Chapter 484: 485. Paths of Development

The attack was completely unexpected. Not only that, but it did something that Dallion didn’t think possible. There was no way he had imagined this! The skill had to be a hint from the Moons of what was possible by specializing in a single skill.

Dallion barely had enough time to jump aside as the corresponding line attack flashed past, splitting the entire hall in two. Unlike his previous trial, nothing broke off, but the power of it was plainly obvious.

“Surprised?” Veil asked, after he made a side somersault that got him out of the whip blade’s grasp. “You shouldn’t be. Being a Moon’s favorite has its advantages. Normally you’d have to learn this through real life.”

Nil? Dallion asked in an accusatory tone.

Specialized skills are a closely guarded secret, dear boy. The same goes for the pathwalkers.

The whip blade contracted, becoming a normal sword once more. Keeping his distance, Dallion went to the left in an attempt to circle round. Veil did the same, walking in the opposite direction across him.

“You’ve really slacked out. That’s the thing about overconfidence, it always brings you down.”

“I think I’ve done pretty well for myself,” Dallion replied. It was an outright lie that he was slacking off. In the process of hunting, he had developed the habit of meticulously researching everything available about his targets, the area of the task, the people involved, even read up more on which skills to use. At this point, the only materials in the ring library he hadn’t read were a large part of the poems and a few of the historical sagas.

Since instances don’t work on you, how about something else?

Concentrating, Dallion split in two, creating an echo of himself. It had been a while since he had done that. Even now, he preferred to avoid the experience. In his mind, he still considered battlefield echoes things that were created only to be sacrificed. As one who followed the path of the Empath, he didn’t like that option too much. As a hunter, however, he had grown to accept it.

“Trying new tricks?” Veil smirked. “They won’t work, though.” He spun around, doing another line attack.

Immediately, Dallion fell to the ground. His echo, in contrast, leapt up. That proved to be a mistake, since Veil continued his spin doing a second line attack that went through the echo’s parry and cut through both its shield and sword.

TERMINAL WOUND

ECHO’s health has been reduced by 100%

 

A terminal attack? Dallion blinked as he jumped back to his feet. How was that possible? He was certain that he’d only struck Veil once. The Nox attacks had targeted the ground, and the whip blade had only entangled him. And yet, he had just seen that the attack was far stronger than it should have been.

“Small hint, even a blunt attack is still an attack,” Veil said. “When Gleam tangled me, she did over a dozen mini-attacks. Not enough to deal any damage, but you get the picture.”

Crap! That was a stupid and quite costly mistake to make. If he’d known that, he might as well just have had her slice up Vend in the process. If he had, he might as well have won by now.

“That’s the reason why you keep losing against me. You focus too much on the things you do and not on what could be done on you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dallion clenched his fist. From here on, one hit from Veil was all it took to end the trial.

“Hey, I’m trying to help you out here.”

“Sure, you are.” The whole point of the trial was for Dallion to figure things out on his own. Although he had to admit that lately the trial echoes had been getting more helpful than normal.

“Green has high hopes for you, so he’s letting slip a few hints here and there.”

That was a red flag if there ever was one. Dallion was almost convinced that Veil was lying, but even if he wasn't, having a Moon so closely interested in someone was never a good sign. At some point, he was going to have to find out more on the matter, which meant going to the source: The Order of the Seven Moons. That was for later, though.

Gleam, sick him! Dallion ordered. He too just needed one more good strike to defeat his opponent.

The whip blade darted at its target. Half of the Noxes joined in. Meanwhile Dallion switched, from his hammer to his harpsisword. Since his opponent was already at maximum damage, there was no point in worrying about hitting him again. All he had to focus on now was to use everything at his disposal to prove to himself that he hadn’t made a mistake in following a multi-skill development approach.

Splitting into a dozen instances, Dallion played a chord to establish a link to Veil. Unfortunately, just as the echo was able to negate his normal attacks with his own, he negated the music effects as well.

How is he this good? Dallion asked as he kept on playing in the hopes one of his attempts would go through.

Because he’s a favored of the Moons, dear boy, Nil replied. That was one thing you gave up in order to make Gleam your familiar.

That was true. Dallion didn’t regret his decision. Right now, it didn’t matter much, since he could pretty much increase his skills to whatever level he wished. However, back at the time, he could have leveled up them up to a hundred without worrying about level caps. This version of Veil had probably done the same. Or was it only this version? When Dallion had helped his friends go beyond their second gate, he had opened the possibility for Veil and Gloria to become favored of the Moons as well, which meant that they could have done what he hadn’t—reach the peak of their skills.

Watch out! Dallion told Nox, then did a line attack between two chords.

