Overpowered Wizard

After dodging a rock-carving jettison of super pressured water magic, a Level 60 woman slipped on rocks slicked with blood and water. She had enough Agility and Strength to bounce back and wield her great sword, but she tripped up near four Level 100 Sea Walker Monsters.

They dove into her, teeth chomping, easily slicing through flesh and bone, taking away pounds of muscle, organs, and full-on limbs. It was a terrible fate for any adventurer to face, normally a death sentence.

But no matter how much the monsters bit into her, everything the woman lost, she regained. More importantly, she didn’t seem to feel any pain, and was mostly fighting back by stabbing her weapon or using half-sword moves by treating her great sword like a short spear.

She should’ve been dead, her Willpower torn down by the bloody and traumatic experience of being eaten alive. But Gilbert’s Mega Healing Force and Behavior Force rescued her and others in similar fates.

Eventually, the fallen woman caused enough damage to the bigger and stronger monsters to force them off her while remaining alive. She scrambled back to the safety of the guild and continued fighting with the others.

As Zarian watched this, he sensed Para was getting fidgety. She’d nearly intervened to help the fallen woman and others like her, but Gilbert’s confidence and impressive new abilities seemed to have a handle on things.

Then, when Gisella ended up ensnared by water whips from Sea Walker Sailor Drowners, Para was about to jump in only to get interrupted by Gilbert using another new skill.

This one had come from Gilbert combining all Level 0 skills – Summon Wizard Hat, Blessed Field, Raise Stamina, Curse Defense Ward. The result appeared in his hand with a flash before he quickly whirled it around and snapped it forward. A big smile slanted toward one side of his face while clenching the locally sourced joint in the corner of his mouth.

<Lasso of Hope (Level 8): Summon a hopeful lasso that can save friends from danger or restrain harmful powers, such as curses. It can act as a medium for improving both aura and support abilities. Scales with Willpower, Wonder, and Mysticism.>

Rather than yank her out, Gilbert held the shining rope end as the loop stayed fastened around Gisella. Not only did she become stronger and unkillable, all the monsters attacking her became severely weaker and slower.

Gisella smashed her hammers and freedom-tinted holy magic on sea walker skulls and sent their brains flying in chunks.

Zarian noted that all the adventurers fighting in the gap were on the side of freedom just like Gisella, Dawson included.

They must’ve converted during the last three months. Now they were reaping more of the benefits, because despite her soured mood, Bianca’s freedom-buffing presence extended far enough from her sofa-laying position to affect the battle.

Many with the free good sub alignment enjoyed the +1 addition boosting their power, Gisella especially, as she raged in the middle of the fight, killing monsters normally stronger and faster than her. Dawson called them another major lightning bolt ahead of Gisella to scatter and paralyze the watery monsters, making them easy pickings for the charge Gisella led at the front.

“It was a while ago,” Zarian said, “that I thought how valuable you would be to any military back in the old world.”

“Fuck that,” Gilbert said.

Zarian blinked a few times in surprise. “What’s going on, Gilbert? You’re not yelling at me or anything.”

Gilbert chuckled between drafts of his smoke. “Why should I? What’s the point? This is the life we live, right? Doing whatever we want. Messing with other people. Forgetting about all the consequences. Destroying moons, shaking kingdoms, murdering entire armies. So why fight it? Maybe I should give in to it all and just chill out.”

He blew a large smoke ring. “I stopped smoking pot when I joined the force. I told myself I would never go back. Yet, here I am finding the magical funland equivalent. So, nothing really matters except what the so-called ‘son of ultra gods’ want, so why try to hold anything sacred? I’m a hell of a sinner anyway, and I bet God has my rejection letter ready long before I reach those pearly gates.”

Zarian opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say. He could use free evil +7 to come up with some cunning statement and turn Gilbert back to being his old self, but that was not how he wanted to use his power.

Para didn’t like this development whatsoever, but she kept her words to herself. Still, Zarian could feel the phantom’s discomfort at Gilbert’s newfound nihilism.

As the fighting continued, Zarian fell silent for a while. Then he found the only thing he could say.

“Okay.”

Gilbert’s smile dimmed. “Okay?”

Zarian sensed some insecurity. Without even using much of his free evil +7, he pursued the trail of blood like a shark.

“Yeah, okay.” Zarian nodded slowly. “I prefer for you to be who you want to be. If that means you want to be a godless, forsaken heathen like the rest of us, then I will try to support that. We will all mourn the death of the previous Gilbert, the Gilbert we all knew. It would be a sad death, and we will shed many tears, but that’s how it goes.”

“I’m not dead or dying, y’know?”

