Dungeon part 2
Anthony's perspective
The kid's resilient, I'll give him that. To be honest I was not expecting the little boy to hold out so well. Looking at his file, I reread the information I received about him. Seeing how much hardship and emotional problems Adam probably had to go through it is possible for his aura to be unlocked.
I also noticed the simple things like how Adam is definitely growing stronger. His muscles are more toned, his lasting longer and his skin is getting tougher seeing how many hits that guy can take from dust accidents and still able to shrug it off.
Which actually confused me a bit. Aura worked by having it unlocked and straight away increasing your physical abilities and protects you when active but it seems different for Adam. He seems to be growing stronger gradually and that brand is definitely fading away.
That was also a surprise considering aura doesn't heal brands or scars but it seems to work for Adam. Assuming he has his aura unlocked. Logically speaking, aura is the best assumption to make that could explain Adam's growth but even then, it doesn't explain some of the things mentioned before.
On top of that, if Adam really does have aura then why didn't he activate it during his incident against that last overseer. Unless, it was that incident that unlocked his aura. I huffed. Whatever the case, I'll get to the bottom of it sooner than later.
I put down Adam's file and grabbed another sheet of paper. As I am the overseer to confirm Adam's ability to deliver for his sister, I also get reports regarding his sister's condition. My eyes narrow at the report. It seems the council is taking notice of what is happening in the hospital and the area around it.
I smirked. It's quite humorous that they only react now and is funding for an investigation after the grim attacks at the borders increase dramatically. I continued reading the report before raising an eyebrow at the end. That is quite interesting. It looks like even a hunter and the general is getting involved too.
I wonder if they can solve this problem. I have a family in Atlas and while they are at the close to the center of it even I worry about what will happen if the grim's put too much pressure on the military.
Ironwood's perspective
I walked down the hall of the hospital in order to visit one of the patients. As I walked by, I can hear screaming and crying of the patients. My eyes narrowed and my mind was struggling to find a solution.
All this began two weeks ago according to one of the staffs. It began when one of the patients became unresponsive. According to the staffs he didn't react to them when they call his name, give him an injection or even pinch him. The patient simply looked blankly at the wall and sometimes eat when food is placed in front of him.
They tried to see if he suffered brain damage but nothing turned up but when they checked his brainwaves it seemed erratic and spiking up from time to time. They tried figuring out what happened but then the same thing happened to another patient.
After the third patient fell into the same condition, the screaming started. In the middle of the night no less than a dozen patients woke up suddenly screaming and crying. The patients wouldn't calm down and the staffs were force to sedate them.
From that point the number of patients screaming and crying non-stop began to increase and those that enter a trance like state also increased by at a much slower rate. At first, they thought only the hospital was affected but then the housing area nearby also started facing the same problem.
"Wow, things are looking bad here Jimmy." My co-worker commented. I scowled a bit before sighing. I have gotten a bit used to his behavior but even then, I still find them annoying. Qrow Branwen is a hunter trusted by Ozpin and had come here to assist Atlas when Grim attacks increased.
"But still, is the negativity really big enough for the Grim's to be attacking this frequently and those that are sedated shouldn't be releasing that much negativity," Qrow pointed out. He had a good point. Even if the news covered this story the negativity generated shouldn't have increased negativity this high.
"That is why we came here," I answered, "The negativity doesn't make sense and this outbreak as well. There is a chance this is… her work." I finished when we stopped outside the door of the patient we are about to visit.
"Alright Qrow, we are about to visit a… girl who has shown the first type of irregularity." I told him, "So do not do anything hasty." Qrow grumbled something under his breath but nod. The two of us enter the room to see a room with white walls, a window and a bed with one little girl on it.
The girl had red hair, blue eyes and… horns? I blinked at the revelation. I was not expecting to see such a young faunus in this hospital. "Hello there, my name is James Ironwood. What is yours?" as expected, the girl did not reply.
She didn't even seem to register our appearance as she continued to stare at the wall. I sigh before going to the table at her bedside and read her name from the paper on the clipboard. Ana Taurus? That name sounded familiar.
Ah yes, one of my soldiers came up to me and asked me to see a video of a child miner in combat with an older man. I haven't had the time to see it yet due to this incident. I'll have to find the time to do so soon. I believe the child's name is Adam Taurus.
I looked at the girl lying back on her bed that has been propped up a bit.
CLAP!
Blinking, I looked at Qrow who had clapped his hands as hard as he could in front of the girl's face. The girl did not respond. She didn't even blink at the sudden action. I shook my head, "Like I said, unresponsive."
