An: As promised. Err... not much else to say besides that i'm dead tired and can't wait for my vacation to start already.

---------------------------------------

Why does he deal so much more damage than me? Zaran thought as he started calculating his next few moves. He had to be careful to not get hit. While both health bars were at the same percentage, Nekorath had only taken two blows to get Zaran to this point, whereas Zaran had done five to get the same result. He had needed one more strike to begin with as Nekorath had more health than him. Needing another few extra strikes to keep the fight equal was a huge setback for him, if he couldn't trade at least two hits for every hit of Nekorath's he was bound to lose.

Zaran used inspect and saw that Nekorath had already reached level 10 and class changed to Berserker. While berserkers gave up the ability to wear most types of armor besides the really light types, their damage was increased by 50%. Zaran thought the class fitted someone like Nekorath who didn't care about his body at all and loved to fight to his hearts content. To someone like him armor would definitely only be a burden. At the thought of Nekorath as a berserker Zaran could only be terrified, normal berserkers would only use their huge strength to create advantage but Nekorath would be different. He would have incomparable damage combined with high amount of skill. Thinking about it he felt grateful that he met Nekorath now, not being all too sure he would be able to take blows from him in the future.

Nekorath was the first to break the deadlock and stepped back, only to instantly use the skill [Heavy blows] as he started savagely bring down his blade upon Zaran time and time again, each of his strikes getting incomparably heavier than the last. Zaran took the first few strikes head on but after the fifth he didn't dare to take them head on any longer. He shifted himself to the side, allowing him to dodge the fifth strike which connected to the ground and created a huge crater. Rock shrapnel exploded forth hit both of them. Zaran had shifted his sword to the side, dodging most of it, while Nekorath got hit by the brunt of it.

-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 (115/160)

-1 -1 -2 -1 -3 -1 -2 (139/200)

Nekorath let out a furious roar seeing that his attack had missed and slashed towards Zaran's head. Cindarrah woke up from the loud roar and slowly opened her eyes, wondering where all this noise came from. She looked around only to find a greatsword narrowly missing her head. She couldn't help but cry out in fear. "Eek!!!"

-"Ah finally up now aren't we sleepy head." Zaran jokingly said while jumping backwards to create distance between him and Nekorath. "Cindarrah could you do daddy a favor and quickly hide for a few minutes while i deal with this guy?" Zaran asked her in a serious tone as he pointed towards Nekorath.

"B-but... can't I help?" Cindarrah asked with her ever so sweet voice.

"No daddy needs to deal with this guy alone." Zaran felt awkward while saying daddy, but he assumed it would be the easiest way to make Cindarrah comply to his wishes.

"Muhhhh okay ~" Cindarrah jumped of Zaran's head and quickly scurried to some nearby rocks. Even though she wanted to help, she felt that she would be punished if she helped Zaran after already being told that she couldn't. "Even if he doesn't want my help, if daddy gets in trouble I'll save him!"

Nekorath looked stupefied at Zaran as he heard him saying that he was the spider's 'daddy'. "You... are you all right in your head? Talking to some stupid spider..." Nekorath said while low growls escaped his throat.

Zaran grinned. "See for yourself!" He jumped forward and slashed at Nekorath. Now that Cindarrah was gone he no longer had to take her into account when attacking. Nekorath and Zaran exchanged a few blows again but this time Zaran was clearly moving much better as if he was unrestrained. After four hits were exchanged Zaran got the upper hand and temporarily knocked Nekorath's blade away. A high velocity slash followed and Nekorath growled in pain as he got hit.

-10 (129/200)

Giving Nekorath no time to recover he instantly followed up with another high velocity slash. Nekorath tried to attack, but Zaran quickly rolled forwards, stood up and delivered a powerful blow to Nekorath's back with his elbow, then followed up with a slash across his back before Nekorath had time to react. Not having to worry about Cindarrah anymore allowed him to fight in a completely different style, abusing every little mistake of Nekorath to the utmost.

-8 -10 (111/200)

"You bastard, you were holding back!" Nekorath roared. "RACIAL SKILL, BESTIAL AWAKENING!" the next instant Nekorath's muscles swelled up, the fur on his body grew longer and his face grew more bear like. Nekorath turned and savagely swung his blade down upon Zaran, who met the incoming blade. This time however he couldn't resist the force at all and instantly got knocked backwards. While he didn't take damage Zaran let out a soft groan. So powerful. Beast awakening huh... Seems like this battle just got real~ly fun.

A huge smile appeared on Zaran's face as he rushed forwards, delivering a blow to Nekorath. While Nekorath's previous blow had an overbearing force behind it, he was full of openings afterwards. Nekorath growled as he received the blow, he hadn't been prepared for the amount of force one of his strikes would output and overused his strength, leaving him full of openings. A slash flew out from him, this time more adjusted to the force and most of the openings disappeared. Zaran didn't dare to be greedy and backed off.

-10 (101/200)

Nekorath advanced forward and slashed again, Zaran cursed as he didn't get time to switch weapons. Now that Nekorath's strength was far superior than his own, his greatsword would only be a disadvantage. He'd like to switch out to the longsword but he just didn't get the time. Seeing as he had no other option Zaran dropped his greatsword and jumped backwards. Losing the heavy weight of the greatsword instantly increased his movement another notch. He quickly grabbed the bone knife seeing as it would be more useful than his greatsword.

Nekorath roared and unleashed a flurry of slashed towards Zaran, who tried to dodge but couldn't dodge them all. He got hit by two of them and a large chunk of his health instantly disappeared.

