“Dodge” Lucas shouted, somersaulting backwards just in time to avoid strike from the giant sword. As he landed, Michael’s rifle started firing, laying down suppressing fire. That managed to slow down a General a little, but with practiced ease he slammed his foot down, shockwaves throwing all of the party off balance. He then went forward with a charge, his sword poised to strike. Lucas was the first one to regain footing and he immediately ran forward. “Punch parry” he spared a thought as his hand meet the sword, managing to knock him backwards. He activated “Stinging cut” next and sliced the General. To his great surprise, his armor proved his worth, Lucas’s strike not managing to penetrate.

“Son of the bitch” Lucas thought as he tried to reposition himself to access the flank of the enemy. In response, General did a whirlwind strike, throwing Lucas backwards.

“You took 234 points of damage”

Lucas landed with a loud thud, feeling pain in his flank. Fortunately for him, Hannah was following the battle carefully and he soon felt a pleasant energy coursing throughout his body.

“You are healed for 350 points”

“Bless her” was all Lucas thought as he got up to his feet, pain free and ready for revenge. He looked for John, seeing him struggle to pin down the General, who was once again suppressed by Michael. He tried to slam his foot once again, but this time, Maraya was ready, her barrier already up, protecting the rest of the team from shockwaves. Not waiting any longer, John took the shot, his bullet the first attack that managed to penetrate heavy armor General wore. He howled in pain, his shoulder turned into pulp. Lucas instantly activated his ultimate skill, aiming for the same shoulder. He felt his sword sinking into flesh and piercing all the way to the other side. Pulling back, he instinctively dodged, avoiding retaliatory strike from his enemy. Another shot rang out, John firing again, this time shattering the knee of the General. He fell on one knee, losing his balance. Lucas aimed for the head, activating “Infused piledriver” once again. Once again, General surprised him, as he prostrated himself down, Lucas flying over him. He anchored himself as soon as he realized what was going on, but it was too little, too late. Sword was already on the way, skewering Lucas through the stomach. Instead of pulling out, General swing him up and throw him towards other party members.

“You took 500 damage of damage”

Barely clinging to his life, Lucas caught the sight of the battle. Using him as a distraction, General slammed into Maraya’s barrier, crashing it and bringing her to her knees. Before anybody managed to recover, Maraya was caught into whirlwind strike and sent flying. Michael started firing suppressing fire once again, and while shockwaves for General foot slamming once again throw them off balance, he felt Hannah once again stepping through.

“You are healed for 350 points”

Lucas was now able to stand up once again, and he was pissed. Repositioning himself, he activated “Mana Punch” for the first time. Slamming his fist into head of the general he caught his enemy in surprise, producing loud gong that defied logic since his helmet was wooden. Looking a bit lost in a moment, he just stood there. That was the chance Lucas was searching for, immediately activating “Stinging cut” and going for the exposed knee. A pool of blood sprayed from the newly made wound and loud scream of pain sentinel elicited was music for Lucas’s ears. Not relenting, he spotted belts that were keeping the armor on, and just as General activated something that looked like a self-healing skill he slashed at them. Breastplate came off, crashing loudly into the ground, betraying the heaviness it carried. Sentinel was once again on his feet, but now he looked a lot less intimidating. He swung his sword, and Lucas activated his parry. At the last moment, however, General stopped, and his sword split into two. Showing Lucas his mistake in underestimating his opponent, swords slashed over his flesh.

“You took 103 points of damage”

“You took 106 points of damage”

As twin swords were swinging for another strike, Lucas’s salvation came in form of Maraya bashing her shield into the General, throwing him of balance. He quickly retreated, retreating all the way to Michael. Just one glance was enough for their party leader to deduce what Lucas wanted, throwing him a health potion. Lucas greedily gulped it and felt the pleasantness coursing through him once more.

