Faced with a formidable foe, the gentleman, who was determined to be a miser, took it upon himself to pull the monster...
Standing at the limit of his casting range, he alternated between Frostbolt and Fireball, keeping Goldtooth slowed at all times. His magic attacks packed quite a punch, putting Goldtooth through the agonies of ice and fire. But a mage's casting range was not all that long, so even its limit was relative. Besides, the terrain in the mine was fairly complicated. After taking several heavy hits from his spells, the Kobold leader closed in on Aige's safe distance...
Just as Goldtooth raised his iron mining shovel with a vicious grin, ready to cleave the scrawny human mage before him in two...
"Bastard!"
A shout of abuse suddenly came from the left, reaching straight into his mind. He lunged furiously at the enemy who had dared insult him... The Goldshire Footman's Taunt had worked!
The burly human Warrior held up his shield and steadily blocked the mining shovel's deadly attack. Once he had secured his footing, he swiftly thrust out his longsword, drawing a spray of blood from the Kobold. The two Wisps began attacking at the same time... They generated very little aggro, so there was no need to worry about them disrupting it.
At present, a Hearthstone minion's Taunt was much like a Warrior's Taunt skill. It could force a chosen target to attack the minion for several seconds and put the minion at the top of the target's aggro list... It was effectively a skill now, with a fairly long magic cooldown.
Under the Goldshire Footman's cover, Young Master Ai was running at full speed in the direction Big Goldtooth had come from. The mine twisted and turned, and only this area had relatively ample room to maneuver. Lord Aige, who had always been fairly accurate at judging distance, could easily tell that this direction would make it easier for him to deal damage.
Once he had taken up his position, he immediately began hurling spell after spell without holding back, concentrating on Goldtooth's weak points. The strength of a rare-tier leader monster was also plain to see in this battle. Goldtooth had an enormous amount of health, and his attack power was impressive as well. His huge mining shovel, made of solid iron, frequently mixed a Cleave into his ordinary swings...
Early on, before they were familiar with the attack, both Wisps had been caught by Cleave's aftereffects and lost some health. Fortunately, even a level-eight rare-tier leader monster could not wipe out a Wisp's one star of health in a single blow with Cleave's aftereffects.
In fact, they still had more than half their health and could easily take another hit. But once Aige learned that his opponent had Cleave, he immediately kept watch for it. Whenever he spotted Goldtooth's windup for the skill, he would order the Wisps to move a short distance away, only sending them back into the fight after Cleave had passed... It was a very simple and effective method. Although it sacrificed some damage output, it did an excellent job of keeping his precious minions safe.
The Goldshire Footman was a diligent and fairly competent low-level tank. Taking advantage of his shield, he had blocked several of Goldtooth's attacks, giving the party members excellent cover to deal damage. But their opponent was a level-eight rare leader monster, after all. After several rounds of attack and defense, the Footman was showing clear signs of running out of stamina...
That was fine. The Lesser Heal Aige had saved until now was meant for just such a desperate moment. In previous fights, no matter how badly his minions were hurt, the gentleman had stubbornly refused to use the precious spell, which could only be cast once a day. He would rather spend time applying bandages and sitting down to recover. His cautious approach had undoubtedly been the right one.
Lesser Heal could be used once a day to cast Lesser Heal on any target, restoring two stars of health. This effect could only restore health and could not increase the target's maximum health.
A flash of brilliant Holy Light left Big Goldtooth utterly frustrated. The troublesome opponent had clearly been nearly out of health, just one hit away from death, when that human mage had cast Holy Light... Damn it, was he a Priest in disguise? Or was he cheating?
Complaints aside, reality was that cruel to the Kobold: he had to start all over again! But the leader monster's tenacity drove him into an even greater frenzy. His shovel swung faster and faster, leaving the human Warrior who had just been given a new lease on life struggling desperately to defend himself!
In fact, the Kobold still had more than half his health. If Aige's party could not kill him before the Goldshire Footman fell, they would be in serious danger...
Aige had long since realized this. Though nervous, he grew even calmer in his actions, striving to make every spell efficient and cast it in the shortest possible time, while aiming specifically for the enemy's vital points. After entering this clearheaded state, his rate of attacks on the enemy's vital points rose another level...
On the Azeroth Continent, everyone, friend and foe alike, had vital points. That did not mean a strike to a vital point would result in an instant kill. Under the constraints of the continent's laws, the effect was not that extreme. Striking a vital point doubled the actual damage, and this effect stacked with critical hits.
