Testing Limits

The machete hit its mark, all while enveloped with the eruption of black sword energy that was a sign of my imminent death. It cut into the unarmored flesh like it was butter. The erupting black sword energy cascaded out of the machete as it entered the arm, and I felt my heart finally burst. The best way to describe the feeling would be to compare myself to a star that was about to go supernova. I directed my final words towards the Verdant Leviathan, even though I knew it couldn't understand me.

"Fuck you."

A torrent of energy exploded out of my body, and I felt the energy begin to rip me apart from the inside. I watched as it exited my body, much of it following the energy path that I directed into the machete, which did exactly what I had hoped it would. The explosion tore off the Verdant Leviathan's arm like it was tearing a leg off of a rotisserie chicken. Satisfied with my final moments, I closed my eyes. It was a good life; I tried my best. Maybe I could have done things a bit better, maybe I could have been a bit more cautious, or maybe I could have just made small changes to improve our chances in the Five Seasons.

I heard a system ping, so I opened my eyes. Or maybe I approached this season exactly how I needed to. I smiled a toothy grin and turned to look at the Verdant Leviathan. I was about to fuck him up.

Notification

The user is determined to be on the brink of death. Conditions have been met, The Last Stand is active.

Active Ability: The Last Stand

On the brink of death, you continue pressing on. When you are about to die, you become immune to all damage for 60 seconds, and all your stats are doubled. During these 60 seconds, you are unable to use any other skills or abilities. Once this ability has been triggered, it cannot be used for another 24 hours.

I felt my heart restore itself as the ability was activated. I was alive, and not only that, but my body was surging with power that shouldn't be possible in the first season. The explosion from my energy exhaustion finished its course, and I fell to the ground, landing in the center of a small crater that had formed from the blast. The Verdant Leviathan had been blown back and appeared to be stunned for the moment. I was curious to see my stats now that The Last Stand was active. I hadn't checked my stats ever since I achieved the +5 Mind from the Eye for Ingredients title.

"Status window."

Ronan Wilde

Race: Human

Class: None

Level: 1 [0/100]

Stats

Strength: 37 (Low-Tier) >>> 74 (Mid-Tier)

Agility: 97 (High-Tier) >>> 194 (Master-Tier)

Vitality: 37 (Low-Tier) >>> 74 (Mid-Tier)

Mind: 42 (Low-Tier) >>> 84 (High-Tier)

Spirit: 77 (Mid-Tier) >>> 154 (Epic-Tier)

Distributable Stat Points: 0

Skills & Abilities:

The Last Stand [Epic]

Burning Heart Energy Circulation [Legendary] 

Harvest Time [Rare] 

Advanced Sword Energy [Epic] [Collection]

I couldn't believe my eyes; my stats were at the same level as a third-season player. I was a fucking monster right now, and that Verdant Leviathan didn't stand a chance. With my newly enhanced speed, I made a single stride in the direction of the boss monster. I was moving so fast that anyone with a mind stat under 80 would assume that I had some kind of short-range teleportation skill. Right now, the only players with mind stats that high would be certain Alorae near the top of the leaderboards.

"Hey shitter, get up. I want you to look me in the eyes when I kill you. I only have about 45 seconds left to cut you up."

I waved my machete at the Verdant Leviathan, blasting waves of blunt sword energy at it to get its attention. The sword energy bounced off the hard obsidian scales. It turned to face me, the stun effect ending, and swiped at me with its uninjured arm. My strength stat was only at the mid-tier, so I knew that I couldn't catch it, but with my spirit stat having inflated to the epic-tier, I knew that I could just slice the arm off with concentrated sword energy.

I met the clawed strike with the sharp end of my machete, driving the blade upwards to parry the blow. A burst of sword energy shot upward, forcing the monster's arm to extend to the sky. Using this opportunity, I jumped into the air and made a diagonal cut with my sword energy at the Verdant Leviathan's extended arm, severing it cleanly.

The monster used this opportunity to gather energy into its mouth while I was in the air. The Verdant Leviathan had a terrifying ability called energy discharge that it didn't use unless its life was in danger. It was similar to how Godzilla would expel beams of concentrated energy from its mouth at ships or cities. In this case, The Verdant Leviathan was Godzilla, and I was a ship that it thought was an easy target.

Fortunately, I was still mobile even in the air; the Verdant Leviathan just didn't know that yet. I had been in situations like this before, where I was caught in the middle of a fight, waiting for gravity to bring me back to the ground. All I need to do when encountering a problem like that is make a solid platform with my sword energy and push off. It was something you could only do with the experience of an advanced sword energy user, which I just so happened to be.

As the Verdant Leviathan built up its energy, I did the same. I wanted to meet the energy head-on and see where the limit of my current strength was. This was the strongest monster in the Verdant Abyss, but it would be foolish of me to assume that the Veldan and Alorae didn't have members who could fight this thing on equal footing by the end of the first season. My fight was just beginning.