All of them looked good. Now, which one do I get?
What was missing from my combat style in terms of options? If I had to choose, I’d say that my ranged and disabling options are incredibly limited. None of my skillsets allows me to slow nor stun anyone, and I could do little to no damage when throwing my weapons.
Catching up to Tzatch’s retreating figure, I parried his next stab with my free arm. His speed had dramatically reduced after my first solid hit on him, turning all of his movements and attacks readable. There wasn’t any trace of panic on his stoic face, but that could be due to a lot of things.
He definitely had higher strength than me. So Chained stab would be useless. The flurry of thrusts is interesting, but…
The 3x damage is almost too good to be true. With 50 stamina, I could end a fight in a single spear throw from a distance.
[You picked Empowered Throw]
My pursuit continued as Tzatch constantly retreated to his throne. Every stab I performed felt so much more fluid and cleaner with a new zip in the air that emanated whenever I thrusted my spear. It wasn’t just purely my offensive power that was increased, I also reacted faster to all of Tzatch’s attempts to retaliate, and I relied upon more than just my spear as a form of defense. My arms and legs were excellent tools to foil the enemy’s attack, too.
It was due to the upgrade to the skill [Spear mastery - intermediate].
Things changed once the sunlight showered his body, however. The momentum of our fight swung to the other side, the tides turning back in his favor. The previous hole that was struck closed as he regained his speed, turning his offense up another notch.
The light heals him. That’s just... great.
Unlike the first bout we had, From the skill upgrade, I was now able to read and react to his movements with such a degree of efficiency that I caught up with all of his stabs with my own. His bright spear clanged against my own, the echo resounding inside the empty hall we continued exchanging blows. None of us could get the edge over each other.
I purposefully dragged our battle away from the sunlight, refusing to letting him heal again. As my feet dragged against the sea of dead knights before the throne, I remembered my newly gained skill, Death Siphon.
I rolled backward, placing my hands on the pile of corpses beneath me as I landed. Dark, wispy tendrils burst from the pores of my hand, a clear sign that [Death Siphon] was activated. The usage of the skill rewarded me with a surge of vitality from beneath me, but when I tried to use the skill again right after, it didn’t trigger.
Another hidden cooldown?
It wasn’t until another 3 seconds before I could use it again. It shared the same cooldown timer with Shadow-step, although, since picking up the Coveted shadow, I felt that the cooldown had been reduced by a tiny amount.
My health eventually recovered by over 60% from the repeated use of the skill, weaving a few attacks and dodges in between my skill activations.
Witnessing my healing, Tzatch decided to pull out another one of - hopefully, his final - trump card. He lifted his spear up high, gathering a visible amount of luminance on the edge of his spear. I assumed that he was about to do the light beam attack again, but boy, I was so wrong. Beads of sweat dripped as the air surrounding us heated up, resulting in a light glare emanating from the tip of his spear. He’s using some type of light skill, but what is-
A flashbang. That’s a type of grenade that emits such a bright light that it stuns those who were not prepared for it. A common tool that was used back on the earth, and now, it was here in the form of a skill.
Which in this case, I was totally not ready for it. For an instant, everything that I could see was just… white. The full blunt force of the brightness entered my retinas, burning a hole in my brain as I stumbled backward.
[Willpower check failed! You are now blinded for : 10 seconds.]
Willpower?
The pain was one thing, but I wasn’t even thinking about being blinded at this moment. With my vision gone, I wouldn’t be able to react to anything that he does… Millions of thoughts crowded my already burned brain, thinking of a way to get out of this alive.
A slight shuffling on the floor alarmed me about an incoming attack. It was Tzatch, but I couldn’t tell precisely where he was aiming. I turned my head towards the direction where the change in the air was from. Turning off all my other senses and removing my cloak, I relied solely on every square inch of my skin to absorb as much information as they can get.
Every step he took caused a tiny thud, which was transmitted from the floor beneath us.
He’s approaching… But not close enough yet.
[You are now blinded for : 9 seconds.]
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Even though the blindness, the system somehow managed to display its messages in my vision.
I sensed that he was somewhere about 2 times the distance of my spear ahead. That was a wild guess, I admit, but it was the best prediction that I can get with my current condition. Another feet rattled the floor as I readied my stance, and then I felt both of his feet kicking the ground with a loud stomp.
[You are now blinded for : 8 seconds.]
He’s jumping. Thank fucking goodness I had innate senses.
The only problem was that information is harder to perceive through the air. I couldn’t time his attack, relying solely on the change in the atmosphere to pinpoint his location.
