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Its rightful state? The hell does that even mean?
Holding the glimmering spear up high, I checked its surface for any clue that I could perceive. None of the parts were visibly broken, and the spear felt great on my hand when I performed a few jabs with it. Perhaps the system meant that the spear was incomplete? If that was true, then I have no idea what I missed.
The sound of armor pieces moving about disrupted my thoughts. I turned my head, witnessing the previously dormant knights now assembling themselves into a formation, closing the path that led towards the throne.
[Lvl. 19 Living knight]
All of them had the same level…
Drawing their blades, the first 3 knights charged at the throne with no warning. Their speed was decent, not so fast that I couldn’t keep track of them with my eyes, and not so slow that they were barely a threat.
Let’s try this spear out. It looked damn sturdy, so a hit or two will be fine.
Dashing towards the side, away from the incoming attacks, I shadow stepped towards the furthest end of their formation, aiming to strike at the lone knight on the edge. The knight barely reacted when I arrived before receiving a direct strike from Tzatch’s spear.
The damage I dealt was significant. The edge of my spear effortlessly pierced through the tough armor pieces like butter, boring a massive hole inside of the knight’s chest. Blood spewed from both sides of the newly made hole, slathering my face in its dark-red glory.
[You killed Lvl. 19 Living knight]
Tzatch’s spear glinted when the kill was confirmed. A tiny stream of light emanated from the knight’s body and entered the bladed edge of the spear. Once the light faded, the system rewarded me with a message.
[Tzatch’s spear gained power.]
So, I have to kill all of these knights with this spear?
The knights were visibly enraged by my actions and wanted revenge. No words were spoken as they bum-rushed where I stood, then slashed whenever I entered their sword range. There was no way that I could handle all of these knights at once, so I retreated, biding my time to strike back.
Interestingly, the knights used no magic or any hidden skill. Their sword strikes were fatally powerful, but with proper distancing and kiting, their threats were more than manageable. I found a few more openings as time passed, wounding and killing those that were separated from the main group.
Soon, the nine knights turned to eight, eight to six, and so on.
[You killed Lvl. 19 Living knight]
[Tzatch’s spear gained power.]
[You killed Lvl. 19 Living knight]
[Tzatch’s spear gained power.]
[You killed Lvl. 19 Living knight]
[Tzatch’s spear gained power.]
The barrage of messages continued until all the knights lay still on the floor.
“Phew….”, I gently rubbed the sweat off my brows, staring at the new system messages that bombarded my vision.
[Tzatch’s spear is now fully powered. The light had been satiated.]
[Task #3 - Restore the spear of Tzatch to its rightful state is completed.]
[New task #3 - Return the spear to the rightful owner.]
“Ah…”
I walked to the throne and placed the spear on his arm. Is that it? That can’t be all there is to this encounter.
[New task #3 - Return the spear to the rightful owner is completed.]
My eyes drifted towards Tzatch’s still figure.
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[The final stand - Tzatch : The incursion proved to be too much for the warrior to face. He showed a valiant effort, nearly pushing the invaders back by his own strength alone, and was finally graced by the Deity of light, Uriel. The light penetrated the dark skies, turning the night into day. With his newfound strength, Tzatch pushed back the incursion, defending his world from the outsiders, and fulfilling his sole duty. Uriel rewarded Tzatch with a position on his court and granted him a new name.]
Tzatch’s body twitched awake. His previously closed eyes were now open, staring at me straight in the eyes. He didn’t speak, opting to look around the hall that was filled with the knights that I slaughtered instead.
Then, calmly, he got up from his seat. There was no trace of malice or anger on his face and every step he took produced a gentle ray of calming light. I stared at the approaching figure, determining if this will be a fight or not.
[Lvl. 26 Replica of the warrior - Tzatch]
Replica? So this isn’t him either? Why does it say his name when-
When my eyes hit the throne, a system message confirmed the one that I was inspecting before wasn’t Tzatch’s body. No, What I’ve been inspecting was the throne itself.
[New task #3 - Defeat Replica of the warrior - Tzatch]
“Shit…” Replica or not, I expected this to be an ugly fight.
Tzatch took the initiative as he dove in my direction, reducing the distance between us within less than a second. I nearly jumped as I watched his spear ripping the air on the side of my face.
Shadow stepping away, I attempted to create a decent distance to get used to his speed and movements, but he never relented. As if he predicted where I was landing, his spear nearly ripped my chest apart as he pursued me through the use of shadow step.