The two of us tries to check on her condition more but we find nothing is wrong even when Qrow attempts to check her using an advance aura technique which blind huntsmen usually learn. "Nothing is coming up." He said, "By all means there is nothing wrong with her physically. You sure you don't want to just unlock her aura to see if it works?"
I grimaced. The reason Qrow proposed this was because all the patients that seem to be immune to the effects are those who have their aura unlocked. In theory unlocking her aura might snap her out of it but…
"If we want to test that theory out, we will first have to ask for the current guardian's permission." I said, "I'll go to the desk and ask the staff for the name of the guardian while you can stay wait here." As I left, I saw Qrow grabbing a stool in the room and sitting on it.
As I was walking to the desk, I saw a familiar white cape and hood. "Ah, Miss Rose."
Adam's perspective
I side stepped the attack of an oni. The club harmlessly hits the ground to my left. I quickly swung my sword upwards, cutting the oni in half. Another approached me but was blasted of balance by a sudden gust of wind from Hisui. Taking the opportunity, I closed the distance and bisected the creature with my sword.
A tiger lunges at me from the side but it missed me when I activated sprint along with enhancing my speed further with electricity. The tiger landed on all four, looking confused while myself was standing beside it with my sword raised overhead. I swung the sword down and cut the beast in two.
Two dogs rushed towards me but they were suddenly hit by a sudden wave of fire. The dogs were nothing more than bones when the fire faded. I shuddered at the sight. If it weren't for my enhanced durability and my skills that would have been me. I turned back towards Hisui.
She approached me once she was sure there were no more enemies. I had taught her the hide skill and while the skill can be used to hide her presence against these mindless monsters it has another effect where she is less likely to be noticed in battle when fighting in a group.
Basically, as long as she has that skill activate, monsters will pay more attention to me than her even when she is in the open. This works well with our strategy that I will attract the monster's attention as I am more adapt at attacking in close range while she supports me with her spells.
I looked at her stats and sigh. Her hide skill is at a higher level than mine, now at level 6 and her level has gotten higher from level 18 to 20. Makes sense as we have been hunting for almost two hours. Hisui admitted that if she was alone, she would have ran out of mana in thirty minutes but with me dealing with most of the monsters or grouping them up so that she can kill them with one powerful spell her mana expenditure has decreased. I also set the system so that equal distribution was on.
Another thing I noticed is that she has been focusing her points in intelligence. It makes sense since she needed more mana since her spells are more powerful than it should be at the cost of extra mana so she needed to increase the amount of mana she has. "Do you want to stop for now?" I asked. I was barely winded since with my high stamina and skills I not only had a lot of stamina but my stamina recovery rate is stupidly fast.
With those two mixed together my Fatigue bar barely increases every time I fight. Even now, my fatigue bar is almost back to zero after that battle. I could probably grind in dungeons of this level non-stop as long as I don't do anything stupid.
Thinking back, it has been almost five hours now that I have been in this dungeon. My level is currently 20.
Opening my status window, I looked over my stats.
STR: 35
AGI: 37
ENDR: 34
DEX: 44
INT: 39
WIS: 34
LUCK: 23
Stamina: 104
Okay, growth is really useful right now with my stats being boosted by one for each level up. Now then, I have 44 stats points to spend. I hummed in thought before placing six stats points in DEX to make it 50, just to see what I can get.
Skill will be granted as DEX is now 50!
Skill Skillfulness:
- the rate of fatigue increase due to use of skills is decreased by 20%
- Attacks will increase by 10%
- Active Skill effects will increase by 10%
My eyes widen. Those are some really good buffs. I wonder, if I boost my intelligence to 50 what will happen? Since my system is different and my intelligence is more strongly related to my skills. With some thought I shrugged and placed the stats point into intelligence until it reached 50.
New skill will be granted as INT has reached 50!
Skill mana affinity has been granted!
Well, that answers that. So even with the additional effect of intelligence the skill it grants from reaching 50 is still the same.
Effect:
- Mana recovery rate increases by 10%
- Mana cost decrease by 5%
- Magic attacks increase by 5%
- Training mana related skills has their effects increase by 30%
Yup, this is basically the gamer's skill. I sigh and decide to save the rest of the points for now. If I recalled correctly, since I have growth instead of Gamer's body if I put too much in strength my outwards appearance will change. The same might apply if I put those stat points in agility and endurance so putting them in stamina would be better but my stamina is already high.
