His throat demanded release, and blood soon followed. He coughed loudly as he was dealt with a nasty punch to the gut.
That wasn’t all. The punch itself was riddled with stamina, fueled by a skill or perhaps something else, he wasn’t sure. Pain rattled his brain and mind, putting his Pain Resistance to work overdrive.
Still, he healed himself with Recovery. It was at a point where he could just use it without really focusing on it, making him really concerned as to how he looked right about now as his injuries healed up as soon as it was dealt.
But no matter how often he healed himself, the pain lingered like a nasty cough just bubbling within him. He held himself and willed his body to react accordingly, especially as he received a level up notification just now.
> Level Up! You are now Level 51. You gain 2 free points (2 FP total).
>
> You have gained +3 DEX from your class.
> You have gained +3 INT from your class.
> You have gained +3 SPI from your class.
He already poured all of his points into Spirit, trying to gain as much of an advantage as possible as the fight was clearly not over yet.
Zyler ran up to him, his arms outstretched and his claws now furled wide and ready to tear him to pieces. He reacted easily, his overabundance of Dexterity easing him to dodge each strike. But soon he was about to reach his limit.
He already drank all the Mana potions he could drink throughout the venture, and he hoped that he could reunite with his comrades before this, but this bastard made it impossible. As of right now, his mana was barely hanging on. Soon, his collar would act up, and that was the one thing he desperately needed to avoid.
He boosted his Dexterity further with his rune buff, helping him dodge fast enough. Unfortunately, he had to conserve his mana, only just grazing by Zyler’s strikes.
He dodged another claw strike, then a kick that easily destroyed a nearby wall of the fortress. Zyler wasn’t even tired as another strike came for his head, and Zeke’s exhaustion was reaching his peak when his nails almost cleaved through his forehead.
He conjured a small barrier and drew a rune on it with a floating pen. Droves of Butterbirds appeared out of it, the same white crystalline birds shaped like butterflies. They crowded around Zyler, getting him to growl in annoyance as Zeke managed to get away to breathe easier.
But soon he followed right after, practically ripping an entrance through the drove of butterbirds and ripping them like broken snowflakes. Zeke gritted his teeth. Throughout the entire fight, Zyler pretty much tanked through every attack Zeke could make.
His rune spells did jack shit to his body. The surprise punch at the start was the only time he actually dealt decent damage. Since then, Zyler was on the prowl, dodging each blow, and taking on a blow he could take with ease. He heard that Zyler had reached a stat block at some point, but it certainly didn’t feel like it as he kept forcing Zeke down further to the pits of low Mana.
Just as he was about to dodge away, his leg was caught again by Zyler. He swung his leg and his body with it, landing straight to the ground. Zeke conjured a barrier–not to stop his fall and it was already too late to stop the incoming damage.
Instead, he summoned a barrier right where his arm was about to swing towards. It broke immediately, but it was enough to dampen the impact a little as he landed on the ground. Through the process, his hand let go of his leg, getting Zeke to kick against a newly conjured barrier at his feet and jumped away from Zyler, giving him several feet worth of distance.
He stood to his knees, breathing heavily. His head was pounding after getting hit, but it wasn’t enough to faze him. Healing himself up, he glared at Zyler as he laughed once again like a lunatic waiting for his next fix.
“Godsdamn, you are a durable little mage, aren’t chu?!” Zyler grinned wildly, the manic look in his eyes never fading. He raised his arm experimentally, the one that hit the barrier. “I’m betting you’re the sort that uses that barrier a lot, huh? That one actually stung a little, if I’m being honest.”
Zeke growled internally. The entire fight, his barrier was useless. It wasn’t that it wasn’t strong enough–Zyler was just too damn strong for it to matter. He ended up using mostly his rune buffs to survive, which was the entire reason why he managed to make it this far. He could only conjure it for a brief moment just to distract him, nothing else.
“But there’s only so much you can do,” Zyler shook his head disapprovingly. “So damn tough, but that’s it. It’s a little disappointing–I was hoping you’d be strong enough to give me some insight into my skills. But without the power, you got nothing I need. Hah, I guess it’s about time to end this. I had fun, Runist. but it’s time to get back to work.”
