Chapter 113 - 113. HP Race
When another hut was razed, Jack knew he could not delay anymore. He looked at the radar and predicted which hut would be targeted next based on the Lizardman Chief's previous razing pattern. He then sneaked onto the opposite side.
When he arrived, another hut was destroyed. There was now only four left, including the one he was hiding at. So his distance with the two lizardmen was actually pretty short.
He took position as he waited for the Lizardman Chief to take action. When he heard the sound of another hut getting destroyed. He jumped out of hiding and casted Energy Bolts. He then returned to the back of the hut he was hiding at and ran out from the other side.
The Energy Bolts had taken both the Lizardmen's attention. As they were watching the bolts coming from one side of the hut, Jack dashed towards them from the other side.
Their reaction was a bit delayed due to attention on both fronts. Jack threw a Mana Bullet at the Lizardman Archer, but it managed to dodge it. However, this was intentional from Jack, as he had aimed the Mana Bullet a little to the side of the Archer, at the space in between the Archer and the Chief. So when the Lizardman Archer moved to the side to dodge the Bullet, it was also increasing its distance from the Lizardman Chief.
Jack used Sword of Light for the second time. The Lizardman Archer could not dodge as the crescent light traveled at a blinding speed. It struck at the Archer's chest, but it didn't produce critical hit this time.
Jack then got close to the Lizardman Archer, but instead of delivering slashes, he used Charge. Since he was executing it at a distance of one meter from the Lizardman Archer, it had no chance to dodge. The Charge traveled to a distance of eight meters, this meant the monster got dragged another seven meters away, putting more distance between itself and the Lizardman Chief.
After suffering consecutive hits, the Lizardman Archer's HP had fallen below 10%. With the Lizardman Chief some distance away, it had no chance to escape from Jack's relentless attacks.
The monster soon lost its remaining life and fell to the ground. Jack turned and looked at the approaching Lizardman Chief.
The Chief stopped in its track, looking at its last guard at Jack's feet. Its body trembled and uttered a low growl. It then released another soul rending roar. The berserk red aura returned to envelop its body.
Jack remembered Peniel said its defense was reduced when it was in this berserk state. Now that it was the last monster left, and there were not enough huts to play hide and seek with the monster anymore, Jack decided to just gamble on this last confrontation.
He took out one of the two remaining Basic Healing Potions to replenish his life to full. He then activated the Life Burning Art. He immediately lost 192 HP out of his full 640 HP, then he lost another 1 HP every one second. At this rate, he only had a little over seven minutes before his life ran out. This was also considering if he did not suffer any damage at all during the time.
He then activated his sword skill Overlimit to increase his sword damage output, his Storm Breaker transformed as it released energy with intimidating screeching sound. He also activated the Heightened State skill to increase his stamina and mana regeneration while reducing cooldown on all skills.
His status now could be said as his strongest condition.
The Lizardman Chief made the first move, it swinged its heavy axe down at Jack's head. Jack sidestepped to dodge it. With the Life Burning Art active, all his stats had been doubled, thus his speed was much faster even with the Lizardman Chief having the berserk buff.
He made a slash at the Chief's waist. 199 damage!
It was just a normal slash. Even Jack was slightly shocked by the damage.
The Overlimit skill only lasted for 85 seconds, so Jack could not afford to let it go to waste. He utilized his overwhelming speed to deliver more slashes. All the next slashes produced damage over 200 damages. Jack figured this must have been due to Overlimit effect which reduced the opponent's defense further after the first hit.
He continued with his barrages of attack. The Lizardman Chief was not going to just stand there and let Jack hit it freely. It swinged its axe to the side and started to spin its body. The berserk state had reset its skill's cooldown, so it could use that move again so soon.
Jack jumped back multiple times to put a distance as the spinning Lizardman rushed towards him. When it was about to connect, Jack turned to the side and used Charge. Fortunately, he had the Heightened State skill that reduced his skill's cooldown, so he could use the skill again so soon.
The Charge brought him out of the dangerous situation as he shot out from the Spinning Lizardman's path.
After his Charge ended, he turned and casted Mana Bullet and Energy Bolts. The Lizardman Chief's spinning stopped at the time as both spells hit him. It ignored both the spells as it squatted down before kicking the ground and pushed itself forward. It flew rapidly towards Jack, covering the distance in an instance with its leap attack.
Jack had expected the move. He jumped forward and rolled on the ground. They passed each other with the Lizardman Chief above the air while he was rolling on the ground.
The Lizardman Chief landed but still continued to strike on the ground out of frustration. It turned around but was immediately greeted by Jack with a Power Strike to its knee, which caused 394 damage. The Lizardman Chief howled in pain as its knee buckled from the force.
It still tried to strike back with a swing upward, but Jack blocked it with Magic Shield. Jack continued to dance around the monster while he slashed and blocked with Magic Shield. With an injured knee, the Lizardman Chief was having worse time dealing with Jack.
Jack continued to bombard the Lizardman Chief with attacks. He sometimes got hit as well but most of the time he could dodge with his remarkable speed. The damages he suffered added by the continual HP loss from Life Burning Art actually caused his HP bar percentage to fell only slightly behind the Lizardman Chief. It was like both their HP bars were having a race, to see who would drop to zero first.
When more than a minute had passed, Jack's Overlimit expired. His sword turned back to its original appearance. His damage plummeted, but his Life Burning Skill was still active. Hence, he was still faster and stronger than his normal self. At this time, the Lizardman Chief HP was already below 30%, while his own was around 40%.
With his damage output not as considerable as before, Jack took a more cautious approach. He could not just focus on offense anymore and hope that the Lizardman Chief's life would expire before his now.
He put on his Magic Shield constantly and used it to block in combination with his speed to reduce his damage as much as possible, while sending attack every now and then to chip on the enemy's HP. When his Heightened State ended, the Lizardman Chief's HP was below 10% while his was a bit below 20%.
However, his life percentage was not comparable to the Lizardman Chief's 10%. As his life remaining at this time was 119, the Lizardman Chief in its berserk state could kill him in one strike if it could use its skills and score a clean hit. Fortunately, it had used them when its berserk state started, so now it could only rely on its normal attacks. However, even with normal attack, two clean hits would most likely take him out.
With that in mind, Jack jumped back and put a distance. Time to switch to kiting technique. He got rid of his Magic Shield and started to send the two range spells in his arsenal, and then followed them up with standard range attacks.
The Lizardman Chief was frustrated. It tried to chase Jack but it was a futile effort as its speed was much lacking compared to his. When its HP was only a little over 300, Jack already felt assured of his victory. Just a few more hits, he thought in his mind.
But the Lizardman Chief suddenly made another angry roar, stream of red energy burst out.
"Careful!" Peniel warned.