Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 20: Stryke's Roar!

Kizaki Raku was not having a good day. He was one of three primates who failed to qualify as guardians for any of the seven sin floors. Even worse, the newbie goblin managed to qualify!

Despite Kizaki's disappointment and anger, he accepted Queen Alia's command to infiltrate the treasure-seeking army and eliminate known talents amongst the coalition's troops.

Over the past hour or so, Kizaki successfully eliminated just over thirty targets. There were dozens more who perished alongside the targets, but he did not count them.

Each time, all Kizaki needed to do was antagonize them a little, and the targets would not notice his men surrounding them. Then, he would easily slaughter them.

Stryke of the Hopeful Maggots was one of the highest priority targets. Intelligence suggested he was the lynchpin behind the Maggots' several successful raids in nearly every dungeon. More than his managerial skills, Stryke's combat skills were the concerning factor. Intelligence reported that every raid he participated in had a 99% survival rate. It had to be known that Stryke often joined first-time raids in unknown dungeons. That kind of survival rate was unheard of.

Kizaki Raku personally believed the intelligence was flawed. There was no way a single person could have that much influence in a dungeon. It had to be known that dungeons often had traps that easily killed unsuspecting adventurers. Guarding oneself was easy enough, but could Stryke really guard an entire party from so many traps he did not even know exist?

"Impossible." Kizaki smirked as he looked into the tora's eyes. "Someone as brash as you could not possibly have that reputation." Kizaki grunted and jumped back several steps, putting some distance between himself and Stryke. He then pointed his staff at Stryke. "First, I'll expose you for the fraud you are, then I will kill you."

Stryke snorted and then charged at Kizaki. "Don't care about any stinking reputation." Clang! Stryke unleashed a flurry of strikes which Kizaki parried with his staff.

"Of course you do not." Kizaki sneered in contempt. "What kind of tank abandons his team for a solo-kill to soothe his ego?"

"Idiot." Stryke gathered strength in his right hand and then swung down with all his might. "[Gore Slash]!" Dark ki exploded, forming a scythe that blasted Kizaki several meters back. Surprisingly, Stryke did not pursue his advantage. Instead, he held his position and fixed Kizaki with a hard glare. "First, there are no tanks in my raid squad."

Styrke revealed a deadly, toothy grin. "We only have off-tanks." Before Kizaki could question what the hell that was, Stryke added with a sardonic laugh, "Also, who said I abandoned my squad?"

A sudden terrible roar burst through the forest, causing many combatants to shake in their books. Stryke's unleashed [Predator's Roar] served two purposes. First, it temporarily stunned enemies in a twenty meter radius. Secondly, it drew a lot of aggro, forcing enemies to prioritize him over his teammates.

Unfortunately, because L.N.E was a 'realistic' game, the second effect had a lot of limitations when used on intelligent creatures like humes. Intelligent creatures could resist the aggro if they rationalized that someone else was a better prized target.

Stryke, however, did not care if the second effect took place. The stun was good enough, giving his squad a brief millisecond where they did not fear attack, or perhaps more importantly, knew the enemy could not defend. The timing was short; so short that it was almost impossible to chain any attack to land at the same time.

Or rather, that should have been the case.

As if by coincidence, several mandalas appeared around the battlefield a second before Stryke's roar. Rock spires shot up from the ground and impaled many Chaos Order soldiers once they got stunned and were unable to dodge.