“Since the Great Hunt is mostly out in the open,” said Kezo, “a Squall Banshee can fly even higher during the event. Sometimes you can’t even see it.”

“Her!” Megan cut in.

“Yeah, Kezo.” I winked at Megan. “The name’s Banshee, not… Ban-It? Okay, that’s not a very good joke.” I got my party mates to chuckle. Even Nitana begrudgingly snorted. Just another day for Herald Stone, the Comedy Guy.

Kezo went on, “If there’s a snowstorm, the Banshee’s practically invisible. It… she can also hide among treetops or inaccessible cliffs. You’ll just hear her screams as her minions descend.” He grinned at Megan; she smiled back. “Almost everyone hates the Squall Banshee,” he said. “Except maybe those with the Pathfinder Ocadule. They can easily—”

“Let me guess,” cut in Nitana. “Find her?”

“Yeah. Oh, there are Hunter-Warrior Ocadules with high Tracking skills too. Anyway, it’s good that we can see the Squall Banshee for this fight, or I would’ve canceled this.”

“Is this why you said this is different than what we’re used to?” I asked.

“It’s one reason—she’s such a frustrating chore to fight, more than anything we have faced. I did say I’ll take care of her, but she also has a respectable amount of crit res. I’ll struggle… somewhat… to bring her down. I stacked Critical Rating, but not high enough to completely counter her crit res.”

My ears wiggled at that.

Only recently had I tanked monsters critting like mad. Facing them, I was as unprepared as a fresh graduate about to face the real world. Actually, those monsters could land so many crits because I was unprepared—zero Critical Resistance on my stat table. Building against crits and similar mechanics was important in Nornyr Online and other RPGs I had played a decade and a half ago. It should be necessary now, as well.

Don’t forget about crits, I added to my mental checklist. So much stuff to work on.

This was the disadvantage of building a tank. DPSers could build on one central aspect like Kezo going all in on crits. He mixed in other mechanics, no doubt, and had equipment for switching against various enemies, but it was a crit build just the same.

In contrast, a tank couldn’t rely on one mechanic, like only high Evasion, for example. If someone came along who could overcome or bypass Evasion, then that was it for the tank. Several defensive layers were necessary, taking into account as many possible enemies and challenges, carrying different armor sets, shields, and consumables.

I was still far, far from the ideal tank—just a second-hand bicycle with planks of wood tied on for protection.

“You’ll rarely encounter dodge-anti-crit monsters on this mountain,” said Kezo. “They mostly hang out in level seventy areas. People who can reach those places don’t farm them—too much of an effort. Just target something else. But our goal isn’t to kill the Squall Banshee per se.”

“Per se,” Nitana muttered with an inflated accent.

“The goal is to survive her summons,” said Kezo, “and practice in a chaotic environment while I do the killing part, which might take some time. We’ll build team dynamics, especially now we’ve got a full party of six.”

Melonomi shook her hands and wriggled her body, jiggling the many bottles she carried. “I’m getting the chills,” she said. “The Squall Banshee is from the Great Hunt, made stronger by the Blight—that’s like a double whammy. What if I mess up?”

“Do-don’t worry yourself about such im-impossibility,” stammered Paritor. Megan and Nitana shared my surprise. Even Paritor seemed shocked by his speaking up. He hesitantly added. “Yo-you’ll do well, same as you did in our pre-previous fights.”

“Um… thanks, I guess.”

“Buffs up, everyone!” Kezo broke the awkward stare between Paritor and Melonomi. “Don’t forget my reminders from earlier: focus on the summons, burst them down one by one. They hurt bad and will be a real problem if left alone to multiply.”

“I’ll gather them so they’re easier to kill,” I said, slightly unconfident in my commitment. Could I handle level seventy summons? Or was I going to eat my words?

Surely, my words, coming from me, were delicious. But I felt full and didn’t want a bite of dishonorable letters.

In the lead, Kezo raised his blazing swords and glanced over his veiny, decaying flesh pauldron. “Everyone ready?”

“Ready!” we all replied in unison, yet completely unplanned. We looked at each other and laughed. Herald Stone unites the hearts of the party.

I am the heart of the party.

“Here we go!” With vast arcing swings, Kezo hurled tornadoes of black flames entwined with green miasma at the Halloween decoration dangling from the ceiling. The dark swirls unraveled, carpeting a vast area with explosions, the Squall Banshee in the center.

Blasts reverberated. The cavern shook. Some stalactites broke, and their pointy ends fell like a castle’s portcullis on us. “Evasive maneuvers!” I yelled, casting [Horde Stampede]. I had been waiting for a long time to say that.

A Craboreling-sized rock directly above me got dislodged, whistling straight down.

Was I going to follow my own instructions? Was I stepping to the side?

No!

I wasn’t wimpy and soft! Herald Stone was harder than a rock!

My [Greater Pyro Shell] exploded as the rock crashed against my shields and broke into fragments. Half of my health got shaved off but quickly regenerated. I smirked. Heh, I’m hard. That would’ve gone badly if I died right there; I had no clue how much damage the falling rock would deal.

But my triumphant cheek dropped when I noticed the Squall Banshee’s health bar was unscratched—Kezo didn’t roll a crit, and his huge attack got Evaded. High crit res coupled with Evasion seemed like a good base for a tank build for PvE. Many boss monsters crit a ton.

Kezo audibly clicked his tongue in annoyance, his long cooldown wasted. “Rarely anyone stacks Critical Rating so high,” he explained. “At some point, it just isn’t worth it.”

I nodded, understanding him. A higher Critical Rating translated to less of other stats, trading off the consistency of crits with DPS or survivability. Why stack the chance to crit that high if only to kill a few specific monsters? Better avoid those and build up crit multipliers or something else instead.