Zarian kept going. “In fact, we will hold a ceremony for Christian Gilbert. We will even have a flaming burial for him. But I might miss him so much I’ll cast a spell to revive Christian Gilbert as a Christian Skeleton.”

The local herbal joint fell from the corner of Gilbert’s mouth. “Whoa, whoa, I thought you weren’t doing that to your people?”

Zarian blinked up at the big guy. “I changed my mind. Why hold anything sacred, as you say? In fact, I’ll make Christian Skeleton Gilbert my apostle of a new religion. One that I will offer to all my subjects of the great Ride-or-Die Empire. A religion based on me, Dark Emperor Zarian! Christian Skeleton Gilbert could even do funny dances at my coronation.”

Gilbert turned red in the face and appeared steaming mad. The big, bearded man snapped, whipping his lasso back to his side and having it fall into a neat bundle on his shoulder. Then he lunged away, with his cursed fishing spear in hand, and entered the fray at the front of the fight. He was yelling the whole way.

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“I can’t believe the horse shit I have to stomach around my so-called friends! I have a crisis of faith that can lead me down the wrong path, but instead of being kind and patient, they look at me as weak, make fun of me for trying to chill out, and threaten to make my skeleton into a preacher of fallen angels like some sacrifice to a fucked up coven! God, what did I do to earn this burden? What did I do to be on the side of the bringers of revelations and all that bullshit?! Why me?!”

As Gilbert raged and fought gangs of monsters by himself, the rest of his powers came to light, making Zarian’s smile grow wider and wider.

A combination of traits including Berserk Vitality (Rare), Intoxicated Brawler (Uncommon), Unbelievable Constitution (Epic) had led to one ability that pushed Gilbert into a more battle-ready adventurer even if he was mainly the healer.

<Exuberant Warrior (Legendary): You are a worthy example of what it means to be a warrior. Low vitality? That’s fine, you’ll become even stronger. You’re under some kind of negative influence or debuff? That’s fine, become even stronger! You’re at death’s door? BECOME EVEN STRONGER! You also get an immense benefit from healing abilities, which will intensify your vitality to legendary degrees. And you have +150% to Wonder.>

Another combination of traits from Stalwart Defender (Rare), Battle Supporter (Rare), Knighted Rider (Rare) had merged into a trait that paired well with the lasso Gilbert whipped around and his attitude.

<The Realest Cowboy (Legendary): Defend the herd, your friends, or your beliefs from any troublemaking varmint, and see yourself become a real cowboy. If you have a mount or best bud, they share the benefit with you as long as they’re fighting near you. Grants +50% to Willpower, Strength, Agility, and Wonder at the base amount and can push a little further than that with the right attitude.>

A third combination of traits had included Shield Mastery (Uncommon), Unyielding Mentality (Rare), True Grit (Rare), adding to Gilbert’s already unkillable nature while granting some of that to others on the front with him.

<Immovable Bulwark (Legendary): Your enemies can attack you physically, mentally, and even magically, yet you can endure like the most stubborn wall. You also can boost the Willpower and Strength of friends who are holding the defense near you. And you naturally get +100% to your Willpower and Strength.>

Then there were the last two major abilities that gave Gilbert even more buffs. They pushed him far enough over the line to make him almost as overpowered as the others, but in his own way.

<Star Hero (Mythical): The Star System recognizes you have what it takes to be a hero regardless of your divergent beliefs. Your aura has a sense of invincibility to it even if you aren’t. You will also have +150% to Willpower, Strength, and Agility when acting heroically.>

<Rescue Drive (Mythical): There’s a rush that comes to rescuing someone in need. In those dynamic moments, you get +300% to both your Agility and Wonder. If not, as long as you’re alert or in a conflict, you get +100% to Willpower, Strength, Agility, and Wonder.>

“I can’t wait to have you rattle in worship of my destructive might with your Christian bones, Gilbert!” Zarian cheered as Gilbert slaughtered every monster in front of him with his new skills and a mix of his old ones, Unified Monk Force +3 and Sacrificial Blow +3.

“I’m going to kick your ass when I finish churning these ugly bastards into chum, Zarian! I swear it on my dead-beat momma I’m gonna knock the stupid outta ya so hard you’ll have flashbacks to bootcamp!”

“Interestingly enough, he probably could bring you down with enough exposure to his Behavior Force and other abilities,” Para said.

“Force magic is like Aura Mastery, but as a specific skill. We can defend against that easily.” Zarian smiled. “I wonder if he could handle a hit from Three Percent Darkness better than Naomi?”

“Hm, I have my doubts. He can certainly handle Two Percent Darkness. More importantly, the way he can make all the low non-rankers fight far above their level will be exciting for us.”

True that, true that. Gilbert wasn’t a god of destruction. He was the man you could count on to save your life and help you fight further above your weight class. Better yet, based on his new abilities, he could survive the immensely destructive fights to come in the future.