“What?” I yelped when Tzatch’s mummified face suddenly appeared in front of me. This is the first time when an enemy managed to predict my shadow step with such accuracy. I kicked him in the chest to push him away, but he caught my leg at a frighteningly fast speed.
My eyes contorted as a sense of desperation sunk in.
He was a seasoned warrior with years and years of fighting experience on his back. I couldn’t use lazy tactics against someone like him. Perhaps the few fights from before had turned me dull since the enemies barely showed any signs of intelligence, but this one…
He is the perfect combination of high stats and IQ.
Twisting my leg, he lifted me off the floor, then slammed me on the ground like a rag-doll. I braced the incoming impact with both my arms, reducing the damage to my head ever so slightly with both of my wrists, then used my other leg to kick his head afterwards.
His grip loosened from the kick, granting me a shot at escaping. I rolled and jumped as far away from him as I could, then conjured a dark spear in my right arm when it was safe. The slam itself was painful, but my high constitution granted me another shot at life.
HP : 352/480
Tzatch’s spear whizzed through the air as another jab was on its way towards my chest. I parried the incoming stab somewhat awkwardly, then returned his attacks with a few of my own. We continued our exchange; his speed and strength were overpowering mine, but I managed to weather his assault with a few extra cuts on my skin here and there.
Once he was sick of the apparent stalemate, he switched his strategy one after another, from a sneaky punch and a sudden kick, even resorting to head-butts and grapples at one point. None of them caught me off-guard and that was when he retreated and pointed his spear toward me.
I felt a sharp buzz in the air as the bladed edge of his spear glowed. In an instant, a ray of blazing fiery light ripped through the air, scalding my skin as it easily penetrated through my abdomen and cloak. A hole was now made on my abdomen.
“Ghaa!!” My senses went into overdrive when he repeated the same motion again.
The next shot was also blazing fast but I dodged it this time. I recognized the delay between his gestures and the firing of his attacks, which made his next few attacks predictable.
But the damage to me was too significant to ignore.
HP : 58/480
That one beam nearly took over 50% of my health. I stared at the hole that was punched into my abdomen. If I was just a normal human back on earth, there is no way I’d still be standing if I was wounded in this manner.
I can’t let him do that again. Giving Tzatch distance was a mistake. If I wanted any chance of winning this, I had to fight him in a close range.
Multiple rough plans began circulating in my head. The simplest method is to charge at him with as much speed as I could muster, keeping shadow step as a surprise, which I put into action as time was not in my favor.
With an initial burst, I leaped towards Tzatch once I got a proper footing. Dodging his beams of light wasn’t easy when I got even closer, but thanks to my fast reactions, I weaved through his chains of beam attacks and finally closed the gap between us.
However, Tzatch was not vulnerable in close-range. He’s just not as insanely threatening compared to when he was blasting me from the distance.
His spear was about to meet mine when I feinted my thrust direction that was supposed to strike his head. When his spear was about to stab my figure, I shadow stepped and landed on his back, delivering a full-strength jab right at his chest.
A smile crept up on my face when I felt a tiny resistance as my spear made contact with his body. The dark, bladed edge of my spear had punctured his chest with ease, eliciting a tiny growl from him as I dodged his attempt to grab me in retaliation.
[Spear mastery leveled up!]
[Congratulations! Spear mastery - novice, is now upgraded to Spear mastery - Intermediate. A selection of new skills is now available to be chosen. Open the system menu to access the skill selection menu.]
“What?”, A random message popped up from the system, grabbing my attention away from my current bout with Tzatch.
Skill upgrades? This is the first time I’ve seen-
A quick thrust towards me, snapping my focus back on the person who’s trying to kill me. The thrust scraped my right shoulder, a punishment from my lack of focus, but I was quick enough to dodge any subsequent fatal blows.
For the first time since we started fighting, Tzatch appeared to have slowed down. The wound I inflicted had taken its toll, and it granted me a slight opening.
In the downtime, I accessed the system menu to pick a skill that could help me out.
The system displayed 3 possible options.
[Empowered Throw : Consumes 15% of your stamina, The next spear throw you make now deals 3x max strength as damage. Passively increases your throwing accuracy with all weapons.]
[Flurry of thrusts : Consumes 30 stamina, performs 5 consecutive thrusts at a target almost instantaneously. Each thrust deals 20% more damage.]
[Chained Stab : Consumes 20 stamina and 10 mana. The next hit on the enemy will chain them onto the ground made of mana, if applicable. The enemy can break this chain if their strength attribute is higher than yours.]