The Healing Solaris Cleric-Chapter 452 (Side Story): Time Attack (2)

The dark and damp labyrinth was lit only by the faint blue torches hanging along the walls. A strange sound echoed from somewhere down the corridor. It was the kind of sound one would hear if someone mercilessly scratched a chalkboard with their fingernails. It caused a wave of repulsion to surge throughout whoever heard it.

“N-Noona, this sound...”

“Shh!”

A woman hurriedly reached out and covered her younger brother’s mouth with both hands. At this moment, even the faintest breath felt louder than thunder.

Where did it all go wrong?

Her party normally roamed the fifth basement floor as if it were their own backyard. Was it a mistake to assume they could comfortably clear the fourth floor even while bringing her younger brother along? No, no matter how much she thought about it, that wasn’t exactly arrogance. In fact, her party truly had the capability to handle that level of difficulty.

Damn religion...

It was just bad luck. That was all. Today, the Betix order happened to be plotting something in this place. They had discovered that fact only after clashing with them dozens of times and killing just as many fanatics.

Why today of all days? Why, why today?

Never once in her life as an explorer had she experienced a good memory involving those religious fanatics. However, blaming the heavens wouldn’t bring back her fallen companions. More than anything, their greatest mistake had been drawing that thing’s attention while fighting the Betix followers.

The woman steadied her breathing and looked straight at her younger brother. “Denz, listen carefully. From here, you’re going to run straight down that passage. If you hit a dead end, hide until a staircase spawns. Got it?”

She handed him the backpack she was carrying.

“There’s enough food in there for ten days, so the stairs are guaranteed to spawn at least once during that time. If you make it upstairs and see other explorers, don’t approach them first. If you meet anyone, you run. Trust no one, understand?”

She slowly lowered her hands to hear her brother answer that he understood and would do what she just said, but her brother instead responded with a trembling voice, “What about you, noona...?”

Perhaps he instinctively realized she was planning to sacrifice herself as his face was already soaked in tears as he shook his head desperately.

“I’ll distract that thing and follow you after. Go on ahead first.”

That was a lie. If that had been possible, there would have been no reason to send their companions off first. Her brother wasn’t foolish enough to believe such an obvious lie either.

“No. Then I’d rather stay here and die with you...”

Boom!

Suddenly, a massive hand burst through the wall and clamped tightly around his face.

“Denz!” She hurriedly thrust her dagger to save her brother, but the blade barely left a scratch on its armor.

“Noona, go...”

Her brother’s face, forcing a smile while desperately hiding his fear, grew farther and farther away. Just when she thought everything was over, the wall crumbled with a deafening crash, and two figures tangled together rolled across the corridor.

“A cleric...?”

A member of religion she despised so deeply. However, the sight of this cleric in his robes and wielding a sword felt strangely unfamiliar.

Moreover...

He was strong. So strong that she couldn’t help but wonder why someone like him was even roaming this labyrinth.

“Go!”

“What?”

“Your group has been marked as intruders, so take him and get out of here quickly!”

As he shouted, the knight clad in black armor rose to its feet. The Ancient Gatekeeper. That was what people called the creature, a being that pursued its designated target to the ends of hell itself. There was only one way to make it change its target.

The target must disappear from this floor.

That was the only method.

The cleric, Kai, shouted behind him, “What are you doing! Get moving, now!”

Even at his urgent command, she couldn’t bring herself to leave easily.

Why...

She never imagined she would receive this kind of help from someone belonging to a religious order, especially in the middle of a labyrinth.

Tightly biting her lip, she said, “My name is Hua Capellia, leader of an exploration party under the Empire. Which order are you from?”

“The Solarian Church.”

The Solarian Church. It was a name she had never heard before, but she engraved the words firmly into her mind.

“I’ll remember that.”

Then, she hoisted her unconscious brother onto her back, and began running toward the opposite side of the corridor.

Are they finally gone?

Feeling the presence of the two siblings grow distant, Kai refocused his attention on the opponent before him.

I just hope they can keep running for a long time.

In fact, this was the standard strategy for defeating the Ancient Gatekeeper. Send its designated target quickly to the upper or lower floor.

When that happens, the Gatekeeper enters a frenzy.

Once enraged, it would attack everything nearby. Of course, the frenzy buff drastically boosted its attack power and speed, but at the cost of its judgment.

It’s better to fight a strong beast than a skilled hunter.

Kai had only one task from this point on. He had to prevent the Gatekeeper from chasing after the siblings until they made it to the upper floor.

“Come at me.”

At Kai’s taunt, the Gatekeeper kicked off the ground and charged forward. However, its gaze didn’t hold Kai anywhere within it.

Boom!

“Argh!”

It only lightly brushed past him, focused solely on reaching its designated target.

Gritting his teeth, Kai stepped in and blocked the Gatekeeper’s path with his body.

Once it locks onto a target, it won’t retaliate against anyone else, even if attacked.

Kai needed to shave off as much of its HP as possible right now. He also had to stop its advance at the same time, a role that was anything but easy, especially for someone who had been a novice until not long ago.

Good thing I learned a few Solarian Church skills while getting a Benevolence loan.

Not through the temple, but directly from the Solarian God herself, he learned a total of five new skills.

“Solarian Binding.”

A whip made from holy power perfectly wrapped around the Gatekeeper’s neck.

Got it.

With this, he could at least prevent it from recklessly breaking away. Maintaining that hold, Kai immediately cast another skill. He used double casting.

“Judgment of God.”