Even now my muscles were becoming more toned. The last thing I need was growing buff enough that I would start looking like a slightly younger Jotaro. Seriously, that guy is seventeen! So why does he look buffer than most people in their twenties?
Whatever the case, I'll hold of increasing strength, agility and endurance for now. But then again, I might need those stats in the future so maybe increasing them now wouldn't be such a bad idea…
"What are you thinking of Lord Taurus?" I heard Hisui ask. I did a double take on that. Did she just call me 'Lord Taurus'? I turned towards her, who was cautiously studying me.
"Just looking through my stats Hisui." I responded, "Also, don't call me 'Lord Taurus'. I don't like being referred with that kind of title." Seriously, even though she maybe my follower I do not intend to have her call me that. Besides, this arrangement is temporary anyway.
"I see," Hisui nodded in understanding, "So should I call you… Master Taurus?" She struggled to say that word. Hmm, it's probably because her master is probably dead and so she may find this difficult.
"No, just call me Adam." I told her, "Honestly, titles like that have no meaning to me anyway." I never feel comfortable being referred to like that anyway. It just goes against my personal believe and way of thinking.
"Okay then, Adam is the name I shall refer to you as." Hisui said. Her shoulders seem to relax a bit. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It shows that she is trusting me a bit more and feels a bit more relaxed but this might also ruin the image I gave them. They might see this as a sign of weakness and become more bolder in their attempts to kill me whether through deceiving me or trying to find weaknesses to exploit.
We couldn't talk anymore as more onis and animals appear. I smirked and activated my skill, bio-electricity and sprint. With the two activated I dashed forward and began cutting up my enemies. As I passed a tiger, I stabbed it at its side and dragged it down the length of the tiger.
I stopped in front of an oni who tries to swing down his club but I swung my sword and cut the oni's head in two before it could even swing down its club. I then caught an arrow with my left hand and twirled it into a reverse grip before stabbing a dog in the eye when it got to close.
The dog howled and backed away but I split the dog's head down the middle with another swing of my sword. I then pulled out my dagger and reinforced it before throwing it at the oni with a bow a few feet away. The knife went hilt dip into the oni's skull, killing it.
I recalled the knife into my left hand before putting it back into my inventory as I checked the monster drop. I got another bow and a few arrows with some club. I also got some gold and fangs. Yeah, the fangs of the animals I killed. That might be useful for when I figure out how to unlock my creation skill.
I probably should get started with that once I am done here. I glance at Hisui who looked at me with a nervous look on her face. She was probably imagining that the enemies I just killed could have been her if I wanted to end her.
Well, as Sung Jin-Woo once said, against an assassin, if a mage loses their guards then their defeat is practically assured and I'll have to admit my speed can be seen as fast as an assassin if they were at my level. Now that I think about it my stats are quite high for my level, aren't they?
I had started off with the sum of seventy-two stat points divided between eight stats meaning my stats were actually eight points lower than it should since all my stats should off started at ten meaning the sum should have been eighty divided between eight stats.
Now however? Counting my unused stat points, the sum is 394 more than two times it should be. Oh well, I decided that grinding any further may not be the best idea right now. My experience is barely rising anymore.
"Let's stop here Hisui," I said, "Hunting anymore onis and animals are no longer effective. I think it is time to go ahead and deal with the monster in the castle." Hisui straighten at my voice before clenching her hands. It looks like she is determined to go and avenge her supposedly dead master.
The two of us activated our hide skill and made our way back to the castle. There were some small encounters here and there but besides that, our trip back was smooth. I went back to the room Hisui and I were in when we had tea to look through my stats.
That was when I noticed something I did not see before.
Name: Adam Taurus
Race: Human (Level 7)
Why didn't I get an alert that my race leveled up? More importantly, my race can level up? I don't recall Jihan from the Gamer or Sung from Solo Leveling having this feature. I decided to open my settings.
Scanning the setting page, I found that the Race and Job level alert was off. Seriously? What was wrong with this system? I turned the alert back on and was instantly assaulted by pop ups.
Human has leveled up!
Human has leveled up!
Ability: Prioritize Job XP learned!
Human has leveled up!
Human has leveled up!
Skill: Charisma learned!
Human leveled up!
Ability: Desperate training learned!
My mouth fell open. That was a lot of… abilities? I shook off my surprise and opened my skill list. Strange, the only thing there was Charisma. Those other things weren't listed. On a hunch I said, "Ability list." Straight away a new screen appeared before me. The screen was divided into two with one side empty titled Equipped Abilities and the other side titled Available abilities.
