The skeleton hobbled forward, leaning heavily on its staff as it moved. Edgar knew better than to rush in blindly against a strong opponent, so he moved cautiously. He’d have to stay alert to avoid getting one-shotted by a strong attack. He had fought the level five Prince of Imps and survived, which gave him some measure of confidence, however his goal this time around wasn’t just to survive. He had to win.
The unstuck wanderer paused and raised its staff above its head. A magic circle with glittering purple letters formed and the runes on the wood began to glow.
Edgar’s instincts screamed at him in a way he had never experienced—an animalistic sense of danger and an urge to move. He dove to the side as a puff of smoke surrounded the skeleton and it reappeared mere feet in front of him, swinging down at him with a magic infused attack.
He reacted just fast enough, jumping backward as the crackling staff came down just in front of his face, purple energy swirling around the wood. He jumped further and then further away, giving himself distance.
The skeleton leaned on its staff once again and began hobbling towards him, its steps awkward and slow. A second puff of purple energy appeared, and the skeleton disappeared. Edgar felt the tingle on his neck again and rolled forwards, spinning to find the skeleton standing behind him. Its staff was no longer augmented with purple energy, but he dodged the attack regardless.
He rolled to his feet and rebounded at the skeleton, sensing an opening to strike. He curled, flowing into [Tail Whip]. The skeleton was moving too slow to block it, but before the attack landed, another cloud of purple energy engulfed the skeleton and he heard a tumble of bones as it reappeared further away, tripping over some long dead combatant half buried in the dirt of the arena.
Edgar blinked, trying to collect himself. Think, be calm.
The skeleton’s skills had cool downs. There would be an opening. There had to be openings. Fortunately, the melee attack had both a brief duration and cooldown. The corresponding runes on its staff were already recharging, but they were slow. Slower than his [Tail Whip], from what he could tell. For the life of him, he couldn’t see any runes related to the skeleton’s short range teleportation, which concerned him. Did that mean it had no cooldown? Was that possible?
It didn’t matter. There was nothing he could do about it, so he pushed on, deciding to increase the pace of his attacks while the skeleton’s attack skills were recharging. It disappeared a few more times in puffs of magical smoke, but Edgar charged after it. He even activated acrobatics, jumping off bones and using the environment where he could to increase his speed.
He began to sense the randomness in its teleportation could be an opening, of sorts. It often appeared oriented away from him or in a compromising position—like when it landed in a pile of bones, tripping over them. On his fourth attack, he realized there was even an aspect of randomness in its timing. The skeleton didn’t vanish out from under his strike in time and he landed a single unskilled tail attack. The skeleton took the blow on the shoulder, stumbling to a knee. Edgar noticed the runes on its staff reaching full charge and dodged away.
If the skeleton’s teleportation skill was truly random, then all he could do was press the attack. More attacks meant more chances to damage it and slowly whittle it down.
A puff of purple smoke suddenly appeared a few paces ahead and within the magical cloud, he sensed an attack already forming. Dread rose in his gut as his instincts screamed for him to move. He dove away, but was a hair too slow. He felt a wave of pain as the staff struck his upper arm. Wisps of purple magic drifted upward from the wound as his health plummeted. He rolled away.
Quick, heal! Potion!
His adrenaline surged and his fingers shook as he summoned his inventory, trying to withdraw one of his precious healing potions. The skeleton vanished again, appearing further away and facing the wrong direction. He finally managed to touch the interface, and the potion appeared in his hands. He quickly unstoppered it and poured the precious contents down his throat.
A warm sensation flowed through him as the healing magic settled in his arm and patched up his wound. He flexed his fingers, testing himself, but he seemed to be fine. His health recovered quickly to full as well.
The skeleton teleported once more, reappearing closer but still out of reach. It locked eyes with him and approached. Edgar settled into his stance, trying to calm himself.
The teleports are definitely random, there’s no doubt. The skeleton can also get lucky if it lands in the right spot.
I have to calm down and focus.
Edgar’s hands were still shaking. He tried to take a breath and steady himself as the skeleton vanished again… reappearing… behind him!
He dodged, activating [Tail Whip] as a counter attack. He struck out at the purple smoke and, somewhere within the cloud, his tail connected with bone and the skeleton tumbled away.
Edgar clenched his fist, his fingers shaking less now as he watched the skeleton rise to its feet again. The damage he had done was undeniable.
New Ability: [Animalistic Awareness]
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
He glanced at the notification, willing it to expand while the skeleton blinked further away again, stumbling to its feet.
Ability: [Animalistic Awareness]
* You gain an ability to sense imminent threats to your life.
* Effect: Character’s reaction speed is increased.
* Level: 0
* Experience to unlock leveling: 0%
That’s handy. It’s an ability too, not a skill. I wonder what that means? It must be related to that prickly feeling I get before the skeleton tries to brain me with that damn staff.
