'Who cares about hiding my powers now? I am going to die without using them so what's the point of hiding them?' Aiden thought at the last moment as he jumped into the orc's shadows using his shadow jump.
< Cover your nose host and don't breathe! > The system suddenly said as Aiden followed its advice and closed his nose.
He quickly rolled back as the orc was confused by Aiden's sudden disappearance.
'Why did you tell me to close my nose?' Aiden asked the system as he took in the air again.
< Host, imagine that you went to a fish market and all the fishes there were extremely old and were smelling really bad. Now multiply that smell by ten times. That's what you would have smelt if you had stayed under her butt. > The system replied in a grim voice.
Aiden gulped in as he looked at the orc in fear. It looked as though the orc definitely needed a bath.
'Guess this battle won't be easy.' Aiden thought with a dark grin as a system notification rang in his ears.
Ding!
[ A special quest has been assigned. ]
[ Quest name - Kill Or Die By Bad Smell
Difficulty - Hard
- Defeat the giant female orc within the given time limit.
Rewards - A new combat skill.
Time Limit - 60 minutes. ]
[ Accept Quest? ]
'Since I am gonna have to defeat her anyway, why not do it while accepting a quest. I might also gain some huge amounts of exp by killing the orc.' Aiden thought as he accepted the quest and took out the shadow dagger from his pockets.
Ever since he had faced off the moon wolf, he had kept the shadow dagger with him. Though his infinity bow had been lost while he had fallen down the hole in the earth.
The orc had also figured out that Aiden was behind her as she turned her body towards him and bellowed in anger.
'Wish I had more shadows here.' Aiden thought with a sigh as he held the dagger by the hilt and pointed the blade backward.
One of the biggest disadvantages of depending on his shadow skills were that Aiden couldn't do much in empty places.
Since the room, he was in only had two shadows in it, one of himself and the other of the orc. Aiden was at a major disadvantage because of this.
But he still had a trick up his sleeve.
'I just pray that I don't get crushed under her butt.' Aiden prayed silently before he threw the dagger in the air and charged forward.
***
"He is using the shadow element." Aysel slowly muttered as both she and Drake had seen Aiden teleport using the shadows and they could also see that the dagger was made from shadows.
"Damn it, I thought he would get my fire element." Drake muttered as Aysel gave him a smug smile.
"Didn't I tell you that he would have my shadow element? You should have listened to me." Aysel replied as Drake rolled his eyes.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Now the question is, how much elemental energy can he control? If he has a good reserve, we can train him ourselves." Drake asked with a curious voice as the two of them watched Aiden battle the orc.
***
Seeing Aiden move forward, the female orc also charged forward. Aiden smiled at this since he had thought that the orc would do such a thing.
'Shadow Manipulation.' He thought as he made his shadows bind him to the ground and stop him from moving forward.
This was a thing that Aiden had found out about in the past few hours only. It wasn't a world-breaking skill but was still useful.
Especially in the current situation.
The orc had gained enough speed that she couldn't stop herself from moving and Aiden smiled at this. He took a few steps back as he got in the range of using his shadow manipulation on the dagger.
And as soon as the orc was a few feet away from him, Aiden controlled the dagger with his shadow manipulation skill and brought it down in a straight arc while increasing its weight.
'System, level up shadow manipulation!'
< As you say host. >
[ The skill: Shadow Manipulation has leveled up. ]
[ The range and duration of the skill has been increased. ]
Aiden suddenly blinked in confusion since this wasn't the notification he had been thinking of receiving.
'Could it be...' He thought as he stared at the orc's body lying on the ground.
He had directed the dagger towards the orc's head and it had penetrated her skull but despite that, she was still breathing with her eyes called.
[ The female orc has used the special skill: Orc God's blessing. All of her stats have been tripled for ten minutes and any dealt damage is recovered. ]
'Why does every beast I meet has such an OP ability? Do these guys have systems too?' Aiden wondered as he decided to use the inspect skill on the orc.
[ Species - Evolved Orcs
Species Skill: Solo Strength - The skill allows a member of a species to double its strength for some time.
Description - A species of evolved orcs of who surpassed their 1 to 2-meter tall species. ]
'Even its special skill is OP. Damn it, this is going to be a long battle.' Aiden gritted his teeth as he pushed a little back and willed his dagger to come back.
It got dislodged from the orc's head and flew back to Aiden's side as he decided to put a few meters of distance between him and the orc.
His eyes narrowed down as he saw the wound on the orc's head slowly starting to heal. The skin completely healed up as the orc opened her eyes and stood up.
Aiden had already expected something like this but seeing it with his own eyes was fascinating.
[ Elemental Energy: 290 / 300 ]
'System, show me the details of the shadow manipulation skill.' Aiden suddenly asked the system as he was on high alert.
The orc had slowly started moving her neck up and down as though she was checking whether it was working fine or not.
[ Shadow manipulation
Level 3: 0 / 10
(3 EE per minute)
---
- Lets the user manipulate the shadows around them.
- The shadows must be from a real light source and not from elemental powers.
Range: 10 meters
Duration: 60 minutes ]
'Guess now I can use this skill to its full potential. The system, show me the progression of the shadow walk skill.' Aiden asked again as the orc turned her eyes in her direction.
[ Shadow Walk: Level 1: ( 99 - 100% ) ]
Aiden grinned at this unknowingly as he glanced directly into the orc's eyes. He started assessing the orc and started forming a strategy.
'Since its stats have been tripled, there is no way I can defeat it head-on. Guess I will use that strategy.' Aiden thought as he grinned.
He was feeling adrenaline rush through his body even though he was nervous. But in the end, he was still excited.
'Now this is the situation I have been waiting for.' Aiden thought as he started running forward but the orc didn't run this time.
As soon as Aiden was within range of using his shadow walk skill, he jumped directly behind the orc.
Ding!
[ The skill: Shadow Walk has been upgraded. ]
[ The range and the cost of the skill have been upgraded. ]