Strangely, none of the abilities I got was listed there. I glanced up slightly and noticed that there was another part of the screen. The top part had my name, level, job level and race level on the left while on the right had a list of abilities such as Combat Abilities, Job Abilities, Defense Abilities, Magic Abilities and Special Abilities.
The abilities also had a bar next to them but were empty. The bars said 0/20. Hmm, I touched one of the abilities but it showed the same empty screen on both equipped and available abilities. I continued going down until I selected Special Abilities. The equipped section was empty but the available abilities had all the abilities I unlocked.
Strangely, next to those abilities also had numbers next to them. For example, prioritize job XP had the number 3 next to it while the Desperate Training had the number 1. I think I saw this before… I hate this system. I truly despise this system now.
First, endurance isn't a skill like the gamer but a stat that I had to use stat points to increase then I can't learn skills from runes or absorbing skill books. I also don't have Gamer's Mind and Gamer's body instead I started of with what is basically Gamer's body nerfed and then divided into two skills. And now, it does this. I have experience with the Ability system of a game I once played and I only discovered it once I had finished one third of the game. They didn't even explain how it worked in the tutorial and I had to figure it out myself!
Sighing, I equipped Prioritize Job XP and Desperate training.
Ability Prioritize Job XP: Increases Job EXP gain by 50% but decreases EXP gain by 50%
Ability Desperate training: Increases skill EXP gain by 50% but Max HP will be halved. Effect only takes place in combat.
I noticed that the bar next to special skill now shows that it is 4/20. I nodded at this and decided to leave again. I want to increase my race level since that might be useful with all those abilities to increase experience points gain before fighting the final boss and I recall that race experience and job experience is linked. If I get 2 job XP then both my race and job gain 2 XP, not only Job. If this system is also using that game's ability system then I should at least get the race to level nine, or better yet ten.
This time, I didn't bother to call Hisui or even told her anything. I wanted to go out solo this time and Hisui needed the rest, unlike me. I also held back from dissolving the party. I hope there isn't a limit to how far party members can be from one another.
Though the demerit of my normal XP gain is halved is a bit painful to see, my XP is barely leveling up anyway so it wasn't so much of a big deal. When I got out of the castle I immediately got attacked by a pair of tigers.
Do these things really wait right outside the door or something? One of them lunges at me but I sidestep the attack and countered with an upwards word swing, decapitating the tiger. The other one charges at me in an attempt to tackle me down.
I jumped up and over the tiger while stabbing my sword into its skull as it passes. The tiger dies from that one. I ignored the pop ups about my XP gain and the drops. I have something else to focus on. "Well then, lets see how far I can take my race." I smiled as I walked away from the castle.
Thirty minutes later
My god, I have not even leveled up my race even once. I've killed more than a hundred of these guys and yet I still have not leveled up once. I sigh as I whipped my sword out in order to get rid of the blood on it.
I decided to head back to the castle since I think there is no point in staying here any longer. I don't know how much time has passed in the real world but assuming that the time in the dungeon moves at the same pace then I am probably going to be late for work.
With that thought I activated sprint and bio-electricity at the same time and rush back to the castle. I arrived there in a few minutes and went straight to the top floor. I walked there slowly while trying my hand at another one of the system's ability.
I looked through the options and found what I was looking for. I switched on the voice chat. "Miss Hisui, are you prepared to help me deal with the monster at the top floor?" I asked. My response was a yelp from the other side of the line.
I can imagine her looking around frantically to find the source of my voice. "Adam. Is that you?" She asked, "Where are you?"
"I am on my way to the top floor," I answered, "Right now we are communicating through the use of my power." I waited for a few seconds before I hear some shuffling and rustling sounds that made me glad I didn't try the video chat function.
"I will join you in a few minutes," She answered. I nodded and told her to meet me at the top floor.
I reached the top floor and waited at the stairs. What? Its not like I knew where the throne room is. It's a minor miracle that I manage to find all the stairs here. While waiting, I unequipped the desperate training ability and job focus ability. After a few minutes, with me practicing my mana manipulation and bio-electricity skill, Hisui finally appears.
She was dressed in her usual priestess outfit. I nodded at her in greetings, "So, shall we head out to our final challenge?" She nods silently with a look of determination. The two of us walked towards the throne room.
