“Oglo!” said Isabelle. She braced herself for him to lunge forward with his blade, but the attack didn’t come.
“Yes, Isabelle, that’s my name,” said Oglo with a sneer. “I’m almost impressed you remembered it. I can’t say you were my best pupil. You never did seem to take shields seriously, you know.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Was this guy going to fight her, or was her going to talk her ears off?
“Really, I don’t understand your whole issue with me. I mean, obviously you thought you were setting my home ablaze. That much is painfully clear,” said Oglo. “But I have to ask, why even bother? You’ve slain dragons, Isabelle. Dragons, and hell, you’ve even somewhat vanquished the Overlord! Why are you wasting your time on me? And where is the rest of your party?”
Isabelle tried to hide her emotions from Oglo. She didn’t want to show weakness. She knew he’d exploit it. So, she remained silent.
“Oh gods,” said Oglo. “This is just scary. You set fire to my neighbor’s house and then when I come to confront you you just stand there in silence? Very creepy, Isabelle. But it’s fair enough. I’m sure you’re still thinking about all that loot I took from you. Why would you think about anything else? You know when I heard you were the player the very first thing I thought was that you had to be the prophecized mage of shadows. That was my first thought, Isabelle. Do you want to know why?”
Isabelle did kind of want to know why, especially considering that she didn’t think of herself as a ‘mage of shadows’ figure at all, but she also didn’t want to let Oglo know she wanted to know why. So, she stayed stone cold silent and expressionless.
“Yea, that’s about the response I expected,” said Oglo. “I swear to the gods, for a long while I wondered to myself if someone like you even had a soul. But then again, you had to have one to get reincarnated here, didn’t you?” Oglo snickered. “Regardless, I guess I ought to tell you that the reason I’ve been convinced you’re the mage of shadows, other than of course the horrible self-created wake of tragedy and turmoil you seem to bring wherever you go, is that I’ve never met someone more unabashedly self-centered in my whole damn life. And what’s more, you don’t seem to have a shred of awareness about it. There’s a reason they put you in prison, Isabelle. You should’ve stayed there! Hell, I should’ve never acceptd to train you. But I like giving mobility to even those in the lowliest places, because that’s who I am. I care about people, Isabelle. And that neighbor of mine you just set on fire? He made the best apple fritters I’ve ever had, and I will never get to taste those again, and it’s all your fault!”
Isabelle snorted. What a hilarious thing to end a dramatic speech with.
“Did you just laugh at me?” asked Oglo. “What’s so funny, you fucking psycho?”
Isabelle didn’t want to talk. She’d had enough of Oglo flapping his lips at her for the rest of her life. She raised her right hand, concentrated her energy, and thought, ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
[Mana 95%]
Lightning crackled out of her hand and snaked its way to Oglo, but as it reached his body it arced around him and then faded away.
“Nice try, Isabelle,” said Oglo. “But I figured you were probably aware that I can cast anti magic fields, so I can’t really say I was expecting you to try and cast a spell on me anyway. Kind of an ill-thought out move, if you ask me. Then again, I have to keep in mind who I’m dealing with.”
Ugh. What a smug asshole. Oglo hadn’t changed at all. Didn’t he realize Isabelle had managed to out strategize so many people in fights at this point? It’s what had kept her alive! But no, Oglo was all about technique, and fighting, and shields, and skill. What a prick.
“All that anger can’t be good for you, Isabelle,” said Oglo.
“Why don’t you just shut up and fight me already?!” asked Isabelle.
“Ah. She speaks at last,” said Oglo. He twirled his blade in his hands and chuckled. “Very well. Let’s dance!”
Isabelle rolled her eyes as Oglo lunged forward. Let’s dance? Really? She leapt out of the way of his attack, bumping against the burning edge of the house behind her.
[Stamina 98%]
It was a good thing that Isabelle had her young red dragon armor on.
