9 Breakthrough

The light flickered leaving an orange glow along the floor. The darkness engulfed the ceiling. A faint fire came from the entity in front of me. The dim light then grew. The flashing light repeated itself as I stared at the floating skeleton.

There was no movement. I waited for something to happen as I stood idle. I was cautious of any sudden movements but none had been made. I gripped onto my sword with my right hand as the blade rested on my shoulder.

It seemed to be waiting until it comes into combat. I guess boss fights work this way.

I scanned the room. The dim light at the center completely changed the view. All there was in sight was the barely visible chains on the wall and the fallen torch by my side. I had given up on the torch as there was already a light source and both my hands were occupied holding this longsword.

My breathing was irregular. I fixed it by taking a deep breath in then paused. I finally let a breath out and felt more relaxed. The world was clear now. My sharp mind was set.

I took small steps towards the target. It stared at me with a glow through its two holes coming from the skull. My breath followed along with the flickering lights.

"This was it," I whispered to myself.

I got close enough to reach the Skeleton Knight Captain with the tip of my sword. I tapped on the armor then backed away immediately.

The embers within its armor grew brighter. The whole room was lit up without a crack of darkness left. Shadows of its figure drew on the floor. It gave the illusion that it seemed bigger up close. And it was.

It was a tall figure. Up to six feet and ten inches tall. The bones within the skeleton weren't exactly the shape of a human. There was ample space between each bone which made its figure much bigger in size. The armor was easy to expand as it's age was easily shown. There were plenty of cracks all over the expanded armor.

Its great sword was easily it's noticeable feature. Holding it with its two arms, the great sword was almost as tall as the Captain. Probably as long as six feet. It would reach me before I could even reach my opponent.

I charged at my enemy. Then I took a step back. I was testing the Skeleton Knight Captain's range. If it's greatsword was its biggest threat, I need to test how fast it could swing before I could close the gap.

I ran again. This time with the sword in hand covering my face, ready to block. The Captain had swung its sword wide from my left but I was able to dodge towards that side.

The Captain's sword dug into the ground. It took a while to pull it up. This was my chance. I then attacked from the left. It flinched for a bit but it continued to pull its sword from the ground.

I could feel the heat of its core at this distance. I backed away as I feared the flickering heat would affect me some way. It kept growing and diminishing at a fast rate.

The ground shook with every attack the Skeleton Knight Captain took. It's great sword left an impact on the ground itself after I jumped sideways to avoid the attack.

It screamed after every two attacks it did. It was more like the fire burning at its core exploded with energy, lighting up the room and effectively intimidating me.

I couldn't falter. I had to keep my cool and face my opponent with quick judgments. I ran up to the captain and landed a swift swing of my sword.

[Lv 13 Skeleton Knight Captain]

[HP: 392/400]

Great. Just ninety-eight swings to go.

I backed off and waited for its next move. There was going to be a pattern but since the AI was going to be more complicated than a simple slime, it attacks won't be in the same order every time.

I analyzed its attack pattern. It would swing twice then do an action. It would either continue another two attacks or scream. Sometimes it would adjust itself as its bones would rattle. Other times it would move around the room, giving me some time to breathe. I couldn't risk how it would react if I chased after it.

So that was a total of four different branches of actions it would take. I easily anticipate each action as I got used to its movements. It swung at me twice the rattled its bones. I went for a swift swing and backed off easily.

I kept my distance. I shouted, "Fire!" and threw a fireball. It shuddered from the impact of the fire but it barely took ten hit points away. I kept going until my mana bar hit zero.

I closed our distance and waited. It swung at me four times then screamed. I dodged every swing except for the last one. My sword came in contact with the Captain's sword. My block was successful but the force was so great that I threw me backward.

I charged at the enemy once more. I dodged two attacks and then attempted an attack. I couldn't approach the Captain when its fire was flickering brightly. I felt the intense heat even from a safe distance. I was afraid I was going to take fire damage if I got too close. So I backed off immediately. I waited until it had stopped then repeated my approach. I watched patiently for a gap between its attack.

This was a battle of concentration. I could feel my brain melting from this repetition. A slight pain could be felt behind my eyeballs. My neck started getting stiff. My breathing was heavier. The stress was getting to me.

I charged at my enemy. I let out a scream of frustration. It swung at me two times then I waited. It started rattling its bones then I went for an attack. But then it's core flickered. A bright light overcame me as I covered my eyes. It's intense heat covered my whole body and I couldn't react in time. There was a sharp pain in my shoulder. It had swung its sword and attacked me. The blade went through me as I watched as all of my hit points go away.

[You have died]

There it was. My first death in this game. It was no big deal but I couldn't help but grind my teeth about it on the way back to Astor Manor.

I had spawned in the initial room I was first greeted with when I first played the game. Astoria Castle seemed much emptier now. With a few other players wandering around for quests or respawning like me.

I found myself stomping my feet as I walked back to the mini-dungeon. Every player couldn't keep eye contact with me as I passed by them. I realized I had an angry look on my face.

It was frustrating. The boss had only killed me in a single attack. There was no point in the potions I had bought earlier today. I was thinking of selling them or trading to another player.

I skipped regular monsters and ran straight to the end of the basement at Astor Manor. I effortlessly fought the Skeleton Knights at the laboratory room then entered the mini-dungeon once more.

I brought a torch along with me as I assumed my last one wouldn't be there anymore. I dropped it on the floor as soon as I faced the boss. The boss had stared at me. I did not touch the monster so it just stood there. I took a ten-minute break to relax.

