Chapter 162 - Vol. 3 - Chapter 27

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[Blood Hawk - Lv. 85][20.000/20.000 HP]

When Mathias noticed this group of 3 birds descending on fast speeds at him with levels ranging from 85 to 87, he took out Ragnius and without waiting for the birds to make contact with him he used his [Spear Shot] skill combined with his Arcane Skill to recover the spear after a long range was traveled.

His murderous attack made the predatory birds split from their formation and back off from their initial attack, however, they didn't back off, instead charged at Mathias who they believed was opened from throwing his weapon, being an easy meal.

While the fight began, Mathias was having a talk about those birds, Blood Hawks, about the various information he learned while reading the books stolen from the Laboratory of the Great Mage at Cidarian Village.

About how male blood hawks hunted in groups called murder, how those rather normal looking birds were more vicious than other birds-of-prey, possessing an insatiable desire for fresh blood and that's from where their name came.

They were known to attack a target merely for the pleasure they gained from killing. What else was mentioned in that book was that those birds are fast and maneuverable, being stubborn and not leaving their prey until they enjoy its heart.

{Now let's see how you deal with aerial beasts? Not your piece of cake, I can bet.}

Haycien jokes about how Mathias has found some trouble, but the young man just scoffed, and replied to the old man inside his mind with a rather sarcastic tone.

'I've dealt with such situations in the past. You aren't the only one who had to deal with flying creatures who had a clear advantage and also fighted dirty.'

The fight starts directly at a fast pace since the [Blood Hawks] weren't so patient to keep wounding Mathias slowly, and have a successful hunt, instead because of their thirst to Devour this weak prey in front of them. Someone who from their view looked weak, weaker than any creature inside Gravelmark Mountain, being only level 32, it gave them this impulse to kill Mathias.

Dodging the first descent of the monsters, he activated his Arcane Buffs camly, one by one, and even thought he spent about 600 MP on his buffs, his mana started recovering at a high speed of 31 MP per second, because of his high INT stat, he wouldn't be worrying anytime soon about drying himself of water.

.

[Status Window]

Name: Matihas / Class: Saharan Successor

Level: 32 (43250/65000) / Title: Farmer's Son / Item Creator / Dominance over Hillbars / Repeler of Evil

Health: 6391/5291 / Mana: 3272/3272

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Strength: 410 / Stamina: 253 / Agility: 268

Intelligence: 932/ Dexterity: 280 / Indomitable: 10

Dignity: 20 / Regeneration: 55 / Insight: 20 / Charm: 100

(A/N: His INT is so high, because of his Victorian Dress Gives him about 250 INT, while his buff also give him a boost about 50% his INT)

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Checking his stat briefly, he then looked at the monsters with a menacing gaze, preparing himself for the showdown.

The truth about the tragic end of the [Blood Hawks] was quick to unravel when the first exchanges with Mathias happened. It only took Mathias's to only pierce once one of the [Blood Hawks] that changed the perception of this prey of them, only requiring the sacrifice of one of the unfortunate birds to be Mathias's first prey.

[Critical!]

[You have dealt 1860 damage to the target]

Dropping the Blood Hawk on the ground after piercing his flesh, he went along with a swift combo of 'Piercing Rain' and 'Treachery' raining down strikes after strikes on a downed monster screeching in pain, attracting more of the Blood Hawks to attack the prey who choose to fight back.

[You have dealt a combined damage to the target]

[You have dealt a combined damage to the target]

Then, as he was readying to blast the monster with another strong attack, from the sky the Blood Hawks descended striking him down with their claws which did a crack on his 'Arcane Shield' and after the group of Hawks finished their attack, Mathias's was left with a half opened shield, covering the front of his body.

'Wow, I never expected those monsters to have such a high attack power.'

From then on the fight began looking more akin to a tag game, where Mathias tried to land counter the aerial beasts, while the beasts tried to be as swift as possible in killing him. Nevertheless, on Mathias's face, some shock could be seen, since he didn't expect the damage caused by the Blood Hawks to be so high compared to his puny Health Gauge.

{A rude awakening? Hah?}

Commented Haycien when Mathias's Arcane Shield got breached with one of the Blood Hawk doing a suicidal attack where in order to hurt the prey, causing a hit so big it took 3950 HP from his precious health bar, while Mathias countered this suicical dive with 'Nemphys Lament' dealing a critical hit.

A whopping damage, which took in an instant half of the beast's health bar.

'Those crazed birds, they took my Arcane Shield as if it was made out of candy. And what's more I am still on cooldown. Damn it! Change of plans, I'll play like a pussy.'