Condensed like storm clouds, two golden streams of holy power crashed down directly onto the Gatekeeper’s head. Kai briefly checked its health and let out a faint sigh.

As expected, this isn’t enough.

The damage barely shaved off 7% of its HP. Given his current stats, its Defense and Health were overwhelmingly high.

Judgment of God is basically my strongest skill right now, and even that only dealt 7%.

To make matters worse, the skill had a cooldown, so he couldn’t spam it endlessly like Holy Explosion.

But thinking about what I lack won’t solve anything.

He had to maximize the results with the tools he had. A holy magic circle spread across Kai’s left hand.

“Solarian Shield.”

A majestic golden shield materialized on his arm. This skill, which also existed in MID Online, possessed several unique properties.

First of all...

Boom!

The Gatekeeper charged in recklessly and slammed into the shield head-on. An ordinary shield would’ve been shattered instantly, but the Solarian Shield held firm.

[You have blocked the enemy’s attack with Solarian Shield.]

[The shield remains intact due to its effect.]

As long as my holy power doesn’t run out, this shield can never be destroyed.

And there was one more trait.

[Damage received has been reduced by 15% due to Solarian Shield.]

The skill’s proficiency was still low, so the reduction was only 15%, but it was more effective than most Unique-grade shields. More importantly, the fact that it was absolutely indestructible made this skill insanely versatile.

Many players used this in MID Online.

Ever since Kai had pioneered the path of the Battle Priest, countless players had followed in his footsteps. This was considered an essential skill for the Shield Priest build developed by an American player named Gerrick Heisman.

“A holy shield that never breaks and reduces incoming damage even when taking hits.”

In other words, this was a weapon that could never leave one at a disadvantage when going up against an undead.

The Gatekeeper charged forward once again. Even though Kai blocked its body slam with the Solarian Shield the impact alone shaved off 15% of his health in one strike.

However...

Boom!

When Kai slammed the Gatekeeper’s head with the Solarian Shield, its body slightly staggered. Meanwhile, the damage Kai received was exactly zero.

This is one of the skill’s key strengths.

The shield reduced damage only when blocking attacks, but he wouldn’t take any damage at all if he successfully landed his own attack first, just like now.

Of course, if my timing’s even slightly off and it counts as a defense, I’m screwed.

But Kai had the skill to match the timing.

And the damage isn’t bad either.

Each shield strike chipped away 3% of its health. At this rate, he would be able to drain a massive amount of HP before the siblings even escaped the fourth floor. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Everything’s going smoothly so far.

There wasn’t a single flaw to point out.

Kai continued swinging his shield several more times at the charging Gatekeeper, and just as he brought its HP down to 34%...

[You have been hit by a Poison Arrow.]

[You have been afflicted with status effect Fatigue.]

[You are poisoned! Losing 2,000 HP per second.]

“Damn it.”

Of course, things had been going too well for him.

***

“Got it. Direct hit.”

The Archer, watching from the far end of the corridor, grinned as the other four laughed quietly.

“Maybe it’s because I dreamed of pigs last night. Talk about unexpected luck.”

“Don’t get too excited yet. We haven’t killed either of them.”

“I don’t think we should get too close. That monster managed to shave the Gatekeeper’s HP down to 34% all by himself.”

They had been watching Kai ever since the Gatekeeper’s HP was at 70%. At first, it was just out of curiosity. If he died to the Gatekeeper, they planned to simply scoop up the dropped loot and leave. But as they continued to watch, the situation started unfolding in an unexpected way.

“That guy... he might actually take down the Gatekeeper alone.”

“Tsk, now I almost feel bad.”

“Bullshit. Don’t pretend you actually care.”

“Hehehe, you caught me.”

The five-man looter party caught the scent of profit in the situation. Kill the Cleric, then land the final blow on the Gatekeeper. That was the grand plan they came up with, but the reason they chose to act now was simple.

“We need to drain some of the Cleric’s blood first.”

“Exactly. If he can fight the Gatekeeper alone, facing us at full strength would be suicide.”

It was out of fear of the Cleric’s skill in soloing the Gatekeeper that drove them to act. To balance the scales between him and the Gatekeeper, they decided to start attacking Kai directly. Of course, from Kai’s perspective, he could only curse from getting attacked.

Damn it. I knew things were going too smoothly.

Front and back, he was now forced to watch enemies on both sides simultaneously. However, crisis always came hand-in-hand with opportunity.

34%.

Kai looked at the Gatekeeper’s HP and nodded to himself.

The looters’ interference was unexpected, but this actually works out better.

As several more spells and arrows from behind struck Kai, the Gatekeeper charged straight toward him, its wildness resembling that of an enraged bull. Right before colliding with it, Kai pressed his body tightly against the wall without hesitation.

With 34% HP remaining, the Gatekeeper rushed past Kai for the first time and disappeared into the dark corridor beyond, straight toward the party that had attacked him.

“Judging by the damage I’ve taken, they’re roughly a level 140 party.”

At that level, they would take some damage, but that would also be able to shave off at least 4% of the Gatekeeper’s HP.

—That crazy bastard!

—Run... Damn it, it’s too late!

-—Just fight! The Gatekeeper’s blocking the path so he can’t hit us anyway!

—We can take it down ourselves! Just don’t let him steal the last hit!

Kai listened to the chaos erupting down the corridor and muttered, “But are they even aware?”

The moment the Ancient Gatekeeper’s HP dropped to 30%, phase two would begin, and even its name would change.

“Mad Gatekeeper.”

That was what it would be named next.