Lizzy dashed towards the Twin-headed Skeleton Dragon as she avoided the two whip-like skeleton tails that came flying towards her with a quick zigzag motion in the air and arrived right on top of one of its heads. She raised her greatsword and slammed it down onto the dragon’s skull as she activated her [Heavy Attack] skill. The monster’s defenses were really sturdy as her greatsword recoiled and sent her bouncing back from her own strike. She dodged the skeleton dragon’s claw that tried to swipe her from the air before rushing at its skull again with a normal attack which was followed up with a [Crushing Blow] that dealt critical damage.
The Twin-headed Skeleton Dragon still caused all of her attacks to recoil and send her flying away from its body but this didn’t stop Lizzy from rushing back in as she avoided the monster’s very predictable attacks.
“I can do this all day, big guy!”
The recoil of her attacks did damage Lizzy for a few hundred HP but that was fine because the more HP she lost, the stronger her attack power became. She was basically sacrificing a bit of her skin to tear away the flesh of her opponent...though it didn’t have any. So for the next two hours, Lizzy battled with the newly reformed boss monster just like this. In the end, she was able to grind its HP down to 0 but it didn’t come without a cost.
She became mentally drained right after the fight and there were a few times during the fight where she momentarily lost concentration and was nearly killed by the monster. It was only after she received a life-threatening blow from the monster that a warning came in from the system. The late warning informed her that if she was killed by the Twin-headed Skeleton Dragon, her [Dragon Claw] skill would be stripped away from her and she wouldn’t be able to gain access to the Valley of the Tempest Dragons again.
The system was telling her that if she failed to overcome this boss monster, she’d fail her Awakening Quest. With that thankful reminder, she regained her focus and vigor which pushed her to eventually triumph against the evolved boss monster. If the monster had the AI of a normal monster or a hybrid monster since it had evolved, Lizzy would have had a very difficult time trying to kill it, and maybe not just difficult, but nigh impossible considering its absurd stats. The monster’s stats had most definitely evolved, but fortunately for her, its intelligence hadn’t.
It was pretty stupid so its attacks and movement patterns were all predictable and monotonous that all Lizzy had to do was watch for the indicators and precursors of its next action before responding accordingly. The battle was long but Lizzy was mostly bored because all she needed to do was repeat the same process over and over again until the skeleton dragon fell.
*DING*
You have defeated the Evolved Undead Guardian of the Valley!
You have Leveled up! 142 → 151
“Oh. My. God...”
After going through hell for nearly 3 hours, Lizzy had gained a total of 9 levels from defeating the evolved boss monster. This was 3 levels per hour which was definitely a great reward for all her efforts since normally, a 3-hour grind in the field would reward only 1 level at best for players in her level range.
“...I should hunt more of these evolved monsters…”
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She was only making a joke out of her unique circumstance as she plopped down on the dusty floor of the canyon in exhaustion. Normal evolved monsters wouldn’t be this stupid and if she were to fight against a proper one, Lizzy predicted that she wouldn’t stand a chance...at least not until she got stronger through her Awakening and Class Change. With her hardships being rewarded, Lizzy smiled a little in gratification but that wasn’t the end of the system notifications.
*DING*
Special conditions have been met. You have been given access to use the quest item: Dragon’s Memoir
*DING*
Residual Dragon Force has been detected dispersing from the skeleton dragon husks. Race and Constitution are suitable, will you absorb the Dragon Force? Y/N
“Dragon Force? Isn’t that―” Lizzy quickly opened her skill menu and confirmed the resource needed for her to use the [Dragon Claw] skill and she immediately exclaimed, “YES! Yes, I’ll absorb it!”
She shot up from the ground as she immediately began to rapidly tap on the [Yes] button and right after, the husk of the evolved skeleton dragon that was in front of her began to glow as it released light particles that gathered in the air before flowing into her body.
*DING*
You have absorbed 10 Dragon Force from the Twin-Headed Skeleton Dragon!
Since she was able to absorb Dragon Force from this monster corpse, Lizzy quickly moved to the other Skeleton Dragons she had slain and just as she thought, she was able to absorb Dragon Force from them as well. However, the amount she absorbed from these skeletons was measly in comparison.
You have absorbed 0.5 Dragon Force from the Skeleton Dragon!
You have absorbed 0.5 Dragon Force from the Skeleton Dragon!
You have absorbed 1 Dragon Force from the Skeleton Dragon!
She only gained 2 Dragon Force from these 3 corpses so, in all, she had 12 Dragon Force which wasn’t much in her opinion.
“I only have 12 Dragon Force...that’s enough for just 1 [Dragon Claw]!”
Lizzy was a bit disappointed because compared to the amount of effort she put into slaying these skeleton dragons, the number of Dragon Force she obtained was hardly worth the effort at all, but thankfully, that wasn’t her only reward as she had still gained levels and a few items that were dropped from the boss monster.
You have acquired Dragon Bones x10, Sturdy Dragon Spine x1, Dragon Tail Whip x1, Dragon Claws x17, Bone Dust x181
Except for the Dragon Tail Whip which was a weapon, the rest of the items she got were mostly materials. Since they came from a dragon, they were undoubtedly precious and the Bone Dust was an essential alchemy ingredient to create salves and other healing items. With the threat out of the way, Lizzy could permanently keep her newly obtained skill.
“[Dragon Claw]’s mine now but what’s with that other notification? And what quest item was the system talking about?”
She remembered that the 2nd notification told her that she had gained access to some kind of item but she didn’t remember obtaining any quest item before.
“Oh wait...that glowing pendant I snatched from the corpse. Is that the quest item the system was referring to?”
Lizzy took out the pendant and saw that it was named Dragon’s Memoir.
“Oh, it really is―”
Before she could finish her words, the purple jewel that was hanging on the pendant began to tremble as a black gas began exuding from it before it formed into the shape of a person that towered in front of Lizzy. The figure had no legs, was a bit translucent, and its facial features were vague. It was looking down at Lizzy with its glowing blue eyes as if it was assessing her. Lizzy felt an awful chill run up her spine when she saw this figure.
“So...you are the one that has awoken me?”
The semi-translucent figure spoke in an eerie voice and if all of this wasn’t enough to freak Lizzy out then the fact that the thing in front of her was a ghost definitely did.
“G-G-Ghost...Ghost!!!”