'I need to cancel the Tenacity skill if I want to keep the miasma field active for a few more seconds.' Alex thought and immediately canceled the mana-hungry skill.
'This should be enough to keep the miasma field active for thirty seconds.' Alex thought, looking at his mana.
MP: 8850/37550
'I have thirty seconds or less to kill Grimras.' Alex thought as he sprinted toward the Grimras, whose bleeding completely stopped, and looked at him with eyes filled with rage.
"ROARRRRR"
The female panther roared toward Alex as she shot a shadow spear at him while making distance afraid of the miasma field.
Alex parried the shadow spear and sprinted toward Grimras, who had yet to move from his position as he stood like a statue but seeing his enemy coming at him, he roared as his shadow started to cover his body.
In the blink of an eye, Grimras own shadow merged with his body, increasing his height by two feet while his muscle became bigger, and then, with a thundering roar, he charged toward Alex.
"ROOAAARRRRRR"
'I was worried how I would create an opportunity to engage in a close battle with you, but I didn't expect you to present yourself to me.' Alex thought as he used his sword to block the incoming paw while having a smile on his face.
Alex didn't know if Grimras attacked him in his injured state to defend his beastly pried or just out of anger, but he was happy with not wasting his limited time struggling with the second Rank panther while finding an opportunity to attack.
[-1300_Hp]
---
---
[-1300_Hp]
'The shadow merge skill has boosted his strength by at least forty percent.' Alex thought as he felt the raw power behind the pather attack.
The shadow merge skill was like the berserk skill, but without any rage side effect, as it increased its stats by half the percentage of maximum mana used to activate it, and by the looks of it, Grimras had used 80% of his mana to activate the skill.
"THUDD"
[-840_HP]
"SHHINGG"
[-470_HP]
'This f*****g ****** is annoying me.' Ale cursed after he was smashed by a shadow spear from his side, making him get struck in the chest by the Grimras.
Alex didn't focus on the female panther because even after Grimras entered the miasma field in his injured condition, she stayed outside, not showing any signs of joining him in the battle.
'I just need to hold on for seven more seconds.' Alex thought as he looked at the remaining hp of Grimras.
HP:27K/157_K
Alex went on the full defense as he regained his footing while keeping an eye out for the female panther attack.
Alex struggled to keep up with Grimras, as with every passing second, he became more ferocious because he was losing close to four thousand hp in each second, but he didn't back down but attacked with even more ferocity.
Grimras's attack became faster and stronger each moment, blowing through Alex's defense, chipping away his hp, and the constant shadow spears from the female panther only worsened the situation.
'I need to hold on for just two more seconds.' Alex thought, seeing his red hp bar about to reach zero.HP: 625/4200
As adrenaline rushed through Alex's blood, he felt everything slow down, making him watch a shadow spear coming from his right and a wide open jaw of Grimras a few inches away from his neck.
Alex did what he could to save his life and immediately dropped his sword, and then he bent his body down and tackled the panther catching him in a bear hug and pushing his back enough to avoid the spear.
[-250_HP]
'I am not dying before you.' Alex thought as he started to punch the panther in his ribs while feeling the pain of sharp teeth digging into his shoulder.
The struggle with Grimras didn't last long, as after a few solid punches, Alex heard the system notification that he desperately wanted to hear.
--------------
[Congratulation Player Hidden One]
[Shadow Panther [Grimras ] is killed]
[EXP Gained]
[LEVEL UP]x17
--------------
'I survived.' Alex thought with an exhausted smile as the panther's giant body went limp on him.
Alex pushed the dead panther's body aside and stood up after his health, and Mana was restored to full because of the level-up.
'I won't survive against her even with full health, but if I can execute my plan perfectly, I might just kill her in one shot.' Alex thought as he quickly picked up his sword while keeping an eye on the female panther standing in the distance.
"100 unassigned stats points to agility stat and 70 stat points to strength," Alex said, giving the system a command which was instantly executed.