"I see you have been practicing what I taught you." I said when I looked up her stats to see if she was alright and saw that her mana manipulation was now at level 6. I was also surprised at how fast it leveled up. Is this the effect of my Teaching Skill? Even so it is amazing since I was giving her advices and lessons in between our grinding.
Hisui nods at what I said but didn't respond. I suppose she was still preparing her mind for the battle a head. We soon arrived in front of a well crafted wooden double door which is big enough for the two of us.
"This is the throne room," Hisui said, "I hope you are prepared Adam Taurus." I glanced at her. Is she really calling me by my full name? I wonder if there is some meaning behind that. I recall some parents will call their kids by their full name when they are extremely angry.
"I am ready Hisui," I replied. I walked forward and opened the door. Hisui… kicked my back, causing me to stumble forward before closing the double door behind me. My eyes widen in panic and I turned around to try and open it but the door wouldn't budge.
"I am not sure how you can ignore the barriers," I heard Hisui's voice, "But it seems that you cannot open the door when it is sealed with a barrier made to block both humans and monsters." I banged my fists on the door.
"Don't bother, these charms were made by me with a lot of preparation time and with the mana manipulation skills you helped me improve it is a lot stronger than the one I used before." I scowled and tried to use mana scan to determine where those charms are behind the door so that I can shred them using mana strike.
My mana couldn't even go through the door. Tch, even though the enchantments allowed humans to go through the barrier will try to resist magic from demons and humans alike. I can't get out. Damn it! Why the hell did I trust her to help me!?
I stopped when I remembered where I was. Turning around I tried to locate the enemy and quickly found it. The enemy was standing across the throne room. The room itself was wide enough to fit three or four apartment rooms with six pillars on either side of it. There was a red carpet that went from the door all the way to the throne and the throne itself was a few feet above the floor and you needed to climb up some stairs to get to it.
The enemy stands in front of the stairs with its back to the throne. The monster glared at me. It, or should I say he, wore a priest clothes. He also had black hair which reached his shoulder and had blue eyes. Only, they were glowing.
"Intruder." Those were the words it uttered and I heard them even though we were really far apart. The person grabbed the handle of the sword strapped to his waist. I quickly reacted by drawing out my bow and an arrow and shooting the boss with it.
The boss drew his blade to deflect the arrow. I took out two more arrows and shot them before charging in myself with sprint. There was something about that sword that gave me goosebumps even though both sword and sheath looked normal, aside from a few white carvings on the sheath.
The boss was able to easily deflect the arrows before I got to him. I swung my sword upwards but my enemy sidesteps the attack and retaliates with his own downwards swing but I was able to barely parry the attack. There was so much force behind that strike that I actually wince a bit.
I tried to go for a sword sweep but he hopped back and just out of my swords range before closing the distance between us again. The two of us traded sword strike for sword strike but it was obvious who was winning.
I was being pushed back. This guy's strength was insane! Even when I block, I was forced back an inch and cuts were starting to appear all over my body. I found myself force to go into complete defense against him.
Okay, maybe I should start changing things up a bit. I waited until he tries for an overhead swing. I manage to interrupt his attack by swinging my sword at his neck with my right hand, leaving my left hand empty. Of course, the priest blocked the attack with ease.
I smirked and activated mana attack which released a blast of mana from my palm, which was aimed at his feet. The ensuing explosion caused smoke to be kicked up and the boss to skid back. I also leapt back.
When the smoke cleared and the two of us can see each other the boss charges at me. I narrowed my eyes also charged at him. When we got close to each other he raises his sword. I activated sprint and was able to charge past him before he could take his swing at me.
With the man's back expose, I try to cut him at his waist but he manages to block it by placing his sword across his back. Okay, that didn't work. How about this!? I tried to attack again but he manages to turn around and block it.
He attempts to swing his katana diagonally in front of him but I grabbed the bladed part with left hand which was encased in mana. I winced at the pain but the momentary opening was still there and only a fool would ignore it.
I swung my sword and managed to cut open the guy's stomach. My enemy scowled a bit. Before I can continue, I noticed his sword releasing black and crimson smoke that encased the blade. When the smoke made contact with my mana, my mana started to flicker.
I quickly let go of his sword and jumped away. The mana that encased my hand looked like it was melting and I recalled what Hisui said. She said its attack power was strong enough to slice through her barrier but I don't think that was the case.
I think that sword of his could nullify magic. But maybe it could only nullify magic at a certain level? I mean, if it could nullify any type of magic then why hasn't he escape the room? While I was stuck in my musing, I allowed my enemy to charge his next attack.
