"What the heck!" he shouted, "What kind of skill is this? The damage is so high???"
"It should be a skill that requires a cast bar," Lord Batman remained calm and said, "These Monsters have no awareness of countering a cast bar, allowing it to be completed, naturally resulting in full damage. Also, this damage is probably the product of some data and some data, the further it is cast, the more exaggerated the damage increase. It's clearly meant for dealing with Monsters."
Lord Superman breathed a slight sigh of relief, he figured it out, just like how Shiller was writing a case for a long time just now, probably casting a bar, taking advantage of the Monsters' lack of knowledge about skill mechanisms. No one in this game is weak, and basically, no one would give him the space to cast a bar.
Bruce also calculated in his mind, Shiller stood there for a dozen seconds just now, and even if it wasn't all casting, he'd still have to cast for several seconds. If interrupted, the damage wouldn't be so high.
Greed himself understood this situation, he said, "No wonder the negative state given by mental disturbance is Mishandling, as long as you cast for one or two seconds and apply a few layers of Mishandling on the opponent, it's not that easy to interrupt."
"That's right," Gray Mist said, "but our skill set is more inclined towards Monsters, and it's quite flawed against players. Should we help them solve that Robot too?"
"No, we've already done what needed to be done. Let's withdraw from the combat area and explore further inside."
After speaking, Greed turned around and walked out. The other two didn't stop him either. He indeed contributed the most to this battle, so it's reasonable for him to go in first. Besides, such a vast place couldn't possibly have only one Monster, and it's not like whoever goes out first can get the treasure first. If they stay here a bit longer, maybe other Monsters will also be taken care of by Greed.
After Greed went out, he didn't expect to find the treasure directly. He knew his own luck. Nonetheless, he found a switch in a room, turned it off, and cured his blindness status before heading back into the hallway.
At that moment, he noticed some swaying Shadows on the wall, very faint, like ripples of water, and if not observed carefully, one wouldn't notice them. Greed was curious and focused intently in that direction, only to discover that this thing could be attacked.
Standing from a distance, he first chanted, then settled. With a bang, the target was blasted off the wall.
This thing turned out to be a Spider with a circle of legs, its body semi-transparent, making it very hard to see in bright places. Greed realized if he hadn't turned off the light just now, his vision would have been very blurry, and he definitely would've been ambushed by this thing.
Greed only killed this one but noticed there seemed to be others on the wall, leaving a surprise for Lord Superman and Bruce.
Continuing inward, sure enough, there were patrolling Robots, but not the large kind; they were about the size of Human and came in pairs.
Without teammates to draw attention, having to chant was indeed a hassle for Greed. However, he found that chanting wouldn't be interrupted by normal attacks, and the opponent's skill was a linear beam, relatively easy to dodge.
Greed maneuvered while chanting, murmuring to himself, writing against the Robot. Soon, he dealt with the gatekeeper.
As expected, there was something in this room. Greed started rummaging through drawers and cabinets, finding some supplies as well as two pieces of equipment, but unfortunately, he couldn't use either.
One was an Electromagnetic Gun, looking like something from Stark's arsenal, but without any special attributes. Greed thought it might be loaded into Stark's weapons cache, but normal weapons like these just pollute the card pool, having little meaning.
The other was a "Cloak Cleaner," sounding like something for Batman, but actually usable by anyone, it could increase movement speed slightly. However, considering the small combat area with players, increasing speed too much might lead to bumping into walls, so Greed decided against using it.
Others might have Superpower mobility, but for him, relying on two legs to move faster would just increase the risk of running into area skills.
Nevertheless, he stored these two items away, as Gray Mist might find them useful.
"Alas, no good stuff," Gray Mist lamented, "Isn't there anything to increase Luck Value? Otherwise, we might only end up with that necklace this round."
Greed shook his head. The two of them had already used up their lifetime's Luck to get Gray Mist's exclusive equipment, it was normal to pick up junk afterward. After all, if both of them found all the exclusive equipment, no one else would have a chance to play.
Greed was curious about what his exclusive equipment would be, but it would likely have both advantages and disadvantages like Gray Mist's. He hoped for an item that increased chanting speed.
Meanwhile, the remaining two quickly defeated that Robot. After coming out, they tacitly didn't leave together, each choosing a direction and turning into different rooms.
Lord Superman's luck was relatively good; the room he entered had no gatekeeper. Upon entering, he began rummaging through everything, muttering, "Hopefully, it'll give me something good."
Lord Batman could sense he still had some resentment about his sacrifice, but by now, many people had already switched roles, and they weren't in last place either, so it was acceptable.
Unexpectedly, Lord Superman's random search actually yielded an item. The item's name was "Explorer's Skateboard."
Seeing this attribute, Lord Superman immediately got excited and said, "Look, Batman, this is your exclusive equipment!"