[You resisted fire damage]
Wait a fucking second. Her young red dragon armor? Isabelle had some new armor she needed to wear! She opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 312.9/317
Item
Traits
Sleek Adult Golden Dragon Armor (human)
+5 fire resist, +17 hp, +19 str, +14 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Boots
+3 fire resist, +7 stm, +6 dx, +3 str, +9 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Gauntlets
+3 fire resist, +8 damage, +6 stm, +10 dx, +5 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Cloak
+7 fire resist, +6 char, +6 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Hooksword x2
+3 fire damage, +8 damage, +5 stm, +3 dx, +4 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Rapier
+5 fire damage, +9 damage, +3 str, +6 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Claymore
+6 fire damage, +12 damage, +7 str, +10 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Bow
+5 fire damage, +4 damage, +5 dx, +3 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Helmet
+12 str, +8 char, +5 speechcraft, +4 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
[Sleek Adult Golden Dragon Armor (human) equipped]
[+5 fire resist]
[+17 hp]
[+19 str]
[Adult Golden Dragon Boots equipped]
[+3 fire resist]
[+7 stm]
[+6 dx]
[+3 str]
[Adult Golden Dragon Gauntlets equipped]
[+3 fire resist]
[+8 damage]
[+6 stm]
[+10 dx]
[Adult Golden Dragon Cloak equipped]
[+7 fire resist]
[+6 char]
[Adult Golden Dragon Helmet equipped]
[+12 str]
[+8 char]
[+5 speechcraft]
Isabelle wanted to look in awe at her great new adult golden dragon armor, but she still had to fight Oglo.
“Aha! I see you’ve changed your outfit, Isabelle,” said Oglo. “So I guess you’ve taken off your red shoes to dance!”
Isabelle didn’t know why Oglo kept calling fighting ‘dancing,’ and she was also feeling quite blue that she couldn’t admire her outfit at the moment, but she knew that she had more important things to focus on. Things like killing Oglo, finally. So, she opened her inventory back up and focused on all her great new weapons. Which was the right pick for this fight?
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 312.9/317
Item
Traits
Adult Golden Dragon Hooksword x2
+3 fire damage, +8 damage, +5 stm, +3 dx, +4 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Rapier
+5 fire damage, +9 damage, +3 str, +6 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Claymore
+6 fire damage, +12 damage, +7 str, +10 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Bow
+5 fire damage, +4 damage, +5 dx, +3 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Definitely not the bow. Or the claymore. Oglo was too fast for that. It was between the rapier and the hookswords. Isabelle remembered her last humiliation with a rapier against the kobold Duke. Yea, there was no way in hell she’d risk a similar fate in front of Oglo of all fucking people.
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[Adult Golden Dragon Hooksword x2 equipped]
[+6 fire damage]
[+16 damage]
[+10 stm]
[+6 dx]
“Wow, you’re really loading up,” said Oglo. “Do I intimidate you that much with just one measley blade?”
He jabbed his sword towards Isabelle, but she easily parried his attacks with twirls of her hookswords.
[Attack parried]
[Attack parried]
[Attack parried]
“You’ve gotten so much better at fighting, Isabelle,” said Oglo. “Honestly, you can count me quite impressed.”
Isabelle grimaced. She didn’t want to impress Oglo, she wanted to kill him! With that in mind, she leapt forward and slashed her hook swords, but Oglo sidestepped her aim and then jabbed at her leg.
[-8 hp]
“Isabelle, Isabelle, Isabelle,” Oglo shook his head. “We both know you could’ve done better than that. You can’t let your emotions guide you when you’re facing a true fighter, or you’re practically dooming yourself to fail. Now. Let’s sway!”
“Stop trying to teach me!” said Isabelle with a hiss. She swung a hooksword forward, but Oglo parried it away and sent her stumbling forward, opening her chest up to three stabs from his blade.
[-4 hp]
[-3 hp]
[-6 hp]
“I told you, temper, temper!” said Oglo. “You’re only proving my point, Isabelle. Gods, is this really the player I’m fighting? The one who’s slain dragons? Maybe I should find myself a dragon to slay. I wonder what people would say about me.”
“Probably that you’re a condescending cunt who would never have the balls to slay a fucking dragon in his whole miserable shield-loving life!” said Isabelle. She leapt forward again, determined to use her hookswords on Oglo, but he moved so quickly it seemed almost impossible to hit him.
[Stamina 87%]
“Nice try, Isabelle,” said Oglo with a snicker. Then, he raised his blade and spun it like a propellor as he lunged forward.
Luckily, Isabelle noticed in time, and spun one of her hook swords in tandem and blocked the attack from hitting.
[Attack blocked]
“Hah!” said Oglo. “The player who hates shields managed to block something. Now I’ve seen everything.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. What a self-aggrandizing douchebag. She lurched forward, both her hook swords jutting forward to Oglo’s gut. He skitted backward and snorted and cackle as he evaded her attack.
