Season 5: Chapter 92. The Calls? (4)

Raina's skill setup was fairly straightforward. First, she possessed a unique passive called Sharpshooter's Pride. It randomly generated targets on enemy bodies, and hitting them stacked Sharpshooter's Pride. The more stacks accumulated, the slightly higher Raina's attack power climbed. At 100 stacks, her ultimate skill could be activated.

Stacks began building from four consecutive combos. Four combos equaled one stack, five combos gave two stacks, six combos gave three stacks, and so on.

When hitting a contractor rather than a monster or minion, stacks accumulated five times as fast. Six combos against a contractor yielded fifteen stacks. Fifteen combos would yield sixty. Of course, fifteen combos were a fantasy number. At Diamond rank and above, the average was four to five combos before things ended.

Raina's real value came from the other passive connected to her unique passive, Mana Explosion. Every three combos, mana ignited and dealt massive damage to the target. The damage scaled sharply with each combo accumulated. At around twelve combos, most carries would be dead or neutralized. This powerful passive was Raina's core.

Sweet Radish wailed, "Leave Mana Explosion ALONE! How many times do I have to say it!?"

Carelessly touching this critical skill could make Raina completely unplayable.

Black Tea corrected him from the side. "To be exact, you barely said it once."

Almond had selected the skill before Sweet Radish could even get the first word out.

— LOOOL

— She just becomes a different character now?

— Ruined

— What the?!

— Sniper Raina lmaooo

— She's not Raina anymore

Not just Sweet Radish, but the viewer reacted equally grimly.

[Skill Enhanced!]

The enhancement went in an absurd direction.

[Mana Ray]

The name sounded reasonably cool.

==== ====

Every time Raina hits a target three consecutive times, mana density will increase and range will extend by 20 for 5 seconds. Range can increase up to a maximum of 100, after which mana arrows transform into Mana Rays...

==== ====

Instead of damage, her range increased. Only later would damage go up.

Almond read it out, "Every time you hit a target, range increases by twenty."

Sweet Radish's eyes lit up with hope. "P-permanently?"

"No. For five seconds."

"...!?"

— LOOOL

— lmaooooooo

— LOL

— Raina... executed!

"Please, bro. You're joking for the stream, right?"

"No, seriously. Range plus twenty for five seconds. And it caps at a hundred, so..." Almond trailed off and glossed over the rest.

— He's not even mentioning the important Mana Ray part lmaooo

— Talk about the Mana Ray

— Mana Ray: ???

— We don't actually know what the ray does

Even the Gold-ranked Sweet Potato fumed. "NO! This is what counts as an enhancement?! Range instead of damage on Raina?!"

What was the point of robbing the Vault? Getting one legendary rune was supposed to be the whole payoff. Instead of helping, it had effectively destroyed a character.

‘I want to say the calls? But I'll hold back.’

A comedic urge surged through Almond, but he pressed it down this time.

‘Even I can tell the skill isn't good.’

Almond had genuinely mastered playing Raina. Even if he lacked tactical reasoning, he could tell that this was no good.

‘Raina's whole point is to one-shot.’

Raina was a carry that functioned like an assassin, which was why her range wasn't particularly good for a ranged carry. It was comparable to the Toxin Bunny with poison stingers, but her damage was on an entirely different level. Raina could close the gap instantly with Roll, ramp the damage up, chain a few more combos from there, and finish off the enemy with explosive output.

There was a saying that three Mana Explosions could flip an entire team fight. Against a carry, that was absolutely true. Raina had always been high risk, high return. Now, that structure had completely changed.

‘A temporary increase...’

Three stacked combos meant a temporary range boost. An extended range meant one could hit from far away without risk, but stacking three combos required going in first. This required taking all the risk upfront and then getting rid of the risk afterward. It was an ironic design.

Sweet Radish sighed with the same thought. "Hah."

He decided that this couldn't go on, and his eyes snapped open with resolve.

"Alright, clear heads... Sweet Potato, you contract too. We need to catch up. We're behind."

He started issuing calls in earnest.

— Oh

— Sweet Radish is back

— Eyes open already lmao

— One brush with the Smart Young Man's ceiling and he's wide awake lmaooo

Sweet Potato still hadn't been assigned anything. "What do I take then?"

