The Over-Break System

POV SHIFT, GOING BACK SEVERAL MINUTES AGO, as Brance activated his [Radiant Tower.]

[I see you finally used it, now is as good a time as ever. It’s about damn time you used your [Radiant Tower]. I was starting to believe it was just a concept, not a real skill. Now I don’t have to worry too badly, but please, for the love of all that is unholy, don’t level our home. I don’t want to deal with having to stay in a shitty hotel or something.] Running on the battlefield’s opposite end, Cynrik smirked and couldn’t help but take a verbal jab at his brother.

[Fuck off and worry about keeping your girlfriend and Benny alive, you took on the two strongest aside from the guy that got bodied by Garrison.] Pausing for a second as he did something, Brance continued his train of thought.

[I had Melody go into the training room and barricade herself in. If she had listened to my order, she should have no clue I just used this skill.] Using a strained tone, Brance quipped back, making Cynrik roll his eyes.

[How long can you hold that thing together?]Cynrik said as he jumped up, slashed two thick branches from a tree with his hidden blades, and tossed them to Selene and Benny.

[Providing these assholes don’t start attacking the inner walls, maybe 10-15 minutes. I only went with three floors, one of which is basically our Dorm. I threw them on the 2nd floor. But I am hemorrhaging Mana and Stamina right now, so don’t quote me on that timer.]

[Got it; we will hold off these two until you wrap up with those guys. One guy is Mid Tier-3, and the other is on the cusp of middling since the Mana signature is between the two chasing you and his buttbuddy. Clearing Comms!] Weaving through the trees dotting the Core Area, Cynrik lept over a line of bushes and cut to the right, circling around one of the Dorms.

“Stay on my wings, you two; splitting up isn’t a good idea. As it stands, we are out-leveled and outgunned. To top it off, it doesn’t look like Garrison and Alistar intend to cut in unless we are in a precarious situation like before.”

“Copy,” Benny was the first to respond as he pumped ample amounts of Water Mana into his two-meter-long branch. Everyone at the party had been attending different Affinity courses. Fortunately, the one thing every member of MyrkLys had learned was some form of Enhancement Skill, which would allow them to use their Affinities to turn any object into a weapon if the situation called for it.

Giving Benny’s make-shift weapon a look over, Cynrik nodded in approval and glanced at Selene, whose branch had turned into an inky black mass.

“It’s not perfect, but it’ll last for a couple of hits or parries. What’s the plan, darling?” Rolling the nearly three-and-a-half-meter-long make-shift spear around her arm, Selene asked.

“If you didn’t notice by now, Brance used his Tower, so he has segregated himself and Gabby with the other two spies. It is up to the three of us to hold them off until Brance and Gabby return.” Jumping over another hedge line, Cynrik spun in the air and got a look at the two adults chasing after them nearly 60 meters behind.

Tucking in and rolling before bouncing back to his feet, Cynrik continued, “Middling slacker dude is a Spearman, so Selene, you and Benny can work together to deal with him. As for the Mid Tier-3 guy looks like he’s wearing gauntlets, so I’m assuming he is a Fighter or Brawler. I can deal with him, but you all will be on your own, and I won’t be able to offer much assistance. I should have a majority advantage, depending on how good my target is regarding hand-to-hand. Keep your heads on straight and stay focused, but most of all, work together.”

“Selene, you only have 40 right now, but Benny, I recommend you burn your points. Not having a good weapon will hinder you greatly, so you need to try mitigating the stat difference between you and him.” Plotting his course for his next move, Cynrik didn’t look at either Selene or Benny as they neared a large Dorm at the edge of the confinement area.

“Speed or Power, Big Bro?” Benny asked while opening up his Status profile and looking at his 268 allocation points.

“He’s a Spearman, so his Stats will lean heavier into DEX and AGI like me,” Selene chimed in as she spun around a tree in her path and kept running.

“I agree with Sel. With your AGI being the lowest of us three, I’d say that is your best bet. However, don’t forget that the more you move, the quicker you burn through STAM. Also, you may need to hit your INT a bit. Without your gear, you will be forced into using more Affinity Skills. You both need to bump up your most-used skills with your excess skill points.”

BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM

Just as Cynrik finished speaking, a truck-sized boulder smashed into the building they were passing, making Cynrik activate his [Mana Sight] and spot Garrison duking it out with the Peak Tier-3 not far away.

“Tsk, Sel, raise your AGI and INT to 600, and slap that final point into your VIT, making it a clean 515. Next, beef up you’re [Void Domain] with Skill points. Dump in as many as the skill will take. That will be your guy’s trump card in this fight.”

