Erina walked over to her coworker, he was a shy person normally. When he got excited he becomes a source of infinite energy. This was their last hire in the development team. So he was always their junior. His name was Charles, but the rest of his coworkers called him Charlie.
Currently, Charles was the one in charge of recording Wrock. He was amazed at how this player managed to survive for so long. Especially when the bosses were designed to thoroughly thrash large squads of players. His excitement reached the limit when he took a look at the players skills.
Erina read the description and couldn't help but frown. Considering the buffs requirements, how did it activate? The pugilist was in a party and surrounded by undead creatures. So it shouldn't be active.
"Did you look into why the additional skill is active?" Erina asked.
Charles vigorously nodded, "The boss ordered her subordinates to stand down, so they are in a 'neutral' state. I looked into how the A.I. classified the skill and here's a short explanation. First, there should only be one 'hostile' enemy aggro'd onto the player."
Charles stopped to catch his breath.
"Secondly they have to be the only one who hit the same enemy. Since the undead are 'neutral' and none of the party members did any damage to Carthino, the requirements were fulfilled. Of course there is something else with it, but that doesn't count right now."
"Hold on, what's the 'something else'?" Erina prompted.
Charles pulled up an info page, "A hidden bit, if the player's damage was more than double the party members, then it counts as just him fighting. Of course the moment another party member attacks it becomes null. As if the player took over the fight."
"Still. . . this skill is a little. . ."
Charles finished her sentence, "Broken? Yeah... I have no idea why the A.I. allowed it to get to that point. Thankfully it's not the strongest in existence, yet it is probably the strongest right now. I bet he is the strongest player currently."
"Skill wise? Yeah. Strongest player? No. Jeff over there just showed me some slightly alarming news. It looked like a player had full access to the games information. Nothing but stat point and hidden reward giving quests had been completed. It was quite alarming. Currently I have full faith in them being the strongest." Erina rebutted.
"Full access the the games information? That means they are being fed info? Who would do that?"
Erina couldn't set Charles worries straight, "No clue, they are now being watched closely but there isn't much we have right now."
Charles closed out the information pages, as soon as he did what he saw alarmed him, "Uh oh, this guy just triggered her hidden berserk mode."
~ ~ ~
Akiol manipulated his body to dodge as many strikes as possible, however Vertigo's delayed attacks proved to be a headache. Vertigo seemed to be able to change the time of his delays at will. Unless Akiol never came into contact with the area Vertigo cut, he would never be able to completely dodge.
Yet he made sure his core was nearly untouched, after suffering a single hit Akiol never wanted his core to be damaged ever again.
The time was nigh, Akiol blocked Vertigo's strike with his sword. The blow was immediately followed with two delayed attacks. The attacks were formed as one and send Akiol flying. With the massive gap in stats Akiol began to take damage from simply blocking.
<-50HP (Akiol)>
Akiol didn't mind the damage, he had achieved his goal. With the distance acquired Akiol activated the now off-cooldown [Aura Boost] and spent the defense and attack buffs for his speed.
He now shortened, if not closed, the gap in speed. Vertigo was slightly surprised at the drastic increase of speed, yet he was pleased.
"Very good! Fight for an honorable death!"
Akiol dashed forward utilizing his speed to swing and dodge accordingly. Vertigo was no uneducated swordsman. He too blocked, parried, and dodged.
Akiol sliced upwards at a diagonal angle, Vertigo leaned back to dodge and slashed horizontally towards Akiol's chest. Using the momentum Akiol swung his body back to dodge, whilst also sliding a foot back for balance. Quickly returning his sword to waist level he leaned forward, thrusting his sword towards Vertigo's exposed side.
Vertigo spun, effectively dodging the whole blow, and swung downwards towards Akiol. Reacting quickly Akiol rolled forward, as soon as he was straight up he slid his foot across the ground intending to sweep kick Vertigo. This was dodged by a light jump, Verigo sent his own kick towards Akiol's chest.
Akiol manipulated his body and Vertigo's kick only moved air. With his new body Akiol realized he could take many more risks than before. He was using this battle to fully grasp how far he could use it to an extent.
Akiol quickly cut the leg which Vertigo used to kick, a thin cut appeared through his armor and pants. Rotten black and green blood slightly oozed out of the wound.
Vertigo slightly retreated, intending to reset the battle phase. Akiol began to stand up when he forcefully stopped. A red line appeared midair a sliced Akiol's forehead. The wound easily mended back together, however if Akiol fully stood up the cut would have been dangerously near his core, maybe it would have even hit.
Vertigo gave a hearty laugh, "Truly you have been a worthy adversary. I haven't had such a good duel for decades! With this, I forgive your suspicious duel request. Regardless of the outcome you shall be one I remember. Tell me, what is your name?"
"It's Akiol."
