Chapter 29: The First Grave
Propulsion engines whirred as Raging Torch spun, sliding across the dirt. The Phaseblade noticed he was being approached and rolled back, but moved too hastily.
A fist slammed into the Phaseblade's face, propelled from the thrusters. Barrels extended from his wrists as he released four projectiles. All landing on the Phaseblade, several explosions sent him tumbling through the dirt.
Taking the break to reload all his weapons Nimin praised, "Perfect timing Sol! E-Whip(Electric Whip Grasp) the other two!"
Thundering arcs of powerful electricity released from Raging Torch's bracers. Grabbing the whips he redirected them and grabbed ahold of the Delusionist, but missed Collection. Stepping back Collection seemed to just watch, he even went so far to cross his arms.
Stunned by the electric whip the Delusionist was helpless to the sudden flurry of bullets embedding themselves into his head. Attempting to roll away his escape path was caught by Sol and he was swiftly beaten into the ground. Under the combined effort of Sol and Nimin, the last of his HP swiftly dwindled down to zero.
Turning his weapons towards the remaining two of the friend group Nimin typed a message.
Critical Shot: You two can leave, take your friend's stuff with you.
Critical Shot: Only warning.
Collection's altered voice interrupted, "You say that because you aren't confident."
Sol looked towards Nimin. With a shrug Nimin confirmed, "A little, that combo really tore apart my HP. It'll take a while to heal, so I'd like to go back to Elite hunting as soon as possible."
As he explained his reasoning he typed a different message in response to Collection.
Critical Shot: Odd, pretty sure I'm still alive despite being jumped 5v1.
The Phaseblade looked between the two and said, "We'll take the items. . ."
An altered voice scoffed, "Figures."
Turning to face the Phaseblade Nimin watched as he swiftly took the items off the ground and retreated with the Manifest. Leaving just Critical Shot, Raging Torch, and Collection. Pointing an assault rifle at Collection Nimin typed a final warning.
Critical Shot: Which of the four are you joining? The dead ones, are the retreating ones?
"That's one way of putting it."
Performing a shrug Collection said, "I choose option C, the last one standing."
The screen flashed with a red tint, the ambient audio slowing down. Copper traces, like those on a circuit board, began to expand at the end of Sol and Nimin's screens. Eyes widening Sol sputtered, "{Overclock}?!"
Nimin's eyes flicked upwards above Collection's head and his eyes narrowed.
Collection: LVL 65
Moving at a much greater speed Collection closed the distance between he and Critical Shot. The blade shot out from his arm as he maneuvered towards the back of Nimin. Only able to watch his HP Nimin began to calculate possible reasons for what was occurring.
What was going on was the strongest skill in the Cybernetic's arsenal. The skill {Overclock} slowed everything around the Cybernetic greatly, while vastly boosting their speed. This effect lasted for ten seconds at most, and had a huge drawback of Skill disabling for 3x the duration of the Skill. So even if a Cybernetic canceled the Skill early, they would still suffer the drawback.
This Skill was an evasive. Such Skills were only available at level 65. With high cost and cooldown, these were designed to free a player from a disadvantaged situation. Whether it was temporary immunity, a large knockback, stun application, or--in the Cybernetic's case--a buff.
There was two things to note about {Overclock}, first was the fact that although it made the Cybernetic essentially untouchable, it didn't disable the player's within range. You were still able to perform everything normally, it simply would be extremely slow. Additionally a Cybernetic was also incapable of using any Skills during the duration, including the drawback.
Thus if a Cybernetic used the max duration of {Overclock} it would result in a massive 40 seconds of Skill disabling. To a Pro this was almost entirely a death wish. A proper usage of Overclock would be utilizing it just for a second or two to quickly create an opening or escape. Unlike what Collection was currently doing. Since normal attacks were unaffected by the Skill disabling.
Attacking Critical Shot's back resulted in several Critical hits, rapidly tearing apart what HP was left. As five seconds passed Nimin had a helpless smile, "This guy has quite the proficiency doing this."
"You can't equip Skills unless in a Safe Zone! How is this possible?", Sol was struggling to understand.
Instead of telling him the answer, Nimin promoted constructive thinking, "Think about it, he's now level sixty-five. What does that mean?"
Sol bit his lip, "Oh!"
