Chapter 64
‘
[Human : Thengi][Level: 40]
Status:
[HP: 6387/6687]
[MP: 5968/6687]
[SP: 8026/8547]
’
I guess I couldn’t get all elf opponents to the finals, or at least hybrids. I stared at my opponent, another female, another Level 40, but that was where the similarities ended. She was as tall as I was, maybe a little bit taller, and looked way more fierce than my last opponent had looked. I couldn’t tell whether it was because of the sword she was holding, or the minimalist armor that gave the vibes of a pure physical fighter, or was it that fierce look on her face that had me thinking that she could barely stop herself from shredding me to puny pieces with her teeth; not that I bought into that, what with all the Mana attacks she was throwing at me. It was like the sword was there for decoration purposes, but I was sure if she ran out of Mana, she would use it quite well.
What was wrong with people? Why couldn’t they let me win easy off them? I had a much dire need of gold than they did, after all, I needed stability. And to get rich. Fast.
I stared at her pleadingly, asking without so many words for her to just give in and die for me. And I got an answer alright.
She rushed me, throwing two slashes, one after another, both diagonal and perpendicular to each to form a cross. I had learnt early on that my [Mana Shield] was just barely strong enough to stop them, and she always arrived soon after to finish what her attacks couldn’t. I hadn’t been foolish enough to try and take them head on with my own body.
We met sword and staff after the Mana business was taken care of, trading thrusts for slashes, counterattacks for counterattacks, her sword whistling past as it sought my vital points, my body writhing, trying to evade her swords as my staff snaked in between her attacks, looking for vital points of its own.
For me, the engagements seemed to stretch on forever, and at the same time, end as fast as they began. The most annoying thing about her was her expertise at weaving Mana attacks into her attacks at such close quarters, leaving me no room to defend. I hadn’t taken one yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time before I evaded a little too slow than was necessary, or I misstepped too much to correct my stance in time.
Quickly taking a step back to avoid a lunge that came a little too close for comfort, I threw a [Fire Ball] at her, but she braced it unfazed, launching another strike, and I was forced to bring my staff up to defend against it, barely getting out of the way for the Mana attack she threw as our weapons collided. With her, I didn’t think I had to worry about my staff breaking, but I still took measures to keep it going for long. I couldn’t understand why my staffs were breaking one after another. That hadn’t been the case for the Baronies. Were the new Levels in [Strength] that impactful? But how could that be? Surely, I had taken out opponents with the staff before but it never broke. Though there were more than eight Levels between the opponents I faced then and the ones in the Counties.
A punch to the gut had me sucking in a painful breath as it took precious points from my [Health]. We had each gone through a set of potions, but I was losing points faster than she was, unlike before. I swung my staff around, forcing her to duck under where her face met with my knee, and I quickly followed with another [Fire Ball] and a [Wind Gust] right behind it before she could recover.
I took advantage of the space I had created, switching my hold on the staff for a longer reach, I attacked her with a thrust. She nimbly avoided it, responding with a Mana slash of her own, albeit a little weaker than I was used to. Was she running low on Mana? Or saving it up for when she could actually use it to full effect? But I didn’t have the time to check her [Status] to know what her plan was, busy as I was trying to gain a proper upper hand in the fight.
A swing, she leaned away from, an upper swing and she knocked it aside with her sword, throwing a Mana attack at my exposed torso. I quickly brought up my [Mana Shield], releasing it almost immediately after the attack was neutralized, bringing my hand back to my staff for another swing, and another. But she evaded them all, throwing another Mana attack at me at the end. I had known she had more Mana than me from the start, considerably so, but she was using it a little too liberally if you asked me. Then again, one of her previous attacks had been weaker.
Though, if I were in her place, I might do the same too. With our weapons, I had a reach advantage, I liked to think that I was pretty good at using it, and that left her with the sneaky Mana attacks she was so good at. But more often than not, she had easily broken that advantage with devastating consequences for dear old me. She had taught me thoroughly why [Unarmed Combat] was a Skill of its own right, and just how effective it could be when used right. But how was I supposed to work on it when I didn’t train with other people? The dummies in the training facilities, Hartie. The dummies.
I cursed myself as she slipped in again, delivering two powerful punches to my torso, again, before I could change my hold again. Was I a little bit slower? Why was I a little bit slower? I spun the staff over and under, side to side and back, but she dodged and parried, slashing and thrusting at me. And I tried my best to keep up with her, maybe her sword nicked me a couple times, but with all that was going on, I couldn’t honestly tell. It would need to be a big crushing hit for it register.
I knew that even the small nicks that didn’t look meaningful amounted to something cumulatively, and in the long run. The longer the fight lasted, the worse it would get for me if I kept letting her nick me as she pleased. And then the big kaboosh came in the form of a Mana piercing attack, and at such close quarters, even on the best of days, the best I could do was avoid any vital organs getting hit. The heart most definitely, I could do with one less kidney, right?
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
My staff managed to knock the sword itself away from me, but the Mana attack had already gone through me by then. I felt a burning sensation rush through the left side of my abdomen, as well as a sizzling sound that sounded eerily the same as that one time I tried my hand at frying meat for the first time. Oh, that’s why her Mana attacks had looked golden. Boiling oil, is it?
I roared in fury, and I could have sworn I felt a little heat rush from me, and the way she leapt back made me think that maybe I wasn’t the only one to feel it. Had the burning in me traveled out with the roar, or was it possible to actually roar fire like a dragon? That would be so cool, like Iroh.
