The freezing effect of [Burst of Frost] didn't last long, so the Spirit was back to full speed. Both [Burst of Frost] and [Wind Rocket] had a cooldown of forty seconds. However, only three seconds had passed from the time he cast [Burst of Frost], meaning thirty-seven seconds were left on its cooldown.
Still, the Spirit would reach him in a matter of a few seconds, and it had the advantage of the territory, not being affected by the drowsy effect of the woods.
Zarin had his wooden blades, but they were useless against spirits since they didn't have a physical form. Only things made of energy like mana could affect them.
As the Spirit made its charge towards Zarin, the latter noticed that this was different from Pretti. Pretti was hovering around while this foe moved using their legs like a human would do.
This gave him an idea, as he used another Skill of his—[Dice Summoning].
He created three dice and made them all have 20 sides, which was the max he could do currently. The dice appeared on the ground, where Zarin envisioned them to be, as he had found out he didn't need to make them appear on his hand.
These dice would stay for 37 seconds unless he made direct contact with them. But that much time was more than enough.
He purposely put the dice in the Spirit's way so that he had to pass them to reach him. They had no carvings on them and had the same color as the ground below them, making them perfectly blend.
Since his foe focused on him, it didn't notice stepping on the dice. So Zarin used his [Dice Manipulation] to move all the dice to get under the same foot, and once the foot had put all its force on them, he moved them up to unbalance them.
His [Dice Summoning] was currently at level 32, and his [Dice Manipulation] was at 45, meaning both had reached their Advanced State. However, unlike when he first used those Skills, their current power was completely different.
Even if not much had changed on the main mechanics of both Skills, the limits of the choices had changed. Before he got his [Dice Summoning] to reach Advanced State, except for the upper limits of summoning dice to be 2 instead of 3 and the time he could keep them without touching them being lower, the options of the dice themselves were limited.
The limit, of course, wasn't at the number of sides but at the material of the dice itself. Even if Zarin could change their color to whatever he wanted, he had to choose a single color for each die. Also, no matter the color, the dice were quite fragile, as even if Gele, who was relatively light, stepped on one of them, the die would break.
But after reaching the Skill at its Advanced State, not only he could summon one more die, but he could make them much harder to break. He could make them hard enough to handle even a wagon wheel passing over them.
Of course, there was a limit to the damage his dice could handle, and even if he was in contact with them, they didn't fix themselves. Of course, he could just make new dice, and since his Skill had no cooldown, he could just keep doing it endlessly, in theory.
But in reality, he couldn't keep using the Skill without a break. Even if there was no cost for the Skill in its description, it used something from Zarin. It was some kind of energy but wasn't either SP or MP, and he couldn't see at his System.
Zarin had read about this in the Journal, as there appeared to be Hidden Stats that didn't appear in the Status Window. One of them was called [Concentration], which was what was used for Skills like [Dice Manipulation] and [Dice Summoning].
But Zarin didn't know how much [Concentration] he had or how much each use of his Skill used, but after some testing, he had the first estimation of his limits over this past month.
The problem with that kind of Hidden Stats was that he couldn't use the stats points he earned at each level. But some Quests or Challenges may reward him with some increase on those Hidden Stats, but the chances were minimal from what he had read.
But still, he could easily use the Skill almost a dozen times in a row, throwing pairs of three dice at his opponent one after the other, with enough break between each use for the dice to come in contact with the target. But that was without the drowsy effect of the wood, since it affected the clarity of his mind, affected his [Concentration] cost and regeneration.
As he put his complete focus on using [Dice Manipulation], it was enough to move them and mess with the balance of the Spirit. Even if the dice weren't created by Mana, Zarin's energy still made them. Even if it differed from Mana, it fit the requirements of what the dice needed to affect his foe.
As the foe lost its balance, Zarin didn't stay in his place and started moving. He then created three new dice since the last pair finished their task. This time he made them to be 4-sided ones and made them appear on his hand.
Next, he threw them towards the Spirit and used [Dice Manipulation] to make them head towards its eyes. Fortunately, after the Skill reached its Advanced State, he could have them move on air, as fat as they were within 2 meters. If they exited the 2 meters range, they wouldn't disappear. He couldn't control them unless he got closer to them, but if they had some remaining force moving them in a direction, they would use it like normal.
He could give them the starting push, and they would head where he wanted, just he wouldn't be able to make them turn after exiting the two-meter range. Then, of course, the dice would disappear after 37 seconds, whether they were within range or not, or if he created a new pair of dice.
His target was barely within the 2 meters range, making it easier to be more precise and hit the eyes. Even if this was a spirit, and they didn't have a physical body, they could be affected by conditions that living humans would, like [Blindness].
Hitting the eyes was one way to trigger that condition in your target. Still, the condition wasn't permanent unless the attack completely destroyed their eyes. But, of course, Zarin's eyes dice weren't that strong, and even if they were, Spirit's bodies were regenerating, making the duration of those kinds of conditions much shorter than usual.
As the dice impacted with the Spirit's eyes, screaming of pain came from it. Unfortunately, the screams were high-pitched, which didn't fit the appearance of the foe, who looked like a wide, big muscle man.
'So this was what the Shriek Attack sounds. If my [Mind] was lesser, it would affect me more. '
Zarin had taken 5 points of damage because of the Shriek Attack, a classic attack of most Spirits. He had read about this and other similar attacks and abilities in the Journal. In there, it was mentioned that if the target of the attack had low [Mind], the damage would be considerable. Also, the target could be frightened of the Spirit or even frozen in place because of that fear.
Because Zarin's [Mind] was at 15, it was enough to prevent him from being affected by those attacks, further than damaging him. Still, he had a headache from that attack since he barely didn't get affected because of the level difference.
Fortunately, those attacks had a long cooldown and couldn't be used too close to each other. However, even if the others didn't exactly have a set cooldown time, they still needed to build enough energy to use them again, which took time.
The [Blindness] condition lasted for a dozen seconds, which gave Zarin enough time to build some distance between them. After that, however, he couldn't wholly hide because the Spirit had targeted him already, and he couldn't hide from him without going too far or using a Skill like [Stealth].
His [Stealth] was still in cooldown, and even if he could use his ring, it would be a waste. If his enemy lost him, they would be considered out of combat, and any regeneration abilities they had would work at their standard rate. After all, he had an ability like that, so he was aware of that fact. The Journal had mentioned that many monsters had them, too, especially for regenerating their HP.
Once the [Blindness] ended, the Spirit, which had its eyes on its eyes all that time, turned towards Zarin. Then, after aggressively pointing toward him, it charged again at him.
Zarin smiled at the Spirt as he had prepared his trap once more. He had already set a new set of dice on the way from his foe, ready to use them to repeat his last move. But once the Spirit was ready to step on the dice, it jumped over them and would land in front of Zarin.
'He is a quick learner, it seems. '
Zarin didn't worry about his foe's move, as he had considered the possibility of something like that happening. In his battles with the Demon Wolves, he had to change his tactics every time, as whenever he used the same one, its chances of success were smaller. Of course, Demon Wolves didn't adjust as fast as the Spirit, but that was because of the difference in level and intelligence between the two.
As the Spirit had almost reached the ground, Zarin quickly created a new pair of dice and threw them towards the Spirit's face. The Spirit was in the air and couldn't fly, making it impossible to avoid his attack at that close distance. It tried to move its head to avoid them, but Zarin could easily change the path of the dice with his [Dice Manipulation].
Spirit was once more under the effects of [Blindness].