With that rude awakening from the [Blood Hawks] he changed his playstyle entirely, focusing on pussy tactics as Haycien called them, which made the old man inside the Crimson Ring to start having a good laughter.

{Hahaha, your good old friend, the Pussy Tactics. Instead of trying to adapt to their dives and counter them, pinning them to the ground and slaughtering them, you are doing that …}

{Bahahah, poor guy.}

'Fuck off, old man. I don't want to climb the mountain again just to play Russian-Roulette with my head.'

The old Emperor still had a good laugh seeing how quick Mathias could shift his game style, just to survive against the Blood Hawks.

In his mind, using long-ranged attacks became a must, and as such he started a war of attrition with the Blood Hawks.

Pulling out the Staff of Dark Mending from his inventory, while returning Ragnius back on hold, he first took a look at the black staff holding a small dark crystal giving off a demonic influence about it, releasing a jet of black aura when he started imbuing the staff with his Arcane Magic.

[Staff of Dark Mending]

Rating: Epic

Durability: 299/299 / Magic Attack Power: 295

* Intelligence will be decreased by 50 points.

* Magic casting speed will increase by 10%.

* Every time a spell is cast, there is 5% chance of releasing the passive "Flame of Darkness"

*When casting a spell there is a 1% chance of the passive spell "Bone Shield" to be activated.

* Magic critical chance is increased by 5%.

* Magic critical damage is increased by 30%.

☆ [Bone Shield] – Absorbs 3500 damage while lasting until the shield is cancelled by the user or broken.

☆ [Flames of Darkness] – Passive: For the duration of 15 seconds you will burn the target the spell you casted targeted for a fixed hit of 500 DMG.

User restriction: Dark Magician or more than 750 INT points.

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Getting down for business, he started spending most of his mana on Arcane Missiles like a degenerate who only knew that, yet? It had great effect against the monsters who had no affinity with mana, such having 0% Magic Resistance.

While casting a particular Missile, the passive which he thought had a small, if not impossible chance to trigger, Flame of Darkness, activated beginning to burn the Hawk blasted by the Missile, and by the time the effect was over, he heard the notification of his first kill.

[Ding!]

[You have defeated a of the Gravelmark Mountains, gaining the following rewards]

[You have gained 150.000 EXP]

[You have gained ]

[You have gained ]

.

[You leveled up!]

[You leveled up!]

His strategy started showing dividends especially when the hurt monsters already forgot about their initial plans and coordination, they only focused on killing him at all cost.

And like this, after taking the other 2 Blood Hawks to about 30-40% of their HP gauge, he swiftly shifted his tactics, pulling out Ragnius and going head-on against the monsters, in doing so, having the full advantage over this fight, as he ended up killing the remaining two Blood Hawks.

"Hah, being in such situations is quite trilling.' remarked Mathias who saw himself bask in the rewards of his hunt, gaining 5 levels in total since starting the fight against the Blood Hawks.

Breathing out to recover his spirit, he looked around himself and smiled as he locked at the long jump in levels he did, already becoming 37.

"They mocked me about requiring some "Bus ride". Please, I am the bus." celebrated Mathias the successful hunt, where each monster awarded him with enough EXP to level twice.

{Good for you, but don't lose focus. Your fight probably attracted a lot of monsters}

Nodding his head, he started to spread out his newly gained Stat Points, on his Primary Stats, STR and INT, but he didn't forget to add some extra into his AGY, since he understood it will come in handy to have a higher movement speed and attack speed when fighting.

Doing his first step toward the location of the cave, he suddenly stopped with a pondering expression which had Haycien confused.

"Wasn't there something I had left in my bag for use on this journey?"

{You mean? That black cloak?}

'Indeed, it was the cloak. Now that I did pass that restriction, it's time to take it down. Hah, sometimes I think it is better to be restricted by one's status instead of the level, but both can backfire. This cloak could be focused on Agility, and I lack a bit there.'

***

[Cloak of the Pride]

Rating: Epic

Durability: 120/120 Defense: 50

Strength: +25

Agility: +25

☆ Activable Buff: Prideful - Gain 5% attack power boost while your defense is lowered by 25% for 60 seconds. Cooldown 25 minutes

Resources Required: none

Condition of Use: Level 35, more than 300 STR points and more than 200 AGY points

Weight: 10

***

Downing the black coat with golden sewing that give off a prideful appearance to it, just as the name entitled, it completed Mathias's mysterious Victorian Attire, boosting his overall appearance by a lot, as if he was the true overwordly master, the leader of all the players standing tall against all the monsters and gods of the Satisfy World.

