Episode 72

[Combat] Retake was hit by Execution Preparation.

[Combat] Retake is stunned by the effect of Execution Preparation.

[Combat] You used the Execution skill, dealing 9,112 damage to Retake.

[Combat] Retake is afflicted with Unable to Heal by the effect of Execution.

[Combat] You took 2,005 damage from Retake’s damage-over-time effect.

Once someone was stunned, they became completely defenseless for the duration, so I aimed for that moment, alternating status-inflicting skills so the abnormal status wouldn’t end and squeezing in bursts of damage in between. In the arena, attack power was averaged out at a fixed level regardless of stance, so his HP was dropping faster than usual. Retake’s health, which would normally have gone down by about 20%, was shaved to below 50% after only a few skills.

……The sad part was that if any other class had landed as many skills as a Divine Knight, they would have reduced their opponent to the brink of death and then some.

In any case, there was an arena-exclusive escape skill for situations like this, when you were locked down by abnormal statuses and unable to do anything. It could instantly remove all abnormal statuses except paralysis and sleep. But Gang Jegyeong was silently enduring the hits without even using his escape skill. Its cooldown was long, so saving it was usually the right call, but this was exactly the kind of situation where you absolutely had to use it.

Was it because it was his first time using the skill, so he wasn’t familiar with it? Gang Jegyeong wasn’t the type to do that, though. I felt suspicious, but now that I had seized the opportunity, shaving off as much of his HP as possible was the best move.

After confirming that the cooldowns of most of my skills were still ticking, I took position and used a knockback skill. Since I was positioned lower than Gang Jegyeong, even when I used knockback, the hill blocked him and the distance between us didn’t widen.

When I used the follow-up skill right away, my character leaped high into the air and began the motion of slamming his shield down into the ground.

At that moment, Gang Jegyeong used his escape skill. Because of that, my character, who had been suspended in midair, fell to the ground and entered a knocked-down state.

[Combat] Activation of the Shield Slam skill has been canceled.

[Combat] You took 3,788 damage from Central Control used by Retake.

[Combat] Retake recovers from all abnormal statuses through the effect of Central Control.

[Combat] You are knocked down by the effect of Retake’s Central Control.

[Combat] You are afflicted with Immunity Reduction by the effect of Retake’s Central Control.

Escape skills removed abnormal statuses, but they were also skills with a low chance of knocking down the target who had hit you. On top of that, Dusk had a system where the accuracy of abnormal status skills like knockback, groggy, and knockdown increased by a certain amount when a character was airborne.

Gang Jegyeong had been saving his escape skill until now, betting his life on that probability. Was he insane?

Once I was knocked down and became defenseless, Gang Jegyeong, just like I had done a moment ago, poured all kinds of skills into me, landing abnormal status skills with his self-defense skills in between. The situation had been reversed.

And of all things, because of the “Immunity Reduction” attached to the medic’s escape skill, the mutation chance of his virus skills had risen dramatically. At this rate, my status window would soon be swarming with DoTs that had multiplied in an instant, and among them, mutated viruses would pile up in droves. Not only that, but with his attack power boosted by the arena buff, if I got hit by Mutated Virus Extraction, I might go straight to my grave in one blow.

Before Gang Jegyeong could start pouring out his skills in earnest, I used my escape skill at the right timing and broke out of the knocked-down state. Then I used an immunity skill that resisted abnormal statuses, preemptively shutting down Gang Jegyeong, who would charge in with his self-defense skills.

Since both of our escape skills were gone, we became a little more cautious. If either of us got caught just one more time, it would be over. Besides, the moment my immunity skill wore off, there was a high chance I’d get hit by his extraction skill and be paralyzed. I had to time my next immunity skill carefully.

The one fortunate thing was that because Gang Jegyeong had gambled, his HP had been cut down quite a lot to 30%…… though just before, he had used a healing skill and recovered to around 40%. Meanwhile, I hadn’t been hit by his burst skill yet, so I still had about 85% HP left.

If I seized the chance just once, I could kill him. I was thinking that as I doggedly watched Gang Jegyeong’s movements.

