Chapter 18: Kill with Power

Chapter 18: Kill with Power

Crucis looked through Storage, and picked out the [Silver Wasp] light sword. Finding that he could wield it now due to his Dexterity exceeding 350, he swung it lightly through the air, and it flew almost weightless through the still air. He decided to check on its stats further:

[Silver Wasp | Has a 40% chance to give user a +5% Agility buff after hitting an opponent successive times. Base power: 150. Base speed: 130%]

While it wasn't as fast as his dagger, it was still quite fast at this stage in the game. However, Crucis hadn't yet trained his light sword abilities much, and hence would be at a disadvantage using this for now. He would train light swords in due course, but for now he wanted to bring Cael across to Kruxol, so that he could take advantage of the many new players coming here for easier quests that had less chance of causing pain. Instead of attempting to train light swords, Crucis put the sword to use in another way: using the [Silver Orb] artifact, he transferred the special ability of the sword to his dagger. His dagger now looked like this:

[Silver Crucifix Dagger | Raises Agility by 5%. Deals 50% extra damage for 5 seconds when Agility is buffed by spells, skills, or non-equipment items, this does not stack. Has a 40% chance to give user a +5% Agility buff after hitting an opponent successive times (Silver Orb). Base power: 120. Base attack speed: 170%.]

This was an interesting set of abilities, however the Agility buff from the [Silver Wasp] would not trigger the 50% damage increase because that can't be triggered by equipment items. Nonetheless, it allowed for much faster and more decisive attacks. He also noticed that he had a few skill points left to invest. He sought out an appropriate ability, which could buff his [Agility]. He found that he could invest in an ability called [Dodge Step], which boosted the user's Agility by 50% and allowed them to step out of the path of an incoming attack. The Agility buff only lasted for the duration of the [Dodge Step] skill, but it would still be useful due to triggering a damage increase from the [Silver Crucifix Dagger] ability. The main issue with this was that it could only be used when under attack, since it was a dodging skill, and it would typically move you away from the opponent and hence make it less easy to launch an attack during the 5 second damage buff.

Thinking about this, Crucis looked through his menu and realised that he had unlocked the [Skill Mastery] feature again. Checking through his basic skills, he saw that when [Stealth] was upgraded, it gained an additional Agility boost:

[Stealth Cloak* | Makes the player invisible for three seconds. During this time, their Agility is buffed by 20%, and by 40% if they are under attack. They can use any dodging skills during this period, regardless of cooldown times.]

"Good idea," laughed Crucis.

Leonie had taken a few seconds to process what was happening, since she was drunk, but now she lurched angrily towards Crucis while raising her sword in the air to strike. However, Crucis was prepared, and had used [Figure Blur] to blur Leonie's vision of him further and make it harder for her to aim. As she clumsily went in to strike Crucis, he used [Dodge Step] to easily sidestep right and evade the attack, and this activated his 50% damage increase. He noticed that the drunk Leonie was slipping and about to fall after her lunge failed to hit him, so he used [Forceful Kick] to send her hurtling to the ground. Crouching over her, a sharp [Ripper] just below her neck was enough to deal 50% of her HP in damage, reducing her to 30% HP. Crucis grabbed her in a [Chokehold] and shoved her head bluntly into the grassy soil as she tried to scream. As she began to kick at him, he used [Black Spot] to slit her neck. This sent her down to 20% HP, and caused her to bleed.

Eventually, Leonie finally managed to land a kick, that sent Crucis sharply back. Using this opportunity, Leonie lifted her face off the ground and rolled onto her back.

"Ha! I got to attack you!" Leonie sputtered out.

Angrily, Crucis grabbed a sharp, small rock from the ground next to Leonie, and held it in his fist. He repeated a familiar maneouvre, using his [Punch] skill to strike Leonie with the sharp edge of the rock, aiming for the slit on her throat. The rock made clear contact with the slit, and tore roughly at the wound, causing strands of tattered, bloody skin to hang down. As Leonie lay down, making hellish gurgling noises, Crucis said, "Good for you, do it again," and held his arms out to the side as if to gesture that he was leaving himself open to attack. She could barely move, let alone attack, and she died in extreme pain.

Crucis heard some slight commotion from near Kruxol, and decided to run deeper into the woods South of Kruxol in case the drunkards of Kruxol came after him. He eventually slowed, after noticing that the group in Kruxol hadn't bothered investigating too deeply because they would rather go back to partying. Since he had a red name, he couldn't return immediately to Kruxol.

Passing through the woods, he found a few small wooden cabins. They all seemed locked, but he noticed that one had an open window, so he crept through it. It was a small, dark, cramped space, that was mostly empty. He found it slightly eerie, but nonetheless sat quietly for half an hour to ward off the red name. After that, he clambered out and made his way back to Kruxol, where he tried to enter from the Eastern entrance to avoid suspicion. He had heard players talk about draugr inhabiting small, out-of-the-way cabins, and wondered if there was a chance of them appearing in the cabin he had just hid in. He decided to keep this in mind, and check the cabins if he ever received a quest which required him to fight a draugr.