One in a thousand (2)
'My agility and intelligence are already high enough. Hell, all my stats are pretty high for an average person. Hmm.... let's do 25 points in strength, 20 in dexterity, 20 in stamina and the rest in agility.
This should allow me to overpower them albeit barely and with my increased dexterity, my movements should also become smoother.'
*Crrr* *Crrr* *CRACK*
The shield Rey was holding broke and turned back into essence after being hit by a heavy wooden club. Rey traced back the club to its wielder to see a giant troll towering at 5 metres looking at him with insignificance.
"WHY THE HELL IS THIS DUDE HERE? Aren't only goblins and some low level monsters supposed to be here? I am so... so f**ked!"
The troll swung his club once more but Rey managed to pull back his legs or else he would have his bones turned into paste. Rey kicked up from that position, surprising the troll but that is all he did, considering the difference in size and strength, the troll didn't even budge.
"Krrrrrr"
Rey sensed a spear coming his way from the back which he redirected by sidestepping to the right and grabbing the goblin's wrist, gave it a hard twist. The goblin dropped the spear and Rey used the goblin's momentum to throw him at the troll.
Seeing his teammate used against him, the troll swung his club down at the goblin, smashing him into the ground as blood started to ooze out of its head.
Finding the opportunity, Rey fell back a few steps and adjusted his knuckles.
"This is gonna be tough!"
.....
Ed was faring relatively better as he only had to deal with goblins and some vines which occasionally tried to restrain him.
"Electric discharge"
Ed used his skill as lightning started dancing around his body in a 10 metre radius. The goblins that came into contact were either paralysed or burnt, preventing them from doing anything against the approaching Ed.
Ed quickly dashed towards them and used his hammer covered in lightening to crush their bones. Ed's hammer was designed for piercing the opponent using the spikes and then breaking whatever came in his way due to its weight and structure.
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You have killed a Goblin Warrior
You have killed a Goblin Warrior
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+100 exp
+110 exp
+100 exp
+100 exp
+120 exp
+100 exp
Lvl up
Lvl up
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Ed made quick work of six goblins and gained four levels bringing it to 8. He looked around and saw the monsters keeping their distance because of the lightening still being discharged from his body.
"I should stop this before I run out of essence."
As soon as the lightening dissipated, the careful goblins rushed at him with their weapons and loud noises.
"It's tendering time!"
Ed jumped into the fray, hitting skulls left and right, but as they were not under any status condition restricting them, it required Ed multiple hits to finish them off.
.....
*Huff* *Huff*
"If only I could use my skills, this fat piece of ugliness would have been much easier to kill."
Rey was exhausted, he had been attacking the troll continuously but due to its thick skin only half of the attacks were effective. The good thing being that because of the troll's large size and weight, it wasn't very quick, giving Rey time to retreat back safely.
A couple of goblins tried to help the troll but were swatted by the wooden club like flies. The troll swung his club, preventing any other monster from coming close.
[Are you really this dumb? The guard earlier clearly gave you an essence potion and you are complaining *sigh*]
"Why are you only telling me this now?"
[Well, it was kinda satisfying seeing you struggle so I decided to enjoy a little, mAsTeR!]
"Ughh.... and stop calling me master in that tone, it is getting annoying."
Rey took out a basic essence potion from his inventory and quickly drank it.
[As you wish mAsTeR!]
"Shut up!" Rey felt his essence being refilled as his essence regenerating speed increased. The essence potions had two effect on the user, first was to provide the user with an initial supply of essence and second was to increase the rate at which the body absorbed the surrounding essence. These effects were provided by an essence potion of any rank, only the amount of essence provided and rate of absorption differed.
"Now I feel better." Rey looked at the troll whose eyes were blood red.
"Grraagghh!!"
The troll was furious as he had not been able to hit Rey even once and rather was on the receiving end of his attacks. The troll's body started to be covered in a red fire like aura starting from his legs as he grew even bigger.
"Is that a freaking skill it is using?"
Rey was dumbfounded, he had only read about monsters using skills but they were either boss or leader type monsters or high levelled ones.
The goblin illusionist was also using a skill but Rey was too dumb to notice.
"Be careful Rey, that skill is called Rampage. He mus.... get down for god's sake *bam*." Ed was speaking when he was attacked by a goblin with a knife but was greeted by his hammer.
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You have killed a Goblin Robber
+45 exp
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"Ya, so it should last only a couple of minutes before it runs out, attack him then as he will be exhausted."
Ed tried to make his way to Rey but because of the sheer number of monsters, they kept blocking him again and again.
"Do you seriously think I can hold him, aggghhhh..."
Rey was not paying attention, when the troll rushed towards him finding a chance and headbutted him to the gut. Rey was thrown into the air as he hit a sturdy looking tree trunk, dropping his health to half.
"Dammit one more hit and I'm a goner."
[I think you are, that troll is coming again]
"I need... to g..et up!" Rey tried to stand up but because of the strong impact, his left shoulder got dislocated, giving him excruciating pain.
