Chapter 297 Hard Fought Battle
Singund sliced at Dave with brutal force. Dave sidestepped the strike that broke the arena pavement and punched at Singund's flank.
[-86,000]
Singund grunted but swung horizontally trying to cut Dave' head off. Dave ducked under the swing and punched up.
[-88,500]
He was getting used to Singund's erratic battle style.
"You better have more than just that, draugr!" Singund roared, he was feeling exhilarated the more damage he took in. It was only natural, he was a pure berserker, the lower their HP the stronger they become.
Dave ignored Singund's comments, among all the undead he met, this was the one that talked the most. Dave waved his fingers, summoning eight yoga ball sized spectral skulls.
"Eat these!" Dave said, snapping his fingers.
The spectral skulls blew up, dealing tons of damage to the Undead High Orc, blasting him all the way to the side of the battle arena.
Dave carved through a third of Singund's HP, but this just made his situation only worse. Dave knew that by the rate, Singund's attacking speed is increasing, he will be unable to block or evade his attacks in the near future.
'The worst part is, when I down him to 1%, he will be so damn fast it's going to be impossible to take him on at that point. How the hell am I going to handle him then?'
Dave's mind was processing various plans and countermeasures to the upcoming headache. While Singund was swinging his cleaver like there was no tomorrow. The High Orc's mouth was widened into a frightening evil smile, the more he was attacked the more this smile broke.
Dave made a blunder, sidestepping a side cleave too late, he received the attack square in the left ribs. Dave was shocked by the amount of strength behind that cleave that it sent him flying a few meters before he hit the ground.
'Fucking masochistic pig!' Dave cursed inwardly.
Looking up, he saw the High orc in midair coming down with the cleaver in hand slicing down at the fallen Dave.
Dave rolled away from the cleaver that broke the ground, while he was still on the ground, Dave kicked at Singund's leg, making the High Orc fall to the floor. Dave scrambled to mount on the fallen orc and began punching him in the face.
Dave was pinning Singund with his legs as he punched with lavish brutality at the High Orc's face. With every punch, a red numerical value appeared over Singund, as viscera, blood and teeth broke. But the pig faced Orc didn't feel pain, no, to Dave's disgust he seemed to be enjoying it.
Dave kept an eye on Singund's HP. It was now in critical levels. He knew the real problems will start soon.
Suddenly, Singund spoke, "I think I had enough fun, more of this, and I might actually die!"
Singund roared through a gurgling bloodied mouth, then hurled Dave away from him.
Dave fell on his back.
"Fuck, he's much stronger now."
Singund spat some broken teeth and smiled at Dave with a face filled with bruises and wounds "My turn now!"
"Who said I was done?" Dave used [Advancing Dragon]
He disappeared from sight and appeared behind Singund, his fist aimed at the High Orc's back. Yet to Dave's surprise, the orc managed to turn right in time and grabbed at Dave's extended fist.
"Too slow!" Singund pulled Dave and kneed him in the stomach.
[-280,000]
Dave was surprised, normally, Advancing Dragon was an AI guided attack pattern. He should have entered a stat that made him dodge attacks and retaliate when attacked. But Singund was just too fast that he caught Dave in mid-skill.
Singund swung down with the cleaver on his other hand. Dave barely managed to raise his arm, trying to use the gauntlet to make the glaive slide away, deflected.
But the sheer force behind the strike made Dave feel like his arm was about to be broken. Thankfully the weapon slid away, creating sparks on the Sworn Stalwart gauntlets and was embedded into the ground.
Dave was still pinned by the Orc's hand. He knew that if he didn't get away from his melee, he would be killed. He used [Double Edged] and [Vertical Slash] which made Dave escape the orc's grab.
The Minghocao bore through the ground and arena pavement, taking the orc into its deadly maw then spat him down and threw up loads of yellow acid that melted most of Singund's armor.
Singund was now at 1% HP. He just entered his most dangerous state and he will be in that state for 180 seconds. That's 3 minutes that Dave needed to survive.
Sadly, [Life Cleaver] doesn't work on monsters above level 400. And Singund was level 450. Dave needed to survive this on his own, relying on his skill and skills.
Singund roared at Dave and came charging with mad glee. Dave's hands blurred in ninja seals as he created two [Dragon Balls] and pointed at Singund. The two fireballs glided at a rapid pace toward Singund and smashed into him at once. But the Orc didn't flinch, he took the two fireballs head on and continued charging toward Dave.
