It had never known fear before. But now, staring at Marcus, it felt as though death itself had taken form before it. Every instinct urged it to flee, yet as the guardian of the third floor of the Black Rock Spire, retreat was forbidden. Even if it wanted to run, it couldn't; its body refused to move.
Marcus, too, felt the weight of the exchange. If not for his high defense and deep health pool, he would already be dead. Those two hits had nearly carved nine hundred points from his health, leaving him shaken but not broken.
He quickly pulled a Large Health Potion from his belt and downed it in one go.
Large Health Potion: Restores 200 HP per second for 10 seconds. Price at the Herbalist's Shop: 10 gold coins.
The potion's warmth spread through him as his health bar began to climb. Thank goodness for the Ring of Greed, the item expanded his inventory capacity fivefold, letting him carry a generous supply of health and mana potions. Normally, Medium Health Potions were more than enough for his battles, but after reaching Level 20, he had splurged on ten Large Health Potions just in case. He hadn't expected to burn through one so soon.
'Why isn't it moving?'
Marcus narrowed his eyes. His health hadn't even recovered to half, yet the monster wasn't pressing its advantage. Suspicious, he activated Insight.
Werewolf Cabaro: Level 30 Silver BOSS. HP: 5000.
Skills: Horizontal Slash, Vertical Chop.
Characteristics: High attack, slow speed.
Ultimate Moves: Horizontal Slash – Storm of Blades, Vertical Chop – Skull Splitter. Attack power doubles while active. Both moves are devastatingly strong but inflict a five-second Stun after use.
Background: Once an ordinary mountain wolf, Cabaro mutated and gained sentience after a hundred years of exposure to strange magic, taking on a humanoid form and becoming lord of its territory. However, after venturing too far from its mountain, it was lured into the Black Rock Spire, where it wreaked havoc until a master from the fifth floor subdued it. Bound by oath and enchantment, Cabaro now serves as the guardian of the third floor, forever keeping intruders at bay.
Marcus let out a slow, controlled breath, his knuckles turning white as he readjusted his grip on the Skeleton Blade.
"So that's your story," he muttered, his gaze locking onto the frozen beast.
He had to admit, the system's reward skill Insight was an incredible tool, almost absurdly useful.
If not for Insight revealing that Cabaro would enter a five-second state of immobility after unleashing its ultimate move, Marcus would probably be running for his life right now, dodging the monster's furious strikes.
Now it made sense why the Werewolf Cabaro hadn't finished him off earlier, it was trapped in that five-second freeze. Marcus didn't waste the opportunity. He surged forward, blades flashing, unleashing Double Strike over and over against the immobilized werewolf.
-200, -400, -230, -410.
Each swing hit clean and hard. Against a slow brute like Cabaro, Marcus's critical hit rate was through the roof. His high Agility and Luck turned every strike into a blood-drawing blow with almost no chance of missing. His attack speed wasn't that of a typical Knight at all, it was closer to an Assassin's, a blur of relentless motion.
-400, -500.
Still, he had to admit, Cabaro's two signature moves were nothing to scoff at. The moment its immobility ended, the werewolf roared and moved with terrifying speed, hefting its axe high before unleashing Storm of Blades and Skull Splitter in brutal succession.
Crack! Crack!
The twin blows slammed into Marcus, dealing over nine hundred damage and throwing him backward.
Even so, instead of panic, Marcus felt a flicker of excitement. He actually welcomed the werewolf's so-called ultimate moves, because right after using them, Cabaro was frozen again in that same five-second rigor.
Marcus rolled to his feet, popped a Large Health Potion, and dashed back in to continue his assault.
'Seriously?' he thought as he struck again. Insight had mentioned that Cabaro had "gained intelligence." If this was its idea of smart, then what did that make him? A damn genius? The beast waited for the stun to end, used both ultimates, and locked itself right back in place like a training dummy.
It was practically begging to be farmed.