The chance of a critical hit could not be controlled; it could only be raised by improving one's status and level. But the chance of striking a vital point was, in a sense, controllable. Previously, about a third of Aige's spells had hit vital points, which was already very high. His opponents were not all idiots, after all. Who did not know to protect their vital points? Why would anyone stick their ass out and wait for you to fuck it?
The primary condition for an attack on a vital point was for the enemy to have unconsciously left it unprotected for a moment. Now, under the pressure brought on by the formidable Goldtooth, Aige had entered a state of calm casting. His chance of hitting a vital point was at least fifty percent, and the blows hurt the Kobold badly...
Although Aige was already high on his aggro list, every time Goldtooth prepared to abandon the tin can in front of him and attack the annoying human mage in the distance, the Goldshire Footman, under his master's command, would always use a perfectly timed Taunt to drag him back... It was downright miserable!
After this happened several times, even Goldtooth, with his limited intelligence, understood that he could forget about touching the hateful mage unless he dealt with this tin can first. Having realized this, Goldtooth immediately sped up his attacks... He could already feel his life draining rapidly under the enemy's shameless group assault. If he did not fight back now, he might not be the one laughing at the end.
Both sides were racing against time, and the crucial question was: how long could the Goldshire Footman hold out?
For Aige, although the Goldshire Footman served as his meat shield mainly thanks to his two stars of health, his one star of attack power was indispensable too. He did not want to sacrifice this minion lightly... Even if the Goldshire Footman would not be around much longer whether he died or not.
When the Footman's next Taunt was ready, Aige did not order him to use it immediately. Instead, he quickly cast several precise Lesser Fireballs himself, every one striking a vital point. One was even a critical hit... The massive damage instantly snatched the top spot on the aggro list from the Goldshire Footman. Goldtooth swung his enormous shovel and lunged viciously toward him.
As soon as Goldtooth moved, a precise Frostbolt struck him in the head, making him shudder violently. It dealt a huge amount of critical damage and firmly restricted his speed. While casting precisely, Aige also used the gaps between spells to retreat slowly and steadily until his back was pressed against the wall. Although he had only gained another five or six meters, sometimes that distance was important.
The Footman and the two Wisps followed close behind Goldtooth, trying to deal a little more damage. They did not dare block his path. If they angered him, a single blow might finish off all three of them with their low health. They were better off obediently following behind and contributing some damage.
Goldtooth was anxious now too. Although he was close to reaching his opponent, his own health was almost gone. The enemy was highly skilled at controlling him with ice magic, never once letting the slowing effect lapse, making him exceedingly difficult to deal with. But out of a rare leader's pride, he continued to roar as he pressed toward his opponent... Just a few more steps, and the frail mage, with nowhere left to retreat, probably would not survive two or three blows from his shovel. Then he could go to hell along with his minions!
With this in mind, the Kobold leader looked even fiercer and more savage! A few more steps, just a little closer. He stretched out his arm, doing his utmost to extend his attack range...
"Bastard!"
The familiar insult instantly made his eyes turn bloodshot! The Taunt, imbued with the power of the laws, forced him to turn around once again and deliver a powerful shovel blow to the enemy who had dared insult him...
The Goldshire Footman's health was instantly reduced to zero. Having lost the protection of the laws, he was cleaved in two by the sharp mining shovel, then slowly vanished...
His death had been worthwhile!
And necessary! Aige silently added in his heart. But his hands did not pause for even a second for the Warrior who had laid down his life so heroically at the very end!
"Fireball!"
"Fireball!"
"Fire Blast!"
Goldtooth's burly body abruptly froze...
Fire Blast was an instant-cast spell, powerful and very useful in itself. But everything had two sides... An instant-cast spell was one that could be cast immediately without preparation. That did not mean there was no cost: at the very least, it would immediately trigger a one-second global magic cooldown, a setting borrowed from World of Warcraft that everyone should be familiar with.
So, anyone hoping to use instant-cast magic to fire off countless instant spells in a single second like a madman... was thinking too much. Every spell had a global cooldown of at least one second, and that had to be remembered.
Aige rarely used Fire Blast in battle, not because of the global magic cooldown, of course, but because of a weakness shared by all instant-cast spells... They consumed noticeably more mana than ordinary spells!