Feeling relieved over Gilbert’s growth, Zarian swaggered toward the end of the crack where Gilbert and the vultures killed the remaining monsters. Para dismissed her manifested appearance and feasted on the most mutilated bodies that nobody would miss.

Zarian was going to congratulate everyone when the Lasso of Hope snapped tight around his chest.

With a chuckle, Zarian cast Void Domain and activated his Wizard Body Conversion skill. He became the black nothingness, an all devouring void of a man that was vaguely human shaped. Casting void spells led to this conversion with his body skill, making Zarian unhittable for most adventurers.

There was one problem. The Lasso of Hope remained around his chest.

Hm … Didn’t the description on the lasso say it can restrain harmful powers? That includes even void spells, doesn’t it? Wow, that’s really strong as fuck.

Para let out a weary sigh before applying all of her phantom power to enhance Zarian’s body. She buffed him before Gilbert punched the wizard so hard he flew into the sky with the lasso phasing off of him.

Zarian spun round and round, hurtling away for a few miles. Then Zarian landed in the water and sank to the bottom, somewhat stunned, and left feeling sluggish.

So, are we pleased with Gilbert’s growth? Para asked mentally.

Yeah. He can still hang. That’s our Gilbert, Zarian replied in kind.

Later on, a moody Bianca snapped at Gilbert for punching Zarian. She blasted the healer into the sky.

Gilbert landed near the same spot where Zarian floated on the water’s surface.

Once Gilbert resurfaced, he treaded water while glowering at the wizard. It looked like he came out perfectly okay after taking a hit from Bianca, proving his tankiness and indomitable healing prowess.

“Level? Class? Rank?” Zarian asked.

“Fuck off. Fuck you. Get fucked,” Gilbert spat.

Sighing, Zarian used an evil gambit. “Answer the questions, or Para will tell you about her tension-releasing research.”

“What the devil is that supposed to be?” Gilbert asked, losing some of his bite.

Ghostly flashes of a giant serpent tail slithered through the water and around them both. The creepy, dark red apparition faded, but Para’s voice sounded ghoulishly and with a bitter chill behind Gilbert’s ear.

“I have many research theories, dear Gilbert. I have theories that involve what can happen between you and Zarian when tensions are too high. Zarian never wants to listen, since they are unlikely, but I’ve worked hard on my research, so I’ll gladly tell you.”

Gilbert paled, all color flushing away from his face fast. “No, no, that’s not necessary. I’m a mythical Level 104 Rescue Ranger, okay?”

Zarian sighed in dissatisfaction.

Para shared some of her research. “First, I theorized when tensions mount to a high point, that Zarian and Gilbert will do male centric activities, like dueling with swords, hoping to work out their initial vigor. But this will only make their tensions mount more and more until…”

“Jesus Christ, Para, stop! What is it I forgot to say? Uh, rank? I’m a Master Ranker! And I’m 9th Healer!”

Zarian and Para stopped.

Gilbert, arguably the weakest of the Floridians, was that high of a rank as a healer? Wow, either the Star System lacked quality healers or Gilbert was one of the most gifted of healers.

“There, you got all of your answers, but you gotta answer this, dammit!” Gilbert growled.

“What?” Zarian replied.

“Did you hit that?”

“Did I hit what?”

“That?! Zarian! Did you hit THAT thang? Because why else did the Dark Quarrel of Moons and Mountains happen? Tell me you two got it out of the way.”

“Uh? Oh? Oh! Oh, uh, no,” Zarian said. “We’re still waiting for the right time. We only got carried away because we got really into the fight. Naomi wants to grow her Dao of Power, which is her new mythical trait, and I want to help and, yeah, things got out of hand.”

“Out … of … hand?” Gilbert muttered, looking up at the damaged moons. Then he turned in the water and looked at the giant crack in the two-mile tall wall. He repeated, “Out … of … hand?”

“There are some more details about that I’ll explain when we link up with Hannah at the capital. But I’ll say this. The next time Naomi wants to fight, I’ll convince her to do it in a safer location or don’t do it at all.”

Zarian sighed, his hands folded over his belly as he kept floating idly.

“So, sorry about all the trouble, and I hope we can still be friends. Oh, and is it okay for me to raise your skeleton if you ever die? I was joking at first, but now I might go for it. How weird would it be to have a powerful skeleton healer made from the bones of my dearest Christian friend?”

“Friends, huh? Yeah, sure. We can still be friends. But for the sake of my God-fearing soul and our friendship, I just gotta show some tough love first.”

Gilbert swam over and tried to strangle Zarian to the bottom of the water. Para waited, conducting research through observation, before she finally separated them.