Another five seconds had passed and the Skill ended. Critical Shot's HP lingered dangerously at 7%, but Nimin didn't panic. Too many times had he experienced such moments. Being close to death was merely a disadvantage, not the end of battle!
Snap ducking underneath a blow Nimin performed {Sweep Kick}, his fingers moving at an incredible speed as he forced his character to spin 180 degrees while doing so. Collection fell, incapable of reacting to what had just happened. Before completely standing back up Nimin typed a series of inputs.
Leaping upwards Critical Shot slammed a {Knee!} into Collection, knocking him into the air. The assault rifle placed next to his hip nearly immediately after and began firing relentlessly with a barrage of bullets. In his offhand a handgun appeared and Nimin released multiple bullets directly into Collection's head. Mechanical flaps appeared to block some of the damage, but Critical Shot was relentless.
As {Hipfire} ended Critical Shot swapped to a shotgun. Placing it on his shoulder he raised a leg upwards and kicked down. Just barely clipping onto Collection's falling avatar he landed the grab! Pinning Collection down onto the ground Critical Shot added another shotgun to his free hand.
Sol stood on the opposite end and the barrels of {Mini Artillery} pointed towards Collection along with the shotguns. All weapons fired relentlessly into Collection's face, no hesitation to be seen.
As Critical Shot automatically walked back while reloading Raging Torch's propulsion engines began to whir loudly. Collection rolled backwards only to stumble into the stationary suit of the Mecha. Two palms slammed into the Cybernetic, thrusters enhancing the force.
Tumbling through the air Collection managed to recover, but Nimin was prepared for that. Instantly recovering wasn't always the best option, a lesson he needed to teach Collection as well. With one hand he flipped a handgun and slammed the grip into the back of Collection's head. The stun made him helpless to the two shotgun shells that fired along with it.
Critical Shot: You were so close to killing me.
Critical Shot: A shame thirty seconds is more than needed.
Bullets embedded themselves into the metal body of the Cybernetic. Snap dodging to the side Collection attempted to avoid more bullets, but the half of step wasn't enough space at this distance.
Raging Torch boosted next to Collection and began to release several punches. Pinned between the two Collection was unable to defend himself with just normal attacks and dodges. Any attempt to roll away was caught with the minor stun of a bullet, and followed up with heavier stun from the Mecha's punches.
Collection's altered voice rang out, "You'd best watch your back, I'm coming for your rare drops!"
Critical Shot: There will be a graveyard solely of you before that happens.
The colt handgun fired a final shot before Collection collapsed, a few items spilling out of his body. Sol collected them without much thought, "You're. . . really good."
Nimin accepted the praise, "Thanks! Your timing is excellent. Now pop quiz, why was Collection able to use {Overclock}?"
"He was already level sixty-five before. So he already had the Skill equipped, just not the level to use it."
"Bingo. Considering his obsession with collecting rare items, there was a chance he tried obtaining something in a higher leveled Red Zone and died as a result. With his levels dropped he couldn't use the Skills he had equipped, until just now."
"In that case how did he get the experience for that?"
"High chance the four people we ambushed invited him to a party. When they killed the Elite, he got the experience. I believe he didn't know if the Skill was still active, so when he stepped back he was verifying it himself."
"Which gave us an opportunity to take the victory."
"Had he done that while the other two players were here, I don't think I would've survived."
Sol crossed his arms and leaned back, "Wow. . . that was the craziest thing I've seen in the new server."
"Hah, stick around I might show you more."
"We still grinding mobs here?"
"For a bit, I have a feeling he will come back so we'll change positions once I heal."
Critical Shot sat on the ground and began to recover HP at an increased rate. This method of recovery was only available out of combat. As his HP regenerated Nimin continued to write things down in his journal.
Sol watched with interest, "What is that?"
"My thoughts and plans for the future. I tend to forget certain whims I think of during combat. So I quickly write them down."
"What's the issue you're writing of right now?"
"Ammunition issues compared with my aggressive playstyle.", Nimin underlined something as he answered.
Closing the journal he stood up, "I'm grabbing something to drink, keep an eye on my character will you?"
"You won't be mad if he dies right?"
"I won't. I will be mad if I find my bike in your inventory though."
"Fair enough. Grab me something too? There's a vending machine left of the stairs. I like the orange flavored stuff."
"Gross, orange flavor sucks."
Sol frowned, "Don't diss orange flavor."
"I'll try, be back in a bit."
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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