Overpowering the King Cobra
The King Cobra retracted its tail leaving behind a fist-sized hole in Dave's abdomen.
Dave's head dropped, he clutched with his hands at the open wound trying to stop the bleeding.
"Hehehe.", hissed the snake. "My tail is covered with a special poison hindering wounds from healing and messing with the wounded's sense of direction. You lost young one. Not a single person ever managed to win against me, the King Cobra, nothing to be ashamed of and now become my food."
The cobra hissed one last time then its head accelerated forward. Its jaw wide opened, the cobra held its head sideways trying to pierce Dave with its long razor-sharp teeth.
The King Cobra closed its mouths and internally celebrated its victory already. The stronger the person it ate, the stronger it got.
Just when the teeth were about to penetrate Dave's chest and abdomen something stopped its mouth from closing.
Dave stood in the middle of the snake's wide-opened mouth holding with one hand the upper jaw and the other the lower.
He grinned at the snake a red light radiated from his eyes and a dark blue hue covered his body.
"What did you say?" He looked at his hands, each of them was covered by a light blue [Enhancement Bubble]. He finally managed to use 3 of them at the same time. Only like this was he able to overpower the snake's bite force and hold its mouth open.
A new window appeared in front of him.
[Enhancement Bubble] C->B
The tension of the life and death situation helped him reach the next rank with his skill earlier than expected.
"Let go, okay you passed the test, you won...you resisted all my abilities now please let go of my jaw."
The King Cobra tried everything in its might to free itself from Dave's iron-like grip.
Dave sighed.
He obviously couldn't trust the snake. It was a crafty one and he didn't fail to notice that it only said that he passed the test and won, it never promised it wouldn't attack him again.
'I am crafty too!' thought Dave smirking at the snake. He created an [Enhancement Bubble] the size of a fist and let it fly inside the snake's mouth right down its throat.
"Okay, no problem. I am not the kind of guy who kills without reason.", said Dave sheepishly. It was an obvious criticism directed at the King Cobra's try to gulp him down before.
As an aspiring hero, Dave thought it wasn't right to take the life of a sentient being if not necessary. It would contradict his class.
"Tthhhxxx", hissed the snake relieved and retracted its head when Dave let go of its jaw.
"If I passed the test then I can go now, can't I?" asked Dave fully aware that he didn't pass yet. The cobra couldn't trick him, the congratulation window didn't appear yet after all.
"Yes. But first, allow me to give a special gift to you. It is right behind me in a hole I dug.", said the snake seductively, its tongue slithering in out of its mouth.
"A gift sounds good to me. Thanks.", answered Dave acting as if he was genuinely happy about the prospect.
He walked behind the snake and indeed there was a hole. Dave crouched down next to it and looked in pitch-black darkness.
"I can't see anything.", said Dave a smile, the snake couldn't see, playing around his lips. He knew now was the time the snake would attack.
And for real his concentrated senses warned him of an incoming attack.
Dave spun around looking in the glaring eyes and the bared fangs of the King Cobra.
He raised his hand and clenched his fist.
"Boooommm!"
Dave let the bubble detonate in the snake's stomach.
A blue smoke left its mouth and the snake whimpered in agony.
Its head hung right in front of Dave.
'[Enhancement Bubble]'
'[Enhancement Bubble]'
'[Enhancement Bubble]'
3 [Enhancement Bubble]'s were activated, 1 around Dave's body and 2 in front of his right arm placed behind each other.
The snake looked startled at the bubbles knowing well after the prior exchange what they were capable of.
It tried to retract its head and said, "That was just a misunderstanding! Don't attack me. If I die you will fail."
Dave ignored the snake. It wasn't his intention to kill it from the beginning but after it tried to backstab him there was no holding back for him any more.
Furthermore, he knew from the Lightning Rabbit quest that killing the monster he faced during the test wouldn't make him fail, instead, it would give him extra rewards. That alone would be alluring enough to end the King Cobra's life but Dave didn't want to be an emotionless killer.
But now he fully believed that freeing the world from the King Cobra could be counted as a good deed and so his scruples disappeared.
"[Hero's Intimidating Glare]!"
"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"
Dave's eyes became that of the devil making the snake whimper. A bad foreboding feeling told it that it was going to die right here and now.
