Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

2.33 SBAT - Party Role - Tank

Flora stood in front of the team of Natives. The Fireling tank had disappeared; instead, a Fireling Mage stood with the group.

"Huhu, dears! I'm your new tank!" Although Flora was beaming because she used the right terminology for the job, the Natives only nodded at her.

Deflated, Flora tried to remember the sentence. "Okay, team. Wait until I've set the mark. Err... Kill the healer first... There was something else... Oh well, just toast them to ash. Ready?"

"Yes!" The team yelled.

Flora repeated the steps in her mind, but couldn't keep the rotation straight out of nervosity. "Aito, display the skills we agreed on."

The AI complied, and Flora started.

<Armor: Mech-Suit>

<Battering Ram: Mender>

Flora crashed with her shield into the insectoid, which buckled under the pressure.

Just when Flora started to panic and cast Bless and Condemn, because she didn't remember the next spell, Aito's display appeared.

<Shield Cyclone>

<Retribution>

Transparent shields appeared in the air, sliding between the attacks of the insects.

The Mantisect Slicer slashed its scythe at Flora, and she ducked behind her shield, yelping.

"Hail" blinked on her HUD.

<Hail>

With her shield in front of her face, Flora cast the spell blind. She remembered to swing her wrench, and she did hit something, but still didn't dare to look.

After a few moments, Flora regained her composure. Although her mana was depleting rapidly, her HP looked alright. She peeked over her shield, and all insects were focused on her. The hail was moving with her swinging arm, but the AoE was big enough to cover the enemies all the time.

Flora oriented herself towards the Mantisect Mender and whacked him over the head while spikes from the ranged insectoids pelted her side, and her flank got shredded by the Slicer. It wasn't painful; instead, it felt like dancing in a rowdy crowd.

"How is the aggro coming along?"

"Excellently, Milady. The DDs are able to pull out all the stops. However, the secondary effect of the hail isn't taking hold because the mage uses fire spells. You may want to switch elements."

<Lightning Storm>

The Mender died, and Flora turned to the Slicer. When she could focus on it, it wasn't so scary anymore. She even managed to block some of its swings on purpose.

"Mana below 30%, use Battle Cry + Righteous Strike."

<Battle Cry>

Flora stopped the Lightning Storm and powered up her smacks with the mana producing skill.

Just when she had reached 50% mana, the Slicer died.

Flora ran to the shooters and turned around to breathe lightning on the three remaining mobs.

Finally, she dropped Shield Cyclone. Her hand had cramped around the hot handle of the shield.

<Fortification of Faith>

"Any suggestions on how to further bully the enemies?" Flora asked her AIs and cast the one spell she knew that felt uncomfortable even in VR.

<Energy Choke>