His katana began to release even more of that smoke which rapidly swirled around his blade. He swung his sword down in my direction and the smoke began moving towards at a very fast pace. I quickly activated sprint and further augmented my speed with electricity. I ran to the side and out of the path of the smoke.
I ran forward with my increased speed and aimed to get behind the boss. I should really look at his title. As I ran past him, I focused on his name and was surprised by it.
Name: Iruka Gozen
Title: Fallen Exorcist
Level: 34
I blanched when I saw his level. Also, fallen exorcist? I guess I found Hisui's master. But there was definitely something wrong here. I charged at him from behind and attacked him. Obviously, the plan failed and he manages to turn around and block my attacks.
With my electricity and reinforcing my blade the two of us dueled. I found myself able to keep up with him better now that I was using the electricity to boost my strength and speed. My strength is closer to his but not quite while my speed surpassed his. However, it was our skill that really pushed me back.
He fought with his sword very well. His movements barely had, if any, wasted movement and his attacks were fluid. I began to wonder if this guy really was an exorcist. As we battled, I realized that my own fighting ability was improving greatly as the battle progressed.
The two of us broke off after a while. I was unable to land a single hit on the guy but in contrast, he hit me a few times. Even so, my durability also increased with my lightning so the damage was mitigated somewhat.
I subtly switched my lightning to its healing effect to heal some of the damage. I noticed my dexterity, intelligence and Sword mastery level up with sword mastery leveling up like crazy. I looked at my stamina and resist the urge to grin. My fatigue bar barely risen to 1%. Scratch that, it is back to zero. Iruka drew out more smoke and released them in the shape of an arc by swinging his sword.
Switching back to the empowerment effect of my electricity, I dodged the attack and rushed at him again. I swung my sword at him when I got close enough but he blocks it with ease. I gritted my teeth before going back at it with him.
I need to overpower him. That is the only way I can beat him. While I can keep up with his strength in my current empowered self and my speed surpassed his by a large margin, he more than made up the difference with skill alone.
In fact, he was getting better. Or maybe he wasn't taking me seriously before? I feel like it was the later. Cuts were starting to appear more frequently around my body and I found myself being pushed back.
Iruka tries to do an upwards swing at me but I took a chance and activated sprint to rush to his side just in time to dodge the attack. My agility increased with that. I tied to swing my sword to cut him from behind but he blocked the attack again.
I scowled and focused the electricity to augment only my speed and ignore everything else. If the only stat I can beat him in is speed than I will overwhelm him with the only stat I surpass him with! Before he can even turn to face me, I had already sprinted from my spot and attacked him from a different position.
He blocked that attack too but before he can pull back his blade, my sword was already coming at him from a different direction. This continued with me sprinting around in circles, leaving a trail of electricity as if I was the Flash.
Soon enough, Iruka was sporting several shallow cuts all over his body. I smirked. This is it! I was about to win this! Of course, that was when Iruka swung his sword and it actually moved towards me and threatened to cut my head in two.
Experience.
That word echoed in my head. He didn't just beat me in strength and skill but experience as well. And that experience had allowed him to predict my movement eventually. I raised my sword to defend but since I didn't use anything to augment my strength the blow caused me to lose my balance and stumble back.
Iruka raised his sword over his head. I glared. No, I was not letting this become the end of me. I've come this far and I do not intend to go out now. In my previous life I had no goal. I had no dream and only went with the flow.
But here, I had a goal to protect someone. Here, I knew Adam Taurus had to play a role which will affect the bigger role and while I still am trying to figure out what to do with my knowledge, I know that my decision will affect this world whether for the better or worst.
I used the enhanced speed to regain my footing and raised my sword overhead. I then focused the electricity to enhance my strength and ignore everything else. On top of that, I did something I had been hesitant to try but you know what? Screw it!
I used reinforcement on my body to its absolute limit and it burned. I can tell my health was being consumed along with my mana. The two of us swung our swords down. The clash forced Iruka to skid back to our shock.
I recovered first and distributed my lighting to empower certain stats. I moved forward and the two of us continued our fight. The two of us were focused on one another and ignored everything else. It was obvious now. Iruka was getting more serious as the fight went by and he even started to sweat.
My stats were overpowering now but his own ability shouldn't be ignored. At one point, I focused all my reinforcement on my legs and jumped up. My little jump reached all the way to the ceiling. I flipped and planted my legs on the ceiling before kicking of and then focusing my reinforcement on my arm and did a single hand sword strike.
