I reached New Kenan, Ackerton's port city in the two blinks of a flirting courtesan's eyes. Spoiler alert, they blink a lot. Flying over the city in the shape of a seagull, I soon found what I was looking for. There was a huge commotion at the wharf and one huge man in full plate armor shouted at what seemed to be a ship captain.
"You will take me there! Or I'll trash your ship and this city."
"Milord, we cannot take passengers there. The mermaids do not accept visitors."
"I don't care. Once I get there, we'll have seafood for a lifetime. I'm going to slaughter all of them."
I dove close enough to use {Appraise}.
> Level 200 Human.
>
> Status Hidden.
He must have sensed the attempt because he glued his eyes on me and grinned. "Nevermind. Your utility has ended," he said. The next moment, there was a flash of metal and the merchant was split in two. A spray of blood covered the warrior as the organs of the merchant splattered on the pier.
I flew away from the city as he started to jump after me. It would be funny if not for the cruelty he displayed.
"Come back here, stupid bird. Or I'll slaughter every living person in this shit-stained city," He threatened.
I flew into a pack of seagulls and changed directions. He kept following me like a bloodhound. Should I go over the waters? Would he be able to go wuxia-style and run over the waters? No. Better drag him away from people.
"I remember this place, girl," he said as he kept chasing me. "Wasn't around here that you killed the First Demon Lord?"
I froze and let my wings glide. Who was this guy?
"Who are you?' I asked. The charade was over, he KNEW who I was."
"Can't you guess, Anomaly?" He said mockingly.
I cringed so much I would've dropped droppings like a real bird if I had any. It's been centuries since I last took a dump, my efficient metabolism and amoeba powers guaranteed I generated no waste.
"Ow, fuck me. Not you!"
"Yes, me. Now come down here and fight! What was the name of the rite? Oh, Argantmoet Trevillian!"
That was to conquer a concubine by murdering her father. "I think you should check your facts. You don't seem like you want to marry me."
He was grinning, "No. I just want to fuck your fucking corpse. Enough talk. If you don't want to come down, I'll take you out from there."
He threw a dagger at me. I tried to dodge but the dagger veered and struck true.
> Freaking Creepy Guy That Might be the Butt God Reincarnated struck you for 829,440 HP of damage. (Base 12 x2 Power Throw x6 Strength x5 Skill x6 Revenge x2 Enchantment x3 Critical x4 Size x3 Arcane Strike x2 Shifter Slayer).
>
> You are bleeding [...]
Then the bleeding bleeping dagger flew back to his hand. Fuck dammit! There went twenty percent of my HP pool! I quickly threw a healing spell on me and dove into some rocks. Shapeshifting into Lakerta, I assumed the {Snake Fortress}.
"Are you really the Butt God Reincarnated?"
"Sass me all you want, Anomaly. Your days in Yznaria end today!"
He jumped at me with his two-handed sword ready. I put on my armored silk cloth and hunkered down with all my defenses on.
> No Longer Butt God struck you for 16,212 HP of damage. (Base 117 x2 Power Attack x3 Avenger Strike x6 Strength x5 Skill x6 Revenge x3 Enchantment x3 Arcane Strike x2 Shifter Slayer x0.8 Scales x0.6 Snake Fortress x0.66 armor x0.75 Steel Scales x0.03 Eye of the Storm).
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Damn. This guy hits like a truck! What was his deal with these multipliers? Why did he have a times-six damage boost against me? Fucking min-maxer. I should be flattered, he tuned his build solely to kill me.
I drew Alloralla's daggers and started to defend myself, parrying his blows. My arms hurt with each strike. Turtling down wasn't an option. Attacking would make me lose my highest defensive bonus. Leaving him alone would allow him to go after the mermaids. I dreaded the damage this guy could cause. He was five times my current level.
Fear paralyzed me. Last time, he boasted he would trap my soul if I died. Would he do the same? I identified his items. All of them were to defend against something. Defense against Force magic, Spirit magic, and a shit-ton of perception and Attribute bonuses. I fought back to keep my heart from jumping out of my throat.
I needed to get a good advantage before fighting back. Here in the middle of nowhere, I was toast. Worse yet, he was grinning. The God formerly known as Glutes in Latin was toying with me.
My arms were growing tired of deflecting his blows. He had more than a hundred points of Strength and the Pinnacle Perk to show. I needed to hedge my bets. After one particularly good parry, I lunged. My tail wrapped around his waist as the til shot and went around his arms, pinning his elbows down. He dropped his sword and I sent it to the item box on reflex. Nenandil came back to my soul.
