Orbis Online
249. Battle of Dragon and Man IX
Reus's last attack containing Sunless Sky's twin slashes together with Infinite Maxima which he had deployed for the last minute had indeed managed to finish off the HP parameters to decapitate the masked figure but there was a strange on that body.
"Hmm? His body didn't disappear? I'm sure he's a player."
Reus muttered softly to find the body of a masked figure that he believed was a player had not yet decomposed into blue pixel grains like players in general, moreover, normally a dead NPC's body would instantly collapse to the ground once it lost its life.
"Is it possible that this is called a true warrior?"
He had read some literature and in the stories mentioned that the swordsman who died standing up was a true swordsman.
Maybe this sounds excessive but Reus who has been desperately facing the masked figure can understand a little, he has felt the strength and ability of NPCs who had been thought to be players.
"NPC is that high, yeah...."
Reus clucked in awe thinking back to the moment he received an unreasonable increase in status from Ouroboros Mode and Blackstar, then Dragon Power and Dragon Spirit simultaneously. Not to mention that there was a bonus from the Special Trait Set of his Dragon series equipment, Reus' status far surpassed his original level.
With that extraordinary status Reus was confident he was capable of facing a unit ranked player if not stronger than the strongest player in the Hundred Best Player list but other than his face was covered, all the techniques used by the masked figure felt foreign to Reus.
In addition to being unrecognizable, Reus was also not sure that any player was able to compensate or urge him to this extent.
It is true that until now Reus has not faced many players let alone Special-class players or abnormal players, but Reus is a little bit able to guess his strength now.
The strongest reason Reus felt sure the masked figure was not a player was his body that did not decompose into pixel grains after being killed.
"Yes, maybe he is indeed an NPC who might be close to players to know the terms used by players."
In the end Reus gave up thinking about it. He sighed then consumed a high level potion that could recover his Energy.
Thanks to the unreasonable increase in Int status of the Black Predator, the total Energy Reus is also very high among players even with the class of a Mage, which is 40,000 Energy.
But after deploying all of his skills that consume large amounts of Energy continuously, the current Energy Reus parameter shows about 60% remaining%.
This then made Reus realize how greedy the skills he had. Though he gave up all those skills and used them continuously for no more than five minutes.
"Hmm, maybe it's time I start thinking of ways to improve my Int status."
Reus smiled wryly knowing that he was not able to use all his skills optimally. He must have an enormous amount of Energy to use his full strength for a long period of time.
Just as Reus was about to consume another potion to recover his continuously reduced HP thanks to the extended Bleeding effect with the Everlasting Curse, his body felt stung by a strange, familiar electricity.
'No, this is not the Debuff Shock effect I received....'
He realized that in addition to Bleeding and Stun, he was also exposed to Debuff Shock which dulls and makes his body numb but the electric shock just now did not come from Shock. Reus has felt the sting as much as three times so far as four if counting the current sting.
Reus was able to slightly guess the intent of this electric shock and sure enough, he found the body of the masked figure emitting a red aura that he was very familiar with. It made Reus scream.
Reus' screams were greeted by a sickle attack from the headless body of the masked figure. His strength and speed exceeded when his opponent was still level-headed but Reus was lucky other than to get a warning from an electric shock, he also saw predictions about what would happen through the Laplace Forecast so that he could withstand the attack.
Reus was struck back a few steps in the power struggle but he was able to maintain his position using Psychokinesis. He wanted to immediately reply to the attack of the headless body but he had not had time to move, the figure had already appeared two meters away in front of him ready to swing his scythe diagonally.
'It's terrible!'
Reus's current body could not be moved freely given that he was hit by Stun who normally made the target unable to move and could not be lost thanks to the Everlasting Curse, but he was able to outsmart it with Psychokinesis despite his movements becoming much more rigid.
Reus who could not move at will could only rotate his body avoiding a crushing attack on the vital part, as a result, the headless body scythe only managed to cut off the right arm and injure the chest beside Reus even though it was not deep.
Reus screamed inwardly as he found his HP remaining only a few percent before running out completely after losing his arm in the final strike. He wanted to consume the HP Potion but as if not allowing, the headless body of the masked figure came back crashing towards Reus carrying his huge scythe.
"Can an NPC move that fast after death despite being Berserk?! Isn't that too cheating?!"
Having no other choice Reus raised Blackstar as well as the semi-translucent black blade Hollow Swords to withstand the high-speed attacks from his opponent. He was indeed able to defend but the five blades of Hollow Swords instantly shattered after receiving the attack.
Reus wanted to curse while watching as the five blades of Hollow Swords could be destroyed so easily by his opponent. He did not want to imagine what if he only used Blackstar to withstand the attack rawly.
"It's so stubborn! You're dead so stop and die naturally, you crazy creature!"
In a panic and surprise one by one, Reus took out dozens of weapons he had obtained from the Drop Item some time ago from the Inventory and then deployed Psychokinesis to push all the weapons darting towards his opponent.
Almost all of the weapons penetrated the headless body smoothly while the rest just stuck on the ground but as if receiving nothing, the headless body once again charged towards Reus.
Reus who had only one hand and one sword prepared to defend without being able to dodge but just before his opponent threw an attack, Reus unleashed all the magic that Blackstar had devour so far.
"Magic Storm: All Out!"
Blackstar spewed out dozens of magic at once from the tip of its blade so quickly like a firearm. Reus's consecutive attacks relied on all the magic on Blackstar creating a small burst of streaks and managed to have the headless body repulsed.
After the last magic hit the headless body, Reus let out a heavy sigh accompanied by dozens of sweat droplets pouring through his forehead and cheeks. He certainly felt mentally tired although his stamina could be said to be almost limitless after seizing 10,000 opponents stamina through the previous Black Predator.
Reus wanted to wipe the sweat on his face and rest for a while but as if he was not satisfied he was hit by surprise after surprise, the headless body figure emerged from behind the curtain of dust due to Reus's continuous magic explosion and swung his scythe.
Luckily, Reus was still quite wary of feeling unsure that all the magic was capable of killing a masked figure who had been strengthened with Berserk status so that he could dodge the attack even if not completely.
Reus was hit by a slight attack and received a long scratch on his chest. He wanted to smile contentedly seeing himself being able to dodge such surprise attacks but the thing that happened next left Reus speechless.
Reus's view turned dark and blurry as his HP parameters reached zero. Reus was a little confused but it was soon answered by a semi-translucent panel hovering in front of his face.
"{You got Curse of the Dead! You've been hit by Instant Death! HP has reached zero! You are dead!}"