GH - 228

“What is it up to this time?” I eyed the Glacial Ifrit with suspicion.

It closed its mouth, reforming the vague Mardukryon face it still had. It glared at me with four piercing blue eyes as it gathered its limbs around its grotesque body, making itself as small as possible. It hung from the ceiling like a giant mutated fruit. It didn’t cast any skills, and neither did it attack.

I shot it with my sling. No reaction. It simply continued staring at me.

“Is it avoiding the return damage of Ice Cocoon? It’s not mindless…” Amazement drowned my annoyance. An interesting enemy for sure. Then my annoyance returned. The Glacial Ifrit was still there. I needed to kill it. “Mr. Inuus, it’d be great if you could help,” I said. “Can you bring down the ceiling? Shoot your spears around where it’s attached to the rocks. Dislodging it shouldn’t count as desecrating the corpse.”

(If I do so, it’ll lead to damaging the body,) was his reply. (Since the Glacial Ifrit has stopped attacking, perhaps we could leave this place with no need for battle?)

“It should leave this place, not us,” I said. “And I’m going to kill—I mean, I have to put my Mardukryon kin to rest.”

This Glacial Ifrit was an important enemy. It was using a Mardukryon body, and Mr. Inuus had this weird belief that pushed me into fighting it. I couldn’t let it be. Also, why was it hanging around here? I didn’t think it was the cause of what happened inside this tunnel, but it must be connected somehow. Could it also have a clue for opening the wardcrafter’s cave behind us?

Mr. Inuus said, (I can understand your sentiments in taking back your kinsman’s body from this foul creature.)

“Taking back? More like destroying,” I said under my breath.

(I’ll aid you inasmuch as it doesn’t violate my herd’s laws. What is your next plan?)

“Still on the proverbial drawing board. While I come up with one, let me ramble about things you wouldn’t understand. When I used to play computer games in high school—goat society probably also has schools but not computer games—I’d always use support classes. I wanted the power over the survival of others. And also, to feel important. Problem was, supports suck at leveling on our own, so I’d usually wait for my friends to carry me.

“Same situation here in MCO. I do have new friends who’ve helped me level. Too bad they’re not with me right now. Kezo would make short work of this Glacial Ifrit fruit. I guess this is the part of the story where the main character realizes the importance of friends and whatnot.”

(I am here with you,) Mr. Inuus said.

“A huge thank you for that. But I was referring to the exorcising this evil spirit part. And by exorcism, I meant damaging this guy, which is a challenge for a support player like me to do. Games usually have ways for supports to level themselves. This zombie reminds me how priests and paladins leveled in RPGs, healing the crap out of the undead…” 

I blinked. Will that work here?

MCO employed many RPG conventions I was familiar with from years ago. Familiarity helped in reaching more players; it was often better not to reinvent the wheel. Not just having the usual tank, healer, and DPS trifecta, but how the monsters and elements worked too. Fire equated to ferocious attacks and high damage; the wind element was connected to swiftness and evasion, like that annoying Squall Banshee and hard to hit; and so on.

Were the ‘game tropes’ of the undead present here too?

Though Glacial Ifrit wasn’t a zombie or undead per se, it was still ‘unholy’. A darkness element of sorts. Similarly, I wasn’t a priest or paladin or anything of a religious class—Mardukryons didn’t have those—but being a student of the Ancestral Flame Arts was a close approximation. Also, healing was ‘good’ so it should affect ‘evil’ monsters. That was the logic of the RPG staple of supports leveling by healing undead monsters.

Only one way to find out if my hunch was right. I cast [Healing Touch] on the Glacial Ifrit.

It shrieked and scampered a few meters away.

“Jackpot!” The damage was less than the explosion of [Greater Pyro Shell], but the important part was that I dealt it. [Healing Touch] also had a very short cooldown, so it’d come out matching or even beating [Greater Pyro Shell] damage-per-second-wise.

Mr. Inuus helped strengthen my healing big time. However, I’d wager there was also a damage multiplier when healing an ‘evil’ creature.

The best part about using [Healing Touch] as a DPS skill was its targeted nature. It wasn’t AoE. There was no way to evade it as my target was instantly healed, or rather, damaged.

I expected it to adapt and heal like it did countering my poison, but it didn’t. It probably couldn’t repair the dead body it used, only reform it. Unless the Glacial Ifrit had shields or health recovery to surpass my damage, it could only wait to die.

Well, it had one other option—run away. It didn’t seem to want to for some reason.  

Intending to raise my damage, I cast [Healing Embrace] next.

Lvl. 1 Healing Embrace: Spread your revitalizing Ancestral Flames, wrapping you and your allies within a small radius in its warm embrace, healing for (110%) of [Healing Touch] (excluding its heal over time buff).
  Passive: Permanently increase maximum [Rejuvenation Charge] counter by (1).
  Generate for each target healed: 1 Rejuvenation Charge
  Cost: 70 Ancestral Shroud
  Cooldown: 12 Seconds

[Healing Embrace] healed Mr. Inuus and me—which wasn’t really needed—and generated two Rejuvenation Charges for my Aritu Form Ocadule. Together with a charge from my initial [Healing Touch], I now had three boosting my healing.

Rejuvenation Charge (Base duration 10 seconds):
  Each Charge will add (Max counter [5]):
  +3% Healing Increase
  +3% Healing Received
  +5 Ancestral Shroud per Second

“Do you have any other buffs to increase healing, Mr. Inuus?” I asked while casting [Penitent Fortune Healing]. Golden chains coiled around me that then disappeared.

