This is going to be easy, I giddily thought as we traversed the cramped tunnels of the Garg-Ants’ nest.

Paritor and Melonomi had higher levels than my previous teammates—Megan and Nitana had just stepped on level fifty. And this time, my party had a Healer. This run might be slower because we only had one DPS, but much safer.

I chose to do the Garg-Ants quest first since it was the lowest difficulty we had lined up. I was also familiar with the monsters, which meant fewer chances to make mistakes and embarrass myself. From experience, I knew we should proceed cautiously, taking out Garg-Ants a pack at a time not to get overwhelmed, especially with only half the party doing the actual fighting.

“The first room,” I said, stopping beside a circular opening. I was at the front of our line; the rest halted behind me. “Let’s see what we have.” Pretending this was my first time doing this quest would make my tanking performance later much more impressive. “Everyone get ready.”

I coated my Blighted Vinereaver’s Revenge set and [Smoldering Hooves of Kaghao] with Nam-Go, giving my retribution, [Blight Cloud], and [Tongues of Flames] the chance to poison.

Nam-Go Poison Bottle | Item Level: 15

Epic | Consumable | No Requirement

A potent poison carefully extracted from the Nam-go serpent and distilled to its most concentrated form over a fortnight. This modestly difficult-to-prepare concoction reduces a poisoned unit’s Armor and Health Regeneration by 10% and causes a loss of 2% of Max Health per second. (If applied to equipment, it has a 12% (10.5%) chance of poisoning the enemy per damage instance. Poisoned Status lasts for 6(+5) seconds)

Duration: 10 Minutes

Uses: 5/5

I’d usually do this using [Morabodry] because I no longer had a source of [Nam-Go Poison Bottle] with Bawu gone to only the Dalkanus knows where. But this wasn’t the time to skimp on resources. Best hoof forward in front of people I barely knew.

I followed it with other buffs and routine for stacking [Cleansing Flames]. But I left [Ancestral Constitution] for later. How would my party mates react to self-flagellation?

“I’m done with my preparations,” replied Paritor, his fire spirit family crowding around us.

“One moment,” said Melonomi. She held a flask upside down by its long neck and shook it like a maraca. “This buff lasts two minutes. Got plenty stocked from leveling my Ocadule; I can buff you guys for days.”

She threw the bottle at our feet, a skill similar to my [Poison Bottle Cast]. Instead of poisonous gas engulfing us, it was a fragrant pink cloud. My Health, Armor, and Magic Resilience increased—a nifty buff. Plus, I had a cotton candy scent.

“It also affects summons… maybe,” she said, scratching her horn. “Paritor, can you check? I haven’t tried on summons before. Really making it obvious I’m not invited to parties, both in this game and real life.” We chuckled at her self-deprecating joke, including Paritor, though his laugh seemed forced, a bit hesitant as if he wasn’t sure how to react.

“Ye-yes, my fire spirits’ tankiness increased,” he told Melonomi. But his eyes were glued to his screen. “And, er, I’m scarcely invited to parties as well. We have that in common.”

She giggled. “Isn’t it a sad thing to have in common?”

“Now, you’re both in the same party,” I said, clapping my hands. “Why don’t we see how our team does?”

As soon as we entered the spherical chamber, Paritor’s fire summons scattered, attacking any Garg-Ant they could reach. The entire room was alerted to our presence. Bastions, Buttresses, and Brios—a surge of red, blue, and green—angrily skittered our way.

Divine bovine! I pushed down curses about to leave my mouth as I turned to Paritor. He was engrossed in buffing and healing his pets. Did he think we could take on all of the Garg-Ants at once? Megan, Nitana, and I had some issues during our run, and our overall party strength wasn’t too far below this party.

But Paritor might be right.

His summoned spirits were surprisingly more resilient than expected.

The hounds had lifesteal—their health bars jumped up with each bite—and radiated a red aura, attracting enemies away from the other spirits. Furious fire goblins swarmed one Garg-Ant, killing it in a blink before jumping on the next one. Paritor also summoned a lone spirit toad, bigger than the hounds, its blue body adorned by bright runes scrawled in purple flames.

