Chương 119: Surf God

[Wave 3] Do not let stars reach the water. Damage interrupts Magus cast. Defeat Magus. The prompt appeared as the colosseum floor collapsed beneath them. Packed dirt fractured under Meno and Thorn, breaking into enormous slabs that fell into darkness. Black water surged up through the gaps, swallowing the arena floor, and for one awful second there was nothing below their boots. Then a rope bridge snapped into existence beneath them.

The first wave slammed the underside hard enough to throw both of them against the side ropes. Only two elevated stone platforms remained, one on either side of the flooded arena, with the swaying bridge connecting them. Narrow ladders descended from the platforms toward water violent enough with waves to tear a swimmer away from either one. A cloaked humanoid Magus appeared on the left platform. Above it, a crow-shaped familiar circled on wings of purple fire.

Points of white light had already formed high over the water.

"Boss left. I'll hold it," Meno said, forcing Thorn's armored body across the bucking planks.

"You handle the stars with Bloodwake and False Wings."

"Right," Thorn said. He was already moving toward the opposite end of the bridge.

"Keep the Magus interrupted." Meno rushed the left platform and planted Dominion around the Magus. The medium-range circle locked into the stone as the first white lights began descending, each trailing a bright tail toward the black water. Thorn jumped from the right platform. During the fall, he used Pump Infernal and spent all Chain on Madness Infernal to store a Detonation.

He hit the water feetfirst and vanished beneath the first violent wave, then surged forward as Bloodwake's enhanced swim speed carved a narrow channel through the churning surface behind him. The nearest star was falling toward the center. Thorn reached it, broke the surface, and used a one-legged False Wings kick to launch above the wave. He caught the star against his chest, bursting it into harmless sparks, then dropped back into the water and accelerated toward the next.

Meno remained beside the Magus long enough to reach 100 Anchor after 2 stationary seconds. The cloaked figure raised both hands, and rings of purple-black light formed around its wrists as a visible 4-second cast began. He waited until the spell was nearly finished, then spent all Anchor on Shockwave. The flag burst struck the Magus at point-blank range, shattered the forming spell, and removed only about 1% of its HP. Above him, the familiar changed its circle and gathered black magic in its beak.

Meno raised the shield, and the projectile passed straight through it. The spell hit him before bursting against his armor, black fire washing over his body and dropping him to 97% HP. The shield could stop melee attacks and physical projectiles, but against magic it was just a heavy piece of metal.

"Bird magic bad!" Meno shouted.

"Told you not to block spells!" Thorn growled from the water. The familiar fired again, forcing Meno to step away from the blast and lose the Anchor he had started rebuilding. At the same time, Thorn caught another star near the right platform by kicking himself above the waves, then turned toward a third forming farther away. The Magus vanished from inside Dominion and reappeared on the right platform, the familiar already circling overhead. Another 4-second cast began before Meno fully registered the teleport.

Meno abandoned Dominion and ran onto the bridge, losing all Anchor the instant he left the circle. Thorn's plate armor dragged at every joint, and the permanent Action Speed penalty made each correction late as the unstable bridge rolled beneath him. He activated Sacrificial Dominion for the 50% Movement Speed bonus, but even the added speed could not make up for starting on the wrong side. The Magus completed its cast before Meno entered damaging range.

Dark force struck both players at once, dropping Meno to 87% HP and Thorn to 90% HP. The familiar fired down the bridge. Meno put the shield in front of the bolt by instinct, remembered too late that it meant nothing, and threw himself sideways. The explosion clipped his plated shoulder and slammed him against the rope, leaving him at 84% HP. Below him, two stars began falling on opposite sides of the arena.

Thorn cut through the water toward the nearer one, launched with False Wings, and caught it above the surface. He landed in the next wave already turning, but the second star was descending behind the opposite platform. Even with Bloodwake, he could not reverse the entire length of the arena in time. The star reached the water. White light spread across the flooded colosseum in a flat ring, striking both players and dropping Meno to 74% HP and Thorn to 80% HP.