Looking at it from the other side, exploring obscure tanking mechanics would be worthwhile. Weaker than meta builds, for sure, which was why barely anyone would bother making… or breaking through them. And therein laid the possible advantage—bringing an extendable knife to a gunfight might surprisingly catch someone off guard. It was the basis of my philosophy as a connoisseur of off-meta options. Though a high Evasion and crit res build would presumably be a staple in the PvP scene, considering crit builds were pretty common.

Kezo sent smaller pillars of flames upwards at the expanding rolls of smoke obscuring the Banshee. A blur whizzed out of the dark clouds, swerving around the intact stalactites like a loose pinball.

“Oh, heck. It’s stupid fast,” said Nitana.

Some of Kezo’s hits missed their mark. Of those that landed, only about half procced crits. The rest couldn’t overcome the Banshee’s resistance and remained normal attacks that were Evaded.

Paritor’s fiery goblin archers aimed their crossbows up. They let loose volleys and reloaded in a blur. Many arrows hit the zooming Banshee, though even more missed it. The arrows didn’t do any damage. “Bloody damnation!” he snapped. We all jumped in surprise at his outburst.

“Uhhh…” said Nitana, with raised brows at Paritor. She shrugged and turned to her best friend. “Megan, let’s try shooting the Banshee too.” Their fire spells lit the cavern even brighter but didn’t contribute much. Or at all.

“I can’t hit her!” complained Megan. “She’s too quick!”

Moving fast was a highly effective survival tactic. I had done it in several fights. But I couldn’t run around much when facetanking.

Boom! BO-BOOM!

More stalactites broke—a rain of rock spears. “Spread out!” I cast [Horde Stampede] again. “Survival is the priority!” My party mates scattered as rubble crashed around us. My speed buff also affected Paritor’s summons. It was hilarious to see more than a dozen creatures mill about like headless chickens while the sky fell. I decided to stand still and look cool getting hit by a couple of times.

“How do we kill that thing?” Melonomi asked.

“I can’t contribute anything, Kezo,” said Paritor. “Do we have a chance at completing this mission?”

“I’ll get the hang of aiming where it’s headed,” said Kezo.

"She!” Megan shouted over the crash of Chief Nogras-sized rock in our midst.

“Where she’s headed,” Kezo corrected himself. “And she’ll soon stop moving when she—Look! She’s starting to summon!”

“Finally, I have a role.” I braked hard, straightening my forelegs and digging my hooves into the ground. Then I spun around. The Blighted Squall Banshee stopped midway between the floor and ceiling.

It was hard to see her with all the flashy skill effects. Kezo and the rest let loose everything they had on our stationary enemy, and it was starting to show. In short bursts, the Squall Banshee’s health bar was decreasing—that must be Kezo’s crits landing. I wasn’t sure if the others actually helped.

“SKKREEAAYAAAH!”

The piercing wail turned into a shockwave, spreading out to disperse the thick smoke and flames wrapping the Banshee. It slapped us down. We staggered. For a second, my vision doubled. My buffs disappeared; all of ours did. White noise filled my hearing.

[ Status | Minor Silence: Cannot Cast Any Skill for 8 seconds ]

[ Status | Disoriented Vision: Accuracy Rating Reduced by 250 for 15 seconds ]

[ Status | Disoriented Disposition: Attack Speed and Cast Speed Reduced by 30% for 15 seconds ]

Megan frantically shouted something I couldn’t comprehend. The white noise lingered. She shouldn’t be so panicked; Kezo had told us this would happen. Nitana laughed at her best friend. Melonomi lobbed multi-colored bottles at us, preparing for the actual fight—she wasn’t using a skill, or it’d get Silenced. Paritor gathered his summons around him, ready to rebuff them when the Silence expired.

According to Kezo, the Blighted Squall Banshee would stop zipping around whenever she’d cast spells or summon her pets—the opening to her hit.

The problem was the Silence and the other crap. Kezo, Megan, and Nitana couldn’t do anything. Only Paritor’s archer goblins fired with normal attacks while we watched them miss every shot.

The Banshee grabbed the sides of her drooping mouth with hooked fingers and pulled it open even wider, displaying jagged teeth—a disconcerting sight. Megan screamed. We could hear each other now. But Megan’s voice was drowned by the shrill screech of the Banshee. This was a different wail from before. Out of the Banshee’s mouth gushed ethereal spirits. More than a dozen [Lvl 42 Vengeful Penna] soon floated in formation around her. They looked like ghostly cherub angels—like those winged-baby statues in churches, but with contorted furious expressions.

Yet another shriek echoed. Swirls of wind cloaked the Pennae. This must be the Squall Banshee’s buffs.

Freed from the Silence, Kezo started attacking the Banshee again, ignoring the summons. The window of opportunity would soon close for him. “The angels!” he shouted. “Focus on—Watch out, they’re coming!”

“I’m on it!” I galloped to meet them, estimating their trajectory.

My party mates spread out behind me, targeting the Pennae swooping down. The freaky angels weren’t as tanky as I expected, probably because they were only level forty. I thought the Banshee would summon way stronger creatures. That boosted my confidence.

I’d test tanking a couple of Pennae and retreat if it was too much. But I didn’t think there’d be any problems.

The first one was closing in. My [Greater Pyro Shell] just came off cooldown, ready to be immediately recast if popped. Shields up. A couple of meters between us. One.

The wispy cherub opened its mouth and soundlessly shouted.

We clashed.

[ You have died. Automatic Death Respawn Setting: ON ]

[ Detecting Resurrection Skill in Party. Disable Automatic Death Respawn: Y/N? ]