“Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap!!!”
“Hmm?! Sniff, sniff-”
As I stepped forward, the Orc High-Rank Warrior flared his nostrils and shouted.
“You brat!! Poison! Skeleton trickery!”
– The Orc High-Rank Warrior is now poisoned.
– Experience points gained.
The message echoing in my head indicated that I was steadily dealing dot damage to him. The opponent had figured out that I was the culprit, but it didn’t matter.
It had been about 20 minutes since he got poisoned, so considering his natural recovery, he must have lost at least 20% of his health by now. With the stacked paralysis effect, he must be feeling quite uncomfortable.
“Heheh- The cockroach skeleton. A war trophy. Not breaking the head, sitting on it for life.”
‘Uh… that’s a bit scary, I’d end up living as an Orc’s butt pillow for life.’
Schluck-
‘No way!’
I gripped my dagger tightly and walked towards him.
(Il-wol, the acceleration effect diminishes over time.)
(I know.)
The form of Ran, perched on my shoulder, dimmed as she cast [Acceleration] on me one last time.
“Hah- Hah-”
I squeezed out my magic power, summoning Ran for a moment.
‘You must be tired… Thanks, Yeon-hee.’
[Acceleration]
– Your body becomes much more agile.
– Reaction speed increases by 12%.
“Grrr!”
“Clap, Clap!!”
I get the buff while he gets the debuff.
This should considerably narrow the gap, right?
The Orc and I exchanged glances as we moved a few steps in half-circles.
‘Okay. Focus on evading for now-‘
Twist-
‘Here it comes!’
[Stealth]
I immediately crouched down to the ground, responding to his muscle movements. I didn’t forget to hide my figure to blur my targeting.
Whooooooooosh―!
A massive air pressure swept over my head.
‘Ahhh! That was dangerous! If I had tried to dodge with my eyes, I’d be done for!’
It was risky to sense and evade. I needed near-precognitive dodging at this point.
I concentrated all my senses on him and focused every nerve.
“Hmm?! The cockroach! Pulling some tricks!”
He seemed to think I dodging his attack was due to the effect of Stealth, swinging his giant axe in a large X pattern and charging in again.
With blood covering my body, the effect of Stealth had greatly decreased.
But considering I was still evading his attacks, it didn’t seem completely useless.
Swish- Clang-
The blade of his axe grazed past me as if carving through bone.
I had evaded by barely grazing it several times, and the Orc finally collected his posture and breath to prepare for a proper stance.
“This skeleton, it’s a strange one. Going to take me seriously!”
‘Phew- You could’ve just been sloppy, you little brat.’
In a situation where evasion was all I could do, I knew that I’d get one clear chance.
That one chance.
I absolutely had to survive it.
Whoosh- Boom!
The more he swung his weapon violently, my sense of crisis rose along with my mental state.
Keeping track of job changes, checking how much [Acceleration] was left, and the thought of having to protect Yeon-hee all faded slightly.
Then, the multiple gazes that had been watching me scattered behind me, and a space exclusive to just the Orc and me manifested.
Thanks to my raised concentration, it was a pure white space. I had entered the so-called “Martial” space mentioned by the system.
Since becoming a skeleton, I had either improved my focus, or I had experienced this in my past life; my memories were fuzzy.
I simply felt my body become lighter, and my senses sharpened, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Grr!”
The Orc didn’t seem to realize he had entered a different realm. Was this a phenomenon exclusive to me?
Soon, his yellow eyes slid sideways, leaving an afterimage.
‘Afterimage… Now I can see it…’
I found it a bit easier to grasp his movements, but even in my Stealth state, it felt like he could see right through me and attack, so the sense of danger didn’t dissipate.
Swoosh-
I dispelled my Stealth to seize a single opportunity.
“Chah yah yah yahk-! The cockroach skeleton, I can see you!”
With a satisfied grin, he swung his giant axe again, as if he had lost a tooth.
As if two magnets of the same poles had met, I dodged as he thrust forward. We danced around each other in a series of exchanges.
‘Just once…’
Whoosh-
The airflow created by the mighty axe pushed me slightly backward. What incredible power and speed. But I was getting accustomed to it.
He must have experienced countless battles as an Orc Warrior. While he might have started clumsily, he’s surely developed his unique flow over time.
In my past life, I had a keen interest not just in Hunter movements but in Monster movements as well. I had once pondered whether there was any common logic behind their movements.
Of course, such rules were nonexistent, and I realized that their movements were not fundamentally different from those of the high-ranking Hunters.
They flowed as naturally as water. Jo Gi-man, Kang Yeon-su, and even the Ilseom Guild’s Hyeon Joong-gil.
They moved without hesitation, flowing with the current. This Orc in front of me was awkwardly trying to imitate that.
So that made it easier to predict where his next move would end up compared to pesky ones like Goblins.
Swoosh-
He switched his grip on the axe handle mid-air and spun beautifully, slicing through the air.