"Missed one," Thorn said.

"You don't say!" what is going on they need to swap bad strats clippers get ready The Magus teleported back to the left platform and immediately began casting again. Meno was still on the bridge, but Sacrificial Dominion remained active. He forced Thorn's plated body through the swinging ropes, reached the left platform, and stopped inside his original Dominion with less than 2 seconds remaining as Sacrificial expired. Anchor rebuilt at 50 per second inside the circle. The familiar fired while he stood still.

Meno shifted his upper body without moving his feet and let the bolt pass beside his head. At 100 Anchor, he spent everything on a Shockwave, interrupting the Magus just before the cast completed. The edge of the blast caught the familiar and knocked it onto the platform, while the hit scraped the Magus down to roughly 98% HP. The crow regained the air almost immediately. The Magus teleported right again and began another cast. Meno looked across the moving bridge and saw the problem immediately.

There was no path where he could cross, stop, rebuild 100 Anchor, and attack within 4 seconds. Thorn surfaced beneath the right platform and understood it too.

"NEED TO SWAP!" Meno yelled.

"Go, go, go," Thorn confirmed. Thorn kicked out of the water with one leg, rising high enough to bring the Magus into medium range from below. He activated Release, detonating the stored charges through the platform edge. The burst interrupted the cast and dropped the Magus to roughly 93% HP. He followed with a double-legged False Wings launch, shot above the platform, and used a one-legged correction to kill his momentum before he flew over the opposite side.

Thorn had taken the boss, which left the falling stars to a tank in full plate. Meno looked down at his shield, then at the violent water. Swimming in Thorn's armor would be too slow, and climbing the ladders to jump would take too long. He tore the shield free as he jumped, forcing it beneath his boots just before he hit the slope of an incoming wave. For one awful instant, the shield vanished beneath his weight. Then the wave caught its front edge and launched it forward, lifting Meno with it.

Thorn's plated body crouched low over the shield while his sword dragged behind him like a rudder. The next wave tried to turn the shield sideways and roll him into the water, but he shifted his weight, pulled the blade through the opposite side, and forced the shield to slap flat before the armor could drag him under. SHIELD INTO A BOARD SURF GOD PBG IS SURFING IN FULL PLATE NEW TECH A star fell near the right ladder. Meno let the moving wave carry him beneath it and caught the light against his raised forearm.

The next star descended farther left. He tried to force the shield into a tight turn, dug the sword too deeply into the water, and overcorrected. The board spun broadside, carrying him away from the fall line while the star landed just beyond his reach. The resulting flash struck both players, dropping Meno to 64% HP and Thorn to 70% HP.

"This is harder than it looks," Meno said.

"That is the dumbest thing I have ever seen." On the right platform, Thorn restarted his damage cycle. Pump Infernal returned and he banked the first Detonation of a new stack. He landed a harmless attack, manually broke it, and triggered Break Infernal before rebuilding. His next attack became a Pursuit projectile. It struck the stationary Magus and charged him into melee, activating the double-strike window.

The first Chain Detonation landed while the Magus remained above 80% HP, allowing Vervenzal's Verdict to apply both Opening Decree and First Exposure. The second received the same benefits and drove the Magus through the threshold. Combined with the earlier stored Release, Thorn's opening platform sequence reduced the Magus to roughly 75% HP. The familiar folded one burning wing and aimed at him. Meno used Taunt from the water, dragging its attention away from the platform.

"Keep the bird looking down," Thorn said. Meno leaned around the incoming bolt as it exploded behind the shield and lifted the wave beneath him. The Magus teleported to the left platform. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Thorn used Pump Infernal and stored the second Detonation, then launched from the right platform with a double-legged False Wings kick. The straight-line acceleration carried him across the gap cleanly.

His one-legged correction did not. His shin caught the bridge's side cable, twisting his body and throwing him shoulder-first across the planks before he rolled onto the left platform. user error thorn flying roll tech lmao speed too much almost More than 3 seconds had passed since his last attack, and his partial Chain broke from inactivity. The Magus was already deep into its cast. The spell completed and struck them both, dropping Meno to 54% HP and Thorn to 60% HP.

