[Rank: 3/15000 Evolution Energy - 5000 required for Rankup]
[Objective: Clear Dungeon]
[Proof Of Perfection Points: 27.8]
[Stats -
Strength - 14.9
Endurance - 14.9
Agility - 14.9
Willpower - 14.9
Mana Capacity - 14.9
Magic Affinity - 14.9]
[Special Abilities: Water Spell (E), Alone (E), Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]
[Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]
[Hide]
Kairos sucked in a cold breath.
He was now at the D rank. However, he really couldn't find it in himself to celebrate with the giant skeleton behind him. Though, maybe if he was a bit more open, he could've considered the possibility that the twenty-meter tall skeleton was rushing over to celebrate with him.
Not that it was true, but it's not a good thing to be close-minded.
Kairos considered for a split second to increase his physical stats, but quickly discarded that possibility from his mind. After all, just the wind from the skeleton missing was nearly enough to lift him up off of his feet.
There was no way double, or even triple his strength would help out right now.
Which meant the only natural conclusion was to add to his magical affinity. And because the mana was so dense around him right now, he could completely forego mana capacity but still cast the needed spell.
While running away from the monster, Kairos' finger rapidly jostled back and forth to continually add points into his magic affinity, using the full extent of his 14.9 points in agility.
In the few seconds he was adding points into magic affinity, he saw that his natural ability was called Alone. Ignoring the negative connotation that came with the name, he focused on other things for now. He could instinctively tell that the spell was a passive one, though he wasn't exactly sure what it did.
Kairos also noticed that it was rank E, along with the water spell. In all honesty, he was expecting the spells to be at the F rank. One thing he had noted was the water spell seemed to trade upfront offensive ability for the sake of being able to constantly pressure the opponent.
Yet, that was not exactly the most useful to him right now. In hindsight, he would've gambled on the frost spell had he known the spell would be at E rank.
Unfortunately, there was no way to take back that decision now.
Though, there was one strange thing that Kairos noticed. Next to the skills in his status panel, there was now a plus sign.
Though it wasn't exactly the situation to be experimenting with, he couldn't help but want to confirm his suspicion.
[Upgrade Water Spell to D Rank with 100 points? | Yes/No]
The option to click yes was grayed out, probably because he didn't actually have that many points. He was a little startled by the grandiose amount of points needed, but quickly shifted his attention to the pulse spell.
[Upgrade Pulse Spell to E Rank with 10 points? | Yes/No]
This time, he had enough points to evolve the ability. This would probably give him a decent amount of extra force behind his attack, meaning it might be the deciding factor between being able to kill the skeleton or not.
However, he couldn't help but hesitate.
The last time he casted the pulse spell at nearly max strength while having lower physical stats, his body was wrecked pretty badly. Originally, he still felt pretty safe since he had nearly 13 points to put into endurance.
But if he went through with upgrading the pulse spell, he would only have 2.8 points to add to his endurance.
The magnitude of difference between his magical affinity and physical stats would increase several times over. Which naturally meant the backlash he would face would be far worse.
Kairos couldn't help but hesitate for a moment.
He then instinctively leaped up into the air, letting a giant skeleton hand whip by him, blowing strong currents of wind his way.
It was then Kairos remembered.
He was on his own.
There was nobody else to rely on.
If he couldn't even endure this tiny bit of pain, then he would never be able to survive.
And so, Kairos clicked yes, upgrading his pulse spell.
From there, he added all of his remaining points into endurance.
[Endurance - 14.9 -> 17.7 | Points 2.8 -> 0]
As the changes occurred through his body, he could feel his stomach become a hollow pit, begging for food. Though, there was no time to acquiesce to its demands now.
Kairos could feel new information sprouting into his mind about the pulse spell.
He was now able to either widen the radius, which would reduce the power, or he could make it thinner, like a cone, which would increase its power.
From what he could tell, he could decrease the radius by roughly fifty percent and also double the radius.
And so, Kairos immediately began channeling the pulse spell, making it as thin as he possibly could.
Misty mana immediately began forming around his hand as mana funneled towards it. The dense mana from his surroundings quickly refilled any mana that was depleted from his body, effectively giving him as much mana as he needed.
Almost immediately, blue mist began forming around his hand.
During this time, the skeleton continued charging toward him and attempting to swipe at him with its claws. Kairos turned around to look, but only in his future vision.
This allowed him to leap out of the way without slowing down.
With the additional wind provided by the skeleton, it gave Kairos an edge in running away.
The skeleton was beginning to catch on to Kairos, leaping upwards and trying to attack above Kairos, so that if he tried to jump to dodge he would get hit.
However, it only ended up passing by him harmlessly.