His appearance even though he wasn't someone like a model, in those moments if an modeling agency could take a glance at Mathias appearance, they wouldn't even think a second and give him a call for an audition.

Yet, it was doubtful that someone like Mathias who had his shy tendencies with strangers would accept such an offer.

After downing his cloak, he continued his adventure inside Gravelmark Mountain, this time taking his time since he consumed a decent amount of Red Energy and Stamina in this fight, while his Mana was recovering rather swiftly because of his Mana Core, and the Health was in a stable situation.

Passing by another forested area of that height, yet again, a group of Blood Hawks came to welcome him, this time it was only 2 males, of the same level, which looked at Mathias in a murderous manner, glimmering with the light of success,

The truth was sad … for the Blood Hawks.

Mathias's power continued climbing making his fights far smoother against the monsters, and after only 15 minutes of fighting, the Blood Hawks collapsed on the ground, shrieking in anguish while Mathias continued on his way, unbothered by this encounter.

With an additional 2 Blood Hawks under his belt, he leveled up three times, achieving level 40, approaching closer and closer the mark most average players were situated at the current timeframe.

Passing by the former territory of the Blood Hawks who acted like excited kids when seeing Mathias, eager to kill him, maybe because of their beastly nature and predatory instincts that made them eager to taste the blood of humans, it meant nothing to Mathias as those birds didn't create an impression on him or Haycien.

"Those beasts lack intelligence. I couldn't even find a monster suitable enough for my Mana Devourer. They only act on their instincts."

{Maybe you'll find something. Just climb the mountain to the next stage. I am sure you'll find your partner.}

"Haha, good joke. I just began my journey and you want to pit me against those monstrousities that can kill me only by breathing."

{That's exactly the right partners for your Mana Devourer thingy.}

"Maybe for another time. I should instead search Mana Crystals if I want to advance my core."

{That too, nevertheless, both are hard to achieve.}

"Indeed."

There was only a few monsters inside Gravelmark who managed to make an impression on him, and they weren't on this height stage, if he wanted to encounter a danger that would strain all his body, he would be required to climb higher.

Still, with him staying at the 2000-2500 meters mark, it felt as if he belonged here with monsters suitable for his level and power.

Even though currently his level was small, only being 40 currently, and the monsters being at the mark of 90 and above, he wasn't pressured.

All the months he spent training on welding the spear and the other weapons were proving their worth. How could some monsters with low-intelligence that acted mostly on instincts be able to prepare against the art passed down by the Red Emperor himself, the first Mythic Being of Human Origin.

His path continued, continuing fighting some monsters that were lower in level than the Blood Hawks, sitting at only level 75-80, which was composed of some insectoid monsters.

Rather large insectoid monsters resembling beetles could be seen in the distance, lurking around searching for food. They had thick, chitinous armor for their defenses while the rest of their body was also covered in chitinous armor plates.

With horned heads and torsos, as well as the sharp thorns on their legs, it gave off a dangerous vibe about them.

[Kikimore Drone - LV.78] [25.500/25.500]

'Drones? This means there is a colony somewhere if those are the drones, looking for food for the hive.'

'Tsk, you know old Hay, you sure did leave a lot of ugly monsters to live in your home, especially ants. I say maybe the spiders are good to keep the pests away from the house, but those creatures? No thanks.'

{Don't nag at me about this. Is not like I will bother myself for every ant existing in my Empire.}

{This is what will happen to you too. You better remember this exchange of words, lad. Besides, let's not talk about spiders, me and you aren't ready to deal with that woman.}

'Hiss, no, no, you've got my analogy wrong, old Hay. I wasn't talking about that woman. Damn, if I knew I had one of her items, I wouldn't use that on Evander.'

{It is what it is. While it is bad that you got into her presence and even messed with some of her Drows, she allowed you to Awaken that Mana Core of yours withholding from attacking you with her minions.}

'I still can't believe that those spiders inside that underground cave are the Drows.'

{Well, as I told you in the past little Mathias. Spiders who show magic gifts are taken into notice by Lolth, for example that Lurker Spider you mentioned to me, already got touched by Lolth beginning her transformation.}

Alright, no need for Horror stories. Not in the mood for them. Let's not talk about them. We are not ready for them.'

{Rather not. It will take some years before we can entertain such thoughts. For now, be careful and don't lower your guard just because you know some parlor tricks.}

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