Chapter 38 - Episode 38: A Long Battle.
Chapter 38 – Episode 38: A Long Battle.
Avriel groans weakly. The sunlight is hitting half of her face, the wind breeze gently and hitting her face. the birds are chirping loudly and Avriel opens her eyes slowly. A robe is covering her whole body and then she wakes up.
Avriel furrows her forehead and squinting her eyes. It surprised her that Ardalec and Diadre are laying on the ground. She's unsure if they're dead or just unconscious. Then she looks around and Trevor is laying on the ground. She jolts from the ground and approaches him. She sighs with relief when she knows that Trevor is just asleep.
I hear someone unsheathes a sword or dagger. I open my eyes and a dagger is on my neck. Avriel is on top of me with a big smile on her face.. I'm confused and looking at her.
"What's going on here?"
Avriel keeps smiling.
"Thank you, you saved me."
I raise my eyebrows and look at the dagger.
"Then, what is this?"
Avriel smirks and pulls away from the dagger from me. She stands up and looks at Ardalec and Diadre.
"Are they dead?"
I stand up and shake my head.
"No, they're unconscious."
Avriel looks at me with disbelief.
"You defeated them?"
I nod while looking at them.
"I will tell you the details later. For now, let's leave this place first."
Avriel nods but she approaches Diadre with a dagger in her hand. I tilt my head. Avriel grabs Diadre's hands. She looks at me.
"Do you know what's the most important thing for holding a weapon?"
I shake my head.
"No, I don't."
Avriel smiles and then stabs Diadre's right pinky finger and cuts it off, then the left pinky finger. Avriel grabs the pinky fingers and shows them to me.
"Once you lost this finger, you won't be able to hold a weapon properly. You are basically finished."
Avriel stands up and walks towards me.
"He won't be a bother for us anymore. He decapitated Krestan, and who would have thought that he will have the same fate as Krestan. He reaps what he sows."
Well, even if she didn't cut off Diadre's fingers, he wouldn't be able to fight anymore. Not just Diadre, but Ardalec as well.
Avriel throws one of the fingers at me. I grab it and furrows my forehead in confusion.
[Diadre's Pinky Finger Obtained!]
Avriel puts her hand on my shoulder.
"I believe you know where Krestan is at since you are trying so hard to get all his limbs back. If you give him the finger of the person who decapitated him, he would be overjoyed."
I look at Diadre's finger and then put it in my inventory. I look at Avriel.
"Let's leave now."
Avriel nods.
We decided to go back to Perth since it's the safest place to stay low based on Avriel's experience. We went to Algebra and used the teleportation device.
We are resting at the bar. Avriel sits on the chair while staring at me. She's rubbing her forehead with disbelief.
"You are telling me that I was unconscious for 4 days? And you fought Diadre and Ardalec for 4 days non-stop?"
I chuckle and nod while playing with the mug.
"I did, it was exhausting…"
(3 days ago.)
[Challenging the heroes of the Aarus Empire (In progress)]
[Diadre and Ardalec are two of the fifty people who defeated Krestan. Ardalec is the one who took down Krestan, and Diadre is the one who decapitated Krestan and took his limbs. Without them, defeating Krestan would be an impossible fight. Many have challenged them, but none of them won against them. They both promised to give their power to those who can defeat them.]
[Reward from Diadre: Unique Active Skill [Frenzy]]
[Reward from Ardalec: Unique Active Skill [Dominion]]
[Failed: No Penalty]
Diadre thrust his spear at me aggressively while Ardalec bombarded me with his magic and not just that, he also buffed Diadre. It was impossible for me to find a chance to attack them. At least it was until they both exhausted themselves. It took me almost a day to be finally able to land an attack on them and my damage was unbelievably low. Diadre blocked my attacks.
"Are you sure you can win?"
I scoffed and ignored his words. Ardalec cast [Fire Arrows] spell. A skill that will follow its target until it hits the target or until the caster stopped channeling the spell. Ardalec and his annoying magic were preventing me from attacking Diadre. Then I changed my target from Diadre to Ardalec. After hours of stalemate situation, Ardalec fell on his knees because he ran out of stamina. Diadre looked at Ardalec with disbelief. I chuckled.
"Are YOU sure you can win?"
I took the opportunity and attacked Ardalec. I managed to deal a lot of damage at him, but then Diadre protected him. He used all of his skills and I knew that he was pissed and frustrated.
A few hours later, Diadre staggered. I drank the stamina potion casually in front of him. I swung my sickle and threw it at Ardalec. Finally, Diadre used one of his ultimate skills, [Frenzy]. Doubled his stats value for 1 hour, but losing control over his own body and will attack everything close to him.