I chased after her, even as the sizzling kept on. Shit, is she feeding it Mana? That’s just nasty. I gritted through the exacerbating pain, going for speed and technique over power. I wanted, nee, needed to disrupt her. Swing, swing, thrust, I threw everything I could think of at her, but she maintained a passive role, as the sizzling kept going. She was focusing on eating away at my [Health] from the inside out. I really should have tried to avoid it completely. In retrospect, I might have actually managed it.
I pushed farther, and faster still, and she still kept it going, sometimes parrying when I got a little too close. And the sizzling continued as my [Health] plummeted. I finally gave in and used the last of my Mana to activate [Fast Dash].
As close to her as I was, the only thing she could do was brace for it, if she could manage that. I pummeled into her, carrying her a few meters before [Fast Dash] ended, but she continued on for a few more meters. I pulled back then, taking a Mana potion and a much needed Health potion before she could recover. And after a little deliberation, a Stamina potion too.
And I shot for her.
With my renewed [Status], I felt a little more confident of myself, and my chances. And that meant I couldn’t allow her to take her potions as she was trying to do. I arrived a little late to prevent her from taking the blue one, but not so for the green one, and that was even more important.
My staff crashed with her hand, knocking the pail in her hand and it flew a few meters from her. But it was like she had anticipated that, rolling almost immediately for the potion, and I chased. She arrived before me, downing the potion so fast I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.
She didn’t take the Stamina potion, which only meant that she had already taken it while I was taking my own potions. If that was so, then her priorities in taking potions was very screwed. Everyone knew that you started with [Health], at least I assumed so. Wait… had I started with [Health]? I didn’t think so, in fact, my priorities were way worse than hers.
And we were back at it again. I didn’t like it when we both took potions at about the same time, it felt anticlimactic to me, and also it took away any advantage I might have had. But then it was my job to control that, wasn’t it? If I wanted it to be climatic, then I needed to make it so.
We danced, and danced, and danced around each other. Poking and prodding as much as we could. The good thing about our match up was that we were nearly point for point on things that mattered, [Strength], [Stamina], and even [Health] surprisingly. I hadn’t thought I would meet someone so low leveled in [Health] in the competition. I had assumed that I was doing something completely wrong the whole time, but I had a partner, too bad only one of us was making it through to the next round.
We really stretched the last of our [Status], I really wanted to say life, like in a game, but it was more of a boost.
I was already heaving, and I had already sweated so much I was sure I had crossed over to the realm of sweating blood. I couldn’t believe how she looked so calm, collected and cool, as she hammered me with her attacks. The nicks I had gained in the fight were wearing me down, and I hoped she was no better. I had landed a good deal of heavy hits on her arms and torso, they had to be hurting proper. Please let them be hurting, I pleaded as I ducked under her swing, rolling and coming up with another heavy hit to her back. I thought I heard her grunt as she stumbled, I tried for a follow up, but I was a little too far, and my swing didn’t connect at all, a wasted effort as she hadn’t been in a position to even defend herself. Had I waited for a second more to reposition myself, I might have landed a good shot. Maybe the finisher.
She turned back around just in time to block another of my attacks, she tried to counter but swung a little too wide, opening her torso for a thrust. She stumbled back, trying to bring her sword up, she tried another swing at me and that’s when I saw the grimace as the sword went wide. Those hits to her back must have done more than I thought they had. I sidestepped another substandard swing from her, moving past to deliver another strike to her back. I turned faster, delivering a good whack to the back of head and she went down good.
And didn’t get up.
For the first time in the Counties, I had managed to finish a fight without breaking my staff. An accomplishment I had never thought I would be so proud of before I actually achieved it. The fact that I had half the staffs I had had when I came to Choska City made it all the more an achievement. I really needed a new staff, and fast. As much as the enhancing Skill had made them more durable, my opponents kept getting sturdier, requiring me to use even more force and deliver more power with each strike, and my poor staff bore all the pushbacks from that.
Before the healers could make it to us, I was surprised to see her stir, and sit up. I took a few steps back warily, but then calmed down when I remembered that the fight had already being called. They couldn’t renounce my victory, could they?
Just to be sure no one forced me to fight again, I began a brisk walk out of the arena, hoping, for all that was mighty in Mesily, that no one called for me.
No one did.
[+][+][+]
[Species: Human]
[Name: Hartie]
[Sex: Male]
[Level: 38]
Status:
[HP: 5477/5477]
[MP: 6687/6687]
[SP: 8831/8831]
Attributes:
[Agility: 44]
[Constitution: 37]
[Endurance: 46]
[Intelligence: 38]
[Strength: 32]
[Vitality: 33]
[Wisdom: 38]
General Skills [4/4]:
[Health Regeneration: 5]
[Identify: 1]
[Language Proficiency: 4]
[Mana Manipulation: 16]
Primary Skills:
[Daggers: 8]
[Enhanced Hand: 12]
[Earth Grab: 14]
[Fast Dash: 15]
[Fire Ball: 15]
[Hurtling Projectile: 17]
[Staff Strike: 16]
[Staffs: 17]
[Unarmed Combat: 10]
[Wind Gust: 12]
Other Skills:
[Acrobatics: 10]
[Archery: 3]
[Bludgeons: 3]
[Carpentry: 3]
[Enhance Plant Growth: 3]
[Fire Bolt: 9]
[Herbalism: 5]
[Mana Attenuation: 11]
[Mana Projectile: 6]
[Mana Shield: 9]
[Mana Slash: 10]
[Shield: 2]
[Spears: 3]
[Stealth: 2]
[Staff Making: 6]
[Staff Shield: 8]
[Water Ball: 9]
[Water Punch: 10]
[Weeding: 8]
[Whirlpool: 7]