Dave switched to his glaive, and swatted away an incoming chopping attack from the High Orc. Singund's cleaver was stuck once again in the floor, this gave Dave the time to swing another time at Singund's flank. But the High orc grabbed at the cleaver's blade using his other hand.
Dave knew that he could never pull out his weapon from the High Orc with just his 750 STR. So he used the skill he learned while fighting the manticore. [Blade Tornado].
The glaive was forcefully pulled away from the orc's hand in order for the skill to initiate as Dave spun around himself with the glaive held up, slicing at the orc. Singund was staggered for a few moment away by the glaive. Taking a few steps back, Singund kicked at Dave while he was spinning.
[-20,000]
Dave's spinning animation was forcefully sopped. He checked his HP, it was now less than 20%. The occasional proc of his new undead passive [Vigorous] restored some of his HP. But it was not enough to sustain the relentless onslaught of the high orc. Dave needed to handle this fight better.
Singund followed after Dave slashing his glaive haphazardly everywhere.
Dave had no way to defend from the incoming orc, even if he could block one or two attacks, he will never be able to evade the rest. He needed to be faster, much faster than he currently was.
A sudden epiphany came over him. It was light the light at the end of the tunnel. Dave rubbed the necklace Dagla gave him.
***
Skill [Juggler] has activated
Which stat do you wish Empower?
Be careful Juggler will reduce all of your other states besides [Stamina] [health] and Mana to 0 while empowering the state of your choice with the cumulative Attribute points with the total of the stat points you currently have.
Duration 60 seconds
***
Dave shouted confidently.
"ALL IN DEXTERITY!"
***
Skill Juggler has activated all of your attribute points, from equipment's and base attribute points have been added to Dexterity.
You currently have:[3310] DEX! (750 STR+ 950INT +700WIS+500 DEX +410 AGI)
You have obtained the passive [Inhuman Reactions]
***
Suddenly, Singund seemed to be slowing down, extremely so. When the orc swung his glaive, Dave managed to easily dodge the swing and took a few steps back.
"Huh? How come you dodged that?" Singund was shocked. He never expected the puny draugr to have this much speed.
"You look surprised?" Dave smiled. Right now, he could easily see Singund's moves and attack trajectory. Enraged by how this draugr managed to dodge his attacks, Singund attacked with more ferocity, only to have Dave easily dodge the attacks. For Dave, Singund was slower than a snail. And for any bystander, if he watched the two fighting, he would be utterly surprised. The hulking orc was ridiculously fast, but what was more mind bogging was the draugr that jumped and danced around the orc, dodging the blade coming at him by a hairbreadth and made it look easy.
The increase in dexterity gave Dave all he needed to evade the orc's attacks, he was now 'safe for 60 seconds. As long as he doesn't mess up, he could survive for one minute.
The time went on as the orc kept swinging. He wasn't going to be tired anytime soon, he was now an undead. But that didn't mean that his frustration didn't increase. The orc tried to attack, again and again, but Dave moved like flowing water dodging the attacks.
"WHY DON'T YOU HIT BACK!" Singund was wrathful. He had to admit that Dave was currently much faster than him. This was an opportunity that any war veteran would take to decimate their enemies. But Dave never attacked, this made the orc feel like this draugr was toying with him. It was shameful to the High Orc.
Suddenly, the orc threw his cleaver at Dave lunged at him in a bear hug. The attack was so sudden that Dave was only able to evade the cleaver and was caught in the Orc's bear hug.
Dave had no strength right now to fight off the massive muscles of the orc chief. This blunder spelled doom for Dave.
Singund reared his head for a headbutt. But when he swung his head forward, he hit nothing. Looking at his arms, the draugr was not there anymore, there was only Dave's death knight armor.
"Yeah, surprising right? Being dexterous can make you quite slippery," Dave smiled.
Singund was about to burst a blood vein. His wrath could increase no longer. He charged at Dave again who kept toying with him. But soon, the skill [Juggler] came to an end. The two were facing against each other, the orc had no idea that Dave could no longer be as slippery as before so Dave tried to buy more time.
"You can't beat me, Singund. Admit defeat." Dave said
"Never, we orcs never admit defeat, not even against the sharpness of a blade, or the grip of death!" Singund said.
"Quite valiant I say, but you can't catch me, how are you going to win?"
