- Demon Vs. Dragon

'47 Minutes.'

Zex estimated the remaining duration of his [True Name Liberation]. He used [Evil eye] and saw some of the details of Drago in his current state.

Name: Drago

Level: ???

Race: [Low Purity Dragon Descendant - Human]

Age: ???

Class: [Dragon Knight]

Buffs: [Indomitable Will Level 10], [Draconian Manifestation - Imperfect]

Debuffs: [Overclocked Blood]

Primary Attributes:

Strength - 1,152

Vitality - 936

Constitution - 930

Resistance - 810

Agility - 154

Dexterity - 155

Intelligence - 152

Wisdom - 151

Spirit - 148

Charisma - 72

Luck - 240

Secondary Attributes:

Health = 37,440/37,440

Mana = 1,216/1,216

Stamina = 14,928/14,928

Concentration = 161/161

Resonance = 85/85

…

"Shit! Fuck! Shit! What is this? More than 37,000 HP?" Zex's eyes went wide. Even with [True Name Liberation] active, he only had more than 8,500 HP. He was so shocked by the difference between them that he almost wasn't able to dodge an attack before his eyes.

Zex immediately used [Reaping Strike] in retaliation and dealt around 2,400 damage. The next second, Drago regenerated more than 450 HP. With [Reaping Strike]'s cooldown of 4 seconds, Drago would have already regenerated most of the damage he received. It would be lucky for him to properly counter within 4 seconds. As he expected, his defenses were monstrous as well. After comparing their stats, Drago only had higher Strength, Vitality, Constitution, and Resistance attributes. However, he was leagues above when it came to the other stats, especially in the Intelligence and Wisdom department.

Judging from this, he believed the effects of Drago's transformation gave loads of multipliers on his secondary attributes as compared to his own which focused on primary attributes. It was a shame that his [Evil Eye] could not provide him with any more data. The problem here was that most of the stats he surpassed Drago in, were countered heavily by the advantages Drago had over him.

For example, his high Magical Damage was countered by Drago's high Resistance and actual Elemental Resistance which were probably boosted by his transformation. His high Agility and Dexterity were countered by the lack of openings Drago had due to his combat experience. Zex didn't even have any spirit-based skills that he could use his high Spirit stat for. While the total number of stat points Zex had was leagues above Drago's, the Dragon Knight in his [Draconian Manifestation] was highly specialized for combat. With high Health and high Stamina, Drago could let non-fatal attacks graze him while he could use combat skills as long as they were not in cooldown.

The tables were turned!

They continued to exchange blows and Zex had to use [Black Flame Armor] every time he blocked an attack and skill attack he wasn't able to dodge. This taxed a lot of his concentration, stamina, and mana despite taking just a bit of damage. Not to mention that [Reaping Strike] needed to reinforce his claws with black flames to deal enough damage. Deciding that his consumption rate was not optimal, he decided to intentionally receive some nonvital hits and use Experience to regenerate any debilitating injury and let the enhanced [Demon Regeneration] do the rest. This way, he would be able to maximize the efficiency of his Health, Concentration, and Mana Regeneration stats. Not to mention the -30% reduction to the experience cost when regenerating injuries thanks to [True Name Liberation].

Drago has been on the offensive most of the duel while avoiding any vital hits. Zex was able to damage him a lot more by using [Reaping Strike] in conjunction with the stacking mechanic of [Death Sentence] but only dealt around 4,000 to 5,000 damage each time as Drago was also using defensive skills from time to time.

Based on his calculations, he should have been dealing twice the damage but he deduced that Drago must have a skill reducing critical damage he receives. There were even times that Drago was able to parry his blows which did not allow him to deal any damage at all while [Reaping Strike] still went on cooldown and the stacks reset. His frustration was piling up but he needed to remain calm and think of ways in which he could adjust his combat style and increase his chances of turning things around.

Zex kept activating [Dance with Death] every time it was up, saving more of his stamina, mana, and concentration by not needing to use [Black Flame Armor] for 44 seconds.

Not only this but throughout their duel, [Reaper's Cloak] was active. In total, he has lost around 140% of his HP after cycles of losing and regenerating his health, giving him 12% increased damage and defenses, and is continuing to increase with him intentionally taking non-vital hits. When he killed Arissef, there was a brief moment where he went out of combat and thus the effect of [Reaper's Cloak] was reset. Otherwise, the bonus would have been a lot higher after all the damage he took from the double team. [1]

At the 40-minute mark of [True Name Liberation]'s remaining duration, [6 Feet Under] had its cooldown finished. Zex immediately activated it, making him lose another 44% HP, giving another 4% increase in his damage and defenses while providing easier damage instance stacks.