“Isabelle, Isabelle, Isabelle,” said Oglo. “I taught you that move. Of course, I taught you to do it with one blade, not two, mainly becasue using two leaves you open to a number of different vulnerabilities and attacks, but—”
Isabelle wasn’t going to be listening to Oglo’s obnoixious, bullshit-filled monologue for a second longer.
[Notice: use stamina for extra battle focus?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Stamina 90%]
Time slowed down. Isabelle could see Oglo’s lips flapping and could hear his voice talking in a low, deep slow motion. What an asshole. What a douchebag! She would make him pay for his obnoxiousness. Yes, Oglo had to pay.
Isabelle wondered if her hook swords were the best tool for this moment. After all, Oglo had evaded every single attack she’d made with them thus far. Then again, she hadn’t used her stamina for extra battle focus til now. Really, it was a toss up. Isabelle figured the absolute best course of action was to open her ivnentory and look at all of her weapons so that she could properly mull this dilemma over.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 312.9/317
Item
Traits
Adult Golden Dragon Rapier
+5 fire damage, +9 damage, +3 str, +6 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Claymore
+6 fire damage, +12 damage, +7 str, +10 carry weight
Adult Golden Dragon Bow
+5 fire damage, +4 damage, +5 dx, +3 carry weight
Overlord’s Flaming Yellow Katana
+48 damage, +22 str, +37 dx, +11 stm, +10 carry weight
Overlord’s Black Silver Hammer (enchanted)
+50 damage, +50 str, +10 const, +8 stm, +13 carry weight
Overlord's Glorious Electrifying Axe (enchanted)
+45 damage, +48 str, +18 const, +15 stm, +12 carry weight
Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted) (poisoned)
+18 damage, +11 str, +8 const, +5 stm, +11 carry weight
Scimitar (poisoned)
+1 poison, +8 damage, +2 dx
Poisoning Dagger x2
+1 poison, +6 damage, +1 sneak level, +1 carry weight
Steel Mace
+10 damage, +1 str, +4 carry weight
Ruby Studded Pocket Knife
+1 stealth, +3 sneak, +0.5 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Dagger x2
+2 fire damage, +5 damage, +3 stm, +1 dx, +2 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Glaive
+2 fire damage, +7 damage, +2 str, +6 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Bow
+3 fire damage, +2 damage, +3 dx, +3 carry weight
Hunter’s Crossbow of Chills (enchanted)
+3 frost damage, +7 damage, +2 dx, +4 carry weight
Arrows of Chills x27 (enchanted)
+2 frost damage, +1 damage
Steel Longsword
+5 str, +5 damage, +8 carry eight
Orcish Longbow
+5 damage, +1 dx, +1.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
So many weapons to choose from. And so little time.
[Stamina 84%]
Even less time. Still, Isabelle wanted to be sure she made the right choice. Part of her wished her recent leveling had gotten her to the point where she could use some of the Overlord’s weapons without leveraging any of her stamina. The more she thought of it, the more Isabelle felt like it was worth a try. So, try she did.
[Error: you do not have enough str to equip Overlord’s Black Silver Hammer (enchanted)]
Damn. On to the next one, then.
[Error: you do not have enough str to equip Overlord's Glorious Electrifying Axe (enchanted)]
Well, shit. This wasn’t looking too good.
[Error: you do not have enough str to equip Overlord's Glorious Electrifying Axe (enchanted)]
Isabelle felt disgruntled. What a crock of shit this was, to have such powerful weapons in her inventory and yet be unable to use them in a fight without wasting all of her stm. Along with that, why exactly did all of the Overlord’s weapons say that they were his? None of Isabelle’s weapons said ‘Isabelle’s (adjective) (weapon name),’ now did they? How unfair.
[Clarification: The Overlord forged some of these weapons. Others, he renamed with a system mod he installed from the Nexus.]
Ah, that made sense. The Nexus didn’t sound too bad, though obviously it didn’t come without its risks. Maybe Isabelle would have to try and enter it the next time she meditated.
[Stamina 65%]
Fuck. Isabelle had been so concentrated on her inventory and her system that she hadn’t even noticed her stm running out! Soon enough, she’d be out, and all this bought time she had would be for naught. Isabelle needed to act, and she needed to act fast.
She quickly skimmed her inventory again, searching for an opportune weapon. Obviously, anything ranged was useless. And Oglo had an anti magic field, so she couldn’t just use a spell. Isabelle could always use a breath weapon, but the two she had use of seemed intuitively to be more focused on pushing enemies away than they were at killing foes. And Isabelle was definitely going for the kill. She needed something quick and dirty. And suddenly, Isabelle knew what it was.
