(4) Execution With Finesse
The Heavenly Undead Crawler was twitching on the ground, dead. Or deader than usual since it's undead to begin with?
It doesn't matter, it can't move now.
The strategy to destroy these creatures is to damage the face enough to make a hole which exposes their vulnerable parts unprotected by the human bones.
+50,000 EXP
+61,700 Cleansed Souls
[Glyphs]
+Armor Effectivity Glyph (Level 165)
+Burn Resistance Glyph (Level 162)
+Speed Crawl Glyph (Level 160)
[Armor and Equipment]
+Sharpened Heavenly Crawler Leg (Level 159)
+Spine Gauntlets (Level 140)
+Undead Bone Arrow (Level 112) (24x)
[Artifacts]
+Handful Of Teeth (-50% Stun Duration)
+Broken Skeleton Arm (+15% Damage Nullification)
[Skills]
+Blessed Petal Blood Scroll (Level 110)
> You have risen twice. [129 > 131]
+20 Stat points for leveling up.
"That was fun.. Now where are the rest of the bugs?" Owen was ready to blow up a Crawler's face once again.
He dumped his stat points to continue his build before looking around for another Crawler to kill.
This is the reason why he loved playing souls-like games. Owen didn't feel like an overpowered force plowing through the lands or a candle flame in the middle of a storm.
No, he felt like he was one of them. A part of the food chain.
The only difference was that he could continue growing and outsmart his opponents. So in a way, he was different from the world around him.
Owen rearranged his inventory and wandered off.
Wolf approached the corrupted claw in the middle of the area. If he wanted to hunt for more Crawlers, Owen knew that he would find more of them if he was nearer to the claw.
And with how bright the Crawler's bone shells are compared to the dark gray soil, Owen could easily spot one despite being far away from them.
[ Level: 167 - Heavenly Undead Crawler (Wrath-II) ]
*Kiiiieeaaaaakk!*
A Crawler released an ugly and sharp shriek.
Owen turned around and saw that a Heavenly Crawler was fast approaching.
"Didn't see you there.." Owen equipped 'Reneger Of Promises' and sent a precise shot at one of the Crawler's eyes.
The arrow buried itself into the Crawler's face as it merely shrugged it off.
Owen's intuition began to tell him that this Crawler is different. "That's strange, behavior in Abyssal Confinement is somewhat consistent with small personality variations with different enemies." Owen then looked at the corresponding sin of the Crawler and saw 'Wrath-II'
Owen's eyes widened slightly. A little sense of alarm seemed to ring in his ears.
"This… could be a problem." Wolf activated [Exploding Arrow Seal] to create an opening where he could actively damage the Crawler.
*BOOM!*
A silver explosion of dust spread out from the arrow lodged in the Crawler's eye. This was strong enough to knock the Crawler's head upwards for only a short moment, but it never impeded its charge.
A crack enough to fit a human head was left in the Crawler's broken eye socket.
*Nrrrrkkkirrrkk…*
The monstrous amalgamation of bones grunted. All the human skulls working as the Crawler's eyes focused eagerly on Wolf.
Seeing this, Owen made Wolf run away.
*Whoosh!*
The Crawler's huge body shot forward by using all of the skeletal human arms that served as its legs to simultaneously throw itself forward.
Thinking quickly, Owen made Wolf dodge to the left. But this didn't throw off the Crawler.
As if expecting Owen to dodge to the left, the Crawler redirected its course there as well. Its mouth was clattering in delight knowing that it outsmarted Wolf.
But when it landed, the Crawler caught nothing.
The Crawler quickly turned around to see where its prey was supposed to be.
*Shwing!*
[Armorbreaker Pierce Sword Art]
Just as it turned around, Owen controlled Wolf to jump up and dash forward and deliver a sword thrust at the crack on the Crawler's eye.
And because of the gaming company, Abyssal Confinement being so attentive to detail and gameplay, Owen couldn't just stab anywhere else in the Crawler's damaged face.