The toad positioned itself behind the defensive arc of the blue doggies. As it croaked, ghostly purple armor encased the other summons. The toad also had magic circles below its webbed feet—auras that strengthened allies in its radius. Juiced up, the blue doggies could each tank four Bastions at once, their health bars on a delicate balance.

“Sorry I didn’t immediately pull the mobs,” I told Paritor. I kept my tone friendly, but I was indirectly calling him out for starting the fight out of turn. It was on him if he chose to interpret it that way.

“I was going to—apologies,” he switched his thought, quickly reading between the lines. “As the tank, you should be opening the battle. I confess I’m not used to party gameplay.”

“It’s all good,” I said. “I was just surprised when your summons attacked.” Using [Poison Bottle Cast], I covered the Bastions flocking to the blue doggies with [Morabodry], followed by [Gnawing Rot] to soften them up.

Lvl. 7 Gnawing Rot: Spread a festering miasma over a small area (maximum of four), causing any enemies entering it to lose each second 97 Armor and Magic Resilience (maximum 545), 2% Armor and Magic Resilience (maximum 10%). The effect of the decay persists for 13 seconds after leaving the area.

Cost: 85 Energy

Duration: 45 Seconds

Cooldown: 5 Seconds

“Thank you for the help,” he said. “I’ll wait for you to pull next time.”

“I’m going ahead before I lose my job as a tank,” I said, chuckling, inserting a bit of humor to show I wasn’t angry.

I waved a shield at Melonomi, beckoning her to follow me. “Back me up,” I said. “Paritor can handle himself—he’s strong. We’ll stall the other Garg-Ants until Paritor can reach us.” And with that, I praised Paritor, shone the spotlight on him, and ensured the Healer supported me, not him. Dying was the last thing I wanted to happen.

As Melonomi and I charged with [Horde Stampede] past the warring fire spirits and Garg-Ants, Melonomi hurled a couple of bottles at the hounds. The circular glass containers broke, spilling their contents and coating the ground with glowing green liquid. The blue doggies were healed.

“Supporting a party as a Potion Brewer seems expensive,” I said as I wore [Greater Pyro Shell] and then whipped myself.

“I can say the same thing with your poison bottles,” she replied. “Maybe people don’t invite me because they think I’ll charge for the potions.”

“Are you going to charge us?” I zigzagged to screen the Garg-Ants attempting to go past, taunting them with [Enraging Call]. Flaming tentacles waved in my wake. Garg-Ants from the other half of the chamber diverted their attention to me.

“Not if you won’t charge me for the poison bottles,” Melonomi said, laughing. She stayed back a safe distance to not risk drawing Garg-Ants.

“It’s a deal then.”

Picking a spot, I dropped [Gnawing Rot] and [Morabodry], then made a quick loop to spread [Tongues of Flames] around me like a dog turning in circles before lying down. Then I stood my ground, raising my shields. Scythe-like mandibles slammed against them.

Red Bastions soon encircled me, the purple flames dancing on their exoskeletons joined together. My shell exploded on their ugly faces. Green Brios healed their injured brothers—or sisters if Garg-Ants were similar to real ants—following it up with putting [Rotting Bog] on me. I wasn’t too concerned that my health regeneration was reduced because Melonomi was there.

I recast [Greater Pyro Shell], further reducing my Ancestral Shroud. My AS regeneration was pitiful. But I didn’t need to worry about AS costs because that was the last shell I’d wear for this battle. A Buttress had placed me under [Skill Lock]. Four other Buttresses joined in to turn it into a pseudo-Silence.

Even if I could continue using [Greater Pyro Shell], the Buttresses would dispel it. No point crying over spilled milk. I didn’t even like milk.

My shell exploded. The Gargants could now directly chomp my health. The damage was immense! Red threatened to cloud my vision. [Healing Touch] pushed me out of the danger zone, but [Skill Lock] prevented me from healing again. My life was in Melonomi’s hands.

Glass shattered amid pinchers clanging on steel. Green liquid pooled around my hooves, soaking into the hard earth. The ground beneath me pulsed with light, restoring life each second like the second effect of [Healing Touch].

“Drink the potion I gave you!” yelled Melonomi.

