Chapter 12 - 12. Cat And Mouse Through The House
Now that there were two monsters, it was much difficult for him to repeat the cycling maneuver on the street, unless both monsters had the same speed and dumb enough to continue following his trails. He was praying for that as he continued to kite them.
Reality proved cruel, as the Skeleton Captain was much faster than the Thug. He had to keep up with the Captain's speed, which made the Thug shifted his direction and crossed over from the circling pattern he had maintained. With the Thug at his flank, Jack had much more difficulties maintaining his range attack on the Captain.
As the Thug arrived by his side and cut his advance, he had to make a sideways alteration to his movement. This created an opportunity for the Captain to catch up. He saw the Captain slashed his saber, he had no time to dodge this time.
Another Parry. 61 damages were shaved off this time. His HP was less than one-third now.
It can't go on like this! He screamed in his mind. He needed to heal, he needed to eat a piece of bread to recover his health. But where would he find the window to do it? He forced himself to maintain calm. Panic would not help. He had played many VR games before where he was in a more dangerous situation than this. He just needed to think!
He looked around before his vision stopped at two big holes on the front wall of Bill's house, one on top of another. He needed a linear path to kite these monsters, he should be able to use the structure of that house.
With this thought, he dashed towards the house at full speed with the two monsters on tow. When he reached the bottom of the staircase, he could see the cracked walls and some steps had been broken, but he should still be able to make a climb. He clambered up the stairs in a hurry, he could hear the monsters were following closely from the heavy footsteps and crashings as they hit the walls and furniture.
He turned around once he reached the top of the stairs. He saw the Captain was starting to climb up the stairs, but it did it clumsily, which significantly reduced its speed. This was a golden opportunity! He stored his sword and took out a piece of bread and started munching on it, while his other hand with staff immediately cast Mana Bullet. He then followed it up with a few standard range attacks. Then finished the sequence with another Mana Bullet again before sprinting off when the Captain was about to reach him in melee range. His health was slowly regenerating due to the effect of the bread.
He went inside Bill's room which had no door nor windows anymore, just big holes in each opposite wall. He jumped out of the hole to the front lawn, and landed at almost the exact spot where he had jumped earlier. He saw the gaping hole caused by the Captain's saber, another idea blossomed in his mind.
He looked up and saw the Captain approaching the edge of the second floor's front wall. He stood his ground as it looked down on him. When he brandished his saber and jumped out, he immediately rolled away. A loud boom sounded out with a violent shake on the ground. This must be another of the monster's skills, its power was completely different from its normal attack. He had no doubt that if this skill hit him, it would most probably one-shot him.
The saber was knee-deep in the ground again. The Captain was tugging at it to get it out, but the weapon held tightly in the ground. This was the other golden opportunity he was expecting. As the Captain was busy trying to pull out its weapon, Jack ran to its back and immediately used his sword and performed Power Strike to the back of its head. Another Critical! He then frantically made as many slashes as he could while the monster was still preoccupied.
When the saber was halfway out, he hurriedly retreated. The saber tore out of the ground violently as its wielder made a raging swing to its back. It missed him by half a second. He didn't waste any more time as he spun around and ran again at full speed back into the house. As he was coming near the stairs, he saw the Skeleton Thug coming towards him. Its speed was much slower that it made a backtrack in order to catch him.
Jack didn't fear this Skeleton Thug, although it was 1 level higher than the Thug he had fought before, its movements weren't much different. He kept on running and made a duck when the Thug swung its club at him. He ran past the Thug while evading its attack, he had practiced this move on the lower-level Thugs several times. He then spun around and made a Power Strike onto its back.
He didn't continue attacking as he could see the Captain was approaching. He ran to the stairs and made another mad ascend. Once he was up, he ate another bread again. The bread provided only a total of 30 HP recovery, it was a pitiful amount but every small recovery would help to preserve his life. He then repeated his previous tactic again, blasting away using his spell and staff at the Captain who made a slow climb on the stairs.
Thank goodness the Monster had low intelligence, it didn't seem to be aware that it was being chipped away with such a repetitive method. It just kept coming at him as he led it circling around the house. He dealt with the Skeleton Thug whenever he went past it. It managed to damage him on two different occasions, but the Thug's attack was not as destructive as its mammoth counterpart.
He brushed off those two attacks and used another bread to heal back the missing HP. He also used one medicine to recover even more health and used one Energy Drink to recover his low MP. After five cycles, the Thug disintegrated into dust as it received another critical Power Strike at its back.
With the Thug taken care of, it would be much easier now. He felt relief as he saw the leftover dust on the floor of the second floor. He stood there before the hole on the wall, watching as the Captain had just managed to arrive on the second floor.
Now it's your turn. I'm gonna take care of you as well! Jack proclaimed in his mind as he wielded his sword with confidence.
Just before he was about to turn and jump out of the hole to repeat his kiting cycle, the Captain swung his arm. The saber suddenly appeared larger in his vision.
Oh, crap! It's the throwing move. He was alarmed as he hastily lifted his sword. He narrowly parried the impact, which promptly threw him out of the hole on the wall.
163 damage!
He landed heavily on his back and received another 12 damage. He felt pain all over his body.
Damn it! That's what you get for being careless. He scolded himself as he gnashed his teeth trying to ignore the pain and quickly getting himself up. His health was now back to a dangerous level, it was less than 20%. If he had not been healing himself with consumables before this, that one throw would have finished him. He looked up and saw the Skeleton Captain jumping down. He immediately jumped back to avoid getting stomped to death by the monster. He ran away as the Captain was chasing him.
Wait, he was slower now. He lost his weapon again. Jack looked around and saw the saber lying on the ground not far. He led the chasing monster away before doubling back towards the saber. When he arrived, he kicked it far away. It was best to not let it wield that weapon again. He thought about picking it up at first, but he was not sure if there would be any effect for picking up a Monster's weapon while the owner was still alive. It's best not to risk it, he only had a tiny bit of health left, so he opted to just send the weapon away to a safe distance.
Afterward, he was back to his first kiting method. Leading the monster in a round circle while he grinded away its remaining health with his range attacks. When it was down to around 15% of its health, it made a motion that summoned another helper.
This time it was a level 4 Skeleton Thug.