Chapter Five - Speared Towards Growth
A/N: Skills Appearing in <<-->> are skills used with "Path of Silence" (meaning he is not saying them aloud)
As soon as Knox’s foot passed the threshold of the boss room the Salamandra Guards began to charge. Using his speed, Knox slipped between them without taking damage and the guards were soon met with a hail of knives.
“Fan of Knives!”
Darrak threw the knives in a wide arc in front of him and as soon as they left his finger tips they began to glow. They shot towards their respective targets and soon the Salamandra Guards were festooned with knives. They sprouted from throats, wrists and ankles, as if the Salamandra had suddenly grown spikes.
‘That bastard! He could have been helping out all along! He’s as sneaky as Vennec!’
Knox stabbed one of the Guards right below the rib cage and lifted it off its feet. Just in time to intercept a rain of fireballs from the boss. Then as the fire strikes ended Knox slit the Guards throat and rushed toward the boss.
The Salamandra Lord’s spear whistled toward Knox but he dodged and kept closing the distance.
*Slither*
The sound of scales sliding across the ground was the only warning Knox had as the boss’s tail slammed into his side.
-150 HP from a glancing blow.
HP: 4350/4500MP: 700/700Stamina: 337/340
*Khuk!*
He managed to jump away from the blow at the last second to neutralize the tail's crushing power. The hit threw him off balance and he slid haphazardly along the floor.
His slide across the coals took a little more HP but the damage was negligible.
-25 HP
-25 HP
The boss closed the distance and Knox was once again dodging the spear, except this time, he had to keep an eye on that tail, too. The middle range distance was disadvantageous for him so, instead of dodging the next spear attack, he chose to parry. He struck the shaft of the spear with both his daggers, diverting the downward blow to the side.
The spear’s momentum carried it into the ground and Knox closed the distance.
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
Three rapid cuts to spread the poison; then jump as the tail lashed in his direction. The tail moved like an extra limb coiling around the Salamandra Lord’s body.
‘Snake impersonator!’
Knox stabbed the tail as it crashed into the ground where he’d just been standing. The Salamandra Lord whipped its tail away from the stab, leaving a gaping wound behind, and the dagger tore free.
Target is poisoned. Hp will be reduced per second. (4 Stacks)
Each stack would increase the damage by 0.5x and Knox intended to get in as many stacks as he could before the poison on his blades wore off. He had yet to come up with a way to re-apply the poison while in battle like Vennec. To compensate he’d purposefully poisoned two sets of daggers, increasing the amount of times he could stack the poisons.
*Slash*
*Slash*
Poison effect on Paired Steel Daggers has expired.
‘Okay, then, time to switch...’
The Salamandra Lord unleashed a series of rapid jabs with its spear, forcing Knox to stay back. When Knox managed to close the distance again, he slammed the daggers into the Salamandra Lord all the way to the hilt.
‘Great stress relief...’
Then he pulled out his Charax Daggers and went back to work. The fight was going his way and Knox couldn’t help but smile at the amount of damage he was dishing out. He began laughing as he cut and slashed away.
(24 Stacks)
Knox slammed both hilts into the Salamandra Lord.
<
Target is bleeding.HP and Stamina will decrease rapidly.Regeneration abilities are negated.
Then a new system message appeared.
Boss monster’s HP dropped below 75%.Passive mode disabled.The Salamdra Lord's stats increased by 10%
‘What the...?’
The Salamandra Lord’s spear began to glow before slicing through the air, aiming for Knox. The swing had caught Knox just as he was leaping forward to attack. Caught in midair, he couldn’t dodge, leaving him with only one option; parry.
Parry has failed.You are stunned. Unable to move for 5 seconds.
The spear batted his dagger’s aside like they were toys and a crushing blow slammed into his stomach. The air was knocked out of him so hard he couldn’t even cry out in pain, only a strangled gurgle escaped his lips as he flew through the air.
-450 HP from a body blow.
‘Shit! That hurt. He suddenly got so much stronger!’
