Chapter 686: 686

Chapter 686: Prediction

　　 Aincrad, 74th Floor, the labyrinth area…

　　On a stairway somewhere deep in the labyrinth, a player with chestnut-colored hair exchanged attacks with a skeleton knight . The sound of parries and blocks echoed in this battlefield .

　　Not far away, Wu Yan observed as Asuna attacked the skeleton monster like a nimble b.u.t.terfly . He nodded with satisfaction, he praised her with his eyes .

　　There are two primary attributes in SAO: Strength and agility

　　Each player is given the choice to allocate points to the attribute of their choice upon level up . Players can choose to balance strength with agility or specialize in one attribute .

　　However, there are other parameters and modifiers in the status of a player . For example, there are resistance attributes like poison resistance . Otherwise, Wu Yan wouldn’t be dizzy from looking at the literal wall of text and figures in his user interface .

　　The two primary attributes decide the future path of the player . There are also no items that can reverse the choices made so each decision should be made with careful considerations . For instance, Wu Yan added almost all his attribute points to Strength . His ridiculous speed came mostly from his equipment . Meanwhile, Asuna placed all her points into agility .

　　Agility-specialized fighters or speedsters can fight better against monsters because they can dodge and attack quickly in fights . The downside for specializing in agility is the inability to quickly kill monsters . But, this didn’t apply to Asuna .

　　Her attack speed is way ahead of the average player . She can unleash attacks so fast it’s hard to keep up with a normal vision . Her average attack per second is between 12 – 20 . Her attack is about average but she more than made up for it with speed . Moreover, she enhanced her attack through her equipment so her attack can pile up to deal a ton of damage .

　　With a stable output of damage and the agility to deal quickly attack or retreat, she might not be able to take on a boss on her own but she’s more than enough to deal with any monster that might block her path . With Wu Yan’s high standard, her ability pa.s.sed in his books .

　　She pushed the monster away with skill and she turned around to yell at Wu Yan .

　　“Yan, switch!”

　　Using another heavy-hitting skill, she used her rapier s.h.i.+ning with pink light to stab the monster on its s.h.i.+eld .

　　Clang

　　The force from the ensuing impact staggered the monster . Asuna was also stunned from this exchange .

　　A figure streaked by and the figure slipped behind the monster .

　　Bam

　　Almost blinded by the sword skill light coming from Wu Yan, she narrowed her eyes . When she recovered, the monster was already flying away . It shattered into data fragments in the sky .

　　Asuna’s mouth turned into an ‘o’-shape .

　　Wu Yan quickly scanned the drops from the monster and he noticed Asuna’s expression .

　　“You looked like you saw a ghost…”

　　Asuna noticed her present look and she grabbed Wu Yan by his collar . Her bold move came as a surprise to Wu Yan .

　　“Just now, was that a double-heavy strike?”

　　Wu Yan blinked in confusion, he tilted his head .

　　“Yeah, something wrong?”

　　“What do you mean something wrong? What the h.e.l.l was that?”

　　Asuna’s face turned vicious .

　　“Why didn’t you enter Post-motion?”

　　Post-motion is the rigid state players enter after executing a skill . The higher the level of skill, the longer the duration of this rigid state .

　　This is the reason why the Switch in SAO is very important . Letting a teammate tap in after executing a skill can attract the aggro of the monster and buy time for the player to recover .

　　Cooldown is also a point of consideration . A player can’t use the same skill in an instant, that’s just impossible .

　　Wu Yan did just that, he unleashed the same skill twice .

　　Cooldown time can be reduced with strength but not to the point of 0-second cooldown which could theoretically allow the player to unleash consecutive skills . Also, Post-motion means a player has to stop after a skill, making consecutive skills even more impossible .

　　How? Just how did Wu Yan avoid Post-motion and use his skills twice in a row .

　　Wu Yan realized the source of her bewilderment and he begun his explanation .

　　“I did get the Post-motion!”

　　“How did you avoid getting hit by the monster? You even used two heavy strikes…”

　　“I dodged . ”

　　“Dodge?”

　　Asuna pouted .

　　“Are you messing with em? How can you dodge attacks in a rigid state?”

　　“I have a small technique that a.s.sisted me…”

　　Wu Yan chuckled .

　　He looked around and he located a lizardman monster . He told Asuna .

　　“Look closely…”

　　He lifted his Heaven Gazer and the skill light attracted the monster’s attention . Without waiting for it to come to him, he brought the fight to the monster with the first hit .

　　Bam

　　Pus.h.i.+ng the monster away, the lizardman shrieked in anger . It swung its longsword at Wu Yan .

　　Wu Yan couldn’t move because of the Post-motion effect .

　　Asuna covered her gasp, she couldn’t believe what is happening .

　　But, when the attack reached Wu Yan, he somehow managed to dodge the attack .

　　“Imp-impossible…”

　　Asuna’s eyes widened with disbelief .

　　“The Post-motion…”

　　Wu Yan struck the monster once more . He dodged again despite being frozen by Post-Motion .

　　If any other player saw this, they would write lengthy reports about this perceived bug exploit .

　　Asuna’s eyes lit up with inspiration .

　　He tilted his body right before the rigid state grabbed him .

　　This tilt and the movement of his center of gravity meant that he could dodge the monster’s attack by relying on inertia .

　　“…”

　　Asuna couldn’t find any words to describe this .

　　How gutsy would you need to be to pull off something like this?

　　This move required accurate prediction of where to dodge before the attack even landed . Effectively, this allowed Wu Yan to tide-through the Post-motion with pre-planned motions . This came with the immense risk of prediction failure resulting in Wu Yan cras.h.i.+ng into the monster’s attack instead of moving away from it .

　　To use this move effectively, the user must have a strong almost inhuman ability to predict the monster’s attack direction with almost 100% accuracy .

　　This isn’t something a player can do!

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