Alex's agility was pushed from 210 to 310 points while his strength went from 420 to 490, and with the additional boost from his equipment, his strength was boosted to 560 points.
The female panther kept looking at the dead panther's body for a few seconds, and then, with a thunderous roar, she charged toward Alex at breakneck speed.
"ROOOAAAARRRRRRRRR"
'I will only have one chance to make this move.' Alex thought as he charged toward the female panther, and when he was just a few feet away from her, he jumped into the air using every ounce of his strength.
After reaching high in the air, Alex took the posture of overhead slash while holding the hilt of his sword with all the grip strength he could muster, and then he descended toward the ground with eyes set on the female panther charging toward him.
Alex swung his sword with all his might moments before he crashed into the female panther, precisely targeting her head, and as his sword reached the peak of its moment, he used the [Weight Manipulation] skill, changing the 8.2 KG weight of the sword to the maximum 200 KG.
In her Rage, The female panther took the blow head-on, and the mountain of a sword crashed into her shadow armor-covered head.
After a slight resistance, the female panther's head didn't get sliced, but it exploded like a watermelon into a gory mess of bone and meat, and the sword crashed into the ground, cracking the ground and giving Alex a destructive aftershock.
[-274K_HP] (Critical Hit)
"BBOOMMMMMMM"
The bones in Alex's arms got destroyed by the aftershock he received from the sword's impact on the ground, and his arms muscles were ripped apart as bone fragments stuck out of them, making his arms a complete mess.
Alex was feeling a lot of pain, but he had a broad smile on his face as he watched the headless corpse of the female panther drop on the ground, and his head rang with system notifications.
-------------------------
[Congratulation Player Hidden One]
[Shadow Panther is killed][EXP Gained]
[LEVEL UP]x2 (Limit Reached)
[Conqueror Title Evolved into **Indomitable Conqueror**]
-------------------------
'This was a lucky shot.' Alex thought as he dropped his sword and fell on his back to let his mangled arms heal.
After recovering from his injuries and taking a small rest to recover mentally, Alex opened his eyes to system notification, and the first thing he checked was the conditions of his Rank promotion quest.
'I barely killed a second Rank creature using a trick with a lucky shot, but now I am supposed to kill ten of them?' Alex thought, looking at the Rank promotion quest conditions.
▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼
[Rank Promotion Legacy Quest] [Rank One]
Objective 1: Kill 200 Common Monsters.
•-Kill 50 Elite Monsters.
•-Kill 20 Rare Elite Monsters.
•-Kill 5 Epic Monsters.
(OR)
Objective 2: Kill 50 (First Rank) Elite Monsters.
•-Kill 20 (First Rank) Rare Elite.
•-Kill 10 (Second Rank) Epic (Or above) Monsters.
(In case of Quest failure player will not be given the promotion quest for one Month)
.....
Rewards: Promotion to first Rank (????) (????) [Rewards will be determined by player performance]
.....
Important Info: The player needs to kill the beast alone, as any outside help will not contribute toward the quest.
.....
Quest Progress: (See More)
.....
Accept [Yes/No]
.....
[Important Note: After the promotion quest is accepted, the player needs to complete it in 48 Hours, and the less time is taken, the better the rewards will be.]
▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲
'The worst thing is I can't even level up to increase my strength.' Alex thought, seeing his level capped at twenty.
A normal player can gain exp and level up even after reaching the condition for Rank promotion, but the legacy holders didn't have the same privilege and were required to clear the Rank promotion quest to gain any more levels.
Alex didn't even consider choosing the easy route knowing that the rewards he would receive will be garbage compared to what he will gain for completing the promotion quest on hard difficulty.
"Domain Ruler, You don't look happy," Lady said.
"Lady, I need to kill ten Second Rank creatures to complete my Rank promotion, and I need to do that in forty-eight hours which is close to impossible with my current strength," Alex said, making his system screen public for his shadow guardians to see.