CH 42

“Although there is no need to use this against you, but…. I’ll do so to show my respect for being able to land a hit on me.”

Mariss’s body was lit up by a golden radiance.

“[Vajra Barrage]!”

The speed of Mariss increased even further.

The [Vajra Barrage] is a Skill that uses mana to stimulate the body for a single moment to be able to send out a barrage of lightning fast strikes.

That Skill is the first a Sword Saint can learn, which ultimately became the distinctive attack of the Class.

I was well aware that Mariss had it.

I deflected the first slash with my sword, then evaded the second by leaning back.

Her attacks are terrifyingly fast, but her sword skills are not up to par for it yet.

Her movements became simple.

In Magic World, there were a lot of people during pvp battles that relied entirely on [Vajra Barrage] to get through, counting on the fact that their opponent wouldn’t be able to deal with it.

I myself am confident in being able to deal with [Vajra Barrage].

While blocking the third strike with my shield I stepped back to disperse the impact.

Good, I was able to see through it on my first try….

If I’m able to put enough distance between us before [Vajra Barrage] is activated, then I can easily weather through it.

“One more!”

From an unstable position at the end of her last slash, Mariss forcefully added another strike.

“Guh…..”

The [Vajra Barrage] is a Skill that uses bodily reinforcement for an instant to send out a barrage of attacks.

Therefore, the number of attacks in that barrage is dependent on the user of the Skill.

Mariss was able to forcefully bring it up to a 4-hit barrage by sending out a last attack from an unfavorable posture, but it also caused her to lose her proper balance in turn.

Perhaps afraid that I would capitalize on the instant of weakness, she jumped back to gain some distance from me.

Although she must’ve been cautious about my [Shadow Stomp], since she only jumped back the minimal distance necessary.

“Hn…..It seems I can’t break through easily if you focus on defense like that. Even so, it seems you are just prolonging the inevitable. I’ll be finishing this now.”

“Mariss, I wanted to see that Skill of yours while we were still at this stage. I wanted to avoid first having to deal with that [Vajra Barrage] of yours in a serious situation.”

“….what are you saying? Did you think I would be intimidated by a simple bluff…..?”

I had three tasks to accomplish during this battle.

The first was to assess Mariss’s [Vajra Barrage].

The second was to find a decisive weak point of Mariss.

The third was to accomplish the other two while adjusting my own HP.

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【Elma Edvan】

Class: Heavy Knight

Lv: 41

To be precise, I needed to get my HP below 40%.

For that reason I needed to dredge up my memories of Mariss’s weapon, the Magic Katana – Mizugarasu, then try to determine her exact level by calculating backwards from the amount of damage I took for each hit and how it differed from what I expected.

With this I can finally put some Skill points into [Smoldering Fang of Madness].

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【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 6］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[34/100]

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

〈Smoldering Fang of Madness〉[0/70]

――――――――――――――――――――

Now, I put 【5】 points into [Smoldering Fang of Madness].

――――――――――――――――――――

【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 1］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[34/100]

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

〈Smoldering Fang of Madness〉[5/70]【＋5】

Luce made it possible to obtain it before this happened….. and she also encouraged me so I could fight with a cool head.

It must have been scary for her to speak up before a Count.

And yet, all of that allowed me to grasp victory here.

【With [Smoldering Fang of Madness] reaching [5/70], you have gained the Special Skill [Half-Dead Savage Dragon].】

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〈Half-Dead Savage Dragon〉【Special Skill】

When the user’s HP is less than 20%, Attack and Agility is increased by 100%.

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“Mariss….we will be the ones to win this fight.”

The [Half-Dead Savage Dragon]…. is a Skill which doubles your Attack and Agility, but only when your HP is nearing its end.

It’s a powerful Skill, but in Magic World only those that enjoyed the feeling of sudden reversals used it regularly, due to the high xp penalty on death.

Even if you are aiming to activate it, one wrong move and you may be killed even before [Half-Dead Savage Dragon] properly activates.

Against powerful opponents it’s normal to lose even half your total HP in one hit, so it’s not easy to activate to begin with.

Another detriment is that since it doesn’t increase your Magic, you need to fight in close quarters while low on HP.

However, a Heavy Knight has a Skill that neatly overcomes those weaknesses.

“[Life Shield]!”

I shouted while stabbing forward with my sword.

“[Life Shield]…? In this situation? It’s just throwing away MP meaninglessly. Are you that desperate by now!?”

The voice of Izas could be heard.

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〈Life Shield〉【Normal Skill】

It takes 20% of your maximum HP to activate.

A shield with the same durability as the HP deducted covers the entire body.

――――――――――――――――――――

Indeed, it’s common sense to use [Life Shield] during opening moves instead.

Especially with Mariss’s attacks, there is not much of a difference in terms of HP lost weather or I block it with [Life Shield] or my Mad Demon Shield.

From Izas’s point of view, this was a simple waste of MP.

However, that is of course not the case.

With this [Life Shield], I can safely activate the powerful [Half-Dead Savage Dragon] Skill.

If I activate [Life Shield] as soon as my HP falls below 40%, not only can I safely activate [Half-Dead Savage Dragon], but I also gain a strong shield.

It’s a crazy combo that undermines the [Half-Dead Savage Dragon]’s basic premise of being difficult to activate, but allowing you to gain an enormous stat increase for the risk of possibly dying in a single hit.

When I start exerting force, the light of red mana covers my body.

It’s the proof of the activation requirement of the [Half-Dead Savage Dragon] being met due to my use of [Life Shield].

“I will be finishing this right now, Mariss.”