A whip-like snap ripped through the molecules of the air. It came from his spear, which contained enough strength to curl the surrounding air within its tip. Thankfully, an attack with such force was hardly unnoticeable, even if you were blind.
[You are now blinded for : 7 seconds.]
His spear tore through the air, angled slightly to the right and heading straight at my neck. At least, that was the best estimation that I could make. It was unnecessary to take such an enormous risk by performing close distance dodge, so I elected to roll out of the way instead.
Even then, I miss-timed my roll and was rewarded with burning pain on my right thigh, His jab being significantly faster than I calculated. The pain wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t walk it off, but that was a sign of terrible things to come.
[You are now blinded for : 6 seconds.]
Tzatch resumed his assault, pulling the spear out of the ground and bolting right at where I was. I guessed correctly this time, as the next stab missed by quite a large margin. My feet sensed a large crack forming as his spear penetrated the floor, creating a spear-shaped hole in the ground.
[You are now blinded for : 5 seconds.]
Danger imminent, I continued rolling and leaping away from his immediate reach, gradually building up the experience of fighting him without a proper vision.
Why didn’t he use his beam attack? That question kept running its course in my head while I did my best to read his assault. Was it due to the freaking flashbang? Was it possible that he needed to gather enough light energy to use his skills?
[You are now blinded for : 4 seconds.]
Regardless, Tzatch never relented. His seemingly infinite pool of stamina made our chase a non-stop pursuit, catching me off guard multiple times during the course of our fight. I’ve accrued multiple lacerations all of over my body, thankfully, none of his hits were ever fatal.
[You are now blinded for : 3 seconds.]
3 more seconds. Hold on…
A jab whizzed through the empty air, passing just beside my twisted waist. Sick of the constant attacks, I let go of my conjured spear and caught his with the both of my arms as his stab passed through my waist, holding him still in place. Tzatch responded with a straight knee on my gut, resulting in a vile pool of blood leaving my digestive track onto the floor.
“GAhhH!!!” It was painful, but this is better than being stabbed in the heart.
[You are now blinded for : 2 seconds.]
Holding the shaft of his weapon with a vice grip, I endured all of his attempts to retrieve his spear, be it with kicks or punches, but none of them managed to break through my will.
[You are now blinded for : 1 seconds.]
Letting my right hand go, I conjured a dark spear, aiming for his gut the moment my vision returned later. Tzatch seemed to have reacted to my change in plans when he pulled his spear with both of his arms, attempting to yank it away from me.
[Blinded status removed.]
My vision returned and I let go of the spear. The shift in momentum resulted in Tzatch’s body twisting from the release of potential energy that was generated when he pulled with full force. In that second, I found a massive opening; With the conjured spear, I delivered a full-powered thrust with the both of my hands and ravaged his insides.
And yet. There was no reaction.
Tzatch simply returned to his usual stance, even after the massive damage he had just took. His head then turned towards the throne again.
You’re not gonna heal this time.
As he turned, I finally released the newly gained trump card I’ve kept all this time. Raising the dark spear over my shoulder, my eyes zoomed straight at the running figure’s back. A surge of power flowed from the deepest core of my soul, transferring the energy, not into my arm, mind you, which any reasonable person would expect, but it was infused into my spear instead.
Then, I simply… released it.
The conjured spear practically pierced a hole into the air as it flew towards Tzatch. A light trace of circular smoke was seen from the path my spear took as it ripped through his head like it was a god-damned balloon.
No, I’m not kidding. It literally popped his head off.
Tzatch’s headless body lost control of itself and tumbled towards the throne. Falling just shy of a few meters before he reached the ray of light. The spear he carried clanged the floor as the echoes from its steel reverberated throughout the massive, empty hall.
Beside his corpse, a portal akin to the one from the ant queen appeared.
[You killed Lvl. 26 Replica of the warrior - Tzatch]
[Task #3 completed - Defeat Replica of the warrior - Tzatch]
[Dark arsenal - Novice leveled up!]
[Dark arsenal - Novice leveled up!]
[Spear mastery - Intermediate leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You gained a level!]
[Congratulations! You gained a level!]
[The Coveted Shadow class has leveled up! You gained : + 2 dexterity, +1 Capacity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution]
[The Coveted Shadow class has leveled up! You gained : + 2 dexterity, +1 Capacity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution]
[You gained a class skill modifier path]
[You gained a new class skill. Open the system menu to access the options.]
[Achievement added : Dungeon runner. Be the first in your sector to clear a dungeon. + 3 physical and mind attributes. + 1 Talent point.]