[Combat] You took 61,564 damage from Mutated Virus Extraction used by Retake.

[Combat] Retake’s Mutated Research Virus IV has been removed.

[Combat] Retake’s Mutated Miasma has been removed.

[Combat] Retake’s Mutated Research Virus XXI has been removed.

[Combat] Retake’s Mutated Virus V has been removed.

[Combat] Retake’s Mutated Virus I has been removed.

[Combat] You resisted the paralysis effect of Mutated Virus Extraction used by Retake. (Fortified)

The Virus Extraction skill came flying while my immunity skill was still active. With the arena buff and five stacks of mutations, it produced a ridiculous 60,000 damage—50% of my total HP gone. Normally, I would have freaked out and wondered if this was some kind of joke, but right now, another thought came to mind first.

There was still plenty of time left on the mutated viruses, so he could have calmly waited for a chance to paralyze me. Even though there was no need to hastily use Extraction on me while I had my immunity skill up, Gang Jegyeong had gone and fired off his one and only burst skill. (Considering the damage, it wasn’t exactly wasted, but still.)

If I’d been paralyzed, there would have been nothing more I could do, and he could have just covered me in DoTs and slowly killed me. So why did he throw away that chance and use Extraction now? Was he aiming to make my head spin with this? Or…….

The image of Retake obediently taking my burst damage while saving his escape skill flashed through my mind. At that, a curse almost burst from my mouth before I swallowed it back down.

This bastard. Did he quietly let himself get hit and use Extraction at some random timing just to test how much damage it would do?

He had given me one chance to earn points and tested things so it would be easier to calculate the damage. It was an action that implied he was confident enough in winning that he didn’t care even if he started off giving me a handicap. It was only a guess, but if it was Gang Jegyeong, he was more than capable of doing that, so I was almost certain as I ground my teeth.

[Combat] You took 746 damage from Research Virus VI used by Retake.

[Combat] You took 795 damage from Research Virus VII used by Retake.

Gang Jegyeong refreshed the DoTs on me again. Since the Extraction skill had probably dealt far more damage than he expected and my HP had plummeted, he seemed to have judged that it was worth trying.

In any case, with his Extraction skill gone, the only thing Gang Jegyeong could do was apply as many DoTs as possible and kill me slowly. I blocked Gang Jegyeong’s self-defense skills with Shield Block as much as I could while planting my skills into him one by one as their cooldowns came back.

[Combat] You took 1,338 damage from Miasma Disposal used by Retake.

[Combat] Retake took 1,602 damage from Miasma Disposal.

[Combat] You used the Final Judgment skill, dealing 7,943 damage to Retake.

[Combat] You defeated Retake with the Final Judgment skill.

Gang Jegyeong, who had barely any HP left, died without me even needing to use a status skill.

The first kill was mine. Of course, because of the viruses he had left behind while struggling, my character’s HP was in tatters too, but it was enough to last until I obtained the weight.

If Gang Jegyeong hadn’t done that damage test, I might have lost. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. I knew the Extraction skill was already on the strong side, but I hadn’t known it was this strong…….

Letting out a long breath, I quickly tapped at my keyboard in front of Retake’s glowing orb before going to get the weight.

[General] Honey Bread : ㅡㅡ

It meant, “You bastard, I know you weren’t playing properly just now.” Though I had no idea whether Gang Jegyeong understood it.

The place where the battle ended was close to Retake’s respawn point. In other words, it was where the 8-point weight was. I hurried over to the weight and pressed the interaction key. While I obtained the weight, my HP recovered at a steady rate. Seeing my restored health, I thought that if things went well, I might be able to crush Gang Jegyeong one more time.

[System] You have proven a value of 8 to the god Ibria.

[System] Your HP has recovered slightly through divine blessing.

With perfect timing, Retake finished respawning at the same time I obtained the weight. Unlike Gang Jegyeong, who had died and revived with full HP again, I was in the 30% range, so I moved a little more passively. Then he suddenly dashed off to the opposite side. Puzzled, I turned my screen in the direction he was moving and saw my respawn area—in other words, the place where the Jeoba tribe’s 8-point weight was.