272 A hardy guardian (1)

Looks like I've miscalculated. Somehow, this giant set of armor managed to keep up with a bunch of lightly armored classes at a speed that, considering all that weight, is outright insane. Not to mention, I heard no noises an armor like that should be giving off!

<Probably enchanted with a noise dampening and weight reduction enchantment. I'm running them through our archive. Oh, your opponent is a rich girl from the alpha plane! She funds her own team with her parents' money!>

Must be nice if your parents are flush with cash. But damn, I didn't think behind that hulking armor was a woman! She's taller than most men!

<Tall genes in the family I guess.>

I am not given the time to continue my musings. My two remaining adversaries share a quick exchange of glances, then, they act.

The guardian advances on me and draws a sword from her back that is big enough to be categorized as a two-handed broadsword. And I bet that thanks to another costly weight reduction enchantment, she can wield the thing in with one hand while presenting a near impenetrable defense with her armor and tower shield.

While the guardian keeps me busy, the shinobi goes to check on their companions. All of them look to be in critical condition to me but if the shinobi acts quickly, she might be able to save the scout. Temporarily, that is. Unless they manage to get past me, even if they manage to get that scout out of critical condition, he'll still be done for.

The guardian roars at me with wild ferocity and my attention is forcefully drawn towards her. Guardians have taunt skill? That's so unfair but also interesting. Can monsters learn taunt skills too?

<Yes, but focus on the battle. Your opponent is an upcoming talent with sufficient monetary resources to nurture her into a powerhouse. I'd rather not have her survive this encounter.>

Do I hear the sound of a fat bonus?

<Only if you manage to make her stay, permanently.>

The guardian is keeping a distance from me. She seems uncertain of what is happening. Usually, taunt skills will cause ordinary monsters to attack immediately. Since I am no ordinary monster though, she has only forced me to pay attention to her.

Guardians are a defense oriented class as the name would suggest. She needs me to make the first move so she can answer with an insane burst of counterattacks after blocking my attack. Therefore, until I attack, she will just stand there.

A disadvantage for her that she has yet to realize. From her perspective, she is stalling me, just until her shinobi companion has finished looking after their companions. However, being a stationary target makes her very vulnerable to my magic.

Navi, how do weight reduction enchantments work? I assume that they don't permanently reduce weight since that would defeat the purpose of having a bigger weapon, right?

<Enchantments are complicated and very finicky. If you want to know how they work you'll have to ask Darein or Someone from the academy branch of VR dungeons. It's effect however is simple, the weight does not burden the wearer as much as it should. Other than that, nothing changes.>

So all her equipment is still heavy as can be! My plan will definitely work then.

Taking the symbol for my sand ball spell as a template I will it to expand in size so that all the ground in a three meter radius around the guardian gets turned to sand. She immediately begins to sink into the sand as her weight pulls her down.

Fun fact, you don't fully sink in quicksand. Not so fun fact, if a mage is controlling the sand you are sinking into, you can and will be buried alive.

The guardian also seems to realize this when her knees are already below the sand. The drops her sword and I can feel her activate a skill. The shield begins to glow and from nowhere her body gains the momentum of a freight train.

Shield bash, a skill that allows an instantaneous charge forward. It hits like a train and can be launched from a stationary position. However, the momentum is equally distributed across her body. Or in simpler terms, the force pushing her body below the sand forward is the same as that pushing the part above.

Her problem, the sand resists the forward momentum much more than the air above. This causes her upper body to be brutally pushed forward with all the pressure being borne by her knees. Her knees l, as any humans, can only bend forward. Therefore, with the immense force exerted on them, they first go into a hyper extension before breaking with a snap. With the resistance of her knees gone, her armor being bent and a flesh tearing sound, her upper body is slammed into the sand with the shield first.

Honestly, the shield has saved her. Since the tower shield is massive, it distributes her weight and makes it hard for me to quickly submerge her in the sand. However, even if I can't submerge her immediately, with the state of her knees, she's basically done for.

Now for the shinobi!

Another roar from the guardian sounds through the tunnels. This one is even louder than the one before and contains clear hints of desperation. Even if she knows she's knee deep in… well sand. She still attempts to help her companion.

The taunt skill forces me to pay attention to the guardian. And while she is both immobile as well as unable to attack, her armor is mostly intact. Killing her to get rid of the taunt isn't feasible.

I hear whooshing sounds approach from my left but I'm unable to turn and look at the shinobi that is surely attempting to backstab me.

Trapping her by turning the ground to sand is impossible, she's too light and can step on air. Similarly, my ground fence spell is countered by her air step. If I don't come up with something quick, I'll be majorly hurt by those vicious chain sickles.