The boss wasn’t done. While Knox was still flying, the butt of the Salamandra Lord’s spear smashed into the ground. A shockwave of fire exploded out from around the boss and Knox took the hit head on.
“Argh!”
-680 HP from Fire Shock.
HP: 3120/4500MP: 250/700Stamina: 273/340
Knox was slammed into the wall like a rag doll and the boss slithered forward. Knox was trying to dodge but he couldn’t avoid taking damage.
-180 HP from a glancing blow.-200 HP from shockwave.-350 HP legs have been injured.Movement speed reduced.
HP: 2390/4500MP: 250/700Stamina: 267/340
‘Shit! This isn’t even enraged mode... He just became more offensive and I can barely keep up?!’
Then knives thudded into the boss’ chest and it let out a roar. Knox was presented with the Salamandra Lord’s back as it turned to face Darrak. Knox moved forward as fast as he could and began to cut.
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
He wasn’t worrying about accuracy, just trying to do as much damage as possible before it turned its attention back to him. Even to Knox, his arms were a blur, as he cut faster and faster. The boss swung at him with its spear, trying to bash him with its tail but Knox wasn’t budging this time. He cut and slashed any part of the boss he could reach, pushing his body harder than ever before.
Yet as Knox’s speed increased, the boss’ speed rose to match it! It was beginning to dodge his blows, its spear was becoming more accurate...
‘I need to be faster! Why the hell can’t I keep up?’
His vision tunneled, as he became entirely focused on slashing.
‘Don’t want to lose...’
‘Don’t want to lose...’
-175 HP from a glancing blow.-230 HP from a glancing blow.-410 HP from a wound to side.
‘No... I refuse to lose!’
Boss monster’s HP dropped below 50%.The Boss has become angry.The Salamdra Lord's stats increased by 10%
He kept taking the hits but his attacks were rapidly growing to the point where Knox couldn’t follow his own movements... He wasn’t able to keep up with the boss or the capabilities of this virtual body of his...
A message window appeared before his eyes!
New Skill: Burst
Then his vision was suddenly filled with the tip of a spear...
You have died.You will be unable to reconnect for 24hrs.Random items will be dropped.Random skill proficiencies will be decreased.
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“ARGH DAMNIT!”
Rei banged his head in annoyance. He’d died before during his training with Vennec but this was the first time he’d felt so out classed...
“Shit... I’m still so weak.”
Rei lay in his capsule for awhile. Finally, he pushed himself into action. Just because he was logged out of RR for awhile didn’t mean he had to sit idle... It was time to do what made him the top student in his school, when he’d actually chosen to apply himself, endless studying!
A humongous stack of notebooks took up one side of his desk while the other held just his personal computer. An ancient dry erase board had been scavenged from the basement and a pile of dusty old text books sat off to one side.
“Now then, let’s begin. Search ‘Crow Royal Road’.”
- Searching... -
He started by pulling up all the videos of his favorite Assassin... Crow, the player he’d discovered during his research with Sher. Crow, who was proclaimed, the greatest Assassin on Versailles had an entire forum dedicated to his videos.
- Crow - Eramoor Dungeon Solo!- Crow – C-Ranked Bandit Slaughter.- Crow – The fall of Morin Fortress...
Rei watched them all, his pen flying over page after page. Movements, number of stabs executed, grip techniques employed. How mages were countered, how warriors were countered. He recorded it all.
When his alarm clock for school went off at 6:30am he got up just long enough to unplug it before going back to work.
“Search ‘Wing Chun Kung Fu’.”
“Search ‘Ninjitsu’.”
“Search ‘Kali’.”
“Search ‘Special Forces’.”
“Search ‘Street Fighting’.”
Rei set down the last notebook. Art of Fighting v12 of 12 could be seen on the cover and he let out a sigh. He knew that he couldn’t really learn how to fight simply from researching but he wanted to have the widest possible information pool before he began trying to teach himself.
