The laughter had ceased abruptly and was replaced by a loud scream as the pain kicks in excruciatingly.
"Shit man, ouch! all that trouble, what was it even worth?" said Zyle poorly nursing his painful wounds and recalling what just happened.
Moments Ago, while Zyle was defending against the GM Rabbitus leader, he came to the realization that he was no match for that formidable creature. A head-on confrontation would surely lead to his demise and the only way he could win was by strategizing. He executed a 3 step plan to defeat his overly powerful opponent. His brilliant plan clicked in his mind the moment he almost stumbled on one of the GM Rabbitus limbs while defending. The limb flung far away from the rest during his earlier fight against the 100 GM Rabbitus, the force of his new advanced technique did so as it was chopping bodies and yes it was that powerful.
Step one, "Hide and Seek" - this was where he had to retreat mid-fight, he also guessed that quick action would startle or confuse his opponent giving him enough to jump into the pile of the 100 dead Rabbitus he dispatched earlier to prepare. Although there was a risk the creature wouldn't have hesitated and chased Zyle as soon as he started to retreat. With the creature's fast speed, it would have caught up to him in no time to finish the job. Even though the GM Rabbitus looks undead, it showed a range of emotions and some signs of intelligence. One example was when Zyle dispatched his subordinates, it spent the time watching and it was visibly mad when it saw all the GM Rabbitus had died. It only attack when it saw openings in Zyle's defense. The second time was during the exchange of blows between the two - at the beginning of the exchange, there was frustration on its face when the creature saw its blows were getting blocked. It quickly became a hideous grin when the creature was chipping away at Zyles defenses and dealing significant damage to him in the process. The creature was even more amused because Zyle still shows eagerness and determination to still win. The GM leader was excited because that creature was aware a few more blows during the fight would crush not just Zyle's defense but his Spirit as well. Zyle kept a poker face throughout the whole ordeal as if he believed he would win and the creature noticed this, yet inside he was in turmoil. This was the main reason the sudden retreat worked so well startling and confusing the creature. "why would a determined opponent retreat mid-fight like that? " the creature thought for a while before giving chase to its prey. Unbeknownst to the GM Rabbitus leader, those crucial seconds it give Zyle would come at a greater cost.
Step 2," The Positioning"- Zyle got in a squat-like position with the left foot forward and the right backward with both bent knees facing the opposite direction from each other.
Step 3, " The Charge and Delivery" - this was the final step in which held his blade close to his face by grabbing the pommel and handle with both hands, with the tip of the blade facing toward the pile in the last direction he last saw the creature. He then began using the charge-up skill until it reached its peak. At this point, the plan was even simpler, target the opponent's weak spot causing a critical hit, and deal triple the damage. Zyle's current attack power was at 25 which was then multiplied by 10 when the charge-up skill reached its peak at 10 seconds. Dealing 250 damage to his opponent still wouldn't be enough to kill it. That was precisely why Zyle targeted the creature's head with the assumption that a headshot would almost always be a critical hit. Yet again, multiplying 250 by 3 to a grand total of 750 damage minus the creature's 5 defense which still exceeded the GM Rabbitus Leader Health of 500/500. As soon as the creature poked Its head in, It was met by a powerful thrust of the blade backed by Zyles full strength. The GM Rabbitus was defeated and a system message appeared shortly after.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> System Message <<<<<<<<<<<
[Congratulations! You have completed an assigned quest]
[Reward: the buff skill "Inner Rage"]
[MP use: 100 mp]
[Duration: 20 seconds]
[Cooldown time: 1 hour]
{This skill gives the user the ability to enter a state of rage which also allows the user to access an innate source of power. inner rage doubles the user's attack power and defense when active. Lastly, this skill will reduce the overall damage taken by 50 percent during its activation.}
"damn, that would have come in handy a few mins ago, " thought Zyle.
He was also impressed that the system also voiced the description of the skill without him having to look into it. A nearly transparent but clear drop-down display in his vision without him having to close his eyes as he did before. This display was similar to the display that tops up when he used the analyze skill, except this display has neon-colored text and a greenish hue to it. Furthermore, the system's message would only appear when it was convenient. The system was selective about the times it would pop up as it cautiously avoided being a distraction during Zyle's fights.
"It seems what Obby mentioned before was the truth, the system does adapt and evolve along with me," said Zyle pleased.
A slight smile can be seen forming on his face until his injury reminds him otherwise. His facial expression went from a minor smile to grit teeth. A few minutes had passed, and all of his injuries were already in the process of healing thanks to his Noxxy bloodline but the pain still lingered. The system messages however hadn't stopped coming.
>>>>>>>>>>>>System Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[First-time Gm Rabbitus leader killed: + 250 exp gained]
[Gm Rabbitus Leader Killed: + 300 exp gained]
[ Quest reward exp: + 100 exp gained]
[ Quest Reward AP: + 100 AP gained]
[Total exp gained = 650]
[Congrats, you are now level 7]
[Hp and MP&S have increased]
[HP: 75/200]
[+ 10 AP]
[Total AP: 220]
[MP&S Gauge: 200/200]
[+1 Growth Point]
[100/1000 to level 8 ]
After leveling, Zyle no longer felt as exhausted as he was right after the fight he had just had moments ago. However, Zyles body was still sore and in pain but leveling up did help speed up his healing process even faster. Zyle gripped his sword and took a slow pace towards each corpse in the piles removing their Magical Beast Core to store away, starting with Leader. Some he manually remove using the edge of the blade and others had fallout due to the fact that those Gm Rabbitus were mostly chopped into parts. He then gathered them all and carried them toward the cabin. He was carrying 101 cores in his arms and naturally, the Gm Leaders Core was by far the biggest and the heavies. Once he got inside, he dropped them in one of the wooden crates, he had made during the cabin-building process. All of a sudden, growling noises were heard in his stomach, he was famished. After an intense battle and spending what felt like 30 mins sorting through corpses for cores, Zyle felt hungry. For a split second, he thought about eating the Gm Rabbitus flesh for the added bonus from his sustenance passive skill but he quickly decided against it. He remembered how horrific and sickly those creatures look and how their flesh was rotten even though they were still mobile. He was convinced that eating any part of these creatures would make him, severely sick or perhaps even poison and kill him. Although he did have some fish, he caught and stored away but his hunger felt like it needed to be satiated immediately.
"I need to eat something quick though, I'm starving," said Zyle as he remembered something.
"Oh. that's right! I did pick up some fruits " said Zyle impatiently as he walk towards the pile of fruits he brought back from the caves. He places his sword down on the floor nearby.
Zyle then grabbed one of each as he munched down like a starving animal. consuming each one almost entirely. Then he went back in for seconds, consuming a total of 6 fruits.
"These are delicious !" said Zyle grinning from ear to ear.
Then all of a sudden he stopped mid-bite on the last piece of the 6th fruit. His grin disappeared and he dropped to the floor with a loud thud. The small piece of fruit that was in his hand, which was less than one-third of the whole fruit, rolled onto the floor.
What's... What's... going on! my body, I can't move.....