I grinned and pushed of him. While doing so, I summoned my knife in my free hand and threw it at him. Iruka easily deflects the attack. But not what followed it. I rushed towards him and he prepared himself but then noticed something amiss. He looked up to see debris of the broken ceiling falling towards him.
While the floors and walls were heavily enchanted it seems the ceiling was enchanted with spells to defend from curses, ghosts and demonic mana. My mana wasn't demonic. Perhaps in those times the only things that could attack from the air was demons and ghosts and thus the defense of the ceiling was focused on those and completely ignored the idea of putting the enchantments to defend from human mana?
Regardless, I took advantage of that and use my deconstruct skill to break apart the ceiling, or at least a section of it… I hope. Iruka however leapt back to avoid it. And that was his mistake. You see when you jump in a fight like this, especially when your opponent is the very speedy type, you have to make sure you keep the hang time as low as possible or else…
Before Iruka can land, I rush underneath him with everything focused on speed. I grabbed his ankle as I passed by then I switch everything to focus back on strength and swung Iruka to the ground as hard as I can.
This caused a small tremor and stunt Iruka for a bit. I twirled my sword in my hand and put it in a reverse grip while channeling bio-electricity through my hand and into Iruka causing him to convulse. I then stabbed my sword into his gut and channeled my electricity through it as well.
Iruka grasped his sword and released more smoke and it shrouded him. What? This thing can be used to increase magic resistance too? I guess Hisui wouldn't be much use here then. The guy is definitely fast even on Hisui's standard and also had magic resisting smoke.
I would be worried… if it wasn't for the fact my bio-electricity wasn't magic based. Speaking about the sword…
I grabbed Iruka's wrist with my free hand, now that I no longer had to hold his ankle with the bio-electricity paralyzing him, and crushed it by focusing everything on strength. Iruka grimaced and let go of the sword. I kicked it away.
I then looked at him and sigh. I don't know what to do with him right now. I don't think Iruka is evil. To be honest I think that something is making him doing this so I don't want to kill him but then if I don't then he will still be a threat and considering what I am sensing from the sword, it might be the source of all these problems.
But even while knowing this it didn't mean anything. With a heavy sigh I recalled my knife. In case I plan to play Adam's role I guess I should at least have some experience in this, right? I first dissolve my party with Hisui however.
I looked at the still paralyzed exorcist and gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry," I whispered before reinforcing the knife and infused it with bio-electricity. I stabbed the guy in the neck at on side and dragged it across his neck to the other side. I then pulled it out and began stabbing it repeatedly in the head to make sure.
After a few seconds I got the alert. I defeated the boss. I killed someone. Killing monster and animals were one thing but I killed someone. That reality dropped on me but I immediately tried to force it down. It was simple thinking about it. It was easy doing it. But after I did it and suddenly I… no.
It had to be done. I had no idea how to cure the guy and it wasn't like I am going to stick around here after this. I went took his sheath and that sword. When I grabbed the katana, it released that same smoke.
My eyes widen when that smoke became like a tentacle and began to make its way up my arm. I tried to let go but my hand wouldn't respond. I tried to sheath the blade. The smoke still continued to make its way up my arm.
Eventually, it completely encased my body and I fell to all fours. The sword is now in the sheath that I held in my right hand. I moved towards the corpse of the dead exorcist. I wasn't exactly sure why but I felt like I should.
It felt like hours when in truth only a few seconds passed but I reached the corpse and touched the forming pool of blood with the sheath. The blood reacted. It slowly moved and was absorbed into the sheath.
The carvings on the sheath started to glow red and once the blood was all drained out the smoke disperse. I looked at the sheath and saw that it had a name.
Name: Demonic seal: Astaroth
Description: Enchanted by the blood of a powerful exorcist this sheath was made to seal the power of the sword which contains the soul of a powerful demon. Once the energy within the blood fades a new exorcist must be sacrificed.
I shuddered. That means that exorcist blood is somewhat poisonous to demons? But that made sense. When I touched the sword the energy from it made what I had experience in the fight look like nothing. Its possible that the exorcist's power and the demons were canceling each other out mostly, resulting in a severely weakened boss.
I couldn't help but wonder how I was able to resist it for as long as I did. Did the system protect me or something? I stood back up to my full height. I put the sword and sheath into my inventory. I feel like it will be safer there.
I looked back at the message before me and saw an option to leave the dungeon. Yeah, I'm going ahead and leaving.
