I started things off with a simple spear thrust to his chest, to which he easily deflected using the broad-side of his blade. Slavos used this opening to launch a counter-strike, and a beautiful arc of silver seemed to start from where his sword was.

I managed to dodge it by a hair’s breadth as I jumped back and took a more defensive stance.

It was all coming back to me. I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to hold my own against Slavos, considering he was a denizen of this place, but everything was coming back to me. Muscle memory and instincts to use the various skills I had in this avatar.

Maybe because I was momentarily lulled by the realization, but Slavos used the chance to shorten the distance between us.

He dug deep with his foot on the ground and pushed with his leg strength, causing me to be flustered from the speed alone. He then used his tail to flip himself upwards, brandished his sword in the air and swung down with tensed arm muscles.

I wanted to take the strike with my spear and parry it the same way, but my instincts were telling me to avoid it all costs, they were practically blaring with sirens in my head or atleast, I imagine them to be. Immediately, I used my enhanced agility to narrowly dodge the attack and increase the distance between us.

Where I once stood was now a large explosion of dust and dirt. As it subsided, I saw the figure of Slavos standing valiantly beside the crater he had just made.

It was a flashy move, and was probably used more to surprise his opponents than actually striking them. But seriously, that did not seem like he was holding back. If anything, it felt like he was using all of his strength to crush me.

Jeez, now I’m having cold sweat from this.

I readjusted my stance and went on the offensive. My footwork was nothing impressive, but with my agility, I was able to bridge the gap between us quite easily, almost looking like I slid on the ground.

Using the chance, I spun the spear overhead as I moved to attack and as I neared him, I immediately used all my strength to strike down using the spear more as a halberd. It was usually an effective attack due to the cross-shape of the spearhead, turning it into a long warpick, even plate armor would be pierced readily with it. But, well...

Slavos smiled and stared back at me. Once my spear was in striking range, he suddenly moved his sword-arm. His muscles bulged and tensed so much that it was grotesque and parried my strike as he hooked it across the cross-shaped spearhead. It was a show of skill, to manage to do so even with my speed.

The moment I felt the spear vibrate with its contact with the sword, I knew I had to let go of it. It was a hard choice to do so, but a necessary one. If I had chosen to keep hold of the sword and stand my ground, my arm could have ripped right off with his herculean strength.

The spear spun and flew a parabolic across the sky and lodged itself deep into the earth, nearly at the very edge of the arena.

Slavos didn’t let this chance escape him. Using the momentum of his parry, he used his contra-lateral leg to kick me right in the gut with such force that I thought I was actually fighting a dragon.

There, my instincts told me to just take the hit.

It was something I learned when fighting against large, horribly strong raid bosses in the game. Get hit enough times, and you learn to minimize the damage. Cheesy as it is, ‘go with the flow’. Resistance would be disastrous.

From the force alone, I was sprung across the arena. I would have lost my consciousness but I realized that ‘something’ worked, and as I limply fell to ground, a smile had formed.

So even here, that skill worked. ‘Enduring Resilience’. A cap skill of the ‘Steadfast Slayer’ tree of the class. It was the last skill for a max-level Steadfast Slayer. It basically halved all damage and all effects once every 20 seconds in battle. It meant that fatal strikes were less fatal, and debilitating status effects were much, much weaker and shorter.

In this case, holy god, it helped me against a blow enough to incapacitate me.

This avatar of mine was robust, and that gave me even more a confirmation that all of my skills worked, even passive abilities such as Enduring Resilience. Options upon options appeared before me. I knew now that I could use the full abilities of my avatar.

I immediately brought up my hand in front of me and chanted. A dark hue of magical energy converged on my hand as I finished. The magic exploded at my finger tips and covered my body with a dark, shadowy cloud. This solidified into something more.

A dark mantle made of smoke appeared behind me, feeling more solid than it was. It flapped with the wind and fastened itself onto my shoulder.

Night Robes, a spell of the Occultist that shrouded the magician with solidified smoke. It reduced the effects of curses, and transferred me to the ‘Ethereus’ once to protect me from a fatal strike. It was a wonderful defensive spell for the Occultist.

