Jack arrived at his destination after one week of travel. The place was another mountain called Mount Draygetos. Jack was glad that this mountain was not a steep one like mount Audacias. He would hate to do vertical climbing again after the previous bitter experience.
This mountain was huge but its terrain was mostly traversable by feet.
On the morning of the day he arrived at the foot of Mount Draygetos, his human age also reached nine months. He received a new racial active skill.
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Ambition, rank 1 (Active skill). All damage received is reduced by 30%, movement speed +50%, cleanse and immune to mental status ailments. Duration: 50 seconds. Cooldown: 30 minutes
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Peniel informed Jack that three types of monsters inhabited this mountain. Their level ranges from level 45 to 50, which was a suitable leveling ground for him. Even better was that two out of these three monsters were draconic monsters. So, he could also farm draconic essences.
However, he was not here to farm exp nor draconic essences. He had another purpose, which Peniel informed him should be located at the top of this mountain.
Even though he didn’t plan to farm exp, he was still going to kill any monsters that came into range. Hence, he didn’t use Pandora so as to not scare them off. He walked up the mountain.
Before long, his radar picked up some red dots. He saw that these dots grouped together. There were seven of them. He headed towards them.
When they came into view, he saw that there were two types of monsters among the seven. One winged monster that was larger than the rest, it looked like a cross between a dragon and a chicken. Crawling behind it were six large lizards with brown and white striped bodies. Jack used Inspect at them.
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Drackcatrice (Special elite, Draconic), level: 48
HP: 250,000
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Gilas (elite monster, Reptile), level: 45
HP: 110,000
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The six lizards, Gilas, followed Drackcatrice as if it was their leader. The drackatrice had a bat-like wing but it just strutted around with its two chicken legs and its beak held high. Its posture did make it seem like that weird group was a pack and it was the leader.
“What are you waiting for?” Peniel asked. “They shouldn’t be a problem for you. That drackatrice can release a shriek that paralyzes you, but the duration is short. The Gilas have poison breath, but they are slow.”
“Mm,” Jack just nodded, but he still didn’t rush over. Instead, he said, “Let’s test it out.”
“Test what out?” Peniel asked.
Jack held his Storm Breaker and activated a skill. A sword image resembling his sword hovered beside him. He hadn’t tested this skill in combat yet because the monsters he passed by in his travel here were all too low-level.
Usually, a Weapon Master used this skill in the vicinity of their opponents so the spirit weapon could dive into action once summoned. The skill duration at its first level was only two minutes, after all. So, it was best to utilize this skill in a melee engagement.
<br/>Peniel had explained to Jack that with each level increase, the duration would increase by twenty-four seconds. If the skill was fully maxed, the spirit weapon would last for ten long minutes.
Jack had summoned the spirit weapon without initiating a fight because he had seen this spirit weapon being inactive for a while the last time it was summoned. He wanted to see if it was because there was no opponent. If so, he wanted to check how close he needed to get to the enemy before the spirit weapon woke up.
This time, however, the spirit weapon broke apart as soon as it was summoned. The sword shape broke into several components and revealed the large central energy core with the cat eye pupil. At the same time, Jack heard the spirit weapon’s rough voice again, “Hostiles detected. Initiating range mode.”
“Range mode? What is a range mode?” Jack asked in his astonishment.
The spirit weapon didn’t answer his question. The blade parts of the spirit weapon that had broken into two long blades, disassembled again into eight tinier blades. The blades hovered around for a second before shooting forward to where the pack of monsters was.
The eight blades struck all seven monsters, scoring damage with an ambush bonus. The attack didn’t stop there. After penetrating through the monsters, the blades flew in a curve and back to the monsters. They then pierced the monsters again. The blades did so countless times, they were so fast that the monsters weren’t able to dodge. Each time they hit, they caused damage. Jack noticed the damages were as high as the normal attacks he inflicted when his Storm Breaker was in an Overlimit state, which meant the damages they inflicted were most likely chaos damage.
The lead of the pack, the draconic drackatrice, finally noticed Jack. It then knew that Jack was the one sending the attacks. It had tried to strike at the blades but the blades were too fast and too small. It knew then it had to attack the source instead.
It flapped its wing and flew towards Jack at a low altitude. The eight blades didn’t chase after the drackatrice, they stayed with the six Gilas, continuing to shave the monsters’ lives.
Jack readied his magic staff. With his two weapons, he was about to go engage the incoming drackatrice. However, he felt a sudden burst of mana from the spirit weapon beside him.
The eye, or the energy core of the spirit weapon, released blindingly bright energy before a thick beam shot out from that eye. The beam struck dead center at the drackatrice that was coming over. Not only did it receive damage, but it was also pushed back by the powerful beam. The beam lasted for a while, damage numbers came up each second above the dackatrice’s head while it kept being pushed back by the beam.
When the beam stopped, the drackatrice was down on the ground, shivering, and unable to move. The black electricity that usually accompanied Storm Breaker’s Overlimit display, was now running along the monster’s body.
“It was paralyzed,” Peniel said after seeing the monster’s inability to move.
The eight blades never stop hitting the eight Gilas back there. They were unable to fight against the small flying blades so they decided to advance and follow their leader that was still down on the ground. But they were slow, before they arrived, the drackatrice had recovered. It then uttered an angry shriek before flying forward again.
Jack just stood his ground this time. He was wondering what his spirit weapon would do. It stayed still.
When the drackatrice was almost upon them, Jack readied himself. But then he felt the familiar mana spike again. The spirit weapon’s single eye shone brightly as before. The same beam fired and struck the drackatrice for the second time. It was damaged and pushed back as before.
Jack had taken note. The interval between the two shots was one minute. The drackatrice was again down on the ground after that powerful blast.
The six Gilas which suffered the blades’ unending punishment, had all perished. The blades now flew towards the drackatrice as it recovered its ability to move.
While Jack was marveling at the scene, he heard the spirit weapon’s rough voice, “Duration almost ends. Do you wish to activate finishing mode?”
“Huh? What is a finishing mode?” Jack asked.
Instead of answering, the spirit weapon repeated its question, “Do you wish to activate finishing mode?”
“F*ck it! Heck yeah, activate the bloody finishing mode!” Jack uttered.
The spirit weapon floated up high. The eight blades flew back to it, they recombined and then the spirit weapon transformed again. This time, its size grew rapidly until it turned into a giant Storm Breaker in the sky. Jack was gaping as he watched the scene.
This gigantic Storm Breaker then swung down. Trails of energy followed its swing, creating dazzling light. The giant Storm Breaker struck the drackatrice in its flight path. It was forcefully slammed to the ground. The sword image then broke apart again, this time revealing its giant eye that shone brightly before exploding spectacularly.
By the time the explosion dispersed, the drackatrice had turned to dust already. The spirit weapon was also no more.
Jack still stood in his original position, wide-eyed. He didn’t even need to do any attack and it took his spirit weapon only a short two minutes to rout these seven monsters.
Both Jack and Peniel were speechless after witnessing the spirit weapon’s might. It took Jack some time before he shouted, “Hell yeah! What did I tell you?!”
Peniel was startled by Jack’s sudden yell. She felt like slapping him for that.
“I tell you it is the right call, didn’t I? Didn’t I tell you?” Jack was still shouting. “I have hit the jackpot! Yeah!”
He then turned to Peniel, “You mentioned a spirit weapon will be stronger if used on higher-grade weapons, didn’t you?”
“That’s correct,” Peniel answered.
Jack lifted his Storm Breaker high, “You, my friend, is one heck of a sword. I promise you, I will feed you the best swords I can find and help you become the most powerful sword in this world!”