[ Status | Attentive Care: Increase restorative effects of consumables by 9% if in the same party as the Brewer ]

Eclairs told me about this, I thought, reading its effect. The game devs had designed crafting Ocadules to be useful even in combat, not relegated to only moneymaking. Eclairs, who specialized in baking, could still contribute to the party by boosting the effects of her food buffs and doing minor healing on the side.

That said, most people would still prefer specialized builds to those that only tangentially filled a role. I understood Melonomi’s gripes but couldn’t really fault players for ignoring her.

“Keep drinking them after each cooldown,” she added. “The buff stacks up to four times.”

“Will do!” I blocked two Garg-Ants headbutting me, each shield turning away a set of mandibles. I couldn’t do anything to the pesky ones gnawing on my behind except kick back. A lot of damage that did, I sarcastically thought.

“Are you still doing okay?” Melonomi asked. “I can take some off you.”

“Don’t! You’ll get Skill Locked!”

Paritor was halfway through clearing his side of the egg chamber. I needed to hang on. Melonomi’s potions and skills were doing a tremendous job of sustaining me—so long as I wouldn’t get killed in one hit, I’d heal back to full in a blink.

Holes continued to spew out Bastions. They scampered on top of their siblings to reach me. This was more than twice the number of Garg-Ants I tanked with my previous party. Incoming DPS was too much! I might get deleted in a second if I remained still. Heals wouldn’t save me then.

I leaped over the Garg-Ants, almost tumbling when my left front hoof slid off the hardened plates of one. My hind leg got snagged by pinchers. I cast [Horde Stampede] and forcefully pulled my limb. Freed, I galloped to a more open space, navigating the floor made of red Bastion, and did another small round.

The [Tongues of Flames] were a game changer.

Lvl. 3 Tongues of Flames: Fiery tendrils rise from the ground, dancing across a small area. They strike nearby enemies with (50% Attack Power) as Fire Damage (affected by the user’s Attack Speed). Each attack has a (55%) chance to Burn for (15%) of the initial damage per second, lasting 4 seconds. (Stacks with other Burn instances.) Enemies inside the area of effect will have their Fire Resistance reduced by (-12%).

[Skill Lock] didn’t affect it, probably because it was an item skill automatically cast. The flaming tentacles could poison Bastions outside the small AoE of my [Blight Cloud]. And thanks to the [Pristine Frostore Amulet] from Gula, [Tongues of Flames] would occasionally Freeze Garg-Ants too.

Pristine Frostore Amulet | Item Level: 15

Epic | Amulet

86 Magic Resilience

20 - 34 Magic Power

Requires: 32 Spirit, 13 Sense

--------------------

+18% Water Resistance

+10% Freeze Resistance

+5% Chance to Freeze the target for 2 seconds

Flames that freeze? Such a funny thought. This demonstrated the Crowd Control potential of [Tongues of Flames]. More importantly, Garg-Ants were Burned left and right, reducing their DPS through [Mantle of Kindling].

Lvl. 3 Mantle of Kindling: Intense heat deep within bursts outward, enveloping you with protection from the ancestors. Punish those who would strike you by Burning them. (25% chance to Burn attacker with 23% of Attack and Magic Power per second for 6 seconds). Those Burned by any source will be weakened by (-11% Attack and Magic Power) when attacking you. Replenish (45 + 0.5% of Armor) Ancestral Shroud when you Head-On Block an attack from a Burned enemy; limited to once every second.

I settled on a new spot. Melonomi had also shifted her position—somewhere behind me, but away from the Garg-Ants milling about. She had good situational awareness.

There was a moment of respite as Bastions got entangled with each other in their eagerness to get to me. I didn’t think I could break out of encirclement again with their increased numbers.

“Last stand,” I said with clenched jaws. One, two, three… I ticked off the seconds before the buffs of [Band of Loamy Renewal] would kick in. Just in time as I got surrounded. Different colored clouds made it hard to see what was happening—Melonomi did her best to keep me alive, throwing various potions at me.

“Apologies for the delay!” Paritor’s voice came, layered by growls that grew stronger.

The cavalry had arrived. But was he in time?