Chapter 23: The Moment of Near Death!
Long before, during more than half a month of continuous training, Luke had already unlocked the Dual Wielding skill, but he hadn't carried two swords with him simply because he wanted to keep some trump cards hidden.
And now, facing the floor master Goliath, whose strength exceeded expectations, he could no longer afford to hide any strength.
Clang!
Sword in hand, the blade's edge hummed.
Almost at the instant Luke drew the female adventurer's rapier from her waist, an extremely restrained sharpness bloomed from within his body, generating a pressure several times stronger than before, stimulating the skin of those around him until it hurt.
If others felt this way, how much more so Goliath, who was facing Luke's sharpness head-on.
At the same time Luke drew his dual swords, it actually stopped its charge abruptly, its throat constantly emitting low, growling roars like a beast defending its territory.
Its blood-red pupils contracted to the size of fists, staring full of apprehension at the one cyan and one black longsword in Luke's hands.
"Lu...ke, kun?"
Staring dumbly at the scene of Luke standing before everyone, facing Goliath alone, Hestia suddenly felt that she didn't seem to understand her child as well as she thought.
"Hestia."
Hermes, who had approached Hestia's side at some point, was also staring intently at Luke's back.
His perpetually squinted eyes opened slightly, divine light flowing within them.
"This child of yours, is quite extraordinary..."
Luke naturally had no idea about the thoughts of others.
He just tightened his grip on the sword hilts, looking at Goliath's massive body, the fear in his heart already completely gone.
[[Dual Wielding] exclusive effect: the heavier the damage received, the greater the reduction in subsequent damage effects, and simultaneously, the enhancement of damage dealt by oneself increases. The reduction and enhancement change with the worsening of injuries.]
Previously, Luke had been solidly slapped by Goliath, even his organs were somewhat ruptured and bleeding.
Although he wasn't clear how strong an enhancement this level of injury could bring, he had a very strong feeling—the current him was already strong enough to kill this Goliath!
The stalemate didn't last long.
Although Goliath sensed the change in Luke from the aura leaking out of him, it was ultimately just a monster.
It couldn't hold back for long and charged over again, roaring.
Facing Goliath's attack, Luke pressed his lips tightly, his expression focused intently on its every move.
His feet sank slightly, muscles slowly beginning to gather power.
A few seconds later, Goliath entered the cross-range of his dual sword attack.
Clang!
The pitch-black longsword vibrated, a piercing sword cry echoing through the stone hall.
Luke lowered his body to dodge Goliath's swinging arm, simultaneously slashing upwards with the blade's edge, cutting across Goliath's elbow.
Twang—
The blade felt like it had severed something full of elasticity, but Luke's movements didn't stop there.
"Uooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
Stomping hard on the ground, his black clothes turned into a phantom.
The instant he crossed paths with Goliath, Luke poured all his strength, continuously swinging his swords, swinging his swords, and repeatedly swinging his swords.
The longswords held in each hand both belonged to the one-handed sword category, so the [One-Handed Sword] skill naturally triggered.
Even though he had never used a left-handed sword, he could expertly wield this borrowed cyan rapier from the female adventurer.
His left sword parried Goliath's counterattack, and his right sword immediately followed up, leaving a long, narrow gash on its massive body.
Simultaneously, under the enhancement of the [Dual Wielding] state, the actual damage dealt was far more terrifying than it looked.
In an instant shorter than the blink of an eye, Luke barely had time to think.
He merely followed his will to swing the sword, the speed of his strikes even surpassing his thoughts.
Dark sword light and cyan sword light flashed consecutively throughout the stone hall, mingled with sharp sword cries, fiercely impacting the nerves of everyone present.
Fast! Faster, faster, faster! Can be faster!
More, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more...
—Until the moment the peak is touched!
His figure turned into a phantom, flashing like lightning around Goliath's body.
Luke felt his entire body burning hot, as if wings were attached to his back.
The two longswords in his hands felt incredibly light, and the exhilaration of swinging them down was simply unparalleled.
"Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—"
As the sword shadows swept past, even the air continuously trembled and vibrated.
As the one being attacked, Goliath completely couldn't understand why this pitch-black fellow suddenly became so formidable in an instant?