No, it had to be struck where there was a weak point. The precise hitboxes wouldn't allow Owen to damage it greatly if he missed.
But seeing that Wolf's sword found its mark, Owen wasn't playing around. This was a display of a decade worth of skill perfectly crafted to deal with scenarios like these.
Owen was aware of the degree of intelligence the enemy NPCs had in AC games, so he intentionally dodged to the left and quickly dodged to the right, tricking the AI of the Crawler to strike where he used to be.
But if he dodged normally, he would've been caught. Of course, if it weren't for his special glyph, [Vanishing Twinstep] it allows the user to vanish after dodging twice in a small timeframe of 0.3 milliseconds.
*Kiiieeerraaakkkk!*
The Crawler raised its massive head and began shaking its entire body, launching Wolf into the air.
*Whoooosh-*
Now that Wolf was in the air, nowhere to dodge, the Crawler leapt towards him. It was not letting this chance slip away to kill its prey.
"Not good." Owen clicked the 'W' key on his keyboard while right-clicking.
Wolf plunged down quickly, avoiding the large Crawler lusting for his flesh.
The Crawler's mouth clattered again. It was elated that Wolf was willing to crash down to the ground faster. After all, fall damage is a thing.
But it forgot that dashing exists. Owen casually dashed forward before crashing down to cancel all the fall damage.
The Crawler's clattering stopped. When it landed, it quickly ran towards Wolf without a second thought.
Owen immediately equipped 'Reneger Of Promises' and shot an arrow just a little above the Crawler's head.
*Thu!* The arrow whistled as it was shot.
The Crawler saw it and easily avoided the arrow by moving to the right. After all, it was poorly aimed at its head to begin with.
Owen smirked.
[Position Swap]
Before the Crawler could come close to Wolf, he saw his image flicker and disappear, leaving an arrow in his place.
*Crrusshshhh…* The ground was thrown everywhere as the Crawler quickly came to a halt.
The Crawler seemed to realize something. It turned to where the arrow was shot earlier and then…
*Thwack!*
[Armorbreaker Pierce Sword Art]
Owen wasted no time and plunged his sword into the Crawler's eye socket. Red blood petals flew out from the wound and fell gently on the gray, barren soil.
It paused for two seconds before it shrieked once again. The Crawler was so furious that it was tricked for the second time.
The Crawler wasn't thinking of throwing Wolf into the air like last time since it didn't work. And since it was in its code to adapt to the player's strategy, it contracted all of its legs and jumped up instead.
The plan was to reach a fatal height and crash its own face with Wolf's sword still lodged in!
Owen was impressed. "The AI knew that throwing me again into the air won't work, and it also knew that throwing me down to the ground wouldn't work because of dash canceling fall damage. Now it thought of a way of damaging me without letting me escape at all? This is impressive, very impressive."
Wooden roots came out of the eye socket alongside the red petals, grabbing Wolf's sword tightly to prevent him from getting out of the bind.
The Crawler's body was still soaring through the air. It wouldn't be long until it loses enough momentum and starts descending.
Owen could let go of 'Sky Maiden's Cascading Breath' to free himself, but that would leave him without a weapon to fight with. He didn't have another sword, only low level weapons that wouldn't really help him much, and fighting with a bow does not align with his build to deal enough damage.
So was he destined to die here?
Folks, if you have doubted Ivory11 for a second, what are you doing? Cease these thoughts at once.
Owen took out an item from his inventory.
[Lost Song Spear] [Attached Items: Small Soul Bomb (5x)]
A thin bronze-handled spear with a dark-gray wooden body and a glossy black spearhead appeared in Wolf's left hand. It had random red dots and lines that indicate pauses and notes of an unknown song.
And what's cool about this spear are the five blue pebble sized orbs with a string tied near the spearhead. And yes, those are bombs.
As Owen took the spear out, the Crawler began its descent.
"I hope this looks cool for the views." Owen made Wolf activate one of his skills. He wasn't worried that he would die whatsoever.
