Vol.20 Ch.13: Already Lv. 5!?
『An ally has been killed!』
Dan fell while Julia stuck around instead of retreating. She continued assaulting the invader, believing she had a good chance of winning this exchange.
And yes, with the power buff from Pillar of Fire, Julia was able to unleash a strong flurry of fireball attacks. The Werewolf's HP ticked down at a decent pace, really making it look as if Julia had a winning chance.
Not to mention, Rosemary had exhausted both of her skills and her HP fell to 70% by now, so Julia was confident about this. After all, this was her territory and she had the attack range advantage at her disposal.
"Come play with me if you dare, pup!" Julia methodically backpedaled from the area as she shot fireballs at the pursuer. Her opponent was a melee-bound weakling who had no choice but to get a lot closer to land hits. So, until then, Julia gravely damaged the incoming foe!
What's more, she carefully placed Pillar of Fire right ahead of her. With this arrangement, Rosemary would have to step on the burning ground to get to Julia.
Get burned, bitch! Julia grinned as her basic attacks and the burning DOT shaved off Rosemary’s HP. It was like the easiest fight of her life!
But, despite all the accumulating damage, Rosemary didn't slow down. She pressed onward with determination, and she was quick on her feet, too. It almost looked like she was rushing to her death. Hah, what a dumbass!
By the time the hungry beast approached Julia, she was already down to 50% HP. Meanwhile, Julia was still over 80%. Ez game!
At this point, neither side had any available skills at their disposal, so this was going to be a pure battle of strength and attrition. And, of course, Werewolf was much fiercer than Pyromancer at close range. So, once Rosemary gets in, Julia will have a situation on her hands.
But, you're not going to get a chance! Julia rolled away as soon as the Werewolf reached her. You probably thought you had me cornered, right? Well, no dice! I’m already five steps ahead of you, amateur!
With that said, the opponent was quick to respond. Rosemary rolled right after Julia without missing a heartbeat.
Crap, seriously!? Julia groaned. W-Well, I'm already pretty close to the tower, so there's no way she can kill me. Besides, if she stays here much longer, my skills will start coming off cooldown.
Getting Flame Wave back online would be the winning move here. It would burn Rosemary whole in an instant!
Alas, the spell still had over 5 more seconds of downtime. It might’ve sounded like nothing, but in a tense situation like this 5 seconds was an eternity. Most likely, this battle will end long before that happens.
However, if Rosemary does choose to continue her arrogant assault, then things might become interesting. The Werewolf didn't have a single skill available at her disposal, so Julia would pretty much win if she got Flame Wave back.
So yeah, keep running at me, dumbass! Julia grinned dangerously. I'll torch you!
She continued backpedaling toward the tower while firing basic attacks. Her opponent had already fallen to 40% HP, yet that mad dog was still getting closer. Such nerve!
You've got nothing! I'll kill your ass! Julia continued unleashing her flurry of fireballs even as the Werewolf got right in front of her face. They were a nose distance away from each other at this point, but Julia didn't falter. She kept on attacking nonstop!
On the other hand, her opponent was oddly passive. Rosemary was getting closer and closer, but she didn't unleash a single strike yet. Like, what???
Sure, Werewolf was a melee class and all that, but was it necessary to get THIS close to attack Julia? Hmph, this amateur didn't even know how to aggress properly!
In fact, that girl was so dumb that she got closer and closer to Julia... and then even passed by her!? What in the bloody hell was that idiot even thinking???
The answer soon revealed itself shortly. Once Rosemary got obnoxiously close, expressing zero respect for Julia's personal space, the mad wolfwoman went for a sudden bite!
"Wha-!?" Julia's brain short-circuited. Her burning flames of aggression froze over in an instant. This sudden development left her paralyzed, unable to process this turn of events. The Werewolf woman sank her teeth deep into Julia's shoulder, stunning her both inside and outside the game.
But, this is impossible…! Julia quickly pressed TAB to check what in the world was going on. How is she already Lv. 5!? That's way too early!
Everybody else in the game was only starting Lv. 4 right now. It was supposed to take everybody at least one more minion wave to hit Lv. 5 and unlock their ults.
Yet, Rosemary had already passed that important milestone. She unlocked Beastial Devourer, her ult, and unleashed it on Julia from point-blank!
Now, the wolfwoman's insistence on getting so close finally made sense. She indeed had to be right in Julia's face for Beastial Devourer to connect. It was an ult with a VERY short range and the bite animation wasn't even that quick, so the skill had to be executed like this from an obnoxiously close range.
But, what this bite lacked in range it made up for with raw power and CC. It locked Julia in place and dealt an obscene amount of damage for two seconds, dropping her below 30%!
To make things worse, the Werewolf restored HP equal to 50% of the damage dealt. So, in the blink of an eye, Rosemary recovered from 40% to over 60%.
God, this can't be happening…! Julia gulped. No trace of aggressiveness was left anywhere in her veins. Right now, she could only think about surviving through this critical situation. All her engines cooled down entirely.
O-Okay, let's calm down for a second here. Julia tried to take a deep breath but she rushed it. "Geh! Gah! Damn...!" She ended up coughing instead.
Her racing heart just refused to calm down. After all, how could it? At this rate, she was doomed! This one mistake could very well spell the end of her entire career!
There's no way I'll be getting into the first-string with a performance like this. Julia gritted her teeth. I have to at least make it out alive somehow...!
But, was it even possible under these circumstances? The stun of Beastial Devourer finally came to an end and the Werewolf unhanded her, but she was still in a dire situation with less than 30% HP.
But, 30% was still 30%. Julia wasn't dead yet! What's more, she wasn't that far away from the tower. So, there was still a chance of getting away!
I have to survive! Julia steeled her heart. No matter how helpless all of this looks, as long as I’ve got HP it should be possible! My roll is going to come back in a few seconds, so I just have to stay alive until then...!
During the time Julia was stunned by Beastial Devourer, her brain finished the transition from Attack Mode to her Defense Mode. Now, every fiber of her body was concentrated on nothing but defense and survival!
Just run! Do it! Julia commanded her Pyromancer as she turned around and made a break for it. It was always stressful to run away with your back turned to the enemy, but there was no choice. Julia had to do this if she wanted to stay alive.
She's faster than me, but not by a whole lot. Julia reasoned while the enemy's claws slashed her back. She'll drop off my back eventually as she keeps attacking, and at some point, I’ll just roll away to safety.
While she was thinking such positive thoughts, her HP bar was plummeting to oblivion. 15%. 10%. 5%. The end was nigh. Julia was now one hit away from dying!
But, as she speculated, her opponent fell behind. Even though the Werewolf was faster on foot, the constant attacking slowed her down. So, right as Rosemary was about to deliver the finishing blow, she found herself out of range.
This brief but critical moment was just enough to let Julia activate Dodge Roll. She rolled right back into her tower area, finally getting away from the vicious predator! ... or not.
Just as Julia's Dodge Roll came out of cooldown, so did Rosemary's. And so, the wolf woman went right after her prey!
“L-Leave me alone already, you crazy wolf...!” Julia cried out, almost hysterically. Alas, her pleas fell on deaf ears...
『You have been killed!』