The dry erase board was now covered with an extremely detailed illustration of the human body. Nerve clusters, vital organs, pressure points, arteries, they were all illustrated and highlighted for their possible effects. To any outside observer the scene would have been rather frightening... Especially the side notes such as...
- An abdominal wound that cuts through a kidney can cause unconsciousness within seconds, death in less than a minute.- Severing large arteries that supply the heart will do in a pinch.
...
In fact when Rei’s mother finally returned home from her business trip on Saturday and opened his bedroom door she decided that her son had... as expected... finally started to walk down the road of a psychopath. She immediately chose her fall back method when dealing with her son’s odd behaviors... She called Sher.
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Deep in a forest... They all look pretty much the same... You get the picture...
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Nightshade had left the city of Regus over a month ago in game. She had started out in the Keurion Kingdom because she’d wanted to be close enough to bully ‘Him’ into partying with her. She had based her class on what would work best with ‘Him’. She’d even done research on where they could level up and quest together... And yet...
“Where the hell is that bastard!”
Nightshade screamed as she slammed her Greatsword into another goblin. The goblin went flying back into its comrades and Nightshade’s Greatsword began to turn an angry shade of violet.
“Punishing Wave!”
A violet crescent of energy exploded from her sword and smashed into the goblins. A shockwave blossomed outward from the impact and a few goblins died instantly. Nightshade’s steel greaves smashed hard into the ground and then she flew forward, her silvery hair streamed out behind her.
She gritted her teeth as the last goblin died from a foot to the face.
‘I’ll kill that bastard when he shows up! I won’t go to him... I’ll wait patiently and, when he arrives, I’ll kill him!’
Stomping toward the next group of Goblins, Nightshade (aka the Terror of Goblins) moved deeper into the Golath Mountain range.
_____________________
It had been twelve days since Darrak had escaped the boss room and used his ‘Hide’ ability to reach the safe zone and yet Knox had not returned. He had heard that all Outlanders even after being killed would return after only four days...
“Where the hell is that bastard?! What’s he thinking leaving me in this place?”
“Who’s a bastard?”
The voice made Darrak nearly jump out of his skin as he spun around. Standing behind him was Knox. His hand was moving in midair and he seemed to be reading rapidly as his eyes flickered back and forth.
“YOU! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?”
Knox frowned at this and gave Darrak a look that said it should be obvious.
“Studying.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Knox just sighed and left the safe area, heading away from the boss room.
“Hey! The boss room is the other way!”
“If I fight him again without getting better the result will be the same.”
Knox answered shortly as he kept walking.
“What about the time limit? You’re already late you know!”
“Don’t care. Tell that old man that I won’t be back until I’m ready.”
Darrak was flabbergasted. In the twelve days he’d been waiting it seemed Knox had changed drastically... Darrak followed behind, choosing to activate his ‘Hide’. He knew Knox’s insight was high enough to let him know that he was still there but the monsters wouldn’t notice him at all.
Knox walked toward a group of four monsters, right out in the open and with no sign of a plan at all...
‘Maybe he became suicidal?’
Then Darrak could only stare. Knox didn’t draw his weapons as the monsters attacked and as the first Salamandra warrior closed the distance Knox threw kicks, punches and elbows. To Darrak it looked like his movements were extremely clumsy and his hits had barely any power behind them at all... and yet...
After awhile, Darrak realized that the fight had been going on for more than five minutes and somehow Knox was still alive... It’s almost like watching a practice. Darrak’s eyes widened in incredulity.
‘He’s using the Salamandra to practice fighting from scratch? That’s... Outlander’s are all crazy.’
Darrak continued to follow Knox for the rest of the day watching his movements slowly improve. His punches and kicks began to intercept the Salamandra when their weight was in motion, adding more damage. His elbows began to find nerve clusters in the jaws and neck...
Darrak shook his head and decided to report back to Vennec. Knox no longer needed him as back up. Vennec had told him about the ability for rapid evolution in the Outlanders but Darrak had never fully believed it... Now he knew it to be truth.