Then I began my tedious fight once more.

There was a new pattern once I reached a certain moment in this fight. I couldn't tell if it was a threshold in it's hit points left or the time that had passed.

So whenever its core burned brightly, I anticipate an attack. After mind-numbingly bringing it's health down to about a quarter down, I waited for an attack.

[Lv 13 Skeleton Knight Captain]

[HP: 300/400]

It swung its sword twice and then it grew bright. I charged in and lifted my sword above my head. My timing was done right as the Captain's blade came into contact with my own. I was able to shift the weight of impact towards my right side then stab into the core of the skeleton.

[Parry!]

[Critical Hit x2!]

I had no time to figure out what had happened. My attack had dealt twelve damage towards the boss. I then took a step back and watched for the next move. I kept my distance as my eyes were adjusting from the bright flash to the dimming dungeon room. As soon as I could see, I notice the Captain started charging at me.

"What?!" I screamed.

I jumped towards the left side of the room. My body was on the floor, rolling towards the wall. I got up and noticed that it had thrust its sword towards the wall.

A new pattern then. It was ready to charge towards the player but results in being stuck at the wall. But the drawback was than unprepared players would have no time to attack back.

It thrust it's sword once again but I was prepared this time. I slid towards the left of the boss and watched it hit the wall. I then dealt as much damage as I could in that short window of time.

I had its pattern figured out. I kept swinging my sword and throwing fireballs in between attacks. By the time it reached half of its health, it would've revealed all of its moves. The Captain had a simple two attack then it would perform some action. I had to keep in mind a total of seven actions now.

[Lv 13 Skeleton Knight Captain]

[HP: 100/400]

This was the final stretch. About a total of twenty-five strikes left. Maybe less if I dealt a critical blow. Even more with a parry as it seems to increase my critical attacks.

I took a deep breath. My mind was calm but thoughts were rapidly shooting left and right. Most of it was how I was going to approach the boss. Every thought was put into my posture. My concentration felt sharp. Bursting through every question one by one until I came to a single focus.

"I must win."

That thought was what kept me sane from this intense fight. With every swing, dodge, and block, I kept my focus. It was difficult since I had no room for mistakes. Not anymore.

I ignored my growing headaches, stiff neck, and tired eyes. But my mind was breaking. The repetition was killing me mentally. My brain tried to keep up sending instructions to my body. They reacted accordingly but I had to keep thinking even further ahead as my reactions dulled. I kept up my attacks and dodged as planned.

I yelled with a final swing. There was tension from my wrists to my shoulders. I swung as fast as my body could. This last swing lasted only half a second yet my whole body had put all its effort into this attack.

The Captain had fallen. Its bones shattered into pieces as it's armor fell to the ground. There was a distinct dusty smelly while the sounds of fallen metal echoed in the room. Then the room grew dark as it's core faded away.

I went back for the fallen torch on the ground. The room went back to being engulfed in complete darkness with only a small source of light surrounding me.

I waited until its death was complete before approaching it. There were a few drops from the boss. One was a familiar item.

[Astor Dagger]

[Req: Lv 10, Str 15, Agi 15]

[Str 10+, Agi 10+]

I picked up the sword. It was duplicate 'Astor Dagger' as I had picked up the other day. The weapon information floated above the weapon I held in my hand. I hope I can sell this for a decent price.

[Bone]

[Crafting Item]

This time there were five drops of these crafting items. I didn't know what to do with the bones but I guess I'll figure out in the future.

There was another weapon that caught my eye. It didn't seem to be as plain as the other swords I've had. While it wasn't as fancy looking as the Astor Dagger, it had a gem at the hilt of the sword. It was the only part that shined from the light of my fallen torch. The bandaged wrapped worn out handle was short and the dirty blade was as long as an arming sword. I reached out for it as I wanted to see what kind of sword it was. But before I could even look at the window for its stats, another appeared in front of it.

[Equipped Celestial Sword]

To my surprise, I had successfully armed myself with a new sword. I almost dropped it but recovered it in time. Its weight could be felt with every swing and it felt natural to move around with. I then looked at the floating window above it.

[Lv 9 Celestial Sword]

[Str 9+, Agi 9+, Int 9+]

[Str (1*Lv)+, Agi (1*Lv)+,Int (1*Lv)+]

[A sword crafted by angels. A strange power lurks within. It grows along the user as it absorbs their experiences of battle.]

[Exp until Level 10: 4250/5000]

What was this? Was I dreaming? There was something that actually worked in this game! Could it have been the patch yesterday that fixed the experience points? They may have overlooked my situation but it at least gave me something to work with.

I then opened my character menu to double check something.

[Esther]

[Level 1]

[Health: 100/100]

[Mana: 0/100]

[Stamina: 100/100]

[Strength: 10+9]

[Agility: 10+9]

[Intelligence: 10+9]

[Defense: 10]

[Experience: 4250/100]

That must be it. The character I'm playing as was glitched, so I was unable to level up myself. The weapon itself is based on experience points. Counting up the experience points has it leveled up by itself. Meaning I could still equip this weapon that didn't have a level requirement.

Just what were the developers thinking? This would've been a messy thing to code, to begin with. Then again, they would never have thought of a player going through something like my situation.

The gap had somehow gotten closer, even if it was just a little.

"Ha." I let out a breath. "Ha."

What was this feeling? I started shaking a bit before I realized. A slight curve could be felt on the side of my mouth. My stomach had a euphoric feeling. Something was building up. Then there was a burst of laughter I couldn't contain. It echoed throughout the empty dungeon room.