[Position Swap]
With a white glow, the 'Lost Song Spear' and the 'Sky Maiden's Cascading Breath' swapped places.
Now, his sword wasn't stuck.
Owen immediately made Wolf dash upwards the Crawler's body.
*Kiiiieeeerrraaaakkkk!!!*
"Oh shut up…" Owen saw that the multiple skeletal human arm legs of the Crawler was attempting to grab him as he made his way dashing upwards.
Owen didn't care and began slicing them.
When three or more arms came for his face, he slashed upwards. When they reached for his feet, he slashed downwards. When they came for his legs and head, he would slash diagonally.
Owen's pattern recognition began firing in all cylinders.
He had only 0.5 seconds to react between each wave of arms that tried to grab him. But despite how desperate the Crawler was to attack, all of the arms that Owen ran past were sliced off its body.
And when he reached the tail, Wolf jumped up with a powerful upward dash. He pulled out 'Reneger Of Promises' and fired an arrow towards the Crawler's rear.
*Thu!* The arrow landed successfully.
When it did, Owen activated the soul bombs attached to the spear and used his skill, [Exploding Arrow Seal] simultaneously.
*Boom!* The soul bombs exploded with a blue hue.
*BOOM!* The exploding arrow released a smoke of silver.
After the explosion, a huge crack appeared on the Crawler's shell that traveled vertically from the mouth to the rear. Red blood petals were flying off from this huge opening.
Owen wasted no time and plunged downwards, he fell faster than the Crawler because of this and he pulled out the Sky Maiden's sword slicing the flowering innards of the Crawler as he descended.
*KIIIIIEEEEAAEAEAEA—!*
The Crawler shrieked one more time before its voice grew fainter.
*Sssshhhhhwiiiing!*
Owen managed to cut open the entire Crawler, killing it. And before Wolf hit the ground, a single dash canceled all of the fall damage, landing him safely on the ground.
Wolf sheathed his sword and had a stoic look on his eyes. The lower half of his face was concealed by his armor, but that carried the mystery and awesomeness behind him.
*Crash!*
The Crawler's body finally hit the ground, causing a large dust cloud to be kicked up from the ground.
"Damn, I thought I wouldn't get a spectacle but seeing Wolf standing there as the fallen Crawler landed behind him is an awesome shot…. This will definitely get clipped a lot." Owen was relieved that the final shot was perfect. He had a MeTube channel that he had to run, so this was something necessary to keep viewers engaged.
+63,200 EXP
+77,988 Cleansed Souls
[Glyphs]
+Pure Violence Glyph (Level 167)
[Armor and Equipment]
+Wrathful Sword Fang (Level 165)
[Artifacts]
+Blue Flower Petal (+20% Armor Defense)
[Shards]
+1 Abyss Shard
> You have risen once again. [131 > 132]
+10 Stat points for leveling up.
"And I got an abyss shard? Awesome." Owen examined the abyss shard in his inventory.
Abyss shards are used to open boss arenas in different locations permanently. In fact, if he wanted to, he could open the boss arena in the center of the Claw Of Cataclysmic Corruption.
But, it's not the time for that.
He looked at the recording time and saw that it barely even reached the 11 minute mark.
"Welp, gotta grind more I guess…" Owen sighed and began looking for more Crawlers.
Owen didn't know if it was just him, but he could've sworn he saw a Crawler run away from the corner of his eye in the same moment he said that.
2 hours later…
Wolf sheathed his sword as he stood on top of numerous Crawler bodies.
> You have risen greatly. [159 > 162]
+30 Stat points for leveling up.
After single handedly wiping out probably 50% of the Crawler population, Owen ended the recording for the day. He saved his game before quitting and was met with the title screen.
He clicked off Unguarded Sheath and still didn't notice the missing game in his library.
Stretching his back on his gaming chair, he looked at the clock on his left to check the time.