"Explorer's Skateboard: See how slippery you are. Doubles the success rate of dodge skills. Gains an additional two Action Points for each successful dodge. Action Points can be overloaded. Each additional Action Point provides a 5% damage increase to the next attack."
"Not bad indeed," Lord Batman remarked, "It's a pity Shiller has also switched players. If only we could pair it with that fog's anti-armor..."
Lord Superman imagined the scene for a moment.
Known: the Gray mist's anti-armor is a group anti-armor. As long as one is inside the battle range, once Gray mist loses HP, everyone else loses HP as well. He couldn't control who loses HP, but this HP loss is affected by evasion too.
If Lord Batman, with this skateboard, enters the range of Gray mist, others would lose HP, yet Lord Batman could evade, and successfully evading grants extra action points, which increase damage.
He hits Gray mist, Gray mist reflects damage, he evades, he increases damage, then he hits again, followed by another damage reflection, another evasion, another damage boost. Isn't this an infinite cycle?
Moreover, in a brawl environment, besides him hitting the Gray mist, others would hit too, and he could benefit from group reflected damage because of high evasion. He wouldn't suffer much damage but could gain many action points and damage boosts. Once the damage boost stacks up, who could stand against him?
It's a pity Batman lacks some burst skills. Though useful, Arrow Rain requires sacrificing a life, which isn't very worthwhile. If he only uses the toolbox to throw darts, only the first throw is boosted, and the damage might not be very high.
However, Lord Batman realized the strength of this skill and said, "The key is the action points. If we successfully evade 10 times, we get 10 action points. I wonder if overload has a limit. If not, we might gain several action points in one fight. In this game, time is life."
Lord Superman understood too. Because actions outside battle are turn-based, others get 5 points a turn and can only move 5 spaces before stopping. They, with tens of points each turn, could roam the map freely, claiming all territory with battle rewards.
Lord Superman beamed with delight, eagerly rushing toward the next room.
Bruce's luck wasn't great, encountering a room with a gatekeeper. Thankfully, defeating ordinary Robots wasn't a hassle for him; he knocked them down in a few moves and quickly grabbed a tool inside, though it was quite puzzling.
"Hundred Treasure Bag: Can store 5 additional items. When filled, the owner's success rate of all checks increases by 30%. If the check succeeds, the number required to trigger Hundred Treasure Bag skills decreases by 1, and the success rate increases by an extra 10%."
"What's this thing?" Bruce queried, staring puzzled at the leather bag in hand, then added, "Our tools have an upper limit? But I don't have any check skills."
"Maybe it's meant for someone who hasn't joined yet," Selina replied, "Right now, we don't know what Steve and Bucky's skills are. Oh, and I'm not sure what my skills are either."
"I suspect this item is tailored for you," Bruce said, "Your skill set probably requires checks."
"Oh, damn it!" Selina swore, "I hate stuff that bets on probability!"
"No worries, you've got your exclusive gear now, raising success rates of checks by 30%, and can still stack up, eventually hitting 100%. The real question is whether your check-required skills are strong enough."
"I certainly hope they are," Selina quipped, "But I still feel like you should fight till the end without needing my help."
"I'll do my best," Bruce chuckled.
Just as he finished speaking, the ground suddenly trembled. He instinctively looked toward the rumbling direction and quickly glanced out the window side to realize the spaceship was leaving the ground.
Lord Superman noticed too, disbelief clouding his face: "Seriously, guys, heading back to Krypton???"
"Shiller must be behind this!" Bruce exclaimed, "This scenario probably lacks a plot, how can the spaceship just start? Isn't the subsequent storyline supposed to be a breakout of the frozen Alien Monster?"
"Oh no, oh no," Selina fretted, "Shiller has bailed! Let's follow suit and jump!"
Bruce rushed to the window and peered down, witnessing Shiller had indeed landed. It seemed he lost a bit of HP but not much since he jumped earlier.
But by the time they noticed the spaceship's takeoff, it had already risen over ten meters. Bruce felt bitter: What's with mixing y-axis into a strategy game? Jumping from this height would surely cost a life!
His shield only blocks attacks, not immune to fall damage, nor had any defense-boosting skills. Yet, in a flash, he saw Lord Superman jump too, with the sun held high, only left with a sliver of health. This means, even with high defense bonuses, such a jump nearly kills him. If Bruce jumps, he'd be replaced the moment he lands.
"No time to hesitate, Bruce, jump now!" Selina urged, staring at the screen, "If it carries you out of the competition area, both of us are disqualified!"
Grinding his teeth, Bruce punched the glass, and, amid the icy wind, cursed countless times, yet closed his eyes and took a leap.
Immediately, a white light lit up the snow.
"Success!" Greed and Gray mist simultaneously cheered.