‘Monsters...’
_____________________
Sher slammed into Knox’s room, planning to give him a beating and froze. She took in the dry erase board, stacks of notebooks and open text books in a glance. Then her eyes looked toward the silver capsule and the flickering lights that meant it was in use.
She moved toward the desk were she could see a notebook lying open and began to read.
Personal Analysis –
- Poor body movements, lack of fluidity. Makes my attacks choppy and easy to see through...
- Lack of control of my virtual body means that I can’t move as fast as the body is capable, I am holding my avatar back...
- Precision and Speed have not reached the desired level despite my thought’s to the contrary. Compared to ‘Him’ I’m little more than a child stabbing at animals...
- Understanding of the body’s weak points needs to be expanded...
- Overall goal – Not to die so pathetically in the future...
Sher finished reading and glanced toward the capsule again.
“I’m still not going to forgive you. When you show up I’ll kick your ass... But I’ll let you live, I suppose.”
Sher picked up all twelve notebooks of the art of fighting and left the room.
‘These will be useful for me as well. Now that something has sparked his competitive nature I can’t slack off...’
Sher was almost out the door before she remembered why she’d come over in the first place.
‘Ah, better tell ‘Mom’ that her son hasn’t turned into a closet murderer...’
_____________________
‘Still not good enough...’
Knox wasn’t sure how long he’d been training against the Salamandra but he still wasn’t satisfied. His use of his body had improved exponentially but he was still unable to attack as fast as he desired. From his research he’d concluded that while some Assassins were all about sneaking up on opponents, the truly gifted ones were also extremely capable fighters.
Killing your target from behind was all well and good until you messed up or encountered a situation where it was impossible to do so...
‘Maybe it’s time to start using ‘that’...’
With a sign Knox brought up his skill window.
“Skill Window!”
Skills Window:Nimble Body (Racial Passive): Increase Agility by 5. Agility is increased by an additional 5 every 10 Base Levels.Fire and Darkness (Racial Passive): An Affinity with Fire and Darkness. Boosts Fire and Black Magic Spells by 5%. Increases Resistance to Fire and Black Magic Spells by 5%.Night Vision (Passive) - Allows players to see in the dark. Decreases the effect of blind by 5%Stealth (Lv. 4 45%) – Enables you to move silently, erasing your presence and killing intent.Backstab (Lv. 3 2%) – Strike the vulnerable part of your opponent from behind. Damage increased by 200% if opponent is unaware of your presence.Dagger Mastery (Lv. 7 49%) – Increase damage and attack speed with daggers.
Increases Attack Power with daggers (+41% ATK)
Increases Attack Speed with daggers (+25% ATK SPD)
Critical Hit Chance with Daggers Increased by 3.5%
Critical Damage with Daggers Increased by 10%Scaling (Lv. 4 20%) – Increase climbing speed of vertical obstacles. Walls, Mountains, Fences, etc.Path of Silence (Lv. 5 3%) – You no longer need to speak when casting skills. When attacking in silence you have a 6% Chance of Silencing your enemy: Silencing Effect Increases 3% Every 50 Levels.Trap Mastery (Lv. 5 59%) – Create traps to injure, slow or disable your enemies. Higher proficiency increases damage, complexity and decreases time required to create traps.
Traps Available:
- Wire Trap
- Mana Web
- Spike Field
- Beginner Fire Trap *Requires Elemental Crystals*Disable Traps (Lv. 3 13%) – Allows you to identify and disable traps based on your level in ‘Disable Traps’. This skill is affected by Luck and Insight stats. Successfully disabling traps grants additional stats depending on the ‘Difficulty’.Rupture (Lv. 2 87%) – Rupture your enemy’s recent wounds with a dual pommel strike to the body.
Causes target to receive 15% of all the damage taken from a blade in the past 20 seconds.