[Young Red Dragon Dagger x2 equipped]
[+2 fire damage]
[+5 damage]
[+3 stm]
[+1 dx]
[Stamina 44%]
Isabelle was through with thinking, now was the time for action. She lurched forward towards Oglo, her flaming young red dragon daggers drawn, and sliced at his neck.
[Critical hit]
Time sped to full speed as Isabelle watched her daggers fly across Oglo’s scaly neck.
[5668 damage dealt]
[Oglo resisted fire damage]
He resisted the damage? Isabelle felt her eyes go wide as Oglo snapped to action just as quickly as she had back when time had been moving slowly. He used his left hand to grip he neck tightly and his right to stab Isabelle in the gut three times with his blade.
[-18 hp]
[-20 hp]
[-13 hp]
Oglo released Isabelle’s neck from his grasp and threw her to the ground.
“Nice try, player,” said Oglo. “Nice fucking try.”
Had Isabelle not stolen the adult golden dragon’s hp, she would’ve been feeling pretty haggard. But steal the adult golden dragon’s hp she had, and she had so much hp left that even this nasty attack felt to be but a drop in the bucket. So, instead of acting afraid, Isabelle started to laugh. First it was a faint chuckle, and then it grew and grew to a resonant cackle.
“What the fuck?” said Oglo. “What’s so fucking funny? Why are you laughing? You ought to be on death’s door!”
“Pfft!” said Isabelle, spitting up splotches of blood that dotted over Oglo’s scaly feet. “Is that the best you’ve got?”
“The best I’ve got?” Oglo did a double take. “The best I’ve fucking got? Isabelle, you’ve shown yourself to be a complete novice at fighting. Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.”
“No you can’t,” said Isabelle.
“Yes I can,” said Oglo.
“No you can’t!” said Isabelle.
“Yes I can, yes I can!” said Oglo. “Any move you can make, I can make better.”
“No you can’t,” said Isabelle.
“Yes I can,” said Oglo.
“No you can’t,” said Isabelle.
“Yes I can, yes I can!” said Oglo.
“Ugh!” said Isabelle. Fuck this shit, she thought.
[Error: no command ‘fuck this shit’ exists in the system]
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Then, she opened her mouth and thought, ‘Use Gust of Wind.’
[Stamina 33%]
A buffeting force of wind rushed out of Isabelle mouth and blasted Oglo high up into the air. His limbs flailed around in a ragdoll fashion as he reached higher and higher into the air, screaming all the while. Isabelle was interested to notice that the breath weapon seemed to hit harder and stronger when directed at a single target. After all, Oglo just kept moving and moving until he was but a speck in the air. Furhter and further away he went, and his wails of shock and distaste got more shrill but also fainter and further away. Soon, Isabelle was watching him tumble through the air in freefall towards the other side of the river.
[Combat mode deactivated]
Isabelle tried to watch and see the speck that was Oglo tumble down, down towards the ground, but she soon found herself losing sight of him completely.
Worse still, she never got a notification that Oglo had died.
Worse than that, it did not seem that a quest completion dialogue box was going to pop up. Which meant Isabelle still had unfinished business with Oglo, at least for the time being. What an absolute shitshow.
“Oh, thank the gods!” cried Stelas’ voice.
Isabelle turned around and saw smoke billowing from the crumbling remains of the home she’d burned down. She also saw a cluster of kobolds with large wooden pails and sacks of dirt, which they were using to stamp out every last bit of flame.
“Is that a severed head talking in that pile of ashes?” asked a kobold.
“Yes!” said Stelas. “I am Stelas Stelford, and—”
Isabelle stepped forward and interrupted. She hoped against hope that the kobolds surrounding the house hadn’t witnessed what she’d done to burn it down as she planned out her deception.
[Speechcraft attempt: decieve]
“He is Stelas Stelford,” said Isabelle. All of the kobolds turned to look at her. “I am Isabelle the Dragonslayer, the defeater of the Overlord.”
“Duh,” said one of the kobolds. Another kobold slapped this kobold, and whispered at them to shut up.
Isabelle rolled her eyes and continued her deception attempt. “A cruel man named Oglo set fire to his neighbor’s home. Luckily I, being the hero that I am, was here to avenge his poor dead neighbor. I did not succeed in destroying completely, but I have sent him far, far away with my many systemic powers and abilities.”
Isabelle watched the kobolds stare at her with glazed over eyes. Did they believe her?
[Speechcraft had mixed results]