Chapter 13. Simultaneous Level up!
Jack immediately dashed back into the house, not giving the two monsters the opportunity to surround him. He looked back to make sure the two were following him. They were, all right. But he realized something that was different from the previous summons: the speed of the level 4 Thug was very close to the Captain's.
'Well, this should make the kiting easier,' Jack thought with satisfaction. He ran to the second floor landing and immediately he took out a Medicine and drank it. Although the Skeleton Captain was nearing its death, it could still kill him with one normal hit if he left his HP in its current critical condition. He couldn't afford to be carelessness again!
When he saw the Captain at the bottom of the stairs, with its minion at its back, Jack immediately cast a Mana Bullet followed by a stream of standard magic attacks. His staff's energy was nearly depleted, but he couldn't care less at the moment.
When the two monsters were half way up the stairs, there was a cracking sound. Jack, focussed on making every attack count, hardly registered it. But when the two monsters were almost at the top, the already weakened stairs buckled under the combined weight of the two monsters.
Both monsters tumbled down to the first floor. Jack was momentarily flabbergasted by this turn of events, but he didn't waste time making the most of this opportunity. He continued casting Mana Bullet and standard magic attacks onto the fallen monsters. He took out an Energy Drink to replenish his nearly depleted mana and cast another Mana Bullet.
The monsters seemed to be at a loss now that they had no way of getting upstairs. Jack continued to attack them from above without risk. He had never appreciated ranged class attacks as much as he did now. In previous VR RPG games, he always used melee class and enjoyed the intense close combat feel.
Well, he could enjoy it mainly because he knew there was never any real danger. He could just come back to life when he was killed. But this time it was different. Possible real death loomed if he lost. So, Jack was grateful he had the means to attack safely from a distance. He didn't know how he could have held his own in this fight if he hadn't gotten a second class and hadn't chosen Magician. He couldn't imagine trying to fight these monsters in melee.
While he was happily dishing out all the range attacks in his arsenal, he saw the Captain squat down. He got a bad premonition and instantly stopped his attack.
'It couldn't be trying to–'
Before Jack could finish his thought, the Captain leaped up. Its figure grew larger in his range of vision. Panic-stricken, Jack jumped back and rolled on the floor, narrowly escaping being stomped by the Captain when it landed on the second floor.
'How the heck did it jump so high with such a heavy body? This is cheating!' He was furious at the system's shamelessness.
The monster lunged at him. Jack executed a quick side roll and again managed a narrow escape. He hastily got to his feet and ran towards the hole on the front wall. He jumped out without bothering to look back. He fell down and launched into a roll on the ground to reduce impact before instantly springing up to his feet again. He took out his sword.
This was it; he had to make a stand. The stairs were gone and Jack could no longer get up to the second floor of Bill's house. He didn't have the ability to make a high jump like the Skeleton Captain, so, no more running around in the house. The Captain was on its last thread of life, it should only take a few more hits to kill it. Either Jack finished the monster right here or the monster finished him.
The Captain jumped down after him. Jack quickly advanced, attacking as he came. He had to win before the Thug made it out of the house. He couldn't deal with two opponents at melee range.
The Captain threw a straight punch. Jack sidestepped to evade, then sent a Power Strike followed by a point-blank Mana Bullet directly to its face. The magic attack scored critical damage! The Captain twisted his body like a top and gave him a backhand swing.
Jack didn't have enough time to evade this time! He parried the blow and lost a big chunk of his remaining HP. Thankfully the monster only had its less lethal bare-handed attacks now or Jack could have lost right there. Jack knew he might only be able to take two more attacks now, one if he didn't successfully parry.
His Power Strike was still on cooldown so Jack waited for the monster to throw another punch before dodging and counterattacking with a normal slash. Then he jumped back out of range. He couldn't perform combo attacks anymore because they would leave him open to attack. Once he was at a safe distance, he cast Mana Bullet. He saw the Skeleton Thug came out of the house as the Bullet hit the Captain. In his God-eye monocle, the health bar on the Captain was nearly depleted.
"Now or never!" He shouted with determination as he dashed towards the Captain. His eyes intensely watched the monster's body movement. When he saw its right shoulder move, Jack jumped towards its left side. As the monster's right hand shot out to where he had just been, Jack swung his sword in a high horizontal slash. His sword cut through the Monster's neck which was unprotected by its armor.
*Critical!*
Jack was readying a second slash when he saw cracks appearing on the unmoving Skeleton Captain's skin and armor. The cracks spread quickly and the Skeleton Captain exploded into small particles!
The Skeleton Thug that was in the middle of rushing over was immediately enveloped in a layer of black mist and disappeared.
Jack stood there gasping, unprepared for this sudden end to the fight. His edgy nerves were still in intense mode. He spun around making sure that nothing else would suddenly jump out at him.
While he was calming his nerves, he heard a series of system notification.
*
"Congratulations on winning the battle. Receiving 105 experience points.
Your Fighter class has reached level 4
Your HP increases by 20
Your Stamina increases by 10
Your Strength increases by 2
Your Dexterity increases by 1
Your Endurance increases by 2
Your Reflex increases by 1
Your Wisdom increases by 1
You receive 1 free attribute point and 1 free skill point
Your Magician class has reached level 2
Your HP increases by 10
Your MP increases by 10
Your Strength increases by 1
Your Intelligence increases by 3
Your Endurance increases by 1
Your Reflex increases by 1
Your Wisdom increases by 2
You receive 1 free attribute point and 1 free skill point
You learn "Magic Shield"
*
He was dazed by the notifications. This was an abundance of Experience points! He would probably need to kill over fifty zombies to get as much experience. With this one battle he shot past the leveling thresholds for both of his classes!
There were several things on the ground where the Skeleton Captain had fallen glowing in his monocle. He approached them and squatted down to check them out. It was a ring and 5 copper coins. He picked them up.
*
Ring of Luck (Uncommon Accessory)
Luck +1
*
'The drop rate of this game world is really lousy,' Jack complained. This was the first time an item had dropped from killing monsters. He had been fighting innumerable Zombies and several Skeleton Thugs for two whole days, and yet he only received 3 copper coins from all those battles. Only now, after defeating a level 6 Elite monster, he finally received an equipment drop.
But, on the plus side, this first drop was at least an uncommon one. Also, it was an accessory that increased luck, which, from the info in the Beta guide, was the most difficult stat to increase. So, all in all, he could still consider himself lucky.
He didn't dwell too long on this issue. He equipped the ring onto his left hand, and stored the 5 coins in his storage bag. Afterward, he summoned his Status Window.