Limit Breaking Quest: King Cobra

Standing in the middle of the training hall Dave opened the Limit Breaking Quest window.

[Limit Breaking Quests:

Which Limit do you want to break?

[Stamina]

[Wisdom]

[Intelligence]

[Charisma]

costs: 10.000 Heroism]

Dave decided beforehand, which Limit he would break today.

He decided on [Charisma]. At first, he wanted to break his physical limits but he decided against it.

He was sure that he would see Taurin again when he challenged the [Stamina] Limit Breaking Quest and he promised himself that the next time he saw him, he would be stronger than Taurin.

For that reason, he first had to further raise his skill levels and more stats to the ULTIMATE rank.

Dave clicked swiftly on the [Charisma] button and the world around him changed.

This time he wasn't fazed by it anymore because he was used to it by now.

[Limit Breaking Quest: King Cobra] [Difficulty: Ultimate]

[Learn from the King Cobra how to use your Charisma defensively and offensively.

Survive the King Coba's test!

Quest Clear condition:

Learn the three ways to use your Charisma from the King Cobra.

Success:

[Charisma] SSS -> ULTIMATE

Skills:

[Hero's Menace]

[Hero's Will]

[Hero's Smile]

Failure:

You lose your life!]

Dave read the quest window and gulped.

'So this quest is going to be, succeed, or die. Good to know!', thought Dave unhappily.

He had hoped for another happy mentor-student quest like before with Taurin but unfortunately this time he wouldn't be this lucky. Even though he had to learn the skills from the King Cobra, it was seemingly going to kill him if he didn't learn well enough.

'Well, if someone threatened me like this in school, I might have gotten better marks!' thought Dave self-mockingly.

The world around Dave finished materializing.

He was standing in a desert landscape with here and there the occasional rock.

"Hello?!? Someone there?", shouted Dave.

Dave concentrated himself trying to hear anything that might indicate there being someone near him. After reading the quest description he started to fear that the King Cobra might ambush and kill him instead of teaching him.

If he thought back to the Lightning Rabbit, wasn't it the same? It didn't have enough sentience for real talk, unlike the minotaur Taurin.

'I don't want to fight a giant snake with long venomous teeth.', thought Dave depressed.

Still concentrating on everything around him, he could suddenly perceive a strange rattling.

Curious but nevertheless cautious he moved in the direction of the strange sound.

'The sound comes from behind that rock!'

Dave slowly approached the big rock. He looked around it and there with 15 meters of distance lay a 10-meter long snake its body as thick as a tree trunk.

Never before did Dave imagine a snake could look like this.

It had long razor-sharp teeth, a purple liquid constantly dropping from it to the ground, 2 orange eyes with black slit-like pupils, and a bloated neck shimmering in multiple colors.

But what made the image of the King Cobra perfect was the tip of its tail that was constantly ratling. It looked like a dagger and was most likely as dangerous as its venomous teeth.

"Hello," hissed the snake. Dave was flabbergasted. Just when he accepted that the snake would most likely not be capable of speech or human-similar sentience did it start speaking.

"Hello, I am Dave!", answered Dave embarrassedly nodding in the Cobra's direction.

Dave tried everything possible for him to make a good first impression on the snake. He didn't want to engage it in a life or death battle and hoped if it grew some affection for him it wouldn't try to kill him.

"The first test starts now. Ready yourself! If you survive 1 minute you passed it.", hissed the snake not even bothering to react to Dave's introduction.

'Shit! SHit! Shit! It is serious, DAMN!', shouted Dave inside his head.

"Well can you explain the rules to me first, what do I have to do exactly?", asked Dave trying to buy some time.

The snake didn't bother answering Dave's question. Its orange eyes turned dark red and the rattling of its tail stopped.

Dave averted his gaze from the King Cobra's eyes. From his own skill [Hero's Intimidating Glare], he knew that intimidation abilities casted through the eyes needed first of all eye contact. Instead of the eyes he now observed the rest of its body.

Focussing the cobra's upper body Dave knew when it would attack. Nevertheless, he was confident in his ability to evade because his [Agility] stat was most likely on a higher rank.

Then when he thought the snake might not attack physically its head accelerated forward. It had a really terrifying speed, its poisonous teeth sticking out of its wide-open mouth.

"[Enhancement Bubble]"

Dave activated self confidently his skill. He knew the snake was extremely fast but after all of his training, he could easily evade the attack jumping 5 meters back.

The King Cobra was furious that it didn't manage to bite Dave. A loud hissing sound came from its throat.

Angered it started raining a chain of attacks in Dave's direction. Dave meticulously sidestepped, jumped and ducked rendering the King Cobra's efforts meaningless.

"Hahaha." Dave laughed happily. It was the first time for him to let his power go loose in a long time.

Even during the short exchange of blows with Ayano, wasn't Dave as carefreely using his abilities as right now.

Enraged by Dave laughing about her attacks the King Cobra hissed dangerously, "Second Test!"

It added no more words and obviously, it wanted to catch Dave unprepared with what was about to come.

Its dagger-like tail swung rhythmically and menacingly from one side to the other.

Dave was slowly getting lulled into the rhythm of the swinging tail and its rattling. All of it worked together and made Dave lose his concentration.

"Hehehe," hissed the snake happily.

"Now, you can't escape me anymore."

The King Cobra slowly crept next to Dave and opened its mouth widely.

Big droplets of venomous liquid dropped to the ground in front of Dave melting the desert sand.

Dave gulped. He had no skill left to escape this situation.

'What should I do? I can't control my mana or my body. It is somehow paralyzing me!'

Dave was nervous, nothing was left of the happiness from before.

He was sure he was about to die!

Then all of a sudden the [Apprentice Hero's Skin] was triggered.

The moment Heroism replaced his mana he got the control of his body back. He hastily jumped back leaving the snake's reach.

"How did you do that?", hissed it furiously.

Dave didn't know an answer to that question even though he was happy whatever helped him there did its job. He was just about to tell the King Cobra he had no idea when he noticed a new window in front of him.

[New Skill Unlocked: Hero's Guardian] [Rank 1]

[Every Hero needs a guardian helping him when he is in great danger.

Effect: Activates a random hero skin if the hero's life is in danger.

The skill level rises with class rank.

Cooldown: 1 per week]

Dave happily read the new skill description. This was a real lifesaver.

Dave assumed that he was set free from the snake's paralysis because Heroism was of a higher grade than normal mana. Making him resistant to status effects casted with a weaker power source than it.

Still focused on the skill windows in front of him Dave didn't notice that the snake's anger rose further because he ignored it.

"Die now!", shouted the snake.

Its tail and head accelerated in Dave's direction at the same time.

He was taken by surprise and only managed to open his eyes wide before the dagger-like end of the snake's tail pierced through his abdomen.

Blood splurted to the ground.