An that is it. This chapter came out longer than I originally planed and well yeah. Not sure how to feel about the boss fight. I mean I thought about it being a fight with both Hisui and Adam against the boss but then I realized that Hisui doesn't really trust Adam so the logical thing to do would be to put the two greatest threat against each other and take out the weakened one.
So, Adam fought a possessed priest but as mentioned both priest and the demon possessing him had their powers canceling each other out and the clash was actually damaging the body so believe or not Adam fought the boss in its weakened state. Its severely weakened state.
I also put something new to the system in the form of abilities! I'll admit, I got this idea from an RPG I played once upon a time. The ability system will be explained more in the future and for those who are wondering, leveling up your race does not increase any stats or give the player stat points. It will sometimes give skills and abilities.
Now reviews:
Dylan-a-friend: Thanks
Merendinoemiliano: I don't think I did well on the fight scenes. Also the weapon is less of a divine weapon and more like made by humans and blessed by holy water level weapon. Divine weapons would have the attack power of at least 100.
TriggerLaw: Thanks
Sword'sfunPen'sbetter8P: Thank you
DG2: Did you assume he was going to talk it out with the overseer that did that to him? His nice but not that nice. Anyway, thank you for your review and criticism. I hope I can make this story better but it is my first attempt at this kind of story so I am a bit nervous. And that second soul bit will play a big roll on later and it will be settled in one chapter at most. I don't really plan on dragging that part out.
InfinityZeroDWalker: Thanks but I want to hold back on naming weapons for now.
Ivanaccco: Hmm, originally I plan for there to be more Gamers but decided to change the idea slightly. Besides, Ciel isn't actually a gamer but her abilities may seem may sound game like at first. It will be revealed what her ability is. It is quite powerful considering the difference between Remnant and the Gamer's world but still has restrictions. Hint, when she said status she wasn't looking at her status.
TheGreatDoaistDumpling: Don't worry about I understand. Okay so I'm sorry I didn't explain this first and foremost. You see I made endurance and stamina split for a few reasons. First of Endurance actually translates to defense only as a reference to the Gamer who has physical endurance as a skill rather then an ability. The reason why I nerfed endurance into a stats was because how powerful it would be in the world of remnant. The higher the level the more percentage the physical damage nullified. At level 99 all physical damage will be reduced to 1% at level 100? Good luck to any professional huntsman that want to hurt him. This world barely has magic and such a thing can only be used by 5 people. On top of that since I am increasing endurance through the damage he receives from dust accidents this skill will protect him from dust too so practically no huntsman who doesn't have a semblance based attack that purely uses aura could hurt him. Stamina became its own stat because it does more than just make him tired slower. It lets him recover his stamina faster and I don't mean physical stamina but mental stamina too. This guy falls unconscious when his fatigue is full because of this but as long as his fatigue isn't full then he can keep on staying awake. Right now his stamina recovery is fast enough that he can take on an entire pack of beawolf, including an alpha, and his fatigue wouldn't even touch 1% and 10 seconds of rest will be more than enough to put the number back to 0. Stamina is also providing him food. Stamina also shows how fast his body provides itself nutrients. While Adam does eat he only does so for breakfast and lunch since the overseers and all the miners are there, have any of you guys noticed that he has started skipping diner or the fact he hasn't drank from water from the trough? In chapter two at the end there was a summary on his schedule and how he divided his day he stated that he goes straight from the mines to help Dr Soleil, skipping diner. Yup, his stamina stats made it so he no longer needs them anymore. Stamina reflects physical stamina, mental stamina, nutrients in his body and hydration. This also to reference how in some games eating and drinking restores Stamina. This also happens to help Adam cover a weakness the Gamer has. Jihan revealed later in the series that he still does need to eat and drink from time to time but now Adam doesn't. There is another reason why I didn't combine the two. There is another stat endurance effects and another stat stamina effects. If I combined the two Endurance will be doing six different things at once and will give him 2 skills at 50 and 4 to 6 skills at 100. Also the reason he dumps his stat points in Stamina instead of any other stats is because we'll. First the other physical stats might change his appearance drastically. He wants to keep his ability a secret but he doesn't have Gamer's body but growth. This is really bad cause this means that if his physical stats like strength, agility or endurance reach a 40 or above his body will go through a massive change. Look at solo leveling who also has growth. When his strength reach 48 he. Went from a wimp who was barely taller than his sister to being a buff six packed guy who was now a foot taller than his sister at least. The reason he didn't raise his other WIS or INTEL was actually explained in the previous chapters. If you have anymore questions you can PM me as well if you like.