“You did not give me the impression of a magician, Sir Sed! This is a welcome turn of events!” Slavos roared and finally took a stance against me, with his sword held high and pointed at me.

I would have wanted to keep trying out my basic abilities without using my skills, but it was clear that I was at a disadvantage if I didn’t use them. His basic abilities were a notch higher than mine. This was intentional on our part, since his character sheet was that of a max-level dragonkin with Guardian and Slayer. So he was effectively a powerful offensive and defensive warrior.

For my build that was in between a debuffer and a warrior, I was against a steep hill from the start.

“Here I come, Sir Slavos. It’s my turn.”

I announced and chanted one more spell under my breath. Smoke Dance. At once, several tendrils of black smoke appeared underneath my feet and surged itself towards Slavos like thrown spears.

Slavos grinned and shot forward and struck down a smoke projectile with his sword play. Easily as if cutting through butter, the smoke cloud dissipated with a single cut of his sword.

This was something only Guardians could do, especially ‘Apocalypse Guardians’, a Guardian tree that turned the Guardian into the perfect anti-mage.

They could learn a skill called ‘Dragonstrike’ that decreased the effects of magic should they be able to parry them, but only Apocalypse Guardians learned a cap-skill called ‘Masterful Insight’ that gave them increased magic resistance, and the ability to totally nullify spells with Dragonstrike.

He easily cut down another tendril of smoke, but several more were shot towards him. Too many to count, and so he finally retreated a few steps back as he tried to strike at each one. Their damage was negligible, but each hit of Smoke Dance slightly increased the effects of curses, but he wouldn’t know this.

My spell was nearing its end, but I only really needed it to distract him. I immediately shot one more spell in his direction. One of the key skills of the Occultist, the Curse of Malaise. It decreased the target’s speed by a quarter.

A gurgling mass of darkness appeared at my finger tips and shot forward. It passed through Smoke Dance and was hidden beneath the tendrils of smoke. Maybe it was because he was preoccupied, but he didn’t realize that one more spell was coming towards him.

The gurgling mass enveloped his body and disappeared a second later, but now, he was affected by it. Dark chains appeared on his ankles, seeming to anchor him to the ground.

Immediately as it went into effect on Slavos, I was also affected by a wave of discomfort, but it was easily alleviated by my Curse Bearer Occultist cap skill, ‘Darkened Heart’, which halved the effects of curses that would affect the Occultist. Combined with ‘Enduring Resilience’ and ‘Night Robes’, the effect of the curse on me was negligible that I could completely dominate most opponents with my curses.

Yes, this was the strongest aspect of my build. Crowned of being the strongest 1v1 build in Adonis Online, but was near useless everywhere else.

“Ugh, what foul sorcery is this!?” Slavos roared and cut the last of the smoke tendrils with his sword. It was obvious, however, that his movements had grown dull.

I only smiled thinly and ran across the arena. I was at the opposite side where my spear was lodged on the earth.

Slavos noticed what I wanted to do and easily intercepted my actions. I may have been faster than him, but he was closer to my weapon.

He stood just across me, with his sword ready to strike at any moment and his feet to move.

I was forced to stop and stare at him. Despite his cursed state, he was still a strong opponent. He, too, was cautious of me. As one part magician, he knew I didn’t need much else to cast my magic.

I clicked my tongue and sent out another wave of Smoke Dance at him. The mana cost of everything was piling up, I needed to finish it fast.

He tried to dodge one of the smoke tendrils coming at him by rolling on the ground, but realized that it wasn’t so effective now that his speed has dropped. With the rest converging on his location, he used his tail to push him up and on his feet, then parried a tendril with his sword.

His expression grew dark by the second, as he kept hacking away at the spell.

He was occupied, and that was all that I needed. I ran around him and took the spear by its handle, then ran behind him.

I only needed one perfect hit against him, and that would be the end of the spar. Taking this chance as he was still distracted somewhat to strike from behind. I mustered up my agility and bolted with my spear forward to his back.