“You restored 250 health points via health potion”

While Lucas was recuperating, the battle raged on. Maraya, the undeniable star of this segment of the fight, clashed with General over and over again. John, meanwhile, started inching closer and closer, looking for a clean shoot through the heart. Hannah was working overtime, healing every strike that managed to land on Maraya, either from twin sword or when he was fused into one big one, as the General took the strategy of constantly shifting what kind of attack he used. Feeling the deciding moment of the fight coming, Lucas formulated a quick plan of attack. As Michael laid suppressing fire, trying to buy Maraya a moment of respite, Lucas aimed at the knee of his opponent and activated his ultimate skill once again. Slowed down, General couldn’t respond in time and Lucas’s sword pierced. He pulled his sword back, using the fact his enemy was off balance to throw a “Stinging cut” slashing his entire torso. While the General thrashed in pain, Lucas searched for a way to remove helmet. Unfortunately, there wasn’t easily accessible way to do that, and he retreated before General regained his senses. Maraya, on the other hand, took that chance to step forward and swing her cudgel with all the Strength she could muster, slamming the head of the sentinel, bending the helmet and making it hard for the General to orient. Momentum was now palpably on the side of Lucas and his party. General was sluggish in his movement, allowing the team to pelt him with damage before retreating. After another slash by Lucas, while he was once again thrashing in pain, John finally managed to find his shot. Loud bang was heard and the imposing figure of the general went down like he was a puppet that got it strings cut. Staring in disbelief, Lucas couldn’t believe it was finally over, but soon enough System gave confirmation:

“You have assisted in slaying Marton, General of the Ramparts, Sentinel level 44”

“Congratulations! You are level 29 Duelist”

“Congratulations! You are level 30 Duelist”

“Stat allocation in progress…”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“Stat allocation completed”

“You have gained one skill point”

Wall has been taken and you find yourself just a step from achieving your goal. Enjoy your moment of respite, because the Spire of Kings awaits you, filled to the brim with deadly trap and competent defenders, assuming you don’t wind up in one dead end or another.

“Ominous” was all Lucas thought of the prompt before he called his status.

Name: Lucas (surname N/A)

Class: Duelist level 30 (Skill points available: 7)

Attributes:

Strength: 32

Agility: 49

Constitution: 21

Intelligence: 30

Willpower: 23

Perception: 39

Charisma: 29

Luck: 30

Health: 690

Stamina: 2597

Mana: 598

Skills:

Eye for details

Duelist Grace

Dodge

Battle dance

Death of thousand cuts

Stinging cut

Punch parry

Mana Punch

Infused Piledriver

Equipment

Curated leather chest

Curated leather pants

Curated leather bracers

Ceramic – laced gorilla gloves

Curated leather greaves

High – quality steel rapier

Quests

Help the Camp Hearth

Titles

Monster Slayer

Colossus Muncher

Home – schooled

Lucas instantly pushed his two free points into willpower, rounding it up. His quest for more mana was going slow and steady, if you call it that. What he was more interested in, however, was new skills. So he went into submenu reserved for them and gave a look. Sure enough, “Strike a pose” was still there and he still wasn’t keen on taking it. What he was looking for was something to add more maneuver power or something to shore up his weakness against armored opponents. To his surprise, there was a perfect skill for that.

“Guiding strike”

Duelists of repute oft find themselves in combat against heavily armored opponents in their foolish hope that a mere armor can stop a skilled sword. With this strike you shatter their hope and break their spirits. Automatically hit weak spot in enemy armor, applying critical damage. Weak spot noticing increase with every point in Perception, critical damage increase by 0,1% for every point in strength.

Cost: 300 stamina

Lucas wasn’t terribly worried about the high cost in stamina for the skill, checking how much skill points it would cost. When he saw the price tag of five skill points, he almost gave up on it. After a quick checking, he made sure that there was only two above mentioned skill ready for unlocking, so he deliberated a bit with himself, and then he bought it. What was the deciding factor was that they were heading into the unknown, and he couldn’t depend on no heavy armor from this point. When he finished, he adrenaline had finally ran its course and he felt massive fatigue settling in. Quickly checking with his party, he heard that camp is being made here and deciding that that is good enough, he collapsed into heavy sleep.