Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

questions to be asked and not enough time to give the answers in as much depth as they needed.

Watching Elastitan and his movements, most of the melee dodged his attacks in time. But it was more difficult for the long-range casters and rangers. The rangers weren’t used to something being able to reach them on the outskirts of the fight. But the mages were often in the middle of a cast when the strips unfurled and headed in their direction, so they either had to stay there and finish the cast and probably get impaled nicely, or they had to interrupt their casting and waste time on dealing more damage.

Murmur could already guess at the number of healing potions getting used in this fight.

Devlish stood his ground remarkably well. Elastitan didn’t appear to have any type of aggro switch or ability that made tanks have to swap. She was grateful for that. Risk’s whole attitude was so touch and go right now. And while she’d not noticed Jinna glaring at her, even now they were all together again, the wariness she felt hadn’t waned. Had he just really been angry with her previously? Elastitan had no mana, and thus his strip and body maneuvers were all ability based. Murmur could slow them, she could even stall them, but stuns and Mezmerize were out, and mana drains were useless.

Sinister’s blood magic seemed to do good damage, and both Risk and Devlish were slowly moving up in the DPS meters, their overall damage overtaking some of the burst classes because they were constantly leeching—and doing so effectively.

There was a shift close to the shoulders where those two strips of flesh snapped out like a cracking whip moved slightly, like a tensing of the muscles. It was all the notice they had that the ability had been activated. This time it was directed at Murmur.

She dove to the left-hand side and rolled on the ground, barely evading where it cracked the stone where she’d been standing. Pulling herself up, she glanced at the damage to the floor. Surely that wasn’t like the previous strikes. If that had hit her, she’d be dead. As it was, she’d still received some backlash from it.

Sinister glanced over her shoulder, her brow knit in concentration. “Watch out, Mur. That attack wasn’t normal.”

The enchanter nodded, but it wasn’t only not normal, it was specifically targeted. Murmur began to move around the room, taking her own debuffs with her and casting from multiple different locations. While she did that, she got the distinct feeling that the 360-degree eye could see her no matter where she went, and it was always aware of her location. Maybe it didn’t like enchanters, or perhaps there was something she could do that she hadn’t figured out.

Not that she was the only one. Belius didn’t appear to be having any more luck with detecting weaknesses than she did. For once, she wasn’t the only enchanter present. In a way, it felt weird. Even if he was being very NPC and not playing like she knew he could.

Not stuns, nothing related to mind control considering from what her sensing nets could tell, it didn’t have a mind as she understood it. But there was something else there. She frowned, still moving constantly, hopefully making it more difficult for it to lock a target onto her. Those strips needed a lot of room to move.

Behind Devlish seemed the perfect spot to figure out exactly what she could do with the fight. While shaman debuffs were stronger than hers in some instances, they were also healers. She was sparing her mana and spreading it around. Was it scared she might use one of her mind-healing buffs? But when she attempted to scan it, she couldn’t find a hold anywhere that might indicate she was compatible with it enough to work the magic needed.

Thoughts ran through her mind, each dismissed one after the other. She frowned, trying to will the words to come that she needed, knowing there had to be a solution. Reaching out with her sensing net, she could feel where Snowy had gone. Outer perimeter of the circular pillar surrounded area they were all in. And the Elastitan didn’t seem to be upset or angry at her; in fact, it was more of an expectancy.

From her left, arrows rained down on it, barely making a dent in the rubbery surface of the strips. No blood lingered around the Elastitan’s body, because for appearances, it didn’t actually bleed. Even the mages, who’d managed through a concerted effort to cut off one of the tendrils, hadn’t drawn or spilled any blood. Murmur watched, fascinated by the whole process, her mind working fast.

And then Snowy barked, more in her mind than out loud, and she examined the images he’d sent.

Oh, well, that made a lot more sense than she’d thought it would. All they had to do was position the massive monster in front of three stone daises that stood in an overgrown section right between two of the pillars. From what she could see, they just had to aim its appendages—for want of a better word—into the correct locks so it could be zapped back to where it belonged. Sure, that didn’t sound difficult at all. She put her hand to her head and got ready to direct the whole raid on what they needed to do.

She was sure the other guilds would take an NPC wolf’s word for it too.

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices - Floor Twenty-Two

Davenport’s Office

Day Thirty-Two

Davenport put his head in his hands, and Laria waited for an outburst. Not that she’d ever seen him have one, but she would totally have been having an outburst right now if she were him.

“The plans for the original idea behind the headgear are out there for anyone and everyone to see and or obtain? Thus endangering those players who’ve fiddled with headgear they shouldn’t have fiddled with?” He pushed himself back and steepled