I continued my daring tightrope walk to evade that attack. If I ran far to dodge, he’d likely chase me instead.
I matched his movements and slowly led him.
‘There’s something tasty here.’
Shake shake- I swung the bait.
The Orc lost his senses over the uncatchable prey, his eyes igniting with rage. His pupils split vertically, sending shivers down my spine.
When the Orc’s flurry toward my head curved left.
[Stealth]
I suddenly vanished from his sight.
In the darkness, just like abrupt bright light obscures one’s vision, he had to switch his search method from sight to scent.
That brief moment of weakness destabilized his balance.
I bent my body as if to fall to avoid the now-swinging axe.
“Ku ra?!”
‘Gotcha!’
He stumbled as his weight shifted heavily to the right due to the force of the axe swing.
Normally, such a gap would never occur, but after being exposed to paralysis for so long, he was far from normal.
One swing.
I aimed to rip his thick leather wide open.
“Those who can’t focus on that one thing, flailing about for a sword, really make my heart ache at times, heh.”
A small fragment of a memory passed through my mind.
Swish!
The short dagger, shorter than my hand, plunged into his chest with force, slicing deeply downwards.
“Chwaaa?!”
A crack appeared where the dagger passed. Blood trickled down the line, and the thick leather struggled to contain the warm blood as it erupted out into the air.
Even before the Orc’s astonishment had fully faded, I plunged one last ‘tooth’ bomb deep inside his gaping chest and hit it like a hammer.
Fwooosh-!
‘Take this-!’
Simultaneously, his axe struck my head and shoulder from the side.
Crack!
It seemed like I wasn’t the only one waiting for an opportunity. Even after being brought down, he swung his axe with the handle tightly gripped, throwing it like a projectile.
In that moment, the yellow eyes of the Orc High-Rank Warrior clearly recognized me. I, too, kept a close eye on his gaze.
His face was twisted, but strangely looked satisfied.
Boom!!
In that instance, I was flung out from the space of nothingness and slammed against the right wall.
Kaboom―!!
The ‘tooth’ bomb blew up, sensibly detonated in the upper body of the Orc High-Rank Warrior.
Thud-!
As the Orc High-Rank Warrior collapsed and knelt, the remaining Orc Warriors took quite some time to grasp the situation.
Just moments ago, the skeleton had been darting around like a rat, yet now their captain was dramatically gone, followed by a massive explosion.
“Captain… dead?”
“Revenge… Revenge!!”
With a roar, the Orcs appeared greatly agitated by the loss of their commander. Their eyes burning with madness, they charged towards my party members en masse.
“Calm down-”
Whummm-
Yeon-hee remained unaffected and quickly resummoned her summoned creatures. I’m not sure how long my fight with the Orc lasted, but it was certainly not a short time.
Even so, it would have been impossible to recover that much magic power without the power of an Ancient Crystal processed into the Orb.
Yeon-hee summoned seven Lizardmen at once and tossed the Orb to Noh Ha-yoon.
The summoned Lizardmen rushed at the Orcs immediately.
Thud-
Noh Ha-yoon received the Orb, momentarily rolling her eyes in a daze before quickly embracing the Orb and closing her eyes.
It was her desperate struggle to resonate quickly with the Artifact.
Maybe that actually worked, as she pierced the head of one of the Orcs pushing through, tearing apart a Lizardman.
A strange-angled Orc fell from the rocks and quickly tried to get up.
“Fallen Blade!!”
Slash-!
“Eh? I, I can do this?”
Helen was the most surprised when her main skill cleanly beheaded the stumbling Orc Warrior’s head.
“They’re in a state of poisoning and paralysis!! Fight as if they were Lizardmen! They have weakened significantly!!”
Helen muttered, looking at the wobbling Orcs, “That’s definitely true.”
As Bae Joo-ah instigated a change in perception within Helen’s team, for the first time today, they stepped forward cautiously, showing signs of advancement.
The width made it hard for more than five to enter at once.
With Bae Joo-ah’s stone wall going back up, the space narrowed even more.
The Sorcerers rotated the Orb to recover their magic power, and a few minutes passed as they desperately held the line.
I watched that scene blankly while hearing a crackling sound from my head.
‘Looks like I cracked my core when I got hit by that axe.’
I wanted to take out the jug from my inventory and pour some water on it, but…
– You cannot access the Inventory.
‘I see…’
But even though I felt like I was dumbly dying, I wasn’t going to just sit back.
[Corrupted Breath]
‘Further, further, more-’
Squeezing out my magic power to the last drop, I sent the toxic mist towards the Orcs engaged in battle with my party.
– Skill [Corrupted Breath] level has increased!
Today’s stellar performance from Corrupted Breath achieved unprecedented growth.
Fwooosh- Whoosh-
It scattered in mid-air, desperately blowing out my poisonous breath.
‘Haha, this is funny. Really amusing…’
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