Neil wondered about which direction he should go for a little, until deciding that it was best if he just talked with Amelia about it.
"Do you think we should get through this floor as quickly as possible or should we try to find some more treasure by taking alternate routes?"
"Currently I'm a little exhausted from that move so I think it would be better if we explored some more instead of going to the second battle of the floor which will most definitely be tougher than the last."
"Furthermore you still need more teaching from me and easier battles could be the best place for that,"
'Easy my ass, I almost lost my forearm in that fight!' Neil thought to himself after hearing her answer. Nonetheless, he did agree with what she said.
"Left it is!" Neil said out loud as, for the first time, he went in a direction he knew was off of the main path of progression.
As he took the turn he realized he felt something in his pocket, and wondered what it could've been.
"Turkey?" Neil said out loud looking at his hand which now was filled with grilled turkey.
Amelia looked over and was immediately attracted to the food Neil held.
'Ahh from the second floor' Neil remembered the dish he had cooked after their clearing and smiled before shoving some into his mouth.
While it had been sitting in his pocket for hours and wasn't the cleanest now was no time to be picky with food, especially if it gave him stat boosts as it did before.
Again the same notification that he had seen before came up, informing him of his temporarily increased vitality.
He at nearly half of what he was holding before he looked over at Amelia and saw her face. She was trying her best to mask her desire for the food but Neil saw through it and through the remaining turkey that he had back to her.
"Huh, thanks!!" Amelia exclaimed in excitement as she held the turkey and began to rapidly eat it. Neil couldn't help but continue to be surprised by her eating habits, nonetheless, he felt it was unfair of him to judge her heavily for it and instead just turned around and continued walking forward.
If necessary he would simply use it as an example of how good his cooking was and nothing more.
After another ten minutes of walking the pair stumbled upon their next group of enemies, except for the first time in their clearing of the dungeon it was only one single enemy.
"A lone drake," Neil said back to Amelia, but seeing her face he finally realized that there was little purpose in telling her of the enemies as she had better sight than he, even with his eyes.
He could tell as her face showed no surprise when he told her of the single enemy.
"I'll stop telling you about the upcoming enemies at this point, I'm sure you're able to see them well enough yourself." Neil said to her in a slightly dampened tone.
"No, it's alright, I actually quite enjoy your notice, even if it isn't required." Amelia said to Neil in a kinder voice.
Neil brightened upon this and nodded in happiness. It seemed he had been doing something right, even if he didn't fully understand it, he took it as a sign of progress of some sort.
Returning himself to the monster in front of the two of them he wondered how exactly they'd take it on.
"I'm going to make this into a learning experience for you." Amelia stated bluntly to Neil.
Neil became worried upon hearing this, as he knew that meant it would be difficult and dangerous.
"So I'm guessing that I'll be fighting it alone then?" Neil asked Amelia with annoyance running through his voice.
"Hey, I'm only trying to make you stronger, No need to be in such a mood" She responded to him, answering his question without giving a direct yes or no.
Neil nodded his head upon hearing this, and while he knew that Amelia was indeed correct that in no way meant he wanted to do it.
"I guess this is the least one must do for strength" Neil mumbled to himself as he began to formulate a plan for the upcoming fight.
"How do you plan to teach me?" Neil asked quickly.
"Well, it will be my first time but I'll say things as I watch your fight and afterward we can talk about it, Does that good enough?"
"Sure" Neil replied while shrugging, it wasn't as though he had had a teacher for something like this in his prior life so he felt what she had said was enough.
Neil was now quite glad that he had eaten the turkey earlier and decided to fight the drake unaffected by blood, at least at the beginning, and instead try to fight intelligently. In the end, he hoped to be able to fight with both blood lust and intelligence.
But for the time being, he would work on each individually.
He was now nearing the drake and it seemingly noticed him and began to charge a ranged attack.
"Think of the last fight, you know about its ranged attacks, now how will you deal with them?"
Amelia's question set his mind into action as he thought about ways to avoid either ranged attack he knew of.
Secretly Amelia knew the drake also possessed a third unique ranged attack it could use, but felt that making him think of the prior two would be more helpful than offering him no comments.
Neil was now only 10 feet away from the large drake when he saw it prepare to stomp the ground underneath it.
He realized it was planning its spike attack and sped himself up as he approached the drake with less control than before.
In his mind, it was simple, 'If I make it up to the drake then its ranged attack will be ineffective.'
While a potentially dangerous and rash decision Amelia was still somewhat impressed by his ability to rapidly think up the plan.
She decided she'd talk to him about the more dangerous aspects of this strategy after the fight.
Neil's plan was successful, by the time the dragon brought down its front two legs Neil was already in front of it, leaving the spikes to shoot out of the ground behind him.