As Thorn tore his leg free of the bridge rope, the familiar fired into his exposed side, and the black explosion left him at 53% HP.

"Use Cannon Infernal," Meno said.

"It has a three-second windup."

"The cast lasts four."

"Shut up. Handle the stars." Meno kept surfing from star to star, riding the waves instead of the path he actually wanted. The controls were terrible. Every turn nearly threw him off, and he could not move in a straight line because the shield only worked when he followed the water's momentum. The focus required was nasty. Once Thorn reached the stationary Magus, the class stopped fighting him. He rebuilt Chain, detonated, and used the resulting Break Infernal window to accelerate the next cycle.

He landed 3 Chain Detonations before the Magus teleported again, bringing it to 68% HP. Meno continued cutting across the lower half of the arena while Thorn attacked. He had stopped trying to overpower every wave and begun using their direction instead, keeping one edge of the shield above the surface and dragging the sword only when he needed to adjust. He caught one star in his free hand. Another fell behind him while the shield climbed a crest, and he twisted far enough to take it against his plated shoulder.

The familiar dove low after Meno, purple fire streaming from its wings. Meno waited until it committed, then used Stun. The bird locked in place for 2 seconds, and its own momentum carried it into the water.

"Bird down," Meno called as the purple flames disappeared beneath the waves. The Magus teleported to the right platform and restored the familiar above it. Another cast began. This time Thorn did not chase. He activated Cannon Infernal from the left platform, locking himself in place for the fixed 3-second preparation. The familiar immediately turned toward the stationary target, but Meno used Taunt before it could fire.

"Bird," Meno called.

"Cannon." The crow redirected toward the water and launched a black projectile at Meno. He angled the shield across the wave, let the blast detonate behind him, and kept moving beneath the next falling star. Thorn's Cannon Infernal projectile crossed the arena with roughly 1 second remaining on the cast. The hit dealt negligible damage compared with a Chain Detonation, but it interrupted the Magus, and the successful connection prevented Thorn's Chain from breaking through inactivity for 5 seconds.

He used that protection to cross with False Wings without racing the normal 3-second upkeep window. A double-legged launch covered the gap, and one controlled correction placed him beside the Magus safely. Thorn used Pump Infernal and stored the third Detonation. After paying the small tempo cost required to restart his Chain rhythm, he landed 3 more Chain Detonations, reducing the Magus to roughly 61% HP. Sacrificial Dominion cooldown refreshed for Meno. He activated it for the 50% Movement Speed bonus.

The aura could not make the shield travel faster through the water, but it made his body respond faster on top of it. Hip and shoulder corrections that had previously lagged behind the waves now snapped into place before the shield's leading edge could submerge. The first sharp adjustment nearly flipped him when he angled around the familiar's incoming projectile. Meno eased off after that, catching the next wave at a better angle until the shield settled beneath his boots. A star descended ahead.

He raised the sword and caught it against the flat of the blade. Another fell near the right ladder, forcing him to lean so far that his free hand skimmed the water before closing around the light. The Magus teleported left alongside the familiar. Thorn banked the fourth stored Detonation, then launched from the right platform.

He used both legs for distance, one leg to correct above the platform edge, and when the familiar fired, a final small False Wings kick slipped him past the projectile while bleeding off the last of his momentum. He landed before the 3-second Chain upkeep window expired and attacked immediately. The first Chain Detonations interrupted the cast, while the second drove the Magus to roughly 56% HP before it teleported again. The familiar followed and fired during Thorn's next sequence.

He abandoned the attack line to dodge the projectile, but the defensive pause lasted long enough for his partial Chain to break. Thorn was not missing the Magus. The arena kept stealing the target away. Two stars began falling on opposite sides of the flooded colosseum. One dropped faster near the right platform, while the other descended beside the left ladder. Meno committed to the lower star, riding up the face of a wave, cutting down its back, and catching the light against his chest.