As I was about to hit him with the spear, he twisted his body to the side, used the momentum of said movements, and swung his sword diagonally upwards to parry several shadow tendrils, then used the falling movement of his sword to strike down at me in a simultaneous and continuous motion.

Motherfucker was an acrobat, what the hell?

His sword struck at my spear, causing both of our weapons to lodge into the packed dirt. An explosion of dust once against obscured our vision, but I could see Slavos’ figure somersault into the air using his sword as a vaulting pole and landed behind me.

The crafty dragonkin then used this chance where I was the most vulnerable to send a roundhouse kick at my back. This was unlike earlier where I was somewhat prepared, but an attack from behind was devastating. I felt my bones crack and I was launched forward to my own spell.

I felt the severity of my curse increase a notch higher.

Once again, I was unarmed and without my weapon in a compromised position.

Then, as I was about to jump forward, I felt a coldness at my nape that was so sharp it felt like a sword had punctured it open. Immediately, I rolled on the ground forward, stood up, and ran across the arena.

My instincts were correct to tell me to move as a few moments later, Slavos stood there, unarmed, but there was a small cave-in on the dirt where his feet were.

“You cannot rely on brute force, Sir Sed! You must also learn of finesse to survive.” Slavos said and took on a stance similar to a martial artist. One of his hands was behind his back, with the other pointing at me. His feet was spread apart for balance. He looked impressive.

So, even the best 1v1 build was no match for real combat experience. I was made aware of my folly of thinking the battle similar to how it was in the game. I didn’t intend to look at it that way, but I suppose it was far too ingrained in my psyche.

Relying on stats was near fatal now in this world. I could only sigh to myself for being so naive.

I slapped myself with both hands on the cheek and stared at Slavos.

Fine, I’ll show you finesse. This will be my biggest gamble yet.

I took in a sharp breathe, took in the stance of a boxer, and rushed myself forward head-first against Slavos.

Slavos shook his head in disappointment and readied himself.

I reached into his range, where he struck forward with his outstretched hand. His claws was also a deadly weapon that I wasn’t too keen on getting stabbed by, but I needed to give him a taste of what it meant to fight with ‘finesse’.

I didn’t dodge his strike, only moved forward with reckless abandon. He hesitated for a moment, but still plunged it forward. Inch by inch, I felt time slow down as my head neared the tips of his claws. I stared at it, I needed to look at it. After all, this would decide who would win.

As soon as I felt his claw reach my forehead, the Night Robe shattered behind me and exploded into a grand bellow of smoke. It surrounded both of us, and we both had no way of seeing each other.

The one property of the Night Robe that I bet everything on, it’s ability to take 1 fatal hit for me by sending me to the Ethereus, the land of spirits.

Like a ghost, I phased through his claws, through his arm, and ultimately through his body and appeared behind him, where both of our weapons lay stuck on the ground.

By then, I had already returned to the material plane. I rolled forward, took the spear by its shaft and the sword by its handle and slid across the dirt. I then kicked off the ground towards Slavos.

I jumped up and forward to the smoke, spun in the air using my feet, and drew a downward slash across the black cloud using his sword. I heard an auditory, and felt a tactile, feedback from the sword hitting a slab of meat. It truly was a beast of a weapon with just how painful the feedback was. From that alone, I dropped it on the ground, kicking up a smoke of dust.

I stood there, motionless, waiting for the black smoke to subside. It took only a few moments for the smoke to vanish to reveal Slavos knocked down on the ground. There was a bit of blood on his forehead.

It’s no wonder he was knocked out from that, an undefended strike to the head was always near fatal, especially with such an unbalanced weapon. Thankfully, Slavos was of the dragonkin, famed for their hardiness, so it was only that much of a scratch.

I drew in sharp breath and raised my hands on the air. “That’s how you fight with finesse, you overgrown lizard.” I panted and sat on the ground.

Maybe I wasn’t used to it, but I was exhausted. I’m pretty sure I should have more stamina than this, as it was my max-level avatar, but I guess this more of a mental thing.

I breathed out and smiled. I now had a good idea of my strength, and I won which was icing on the cake. Damn does it feel good. I heard the yells of Nis among the audience, but I could only wave to her.