Attack dodged.

Strike miss.

Critical hit.

Damage reduced

Mana decreased

Elixir of power reduced

[Penalty of damage reduction imbued]

My breath was staggered, my movements flowed, but no where near peak performance.

Nothing was ever ideal, it seemed.

Regardless, I fought on.

They came in waves around me, as their leader watched, not joining.

Waiting.

Simply waiting.

Bastard...

I thought with clenched teeth.

This was the first phase.

Three rushed in.

The first was killed in a flurry of strikes.

The next man managed to hit me with a shallow blow before dropping dead from a clean eviscerate.

The last bandit tried a sneak attack, which I sensed, and sent a throwing knife to his heart just as he came out of invisibility.

My instincts told me to phase away.

To enter another plane.

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But I knew it wouldn't work, not with a legendary mob in the vicinity.

An arrow ablaze, burning hot, landed inches away from my feet

Next came the volley of arrows that were lost in the night

Only to reveal themselves hairs away from their target.

The target being me, of course.

Rolling and cartwheeling out of harms way.

I maneuvered myself into the center of the archers and released "fan of knives".

With a thump, they fell from their vantage spots.

Next, the bruisers, the larger built poleaxe wielding ones, ran forward.

My breathing had begun to grow ragged.

As I dodged a lunge, I felt a sharp pain course through my body.

Narrowly avoiding would no longer work.

"Golden Roots"

{Ability has worn off, stamina will be sapped instead of pumped for a short duration.}

Rayleigh's Claws burned in my palms as they fed off my energy reserves.

Regen Pot (Epic) had ran out

Would you like to pop another?

If only I had more, I thought to myself as I narrowly dodged another fatal blow.

Breathing in, I spun and struck at the first bruiser within reach.

Then, comboing the next foe with a lunging strike, ending inside the foe, as the next came down with a strike that would have taken me and his ally with it.

Releasing the hold on my daggers, I jumped out of the way, as I leaped to the ground I produced a small hand bow, releasing three darts into the bruiser's eye sockets.

Down he went with a smack and a burst of energy dispensing through the night sky.

I could feel my experience growing.

But not enough to transcend...

After a few moments my daggers returned to my inventory.

If only I could summon them.

The drain on my energy reserves would be too much.

Instead, I produced a pair of twin crossbows strapped over my arm guards.

I couldn't get close.

I had to play range for as long as possible.

Or until my energy came back and I could produce the claws again and go for the finishing strike.

At least, as I stared at the few mobs of bandits that were left before the boss…this is what I thought…