Chapter 68

Chapter 68: A Specialisation in Defence; Joining the Team?

Author’s Note: I kept this one short, since it leaves off at a pretty good spot . Also retouched the chapter a little; noticed an awful, awful mistake on my part .

“Let’s get this over with!”

Chrome advanced, his shield held aloft . He ducked and weaved through the path of the blade as it descended, opting out of using his shield to knock it away . The axe swooped his way immediately after, and he changed tactics by catching its bash with his greatshield . Though the blow itself had been circumvented, the pure force of the impact had not .

“Kuh…!”

Chrome appraised the state of his greatshield . He couldn’t go about things the same way Maple and Sally did; overuse would burden his shield until it fell to bits . As things were, there still wasn’t enough to fret over, but there was a great likelihood of his greatshield being reduced to pieces if he had to keep blocking all the heavy attacks that came for him . Chrome decided to pull back temporarily, retreating to a spot where attacks had a hard time reaching .

“Spirit Cannon!”

Fully conscious that no attacks would have enough range to make it all the way to where Syrup was, Chrome bombarded the boss with Syrup’s laser-beam . In a more unfortunate turn of events, the boss crossed his blade and axe in protection, and the beam bounced off of them in its entirety .

“Guess getting close is my only chance…!”

Now all the more certain that no long-range bombardment would be of use, Chrome resorted to approaching the boss once again .

“Mother Nature!”

The boss crossed his blade over his axe once again, his intent to avoid the vines that had shot from Syrup’s direction bearing grand results . Now, however, he had no way of defending against Chrome as he charged in beneath the crossed weapons . Chrome’s proximity to the boss could only grow from there .

“Blazing Slash!”

As Chrome tore away at his opponent with a slash of his blade, the boss responded in kind and swung his longsword back towards Chrome . He had forgotten, however, that Chrome was still in possession of his greatshield . The attack made no contact with him . With the ever-looming prospective danger of the pitch-coloured skeleton swinging away at him the minute Syrup’s Mother Nature lost its hold, he could not allow himself the leisure of pulling punches in combat .

“Thrust!”

The shortsword pierced through the boss monster’s protective garb, and its HP was further drained until only a fifth of it remained .

That was when it happened . That was when a Stygian thorn burst forth, extending from the boss creature . Acting purely on his instinct, Chrome raised his shield to protect himself . A sweep of the longsword followed the thorn, and the shield finally shattered, the noise it made an echo .

“Come on, Izu’s gonna get so mad at me!”

The thorn disappeared after a single hit, and Chrome slashed away in the vain hope of dealing just a little bit of damage .

That was when the effects of Mother Nature chose to subside . Chrome, now left without his greatshield, could now dodge neither sword nor axe as they came from both ways . He could only move as if to intercept the sword, and made to slash away at the boss . Both his shortsword and the boss monster’s longsword connected with their respective targets, both sides reducing the HP-value of the other . The very next moment, something powerful made an impact against his back, blowing away his set of armour as well the contents of his HP bar .

Still, Chrome did not fall .

His Indomitable Guardian had left him with just a single point in HP, and nothing more .

“Blazing Slash!”

Chrome swiped away with his shortsword, putting as much strength behind the blow as he could muster .

Despite his efforts, the enemy boss had a full tenth of his health left . The sword and axe danced towards Chrome yet again . Even if he were to use his Battle Healing, there was no way his HP would recover in time .

“Light of Spirit!”

That was Chrome’s chosen medal skill . His ace in the hole to end all aces; his absolutely final resort . A holy light shone down upon Chrome . For the next ten seconds, any and all damage would be completely negated .

“What’s wrong? I’m not dying, not yet!”

He cast aside even the barest notion of defence and dived straight in, charging with all his might . The boss stabbed at him just as he did so, but try as it might, it had absolutely no way of whittling down that final, lone point of HP . Chrome’s shortsword slashed away, the angle of its strike slanted, running directly through the boss’s face . Almost immediately, the bluish light that roamed in the boss’s sockets was extinguished .

Both the boss and the black skeleton turned into light, both disappearing into nothing .

“Haah… That was tough… Should’ve known shields are just good for guard duty . ”

Chrome let himself fall onto his rear, and in front of him appeared a magic circled and a large coffin . He wasted no time, jumping out of the way and calling for Syrup to come to him .

“If it’s a monster, do me a favour and watch my back… Better take a potion . ”

While Chrome occupied himself with healing back his lost health, the door to the coffin slowly opened .

Inside lay a skeleton, its frame enveloped by a set of reddish-black armour . It didn’t appear too keen on rising from its slumber, either .

“Huh? I-Is this a reward?”

Slowly, carefully, daintily, Chrome rested his hand on the set of armour and stowed it away in his inventory space .

“Unique… Series? What’s this…”

Bloodied Skull:

– Soul Eater

– Indestructible

– VIT + 25

Bloodied White Armour:

– Dead or Alive

– Indestructible

– VIT + 25; HP + 100

Decapitator:

– Life Eater

– Indestructible

– STR + 30

Barrier of the Vengeful Spirit

– Soul-Sucking

– Indestructible

– VTI + 20; HP + 100

“That’s strong… They’re all perfect, if you wanna ignore the cursed names and how they look like… Also, no shortsword? That really doesn’t look like a sword to me, more like a hatchet . ”

Even as he spoke, Chrome was already in the process of donning the entire set of armour . The bloodied jaw of a skeleton covered the lower half of his face . The armour, which had, at some point in time, been entirely white if the description was to be believed . The hatchet, whose size was a mite above average and whose bloodied appearance matched its name quite well . The greatshield, which had been inscribed with the image of a skeleton .

“I’ll just check my skills… and go home, I guess . ”

Soul Eater: Ten percent of your HP is recovered for every monster or player you defeat .

Dead or Alive: When your HP reaches zero, you have a 50% chance of making it out alive with 1 HP left .

Life Eater: For every amount of damage dealt, your HP will be recovered by a third of the damage value .

Soul-Sucking: When damage is dealt by means of an attack, 3% of your total health is recovered .

Once he’d taken his time looking over his new skills, Chrome called Syrup back into the ring and stepped into the magic circle, leaving the dungeon behind for good .