Beads of sweat formed on Kairos' forehead, but there was also a smirk on his face.
He initially estimated that it would take thirty seconds to cast the spell, but found it flowed faster than normal. It would probably take not much longer than twenty seconds.
However, another thing he noticed was despite only five seconds passing by, his hand was already glowing blue and trembling.
Kairos could feel that the power behind this spell had already begun to overwhelm his body. It happened at a rate far greater than he expected, but he had already resolved to push himself to the very limit, thus he continued on.
The skeleton once again swung at him normally, which Kairos leaped over like last time. Then it happened again.
Kairos felt the wind brushing by him to be quite cooling, which was quite nice since his body felt like it was burning up a bit.
However, he was quickly brought out of it when the skeleton instead went for a strike that was a bit higher.
This time, Kairos would get caught if he jumped up. However, if he didn't move, the bottom of its hand would still slam against his shoulder.
Still, this wasn't enough to phase Kairos.
He ducked down and hunched his back.
The skeleton's hand dangerously passed right by the top of his head, blowing his hair around violently. But in the end, the hand still missed.
Despite getting away unharmed, Kairos began to grimace.
That was because the pain he felt from channeling the spell began multiplying over. His hand was shining in a bright blue, along with part of his arm. The glowing continued to envelop more of his arm, going all the way past his elbow.
There were still ten seconds left.
The skeleton opted to stop attacking temporarily, instead focusing everything on running. Not only did it get much closer, but Kairos was gradually being forced towards a wall.
He had been trying to move in a curve so that he wouldn't end up facing a wall, but once the skeleton stopped attacking it began catching up. This made Kairos rather anxious, thus he ran a bit more straight.
However, that would turn out to be a mistake.
This time, the monster waited until it was close enough to use both of its hands to attack, one straight towards Kairos, and another just above him.
Kairos grit his teeth hard. He leaped up into the air and swung his spear behind him.
A frightening crack resounded.
Once the skeleton's hand collided with the spear, Kairos felt something breaking in his elbow and shoulder.
He was flung forward and involuntarily let go of the spear.
With a deafening bang, Kairos smashed into the wall. However, because he tilted the spear at an angle, he was able to force most of his momentum to be sideways. This greatly lessened the initial impact and also led to him sliding against the wall.
Kairos' skin immediately ripped away as he scraped hard against the rock.
However, it was in this way he was also able to create some distance.
By now, even parts of his shoulder began glowing bright blue. It felt as though his hand was on the verge of popping like a balloon, while he could no longer feel the tips of his fingers.
But that still wasn't its full power.
There were still five more seconds.
As the sliding gradually slowed down, Kairos was able to pry himself off of the wall, which was covered in his blood.
He had made some distance from the giant skeleton, though from the way it was rushing forth, that wouldn't last long.
However, at this point, Kairos didn't run away.
There were only three more seconds, after all.
His mind felt like it was spinning as it was disoriented from the earlier 'wallrunning' along with the strong signals of pain.
Yet, Kairos forced himself to stand and even run forth.
The giant skeleton rapidly got closer.
It swung its arm, which prompted Kairos to leap.
All of the pain overwhelmed his senses, making it hard to think. But that had essentially become an advantage at this point.
There was no more room for hesitation.
He could no longer form any doubts.
Because he focused everything on his next moves.
While Kairos was still in the air, the giant skeleton swiped at him with its other arm. This time, it didn't really look like there was anywhere for him to go.
If Kairos could still think properly, he would probably lament over not having his spear. Though, he probably wouldn't be able to use it with his arm that had been damaged so badly.
That was when tilted his body and stuck out his feet in front.
A bang resounded as the skeleton's hands slammed against the soles of Kairos' feet. He immediately bent his knees as the attack happened. The force was unbearably strong, causing concerning cracking sounds to come from his knees.
He then slid his feet down slightly, so that they could wrap around the skeleton's finger. Despite holding on as best he could, he still almost slid off purely from the momentum of the strike. But he was still on the hand.
Kairos slammed his injured arm down despite how much it hurt to force himself up.
From there, he began running up the skeleton's arm.
There were two seconds left.
It was incredibly hard to stay one the bones, but with his future vision, Kairos was just barely able to manage. The skeleton tried to shake him off, but to no avail. It then swung at him with its other hand.
But before it hit, Kairos leaped up once more.
With a bang, the skeleton hit itself in the arm, which was now pointed downwards. It was no longer at a slope that Kairos could climb. However, he had planned it out.
Kairos landed on the other arm and began running up it instead.
There was one second left.
And during that second, the skeleton had spent recovering from hitting itself.
Which let Kairos get close.
He lifted his bright blue hand and parted his lips slightly.