"DIE!"
Diadre was barely able to walk, but after he activated [Frenzy], he relentlessly attacks me. Back then, I could dodge and blocked his attacks without relying on my dodge, but this time, I couldn't see his movements at all and dodged his attacks because the system assisted me. Diadre kept screaming and then suddenly he turned around and looked at Avriel.
"Sh*t!"
I ran as fast as I could. Thankfully, I managed to grab Avriel before Diadre stabbed his spear to the ground where Avriel was laying on. I noticed that Avriel's body is cold.
[A promise was made and broken.]
[Diadre has broken his promise. Due to his action, his status value is reduced by half permanently by the system.]
I scoffed.
"That's what you get for breaking the promise."
I put Avriel down and wrapped her body with the hooded robe she gave me. Then without wasting the time, I approached Diadre and attacked him.
An hour has passed. Diadre came back to his sense and Ardalec has replenished his stamina. I exhaled deeply.
"Ready for next round?"
Diadre looked at Ardalec and then both of them nodded. My whole body suddenly felt weaker. I looked at my stats and it reduced by 50%. I looked at both of them.
"You're finally using it as the last effort?"
Ardalec lifts his staff and rests it on his shoulder.
"No, it should be the first thing we should have done."
This will be a problem. I put the sickle in the inventory and grabbed another dagger and equipped it. Because of the reduction, my dodge rate became 79.5% and I have no idea how much health they both still have. I carefully readied my stance.
Because of those skills, I took a lot of damage and drank so many potions. I didn't know for how long are they going to keep activating those skills, but at the same time, I was happy with it since it consumed a lot of their stamina, and when they emptied their stamina, I will finish them off before they can replenish their stamina.
Suddenly my feet won't move. I looked at Ardalec and he cast a binding spell on me and succeeded. I panicked and Diadre took the opportunity to throw attacks at me. I blocked some of his attacks and took around 3000 damage. My health current health was 724 and then Diadre jumped and thrust his spear at me. I thought I was finished, but luckily I dodged it because the system assisted me and freed me from the bind. I breathed heavily and immediately drank [Max Health Potion] and backed away.
Several hours have passed. They both kept activating those skills and there was no sign of them of exhaustion.
Diadre activated [Frenzy] again, but thankfully it was night time and I could use [Moonsteps] now. If it wasn't because of it, I might have died many times. I managed to deal some damage to Ardalec and he barely dodged my attacks as if he was preserving his stamina. So I kept attacking him even though Diadre was in a frenzied state.
I thought of something smart. I provoked Diadre who was still in a frenzied state, and he ran towards me without hesitation. I looked at Ardalec and smirked. Ardalec panicked and tried to run away, but I grabbed his robe and pulled him in. When Diadre was about to thrust his spear at me, I pushed Ardalec at Diadre and he stabbed him in the heart.
[11.784]
I know that Diadre is strong, but I never thought that he's that strong. I look at Ardalec and laugh mischievously. Ardalec shakes his head.
"No… NOOOO!"
The last day of the battle finally came. Ardalec is finally done for and fell unconscious, the debuffs on me are finally gone. Diadre is exhausted as well. I approach him and swing my sickle.
"Now it's one on one. Do you want to give up now? It doesn't seem fair for you to be honest."
Diadre is glaring at me furiously and then activates [Frenzy]. I scoff and shake my head.
"You're nothing without Diadre, and you lost half of your stats already. Don't waste my time…"
I attacked him non-stop with both of my chained sickles. Since his stats value is reduced, I wasn't afraid to fight him without using my daggers.
"So that is why Krestan asked you to retrieve his limbs… you are… the strongest person I have ever met…"
Diadre fell to the ground and fell unconscious.
[Challenging the heroes of the Aarus Empire (Completed)]
[You defeated the two heroes from the Aarus Empire. Ardalec and Diadre admitted their defeat. Because of this, their will to fight is now gone.]
[Congratulations! After defeating Diadre, he passed down his unique skill to you!]
[Congratulations! Unique Active Skill: [Frenzy Lv. Max] has been learned.]
[Frenzy: Doubled the player's status value for 1 hour, but losing the player's control over their own body and will attack everything close to the player. Cooldown time is 6 hours after the frenzied state is gone.]
[Congratulations! After defeating Ardalec, he passed down his unique skill to you!]
[Congratulations! Unique Active Skill: [Dominion Lv. Max] has been learned.]
[Dominion: Reduced half of the status value of the enemy around the player within 20 meters. Cost 2.5% stamina per second when activated.]
I put my daggers in my inventory while staring at the screen. I smirk.
"Thank you for the skills…"