Finally, Zeke felt a change in the atmosphere. Zyler stopped grinning, glaring hard at Zeke now. He felt a shiver down his spine as he felt Zyler’s aura spike in the process.
He was getting serious now, and Zeke was already on the last dregs of his mana.
It was unfair. How the hell can he beat someone like Zyler? He was just trying to find his comrades, then this guy showed up to kill him. What other choice did he have?
There wasn’t one. He knew that. He knew there was no choice after being sent here. Like before, his fate was resigned to someone else, leaving him out of it. No matter how much he fought, it just wasn’t enough.
It was unfair.
His collar began to spark, blue electricity flowing around it. Strangely, he still had plenty of mana, but something was… he didn’t know how to explain it.
It was as though his mana was changing. Soon, it felt like it wasn’t even his own, but it flowed through his body regardless. But right now, all he could focus on was just the enemy ready to trample him underneath his foot.
The turmoil he was going through also took into his mind, forcing him to consider the fact that the only ones responsible for all of this was the gods that sent them here. They didn’t care whether he lived or died–they only wanted him for some reason, and if not, they could just throw him away.
He growled, something within him whirling at the response. If he was going to die, then he’d damn well better bring Zyler with him.
…..
“Brucey! Stop! I wanna go back!”
A chirp responded back to the screaming Clara as she tried to command her familiar. It wasn’t as though she disliked being able to fly like this. Her dream of flying into the air was finally achieved.
But now the feeling passed and she wanted to be down. Now.
However, as though Brucey was unable to hear her, he kept flapping around, banking around the towers of the fortress, then out into the forest. She was flying incredibly fast for her liking, her feet dangling behind her despite trying her hardest to stay steady.
She had a feeling that if she messed around too much, she might fall, and Bobo wasn’t around to catch her with a barrier.
Her eyes started to wet in fright, but she held in her tears. She just needed to stop Brucey. When she looked back, she saw his face was actually looking very wide-eyed.
His pupils were wide and his face looked panicked. She realized then that Brucey actually looked scared. Was something going on?
“Brucey?”
Before she could say anything else, she heard something whip past her and Brucey. The bat managed to take a turn around, missing it entirely and causing Clara to yelp in surprise.
When she looked back at the source, dread filled her as something was flying towards them. It was a giant bird, one that was way too big to be a normal bird.
Its talons were crisply green and sharpened. Its beak looked like a cruel hook as it opened it and blasted a powerful screech that made her ears hurt. Its wings were even larger than Brucey, almost reaching the size of a building. Just when she wanted Brucey to run away, she heard Zoan speak inside of her again.
Another named monster? Zoan said in disbelief. Clara realized that the named monster was the same as the giant tiger from earlier. What is with this terrible timing? Was it due to the tower’s influence? There shouldn’t be this many named monsters in such a short time.
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“Zoan! What do we do?!” Clara shouted, not caring that it was in her mind as she tried to look back at the bird chasing after them in flight.
Brucey twisted and turned, bringing Clara along with it carefully as the bird suddenly launched air strikes at her. Each one sent giant crystal towers and nearby trees tumbling down, cut straight through without issue.
Another air strike managed to graze by her, getting the whiplash of the blast as both Brucey and Clara tumbled about in the air. The giant bird managed to fly right at them, ready to strike.
Brucey’s tail flew out of his back, plunging it straight into the bird before it struck. In that small moment, the monster petered out and tumbled for just a second, giving Brucey enough room to maneuver out of its path.
However, even though it got a good chunk of its flesh pierced by the tail, the bird shook it off as it managed to upright itself, screeching harder than before and glaring right at them.
Looking back, Clara noticed Brucey breathing rampantly. She remembered Bobo talking that Brucey could only do so much with the tail, like a battery. The bird was so strong that it must have drained too much of his energy.
But it was barely enough to get the bird to even flinch as it flew right at them. Brucey tried to fly, but his wings were losing momentum from the exhaustion as the bird whipped past them and sliced through Brucey’s back and right wing with its sharp talons.
