Chapter 32: What is a Truth, but a Lie Agreed Upon
The next thing I knew, a blade was sticking out of my chest.
My health bar dropped to ninety-six percent, and I was inflicted with Frostbite, reducing my speed by ten percent and reducing my ice resistance by ten percent.
Then, Frigid Edge struck me again.
And again.
And again.
My health was at eighty-three percent, but I couldn't see Iago anywhere. He must have been a rogue class, which specialized in concealment and status effect abilities. They were a pain to deal with, but they mostly focused on burst damage, and they didn't have many ways to sustain themselves in a long fight.
When Iago struck me once more, I immediately activated Cleansing Inferno, burning everything within my immediate vicinity and nullifying Iago's Stealth.
It should be a while until the cooldown passes for his skill.
Following my attack, I used a Large Healing Potion to bring health back up to one-hundred percent. I only had two more remaining.
"Well played," Iago remarked. His health was now at eighty-five percent from my Cleansing Inferno.
Luckily, all the damage that I had taken has allowed me to charge my special attack.
I quickly switched out my normal boots for my Wing Boots and jumped all the way to the ceiling. Just before reaching the peak, I activated Silent Sting.
Since I was this high into the air, Iago wouldn't be able to capitalize on the one-second delay. I learned my lesson from Enzo that one second of vulnerability was akin to a year when in combat.
During the small window, I switched my Wing Boots to my normal boots to prevent any accidental jumps.
Meanwhile, Iago realized my tactic, and he tried to cast a spell in response to my upcoming special attack.
Too late.
Time flowed as slow as molasses, and I kicked off the building's roof with enough force to break the structure. I plummeted like a peregrine falcon and drove my weapon into Iago's chest, creating a massive crater in the process.
Silent Sting managed to take down Iago's health to forty percent. Then, I jumped backward and used Skyfire, bringing down a bolt of explosive lightning that reduced Iago's HP to twenty-nine percent.
When the dust cleared, Iago was gone.
Something struck the back of my head with enough force to send me flying. Then, another attack hit me, launching me straight to the ground. Everything was too fast to comprehend.
Finally, I heard Iago use Frigid Edge's special attack, saying, "Frozen Guillotine!"
Ice coated my entire body, preventing me from moving. Soon after, a raging blizzard formed around Iago's blade, turning it into a ten-foot-long executioner sword.
Iago brought down the attack on my body, dealing massive damage. After all the hits that I took, my health bar was at twenty-eight percent.
Frozen Guillotine also reapplied the Frostbite debuff.
Surprisingly, Iago was trying to out-DPS me instead of the normal rogue strategy, which stacked debuffs on the opponent. Iago must be confident in his power.
Suddenly, a notification popped up in front of me, indicating that my skill Latent Power has activated, increasing my attack and speed by forty percent since I was below thirty percent HP.
I smiled. It's my time to shine.
My eyes glowed red, and I rushed down Iago with my newfound power. Even still, no matter how many dozens of slashes I performed, Iago managed to block every single one of them, sending back deadly ripostes each time.
When I looked closely, Iago's eyes glowed red, just like mine.
"You're not the only one with Latent Power," he said.
Dammit. Just when I thought I had the upper hand.
If I were a tornado, then Iago was a typhoon, unleashing blow after blow, slowly driving me back. We continued to exchange attacks too fast for the average eye to see.
Then, Iago landed a powerful kick that launched me through the wall and out of the throne room.
The world spun around in circles as I tumbled weightlessly through the air. Now that I was outside, the sun's glare didn't help my vision, either.
Soon enough, I landed on the grass. I couldn't even get on my feet before Iago followed up with a plummeting strike.
As I dodged away, I cast Chromius, but Iago easily evaded the magic blasts. Since that didn't work, I used Angelic Blaze to give myself some space.
Right as I flung the wave of energy, Iago activated the spell Mana Burst [Speed], which allowed him to dash forward at triple his previous velocity, blasting straight through my Angelic Blaze unfazed.
The attack was like getting hit by a bullet train, sending me right back at Enzo's mansion, destroying an entire section of the building in my wake.