"12:30?" Owen immediately stood up. "Crap, I almost missed breakfast." He hurriedly left his room and was on his way downstairs.
Jazmine opened the door to her room and saw Owen running past her. "Hey! Slow down… If you're always so fast, you don't have a chance of keeping a woman with you."
Owen stopped on his tracks and gave her a blank stare. "Really?"
Jazmine chuckled. "It's a joke my dear Owen, chill out."
"Yeah, yeah… Also, did Annie come home yet?" Owen asked as he walked down the stairs at a slower pace.
"Nope, I was laying down on the couch earlier watching TV. If she ever entered the house, I would've heard." Jazmine shook her head.
"I think I should text her.." Owen took his phone from his pocket and tapped on his messages.
*Clack*
The front door opened and Annie entered the house.
Both Owen and Jazmine turned around at the same time, but Owen was the first to respond.
"Hey Annie! Are you okay? How was your time with Lawrence?" Owen's tone was both inquiring and cheerful.
Annie took her shoes off and laughed. "Ohh, thank you!" Annie ran up to Owen and gave him a big hug.
"Woah, was my advice that good?" Owen laughed and hugged her back.
"Absolutely!" Annie smiled warmly at Owen. She was truly grateful for helping her out. "Lawrence and I had such a great time together. We talked about things we like, interesting facts, and even stuff we found funny. He's such a great guy." Annie then walked back to the door and closed it.
"Funnily enough, I was wondering what took you so long. That's why I got Owen to text you to check if something was wrong." Jazmine chuckled and pointed at Owen.
As the three of them talked, Gordon walked out of the kitchen and said, "Hey kids, breakfast's ready." Gordon then realized that Annie just arrived home. "Oh? Annie's home? Ah, did you have fun out there?"
Annie nodded. "Yep, it was great."
With a laugh, Gordon gestured for them to come to the dining room. "Alright then, since it's time for breakfast to begin with, why don't you guys try what me and your mother cooked together?"
Isabella appeared behind Gordon and hugged him. "We put a lot of effort into it. I'm confident you kids will like it."
The three siblings nodded.
"I'll get dressed first. Hold on." Annie walked up the stairs and went inside her room.
"Why don't we prepare the table while we're waiting for Annie?" Isabella suggested.
"I was thinking the same thing." Gordon went to the dining room with Isabella and Jazmine, only to see Owen sitting on his chair with all the plates and utensils neatly set up.
Jazmine glanced at the front door from her spot and saw that the distance was inconceivably far enough for Owen to realistically do this in such a short timeframe.
"Since when?? I saw you were just next to me ten seconds ago!?" Jazmine was thoroughly confused. "Mom, did you guys see him go in here?"
Isabella shook her head. "Why are you so shocked? That's just how Owen is."
"That's true. I have given up figuring out how he does that." Gordon shrugged it off.
Owen waved his hand with a carefree attitude at Jazmine. "Get used to it."
Jazmine looked him up and down carefully. "I really can't even if I want to." She then sat on her chair next to Owen and an empty chair belonging to Annie.
Annie didn't take long changing and soon entered the room and took her seat.
Isabella brought the steak with some tuna sandwiches with mayonnaise, a bowl of different sliced fruits mixed together and breadsticks with a cheese dip.
Once that was all set up, Isabella sat next to Gordon and they started eating the food.
Owen took a piece of steak for himself and a sandwich. He began eating it at a very fast pace. In fact, it only took him 20 seconds to eat it.
Everyone in the dining room looked at Owen.
"Owen, do not eat like this was your first meal in a week." Isabella took a breadstick, dipped it in cheese and bit the tip. "Try to savor it in order to enjoy it properly."
"But I wasn't even eating it that fast…" Owen's time perception is truly ruined and it shows.
"20 seconds is slow for you? I barely even took a bite on my own." Annie was still chewing the sandwich as she spoke. "Mom is right with savoring the food, even though you have great advice, you also have some issues with stuff like these." Annie gave a light chuckle.