The King Cobra was paralyzed, unable to evade what was about to come.
The golden light radiating from Dave's fist intensified.
"Whooossshh!"
His fist passed through the first [Enhancement Bubble] then through the second, each time the golden light became stronger and stronger mixing with the blue mana of the bubbles.
"Nooo!" hissed the snake helplessly then Dave's fist hit its forehead and it exploded into pieces.
"Whoaaa not bad I guess.", said Dave touching with one hand the hole in his abdomen. He surprisingly discovered that the wound wasn't bleeding any more.
'This must have been my Heroism that increased my self-regeneration and undid the negative effects of the snake's poison.', analyzed Dave.
'Without it, I would have ended as snake food.'
Thinking how close it was this time again, Dave sighed. He really should pay more attention from now on, otherwise, he would die one day.
Dave looked at the newly appeared window in front of him.
[Congratulation]
[Limit Breaking Quest: King Cobra]
[Quest cleared!
Alternative Ending:
You overpowered the King Cobra in its own game and killed it. You resisted its abilities and gained a hint on how to use your charisma during a fight.
Reward:
[Charisma] SSS -> ULTIMATE
Skills unlocked:
[Hero's Menace]
[Hero's Will]
[Hero's Smile]
Special Reward:
For killing the King Cobra you gain as a bonus reward its essence.
[King Cobra Essence] Rank: Ultimate]
The desert around Dave dissolved.
He opened his eyes in the real world and to his own surprise, he saw only Anna standing in front of him.
"Where is Ayano?", asked Dave immediately.
"Why is it that you two are glued together like that?", said Anna sighing loudly.
"Whatever...", continued Anna before Dave could say anything.
"She has to prepare some stuff with her father and husband for the time you two are away at the mainland. We thought you would need longer and since she can't really help..."
"I understand.", answered Dave nodding his head.
He sat down and opened the windows of his newly acquired skills.
[Hero's Menace] [F]
[Your presence transcends your body's limit.
You cast the fear debuff on your enemies.
If your power level is much higher than your enemy's, it might cause physical harm to him.
cost: 50 - 10.000]
[Hero's Will] [passive]
[As long as you don't lose your will to fight for and defend those in need, you are immune to debuffs.
Effect:
Immunity to debuffs]
[Hero's Smile] [F]
[A hero's smile is his ultimate weapon to free his allies from fear and give them new hope.
Effect:
Undoes the fear debuff.
Improves allies' mentality.
Slight chance to cast the fear debuff on your enemies.
+1 Heroism for every ally freed from fear]
Seeing these skill effects Dave was seriously impressed. The best was that all three of these skills were useable without activating a Hero Skin even though [Hero's Menace], for example, needed Heroism for its activation.
[Hero's Menace] was basically a mental attack. He could vary its strength even further depending on how much heroism he used to activate it.
[Hero's Will] was a skill he was in even bigger need off.
The immunity to debuffs would have allowed him, for example, to face the King Cobra without any fear. If he ever met one again in the future it would be a walk in the garden for him.
[Hero's Smile] completed the trio. It allowed him to free others from fear and even better than that gave him +1 Heroism for every person freed.
This was the second skill besides [Apprentice Hero's Punch] that would allow him in the future to farm easily Heroism.
Dave imagined a scene with him as a high ranker.
A meteorite was about to hit New Asia and all inhabitants were struck by fear. Dave would fly up, turn around and smile at everyone, freeing them from their fear. Then he would with a single punch destroy the meteor and save everyone.
Just thinking about the number of Heroism he would gain if that was ever about to happen made him go nuts. Right now the skill only increased his Heroism by +1 but what would happen if it hit the Ultimate rating. If he freed at that point in time 10 million people or even more from fear, he might even break past 100 million Heroism. He couldn't even imagine right now how long he would need to spend all those points...
'Wait, [Hero's Menace] can cost up to 10.000 Heroism. If the costs of my skills increase like that in the future I might spend 100 million Heroism pretty fast.' thought Dave shocked.
'I definitely need more ways to gain Heroism!' was Dave's last thought before he was hit in the face by an angry Anna.
"Just because Ayano isn't here you mustn't ignore me.", said Anna grudgingly.
"Tell me what did you gain this time and what did you have to do?"