Blood flowed out from Brucey as he chirped in pain, then without his wing for balance, he dropped with Clara in tow.
“Brucey!” Clara shouted, trying to catch the downtrodden Brucey before thinking of anything else. She grabbed onto him, holding him tightly to her chest as he winced in pain.
Looking down, she realized too late that she was falling straight towards the ground with no way around. She could feel something, or someone, inside of her starting to panic, her voice rampant.
Clara!
Zoan screamed, as though she had no way of helping her. Clara quickly realized that she had no way of getting out of this. As her body fell, she closed her eyes, unable to do anything else as she screamed.
“Sissy! Bobo!”
> …..
>
> Unarmed Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 6.
>
> You have gained +1 STR from your skill.
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
…..
> Kinetic Perception Level Up! It is now Level 5
>
> You have gained +1 DEX (x2) from your skill.
> You have gained +1 END (x2) from your skill.
…..
> Battle Runecraft Level Up! It is now Level 4.
>
> You have gained +2 INT from your skill.
> You have gained +2 SPI from your skill.
…..
> Rune Copycat Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> Increased copied potency.
> Increased copied rune’s speed and effectiveness.
Even when he received several notifications, he couldn’t be happy about it. It only made him realize just how screwed he was even with them all.
He used Rune Copycat liberally throughout the fight, hoping to take advantage of its unique nature to mess up Zyler’s attacks all while conserving his mana. That probably explained why Battle Runecraft leveled as well.
But it wasn’t enough. His mana was drained to the last quarter. His collar activated, warning him of the danger of passing by his limits. If he kept going, it would lock his mana, forcing him to stop casting.
But he felt that was the least of his concern. He was on the move, trying to keep up with Zyler but failing miserably. As his mana decreased, he had to reduce his rune buffs’ power, causing him to become slower and weaker. It became too easy for Zyler as he practically danced around him, beating him senselessly.
Each punch, each kick, every one that delivered a powerful blow but not a fatal wound were sent to his body. The rest that would’ve killed him was blocked by his barriers, however weak they were. He had no other choice but to expend more Mana to deflect the blows rather than block the attacks, each one becoming fervent and ready to strike.
But no matter how quickly he ramped up the attacks, Zyler remained calm and composed. Each jab at his body was perfectly controlled, and not a single whiff of outreaching was sensed from his movements. He was aiming to kill, no matter how long he needed to wait.
Just as Zeke was ready to retreat, considering running away as he should’ve done, Zyler approached his side again with a kick straight to his abdomen. Pain ensued more than his resistance could handle as he flew along the air and crashed right into the ground. With his lowered mana, he was in a terrible situation of either using his last resource to protect himself or heal himself.
But the kick made that choice for him. It easily broke his ribs and his stomach felt like it was ready to be expunged out of his mouth. He realized he had internal organ damage, something that was apparent by the system as it relayed a debuff, showing that he was accruing damage by 0.5% every minute. It would be a slow and agonizing death if he doesn‘t do anything soon.
So he spent his remaining mana he could spend to heal himself back, at least to get rid of the debuff. The feeling of the cold approaching his core happened at the same time, closing his eyes as the pain slowly faded away.
He didn’t had any more energy to move. He was kneeling on the ground, clutching onto his stomach for support. His eyes were closed, strained tight to handle the situation as best he could. Despite this happening, Zyler didn’t immediately come over to deal the last blow.
Instead, he walked. Zeke’s ears picked up the slow methodical movements of his giant feet padding on the stone path to him. He got over the ridge of the crater he made when Zeke landed, approaching closer and closer.
Despite his opponent getting closer, Zeke had no way of fighting back. He exhausted all of his options, even tried to run away when he thought he had the chance. But each time it was snuffed out by Zyler’s overwhelming might.
In the end, time and experience became the defining factor of this battle. Zeke was impressive in his own right, but in the end he didn’t have the levels, stats, and skills needed to face someone who had all of that and more, the time needed to perfect an opponent’s thinking as the battle progressed.
