Longest Chapter yet!

I had a lot of fun writing this one so i hope you guys enjoy :D

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Chapter 8: Fight to the Death

After dropping all of his junk loot at Dio and selling it at double the normal price, Makoto left the trembling Merchant behind with a wicked smile on his face.

A quick repair of his gear and restocking on potions as well as food later he bid farewell to the dazzling city of Talis again.

The Journey to the cave was rather uneventful, he only encountered a few players and all of them were engaged in combat against different Monsters.

After entering the Dungeon he was vigilant in staying on high alert.

He did not want a repetition of last time when a surprise attack had taken nearly half of his health before the real fight even started.

The Crystal Lizards could be considered a joke at his current level, it took him only a few seconds to dispose of them after knowing their pattern so well.

Going deeper than ever before into the cave, the number of lizards steadily increased and the difficulty quickly ramped up.

Soon enough he was in a Life or Death battle with about 20 Crocodile sized lizards trying to get a piece of him.

While swinging his blade left and right he cut off arms, legs, tails and rarely when the creature was nearly dead, heads too.

Fountain after fountain of blood exploded into the air, soaking his clothes and skin with the red liquid.

Honestly it was rather refreshing for him, bathing in the blood of his enemies had something sinister to it that he quite enjoyed.

Seeing his cruel and incredible actions, many lizards started running away but he could not allow his prey to escape that easily so he started chasing the poor things, their screams never to be heard again in this glittering cave.

.....

Makoto was very surprised about the number of lizards and depth of this peculiar Dungeon.

He wandered in these tunnels for more than 5 hours now, counting all the battles too naturally, but the actual distance he traveled was easily 10 miles.

The light and amount of crystals only increased the deeper one went and after going around another bend in the tunnel he could hear faint but still audible battle noises up ahead.

Not far away he could see the familiar backs of 3 players, a Warrior, a Mage and an Archer engaged into battle against 2 dozen Crystal Lizards.

They all seemed to struggle terribly but Makoto could only count himself lucky.

Waiting for a good moment he silently stepped closer to the one furthest in the back, it was the Mage.

After letting her cast another fireball against the many lizards up front he saw her drink a small blue potion, it was a mana potion.

That was the exact moment he struck, while drinking a mana potion or health potion a player was executing an action that could not be interrupted, Makoto had tested it himself and it took about 5 seconds to down one potion, that was his time window.

While gripping his sword with both hands, Makoto executed an upward slash and then rotated his blade slashing down again leaving a red X on the girls back.

123 Damage dealt!

146 Damage dealt!

With a surprised look the girl turned around, unable to use any skills with the mana potion still glued to her lips but about to jump away to escape certain death.

Sadly she was far too slow for Makoto, with his high Agility he only took one step to the side to adjust his strike before piercing the unfortunate Mage directly into her heart.

Critical hit!

245 Damage dealt!

For killing a Chaotic player the usual penalties do not apply.

That was 1 down.

Not wanting to give up the element of surprise, Makoto quickly charged further up front towards the Archer, sword ready in hand.

For some odd reason the Archer noticed him before he could land his attack and blocked the blow with his bow.

"Drake!"

Dawnwind screamed frantically before a well placed slash slit his throat, a new splash of fresh blood soaking Makoto's face comfortably.

With another slash and stab the poor guy grew limp while the light left his eyes.

For killing a Chaotic player the usual penalties do not apply.

Finally the Warrior, Drake, turned around after hearing his teammate scream and shock was visible on his face after seeing Makoto.

Soon a mindless rage was replacing the shocked expression and brandishing his two handed sword, pretty boy ran straight towards him while 3 Crystal Lizards bit and scratched his back but he did not seem to care.

There was still about 10 Lizards left when Drake rushed towards Makoto but he decided to also ignore them by simply evading their attacks.

Meeting the one who killed him before with a beaming smile, he proceeded in ramming his sword into the guys gut after evading his flimsy strike.

+1 Evasiveness!

Surprised about the sudden message he stopped and received a slash on his upper arm for not paying attention.

You have received 45 Damage!

Unhappy about the gash he replied by swiftly piercing the guys gut again, the feeling of his sword piercing flesh brought another wicked smile to his face.

102 Damage dealt!

Coughing up blood, Drake tried to shake him off but Makoto was like a tick, once he drew blood he was reluctant to let go of his prey.

"Goddamn you, just die already!"

The blond boy screamed while swinging his sword again, unable to land a proper hit which in turn helped to only infuriate him even further.

After stabbing Drake in the side again while twisting his sword he also kicked the poor guy in the knee.

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Cripple: -25% movement and attack speed until the battle is finished

Howling in pain Drake went to the ground holding his knee that was bent at the wrong angle, dropping his sword in the process and losing any possibility of fighting back anymore.

Smiling like a Demon ready to harvest a poor soul, Makoto decided to kill the lizards first before ending the crippled players life.