A grin spread across Marcus's face as his blades cut through fur and muscle.
-200, -210, -190.
When the Werewolf Cabaro's Health dropped below a thousand, it finally seemed to catch on. This time, when the stun ended, it held back its ultimates and switched to regular skill attacks instead.
But that change came too late. What Cabaro thought were high-damage attacks barely scratched Marcus's thick armor and high-Defense build. He was more than safe.
Confident now, Marcus picked up speed, his Skeleton Blade slicing faster and faster until the werewolf's health bar emptied completely. Cabaro let out a final, mournful howl before collapsing to the ground, eyes wide open in disbelief; as if dying with a grievance it couldn't voice.
Its greatest regret, Marcus thought, was that its most powerful attack had become the very thing that doomed it.
---
"Ding! Congratulations, Player Stonehaven, your level has increased. You are now Level 22. Health increased by 10, Mana increased by 10. You have 5 attribute points to allocate."
"Ding! Congratulations, Player Stonehaven, you have slain the Werewolf Cabaro. Reputation increased by 30."
'Hell yeah.'
After sweeping through the third floor of Black Rock Spire and clearing out every monster and both bosses, Marcus had gained another level.
Life was good when no one was around to steal your kills. He allowed himself a satisfied grin before scooping up the gear Cabaro had dropped.
Of course, he wasn't about to let the werewolf's body go to waste. He raised a hand and cast Gathering on the corpse.
"Ding! Congratulations, Player Stonehaven, you have obtained a Low-Grade Earth Core. Gathering skill proficiency increased."
"Ding! Congratulations, Player Stonehaven, you have obtained a Werewolf Fang. Gathering skill proficiency increased."
Low-Grade Earth Core: A core formed only within monsters of Level 30 or higher. It contains their condensed life energy. An intermediate material widely used in weapon forging and potion crafting.
Werewolf Fang: Sharper than a regular wolf's fang. An intermediate weapon material with a chance of armor penetration.
Not bad at all. Intermediate materials weren't easy to come by. Marcus tossed them into his inventory, then turned his attention to the loot spread across the third floor of Black Rock Spire.
The blue-grade equipment dropped by the lesser mobs didn't interest him; they were all Level 25 to 30 junk. What he really cared about were the top-tier drops from the two bosses.
Shadow Cloak of the Dark Spirit (Artifact): Requirement: Level 20. Effect unknown. Cannot be equipped.
Now that was a real prize. The Skeleton Banshee had dropped an Artifact, and not just any artifact; a cloak, one of the rarest equipment slots in the entire game. Marcus's eyes gleamed. Something like this would sell for a fortune on the market.
He immediately set a teleportation point nearby, his thoughts racing. 'Skeleton Banshee, you're mine. If I can get two or three more of these Shadow Cloaks, I'll be rich.'
Of course, what he didn't realize was that the Skeleton Banshee was a unique, one-time quest monster, a being that had taken centuries of absorbing pure negative energy to form. There wouldn't be another one like it.
Still, he wasn't done checking the loot.
Skill Book: Phantom Body: A long-lost, high-level ultimate skill. A simplified version of the legendary Divine Skill of physical immunity, granting a certain chance to negate physical attacks entirely.
Marcus froze. 'You've got to be kidding me.' He had just been admiring the Skeleton Banshee's Phantom Body skill during their fight, and now she'd dropped the book for him? That was too perfect. It felt like finding a pillow the moment you started to feel sleepy.
He opened the skill book without hesitation.
"Stonehaven, do you wish to learn the high-level ultimate skill 'Phantom Body'? This skill book offers only one chance to learn, and the skill book will disappear upon learning."
"Learn it," Marcus said instantly, heart pounding with excitement.
"Ding! Congratulations, Player Stonehaven, you have learned the high-level ultimate skill Phantom Body. Reputation increased by 30."
Phantom Body: Level 1 (0/50000). Passive skill. Requirement: None. Grants a ten percent chance to be immune to physical attacks.