He genuinely knew even less about LIL than Almond, so he had no idea what to pick. He just knew how to play the tank position at a basic level.

Sweet Radish was thinking hard. "Normally, she needs to go in with a tank..."

The tank was supposed to go in together and draw aggro for Raina, but Raina's range would now increase. How would they work around that?

"We have two carries, so maybe Shield Warrior..."

"Get Hammer Paladin."

"H-Hammer Paladin? But bro, you're Raina?"

Sweet Radish had a reason for saying this. Raina and Hammer Paladin were fundamentally incompatible. Raina needed to keep hitting her own targets to maintain her combo. Hammer Paladin needed the carry to hit her nails to activate her abilities. Raina simply couldn't hit the nails.

"Raina has to hit targets to begin with. She can't hit the nails."

"So Sweet Potato will scatter the nails on top of the targets."

"Pardon?"

— LOL

— You think everything is about you lmaooo

— How would Sweet Potato do that

— Sweet Potato's face LOL

— hahaha

— If he could do that he wouldn't be Sweet Potato...

"Ah... Is that not doable?"

"It probably isn't."

Almond felt that he needed Hammer Paladin.

"Still, it's fine because... I generate a lot of targets..."

— He keeps going lmaooo

— Oh there's a higher probability of overlap?

— Why does Almond generate more targets? Is it affinity or something?? Lmao

— Just pick something quickly

His reason was simple.

‘It looked good while watching LetMeTank play.’

Back when he'd encountered a player called LetMeTank, that was his first time seeing Hammer Paladin. He thought the champion looked pretty good. If he'd been a carry at the time instead of Flashy Blade, it would've been even better.

Black Tea shouted directly into Sweet Potato's ear, "AAAAAH! We don’t have time! We're all falling behind!"

"Wh-why are you yelling at me?! Why am I..."

"Listen! You're the one picking! Contract already! If you take Hammer Paladin, I'm a carry too. I'll hit all the nails!"

"Right! You’ll do it!"

Thud.

Sweet Potato immediately contracted as Hammer Paladin.

"I, a humble Potato Servant, know nothing! I merely follow the orders of those above me~!"

Sweet Potato emphasized his Potato Servant status and dodged all responsibility.

Hummm!

Brilliant light came down, and his form changed.

"Ham~ mer~"

He announced it like a Pokémon.

— Pleasure without responsibility lmao

— Well servants aren't supposed to have responsibility LOL

— Hammer-mon!

— Ham~mer

— He genuinely doesn't know anything lmao

Tap.

Sweet Radish pressed his palm to his forehead.

‘Right... Black Tea will hit them...’

Black Tea was also a Challenger carry. Whether Black Tea's shooting precision matched Almond's was a different question. Being good at carrying and hitting the nails were completely different things.

‘Originally, this was made for Almond.’

Almond wanted the Hammer Paladin, but it just didn’t go together with Raina.

Ba-bam!

[Monmon has donated 10,000 won.]

[Raina's love will see you through~]

Financial therapy deployed. Ten thousand won was fairly rare in Sweet Radish's channel.

"Oh, Monmon, thank you for the ten thousand. I don't think Raina's love for Almond will let her fire two arrows at once, though."

— lmaooooo fr

— That's fair lmao

— What's aggravating is that it's stated as a given that she loves him lol

— Love conquers all lmao

What couldn’t be done, couldn’t be done. That was Sweet Radish's philosophy. Rather than trying to make the impossible possible, he acknowledged what couldn’t be done and rapidly found another path.

‘I'll need to get Black Tea contracted first... I think.’

***

The change to Raina’s Mana Explosion was immediately noticeable.

Boom!

Even hitting monsters showed a dramatic damage difference. Against monsters, range didn't really matter, which somehow made her look even more helpless.

Even Raina commented on it. “Something feels... different from usual.”

— Even Raina lmaooo

— Oh...

— It's bad

— She'd normally one-shot everything

— The farming speed for a party with two contractors is not this

— Can't even split-push now

Sweet Potato scattered nails and suggested hitting around them. "Lord! Should we try hitting around my nails?!"

That would at least add some extra damage.

"No, let me test the ability first."

"Oh, understood!"

Hitting nails would take place in actual combat when needed. For now, Almond needed to get a feel for what the ability actually did.