7 Minutes later he watched in amazement as a crying Drake slowly crawled away, dragging his now useless leg behind him in hopes of maybe still surviving to see another day.

"Pretty boy it was a big mistake messing with me, I hope you know that now."

"Fuck you! Seriously screw you, you goddamn Psycho. I'm gonna make sure that you will never join a guild after what you did today. Yggdrasil will remember this you hear me!?"

"I just did the same that you did to me, well not quite because if I remember right it was 3 against 1 at that time, just this time I won."

Smiling and not caring about the petty threats from this blond scumbag, Makoto rammed his sword into Drake's throat and twisted it a couple of times with devilish joy until finally, Drake dropped dead to the ground.

For killing a Chaotic player the usual penalties do not apply.

Still a bit unsatisfied with letting them get away with only dying once Makoto was about to check them for loot when a new system message popped up.

Through your cruel and inhuman actions in dealing with your previous killers your title has changed properties.

Slayer of All:As a beast inside a human body you show no remorse even after killing your own kind.

You are a monster in human disguise, torturing your victims to death while ignoring their screams or plights.Effects:+5% Damage against all living Creatures.

Relationship with all Demons greatly increases.Additional Effects:You instill a natural fear into all living things, everything that is below your level will be under the 'fear' status effect while everything above your level will only have more desire to kill you, making agro pulling very easy.

Guards will naturally look at you suspiciously and punishments for doing wrong or breaking the law will be more severe.

Apparently Titles can be upgraded too, interesting...

Unsure if he liked the description of his character from this new title, Makoto decided to just ignore it and be happy that he would permanently do 5% more Damage against pretty much every enemy in the game now.

That alone was worth all the demerits that this Title came with.

Continuing what he was about to do before he was interrupted, Makoto searched the party he had ambushed and found something familiar lying on the ground.

"Oh my god...can it be?!"

Running quickly towards it he grabbed the pair of gloves lying on the ground and equipped them happily.

"Daddy will make sure you will never leave his side again..."

With a somewhat mad glint in his eyes Makoto proceeded in caressing his gloves that Drake had dropped after dying.

Finding the lost piece of equipment again could only be a sign from the gods telling him that it truly was a treasure well deserved.

After kissing the dearly missed equipment one last time he started to focus on the here and now again.

Currently his situation was as followed, even if he hurried back he would probably run into the now severely pissed off group of Drake and his friends.

It would take him about 3 hours to run to the exit if nothing had respawned yet, while they would only need about half an hour to reach the entrance from Talis, effectively blocking his path anyways.

"Might as well proceed and maybe find the boss before they get here. It took them ages to get to this point anyways if even I was able to catch up."

Proceeding further into the brightly illuminated cave he encountered some more Crystal Lizards before finding himself at the entrance to a gigantic room with sparkling Gems adorned all over the walls.

And just as he remembered from the video, an incredibly big Lizard was sleeping on the floor.

Gemstone Lizard: Boss Monster lvl 10

Only seeing a big pile of experience and loot, Makoto walked up towards it.

It was going to be a tough fight, if Elite Monsters nearly killed him in one hit he didn't even want to think about what this boss would do to him if he got caught.

Breathing, in a calm and steady rhythm, Makoto raised his sword with both hands.

If this thing didn't move until he attacked it he was going to capitalize on this opportunity as much as he could.

With all his strength in this one blow he focused on the hind leg of the Gemstone Lizard, cutting where he thought the hamstring tendon would be with this thing.

82 Damage dealt!

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Cripple: -15% movement and attack speed until the battle is finished.

Glad that his plan worked he immediately jumped forward, trying to force his blade deep into the body of this thing but the shining plates protecting its flesh were tough and reduced the depth he was able to pierce by quite a bit.

With a thunderous roar and unhappy of being woken up, the Gemstone Lizard tried to turn around, only to find out that one of its legs was not responding properly.

Without wasting any time he deepened the piercing wound with a few slashes, twisting his blade every time he was able to cut under the protective layer of the scales, effectively shaving them off and exposing unprotected flesh and muscle beneath it.

It was the same tactic he had used against the Rock Crab King with its high Defense.

Now his Damage was true without the exterior Armor.

156 Damage dealt!

134 Damage dealt!

A sudden movement in the corner of his eye warned him and with barely enough time, Makoto stopped his attacks and instead jumped back, evading a ginormous tail that was aimed to knock him away from the vulnerable area.

Unwilling to let go of the opportunity he had created, Makoto risked his neck multiple times trying to go near the exposed flesh.

Finally the Gemstone Lizard managed to turn around to him with only 3 limbs working and it was the first time it saw its attacker properly.

Another screeching roar escaped its mouth and with surprising Agility and Strength it pushed with both its front legs to propel its massive body forward, an obvious attempt to simply ram Makoto.

True, getting even as much as brushed from a 15 ton heavy Monster like that was probably enough to cripple him severely so not chancing it he jumped to the left, not forgetting to evade the tail swipe that followed the passing body as well.