"That would have been true a few moments ago, but seeing that your muscles have returned to their rigid state, I say you can no longer be as agile as before. You are trying to buy time for me to lose my berserker state."
'Shit, he is a smarty.' Dave cursed, he didn't think that the Orc would pick up on his shrade.
"Now, come and meet your maker!" Singund roared and charged at Dave.
"Alright, time to step up the game a bit! ZEALOT!" Dave roared
His body increased in size as steam burst out from his pores. He was not wearing his armor so his draugr skin was revealed sizzling from incredible heat. He then activated the Chaos Runes. His skin began to burn bright as red magma colored veins seethed incredible heat through his body.
Singund stopped in mid stride. "Did you say Zealot? That's our forefathers' ability! How can a draugr have it!"
Dave knew that the Orc was talking about his ancestor who must have been a giant.
"Defeat me, and I might tell you," Dave smiled. He was now as large as the Orc. Dave switched to his gauntlets and activated [Aura]
"Let's turn up the heat!" Dave's leg pressed on the floor cracking it, then he burst forward with blinding speed.
Swinging his fist at the orc, Singund had to hold his sword to block. But this time, things were different, Dave managed to overpower the High Orc and pushed him a few steps back.
"Your strength has increased!" Singund said with a slight apprehension. It was not fear, but more like trepidation.
"Surprised now, aren't we?" Dave's draugr smile widened.
"Let's see how you can deal with this!" Dave slammed his fist on the orc's face, sending the giant oaf tumbling. He ran after Singund, grabbed him by the leg roared "HULK SMASH!"
Then began slamming Singund left and right like a true berserker.
Singund was disoriented from the attacks, he even dropped his cleaver in Dave's rampage.
Dave then spun Singund around himself and threw him away, wanting to score some style points, Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and teleported in mid air right above the still flying Singund and used [Dragon Kick].
Dave's avatar twirled downward, his foot chopping down Singund's chest and slammed him down the ground. A burst of fire erupted out from the ground.
Dave kept pummeling Singund, his face was unrecognizable right now, but the bastard didn't die. The 180 seconds felt like eons for Dave. His current stat would last for at most a few more seconds, and calculating the time Dave had spent, he still needed twenty more seconds for singund's passive to end.
Dave walked away from Singund and disabled his chaos runes. His HP had already reached rock bottom. It was a tick away from 1%.
Singund rose up groggily. He was battered, bloodied and in a pitiful state. His cleaver was laying right next to him.
"Looks like… you, lost that state too." Singund came to a realization when he saw Dave's avatar returning back to its regular size and state.
'Shit, 15 more seconds, how can I buy that much time.'
"Not even the heavens can save you from me now!"
'Heavens?' Dave looked up. He didn't notice that he was rubbing his beared. His signature move when he was planning something evil.
Dave switched to his tower shield and sword.
"Well, guess we will see about heaven helping me out or not!"
Dave had already activated [Call of Chaos]
Singund came running toward Dave.
"I'd look up if I were you," Dave said.
"Childe tricks!" Singund said as he swung his sword down at Dave.
Dave used [Block] canceling the attack. Suddenly, the dim lit space of the underworld became bright. Singund had to look up, turning his face, he saw an incoming massive meteor.
The meteor slammed into the arena exploding the whole area into nothingness. Thankfully, the magic supporting the arena was capable of focusing the meteor damage into the battle field and it didn't spread to the Undead City.
Dave was the user of the skill, so the meteor wasn't going to affect him. But Singund on the other hand was smashed into what remained of the arena floor.
Dave raised a brow, the High Orc was still alive.
Standing up the high orc screamed loud, "I have told you, not even the heavens can save you from me!"
Singund ran toward Dave and slice at him. Dave activated [Bastion] buying himself a few more seconds. But the smile on his face never faded.
Another bright light shone in the sky of the underworld. Singund, shaking looked back up. There was another meteor coming his way. This was simply because Dave had used [Twin Strick] synergizing it with [Call of Chaos].
"Madara would be proud! Tengai Shinsei, Biatch!"
The second meteor came crashing down on the arena obliterating whatever remained from the first crash.
A notification appeared in front of Dave.
***
You have won in your Challenge for Leadership.
You have slain [Singund The Conqueror]
Death Knight Singund the Conqueror is now under your command!
Singund the Conqueror is a High Orc leader, he will prove most powerful when leading orcs.
The undead legion has taken the obligation to revive some of Singund's Troops. When you return to the Wilds you will find them waiting for commands.
***