Chapter 55

[ Last Breath ]

- Once activated, the User will gain Slow immunity throughout the entire duration.

- Once activated, the User will gain the skill Stake of light throughout the entire duration.

- Once activated, the User will regain all the missing stats, and all existing Crowd Control or Debuffs will be removed.

- Once activated, the User will gain a Blade of Light V throughout the entire duration

- Once activated, the User will gain the Protection of Light V throughout the entire duration

- Once activated, all stats of the User will be multiplied by 3 throughout the entire duration

- Once activated, the User's Phy and Mag attack will be multiplied by 4 while fighting a Heteromorphic throughout the entire duration.

- Once activated, the User's Phy and Mag attack will be multiplied by 2 while fighting a Demi-Human throughout the entire duration.

- Once activated, all light-based attacks will be empowered throughout the entire duration.

- Once activated, the User will gain 1000 Heroic Energy throughout the entire duration.

Any action made by the User will consume a corresponding Heroic Energy.

Once all the Heroic Energy has been consumed, the skill Last Breath will end.

Remaining Heroic Energy: 349/1000

- Once the Duration of the Last Breath ends, the User will suffer an Absolute death, and the [ Hero ] Job class in possession, will be lost forever.

[ Stake of Light ]

- Once activated, the User's next attack will ignore the target's defenses and directly affect the HP. Defensive Spells and Skills of the target will also be bypassed.

- Once activated, the User will gain a 100% critical chance for the next attack.

- Once activated, 400 Heroic energy will be consumed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He's so close, yet he never was. This is the exact emotion that Sasaki feels ever since he began this chase.

Currently, Sasaki has an extremely high agility. Right now, no one can probably outpace him in the entire YGGDRASIL. His current form allowed him to be so.

Well, at least, that's how it is supposed to be.

Because like a pest, who keeps on appearing no matter how much you squash them, there is still one certain Player out there that can say... "I can still though." full of confidence.

That Player is no other than Raizel, the exact Player that Sasaki has been chasing for about a couple of minutes now in the dense forest they're in. At this rate, they probably circled the whole dimension already given that they're doing nothing but run around.

Sasaki, although it might not look like it, is really giving his all to catch up on Raizel but for some reason, he's having a pretty hard time doing that. Even though with his speed, catching up on him is supposed to be an easy job.

Well, on contrary, he indeed, can catch up to him... but not catch him. He can close the distance but that's all he can do. Raizel, like a wiggling slimy fish, keeps on getting away even though he's already within arms' reach.

This just shows the huge skill gap between the two.

Well, it's not like it hasn't been shown yet when he basically 1v13 them earlier, but it has a different point right now. Anyone can understand it, even Sasaki himself.

'... I have the speed but for some reason, I keep getting left behind.' This very thought makes Sasaki angry.

Well, he's not only angry about his inability to catch Raizel, but also pissed about Raizel's shamelessness.

He can't believe that the conclusion of his speech earlier about holding himself back throughout the fight just to make it full of excitement, is him running away like a coward.

"... YOU'RE RUNNING AWAY? JUST BECAUSE YOU FOUND OUT THAT I CAN KILL YOU NOW, YOU GOT SCARED? HUH YOU F*CKING B*TCH!?" Sasaki screamed at the top of his lungs as he launch an attack in a form of a light projectile toward the running Raizel in front of him.

"... I AM NOT GONNA LIE! I DIDN'T EXPECT IT!" Raizel said out loud as he dodged Sasaki's light projectiles without dropping his speed. "GOOD FOR YOU I GUESS!"

"AREN'T YOU THE BEST? THE NUMBER ONE? YOU ARE ALWAYS BRAGGING ABOUT IT RIGHT?! THE FACT THAT YOU'RE SO UNMATCHED! SO STOP RUNNING ALREADY AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!" Sasaki stressfully said as he suddenly close the distance by appearing near Raizel and immediately delivering an attack with his sword.

-SWOOSH!

Though Raizel dodged it easily then swiftly pass through Sasaki like he is not even bothered by him. Like, running away is the only thing he wanted to do right now.

"URGH!" Seeing this, Sasaki growled and give chase again.

What just happened, is basically the same thing that has been happening ever since the start of this chase.

Sasaki will attack, and no matter what type of attack it is, Raizel will simply dodge it and continue to run away.

None of Sasaki's attacks works. That's why other than his physical and Magical attacks, he now resorts to mental attacks too as he keeps on barraging him with some words, hoping that his reverse psychology would trigger and put a stop on his tracks.

That's how desperate he is.

"... WELL, I AM SCARED OF YOU! YOU'RE RIGHT!" Raizel said out loud "... THOUGH YOU'RE WRONG ABOUT ONE THING! I AIN'T RUNNING AWAY!"

