"What the–" Jack was surprised by the small damage, but his hand didn't stop as he did a follow-up slash which produced damage of 13.
'Crap, the buff it gets is for its defense,' Jack realized. 'No wonder it threw away its round shield. With such sturdy scales around its body, it didn't need the shield anymore.'
As he continued to trade blows with the monster, he was surer than ever that he would run out of his Godly Might boost before he could whittle down the Lizardman's remaining HP. He looked at the boost stats and found that it had less than five minutes remaining. He started to panic.
He was thinking that maybe it was time to make an escape while he still had the speed attribute increase from the Godly Might buff. He could worry about getting ambushed by the Lizardman later. If he stayed, he would surely die once the buff wore off.
'A pity,' he thought, 'I was so close to defeating this boss.'
When he was about to break off, he heard a stern voice from behind him.
"You dumb ass! I really can't stand looking at you. Are you forgetting that you still have a skill that can turn the situation around?"
Jack didn't look for the source of the voice. He recognized that the voice was from the sulky fairy companion that the Goddess had bestowed upon him, though he hadn't expected the fairy to be able to communicate with him from her hiding place. It took him just a moment to realize what the fairy was talking about. It was his new weapon's active skill, Overlimit. He had completely forgotten about it during this high adrenaline fight.
Now that he had remembered it, he immediately activated the skill with a thought. He heard a clang from Storm Braker. The golden lines along the length of the sword burst out with dazzling light and expanded. He could feel strong vibrations from his sword hand as the sword transformed.
The sword broke into 4 parts: the hilt Jack was holding, two lengths of the blade that separated to each side, and the tip of the blade that extended outwards. These parts were held together by golden light with a black core at its center. He could see the core occasionally discharging black colored electricity that ran along the four parts of the sword. The size of the separated sword made it seem like he was holding a greatsword instead of a longsword. However, it didn't make the sword heavier. Instead, he felt it was lighter than before, with a surge of primeval power that aimed to destroy.
The Lizardman seemed to be able to feel the sword's power and to be rather intimidated by it. The monster became sluggish and no longer as aggressive. In fact, it had even taken a step back. Jack took advantage of this moment of lapse and lunged toward it. He thrust the sword forward. As its range had increased, it easily reached the monster. The sword impaled the monster, right through its chest.
The Lizardman screamed out loud as an impressive 72 damage appeared above its head. It was just a basic attack, but it had caused damage even greater than before the Lizardman applied its defensive buff. When Jack pulled the sword out, he could see a crack spreading out along the Lizardman's scales. The scales seemed to have lost the dark red tint. It was the effect of the Overlimit skill; it caused the monster to lose a large part of its defensive ability.
The Lizardman collected itself and let loose an angry roar to counteract the intimidation effect from the imposing sword. It charged forward intending to get even for the last hit. It slashed out with its two scimitars.
Jack didn't bother to block or parry, he was short on time; the Overlimit skill would only last for 80 seconds. He needed to make the most of it. He swung his sword, meeting the monster's attack with an attack of his own. Storm Breaker collided with the two scimitars and produced a loud clanking noise. The clash threw both parties backward.
Jack didn't waste any time, he immediately cast Energy Bolts as he sprang back towards the Lizardman. The four magic bolts hit the monster and kept it off balance as Jack arrived and executed Power Strike. The monster received a whooping 123 damage from it.
Jack followed up with continuous attacks without bothering to defend. The Lizardman was fast, so some of his attacks failed to connect. But still, though he suffered many hits, Jack's recklessness did a lot of damage and kept the monster from getting away.
When the Overlimit skill was about to run out, the Lizardman was just a thread away from 0 HP. Jack could see the monster's panic in its eyes. He didn't let it break away as he jumped forward and let his body crash into the monster. He suffered two slashes on his head from this suicide approach and suffered critical damage. His HP had fallen to less than a third from successive wounds, even with the outstanding defensive and regenerative abilities from the Godly Might buff.
Fighting through the damage and pain, Jack counterattacked with Power Strike. The move took out the monster's remaining health. The Lizardman Blood Guard roared its unwillingness as its body broke apart and degraded to dust.
Finally, the intense battle came to an end. The Overlimit skill duration expired and his sword shrank back to its original appearance.
Jack let his body collapse to the floor. He was exhausted. This kind of reckless fighting style really took out a lot of him. He heard the sound of notification which was as sweet as the loveliest melody.
"Congratulations on winning the battle. Receiving 742 experience points."
'That is a very generous amount of experience,' he thought, 'but I deserve it.'
After all, that Lizardman was a whole grade higher than him. If not for the Goddess' boost and the powerful Overlimit skill of his weapon, he would not have been able to win this fight.
The experience brought his Magician class to level 10, while his Fighter class was close to reaching level 11.
He inspected the floor where the Lizardman had died. There were three items and a bunch of coins. Either the new increase to his Luck stats had increased the drop rate, or it was due to the Lizardman being Special Elite grade. Either way, Jack was pleased. He approached the stuff on the ground. The items were a weapon, a scale, and a piece of paper, while the coins were 16 copper and 2 silver.
"Those are quite a harvest," Peniel's voice was heard as she appeared out of thin air. She floated above him as he picked up the coins and then inspected the items.
*
Guard's Scimitar, level 12/20 (uncommon one-handed sword)
Physical damage: 54
Attack speed: 3
Dexterity +2
Durability: 50/50
*
Red Scale (rare material)
*
Scale armor Recipe (Blacksmith recipe)
Forge uncommon medium armor
Material: 1 Scale, 2 Iron ore, 1 Steel ore
*
Rare material! Jack was amazed by the find. He immediately stored it and then looked at the weapon. It was the scimitar used by the Lizardman.
"It was a level 12 weapon. Go ahead and feed it to your weapon," Peniel suggested.
Jack agreed and immediately did so. He inspected his weapon afterward. When the scimitar was done being absorbed, he was presented with the option to choose which skills to apply. There were two options: increase movement speed by 10% or increase dexterity by 2. He was divided on the choice.
"Just pick any one," Peniel said impatiently. "You can change it later."
"I can change it? So the skill was not gone if I choose the other one?"
"The sword has its own database, as long as it has learned it, you can change to any skill anytime you want."
"Great, that's mean if I upgrade it to a Rare weapon, I can use both skills then!"
"That's right. But if you manage to find a Rare weapon to upgrade it with, it will likely come with an even better skill. So you would still end up having to choose between them."
"That makes sense." He nodded and then decided on the new skill. He then inspected his sword.
*
Storm Breaker, level 12 (uncommon one-handed sword, growth weapon)
Physical damage: 59
Attack speed: 3
Cannot be destroyed
Bound to Storm Wind
Passive skill: Dexterity +2
Active Skill: Overlimit. Release the weapon's hidden power that adds an additional 100% damage as chaos damage, increases weapon range by 2 feet, and decreases target's defense by 60%. Duration: 80 seconds. Cooldown: 8 hours.