The skeleton teleported again, this time landing within range and facing Edgar. It attacked with its staff, although there was no purple energy this time. Edgar assumed the related skill was still on cooldown and quickly activated [Parry]. Knocking the attack aside, he raked his claws across the skeleton’s body. The attack caused minimal damage, yet the sensation was oddly satisfying. In an odd way, it grounded him. It might be his imagination, but he felt like his claws were just a hair sharper.
The image of a cat at a scratching post suddenly flashed in his mind and he shook his head.
Focus, focus! The staff!
He dove, trying to part the skeleton from its weapon, but it blinked away again.
Edgar rolled to his feet, ready to run after the skeleton yet again, but a thought crossed his mind and he paused. He reached inside himself where his skills sat waiting—a space like a deep pocket inside his soul. [Scratch], [Parry], and [Tail Whip] were waiting right at the edge of the space. Their energy was familiar, friendly even. [Scratch] was on cooldown, but the other two were ready. He could feel their eagerness to fight.
Edgar could feel many of his other skills waiting deeper inside and he pushed onwards. [Rift Sight] in particular was so far away it felt completely inaccessible, but he reached until he found [Overdrive]. The skill sat smoldering inside him, dormant and unused. There was a sensation of increasing heat as he poked at it with his awareness, coaxing it to life.
The heat of it was incredible. His veins throbbed with energy.
Turning his attention back to the fight, he charged at the skeleton, moving faster than before. It was hard to steer, and the skeleton blinked away once, forcing Edgar to skid and change course, but he reached it before the skeleton had a chance to teleport away a second time.
With [Tail Whip] off cooldown, Edgar twirled to attack before [Overdrive] wore off. He let his momentum feed the attack and the club of his tail crashed into the chest of the skeleton, pulverizing a chunk of its rib cage. The skeleton stumbled, blinking away.
Then, it appeared behind him with its staff extended. His instincts screamed at him to move. A magic circle appeared around the head of the skeleton’s staff and it unleashed another attack, one that he hadn’t seen yet.
It was like an invisible blade slicing through the air, cutting anything in its path. Bones embedded in the arena were cut and even the ground itself was scarred. The sliced ends then steamed with purple energy.
Edgar dove to the side, but the attack caught him in the leg and a wave of pain surged through his body.
Condition Afflicted: [Rot]
* Creatures affected by this condition continually take damage proportional to the amount of their body inflicted with [Rot].
* Removed by healing.
The rot looked a bit like black fungus and his health plummeted to critical. The skeleton approached to finish him as Edgar reached into his inventory for his last healing potion. He drank half and splashed the other half on his wound. The condition fizzled away and his health recovered a meager amount, up to around half. Then, the skeleton was on him.
It stood over him, its staff raised and crackling with purple energy.
Acting on instinct, Edgar reached for [Parry] as the unstuck wanderer’s staff came down at him. He knocked the blow aside and activated both [Acrobatics] and [Tail Whip], twisting to hit the skeleton in the chest with his tail. The blow rocked the skeleton, sending chips of bone skittering away. It stumbled backwards, falling to one knee and clutching at its staff in a feeble effort to regain its feet. It crumpled into a pile of bones, staff toppling in a puff of dust.
Essence flowed into his core, even more this time. Compared to the skeletons, the difference was striking. This was maybe a hundred skeletons in one burst.
Edgar’s chest heaved with exertion as he stared up at the cavernous ceiling above the arena. A triumphant shout ripped from his throat.
That was three… I did it…
Excitement bubbled inside of him. His skills churned, radiating their own excitement at his victory. It was kind of funny, looking at them. They each had a sort of personality to them. [Overdrive] was thrilled, [One with Darkness] was aloof and regal, and [Tasty Snacks] was… well… hungry?…
He could hear Mirai’s shout as she descended the steps towards him. Her face was hard to parse. It looked as if she’d been worried—she might have even cried, judging by the faint wetness on her cheeks—but the only emotion she showed to him outright was a fierce confidence.
“You won!”
“You doubted?”
“Yes!”
Edgar’s laughter melted his nerves a bit before he realized it wasn’t over yet.
Mirai had one more fight.
He took a breath. “You can do this.”
“Mhmm!”
“Strengths and weaknesses! Find them. Use them—”
She glanced at him, deadpan. “Go loot your kill and get out of my way, rookie.”
Edgar nodded, turning to loot what was left of the skeleton. He found quite a bit: 50 [Bone], 50 iron, 50 copper, [Wanderer’s cloak], some sort of fruit called a Blacknessberry, and an [Essence of Darkness (Space)].
The items were intriguing, but there’d be time for them later. He hustled up onto the platform where the undead flexed its fingers angrily. It glanced hatefully at him, peering over the tip of its nose.
“Tsk… You pass…”
It waved its hand and a third mark appeared in Edgar’s row of the scoreboard, in the final column. He gulped, turning to watch Mirai’s fight. She had trained since she was a child. If he could win, she could… right?
~~~~~~~~~~
* Check out the Stats Page for this Chapter here