"Let go!" He struggled. A lamia's constriction wasn't a joke. "Activate Pulse One," he said after sucking in a good breath with perfect articulation. That meant he was activating a magic item.
A pulse of Forse magic emanated from him and pushed me away in all directions as if I was a noodle. It kept pushing until I was twenty meters away. He looked around for his sword as I regained my bearings.
"Nevermind, I have more," one of his rings glowed and he got another sword in his hand.
"Catch me if you can!" I shapeshifted into a quick and agile falcon and took to the air.
My idea was to drag him all the way to Ackerton city. The reason was selfish. I needed the extra MP from the {Mana Wellspring} if I were to ever have a chance at survival. This guy could shave my whole HP pool in one lucky blow. I needed to find a way to beat him.
With the loss of levels also came the loss of most of my Spell-Singing Perks. I couldn't do what I did to the Boner God again.
I risked a glance behind me. He was following, jumping as if his skin was green and he wore ripped purple jeans. It would be comical if I weren't scared shitless for my life. The throwing daggers flew at me like a swarm of angry bees with jet turbines and adamantium claws.
I threw Force Walls but the damn homing things veered around the wall. The most I could do was burn my MP to gain time to dodge them. As they missed, they returned to the Butt Bastard to be thrown again. He looked like a metal Mario clown juggling daggers. Just like Gotham, clowns were no fun.
I brought a doll on my claw.
"As you wish!" The archmage started to fire Disintegration rays at them.
"Got it. Precision and efficiency," he smirked. I couldn't see him but I knew the bastard of a doll was smirking. "A [Wizard]'s specialty!"
A dagger nicked my wing,
He didn't answer. But he did fire less often and didn't miss.
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If you are reading this in any site but RoyalRoad.com, this novel has been stolen. Go to RoyalRoad.com, the only site where this is officially published.
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I was a total jerk for bringing this fight to a populated city. But I needed it. I had no idea what he would do with me after he killed me so I intended to fight back with all my power. But I needed power and the {Wellspring} was my best bet. As people entered the about five hundred meters radius of my wellspring, the precarious resource started to fill back up. I took the time to send Cadrel and Kazuyran messenger birds with codified messages. It said, "Keep away from the fight."
I knew this vicious idiot would start hurting people if I didn't give him a target. I landed and assumed Lakerta's form. Without her defensive buffs, I was toast.
> Death Contract
>
> Champion's Challenge
>
> Death contract failed. Target is immune.
Yeah, that didn't bode well. He was immune to [Assassination]. From what I could glimpse from his gear, he should've prepared a counter for each of my abilities. That's what I'd do. I could only test if that was true.
He was panting. Dashing across the countryside must've tired him.
"Tired of running away, little snake? Well, I'm not," he bragged with a bellowing chortle. "I could run across the whole continent after you. I will stop at nothing until I have my revenge. {Avenger's Stamina}!" His winded state disappeared. He laughed again.
He took his two-handed sword and came at me. I spat venom but he shrugged it off. I kept parrying while Nenandil healed me and Marlowe peppered him with focused magic.
"Bloody bastard!" The archmage cursed after the first few spells. "He has something that cancels my strongest multipliers!"
"Magic friends? That's unfair," he whimpered mockingly. "Playtime is over. {Sword Aura}."
He attacked and I deflected. A phantom copy of his sword continued down the path and I raised one of the coils of my tail to block.
> Stupid Reincarnator struck you for 53,715 HP of damage. (Base 137 x2 Power Attack x3 Avenger Strike x6 Strength x5 Skill x6 Revenge x3 Enchantment x3 Arcane Strike x2 Shifter Slayer x2 Sword Aura x0.9 Scales (halved) x0.6 Snake Fortress x0.83 armor (halved) x0.75 Steel Scales x0.03 Eye of the Storm).
That stung like hell. The damn phantom blade ignored half of my ignorable defenses. My tail spotted a huge gash.
"Did a caster build, Anomaly? That blow put your maximum HP in the four million range... Too low!" He taunted.
I wish for nothing more than lash out at him. But if I did, I'd lose the protection {Eye of the Storm} gave me. He could finish me with three blows like that or a single critical hit.
I was too weak. There was no way I could win this fight. It was time to cheat.
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