*CHAPTER 500 AYOOO*
Working together as a pair, Cynrik and Brance moved from one opponent to the next until there was only a single Chimera left. Collapsing to the ground on their backs after disabling the final creature, their chests' heavy rise and fall directly indicated that they were finally exhausted.
Unlike before, where everything had been an act, NOW they were tired. The lack of a usable weapon left Cynrik at a complete disadvantage since his DEX stat increased only his damage with a bladed weapon.
Thus, although he was well versed in hand-to-hand combat, it was relatively ineffective against the much larger and stronger opponents, unlike Brance, who could still overpower them with his insanely high STR stat.
Lying on their backs, gazing absent-mindedly at the sky, the brothers tried to get control of their heart rates so they could recover some Resource stats.
Wave nineteen had proven a tough challenge for both of them, so Cynrik's resource stats had fallen to dangerous levels. While he escaped every attack and came out of the Wave unscathed physically, his MP and STAM dropped to 38% and 25%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Brance cut a sorry image. Due to his fighting style allowing for attacks to reach him, his Plate armor was dented and cracked in multiple locations, restricting his movement in some spots. Regarding resource stats, Brance was better off than his brother in both MP and STAM, sitting at 40% MP and 50% STAM; however, his HP had taken an enormous hit and fell below 50% before stopping at 47%.
[Fuck, this is embarrassing,] Cynrik complained while sending micro shocks throughout his body to stimulate the muscles into twitching, giving the appearance he was still suffering backlash.
[Only you think so, Cyn; we broke a record! That should have been enough but NOOOO~ you just had to try and set the bar so high no one else could beat it.] Panting heavily, Brance reached up and unbuckled the clasps under his ribcage on both sides, creating gaps in his body armor so that he could breathe easier.
[Says you, if we didn't do things this way, then there is a good chance one of the other LCs would surpass us by one or two kills and earn points in later rounds, putting us at a disadvantage.] The older Jetlensr responded while sitting up and unsheathing his severely damaged Kodachi off his right hip and resting it in his lap for inspection.
Like his brother, after two minutes of laying down, Brance sat up and grabbed his greatsword. Still, instead of inspecting it, he performed the defusion movements and separated it into two shields before examining the extent of the damage.
[As I thought…] Mumbling under his breath, Brance nodded a few times before placing his shields on the ground and closing his eyes to recover.
[Huh? What are you on about?] Confused by his brother's words, Cynrik reached over and snatched the nearest shield and was surprised to see it was still in relatively good shape.
'Well, ain't that a kick in the dick, tsk. A 200k Durability sword is no joke, man; this damn thing still has 55k of its original 100k.' Remembering that the overall durability of Brance's greatsword was 200k, it wasn't surprising to find that the CS Tear MK3 still had more than half its durability remaining.
'Yosh, back on topic, I need to recoup as much MP as possible. There's no telling what kind of freak will step out of that gate in a few minutes.
With that thought in mind, Cynrik tossed a glance at the floating clock display and smirked before closing his eyes and relaxing his body.
-Swarm Event National Record: 4 Hours 59 Minute 55 Seconds, Wave 19, 37 Kills.-
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Back in the Pinhurst Mansion, tensions were high. As predicted by Jessup, the brothers had gone ahead and set themselves down the path to fighting the Wave 20 Boss.
Despite past teams making it this far, the record had not been beaten due to time constraints. To break a record, not only do you need to surpass the kill score, but you also need to do it faster. Thus, being the oldest person in the house, Jessup was the only one with memories of seeing Competitors facing off against the Wave Twenty Boss.
"Hah, empty tanks, damaged gear, and no clue what they are about to face. Sorry Cinyah, but this is where you should step away from the room." Interrupting the heavy silence, Jessup stood and walked in front of his daughter's lifetime best friend.
"Wh…what…no…no, you can't mean." Fear crept into Cinyah's eyes as realization set in, and she digested Jessup's words.
"They can't win, or better yet, they can't win if they keep holding themselves back as they have from the start of Wave One." The older man stated while placing his hand atop Cinyah's head and warmly patting her to calm her down.
"Hold on, what do you mean holding back, Dad…are…are you saying they've been holding back since the beginning? How can that even be possible? If that's the case, why are they so tired?" Maeve cut in while jealously watching Cinyah get headpats.
"Do you honestly believe that someone who fundamentally views things on a different scale than an average person wouldn't be able to predict the outcome of revealing all his cards for everyone watching the competition, friend and foe?"
"I know the full extent of their gear and also the stats, Affinities, and skills of every member of MyrkLys. I need that information if I am to make appropriate gear for them. As such, I can wholeheartedly tell you that Cynrik has handicapped himself and Brance since the moment they stepped foot in their first Event."
"For example, have you seen Cynrik use anything other than his Dark Affinity and Fire? You should know he still has Wind, considering he's had it since a young age. However, he has four Affinities, and if my theory is correct, then it would explain how those swords of his sustained so much damage."
"Even using Dark Mana is a misdirect since he technically has the mutated and extremely rare Umbra Affinity."
"And then there's Brance, who has yet to use his Light Affinity a single time, aside from that sneaky underground attack. He, too, has Four Affinities, yet the two of them are sticking to using generic Elements such as Fire and Terra."
Walking to the kitchen and returning with another beer for himself and Rikard, Jessup continued speaking calmly and collectedly without raising his voice.
"If they were to go all out, I have no doubt we would see an awe-inspiring run, and I wouldn't be surprised if those two numbskulls advanced to Wave 39. But the downside is that they would not only alert their enemies to the full extent of their abilities and power, but they would also paint an even larger target on their backs than is already there."
"I fully believe that Cynrik initially only intended to reach the National record and hop over the bar with one or two kills. But when he noticed how quickly they were advancing due to the sly and extremely deceptive way of killing creatures in the earlier waves, he pushed forward, changing his goal to the Wave Twenty Boss."
"I have fought the Wave Twenty Boss, it's no easy task, and I was already Peak Tier-3 at the time; if Cynrik and Brance want to win, they will be forced into showing skills and abilities they don't want the world to know about, if not, the run ends here, and as you know, Death is the only way out of the Swarm Event." Wearing a solemn expression, Jessup fell silent and allowed his words to sink into everyone's minds.
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