"... HUH!?" Sasaki muttered confusedly "WHAT BULLSH*T ARE YOU ON NOW!?"

Hearing his pursuer's irritated voice, a sadistic smile appeared on Raizel's face.

"... YOUR SKILL RIGHT NOW! THAT FORM OF YOURS, IT'S SCARY! YOU CAN KILL ME WITH THAT INDEED! EVEN IF I FIGHT YOU SERIOUSLY NOW WITHOUT HOLDING BACK, YOU'RE STILL SCARY! BUT-"

While Raizel is in the middle of his speech, an attack suddenly came behind him...

-SWOOOM!

... but he dodged it easily. That attack right now, just like the attacks earlier, didn't even bother him as he continue with what he was trying to say.

Oh right, the chase is still ongoing as usual.

"BUT I'M CONFUSED AS TO WHY..." Raizel paused for a moment as he glanced in Sasaki's direction. "... WHY DID YOU JUST USE IT NOW?"

Without even waiting for Sasaki's response, Raizel speaks again...

"... IF YOU USED IT RIGHT FROM THE VERY START, YOU COULD HAVE WON. SO, WHY?"

Even though In-game Avatars can't covert the Player's real-time expressions, Raizel, for some reason, can see clearly the dread on Sasaki's face. He can see how the panic, crept up on him.

This... made the smile on Yuki's face grow. He's enjoying how Sasaki reacted to what he just said right now.

"... SHUT UP!" Sasaki shouted angrily sa he throws another attack at Raizel.

Raizel giggled as he dodged it again with little to no effort.

" WHAT'S THE MATTER? I'M RIGHT THOUGH. IF YOU USED IT AT THE MOMENT WHERE I'M GETTING GANGED ON EARLIER-"

-SWOOOM!

"... THEN YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME."

-SWOOOM!

"... BUT FOR SOME REASON,

-SWOOOM!

"... YOU DIDN'T USE IT!"

-SWOOOM!

"... IT'S AS IF!"

-SWOOOM!

"... AS IF!"

-SWOOOM!

As words flowed out of Raizel's mouth, Sasaki's patience grew shorter, and shorter as he started barraging him with attacks mindlessly.

He started attacking with no care. He became blind with rage. So much so that he didn't even notice that Raizel maneuvered slightly and threw an attack spell toward him.

-BOOM!

The attack hit Sasaki right in the chest as he aggressively flew backward.

He flew for a couple of meters before colliding with a tree.

-THUD!

At this moment, Raizel continues what he's trying to say as he appeared in front of Sasaki who had fallen to the ground.

"... As if, it's a skill that once used... there's no going back~ I mean, it probably is, given by how strong you've become." After saying this, Raizel raised his giant ax, intending to deliver an attack on the fallen Sasaki, but he stopped and immediately jumps away.

-ZWOOOON

Just in time before a bunch of blades made out of light, appeared and decimated the spot where Raizel is standing just now.

"You see, fighting you head on is quite hard. I admit that I'm not that confident. But in running away? bruh, that's my specialty. I am the current rank 1 not only because I am strong, it's because I am also good at running away."

Sasaki, listened to Raizel's shamelessness as he rose up from the ground while glaring daggers at him.

If looks could attack, Raizel would be in pieces by now.

"... STOP GOING AROUND AND JUST GET ON YOUR MAIN POINT." Sasaki said as he readied himself to launch an attack on Raizel once again.

"Well, what I wanted to say is that... if I put my whole heart into it, you would not be able to touch even a single strand of my DNA until that skill of yours, runs out. So... how about we do it like this. Starting from now on..." Raizel paused for a moment before continuing.

"... I WILL NOW FIGHT WITHOUT HOLDING BACK."

"..."

After saying this, Raizel expected Sasaki to react heavily, but surprisingly enough, he didn't even budge.

"Ehem!" So, seeing that the other party is just looking at him and not saying anything, Raizel cleared up his throat and speaks again,

"... well, I mean, earlier, I'm holding myself back- and I intend to do so until the very end of the fight, trust me I really do. But if I do that, I'll just be running away since the current me is no match for the current you."

Raizel paused again for a second before continuing...

"... so I'm just proposing that I will go all out too. I'm telling it to you beforehand since you might be surprised if I suddenly-

"IF YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT YOU WILL NOW STOP RUNNING LIKE A LITTLE B*TCH AND WILL NOW FIGHT ME HEAD ON THEN I DON'T CARE. DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO." Sasaki growled at Raizel as he crouched down, looking like he was about to attack already.

Looking at the impatient Sasaki, Raizel sighs as he shakes his head.

"... Don't tell me I didn't warn you," Raizel said with a sharp tone because the moment he finished speaking, Sasaki's figure blurred.