The issue now was his proximity to the drake, his worry wasn't nearly as great as it should've been, mainly due to his odd thought process.
'If I could body slam the troll, then I'm sure I could do the same to this drake.'
He would swiftly be proved wrong in this, as it seemed he somehow forgot the fact that in the last battle, he was being crushed by the other drake's sheer physical power and was unable to do anything to it.
"Are you an idiot!!" Amelia yelled out from behind as she saw Neil preparing to try and pick up the drake.
Neil successfully took this as a sign to stop his current action and instead dashed back about 5 feet from the drake.
As he did so he narrowly avoided its claws and teeth which both were sent at him.
Neil, realizing he may have been somewhat stupid remembered who he was.
"A Blood Butcherer." He said to himself as he brought both hands of his axe.
"Finally, using your actual weapon." Amelia said out loud already exhausted from trying to teach Neil
Neil performed a quick step at the same time he brought his axe down from above his head.
Forming an extremely swift and strong attack that both closed the distance between himself and the drake and brought the axe down on its head.
"Clink!!"
'Damn!!' Neil thought to himself as his axe bounced off of the drake's head.
Neil now realized the extreme durability of his foe and how much he would have to put in if he wanted to win.
"Now you clearly see a drake's strength lies not in its physical power or speed, but instead in its ridiculously thick and strong hide that is incredibly tough to pierce." Amelia yelled out to Neil after his failed attack.
"didn't really need to hear that, do you possibly have any suggestions?" Neil retorted back to her.
Amelia contorted her face some in annoyance at his response but decided it was reasonable enough given his situation.
"Think about weak points, could it possibly have anything like those? You really aren't the smartest." She replied to him, deciding to return the energy she just received.
'Fair Enough' Thought to himself upon hearing her response, he then quickly began thinking about the drake and the weak spots it may have.
He knew that at the connecting point for each of the four legs was where the drake was least protected by its strong scales.
The drake sent another volley of close-range attacks at Neil, some of which he was able to avoid while others grazed him.
He was left with a dented chest plate and a long scratch across his lower stomach which leaked some blood out from it.
He had become somewhat used to the pain of these light injuries at this point and instead focused on making use of the brief window until the drake's next attack to deal some damage to it.
He sent a sideways swing which started at the height of his head and shot downward directly at the drake's front right leg. More specifically at the point where it attached to its abdomen, hoping to pierce the thick hide.
His attack was swift enough to avoid a dodge from the drake and was able to hit its mark perfectly.
'Damnit!!' Neil thought angrily as he looked at his axe which had become barely lodged into the drake's body.
He pulled his axe out of the drake's new "wound" with ease and saw that it was so light that blood wasn't even leaking from it.
"Good thinking, now you must apply some more power!!" Yelled out to him in what he sensed as the first pride she had felt in him since the beginning of this fight.
He knew that there was no better place to attack the drake and that his only chance lay in piercing that specific area. Even so, he was stumped as he couldn't think of a way to rapidly gain enough power to properly pierce the drake.
'I guess I'll have to use that' He thought to himself as he knew he was only growing weaker as the fight went on.
He continued avoiding the drake's continuous up-close attacks, dodging its attacks as best as possible.
After a few minutes of avoiding he finally found what he felt to be another opening for him to attack.
He brought his axe to his side and up to his head again, but this time began putting his blood into the weapon.
While he felt slightly nauseous from the lost blood, he could feel an incredible strength as he went to let out the slash.
His body's muscles all flexed to an amount that he believed to be impossible as his axe was covered in a red aura and left a red trail of bloody mist through its swing.
After the swing, he looked down at the drake that he was previously fighting.
A red mist now sat in the air around Neil, he guessed it was his own blood that he infused into the weapon and wondered if it would also count towards his blood frenzy.
Not only had he been successful in slicing its front leg clean off but he also sliced up through its chest as he had brought the axe back up. The drake now lay lifeless in front of him.
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Level Up
You have leveled up twice through your killing of this creature
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"My blood is awesome!!" He yelled in excitement after seeing the power of the move he had been holding off using. He was also extremely excited by the fact that he gained two whole levels through his killing of the one creature, even knowing i was reasonable due to the drakes strength.
"What exactly was that?" Amelia asked to him, surprised by the strength of this unknown skill of his.
"Just a simple skill." He responded to her, mimicking the calm voice she used when she said the same thing to him earlier.
Amelia glared at Neil some in annoyance at his copying of her when he suddenly went to speak again before she could respond.
"I'm only kidding, that's what happens when I infuse my own blood into my attack" Neil answered her in a carefree voice.
Amelia Simply nodded in response.
"Well, time to talk about that fight." She said to Neil serious as ever
Neil turned towards her and with a now calmed face.
"Go on" He said seriously.