BOOM

Finishing his instructions to Selene, Cynrik snaped and fired off a compressed [Fireball], countering a boulder heading towards them and exploding it into fragments without slowing down his pace.

“I’m on it, one second,” raising her left hand, which wasn’t holding her make-shift spear, Selene pulled up her Status profile and assigned 31 points into AGI and eight into INT. For a split second, Selene accelerated as her speed increased thanks to breaking 600 AGI, but she quickly adjusted and fell inline a step behind Cynrik.

Next, she allocated 275 skill points into her [Void Domain], Evolving it into its Tier-2.5 counterpart, [Domain of Shadows].

“Do you want the upgraded description?” Noticing the changes in her skill, Selene posed the question to Cynrik, who shook his head.

“Cliff notes it for me.”

“Fog has grown considerably from 20 meters to 50, and I can designate people who can see unhindered within. Also, it gives a 15% debuff to anyone not designated as an Ally. The cost also increased by 25%, but that isn’t a problem.” Peeking over her shoulder at Benny, since the info was more so for him than Cynrik, who could already see within the Domain thanks to [Mana Sight], Selene gave the abridged version of her new skill description.

“Acceptable, Benny; what about your stats,” inhaling slowly, Cynrik narrowed his eyes as he directed the group past Brance’s Tower.

“Pushing through the stat changes now, tsss!” Benny gritted his teeth and had to control his legs from pumping harder than necessary. Once he was back in control, he refocused his mind and informed Cynrik of the changes to his stats.

“My AGI and INT have increased to 535 each, and my VIT is now 545.”

“Noted, alright, you guys are on your own; once we get behind this coming up Two-story, I am breaking off hard right; you guys go hard left. Good luck.” Clenching his fists tightly, Cynrik bounced twice before stomping with his lead foot and heading to the nearest rooftop, a two Story Dorm.

Selene and Benny veered off and moved close to the walls, not following Cynrik up; the point was to try splitting up the two stalkers.

Luckily it worked; Cynrik had chosen to go high and head to the right since the Gauntlet guy was on the right side as he ran. So when Cynrik broke off from the pack, the man followed suit, while the Spearman went left, following Selene and Benny.

Selene and Benny swiftly navigated through the rubble of the Dorm that Garrison had kicked the Peak Tier-3 through earlier and posted up, waiting for their opponent to enter the range of Selene’s domain skill.

Meanwhile, Cynrik touched down on the roof of the two-story and crossed his arms, waiting patiently for the Brawler to appear. It only took the Mid Tier-3 man a few short seconds to close the distance and jump up, following his target; however, the second he came over the roof, Cynrik was right there waiting for him.

Moving swiftly, Cynrik caught the man by the collar of his black leather armor and executed a perfect judo hip toss, slamming the man right into the shingled slanted roof with a loud bang.

“Tisk tisk, a Brawler, who should be an expert in hand to hand, just got leveled by a child a full Tier and a half lower than him. I’d say that’s pretty embarrassing if you ask me.” Cynrik bantered as he dusted off his hands and dropped into his hand-to-hand fighting stance.

“Ugh, cheap shots arent the warrior’s way, kid. I planned on meeting you up here and issuing an official fight challenge. But apparently, you aren’t one for formalities or honor.” Slowly getting to his feet unhurt, the Brawler calmly said.

“Honor, che, what honor is there in hiding like a filthy coward to spy and gather intel on a bunch of students. Don’t spout that bullshit at me.” Tilting his head to the side, Cynrik spat on the roof before glancing at the body language of the masked Brawler in all-black combat gear.

“Are you planning on standing there all day in shock that I have a vicious tongue, or are we going to fucking fight? I don’t have all day, and my comrades are kind of in the middle of beating the shit out of your little crew.”

The Brawler responded with a grunt and rushed forward at Cynrik, slamming his arms down for a second in a reload motion.

‘Fuck, those are Shot-gauntlets,’ Cynrik thought to himself as he flashed forward to meet his opponent head-on. His mind went back to when Professor Dennis explained the different offensive classes; when he got to Brawlers, he emphasised that there were two different weapons you could find them using, Gauntlets or leg bracers. Although there were a wide variety of different types of combat gauntlets, the one the majority of people used when completing Egress Dives was the Shot-Gauntlets.

These weapons had a mechanism in them that would allow ammunition to be added into the revolver-style device, wrapping around the center of the weapon and adding an explosive BOOM to each punch.

Arriving in front of the Brawler, Cynrik slipped under the first punch, a wide hook, and dished out a full power uppercut into the man’s ribs. Unfortunately, Cynrik was forced to jump back, as the instant he made contact with the man, the Brawler moved his body and counter-attacked with his opposite arm, a swift jab.

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