The sheer momentum from Iago's impact kept me flying through the air, and when I landed, I had almost fallen off the mountain.
I was at nineteen percent health, but if I used a Large Healing Potion, then I would lose the buff from Latent Power. Instead, I used this short opportunity to use Rejuvenation, healing my HP until I reach twenty-nine percent.
Iago managed to dash across the entire plateau in an instant. Luckily, I had already activated my special attack before he could take advantage of my delay.
"You're dead!" I yelled.
The world turned blue, and my colossal speed boost activated, allowing me to run right up to Iago, but he was nowhere to be found.
Shit! The cooldown for his Stealth ability had already passed!
Even though Stealth made the user invisible, it wasn't fool-proof. As long as I looked hard enough, I should be able to find a faint, visible distortion outline.
I scanned the area.
There!
Unfortunately, when I spotted Iago, Silent Sting had already deactivated, and time returned to its normal speed.
Dammit. I wasted my special attack. Now, I'll have to charge it up all over again.
Once more, Iago lunged at me, but I was ready this time. Iago must have gotten comfortable under his concealment, because I easily evaded the attack, performing a perfect dodge. I used this window to land a slash on Iago that deactivated Stealth and brought his health down to nine percent.
Upon tumbling on the ground, Iago used a Large Healing Potion, bringing himself back to eighty-four percent HP.
Big mistake.
I activated Lightbringer to increase my damage further, and with my Latent Power, I easily outpaced Iago. I became a relentless thunderstorm of blades, not giving my enemy any room to breathe. Once Iago's HP became lower than thirty percent, his Latent Power activated again, but I punched him away to prevent any counterattack.
While Iago was flying through the air, I used Silent Sting one more time.
This is the deciding moment. If I could land this attack, then it would all be over!
With a look of panic, Iago cast a spell, yelling out, "Thorns!"
Fuck.
This goddam bastard!
I couldn't use Laevateinn's next attack, because Thorns was a spell that coated the user in a magical aura that did damage to anyone who attempted to use a physical attack.
If I killed Iago now, I would also die since I was at low HP.
Even still, the man's efforts were futile. He could prevent me from using physical attacks, but not ranged attacks. If he wanted to cover all options, he would have had to use Thorns in conjunction with Reflect, but he didn't have the time.
I threw aside my sword and fully charged Chromius, sending a powerful platinum blast that knocked his HP down to two percent.
As Iago impacted the ground, I landed next to his side and fired one more Chromius, landing the killing blow.
I merely stood in silence, heavily breathing as I waited for Iago's corpse to dissipate.
But it didn't.
Iago's yellow rune pendant cracked, and his health returned to ten percent.
Shit!
I just remembered now. His pendant had the Guts rune, an item that allowed the wielder to revive upon death.
I picked up Laevateinn and prepared to attack again, but Iago held up his hands in surrender.
"Chill out. You won."
I took a deep breath. It would be pointless to end his life now.
"That was a good fight," Iago said casually. "Have you released all your anger?"
"I don't know," I replied sitting down. "But at least I don't want to kill you anymore."
"That's good. If it makes you feel any better, I'll do anything you want so that I can atone for what I did to you."
"It's fine," I replied.
Then, I shook my head, saying, "Fuck, man. I shouldn't have gotten so angry. It was my fault that I failed so many times in the past anyway. I just wanted to blame it on somebody else."
"I understand how you feel."
With a sigh, I stood up and helped Iago get back on his feet.
"Sorry for almost killing you," I said. "And thanks for taking down Enzo."
With a smug smile, Iago replied, "No problem. Does this mean that we've made up now?"
"Yeah."
Maybe I was still a little suspicious of Iago. Scoundrels would stay scoundrels, after all. But at least he was a highly-skilled scoundrel. On the other hand, I just tried to kill him, so I don't know if he would even trust me.
Right as I was about to go back to Marigold, I stopped and said, "There's actually one thing I want you to do for me."
"What is it? I didn't know how much the Frigid Edge meant to you, so I'll do anything in my power to make up for it."
"Join my party," I said.