It turned out that there actually was a reason Nedlan the Bloodclaw could make a name for himself amongst the nonhumans.
The reason it had just a bit over half its HP remaining was because he had been careless and underestimated the Long-Ears’ chief, and ended up being given a beating.
Even so, Vulcan only realized when they started fighting that he was Level 29—eight levels beneath him, but considerably powerful.
Still, Nedlan wasn’t actually strong in every aspect—only his agility was exceedingly high, but frighteningly slow. He could at best deal single-digit damage to Vulcan and Joey which did not amount to much, whereas his HP was definitely dropping down a notch whenever they hit him.
In a nutshell, he was a fighter who sacrificing his stats in the attack and HP, making him fragile in exchange for that frightening agility.
And yet that high agility was the reason why Vulcan’s attacks kept missing!
Moreover, if he was having such a tough time, Joey who had lower HP naturally fared poorer. In fact, he had left the battle to recover with a bottle of cola.
“Tch, damn it…” Vulcan cursed and panted, after Nedlan left a three-clawed scar over his face once again while his counterattack was evaded easily.
“Hehe, you’re quite tough… Usually I would have torn apart those weaklings in moments. You’re good—both of you, I’m going to have some fun!” Nedlan said, licking his claws and smiling like a deviant.
“…”
At those words, Vulcan realized that he had the wrong idea.
To the Players who relied on standardized data, Nedlan’s clawing was no different from an attack that cuts HP.
But what would it be like for people who didn’t have the System? Those claws were as sharp as surgical blades that would easily part thick skin without much effort and gouge out an opponent’s innards, which meant it would be lethal even if it didn’t deal too much damage.
Moreover, the high agility stat meant Nedlan could make up for his lacking defense by dodging most attacks.
To most, he would be a difficult opponent!
While heavy-armored fighters might be able to stop him by rendering his claws ineffective, the weight of their protection would also stop themselves from reaching him, which meant his agility focus was not a lethal flaw.
But even as Vulcan was thinking about how he should defeat the Wolfman, he suddenly realized that Zonyan was pinging him wildly on the forums.
Since he’s not hitting Nedlan anytime soon, he simply allowed himself to get hit a few times and turned on the forums.
[Zonyan: @Vulcan What’s the situation over there?]
[Zonyan: @Vulcan Are you guys done yet?]
[Zonyan: @Vulcan I might have a problem here. Come as soon as you can!]
Uh-oh. Was Zonyan going down already?
Still, that wasn’t impossible either—Zonyan might be quite experienced in fighting and one level above Vulcan, but he was a Berserker. Even in lower-level dungeons, a chain of skills would leave him with only half-HP, and that was after he was healed!
Thinking about it that way, it made sense that Zonyan couldn’t hold on.
It seemed that Vulcan must come up with something to end things as soon as possible.
But the moment that thought occurred to him and before he could think of a good tactic, Zonyan’s next message arrived.
[Zonyan: @Vulcan If you guys still won’t come…]
‘If’?
Vulcan did a double-take and kept reading.
[…I’m really going to kill this guy.]
Vulcan: ???
‘Are you in that much of a hurry to brag in my face?!’
However, the bragging really got to Vulcan, and his brain worked furiously even as he wheezed.
“Well, this can’t continue. It doesn’t matter how powerful my Evil Blade is if I’m not hitting him, and from how things look right now, I wouldn’t reach him even with soul manipulation skills… if that’s the case, I could try using Spirit Array AOE skills… luckily, I did save up some skill points.”
“What are you mumbling for? I’m really going to kill you if you don’t come at me!” Nedlan the Bloodclaw continued provoking Vulcan without realizing that his mood had changed.
With that, he rushed towards Vulcan, turning into a dark shadow with sharp blood-red edges!
“I’ll lead with this one—Monument: Dirge of the Frozen Sea!”
Vulcan stabbed his sword into the earth, and a tombstone descended from the skies in the next split second and landed forcefully before him. Nedlan was stunned and quickly turned back halfway through his charge, staring warily at the tombstone.
The carvings on the tombstone then lit up, after of which a half-transparent spectral human crawled out, the coldness of its body palpable. Soon, multiple chains shot out from the tombstone, binding it tightly and keeping it restrained over the tombstone.
“What the hell is that?!” Nedlan could not help asking, watching as the bizarreness unfolded before himself.
“Try guessing! Monument: Zod, the Blade Demon!”
Another tombstone descended as Vulcan casted his skill, and another human figure emerged. This time, however, the spirit familiar bound to the tombstone was holding a long sword and appeared especially abnormal.
“Charlatan! Die!”
Unable to hold back, Nedlan rushed up at Vulcan—but the moment he entered the range of the first tombstone, he felt as if he was thrown into an iceberg as an icy sensation shot out all over his body, even cutting into his marrow!
In an instant, his movement was all over the place and he slowed drastically!
“Damn it!” Realizing the danger, Nedlan tried to escape and barely avoided an Evil Blade slash from Vulcan.
Nonetheless, the instant he avoided that blow was also the instant he stepped into the range of the second tombstone.
It wasn’t Vulcan who attacked him this time.
Instead, it was the spirit familiar that was shackled in chains who suddenly swung his blade at Nedlan when he was within reach.
“Manslayer Blade!”
There clearly was no sound, but Nedlan somehow heard the cold masculine voice echoing right beside his ears.
Blood splattered out of his chest in the next second! A wound had appeared out of nowhere, soaking his gray fur.
“Damn it, what the heck was that? No way I’m fighting this freak… I’m off…”
After all, being a combat maniac didn’t mean he enjoyed being tormented—without knowing what was actually happening, Nedlan is not keen on continuing the fight.
“It’s too late to run now… you must have killed a lot of people, yes? Monsters like you should become my familiar spirit and be eternally bound in a monument, never able to reach the truth of death—Golden Monument: Requiem!”