Sasaki is already in a very tight spot. This form of his is already close to running out, so before that can happen, he needs to kill Raizel first.

Though he's having a hard time doing that because Raizel doesn't want to face him head-on and keeps on running away, but now that he will now fight him face to face, then, he can finally kick his ass.

-SWOOSH!

So instantly, just after Raizel finished talking, he immediately maximized his speed and instantly appear in front of him, not giving him any time to react and dodge.

He was about to blow the entire place where Raizel is standing when suddenly...

-VWOOOM

... the scenery changed.

From a dark and gloomy forest to that of a bright cold plain.

"... Sh*t" This made Sasaki extremely wary as he backs off from his previous position while observing the new place they were in.

Whenever he looks, he sees nothing but whiteness. The ground that was previously made out of dirt, has now become a solid dark~ish ice. The booming trees that were surrounding them are now gone too and have been replaced by snowy hills.

'This place... isn't this-'

Unfortunately, Sasaki's line of thought got cut off as Raizel who was standing from afar, started walking towards him suddenly, making him extremely alert,

"Welcome to my very own Domain," Raizel said as he spread his arms wide open, and as if he reads Sasaki's mind, he followed up. "... and yes, this is NIFLHEIM."

Though extremely surprised, Sasaki is unfazed. No, actually, he was fazed, but he restrained himself because he knows that he has no time to be so. He has so many questions about the current happening, but he just pushed it all back in his head.

Right now, for him, every second counts.

So, without wasting any more time, he flew up in the sky and started circling Raizel's position...

-TZU!TZU!TZU!TZU!...

... while doing so, he started firing multiple light beams at him.

'I don't know why he summoned this place but going near him might be dangerous. I'll just maintain this until I know for sure that I can fight him at a close range safely.' Sasaki thought as he keeps on showering Raizel's position with light beams.

!!!

But just as he thought that, from below, a beam of white light was shot towards him.

He managed to react but he was a bit late so one of his legs still got hit.

"tch!" Sasaki clicked his tongue as he saw from his status that he suffered a Frostbite due to that.

This not only reduces his HP continuously but also makes him extremely vulnerable to attacks that have Ice elements to them. It should have also reduced his movement speed to an extreme extent but since his current form makes him immune to that kind of effect, it's the only thing he got affected by.

'This won't do. Forget about the time limit, I will die first if I keep being passive.' Sasaki thought as he realized that being aggressive is his only choice, that testing the water is not a choice anymore.

So with that thought in mind, Sasaki worked his remaining Energy to burst himself out of his current position in order to appear in front of Raizel instantly.

'Is his body glowing?' Sasaki thought while on his way, as he noticed the peculiarity on Raizel's body, but he immediately put it all up in the back of his head because he can't be distracted at this point...

-ZWOOSH!

After being face to face with Raizel, Sasaki immediately swung his light blade without hesitation towards Raizel's neck.

!!!

Though unlike the usual, Raizel didn't try dodging, instead, he also threw an attack of his own.

'A standoff huh?' Sasaki thought in the back of his head as he sees this... "... ALRIGHT! BRING IT ON!"

So, with what he deemed as his last attack, Sasaki burned all his remaining energy as he guided the sword on Raizel's neck, together with his last hurrah.

-SWIISHK!

His Light blade successfully passed through Raizel's neck

"HAAAA-

He was about to celebrate when Raizel's giant ax, suddenly landed on his body as well.

-SHIIIIIIII

A screeching sound was made as the giant ax traversed his body from his lower hip up to the very tip of his head.

-IIIIING

"..."

"..."

After this, silence covered the two as they both look into each other.

Even though both of their avatars wear armor/helmets, right now, they're looking at each other as if they can both see each other's faces.

A couple of seconds after, the silence has been broken by Sasaki as he makes a huge sigh.

"... Is that your cockroach form? You became unkillable for a second." Sasaki said as the light sword in his hand shattered like a mirror. It didn't take long before his light armor followed along.

"... Nah, I'm way past that already. It's a divine cockroach now." Raizel replied with a shrug.

Sasaki burst into laughter after hearing Raizel's remarks. Though he stopped laughing as a notification appeared in front of him.

After seeing the notification, Sasaki sighed and shakes his head.

"... I know that you just took advantage of them but I still wanted to thank you for helping my friend."

Raizel was about to reply but Sasaki immediately followed up... sounding very hurried.

"... It was a good fight. Good luck cockroach man." Sasaki said with a genuine smile on his face. "GG"

After that, the next thing that Raizel knows, he's alone.

"..."

On the battlefield where he just fought, he's the one that's left.

And the conclusion of that battle...

Yuki obviously won.

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