Vanishing Steps Vindir

Dang~

Travis clashed swords with Dimitrin, it was always slightly infuriating that his stats couldn't compare to Dimitrin's. Even though he spent a lot of effort getting them to this point.

Dimitrin stopped the battle, "You're too dependent on your eyesight, the rest of your senses are being wasted. From now on you shall wear this during our battles, until you are able to fight nearly as skillfully as you are now."

Dimitrin handed Travis a long cloth. When Travis held the item he was surprised to find that it was actually an accessory.

[Blinding Cloth]

Cover one's eyes and never see.

When Equipped:

Become affected by Blindness

Travis equipped it and immediately he lost all sense of eyesight. The strangest thing was that what he saw wasn't black or white, it was as if he couldn't see to begin with. There was nothing, no color, no light. It was a unique sense.

Dimitrin continued, "Good, now feel the movement of the air around you. The sound of things moving. Move your body like it normally would."

Travis focused, attempting to feel or hear and difference around him. As he concentrated something cold touched his neck. It was Dimitrin's sword, "Failed, try again."

Travis was confused, he hadn't heard a single thing!

This practice continued for several hours, each time Travis failed. Dimitrin sheathed their sword, "We shall continue this tomorrow."

Travis took off the cloth and stored it in his inventory. While it was good to see again, his mind was crowded with thoughts and doubts. How would he be able to fight without using his eyes? Ever since birth he depended on his eyesight, the game was no different.

Travis stood in the training area. Instead of heading back to his room he instead put the cloth back on. He desperately wished to grasp an understanding of combat with no sight. It seemed crucial for his growth.

~ ~ ~

Two swords clashed, the metal on metal filled the area with sound. As the swords clashed Akiol gained an understanding of the stat gap. His opponent was indeed stronger, however not to an unbeatable point. He guessed that they were around level 200.

Akiol parried a strike and followed with three swings. Each swing was blocked by the figure, they followed with a stab. Akiol used his sword to direct the incoming blade aside and counterattack with a stab of his own. The figure retreated back a few steps.

Akiol was on edge the entire battle, for his opponent had yet to use any battle oriented skills or abilities. Aside from the strange arrow fired from their bow, he had no idea on what his opponent was capable of.

The figure pulled out their bow again, it appearing in their hands. Akiol assumed it was a skill or item similar to his own [Absorb] and [Dispel].

He wouldn't let the figure fire another arrow. Akiol dashed forward and the figure began to keep a constant retreat again. He was being kited, being lead by the nose into his defeat.

So Akiol switched things up, he stopped and began to retreat. The figure hesitated a moment before giving chase.

Akiol dashed through the trees. The figure fired off various arrows, none being the automatic aim one from before. These were easy to dodge as he swerved through the trees.

As he ran several plans began to simulate in Akiol's head. He considered using his sub-weapon, but shook the thought away. He had yet to test it out. Using a weapon one was unfamiliar with was a terrible decision, especially one as complicated as the Hexagon Multitool.

He stopped turning and ran straight for a tree. The figure fired several arrows towards him. Akiol didn't dodge, instead he jumped on the side of the tree and used [Leap] launching himself towards the figure. Since [Leap]'s power increased the more stats Akiol has, the distance he traveled made it easy to catch up to the figure.

The figure fired arrows at the incoming Akiol, but those were batted away. The figure silently cursed and pulled out a mechanical-like arrow. Before they could fire it however, Akiol had already arrived in front of them.

He gripped the bow nearly ripping it out of the figure's hands. They still held on to the bow, but Akiol used it to turn 180 degrees midair. He smashed their face in with his knee causing the figure to stumble back.

Akiol decided he didn't care if the opponent had any skills up their sleeve, if the fight kept this pace he wasn't sure when it would end.

He landed on his feet and immediately charged forward. He swung his sword, aiming for the figure's neck. The figure's hand moved in a flash, a speed unnatural to their prior movements. Their hand was closed, except for the pointer and middle fingers. A purple rune floated a little off from the fingers. Akiol didn't notice this small detail however.

The fingers stabbed into Akiol's wrist, his hand let go of his weapon and the figure smacked it away. Now that Akiol was unarmed the figure pulled out the crimson short-sword and began a flurry of attacks.

Akiol moved his body and none of the attacks hit. He grabbed the figure's arm mid-swing and commented, "It's slow, you were much faster disarming me."

The figure wrenched their hand free, "Slow? Fine then, hope you won't regret saying such thing-!"

Akiol gripped their face, positioning his leg behind the figure's, and pushed. The figure fell to the ground, "Talk too much." Akiol said curtly.

The figure flickered, disappearing from underneath Akiol's hand. Reappearing a good distance away. Akiol watched them as he used [Tool 4 (Magnet)] in the direction his sword was tossed. A pale teal beam connected to the sword and shot towards Akiol. Since his sub-weapon was in his off-hand Akiol switched it over to his main-hand.

This happened in less than three seconds. The moment Akiol held his sword in his main-hand the figure appeared in front of him, kicking Akiol in the chest and sending him towards a tree.

<Critical Hit! -400HP (Akiol)>

Akiol flipped midair and landed on the side off the tree. Not even a moment later the figure appeared in front of Akiol, the crimson blade aiming for his eye.

Akiol jerked his head to dodge and used [Leap] to distance himself. As he landed, sliding to slow his momentum, the figure appeared in front of him again. This time aiming for his neck.

"Just like Scorpion huh." Akiol thought as he activated [Aura Boost]. Placing all the buffs in speed he grabbed the sword. The figure's blade stopped, confirming Akiol's suspicion that only their speed increased.

The figure slid their weapon free and vanished. Only to reappear behind Akiol, aiming to stab him in the back. He shifted to the side making the blade miss. The figure vanished, but this time Akiol was able to see where they went.

The figure proceeded to consistently vanish and reappear, each time to attack Akiol before retreating. It was a near foolproof tactic, with speed unmatched no-one would be able to stop them. However their speed wasn't necessarily unmatched. . .

Akiol blocked several blows, each time his sword stopped the figure's a pattern formed in his head. He began to predict the next attack. The pattern of his opponent's habits were becoming clear as glass.

There seemed to be a .2 second delay between each teleport. While it seemed small, it was plenty for Akiol to take advantage of. The figure vanished and Akiol began to move. Their next move was already figured out, when the figure appeared again Akiol's blade was millimeters from their neck. He switched the buffs to strength before his sword touched touched their neck.

The crimson blade plunged into Akiol's waist, Akiol's blade stabbed their neck.

<Critical Hit! -1050HP (???)>

The figure stepped back, blood gushing from their neck. They gripped their neck trying to stop the blood flow. Akiol didn't hesitate and stabbed into the head of his opponent. Finishing them off.

<You killed Vanishing Steps Vindir (Level 195). Gained: +10% Exp, +2000 Gold, Skill Stone (???), Weapon ???.>

Akiol saw the rewards and murmured, "It looks like Skill Stones need to be appraised as well as equipment. Funny that the developers failed to mention this."

He then looked over to the dead assassin, "It's a pity you accepted the job. It looks like Infinity Base is going to cause more trouble."

He would make sure Infinity Base learned a proper lesson. However that couldn't be now, Zealous was just the Vice-leader of Infinity Base. Akiol had no clue on the strength of the Guild Leader. So Infinity Base will have to be put to the side, until Akiol reached a strength he was comfortable with.

He deactivated [Aura Boost] and teleported back to Chalkworth. He was interested to see how his house was coming along. As he walked towards his plot a message notification rang.

-You wouldn't happen to be building a house or something right now would you?- Torch