Rey held his dislocated shoulder and closed his eyes to brace for impact.
The troll rushed at him again but as he was nearing Rey,
"Wind cutter"
He was bombarded with several wind blades, giving him minor cuts all over his body.
"Grraagghh!" the troll changed its direction and hit Sam who attacked him with his club, throwing him into the forest.
Rey looked into the flying Sam's eyes, as if saying that this was the fate of a side character and thank you for coming to save us.
Thanks to Sam taking the aggro, Rey got some time to think carefully on what to do next.
"Soph, can you numb my body to pain?"
[Yes I can, but why do you need me to?]
"Just do it"
[No, tell me first]
"Just do it Soph, there is no time, the troll will be coming back soon."
[I won't unless you tell me why.]
"JUST DO IT DAMMIT!! Listen to me for once." Rey shouted to make Sophie obey.
[...]
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Pain reception has been reduced
You will only be feeling 10% of the actual pain your body receives
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"Haa.... now to just take this and....."
[Listen Rey only your reception has been reduced, you will still get injured. Only your body won't get any signals. Don't do anything reckless, you understa....]
"Agghhh!" Rey screamed in pain as he popped his shoulder back in place. "*Huff* *huff* despite the pain reception bring reduced, it still hurts this much."
[Are you insane! Why'd you do that for, you could have injured yourself even more instead of healing yourself, you idiot!]
"Hehe, do I see you getting worried Soph?"
[It's... it's, the troll is coming back]
Soph quickly changed...
[Sophie for you mister!]
Geez!
Sophie quickly changed the topic as the troll was now glaring back at Rey and moving towards him.
"Do you think you can beat me, now with your skill's time limit almost being over? Hahaha, I'll show you what I can dooooo...."
While Rey was giving his speech, the troll hit him with his club sending him to the side.
What an anticlimactic scene.
Just before Rey was about to hit a large rock head first, he disappeared. The troll was shocked, he tried to sense Rey but found nothing.
The troll was confused as instead of blood splattering everywhere, Rey vanished leaving it searching for him.
"Looking for me!" the troll turned around to see Rey's fist right in front of his right eye with the spikes looking more sinister than ever up close.
"Gaaahhh!" the troll screamed in pain as Rey blinded him in the eye.
"That felt good for some reason." Rey landed back on the ground and materialised four sharp needles in his hand and pierced the troll's legs. The needles were sharp and long unlike his knuckle spikes which allowed them to pierce the thick skin.
'Please let it be affected by status condition. Please, please!'
Rey's pleas were heard as three out of four needles inflicted the decay status condition on the troll, chipping away at its health.
Man it's getting boring writing troll again and again, so I'll just call him Jimmy for now.
*Thunk*
Jimmy managed to hit Rey once more before his Rampage skill went on cooldown and just like before, Rey disappeared before the club hit and appeared right behind Jimmy, this time hitting his neck as four holes were engraved on its neck.
Rey used Shadow Assimilation which allowed him to merge with his shadow on contact and followed it with Shadow Movements to sneak up on Jimmy. Shadow Assimilation acted as a cushion when he was about to hit the rock earlier.
Jimmy fell on his knees as he was blinded and because of the decay, his legs were losing strength faster as time went by because of his bones and muscles decaying.
"Time to finish this"
Rey removed his knuckles and materialised a sturdy looking halberd using most of his essence. The halberd was comparable to any Rare rank weapon which was pretty strong compared to the knuckles he had earlier.
Rey quickly moved to the front and slashed at Jimmy's neck, making a deep cut but due to his thick skin, he failed to chop it off clean.
"Troublesome till the end, are we?"
Rey pulled back his halberd and thrust the large spike into the cut he made earlier, piercing Jimmy's neck.
"Mfff, mfff!" poor Jimmy tried to scream but Rey quickly pierced his mouth, robbing him of his liberty to express pain.
#Trolllivesmatter
After some struggling, Jimmy's body became lifeless a he slumped in the ground because of excessive blood loss and severe damage to the spine.
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You have killed a Troll Chief
+5000 exp
Lvl up
Lvl up
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"Hu...." Rey leaned against the large rock to rest a little but the goblins which were keeping their distance earlier, glared at him with bloodlust.
"Ah, you all are also there. DAMMIT!"
Rey was frustrated because just when he thought about resting a little, these pesky little creatures won't let him.
"I wish i could just blast then off from here."
[Why don't you try releasing your essence like projectiles?]
"Hmm.... I can definitely try as the potion is still in effect."
Rey started by first covering his palm with essence and then focusing on reducing the area slowly till it was at the tip of his index finger.
"Now what do I do?"
[Try to imag...]
Sophie couldn't even complete what she was saying as the essence dissipated.
[Can't you control it, genius!]
"Do you think I can with these monsters on my tail?
Ed hold on for a couple of minutes, I'll be back soon."
"Wh... what? Get back here Rey!"
Soon after, Rey used instant transmiss..... I mean Shadow Movements to move to a place some distance away to practice in peace.
"Let's get to it"