32 - Immeasureable Strength

I immediately activated |Simple Appraisal| to understand what was happening.

ㅤName: Grimshade (Unique Boss)

ㅤRace: Skeleton Noble

ㅤJob: [Shadowwalker]

ㅤStrength: Immeasurable strength

ㅤAvailable skills: 4

Grimshade. It's a unique boss or...

'Holy shit..!'

Immeasureable strength?! So he was at least six levels higher than me, nearly level 14?!

His job, listed in parentheses beside his race, appeared as [Shadow Walker]. That was horrible news since certain powerful monsters could attain jobs like ordinary adventurers. I didn't have an issue with that—no, what scared me was that Shadow Walker was an advanced job. Adventurers and monsters alike had to reach level 20 before getting such a role.

The realization dawned on me that this skeleton was at least level 20.

"What the hell's a Shadow Walker?!" screamed one of the three adventurers.

"More like, what's a monster like this doing on the seventh floor?!" another bellowed. "We're screwed!"

Grimshade released a low, rumbling growl followed by a thick, black, and festering cloud of [Aura] burst forth—its power made me dizzy. I'd expected no worse than a floor boss, but this monster was on an entirely different level. We needed to get away and fast.

"Shopia, we're leaving!" I yelled.

"O-Okay," she whimpered as we started to run until she suddenly screamed. "Aaaaaah!!!!"

That bastard Tanaka had cut Sophie's leg!

"Don't think bad of us, but that thing will catch up to us if we just run!" yelled Tanaka.

"Think of it this way: what good would it do if we all die here?" asked Yasahiro. "She's a necessary sacrifice. See ya!"

Tanaka and Yasahiro sped away, and the heavily armored skeleton turned the red, flickering lights in its eye sockets toward Sophia and me.

"You run, bro!" pleaded Sophia, even as blood seeped from the wound in her leg.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that, Sophia, have a little faith in me!"

When Grimshade saw I wouldn't flee, he approached me slowly. No, the calmness of its gait was the manifestation of its supreme confidence it could catch me if I tried to run. It activated the |Shadowstep| movement skill unique to the [Shadow Walker] job, and afterimages flickered by its feet.

I stepped in front of Sophia to protect her. And I'd make those bastards wish they were dead for what they did to Sophia's leg later, but for now...

"Hey, numbskull," I said. "Care to play with me? I promise I'll be gentle."

The Conquest functioned on the leveling system, where defeating monsters rewarded players with experience points, and players would level up once they had amassed a certain amount. A single level would only increase your stats by one or two points, though it wouldn't look impressive on your profile. But because your HP, mana, strength, intelligence, reaction time, vision, and everything else increased simultaneously, a bump gave you an advantage in your fighting ability. That was why leveling up impacted your gameplay more than improving your playing style.

So what could you do to defeat a higher-level monster?

A combination of luck, combat knowledge, and gameplay ability could overcome a difference of one to three levels against an opponent with the same tools and skills as yourself. Your chances would greatly improve if you knew your opponent's job and how to respond to their skills, how to exploit the vulnerabilities in their attack patterns, and if you could effectively chain your skills and use feints.

The difference in your stats would be difficult to ignore and make it challenging to repel their attacks. Kazami had boasted a five-level advantage over Daisuke during their fight, indicating how the fight would go. Regardless, the right equipment and gameplay experience would give one a chance.

Battling an enemy ten levels higher would show a drastic difference, though. In the game, some clans chose players with the same skills and equipment to test how much level difference affected fighting ability. They found that you would need to gather ten equal-strength players to fight against such an opponent, which didn't apply to my situation.

In reality, this enemy would have access to better equipment and more skills.

While defeating an enemy like this one-on-one would be extremely difficult, carefully picking your equipment and planning every step of the fight might give you a shot and be a miracle if you won.

What about a twenty level difference? Based on what I mentioned, it might seem reasonable to expect that you could fight on equal footing with a hundred players. But experiments had shown that even a thousand players together couldn't defeat an enemy twenty levels higher.

Your attacks wouldn't land, and the opponent could instakill multiple players. The fight would be entirely one-sided.

Conclusion? There was a zero percent chance of defeating an enemy twenty levels higher.

Grimshade was at least level 20, and his [Shadow Walker] job increased his movement speed and his reaction time. His falchion and armor glowed strangely, so they probably had buffs. He had also activated |Shadowstep|, an overpowered skill that lasted five minutes. The skill increased his speed and agility by fifty percent and created afterimages that made it difficult to see what he was doing, increasing his evasion chance by thirty percent. With this skill, Grimshade could sprint a hundred meters in under five seconds.

I only had a standard steel hatchet with no buffs or benefits that I'd rented from the school. Would it deal any damage if I hit Grimshade? Would I even be able to land a hit? And if I got hit by Grimshade, my demon wolf armor wouldn't protect me because he would slice me in two. My defense stats were no match for his offensive ones.

My sister was behind me, unable to move due to her injured leg. I'd stopped the bleeding and cast |Small Recovery|, but it would be impossible to escape to the gate while carrying her. I had no choice but to dig in and fight it out.

Sophia and I would die unless I did something, even if this wreaked havoc on my body. Just then, I took three bottles of «Small Potion of Mana» from my rucksack and placed them in the pouches on my waist. I'd brought them along in case I got in danger.

"Guoooh!"

This enemy was unusual since most skeletons would blindly charge into a fight when they spotted an enemy. Grimshade hadn't attacked me yet. He'd only walked toward us and stopped ten meters away to judge me. Only the thinnest tatters of skin remained around his bones, though I could tell that he was smiling. The intelligence and sadism he presented appeared in all the unique bosses.

The malevolent aura it oozed in all directions was unlike anything I'd experienced from other monsters. The pressure prickled in my mind as I felt strangled. He made the orc lord seem like an infant.

"Bro, run... You can't win..." uttered Sophia.

'What a noble girl,' I thought. She doesn't want me to stay behind because of her injury, and it's tearing her up. But don't worry, Sophia.

I took a moment to recover.

"You seem to be giving me time to get ready, and I'm more than happy to oblige," I said.

I'll show you just what a former hardcore player can perform!