Volume 2 - CH 15

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIIH!”

The Death Armed started to furiously rattle all of its legs.

The area around it was shaking, making Luce fall back some distance from the Death Armed in a hurry.

“I managed to hit it, but! Uhm, uh, what should I do now!?”

“Luce! Keep circling around that giant boulder in front of you!”

“U-understood!”

Luce rushed towards that giant boulder.

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIH!”

The Death Armed turned its giant body around and faced in the direction of Luce.

It changed its target from me to her.

Luce cut into the Death Armed’s tail, which was something of a reverse scale for it.

It also seemed to have lost interest in me, even though I had its attention until now, because I opened up some distance between us with the help of [Shield Bash].

The targeting priority of the Death Armed has changed.

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIH!”

The Death Armed followed Luce’s figure with naked aggression.

Although the Death Armed was fast, it would still take some time until it could reach Luce, who was next to its tail.

In the meantime, I ran across the boulders towards a specific place.

If I stand right here, then I’ll be able to take advantage of a decisive weakness of the Death Armed.

“The circumference of the boulder Luce is circling around is about the same as the length of the Death Armed….”

In other words, right as Luce will complete one lap around the giant boulder, she will have the crucial tail of the Death Armed right in front of her.

“E-Elma-san! What should I do next….! I don’t! Think! That I can keep this up much longer!”

When Luce reappeared in my line of sight, she was currently being chased by the Death Armed’s head and its tail was right in front of her.

“Use its tail as a stepping stool and jump on top of the boulder!”

“Ye-Yesh!”

After hearing my words, Luce stomped on the Death Armed’s tail.

“JIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!”

The Death Armed let out a screech of fury.

It must’ve thought Luce was going to slash into its sensitive tail once again.

It opened its robust maw and sprang forward towards Luce.

Luce quickly finished her jump in the air and used [Acrobatic Steps] to run up the side of the boulder to get away.

Because of that, it was the tail of Death Armed its maw impacted instead.

The torn off tail sailed off in an arc, splattering a vast amount of bodily fluids across the area.

“GIGIJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The Death Armed emitted a deafening screech.

“I-I-I did it. I really did it! Elma-san!”

Luce cheered, her voice breaking.

Just after the Death Armed loses its tail after taking a large amount of damage….it falls into a stunned state, making it defenseless just for a moment.

During that short moment, the countless legs protecting its body also stop functioning.

“Well done, Luce! I will handle the rest!”

I opened my Status.

――――――――――――――――――――

I put 【10】 Skill points…. into the [Smoldering Fang of Madness].

Until now, I was just able to mimic a DPS Class’s performance, but from now on it will be a different story.

I will be able to bring out the true strength of the Heavy Knight, which was called the Balance Breaker of Magic World.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 4］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[34/100]

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

〈Smoldering Fang of Madness〉[15/70]【＋10】

―――――――――――――――――――

【With [Smoldering Fang of Madness] reaching [15/70], you have gained the Normal Skill [Relentless Vigor].】

Here it is….the [Relentless Vigor]!

Using it presents a huge risk, but it gives a comparable explosive boost in power…. and it’s also highly synergistic with the Heavy Knight Class.

This Skill provides the foundation for the Heavy Knight’s firepower.

――――――――――――――――――――

〈Relentless Vigor〉【Normal Skill】

Can only be activated when the remaining HP is under 50%.

It lowers Defense to 【0】 and increases the Attack by the same amount.

While it’s activated, it continuously consumes MP.

This [Relentless Vigor]…. lowers the Defense my body has to 【0】, leaving only what my equipment provides, but it also increases my Attack by the same amount.

However, the situations where it can be used are limited. You can even say that it’s not even that much compared to the huge risk it creates.

Since it can only be used while my HP is under 50%, against a dangerous enemy I constantly risk getting killed in one hit.

In addition to that, since activating or deactivating it leaves me vulnerable for a second, I can’t even toggle it rapidly.

And what’s most important is that in Magic World the Defense stat tends to be on the lower side in general.

DPS Classes usually only have about half as much Defense as Attack.

An Attack boost of 50%.

Not a bad deal, right?

However, there are many much safer Skills with less restrictive activation conditions that even use less MP.

Therefore, it wasn’t considered a powerful Skill in Magic World at first.

However, in the case of the Heavy Knight, its Defense is double that of its Attack.

The moment this Skill activates, it effectively triples the Attack stat.

In addition to that, what’s frightening is that the [Relentless Vigor]’s and [Half-Dead Savage Dragon]’s effects compound on each other by the [Relentless Vigor] calculations being done before the [Half-Dead Savage Dragon]’s.

In other words, it doubles the Attack value that’s being boosted by the Defense stat.

My current Attack is 【40】, while my Defense is 【73】.

With [Relentless Vigor] and [Half-Dead Savage Dragon] in effect, my Attack rises to 【226】.

Counting in my new black steel equipment, it becomes 【241】.

What this number means is that even without a critical hit’s Defense halving effect, I could pierce through the Golden Rana’s Defense twice over.

That’s a high number by itself, but it gets boosted even further by the effect of my Title.

If I hit it multiple times during this stun effect, none of the Death Armed’s high HP, tough armor, or high recovery power would mean anything.

With my current stats I can’t maintain [Relentless Vigor] for that long.

We needed to create a situation where I could activate [Relentless Vigor] right in front of the Death Armed, and deliver a few hits without it being able to use its Skill or wriggling legs to counterattack.

“[Relentless Vigor]!”

I shouted while brandishing my sword.

A bluish-white light from the [Relentless Vigor] started mixing in with the red radiance of [Half-Dead Savage Dragon].

I kicked off from the boulder I was standing on and charged towards the Death Armed.

“Take this!”

I swung my blade towards its defenseless body.

A single blow from the Balance Breaker of Magic World.

A crack ran through the sturdy armor of the Death Armed from a single hit.

Its giant body was rocked by the impact of the attack.

“GIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIIH!”

The Death Armed let out a screech.

The returning second slash cut its life short.

The body of the Death Armed split into two vertically.

The Heavy Knight armed with ultra firepower several times its normal potency can accomplish the killing of higher level opponents, which was greatly valued in Magic World, to an outlandish degree.

That being said, I did not intend to fight in such a risky way in this world.

【You have gained 4059 experience points.】

【Your level has increased from 54 to 62.】

【You have gained 8 Skill points.】

An explosive amount of experience points flowed in.

This was an unanticipated incident, but it’s finally over.

We succeeded in taking down an Evolved Lord of the Centipede Pit.