Limit, Combat

"I did it!"

Aleron laughed, feeling thrilled as he successfully executed the Skyward Slash.

'He failed in the first try, but perfectly executed it in the second try,' Riki raised his eyebrows, impressed. 'Alright, his combat sense and ability to learn is fast.'

Well, of course. Aleron was also considered a prodigy back on Earth for developing a medical app and chip, helping millions thanks to it at the mere age of 10. But the incident after that robbed his limbs and turned his life upside down. 

"Let's do some more sparring, Riki," Aleron said with a grin. "I want to get better."

"With pleasure," Riki smiled and stood in a front-sword stance.

Aleron also grabbed the sword and dashed forward, doing a horizontal slash.

Riki leisurely deflected the slash of Light-Rend Sword with his Katana, flinging away Aleron's hand and breaking his combat sequence while his Katana surged forward and stopped at Aleron's neck.

"Never let your opponent deflect your attack. If you think you will fail the exchange, then you must react fast with wrist and hand movements to either stabilize or initiate another move because after deflecting your attack, your opponent's blade will be coming to take your life."

"Mhm," Aleron nodded with a serious expression and a learning expression. "Let's continue."

During the next five minutes, Aleron and Riki sparred with pure sword exchange.

Riki matched Aleron's level in terms of sword-wielding while teaching him, but he never held back against Aleron and defeated his every chance and move.

Aleron was not dejected. Instead, he was just excited and eager to improve and land a strike on Riki. He could feel himself improving and getting better, which thrilled him to no end.

'It feels so good to get stronger.'

While Aleron was feeling this, Riki was getting surprised constantly.

With each minute passing, Aleron was improving tremendously in swordplay!

'Impressive!' Riki's eyes glinted while sparring with Aleron.

Riki pushed Aleron to limits while defeating him in each exchange, but Aleron came back stronger with new moves improved by observing Riki and creating them with his insight and talent.

*Dhoof*

Aleron was pushed back as he fell again, but he got up quickly while breathing.

His physical stats had increased drastically, but the power he was putting into swinging his sword against Riki who matched his level and defeated him every time still drained his stamina swiftly.

Just as they were about to start again, Darzax arrived and said, "My lord, I've captured monsters from Mortal-rank to Epic-rank. Ten monsters from each lifeform rank."

"Perfect," Aleron's eyes shone.

…

Darzax released the peak Mortal-rank monsters he captured as they emerged from a dark portal.

Two bull-type monsters, one rabbit-type, and two boar-type.

Aleron was statistically more powerful because he was also at the peak of Mortal-rank in physical stats and a bit higher than Mortal-rank in Magic stats.

As such, he decided to fight five monsters at once first and also told Darzax to remove his buffs from him.

Aleron wanted to fight for real, without support. He was aware that this would be his first real battle since he was going to fight five monsters at once, without using skills and only using pure martial combat with his sword as per his wish.

After all, they would die with only one proper attack due to the Light-Rend Sword, so Aleron tried to avoid their attacks in his way, fought properly, and landed a single clean strike on each of them during the quick one-minute battle against those five monsters.

He made quick work of them, but due to not having prior experience in combat, he also received three attacks at the start of the battle and got injured.

But after killing the two boars, he had an easier time killing the other three.

This adrenaline rush he felt was something he never experienced before, and it excited him greatly.

"Take out more, Dax. I am nearly seventy percent in progress," Aleron said with a grin as he wiped some blood near his lips that oozed out due to an internal injury, which Darzax already healed.

Darzax waved his hand and took out the remaining five peak mortal-rank monsters.

"Let's gamble a bit," Aleron said with a glint in his eyes, standing properly while holding the sword in a stance. "I will create a new sword skill on my own while fighting these five monsters in…under two minutes and kill all with the skill at once."

[Ding! Gamble Accepted]

[Gamble Quest]

-Task: Create a sword skill while fighting the five monsters in front of you in under two minutes, and kill all five at once with the skill.

-Reward: 439 Gacha Points.

-Penalty: Mana Pool sealed and going blind for 24 hours.

[Ding! You have used up the two Gamble of today. Level up the system to add 1 more Gamble daily.]

'Eh? So no more gamble quest for today?' Aleron was surprised.

"My lord, do you already have an idea for this skill?" Darzax asked in surprise.

"It looks like he has an idea," Riki laughed.

Aleron grinned, "Nope, but I can think of one. I can visualize and design a sword skill capable of killing all five monsters at once ."

"Release them, Dax. I am ready," Aleron added as he looked at the five monsters bounded by shadow-ropes before him.

Aleron narrowed his eyes, determined and stubborn, "I want to believe that I can do this and want to strive for it."

'I've read tons of books to know that I need to get better myself. For that, I have to push myself to my limits.'

'And no way in hell I want to be mediocre, be it with this system or without it.'

Aleron's grip on the sword tightened while the monsters were released from their shadow bindings and rushed towards him.

'I've also read a lot of skills, spells, and other powers… surely, I can visualize and create a solid skill right now, not to mention that I have enough Arcane Syllabus knowledge to create a skill for this situation.'

Two Vine Groove Bears and three Flame Rock Bisons. All of them rushed towards Aleron.

Aleron jumped strongly as he shot up like a spring and stood on a tree's branch while designing his skill.

Both Bears roared towards him before vines shot out from the branch where he stood, intending to pierce into him.

Aleron jumped to another tree, but the three Flame-Rock Bisons rushed there with their head and horns lit up with flame fiercely, smashing the tree entirely.

The monsters only targeted Aeron because of Darzax's spell, and it was going very well.

Aleron jumped again before the tree fell, escaping swiftly. 'Sword Strings…if I want to kill all of them with one skill, I can create something like that based on the Arcane Syllabuses I know.'

'Let's do it!' Aleron grinned.

While Aleron was escaping from the monsters and designing his skill, Darzax's eyes suddenly flickered as he sensed something.

"It looks like we have some guests," Riki said as he looked in the direction of the Necropolis's entrance.

"They are powerful, but they won't survive against the Vampire Guards," Darzax nodded before he adopted a thoughtful expression.

"Riki, put this in their shadows when they escape," Darzax waved his hand as several tiny, creepy-looking eyeballs appeared.

"Escape? You're letting them go?"

"Mhmm," Darzax nodded. "If they escape after encountering guards, they can leave as the guards won't chase them."

Darzax faintly smiled and added," And if they enter inside the city, then it's up to their capability if they can leave safely."

"Alright, I'll put these trackers if they escape," Riki said with a nod before he vanished along with the tiny eyeballs.