera up, a mini-Titan began to run around my feet. I picked him up, gave him a very nice head rub, and we began to slowly walk towards the nearby village. Hungry, tired, and not wanting to see another juggernaut for a while, we dragged ourselves towards the next destination.

Though, if you were to look at our faces, there was nothing but smiles to be found at a job well done.

Especially since I got back towards my peace and quiet.