And the damage he dealt, clearly just cutting a bit of its flesh, why did it feel like a heart-gouging, bone-piercing agony?
Can't understand...
Completely can't understand, its body hurts so much, why did it become like this...
Goliath's naive, child-like intelligence clearly couldn't comprehend how this drastic change had occurred.
It reached out, trying to grab the black shadow that brought it pain, but...
"—Oaaaaaaahhhhh!!!"
Left sword and right sword swung continuously, almost impossible to tell which came first.
Luke shouted, suddenly leaping off the ground.
Immense power acted upon the ground, emitting a loud boom— amidst the wildly dancing black clothes, he soared into the sky like a wild goose, dragging two alternating flashes of cyan and black sword light, rushing past Goliath's head from bottom to top, landing behind it.
Upon landing, the cyan rapier belonging to the female adventurer was already gone from Luke's hand.
"Hah... Hah..."
His chest under the black clothes heaved rapidly.
Luke panted lightly, turning around to look at Goliath standing motionless in its original spot.
In the back heart of this terrifying giant monster, a cyan rapier was embedded up to the hilt, with only the handle exposed.
The next moment.
"Boom—"
Centered on the cyan rapier, Goliath's massive body violently exploded into a sky full of white dust.
A huge, deeply cracked, dark purple magic stone fell to the ground.
In the center of the magic stone, the tip of the cyan rapier was currently embedded.
Did I... defeat it...?
Looking back at the crowd watching from afar, mouths agape, Luke gasped heavily, trying hard to calm his violently beating heart, while slowly walking towards Goliath's shattered magic stone.
Clang!
Luke reached out, grasped the cyan rapier, and gently pulled it out from the magic stone.
The blade, forged from an unknown pale cyan metal, still maintained its sharpness.
"Good sword..."
Squinting his eyes to examine this sword for a couple of moments, compared to his own black sword, Luke found it hard to say which was superior.
One must know, his black sword was rated 53 points by the system.
Ordinary fine longswords were only around 5 points, showing that the shopkeeper lady back then truly brought out the best sword in her shop.
And this cyan rapier's quality was actually comparable to the black sword...
Luke glanced at the female adventurer standing quietly in the distance, watching this way, and couldn't help but feel a bit more calculating in his heart.
But the most important thing now wasn't about this mysterious female adventurer.
"System."
[Ding!]
[Name: Luke Starr]
[Race: Human - Adventurer Lv.2 (1469/10000) - Hestia Familia]
[Age: 23 (150)]
[Height: 178cm]
[Weight: 74kg]
[Spirit: 19 (100)]
[Strength: 14 (100)]
[Agility: 17 (100)]
[Endurance: 17 (100)]
[Constitution: 15 (100)]
[Job Legacy: [Black Swordsman]]
[Energy: 392140.5/1000000]
Seeing the attribute values that had clearly increased significantly compared to before, the expression on Luke's face instantly relaxed.
Risking his life grinding monsters for a whole night, he finally got his reward.
This trip to the middle floors was worth it...
After browsing the attributes, Luke immediately clicked into the exclusive skill tree panel of [Black Swordsman].
[[One-Handed Sword] Lv3 (22458/500000): Comprehension ability for sword techniques significantly increased, able to use one-handed swords proficiently;
When holding a sword, all stats significantly increase, combat intuition significantly enhanced;
Dodge rate against sword technique attacks significantly increased, critical hit trigger rate when using sword techniques to attack significantly increased.]
[[Insight] Lv.3 (325/500000): Observation ability when holding a sword significantly increased, combat intuition significantly enhanced, sixth sense significantly increased, evasion rate against sneak attacks significantly increased.]
[[Balance] Lv.3 (14586/500000): Sense of balance when holding a sword significantly increased, three-dimensional maneuverability significantly increased, agility significantly increased.]
[[Swift Reflexes] Lv.3 (49/500000): Agility attribute significantly increases when using sword techniques, dodge rate against sword technique attacks significantly increased;
Nerve reflex speed when holding a sword significantly increased, combat intuition significantly enhanced.]