Lvl. 4 Penitent Fortune Healing: Concentrating on a penitent prayer to the ancestors slows your movement (-25% Movement Speed) and reaction speed (-65 Evasion Rating). But in return, good fortune showered upon you by the ancestors allows you to perform healing feats beyond your skills, with (+10% Healing Increase). When using [Healing Touch], there is an 80% chance to cast it twice on the same target. (Heal over Time buff does not stack for a target.) If it does, generate +2 additional Rejuvenation Charge.
  Requires: Healing Touch Lvl. 3
       Duration: 7 Seconds
    Cooldown: 14 Seconds

I cast [Healing Touch] on the Glacial Ifrit once again. Ethereal Mardukryon horns appeared above its head. Or below it, since it was hanging upside down? [Healing Touch] was simultaneously cast twice, dealing more damage and bringing my Rejuvenation charges to full.

(I’m ready to help.) Mr. Inuus summoned chimes that gracefully clinked. A swarm of small wings, like those of cherub sculptures in churches, fluttered around me.

Checking my stats, I confirmed that my Healing Increase percentage rose even higher. I spammed [Healing Touch] on the Glacial Ifrit. Luck was on my side as double healing procced in succession until [Penitent Fortune Healing] ran out. I suppressed the urge to cackle like a madman, giddy with my success. I had to maintain a somber face for Mr. Inuus. I even uttered a gibberish prayer, and Mr. Inuus played the sad song from earlier as the Glacial Ifrit slowly died.

Still choosing to remain, the Glacial Ifrit returned to shooting ice beams, desperate to find any way to stop me. Protected by Mr. Inuus, I was unkillable.

I didn’t bother charging up my [Ice Cocoon] to add to the DPS. No rush. The Glacial Ifrit didn’t have a counter to [Healing Touch].

It dropped from the ceiling and charged at us. I raised my shields. The sharp legs of the Glacial Ifrit hit the barriers but didn’t succeed in penetrating them. The Glacial Ifrit then slammed the ground around it. The floor shook as cascading sheets of ice rolled outward. Of course, that didn’t do anything to me.

“Was that Fiery War Stomp?” I said, referring to a Mardukryon-exclusive skill. It was one of the choices for the second Rank of the Mardukryon Compressed Integral Data Module, or Cidule for short. Cidules were the skill trees of races. “Icy War Stomp, more like. Interesting that the skill changed because this Mardukryon lost its fire and became a sort of ice element.”

[Fiery War Stomp] could stun. This ice version could probably Freeze, which [Ice Cocoon] countered nicely. The health reservation was very much worth it.

Frustrated that its efforts were unfruitful, the Glacial Ifrit returned to the ceiling. Its form changed again. It sucked back the bones and flesh from its elongated limbs and enlarged its body. Pretty grotesque to watch. Its mouth opened wide, wider, widest! The split ran past its cheeks, down the sides of its throat as its body became more like a barrel.

“Is that… a cannon?” Indeed, the Glacial Ifrit mangled its possessed body to become a biological cannon. It gathered energy around the large hole that might no longer be called a mouth.

Then it fired.

Mr. Inuus stepped in front of me and tanked the attack. I was tempted to jump to and charge the damage of [Ice Cocoon], but I might seriously die for real this time.

After a few seconds, the ice beam sputtered off into nothingness. The Glacial Ifrit returned to its insect form and scampered around the tunnel like a deranged pinball. It shrieked in agony as its death neared.

“Mr. Inuus, why isn’t this Glacial Ifrit still not running away? It seems quite intelligent at the start of the fight. Now, it’s just doing whatever this is.”

(While I’m no expert in Glacial Ifrits,) said Mr. Inuus, (I have heard many stories about them, and encountered them three times myself. Thankfully, they inhabited the bodies of beasts, and so I was able to dispatch them. These malevolent spirits are not solitary beings, from what I’ve learned. In packs, they come. The enemy in front of us is alone. Something is not… right with it.)

“You’re saying it's cuckoo? Anyway, it’s dead soon. My kinsman whatchamacallit will be laid to rest.”

But the Glacial Ifrit didn’t die.

Green ribbons came from behind us, snaking to the panicking Glacial Ifrit and wrapping it. The strings of light were absorbed into the crumbling skin. Then the health bar of the Glacial Ifrit jumped back up by about ten percent.

“Who did that?” I demanded, turning around. “You! That’s why the runes were still activated.”

The dead wardcrafter, still dead, was now standing. The caption above its head revealed that it had also been taken over by a Glacial Ifrit. This second one might be the mate or something of the first spirit, and that was why it wasn’t leaving.

How sweet of them. I appreciated the monster romance story, but that wouldn’t save them. Mr. Inuus appeared to agree with me.

(Another abominable act! My heart grieves for the remains of Mardukryon friends not allowed rest by these vile thieves. Do your duty to your people, musical friend!)

“I’ll exterminate them, alright. But this may be not so straightforward anymore. What is that it?” A semi-transparent emerald orb the size of a Mirdabon, etched in flaming runes, floated to the side of the wardcrafter zombie.

(A healing ward,) said Mr. Inuus. (The Glacial Ifrit is using its host to craft wards. Fortunately, many of the construction runes on its armor are not useable and it can only make a minor healing ward. But it is nonetheless bad news that it can heal them.)

“I guess I have to kill you first,” I said to the wardcrafter zombie.