By the time he drove the sword into the water and forced the shield around, the second star was already touching the surface. The flash dropped Meno to 44% HP and Thorn to 43% HP. The Magus raised its hands and began another cast. Thorn looked down from the left platform.

"Healing pass. Now." Meno saw another star forming beyond the bridge.

"We take the spell. I can't leave the water long enough to climb." Thorn stepped from the platform and used one small, single-legged False Wings kick to slow his fall beneath the rope bridge. He descended toward Meno's moving route while the Magus continued casting. A star was falling slightly ahead of their meeting point. Meno angled the shield into a rising wave and refused to turn directly beneath Thorn, forcing the rendezvous to happen along the star's path instead.

The familiar gathered magic and aimed at Thorn during the drop. Meno used Taunt, pulling the crow's attention toward the water, then leaned around the projectile without abandoning his line. The Magus completed its cast, reducing Meno to 34% HP and Thorn to 33% HP.

"NOW!" Thorn shouted as he entered the short-range healing radius directly ahead of the moving shield. Meno caught the falling star then activated Regen. The 1-second effect restored 50% of both players' maximum HP, bringing Meno to 84% HP and Thorn to 83% HP without forcing the shield to change direction. Thorn never landed in the water.

At the lowest point of his descent, he used a double-legged False Wings kick to rocket upward, corrected with one leg, and returned to the left platform before the Magus began another full cast. The intentional absence broke his Chain, but the reset had bought them both room to survive. Thorn used Pump Infernal and stored the fifth Detonation. SICK TECH PIT STOP MID-AIR BODY BAG DUO POWER SPIKE REGEN OP The Magus teleported right, and Thorn started moving before the cast animation fully formed.

His False Wings launch reached the platform early enough for a normal damage cycle, allowing a direct Chain Detonation to interrupt the spell. When the Magus teleported to the left platform, Thorn used Cannon Infernal rather than attempting another immediate chase. Meno pulled the familiar away with Taunt, and gave Thorn the stationary channel he needed. The projectile interrupted the remote cast. Across the whole controlled exchange, Thorn landed four Chain Detonations, reducing the Magus to roughly 48% HP.

At roughly 0: 58, he banked the sixth stored Detonation. Meno's surfing had improved. He kept one knee low, angled the shield against each wave, and used the sword as a temporary paddle whenever a star's fall line shifted. While he turned to pull the familiar away from Thorn's next Cannon Infernal, a black projectile caught the edge of his plate and left him at 78% HP. When the crow dove closer to follow up, Meno used Stun and sent it locked-winged into the water again. The relief ended with the next teleport.

The Magus appeared on the left platform and restored the familiar. Two stars formed at once, one near the right platform and another closer to the left. The Magus began casting, while the familiar attacked Thorn before Meno's Taunt was available. Thorn launched from the right platform, judged the distance against the cast progress, and realized the crossing would arrive too late. He activated Cannon Infernal while airborne. The ability suspended in the air for its fixed 3-second preparation.

His body stopped in the middle of the gap, unable to move or dodge as the familiar's projectile came toward him.

"No taunt," Meno said.

"Bolt incoming."

"I see it." The black projectile struck Thorn in the side and left him at 76% HP, but he maintained the preparation. Cannon Infernal fired with less than 1 second remaining. Thorn completed the crossing and landed beside the Magus, producing three more Chain Detonations that reduced it to 41% HP. Then he used Pump Infernal and banked the seventh Detonation, sacrificing another small piece of attack tempo to restart Chain.

Meno caught the star near the right platform, but the familiar's earlier projectile had detonated in the water behind him and changed the shape of the wave beneath the shield. The board turned broadside. He dropped his hips and dragged the sword through the surface, recovering before the shield rolled, but the correction carried him away from the second star. It struck the water and reduced Meno to 68% HP and Thorn to 66% HP. Sacrificial Dominion refreshed, and Meno activated it to regain the sharper body control.