Except for the passive talent skills [Sword Bone] and [Sword Pressure] that couldn't be actively leveled up, the other four passive skills had all reached Lv.3. And on the second tier of the skill tree, two golden skill frames, one on the left and one on the right, were flashing brightly and dimly.
[[Solo Player] Lv.1 (10000/10000): When acting alone away from a team, fighting spirit is stimulated, all stats slightly increase. Increase amplitude increases with combat time, maximum increase is 500% of basic attribute values.]
[[Dual Wielding] Lv.1 (10000/10000): When holding a sword in each hand, all stats slightly increase, gain attack correction, agility slightly increases, combat intuition enhanced;
When injured, trigger the exclusive Dual Wielding state, the effect of attacks received is slightly reduced, the effect of attacks dealt is slightly enhanced. The reduction (enhancement) magnitude changes with the severity of injuries, maximum reduction (enhancement) to 20% (200%) attack effect.]
After more than half a month of frantic training, up until killing that Goliath just now, Luke had already maxed out the experience points for these two advanced skills.
Looking at these two skills in their upgradeable state, Luke didn't hesitate and tapped on each of the two skill frames.
As his finger landed, the familiar golden light flashed, and the two skill frames that were flashing brightly and dimly returned to a constant golden glow.
[[Solo Player] Lv.2 (0/100000): When acting alone away from a team, fighting spirit is stimulated, all stats increase. Increase amplitude increases with combat time, maximum increase is 600% of basic attribute values.]
[[Dual Wielding] Lv.2 (0/100000): When holding a sword in each hand, all stats increase, gain attack correction, agility increases, combat intuition enhanced;
When injured, trigger the exclusive Dual Wielding state, the effect of attacks received is reduced, the effect of attacks dealt is enhanced. The reduction (enhancement) magnitude changes with the severity of injuries, maximum reduction (enhancement) to 15% (300%) attack effect.]
Compared to before upgrading, Solo Player's attribute enhancement cap increased to six times, and the damage reduction (damage increase) magnitude of Dual Wielding's exclusive state also increased accordingly.
After carefully checking the changed skill effects, Luke then shifted his gaze to the third tier of the skill tree.
There was only one skill there—[Strategy Demon]
As the two advanced skills on the second tier were both raised to Lv.2, the pure white skill frame of [Strategy Demon] also began to flicker with a faint golden light.
Staring at this skill that dominated the third tier of the skill tree, Luke calmed his mood slightly, then reached out and gently tapped on the skill frame.
Instantly, a series of system notification sounds echoed in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations Host, Skill [Strategy Demon] successfully unlocked, current level Lv.1]
[Congratulations Host, [Black Swordsman] talent passive skills, basic passive skills, advanced passive skills, core passive skills all successfully unlocked, Ultimate Skill unlocked]
Ultimate Skill?
Hearing the system prompt that was completely different from when unlocking skills usually, Luke frowned slightly and looked up at the skill tree panel.
On the four-tiered skill tree, besides the bottom two rows of skills shining brightly, the skills on the first and second tiers were now all lit up as well.
[[Strategy Demon] Lv.1 (0/20000): After entering combat, can choose to activate the Bloodthirsty state, consuming own HP with sword intent to release sword qi. Sword qi strength increases with the proportion of HP consumed.]
This was the third-tier skill, its skill frame shining with golden light.
However, Luke's gaze was currently entirely captivated by the skill on the fourth tier.
[[Incarnate]: Condensing brilliance with the soul, delivering a strike that transcends limits.]
The skill description was very short, not even specifying the concrete effects, but Luke couldn't take his eyes off this skill for a long time.
The entire skill frame was different from the silver-white of talent passive skills and the gold of passive skills.
The skill frame of [Incarnate] was transparent, emitting no colored light, yet it gave a feeling of being dazzlingly brilliant, almost impossible to look at directly.
Finally, this day has come...
Looking at the now fully lit skill tree before him, Luke forcibly suppressed the excited trembling deep within his heart, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then closed the system interface, picked up his sword, turned around, and walked towards the crowd.
"—Pat, Pat"
His footsteps landed on the ground, making light and cheerful sounds.
"—Pat, Pat"
A faint smile hung on Luke's face; successfully unlocking all skills put him in a good mood.