If target is Bleeding, damage increased by 1.5x
If target is not Bleeding, inflicts Bleed
If target is Bleeding, causes severe Bleeding
If target is Bleeding severely, no effect
Requires two weapons to be equipped
Mana Cost: 425Pressure Point (Lv. 1 55%) – By targeting pressure points you can cause pain or unconsciousness. Unavailable on monsters and playersIdentify Poison (Lv. 4 13%) – Your body has experienced many poisons and you are now able to identify their contents. Increase resistance to poisons by 5%Identification (Lv. 2 0%) – Enables you to learn the true value of unidentified items.Repair (Lv.4 20%) - Enables you to restore durability to damaged items.Burst (Lv. 1 0%) - By focusing one’s own body, movement & attack speed is increased by 25%. Last 10 Seconds. Stamina Consumption is Trippled. (Max Number of Uses Without Rest: 3)
As your skill in Burst grows new techniques will be generated based on your usage of Burst.Anatomy (Lv. 2 11%) – Constant experimentation has given the user understanding of the enemies body. Due to this knowledge all damage will increase by 5%. Damage to vital areas has a chance of causing extreme status effects.
- Currently effected species: Humanoids. However, through experience this skill can grow to encompass more species.Hand-to-Hand Mastery (Lv. 2 5%) – Use your whole body as a weapon.
Increase all physical damage by 15% (Does not apply to weapons.)
Strength / Agility & Endurance increased by 10Blessing of the Valkyrie (Lv ??) - ????
“Well... Seems like everything but ‘that’ has increased a lot... Time to test it out.”
Knox muttered to himself while walking off in search of another mob. He found a group made up of Salamandra Pyros and Hunters. A group that, before dying, he would have avoided at all costs... Now, however, he walked casually forward. He was within ten feet of the Salamandras before they noticed. After an initial screech of surprise, the Pryos began casting spells.
<
The spells fizzled as their target vanished from sight.
A foot slammed into a Pyro’s throat, taking it clear off its feet and ending any thought of casting. The second Pyro was suddenly unable to breathe, as several rapid stabs punctured its lungs and throat.
The Salamandra screeched even louder, as the human suddenly appeared in their midst. The Salamandra Hunters attempted to lift their arms to hurl spears, only to find that they couldn’t move their arms at all. Slashes that were just now beginning to leak blood, had already severed the muscles. Their arms were completely disabled.
Rapid stabs to the heart, eyes and kidneys followed and the Salamandra’s HP disappeared. The last Salamandra died and Knox collapsed to the ground, panting for breath. He glanced toward his status bars and winced.
HP: 4300/4500MP: 700/700Stamina: 80/340
“Shit. That takes more than I thought... Only 8 seconds and I’m on the ground panting like an asthmatic...”
“Show Skill Burst”
Burst (Lv. 1 3%) - By focusing one’s own body, movement & attack speed is increased by 25%. Last 10 Seconds. Stamina Consumption is Trippled. (Max Number of Uses Without Rest: 3)
As your skill in Burst grows new techniques will be generated based on your usage of Burst.
“One use is only 3%... Damn this is gonna be rough. 99 more times to go...”
Then his gaze drifted to where the four monsters had stood only a few seconds before and a feral grin spread across his face.
“This is totally going to be worth it.”
_____________________
In an unexplored region of the continent a radiant hall filled with shouts and the clash of weapons stood proudly amongst the clouds. And within that hall...
A tall girl in golden armor was staring intently at a bowl of water in front of her. A poorly lit image could be seen inside the bowl... A boy was surrounded by red humanoid lizards with a foolishly large grin plastered on his face.
“Fufufu... This one might be interesting. If I choose him, the others will be in an uproar...”
At this thought, the girl grinned wickedly and picked up her spear before leaving.
“I just love interesting things...”
To be continued...
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Author's notes: Comments/Critiques & Opinions Appreciated! If you see a mistake please point it out to me!
Special Thanks to: Deathshinobi, VIM1INC, Exninja & Kaine!
*Valuable help with ideas & proofing!*