Right after I performed the sequence of gestures, I waited a bit to see what the NPCs would do. I didn't have to wait long; two more appeared and went towards the two in the square, and from the emojis it was easy to tell they were the girl's parents.
Barely two seconds later, a few more appeared out of nowhere right behind them, with one NPC in particular being somewhat different.
The [Eyes of the Judge] ability distinguishes good NPCs with a blue aura or outline, while bad ones appear with a red coloration. The NPC (I presume it was her, from the emojis the others showed) that appeared didn't have either of these.
She had a completely black outline, and the color of the little figure representing her was red.
Would this be the game's equivalent to a rare or special monster?
Not long after she appeared along with some other NPCs with weapons (peasant-level weapons, apart from some swords as far as I could see), things quickly turned ugly for the four in the square. The NPCs, along with the boss(?), split into 3 groups: the smallest group stayed around her, while the other two groups circled the 4.
Apparently my intimidation strategy didn't work, but what can you do, now it's time to make good on the warning I gave.
Immediately I clicked on the hand in the shape of a clenched fist and placed it right above the group closest to them. Honestly, I just wanted to scare them, not do damage, but it seems the [Manifestation] skill is a bit stronger than I imagined, which actually makes sense considering it drains divine power every second.
[-3]
[-2]
[-4]
[-2]
[-1]
[-3]
Not only did they take damage from the fist descending on them, but it also gave them a push effect, and to top it off, a confusion effect on some.
Seeing how things were unfolding, the others would get apprehensive and reconsider their strategy, but they didn't. The others continued advancing as if they hadn't even seen what had happened and soon got a little too close to the four.
With things like this, the idea of just intimidating them went down the drain.
So let's go all out!!!
Using the divine power I still had, I cast a very strong lightning bolt on the second group and let the obvious happen.
[You eliminated: beginner militiaman. Karma obtained.]
[You eliminated: beginner militiaman. Karma obtained.]
[You eliminated: experienced militiaman. Karma obtained.]
...
Since I had been pressing for a while to accumulate power, I ended up using almost all the divine power I still had. The result was a particularly strong lightning bolt that covered almost the entire group. I don't know how the game's physics apply in this case, but I imagine that using iron weapons and "armor" didn't help much.
Now the only openly hostile group left was the one guarding the red woman; logically, these should be elites, but they weren't doing anything, nor was "she".
'Strange, shouldn't an event or something have already started?'
Of course, technically everything here would be an emergency event, but I meant whether a message or something like that should have appeared. Regardless of what I thought should happen, I certainly didn't expect that.
The woman seemed to say something using several emojis that were easy to identify as swear words, and sent a kind of black wave towards the four that practically covered my entire screen for about two seconds.
Three of the pixelated NPCs were knocked to the ground and either became unconscious or were trapped by some kind of chain spell, but one remained standing. The larger NPC, the one responsible for "calling me," responded to the NPC, who in turn didn't seem to like what she heard at all.
She then ordered the second group to split up again, one group going after him and the other towards the three incapacitated ones.
But she didn't just send her group; several of the NPCs from the crowd who had fled earlier returned to see the chaos unfolding, and several of them also went to help the group surrounding the four. "Fortunately," it was only a few; the rest just watched things from behind their houses, occasionally sending insults.
'Even in the world of a game, there are still people who do this.'
A bunch of nobodies who run away when things get tough, but when things seem to improve they come back like vultures. Again, thankfully, few joined the group working to get the 4 NPCs; counting the "security group," there were only about 11 (4 from the group and 7 more from the crowd).
Annoying but easy to deal with, since only seconds passed and I barely recovered enough divine power for another lightning bolt, I decided to quickly use manifestation on them but....
[Ability blocked by interference, please wait until it is released again.]
This message, along with a black chain, a ONE MINUTE countdown appeared on my abilities, not only with the abilities, but even when I clicked directly on the NPCs nothing happened. And the only time this could have happened was clear.....