Not far away, seeing Luke return safely, Hestia, Bell, and Liliruca all breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, seeing him sent flying by Goliath's slap earlier, he had even spat out several mouthfuls of blood.
Now that Luke could return unharmed, they already felt very happy.
Ah ah... This time, I was really walking on a tightrope.
After returning to Orario, I must rest well.
But, should I go soak in a hot spring first, or have a good meal first?
Speaking of which, Syr-san mentioned a love bento last time, seems I haven't asked her for one yet.
Also, I must properly thank the owner of this rapier.
I wonder what she looks like under that cloak, I feel like she should be very pretty...
Just as Luke was casually thinking about these miscellaneous things.
Crack—
"Hm?"
A familiar cracking sound came from behind him.
...What sound?
His steps paused, the smile on Luke's face froze.
Ah, I remember now—this is the sound of the Wall of Lamentation shattering.
Within his field of vision, the faces of Hestia, Bell Cranel, and Liliruca instantly showed expressions of extreme fear, their gazes fixed straight behind him, eyes wide open.
The others also showed expressions of disbelief.
...Strange, wasn't Goliath already killed by me?
Why are they showing such expressions?
The thoughts in his mind instantly stopped, an answer surfaced in Luke's heart.
He abruptly turned around, simultaneously drawing his sword, bringing the blade horizontally across in front of him.
The next moment, ferocious power impacted the sword blade like a tidal wave.
Crack—
Unable to hold even for an instant, the sturdy black sword blade directly snapped into several fragments.
Then, a fist covered in scorching deep red scales, half the size of a person, solidly smashed into Luke's body.
Crack crack crack...
The instant he was hit, an indescribable, immense force shook his entire soul.
He felt as if even his thoughts were scattered, while simultaneously, the sound of bones breaking continuously came from inside his body.
The next moment, blood burst forth from Luke's entire body!
Blood spurted out from every pore, a shockwave exploded from the point of contact between the fist and him, sending Luke's body flying far away, falling like a broken rag doll into the distance.
While his body was still in mid-air, Luke barely managed to pull back his disconnected thoughts slightly, and only then did he get a clear look at the "monster" that attacked him.
—Goliath.
But it was different from the Goliath he had killed earlier.
Its height definitely exceeded ten meters.
All its joint parts were covered in deep red scales.
Its crimson skin steamed with heat, and its muscle blocks, bulging like rocks, were full of tension.
Previously, when the first Goliath emerged from the left side of the Wall of Lamentation, the right half of the wall remained intact—this should have been a very obvious danger signal, but Luke had ignored it.
Because in the original story, the Wall of Lamentation on the 17th floor was supposed to birth only one Goliath.
And as the price for trusting the original story too much, Luke was now tasting the bitter fruit firsthand.
His customary black longsword shattered, multiple bones fractured throughout his body, internal bleeding definitely severe even without checking...
This isn't a sandbox from a novel, this is a real world—only when he fell from mid-air to the ground did Luke recognize this point with utmost clarity.
"Ugh..."
Lacking even the strength to hold the sword, Luke barely managed to grip the hilt of the cyan rapier, blood continuously flowing out of his mouth, looking utterly miserable.
From a triumphant winner with a spring in his step, to a wretched loser beyond recognition.
The Dungeon played just one small trick, and Luke paid the price for his arrogance.
Not far away, Hestia's anxious and pained expression entered his eyes.
She seemed to want to do something, but was stopped by a squinty-eyed man wearing a hat.
Hmm... that god's called Hermes, right?
Withdrawing his gaze from Hestia's direction, Luke struggled, using the sword as a crutch, to stand up from the ground.
Opposite him, that abnormally shaped, enhanced version of the [Lone King of the Labyrinth] Goliath, revealed a sarcastic smile on its crimson face.
As if, mocking his naivety.
"Hu-man!"
The enhanced Goliath's huge lips parted, emitting a rather clumsy sound, but the syllables spoken were exceptionally clear.
It looked down with contemptuous eyes at Luke's barely standing figure, continuing to make sounds.
"Thie-f!"
After speaking, this bizarrely enhanced Goliath seemed to have grown weary.
It stopped talking and directly strode forward, charging towards Luke.
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