Jazmine also added, "Being many steps ahead isn't always a good thing. You might miss what you leave off behind you." She sliced a piece of steak and put it in her mouth.
"Fine… is 30 seconds acceptable?" Owen took another tuna sandwich.
"No, absolutely not." Annie wagged her finger at Owen. "A minute at least."
Owen obliged. "Whatever you say." He then began chewing the tuna sandwich significantly slower than earlier. "Although I have to admit… the mayonnaise is good."
Gordon's expression was smug. "Of course it is. It's my father's recipe."
"Grandpa Zed's recipe? I heard Grandpa Zed and his friend Rick made a lot of recipes together, right?" Owen asked his father.
"Of course, they are very dedicated to cooking like how you and Rocky are dedicated to gaming. I wasn't that interested in cooking, but I did pick up a lot of things from your grandfather." Gordon took a breadstick and bit it in half.
He then took his wallet from his front left pocket and took a picture from it. It showed two young men smiling while holding a trophy for a cooking tournament.
Showing Owen the picture, Gordon began speaking about its history, "When my father was young, he was a great chef. A prodigy when it comes to it. He and his friend were both absolute beasts when it comes to cooking delicious food."
"They were even called the 'Zed-Rick Duo' back in their prime. And they did start a restaurant once, but when they couldn't do what they do best anymore, they sold the property to Loraine's and the rest is history. I'm sure I told you that part of the story before, right?"
Owen nodded. "Yep."
Annie also said yes.
Gordon then continued. "But what I haven't told you was that the reason the restaurant failed is because of their differing views. My father wanted a normal restaurant where he could support his family, but Rick wanted more. He wanted to be famous and he needed father's help to do so."
"And from what you can tell, this started the rift between the two. And thus, the 'Zed-Rick' restaurant is no more." Gordon grabbed a glass of water and drank it.
"Wow… so our family could've been a famous one if grandpa agreed." Annie was surprised that the failure of the restaurant was because of such a reason. "If I heard correctly, Rick went on to become a world class chef, right? To think that we were connected to such a figure in some way."
"Yeah, and he's still famous now and doesn't even speak of the Ivorys. If I were grandpa, I would've accepted it. Who knows what stuff we would've had right now?" Jazmine gave out a sigh and continued eating her meal.
"But I thought it was a reasonable decision. I can see why grandpa declined Sir Rick. I believe he only wants what's enough to support his family, while Sir Rick wants a lot more. I'm not saying that's wrong… that's his ambition after all. I just don't agree with it… After all, I get his feeling for wanting a simple yet fulfilling life." Annie expressed her feelings over the matter.
"Everyone has their own opinions. But don't we make enough to get what we want and need? Dad's salary as an IT guy for an automobile manufacturing company with mom's job as a teacher gives us enough. And plus, what do we even do with so much money?" Owen also sided with his grandfather.
"I mean, you keep upgrading your PC. So that's where some of the money goes." Annie pointed out Owen's spending.
"True, but at least it doesn't come from mom and dad's pockets. I try to be self sufficient for once." Owen proudly smiled as he straightened his posture.
Jazmine didn't side with Rick for long. "Eh, you've convinced me. I guess our life is perfect as it is."
"That is correct." Annie patted Jazmine's back playfully.
"Oh? Annie, you seem to be more active in family conversations now. What happened? Did you meet a guy that made you this way?" Isabella's senses as a woman were picking up something.
"Ah?!" Annie was surprised by the sudden question from her mother. She had an urge to fidget, but she managed to stop herself. "I- I mean, yes… I did… Owen helped me talk it out with him though…"
Isabella and Gordon's attention was once again placed on Owen.
"It wasn't a big deal, I just helped her get over her fear when it comes to talking to guys." Owen answered truthfully.
Isabella clapped her hands excitedly "Ohhh! Now you really have to spill the tea. Tell me, who is it?" Isabella looked at Annie, ready to listen carefully to not miss a single detail.