Chapter 99: Skills

“I’m not letting you get away this time!”

Dagraha appeared in front of me and Cecile.

(Did he only notice us now? No, he noticed when I was being eaten by Madegarsh, but…)

Of the 50 cards I could hold, I changed 48 of them to Brons. I didn’t keep any Eagles in the sky to search for Dagraha because I already found him.

One step after another, Dagraha approached us. He glanced at Madegarsh, who was lying behind me but he didn’t seem very interested and his gaze to me and Cecile.

I hid Cecile behind my back.

(Well, I don’t have any Iron balls left. My dagger is still stuck in Madegarsh. And with my summoning speed, beating Dagraha is basically impossible. I don’t have many options.)

“No, Lady Cecile, please run! I’ll hold him off here.”

(I have gotten his attention.)

I held out my hands to hide Cecile.

“What is it? You’re the epitome of a servant. You want to put yourself on the line? That’s the kind of thing that disgusts me the most!”

“Gah-“

(Seriously, he disappeared from my sight even when I was facing forward. I can’t see him at all.)

“Allen! Ahh!”

Dagraha used some kind of special skill to kick me up at high speed and slapped Cecile away as she tried to run to me. This blow knocked Cecile unconscious.

“What’s wrong? Can’t fight any longer? Where is that magical beast you had last time?”

“…”

“I see, so you’ve used up all your mana to defeat this magical beast.”

“You’ve used too much mana to catch up with me, haven’t you? You’d better have some mana for the return trip.”

“Oh? Of course I have a Mana Potion, you little shit.”

“Gahhh.”

(Okay, this idiot will talk about anything. Dagraha was using mana. Now I know something about his skills at least.)

“I need to educate you.”

“Can a coward like you who fled the battlefield after a year educate me?”

“You! Bastard!”

Then Dagraha disappeared from in front of me, and I was blown away again. It seems that he didn’t like what I just said and decided to hurt me very carefully.

Even though I was beaten to a pulp, I got an answer to a question I had been asking myself.

The question, “What is a skill?”

I think there are three types of skills.

The question is, what is the difference between the first and second kind of skill?

One of the differences would be whether it consumes mana or not.

Throwing does not use mana, but summoning a summon requires mana in the <Create> stage.

This brings me to the next question.

What are the stats of people with a Talent other than me? What is listed in the skills section of other Talented people?

The answer was given to me by Dagraha. Dagraha just now implied that he needs to use mana to activate his skill. He must have a status column like mine.

My prediction of Dagraha’s status:

[Skills]  Scouting <5>, Plundering <5>, Dash <4>, Hearing, Sneaking, Sensing, Swordsmanship <5>

[Extra Skill] Tracking

His basic skill would be <Scouting>, like my <Summon>, and as he levels up, a number of other skills would branch out and grow.

(The answer was there at the beginning. It was written clearly in the description section of Hell Mode before I was transferred. ‘The skills you get for one Talent are not exclusive to you. All the people with the same Talent will have the potential to unlock the same skills.’ I’m sure Cecile also has a skill like Magic <1> listed in her status column.

Only the skills you select for your Talent are initially available.

Depending on whether one has Talent or not, their status will increase differently when they level up. However, that only means that the ones with Talent have higher status than the ones without Talent.

I concluded that being Talented meant that we all had skills like <Summon> that consume mana that grows with frequent use.

(I guess the reason Dagraha is so ridiculously strong is because he has a Talent, and he’s got his level and skill levels up to par.)

“You creepy kid. What are you smirking at?”

“Boo-ha!”

(Oh, he definitely has only One or Two-star Talent, but he is so strong. I have an Eight star Talent, how much stronger will I be when I grow up?)

While being beaten to a pulp at Dagraha’s uncanny speed, I held back my smile as I anticipated my future.

Then an hour passed by.

There was I, beaten like a ragdoll, and Dagraha, out of breath.

“Damn, you’re tough. What are you, a Warrior? Does that magical beast thing have anything to do with it?”

“Done? Then you’d better run back to the Carnel city before he kills you.”

He cut me with his Mithril’s rapier. It hurts. I’m about to run out of [Grass of Life]. I’ll take that rapier when he kills you.

Dagraha had not spent an hour beating me up. He was already trying to kill me, but I was surviving due to the incredible increase in my [Strength] and [Endurance] and with timely use of [Grass of Life].

“Oh? Who’s going to kill me? You?”

“You still don’t get it, do you? You’re a scout but you can’t spot him.”

(I’m really learning.)

“What are you talking about? Buying time with words won’t change the fact that you’re going to die”

“No, no, it’s really late.”

“What? What’s that…?”

Dagraha noticed the sound. Someone was running toward us from a distance, raising up a cloud of dust.

Dagraha stopped his attack, and one Knight appeared.

“Hmm, you are still alive?”

It was the Knight Commander who rushed to the spot where Dagraha and I were fighting each other.

“No, I almost died. Run a little faster.”

“Don’t say that. I can’t run as fast as you. Besides, I made it while you were still alive.”

Chappy, who was perched on the Knight Commander’s shoulder, spoke in my voice. Eagle was circling above the Knight Commander.

I had already flown Eagle and Chappy one by one towards Grandver. I found the Knight Commander and explained the situation using Chappy. The Knight Commander was being led by Chappy towards us.

The Knight Commander was aware of my Talent and quickly accepted the situation.

(Hehe. Commander, please finish this chase.)

I will use any means necessary to defeat my enemies.

“Zenov.”

Dagraha immediately recognized who appeared.

“Yeah.”

“You parasite, who wags his tail to the Nobles, has finally come out.”

(You’re an assassin in the employ of a Noble too.)

“Parasite?”

“Yeah. You know what I’m talking about. You know those Nobles who use commoners as pawns on the battlefield.”

“Well, what’s wrong about that?”

“Wrong? The ones who fight hard for those Talentless turds are also turds. Just like you.”

“…”

“What have you gained by defending the fortress for ten years? You really make me laugh. Being the Knight Commander of countryside for that achievement is quite a reward.”

With that, Dagraha disappeared. The bouncing dirt and grass told me that Dagraha was moving fast.

“Allen, stand back a bit. I don’t want you to get involved.”

“Uh, yes.”

I, who had been speaking in a sarcastic tone, returned to respectful speech. It was not because I was surprised by the obviously angry expression of the Commander but because of the aura he was shimmering as he turned towards me. He slowly drew his sword.

(Oh yeah, this must be his Extra Skill in effect. Come to think of it, I don’t think he used the Extra Skill when he defeated the Orc King.)

I think there are effects in Extra skills that either Normal skills or Talent-based skills don’t possess. Even in this situation, I made new discoveries.

“Where the hell are you going, die!”

Dagraha appeared, moving so fast that he disappeared from my eyes, and thrust his rapier at the Knight Commander’s heart.

“We have fought for all of them. And all our friends died. Every last one of them left me.”

“Shit! How hard is that?”

Dagraha didn’t listen to what the Knight Commander had to say, and put all his strength into his rapier, desperately trying to pierce the Knight Commander’s armor. However, not a drop of blood came out of the armor.

(He’s so strong. So this is a swordsman. How many times has he fought on the battlefield?)

It seems that Dagraha’s [Attack] was too low to harm the Commander with his [Endurance].

“We have risked our lives to protect everyone! No one will ever deny what we have done!”

With those words, he swung the sword that he had raised, and Dagraha’s body was cut in two. In addition, the shockwave from the sword fight caused the soil to flip and blow away over a hundred meters.

Allen’s breath caught in his throat seeing how powerful Zenov was. Thus, the three-day chase with Dagraha came to an end.