'You've got to be kidding me!!!! Is that what that black wave did? Not even an imp/goblin could do something like that and it was technically a Raid boss, and this emergency mission NPC can do it??? What's the logic in that????'
And on top of that, a full minute, do you have any idea what 1 minute of doing nothing in games means?
You lost, simple as that.
Regardless of how much I yelled at myself about the awful situation, things were worse for the NPC.
He had already been injured before, and even though my "treatment" (a potion) had restored his HP, his energy was still low (yes, you can see his energy, but only his, perhaps because he's one of the main targets of the mission). And besides that, it seemed that even if not completely, the dark wave still seemed to have affected him.
The other good NPCs had black chains wrapped around their bodies; he also had a chain, but it was more transparent, as if the black wave had taken effect but not completely.
'Hey!! Why was he able to resist but I couldn't?'
Game mechanics, and/or story, but it's still kind of frustrating.
Even more so because he couldn't do anything and his HP gradually decreased. Luckily, the only ones who actually dealt damage were the group protecting the woman with the dark aura. The other 7 hostile NPCs were more distractions and stopgaps.
The "good" NPC could easily fend them off, even managing to deal almost a third of the damage to them with just his hands. The problem was the guards; they were fast and delivered blows that slowly drained HP like a slow bleeding.
Even though he couldn't hear what they were saying, the way the hostile NPCs moved made it easy to see that they were toying with him. They could have attacked him all at once and finished him off, but they were deliberately doing as little damage as possible to make him suffer.
"Tsk, the creators of this game were definitely a bunch of sadists."
Thinking about it, there's a high chance they actually were.
Here are the facts: first, they made the game seem boring to anyone who didn't have a rather peculiar taste (this is self-criticism, not self-praise). Then, out of nowhere, they decided to put in a fat nobleman (I think, since it was basically a fat humanoid outline) trying to molest a woman in a game that, according to the store's rating, would be restricted to those under 10 years old at most (they were almost amorphous outlines, but you just need a little imagination).
Then a hybrid monster appears that recovers by eating (in a very graphic way) its subordinates. By the way, why were only the monsters well-drawn in this? Have I complained about this before?
Anyway, now there's this too.
Almost a reverse repeat of what happened in the first incident I solved, but worse. Since the boss here manages to block me and I can't do anything to help those I should!!!!
'Tsk, his HP has already dropped to less than half, I still have potions but I doubt he'll have time to use them. Anything to help, anything at all, and fast....'
[...Inventory:
- Wild boar meat x1
- Rusty dagger x1
- Worn boots x1
- Cotton fabric x5
- Healing potion x4
- Mana potion x5
- Barley seed x5
- Worn wooden shield x1
- Fruit tree branch x10
- Evil forged daggers x7
- Broken spears x15
- Tattered clothes x50
- Various fruits x20]
'Nothing in the inventory would be very useful, it might delay things but not solve the problem. There's still... 47 seconds of block, but the NPC certainly won't last until then. Something, something....'
Well, there's an option that would also force a pause in the game, but it's an option I really don't want to use.
'Is it really worth it?'
I glanced at the fight; some of the NPCs that had been pushed away were going to retrieve the trapped NPCs, and the HP of the larger NPC was dangerously close to 1/5 of its value.
'Uuuuurrrgggghhhhhh, I really hate when I'm forced to do this, but I have no choice. Sorry, wallet.'
I thought sadly as I clicked on the paid re-election option in the shop. DAMN THE *********** PERSON (or persons) WHO CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA, MAY YOU BURN IN HELL!!!!
(Easter Day was when Jesus returned after his death. I thought it would be presumptuous to do the same on the same day, so I decided to do it only in the week after Easter to bring it back to the level I left paused for longer.
Sorry for the delay if anyone has continued following, and if so, thank you very much. My goal is to reach chapter 100 this year without long waiting periods. I hope that those who have read this far will continue, and also check out my other stories.
Again, thank you very much and I sincerely apologize for the delay.)