Surprised about being unable to catch its opponent with that attack, it took the Lizard a good bit to turn around again and Makoto used this opportunity to slash and stab as much as possible at its exposed backside.

It was doubly difficult to even hit him with the tail while turned away simply because the Gemstone Lizard was so big that its own body was hiding Makoto when he was behind it.

After another roar, this time it tried to simply swallow the human whole but failed and ignoring another frustrated bellow the little creature went behind its back again and continued to poke and slash the exposed area.

Slowly but surely the crippled effect only increased as more muscle tissue got damaged, making it nearly impossible to use both its hind legs now.

After a good 65% of health had been shaved off through this tactic the Gemstone Lizard changed its approach, without stopping it started wagging its tail left and right instead of facing its opponent, making it impossible to approach its backside without getting knocked to the ground.

With an annoyed "Tch" Makoto decided to abandon his little surgeon simulator game he was playing at the Lizard's backside and instead attacked the sides.

It was a little more dangerous now that he was visible to the Lizard, but still, the thing was crippled pretty much from the waist down now and its turning speed was bad, that was until only 25% health was left for it.

This time without any warning the Lizard started to do a barrel roll and nearly flattened Makoto.

He was able to escape by dodging beneath its head and facing the Lizard head on for the first time in this fight.

Denied any other attack option he opted on attacking its eyes or legs but the front was still without harm so Makoto had to pay a great deal of attention to not get swallowed, stomped or bitten to death.

.....

After fighting for nearly half an hour he approached the last few percent of health.

Sweat was running down his back and the grip around his sword was getting weaker.

For the first time in Azalon he experienced a fight as nerve wracking and long as this.

He was tired, exhausted both mentally and physically beyond his limits but he was too close to giving up now.

With a roar of his own he gripped his sword with both hands and gambled on the next strike.

He could barely lift his sword at this point so this last exchange had to count or his efforts in the last hour were for naught.

Evading a swipe from the equally exhausted Gemstone Lizard he jumped towards its face, piercing its only remaining eye and getting a lucky critical hit that put the thing on 1% health remaining.

With an incredible amount of effort he pulled out his sword, breathing heavily, his vision growing dim he lashed out again and a sudden force hit him at the side before he could connect the blow.

You have received 302 Damage!

You are crippled: -25% movement and attack speed until the battle is finished.

It was like getting hit by a truck on a highway, extremely painful and the sudden acceleration your body goes through makes you feel like you drank 20 or so bottles of Wine too much.

He was flying through the air a good while before finally bouncing on the floor a couple of times and vomiting up a mouthful of blood every single time he violently hit the ground.

After finally stopping, he looked at his health, only a slither was left.

Right now Makoto was in the danger zone, when a player was beneath 10% health for an extended amount of time in battle, he could randomly receive status effects that could very well kill him if the battle didn't end or he healed himself.

With a weak groan Makoto tried grabbing a potion from one of his pockets but to his dismay his right arm was mangled and broken to a point that even moving as much as one finger was impossible.

Breathing heavily he stared at the shimmering ceiling for a while until a spark of willpower blazed in his eyes again.

"Lets see who bites the bullet first you goddamn Lizard."

Unable to reach his pockets at the moment, Makoto tried to stand, it took him nearly a minute because one of his ankles was bent into a weird direction, making it hard to even stand straight.

One quick look towards the blind and crippled lizard confirmed that he was not the only one struggling to get his bearings here.

With a sudden feeling in his chest he decided to not reach for the potion and increase his health again, instead he went to pick up his sword.

It somehow didn't feel right to just fill his health again after having fought a hard and tough battle for such a long time.

In a way Makoto respected the Gemstone Lizard, it put up an incredible fight, throwing every trick it had at him as he did the same.

With his sword in hand he slowly wobbled towards the dying Lizard.

If he was going to finish the fight then he would do it with the same conditions applied to himself, he was not cheap enough to just forget a good fight and give himself an advantage after fighting to the death and giving it his all.

It took him 5 minutes to get back to the Lizard, he had been flung nearly 50 feet through the air, skidding and hopping a few more until he finally stopped.

During this time he was fully aware that a lethal status effect could strike him any moment but he didn't care, he did not fear death enough to win in an empty way by drinking a potion.

"Well, seems like I won the fight."

Makoto said while standing next to the panting Lizard that was too weak to even turn its head in his direction.

With his whole body weight behind the strike he cut deep into the Gemstone Lizards skull, shaving off that last bit of health that remained and immediately he received a system message.

You have killed the Gemstone Lizard!

For being in a dangerous condition for an extended period of time during a fight you receive a status effect!

Cardiac arrest: You have died!

"Oh go and suck a dick, you gotta to be kidd-"

Before he could finish his angry rebuke all strength left his mangled and damaged body and Makoto hit the floor.

A familiar message floated before him in the darkness.

Do you wish to revive?

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And that is it!

As always, comments are welcome anytime and see you all tomorrow [th_0suit.gif]