Now, Zex was having an easier time triggering [Death Sentence] with [Reaping Strike], increasing the threat of his attacks towards his opponent. The damage would have been more if he could score a vital hit which was easier said than done. Sometimes, when Drago was not open, he would bombard him with some magic attacks instead just to maximize his damage output as [6 Feet Under] does not deal critical damage yet still consumes and resets the fourth damage instance.

What annoyed Zex was that alongside Drago's insane resistance, his greatsword, Avegar, was draining some of the magic from his spells to empower the following blade attack. This stifled Zex as his choices for dealing damage were being limited.

Not only this but the lower Drago's HP was, the stronger his damage and defenses became. In other words, they were both getting stronger the longer the fight was going on. With the both of them possessing regenerative abilities that would rival each other, the battle would dangerously take a long time.

Add all that to the fact that although Zex was successfully dealing high bursts of damage, each damage he took from being unable to dodge or block with [Black Flame Armor] was surprisingly a critical hit. Each made him lose more than 50% of his health while incurring heavy injuries that he had to expend more focus and resources on defending while he was still regenerating. Recalling how the stats are calculated, he realized that this was most likely due to Drago having an insane amount of Luck and must have Luck-based skills.

'Heroes are troublesome.' He mused to himself as he was having more and more trouble landing clean hits as the battle progressed.

His lack of experience in combat was showing. Not to mention that Drago was also mixing in sword techniques in his attacks. If he was not using [Evil Eye] to dilate time and dodge them, he might as well standstill. He did not know if he could survive the full damage from such blows, and he did not wish to find out. If he receives a lot of damage even while using [Black Flame Armor], it is a testament to the danger of those hitting him cleanly.

When [6 Feet Under] expired, Zex's damage output got exponentially lower. Drago was even regenerating more HP than he lost.

However, something changed with Drago after around 20 more minutes.

He was panting heavier and his attacks were turning sluggish. Using [Evil Eye] once again, he found out that Drago's stats were suddenly decreasing slowly as the battle progressed.

'This must be the effect of [Overclocked blood].' Zex deduced from seeing the debuff on the screen despite not showing any description.

'15 minutes' He was paying attention to the remaining duration of [True Name Liberation].

The battle went on with each dealing and receiving damage, not one having a clear advantage over the other.

Blow after blow, Zex showed mastery of physical and magical combat after digesting Edge and Arissef's skills yet he was just barely standing his ground against Drago, who lived up to the title of 'Strongest Hero of Grimley'. Despite all this, Zex was growing stronger and stronger with every damage he took while Drago was getting weaker over time.

The battle was bound to be in Zex's favor… yet for some reason, they were always on even ground.

By the time 5 minutes were remaining to Zex's transformation, Drago was panting heavily and his hands were shaking as they held the greatsword, Avegar.

Opposite to him was Zex who had just lost an arm and was using experience to regenerate it. The difference was that unlike previously, the regeneration this time was visibly slower. Zex was running low on experience, mana, stamina, and concentration which he could not hide from the discerning eyes of his opponent.

They had a staredown while they were catching their breaths. The two knew that the deciding blow would be within the next round of exchanges. No words were said as their hearts were already conversing with their synchronized beating.

Both of them felt it in their soul.

This feeling, for the first time whether in his previous life or this one, he experienced for himself. 'This is combat! This was what was missing in my life!' Zex thought to himself before sharpening his senses to another level.

'I want to fight more battles! I will not fall today!' With this thought in mind, Zex charged towards Drago with a new resolve in his heart.

As if to reciprocate his opponent's wish, Drago charged as well, carrying the burden of seeking vengeance for his fallen comrades, as well as to protect the kingdom of Grimley --- to protect his home.

Each of their attacks got riskier and riskier. Sometimes, they would opt to receive more damage just to dish out more to the other, both of their HP were running low.

Eventually, their exchange stopped. They both knew the battle was coming to a close as their HP were already at around 10%. While Zex could see this thanks to his interface, Drago felt it clearly in his heart.

With the reduction of Drago's stats over time, 10% of his current maximum of 10,000 HP was 1,000 HP, while 10% of Zex's 8,500 HP was only 850 HP. Either of them could die from one attack.

It would have been a fair deathmatch...

If only [True Name Liberation] had not expired first.

[1] Double Team - is a term used in ball games, especially in Basketball where two players will guard a single enemy player and disrupt his movement, ball-handling, shooting, and/or passing. (Yeah, I know there is a move called Double Team in Pokemon games but the usage wasn't about that.)