Boom!

[Range +20]

The range increased again. Beyond Sharpshooter's Pride slowly climbing, there was genuinely no other damage increase to speak of.

Almond looked at his blue bow with a slightly sour expression. "Hmm..."

‘Is there no way?’

He'd been hitting monsters, and the range had climbed considerably.

Fwoooosh!

He tried shooting, but it didn’t go far enough.

‘Oh. It's nice, but...’

Funnily, building this range required going in close to hit things. The best approach was to hit nearby monsters, then shoot from long range when enemies appeared. Only then would this ability have any real use.

‘Either way, Sharpshooter stacks are building. At high combos, the Ray comes out apparently...’

Boom!

[Level Up!]

They somehow finished off the monsters and leveled up.

[Mana Ray]

Crackle!

Right at fifteen combos, sparks flew from his bow as it transformed. It was no longer a bow, but more like a crossbow with a trigger mechanism.

Raina suggested something. “I feel like I've discovered something new.”

Almond's reaction was equally suggestive. "Hm? What's this?"

— He didn't finish reading it lmaooo

— Seriously??

— He stopped reading again...

— LOL

— Pandora's Box!

— he never reads lmaooo

Almond had apparently stopped reading at the part about Mana Ray.

‘Let me check.’

He speed-read in a hurry.

Sweet Radish screamed, "Oh no!?"

Crackle crackle!

Lightning magic came flying in, and Sweet Radish flew back.

"Enemy!" Sweet Radish reset his stance.

Lemon, who had been looking in exactly the opposite direction from Sweet Radish, called out too, "Enemy!"

"From the back too?"

"The back?"

Both of them looked across each other's backs.

"Insane."

"Another one!"

Black Tea fumed and took position. "We're being sandwiched! Why here of all places!?"

Sweet Radish urgently checked the map.

‘Oh no.’

He'd been occupied with ability testing and had momentarily forgotten the most important thing: the shadow’s position.

‘The shadow movement pushed everyone here.’

From Sweet Radish's perspective, the rear side was where people were being chased by the shadow. A team was sitting on the front side and waiting to bully people being chased out. They'd gotten wedged right in the middle.

"Our level is lower, isn't it?"

The enemies were level six.

Their side was still at five. The gap between levels five and six wasn't just one level. Assuming the fight was unwinnable was the more comfortable read. Level six meant having an ultimate skill.

"Damn it, we're cooked!"

Thud!

Sweet Potato raised his shield to block incoming shots. "What do we do?! They have two contractors!"

It was terrible timing. Getting two contractors fast had been their one advantage. Even that had been nullified, and the enemies were a full level ahead.

"Just stay low, protect the rune spirits, and pull back..."

"They're COMING!"

Tap tap tap tap!

The rear team charged in with their tank, Great Monolith Kutan, at the front. His gesturing made it obvious that he was about to use his ultimate skill.

"Watch out for Upheaval! Dodge!"

"We're done..."

BOOM!

Kutan, with some movement speed rune equipped, instantly sank into the ground and burst up directly beneath the Knight Order. Almost everyone was launched airborne. Only Almond reacted and avoided it with Roll. The rest had no movement abilities yet and took the full hit.

‘It's a wipe if the carries start dumping damage now.’

The truly terrifying thing about tanks like Kutan came right after their CC landed. That was when enemy carries could dump damage with almost no effort at all, which meant the whole thing could fall apart if they could somehow eliminate the enemy carries.

‘That's not happening.’

The carries wouldn’t just disappear. The enemy Ignite cheerfully ran in with a grin and prepared to drop an AoE ability.

‘Hm?’

Crackle crackle crackle!

A thunderous boom suddenly rang out.

[Enemy Eliminated!]

[LazySoldier → Umpa-Gumpa]

From an impossible range with impossible speed, Almond had taken out Ignite. The Mana Ray had fired at maximum range.

— Insane!!

— Awakened?!

— Whoa...

— Oh it was full stacks at just the right time lmao

— Broken as hell

— Whoa?!

— Intercontinental ballistic missile

— That's insane lmao

— Smart Young Man skyrocketing lmaooo

— Absolutely busted lmaooo

Sweet Radish's mouth dropped open.

‘We're done.’

Almond had turned out to be correct again.