Chapter 276 Gift
After healing his wounds, Aion stopped training for a moment and focused on meditating. The enemies that they faced so far made sure to crush the confidence that he had developed in Power Throw. That technique was supposed to be a surefire way to cause a lot of damage against powerful opponents and then make the flow of the battle to stay on his side until the end, but that didn't work when he faced those three.
"Their powers were amazing, but even so… despite the simplicity of that technique, I thought that it would become a lot more useful in situations like this," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Aion wondered if he could improve that technique… but that seemed a bit insane considering that he hadn't even mastered it yet. Regardless, while Aion didn't come up with any idea to improve Power Throw, at least Aioj cleared up his mind. The mission was almost over, and he had to stay focused because the next two troublesome opponents would be a real pain in the ass to deal with.
"Since Aion rested properly this time, I guess we can go up a bit sooner than planned," Sauros said. "Still, we should be able to face those two sooner, but just don't attack them all of a sudden, alright? Try to ask them a few things before the fight."
"I can't see the point of that," Aion said. "We will only lose the surprise factor… then again, it isn't like the preemptive strikes worked until now. That being said, you guys are the ones who have things to ask to the guy that you follow."
"The guy that we follow… what a diminishing way to call someone who helped to save the world," Sauros said while frowning.
"While that might be possible, we think you will have better chances with it," Seris said. "Those five are here due to the power of your ancestor, and they might feel your connection with her."
"... I will see what I can do," Aion said after a long sigh.
Truth be told, Aion didn't want to talk much, even though there was a chance that his ancestor might be the cause of his reincarnation. One of the reasons for that was that he didn't want to believe that he was doing her bidding without knowing… he didn't want to do anyone's bindings knowingly and unknowingly. Still, that can be hard to believe… Can people be reincarnated for absolutely no reason while keeping their memories?
In any case, the enemies on the next floor sure tried to endure Aion's charged attacks, and they endured it quite a bit. However, they didn't prevent the wounds that the pre-emptive strikes caused. So, Aion always fought them when they were practically half dead.
Electric Golems, Magma Anacondas, and even a Basilisk… those were some of the monsters that they faced. Things were starting to get harder, but Sauros and Seris used the same strategy as Aion and charged their weapons while they were climbing the stairs… they certainly were eager to become useful.
During that time, Aion was more worried that he could keep fighting without destroying his spear again. When he attacked those three, he focused most of his mana on the tip of the weapon in order to avoid that kind of problem, but it didn't work. Maybe that kind of combination was just too much… when the enemy also could use attacks on the same scale instantly.
In any case, they reached the 89th floor in no time… Aion wished that he could make the lancer class reach level one hundred before that could happen, but it didn't.
"Let's rest here properly since things will get complicated now more than ever," Sauros said. "If the next target is the swordsman, then we will focus on harassing him while Aion causes damage now and then. You should focus on defending most of the time."
"That doesn't seem like the strategy that someone who has watched me fight would come up with," Aion said while frowning. "I am not exactly patient, and if the enemy is a pain, I will just use my best attack to destroy them."
"While that worked before, you shouldn't forget how you ended during those times," Sauros said. "You will waste more time if you get hurt too much."
"I will get hurt anyways if I let the target survive for longer periods of time, might as well finish them off to save me from the annoyance," Aion said.
"You really have muscles for brains…" Seris said. "That being said, we already know how things played out when he tried to be defensive, Sauros."
"Yes, and also already knows how things ended when we used all of our mana in a single attack," Sauros said. "If an archer can stop us, the other two will probably do the same. Your ancestor is probably a mage, and while we don't know a single thing about her abilities, our only option is to harass her when she tries to attack. Even if we don't cause damage, we should be able to stop her from using anything big."
Sauros has his reasons for being cautious, but Aion couldn't help but feel like sighing. Regardless, Sauros had given up on causing any real damage to the enemies. Their best card wasn't attacking using weapons like those, and their magic was kind of situational… so their best option was to focus on support.
"I am not good at this kind of rune, but this should help you a bit," Seris said and then made a rune enter Aion's body. "It is a reinforcement rune that will improve all of your parameters. For someone like you who can do a lot, they will help quite a bit for half an hour."
"I see. I memorized the pattern," Aion said.
"There is no need to be so sneaky about that. I was going to give a book for you to learn some runes once this is over," Seris said and then frowned.