His original Dominion was also available again, but a stationary circle was useless while the falling stars demanded constant movement across the arena. The Magus teleported right. This time Thorn crossed without wasting a movement. A double-legged False Wings kick carried him over the gap, and one single-legged correction arrested his momentum at the platform edge. He reached the Magus before the 3-second upkeep window expired and immediately rebuilt his attack rhythm. He landed two more Chain Detonations.

One interrupted the cast, and together they reduced the Magus to 36% HP. The stored Detonations remained untouched. Meno's third Sacrificial Dominion window gave him his best control of the wave. He rode the shield up one crest, dropped down the other side, and caught two closely spaced stars without changing direction. A third fell behind the next wave near the opposite ladder. Meno saw it too late.

Even with the increased Movement Speed sharpening every correction, the shield could not reverse across the violent water fast enough. The star reached the surface, dropping Meno to 58% HP and Thorn to 56% HP. The familiar turned toward Thorn's platform as he prepared the final damage setup. Meno used Taunt to drag its aim away, then caught its dive with Stun and sent it crashing into the water.

"The Magus is in range for Release," Thorn said.

"Wait for the teleport," Meno answered.

"Do not spend the bank before travel."

"I know." Thorn stored the eighth Detonation. Regen was nearly available again, but there was no viable second rendezvous. Leaving the Magus would allow another cast, and leaving the stars would deal shared damage at the worst possible time. The Magus teleported left, restored the familiar, and began another 4-second cast. Thorn launched from the right platform with 8 stored Detonations. Both legs supplied the distance, and one precise single-legged correction carried him over the bridge without touching the ropes.

He landed on the left platform just before the third second and activated Release immediately. The first Detonation interrupted the spell, and the remaining bursts followed with only 0. 1 seconds between them. The familiar vanished, and the Magus took the rest in a continuous black eruption. Each stored Detonation had gained damage from the stacks behind it, giving the full Release the damage of ten and a half ordinary Chain Detonations.

The sixth drove the Magus below 20% HP, allowing Vervenzal's Verdict to apply Final Decree, and the seventh and eighth struck with the same finishing amplification. When the explosions cleared, the Magus remained standing at roughly 3% HP. BIG BOOM SMOKE BANG GO GO GO FINISH IT On the water, Sacrificial Dominion expired as a final cluster of stars began to fall. The familiar restored above the left platform and fired toward Thorn. Meno used Taunt.

The crow turned and launched its projectile into the water behind the shield. The blast raised the wave almost vertically, forcing the board upward until Meno's boots lost contact. He dropped his weight rather than fighting the motion. The shield slapped flat against the surface, caught the water again, and surged forward as the nearest star struck Meno in the chest and burst harmlessly.

"Finish it," he called.

"On it." The Magus survived long enough to teleport to the right platform and begin one last 4-second cast. The familiar reappeared above it, but Taunt remained active and kept its attention fixed on Meno. Thorn launched from the left platform, crossed the gap with a double-legged kick, and used one leg to correct at the right edge. Before he had fully landed, his first attack became a Pursuit projectile.

The strike hit the stationary Magus, dragged Thorn the remaining distance, and activated the double-strike effect. Two seconds later, the Magus was gone. Its cloak collapsed inward and scattered into dark fragments. The familiar screamed once above it before bursting into purple fire, while every remaining star vanished from the sky. The flooded colosseum folded back into itself, the water vanished, and packed dirt returned beneath their feet.

[Wave 4 begins in 5 minutes] peak content SWING MASTER THORN combat shield surfing EASY GO NEXT new era for tanks Meno looked at his view count, which had climbed past eleven million, then back at Thorn.

"You are getting the hang of this," Meno said. Thorn looked at him like he had just said the most obvious thing in the world.

"Of course. I am the best."

"Clearly." Meno laughed.

"You won't be able to handle going back to your stuck-in-the-mud class."

"Can't wait to swap back," Thorn said.

"Also can't wait to watch all the idiot tanks try to copy your shield-surf nonsense and drown."

"Probably one more wave. Don't die."

"Die?" Thorn raised both arms.

"I am speed god now."