-25 -25 (65/160)

Another slash greeted Zaran but this time he quickly ducked and stabbed Nekorath in his legs with the dagger, then circling around to his back and delivering two slashes to it. He stuck to Nekorath's body as Nekorath tried to turn towards him with the greatsword and delivered another series of stabs. Nekorath did a small pirouette while dragging the greatsword close to his body forcing Zaran to leave his proximity.

-5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 (66/200)

A red hue started to appear around Zaran's eyes as the battle drew towards the end. But neither Nekorath nor Zaran noticed this change. Zaran closed in on Nekorath again but was met with another slash, Zaran dodged but Nekorath had already foreseen this course of action, this time not delivering a full powered slash, he was able to instantly change the direction of the slash and he delivered a powerful blow to Zaran's side. The impact was so great that Zaran got knocked to the ground and rolled twenty meters away.

-25 (40/160)

When he finally stopped rolling Zaran coughed up some blood. At the same time the red hue brightened and a message box appeared.

Through countless battles the Zuno raise their battle skills to the utmost, giving them an absolute domineering presence in battle. Like your ancestors, you too are walking the path of becoming a supreme expert. Through your battle lust and desire for strength you have awakened to the racial skill 'Battle Might'.

Racial skillBattle mightLevel1EffectAll battle-related stats and passive battle skills are increased by 50% and a domineering aura is released.Requirement before usage????[/tr]DescriptionAlbeit a shy race, the Zuno boast tremendous battle might. Normally their potential does not get unlocked. It is only in extreme situations that they will show their full potential. Extra levels to this skill improve the effect and effective range of the aura.

Unlike Nekorath's racial skill, Zaran's didn't give a bodily transformation. Instead a red hue appeared around his eyes and a domineering aura surrounded his close proximity. Zaran grinned as he saw the message boxes. With this large of a boost to every of his stats, his victory was all but guaranteed. The question marks next to the requirements for usage box bothered him, since it meant that until he figured out what triggered it he couldn't possibly use his racial. Another concern was the duration of it. Would it be as long as Nekorath's had been or would it be a short burst of power instead... Only time would tell.

He pushed those concerns to the back of his head as the first thing to do was to win the current battle. He brought his legs up and jumped up in one fluid movement. A deep sigh escaped his mouth as he concentrated on the battle again. Quickly milling over all possible situations he decided on the next few moves. Taking into account his new found movement speed Nekorath should not be able to fight back.

Zaran gathered power in his feet and kicked the ground as he ran forward, the distance between him and Nekorath closing in rapidly. A sideways slash met him as he drew near, which zaran dodged by sliding over the ground with his knees while bending his body back. Sliding this way cost him some skin, but he just gritted his teeth. After dodging the greatsword like that he had arrived behind Nekorath. He quickly got up and slashed twice with the bone knife before Nekorath was able to turn around and deliver a very fast slash. Zaran didn't expect the speed of this slash and it connected, leaving an ugly wound on his body.

-15 -15 (36/200)

-25 (15/160)

Zaran's face turned ugly to behold. He couldn't afford to take any more hits or he would be dead. Zaran jumped back and arrived at the spot where he had lost his greatsword. He quickly sheathed his bone knife with one hand and picked up the greatsword with the other. Although Nekorath would still have greater strength, it would be possible with his increase in stats to turn Nekorath's strength against him now. Zaran wielded the greatsword with two hands and pounced forward.

Zaran's and Nekorath's blade met and a power struggle erupted again. While Nekorath had greater power, Zaran had better control and could thus utilize his strength better. Taking advantage of every mistake Nekorath made, Zaran started to push him back, eventually being able to shift Nekorath's blade to the side leaving him wide open. He kicked Nekorath's chest and simultaneously landed a heavy blow to his weapon, knocking it out of his hands.

Nekorath's eyes widened and he growled in fear as Zaran's greatsword closed in on him. "NOOOOO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

-15 (21/200)

After the slash Zaran impaled him with his greatsword, binding him to the ground.

-15 (6/200)

"Tell Akhuath to fuck off!" Zaran said as he slowly unsheathed his knife. Zaran did the slowest slash he could, making Nekorath feel all the more miserable. As the knife hit the bear man's chest, the final drop of his hp bar disappeared and he died.

Through killing a champion from a god, various gods have taken interest in you. What this entails only time will tell...God's merit + 1

By battling and defeating one with superior skill in the greatsword during a fair and honorable battle, your level has advanced to surpass that of your opponent.Greatsword mastery level + 2

Zaran's eyes widened as he checked his skill information. His greatsword mastery had automatically advanced to level 5 with only 50% left to level 6. This battle had granted him a tremendous amount of experience towards this skill. He was still left with some questions as to why Nekorath had appeared here and why Akhuath wanted him dead in a game.

Cindarrah scurried over and climbed on top of Zaran's head again. She had barely been able to suppress herself in taking action. When she saw his health dropping to a very low level she had almost fire a volley of web-shots. However she didn't and decided to only act at the last moment. Luckily she didn't have to help and everything was fine.

Zaran waited a few minutes for his hp to fully regenerate. While hp didn't regenerate in battle, it would quickly regenerate once one left the battle. This made it so one did not need to have a healer or a high amount of potions available at any time. It was hinted on the website that there were zones where hp would never regenerate unless potions or heals were used, but as Zaran was still low leveled he didn't have to heed it any mind.

Once his HP was fully regenerated Zaran got up and started to head back to the entrance of the cavern.