Vertigo gave a small nod, "I shall remember that name. In order of my honor, I shall now face you with all my strength."
Vertigo began to glow red, his eyes began to faintly smoke. Akiol noticed this type of look, it was berserk mode. He had seen many videos of bosses going berserk on the forums. Yet normally there would be a notification, was the game bugged?
That was the least of his worries. Berserk mode meant the boss grew stronger, much stronger. Usually as a last resort, yet this boss simply used it because. That was fair! Not!
Vertigo began to shake violently and the disappeared. He soon appeared in front of Akiol, swinging his katana at an incredible speed towards his core. Akiol barely managed to save his core. The cut managed to slice through his body, but his core was a hair away from getting cut.
Akiol quickly backed off, he wasn't going to stick around where a delay strike might appear. Vertigo disappeared again, this time Akiol attempted to make a prediction of Vertigo's next strike. He swung his sword through the air.
His prediction was spot on, Vertigo appeared just in front of Akiol's sword. Yet something brought despair to Akiol. Just as Akiol's sword touched Vertigo, Vertigo seemed to have teleported on the opposite side of the sword. Rendering Akiol's attacks useless.
To make matters worse, a red line appeared on Akiol's chest slicing through his slime body. Vertigo's delayed attacks went from where it was swung, to what it hit. Akiol couldn't dodge, the delayed attack was slightly bigger than the normal attack. This meant Akiol's core was hit.
A yellow flash appeared and Akiol remained standing. It was Akiol's scarf! This was the first time the immunity to death had come into play. This gave Akiol an unexpected edge in battle. Vertigo was temporarily stunned that his attack hadn't worked, with that Akiol thrust his sword into Vertigo's throat, nearly fully decapitating the samurai.
<-150HP (Vertigo)>
Vertigo was unfazed by the strike, he then plunged his sword into Akiol's core. Splitting cleanly in two.
Akiol's vision turned grey, then black. He fell to the ground, turning into a puddle of slime. This slime took only a short moment to dissolve into the ground. The undead army roared with pleasure. Their general had won!
Vertigo stared at the Akiol's death spot. He never expected Orothus' finger when he defeated the slime. Yet he felt it was a good battle, the slime was extremely skilled in the sword.
"Akiol. . . I'll remember that." Vertigo sheathed his katana and rounded up his troops. He still had to retrieve a finger.
Meanwhile the party all received the same notifications.
———————————————————————
Tilia was dumbfounded at the two notifications. Yielya she understood, but Akiol was the last person she expected to fall. He was always standing during battle. Always there to fight till the end. Yet he had fallen. It was a game, Akiol was still weaker than before. Yet it was shocking.
Northan noticed the frozen Tilia, he didn't hesitate to charge towards her. His guandao began to glow a purple light. Swinging the weapon he cleanly sliced through Tilia.
~ ~ ~
Jarvis was thoroughly shocked, Tilia, Yielya, and Akiol had all been killed? He couldn't believe it.
Shocked at the notification he had stopped playing the song [A Deer Cry] causing Staff's attacks to drop in effectiveness.
[A Deer's Cry: The woeful sound of a mourning deer sound throughout the forest. As other deer pick up on the song they join in. Soon enough the whole forest mourns as well.
All deer-like tame damage: +30%
All deer-like tame defense: -20%]
The cry of Staff drew Jarvis' attention, he quickly continued playing the song. His head scrambling, how did they lose? Such thoughts spiraled through his head before he forcefully calmed himself.
It was a game, they weren't gone forever. Yet he still worried about the quest, about Goldlight. He wasn't sure what would happen. If they had to, the rest of the party would finish the quest.
~ ~ ~
Akiol respawned, he was at Chalkworth. As soon as he regained his surroundings he read the handful of notifications in front of him.
Akiol smiled sadly, he was glad his word was kept. Yet this meant terrible things would happen and it was all his fault. He took a deep breath before readying himself. He lost because he was weak, simple. The only answer was to get even stronger. This gave him a solid idea of a cemented rule. No matter how skilled you are, you cannot beat someone who is significantly stronger than you.
An idea popped into his head and he quickly checked if his absorbed items remained. To his relief not a single item dropped. He wasn't sure if it would and he got lucky, or if it was always safe.
There was no point of going back, he had lost. He now knew he stood no chance. He would only wait for the others.
Akiol found a table at the Adventurers Guild. He would sit here and wait for the others.
~ ~ ~
Vertigo commanded his army when a bright light appeared in front of him. Inside of it a bone rest encased in the blue light.
Carefully Vertigo grabbed the bone and inspected it. His eyes widened. This was Orothus' missing bone!
He looked towards the distance and muttered, "So you're still alive huh? You kept your word. . ."
Vertigo changed the orders of his army. He had to deliver this bone immediately.