The line of destruction flew towards Veil, who deflected as easily as if it were a wooden bolt.

 

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by VEIL.

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Attack has no effect.

 

That much was expected. However, it was also expected that the remaining part of Dallion’s attacks would go through. After all, it was only the weapon in his hand that was doing the attacking.

Cracklings leapt at Veil in unison. Some were instantly cut before they could reach him, though not all.

MINOR STRIKE

Dealt Damage is increased 10%

 

Several red rectangles stacked up. Unfortunately, among them were notifications indicating that Nox had lost 42% of his health.

Nox, keep one of your echoes safe, Dallion said. And get out of here if things get risky!

There was no telling whether the crackling would do as asked, but Dallion couldn’t worry about that now. All he had to do was get that final hit. So far, he had already used several of his familiars as well as most weapons. The only logical thing was to go all out. Come to think of it, maybe that was what was holding him back—despite everything, he remained a fence sitter. That was the real problem he was fighting, not just the fear of missing out. Thinking back, all of his recent battles included the use of one or two skills—those that Dallion deemed the most powerful. Every battle he’d combat split, use Gleam to attack through the air on her own, and resort to line and point attacks. Before that, there was a time when he relied almost exclusively on music. Considering the number of options he had, it was absurd to what degree he was limiting himself. Since he’d become a hunter, Dallion had almost never used his empathy skills to convince item and area guardians to help him, even in the few instances he could do so. He had the forging skills to see weaknesses in metal, and shatter it with ease, but that too was seldom used. While one might argue that metal and item guardians didn’t exist in the wilderness, he barely used his zoology skills, either.

What the heck have I been doing? Dallion asked himself.

Ranged attacks of any sort had been largely avoided, as were acrobatics, and athletics, not to mention that Dallion had neglected his guard skills to the point that until his fighting the tower he hadn’t used his guard skill bonuses at all. Even worse, he hadn’t even bothered to think how to combine his writing and art skills in combat. There was a time when he had been so fascinated by Eury’s intricate way of fighting which combined acrobatics, attack, guard, and art in the form of dancing. He had spent so much effort learning the ability to obtain layer vision, and almost never used it. If he had, he could easily have defeated Veil ages ago!

Dancing, Dallion thought as he focused on Veil. Attack. Guard. Athletics. Acrobatics.

Markers of various colors filled up the room: green, red, white, orange, and gold. Just like a year ago, Dallion was able to see the areas at which Veil was aiming at, as well as all of his weak spots.

“Feeling uppity, eh?” Veil asked and spun around doing a series of line attacks.

A minute ago, Dallion would have scrambled to remain alive. Now, they seemed so childishly easy to avoid that he almost thought they weren’t real. Putting an end to his combat splitting, Dallion leapt back, then propelled himself off the wall, twisting as he did. All four line attacks missed him by inches.

“Gleam, Nox, you’ve done enough.” Dallion said as he unsummoned his hammer. “Leave this to me.”

The familiars grumbled in response, but disappeared from the room.

“You too, Lux.”

There was a sad chirp, after which, the flaming wings blinked out of existence.

“Finally figured it out, eh?” Veil asked with a wink. “Took you long enough.”

“It does sometimes.” Dallion smiled. The armadil shield was also unsummoned, as was his harpsisword. Instead, a dartbow appeared in his hand.

“Back to the classics?” Veil took a step forward. “Do you think it’ll be enough?”

“If now I can always call the others back. You can’t.”

That was the pivotal question. Both knew it. A split second later, both charged forward. Markers were moving everywhere, like an eighties disco club. However, Dallion found that he could navigate through all the information with ease. His high mind trait, combined with layer vision, let him keep track of everything without issue. The only thing he had to decide was what to do.

You’re going to do a strike barrage at me, Dallion thought, looking at the green lines coming from Veil’s weapons. In that case, how about I check what my options are?

Dallion split into three instances. The number of markers tripled. Each of the instances avoided the primary attack with ease. Two evaded it by moving to the side, while the third parried the succession of strikes, although with considerable difficulty.

Parrying is out, Dallion thought as he chose one of the other instances to become reality.

Veil continued with his attack, of course, doing a slash and pierce combo. The ninety-degree change in weapon trajectory that seemed so difficult to evade in the past was now clearly visible, allowing Dallion to escape it using a simple jump and twist.

I’ll have to start increasing my reaction trait, Dallion thought as he leapt over his opponent. His right arm extended before him, moving the dartblow to a point at which it almost touched Veil’s head. Then he squeezed the trigger.

FATAL HIT

Dealt damage is increased by 500%

 

“You lose,” Dallion whispered, still in the air.

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