Despite everything, what really made him angry was the fact that Zyler wasn’t even insulting him anymore. Zeke already realized that Mikella was fine a while ago. The way Zyler fought showed nothing of the callous and disgusting attitude he showed Zeke earlier. If anything, this guy valued honor and a good fight perhaps more than Mikella does. But in the end, the two were on opposite sides.
Zyler had a job to do, and so did Zeke. While Zeke just wanted to help his comrades, Zyler knew of his capabilities, and the only way forward is to kill him to hamper his enemies. Zeke looked up, his vision turning blurry as he actually saw Zyler’s human appearance for the first time.
He returned back to his human form, his upper body showing the well-muscled form built on pure combat experience. His biceps taut and ready for action, he looked down on Zeke with his scowling, albeit devilishly handsome features.
Out of everything, Zeke cursed the fact that Zyler was so damn good looking. It was unfair, seriously.
“You did good, Runist,” Zyler said, not smiling, but there was that hint of respect in his narrowed eyes. “It was a damn good fight. Better than I had in years. That lightning girl probably would’ve given me just as good of a fight too. She’ll probably go all out in a suicidal rage once she found out what happens to you. Your death will help me pass my limits and become stronger than I am now.”
Zeke didn’t know whether to grit his teeth in anger or scoff in defiance. He may not have beaten him but there was no way Mikella would lose to him.
But he kept his hopes down.
Zyler didn’t speak anymore as he raised his hand. It transformed into his wolf-like appearance, but only up to his forearm as it became a large clawed hand. The nails were sharp, perhaps even sharper than a regular sword. Easily capable of slicing his head off. Perhaps it would even be painless, especially with his Pain Resistance.
His vision turned distant then. Looking within himself, he saw his resources plummeting, and the debuffs of exhaustion and overwork piled on top of him. He had no way of recovery, no way of getting out of this. He already expended supplies he had. It was all just a matter of time.
His death was near, and he couldn’t help but remember the time when he saw the skeletons of the otherworlders. Did they die like this? Unable to do anything to change their fate?
Strangely enough, he wasn’t afraid. He was tired, exhausted, and in pain all over… but he wasn’t afraid. Instead, he looked back at the last few minutes of his life, realizing that despite the overwhelming odds, he still fought regardless.
It was something to be proud of. It was something that even his battle-hardened enemy could be proud of. Perhaps it was something even Mikella would be proud of.
But just when the claw was ready to move and end him right there, he saw it. At the very distant path up into the air, his enhanced vision saw something that shouldn’t happen.
Somewhere far away, somewhere that nobody should ever be, Clara was falling. She was holding Brucey to her hands, keeping it to her chest and unwilling to let go.
For a moment, his heart stopped. The rapid pace of his heart beating grew in intensity, enough to send a pang of pain through his soul he never felt before.
His mind whirled at the possibilities, that perhaps it was just a mirage set up by his pain-riddled mind. But no matter how much he tried to deny it, it was there, staring right at him through his enhanced perception.
Clara was falling, and she was screaming. Even at this distance, she could hear her scream.
“Sissy!”
He breathed heavily, and his collar began to spark intensely. It was enough for even Zyler to notice this in surprise and stood back.
Clara shouted again, and this time, the sparks became stronger.
“Bobo!”
His breathing became even more rampant. His heart, his mind, his very soul and core writhed in panic and distraught. The collar began to surge in blue sparks, enough so that it started to cover his entire body. He felt it then.
A rise of energy from within. It was a wave that started slow, but soon rose over several feet high. Enough to drown the shores, to cover the land, to drown the cities and towns in its wake.
It was an all-devouring mass of energy that threatened to consume him whole. But Zeke faced it head on. He wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t angry.
He was desperate. He outstretched his hand high into the air, straight at the falling girl. The mass of energy turned into a large condensed whirlpool which poured through him as he screamed with every fiber of force from his very soul.
Clara!
His voice was human, and not human. The collar burned away as his eyes turned a bright deep sapphire and emerald as the world turned completely blue.
Zyler gasped in shock as he was consumed within it, only just seeing it happened in a moment.
Everything became submerged into a large light that nobody could peer through, swallowing every bit of consciousness it could contain.