Alex activated his ability, and the stones exploded, swallowing the cockatrice.
The creature didn't even get the chance to scream as the explosion consumed it, causing instant death.
Alex watched emotionlessly as the charred body of the cockatrice fall to the ground. He fell on his butt and wiped the sweat off his forehead, with the back of his hand.
The battle had taken a lot out of him, especially his stamina. The debuff he had received from the cockatrice's last attack had made him even weaker.
But when he checked his stats he saw it had vanished when the cockatrice had died.
He then read the notification flashing in front of him:
[You have defeated the cockatrice boss; Dreadfeather]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
"Three times nice."
With this Alex was now level ten.
[You have been rewarded with 15 stats points, 5 Power Stones, 20 coins, and New skill: Sonic Howl]
"Yes," Alex exclaimed, raising his balled fists to the sky in victory.
He had taken advantage of the battle between the two different creatures and had reaped bountiful rewards.
From leveling up, which netted him power points, to power stones, coins, weapons, and even a new skill, Alex was eager to check out the new ability.
[Sonic Howl]: Unleash a powerful shockwave from your mouth, disorienting enemies and reducing their stats by 20%. The blast disrupts their balance, leaving them vulnerable for a short duration.
Alex gasped in shock.
It was the skill Dreadfeather had used against him, to take half his stats, but this one was more downgraded. Nevertheless, it was useful.
Not only did it stun and weaken the opponent, but It also decreased enemy stats by twenty percent.
Alex wondered what would happen if he spammed it on an opponent. Would the reduction percentage increase? or would it not be effective?
Maybe, maybe not.
Alex decided to test his ability, and as usual, his test subject was the trees.
He readied himself and activated the skill.
Immediately he knew how to use it; energy bubbled in his stomach and then flowed to his mouth.
Then he let out a scream, and shockwaves escaped his mouth, hitting the trees. When he was done, Alex took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, holding his chest that tickled slightly.
"That was freaking cool."
Alex imagined himself looking like a banshee when he had used the ability. It was like something out of a movie.
Alex walked towards the tree, to observe the damage [Sonic Howl] had done. He could see the ability had caused only a small dent. The physical damage was not that high, but that wasn't where its strength lay.
The tree was a bad experimental target, so Alex didn't test it anymore, knowing he would only get results against a living being.
"Maybe I shouldn't have used all my upgrade stones on [Exploding Touch]," Alex thought. If he had used an upgrade stone on [Sonic Howl], then he was sure the percentage of stats reduction would have risen.
But there was no point in complaining or fretting about it. The skill he had used the upgrade stone one was already overpowered. And with it, he had decimated the battlefield single-handedly and cooked the cockatrice boss in such a dominating manner.
Now that he was thinking about it Alex realized he had flexed hard on the cockatrice boss. Overconfidence might not be a good thing, as he hadn't expected the cockatrice's last attack.
What this taught him was that he shouldn't be a hundred percent sure of his victory until his opponent isn't breathing.
But it was not like he hadn't prepared for any upset.
With the first slap, he landed on the cockatrice he had plastered an [Exploding Touch] on its face.
Meaning the fight could have ended almost immediately if he chose.
But Grey didn't want this, as he wanted to improve his sword skills.
Ding!
[Apocalypse Baby taking effect]
[You have been rewarded with 15 Stat Points, 5 Power Stones, 20 coins, and a new skill: Slipstream]
"Slipstream?"
[Slipstream: You can easily escape a trap. Magical traps take time and may cost mana. The stronger the trap, the more time it will take]
"Hmm."
The skill certainly couldn't be compared to [Sonic Howl] and [Exploding Touch], which were explosive abilities that would be useful in fighting against monsters. But Alex didn't disregard it as it might show its use against humans.
There was a chance he would get captured and in that scenario, the skill might prove extremely useful.
The system notification then rang, and Alex read the new pop-up:
[You have reached level 10]
[You have earned the chance to choose an ability from three options:
[Swiftstrike]
[Arcane Aegis]
[Titan's Fury]
"Whoa." That came as a surprise. Alex had not seen it coming. He just kept getting abilities.
He first checked out the skill.
[Swiftstrike]: Move at 2x speed for 5 meters, stunning any enemy in your path for 1 second. Your path is locked in a straight line, making it predictable to sharp opponents. Cooldown: 1 minute.
[Arcane Aegis]: Blocks all attacks for 3 seconds, with a 30% chance to reflect damage back at the attacker, amplified by 50%. Great for defense and turning the tide of battle. The barrier slows your movement by 20%. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
[Titan's Fury]: Double your strength for 30 seconds, making attacks nearly unstoppable and allowing you to break through defenses. Ideal for short bursts of intense combat. After the effect ends, you suffer a 50% reduction in both strength and stamina for 15 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.
These were all amazing abilities. But each came with its flaws.
[Swiftstrike] was great for surprise attacks or quick escape but your movement was locked into a straight line meaning which would be predictable to a sharp opponent.
With [Titan's Fury] the 50 percent reduction will leave one in such a vulnerable state. Not useful when facing multiple enemies which Alex planned to do.
The flaw of [Arcane Aegis] was the movement's 20% speed reduction but it was great for defense and the 30% chance of reflection attack was a gamble that made things interesting.
They were all great skills but Grey had made his decision, so he chose [Arcane Aegis]. There wasn't much regret with this decision as he felt it was more of a risk not to have defensive skills when his close combat was so poor
Again, Alex couldn't help but wonder how strong the skill would get if he used an upgrade stone on it. The rate of reflection would increase, which would make enemies hesitate to attack him, afraid of the full counter that would proceed when they do.
"Done with choosing an ability," Alex decided to assign points to his stats, but then a flickering dark purple light rose out of the Dreadfeathers body,
This caught his attention and he watched.
But then all of a sudden, it wrapped itself onto Alex's arm, settling into a tattoo that had the disturbing image of the head of a cockatrice turned sideways.
Ding!
[For killing Dreadfeather, you have been marked with 'The Rooster Curse']
[Cockatrices will now seek out your tainted aura and as long as the curse exists, they will hunt you down]
[Curse can only be removed when the cockatrice king dies]
Alex froze for a few seconds, taking in what he just read.
And he concluded that the only way to react to this info was to scream: 'What the hell!'
So he did just that.