Duke planned to fly away for an hour before TELEPORTING to The Forge. He was still ecstatic about the fact that not only was he able to take his armor out of the dungeon, but it performed so well in his impromptu field testing. And now, he had a potentially regular source of Contest Points coming. He had no idea how powerful the Skull was but no matter the outcome, he felt that he got the better part of the deal.
The attack came without warning and from above. Lost in his thoughts, Duke did not notice the cloud that moved more swiftly than should have been possible nor the figure that stood upon it. What he did notice was the searing pain erupt as his back armor was smashed in by a burning fist. The armor absorbed the majority of the impact, but there was still enough force to drive Duke out of the air. He hit the ground, skidding to a halt against a sizable boulder.
Recovering from the shock of the impact, Duke rolled over to see what hit him. His shock deepened when it turned out to be a shirtless man who visibly glowed with power. The man floated down to the ground, stepping off his flying cloud and striking a pose. The power radiating off this individual came off in waves, causing his hair to flutter in the breeze.
Duke stared at the man in disbelief, muttering, “Fucking cartoons now?” His IDENTIFY Ability activated a moment later.
*** You have encountered Maku Emberlight, a fellow Contestant. You are not eligible to receive any further information at your current rank in the standings. ***
Duke levered himself to his feet, glaring at the man before him, “Nice sucker punch but you’re going to have to do a whole better if you want to walk away from this.”
“That was just to get your attention. What kind of weak man relies on armor to protect himself anyway?”
Duke smiled back as he RESTORED his armor, “The kind that enjoys beating overconfident idiots who think they don’t need any.” Keep him talking – almost fully REGENERATED.
“Then you are the greatest fool of all since I, Maku Emberlight, chosen of my realm has no need for paltry material protections. My aura is enough to stop the likes of you, newcomer!”
Oh, yeah. Tell me more, moron.
“Your aura? Whatever you say, nightlight. Just because you can glow doesn’t make you worth my time. How many points are you willing to offer me to let you walk away from this?”
“You are courting death, cur. I have surpassed the Platinum rank and are far beyond your capabilities.”
All healed. Time to see what makes this guy special.
“Courting death? What? Like taking her out on a date? You do know that she is very lonely and would greatly appreciate a good night out.”
“Your words make no sense, mortal. I shall have to remove you from my sight!”
Duke prepared himself for the coming attack. He split one million of his Mana regen into each ARMOR SKIN and MANA DRAIN. He figured the combination would keep him in the fight while reducing Maku’s aura. At least that was his plan.
Maku surged forward, a single energized punch aimed for Duke’s midsection. It was fast but it was telegraphed with too much flair and Duke was faster. He turned his body, deflecting the right-handed punch towards his own right, hoping to make Maku pass him so he could catch him from behind when he completed his spin.
Instead, Maku’s punch ended a moment after the impact of Duke’s deflection. Three things happened at that moment. First, Duke realized he had been physically outmaneuvered despite his Adept-ranked Martial Arts Combat Skill. Second, he discovered that the aura was not Mana-based at all, his MANA DRAIN having absolutely no affect on the man. Finally, the impact was hard enough to dent his armor even when it was used to deflect the blow.
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Duke continued his spin as it was easier to complete it than to try and halt its momentum. He had to change his spinning backfist to an elbow strike as he was too close to hit with anything else. The elbow struck home, right on the man’s jaw, rocking his head to the side.
“Oh, nice one, mortal. I give the first pass to you,” Maku smiled as he gave a moment’s thought while hopping back from Duke. “Perhaps I do not need to hold back so much with you.”
The next set of attacks came at the limit of Duke’s speed as a flurry of jabs directed at his body. Duke tried to block, dodge, and slip them, but was just not fast enough to keep up. His physical armor was heavily dented, but his ARMOR SKIN protected him well enough now that he had switched to the full two million Mana pouring into it. The last blow, however, was far stronger. It was a palm strike that had Maku’s entire force, momentum, and aura behind it. Duke was launched into the air, travelling at least a kilometer before he was able to control his flight.
You have got to be fucking kidding me! How are these assholes so much stronger than me? I’m a goddamned Tier 8 and have stats way beyond that. This makes no sense whatsoever. Oh great, here comes cloud-boy again.
Duke decided to switch up the fight and used his FLIGHT to outmaneuver the cloud, sending various elemental attacks to see if any affected Maku through his aura. Of no surprise to Duke, the elemental attacks were minimally effective, if at all despite OVERCHANNELING them significantly.
“You fight well in the air, but your nature magic is useless against my Chi. Submit and I will make your end swift.”
“Oh, we’re at that point, are we?”
“It is inevitable, mortal.”
“So, you think yourself immortal is that it?”
“I have reached immortality. I shall live forever.”
Duke had been continuing to outmaneuver Maku while shouting back and forth, keeping him occupied with the interplay. All the while, he was peppering the man with his elemental attacks while he built up his concentration on a different attack entirely. He unleashed it with a silent prayer and an outward statement.
“You know immortal doesn’t mean eternal. You can still die, idiot!”
Duke punctuated his statement with an extremely OVERCHANNELED TELEPORTATION attack. He poured three hundred million Mana into it, depleting about 90% of his Mana pool. The attack blew past Maku’s defenses, and his willpower was nothing compared to Duke’s effective Psyche of over 111,000. The fight ended with a flash as Maku’s atoms were spread over a two hundred kilometer radius.
The notification confirmed Duke’s victory as he landed on the ground, reeling from both the rapid Mana depletion and the massive strain to his Mana Channels. He read the notification as he recovered.
*** Congratulations! You have killed Maku, another Contestant. You receive half of his current point total of 7,289,138, bringing you up to a total of 14,071,578. You are now ranked 749th. You gain 910,562 (1,001,618 with Title Bonus). You are now level 81 and 392 Characteristic Points to spend. ***
The notification brought a smile to Duke’s face as his Mana regen brought him back up over time. He reveled in the sensation of his Mana rebuilding, refilling him. To him, it felt like taking a hot shower to soothe sore muscles. His Mana Channels recovered at the same time, his body healing itself quickly. He considered spending his Characteristic points immediately but rejected the thought as his mind turned to the larger picture.
I jumped over 100 ranks from just killing that one guy. This might be doable after all. Then again, he was very narrowly focused in his Abilities. He was faster than me. Maybe not physically stronger, but that aura was something I wasn’t prepared for. It wasn’t Mana-based which tell me that I’m dealing with all sort of different classes of Abilities. All my elemental attacks seem largely useless except in specific circumstances. So, what do I do? TELEPORTATION attacks are not going to work all the time, SOULFIRE might work and I’m still wary of using UMBRAL REAPER again after what happened with the Hounds. I still have the option to create a new Ability from my Tier-up but what should I make? Maybe something gravity-based? It would have to be ultra-strong though. Like creating a temporary black hole to crush them into paste. Yeah, to implode them-
Duke’s thoughts ground to a halt as he pulled a worn spellbook from his INVENTORY. It was something that Baslin had given him so long ago that he had completely forgotten about it.
Freaking moron. This has been sitting there waiting for you all this time. On top of all that, I have time dilation available to me. Why am I was wasting time out here when I could just get stronger in there and come out here and dominate. Probably because they keep getting stronger, regardless of the passage of time. Either that, or everybody…OK, not everybody, but most of them, started off stronger than me.
He ignored everything else and TELEPORTED himself to The Forge. He had a spell to learn and practice.