Nothing is Impossible

Atlas found himself deeper in the woods than he had even gone before. He had wanted to test out how fast he could go with Speed Form and long story short, he could go fast. After only 30 minutes of running, he was so deep in the forest that if he floated above the trees, the only thing as far as his eyes could see was trees, trees and more trees.

He started to kill some monsters, gaining a couple levels as he did. He was now level 132 after all of the fighting he had been doing. It was a little sad, actually, how he had gained so little experience in such a large amount of time. Until coming to Atherome, he had been tiering up every week. It was both nice and frustrating to slow down. On one hand, he could barely keep up with everything that happened every time he tiered up, and he had just gotten a handle on his skills.

On the other hand… He relished the feeling of growing in power quickly. He knew that gaining power faster also meant he was fighting stronger foes, and that was a part of the problem, since coming to Atherome, he had only fought things at and below his tier, everything else that was significantly stronger than him forced him to run away, sometimes he even had to run away mid-fight, though that was the hardest thing for Atlas. Risk his life… or potentially grow stronger in a single fight. He wasn't just ready to risk his life yet.

Or am I? He wondered to himself, feeling a little lost. He wanted to grow stronger, but he didn't want to die to some random monster, if he died he wanted it to be a glorious battle with a terrifyingly strong monster.

As Atlas continued to slaughter monsters, he firmed himself. Next time I fight a monster that's only a tier above me, I am going to stay and fight. And I will only flee when I am on the edge of death and haven't wounded the monster enough for it to be worth it to stay and fight.

Atlas found himself in a small clearing. He glanced up. It was starting to get dark, but Atlas wanted to kill something strong before he went back to town. He felt a tingle but pushed it off, thinking it was just nerves because he was outside when it was dark.

Atlas paused, looking around and furrowing his eyebrows. The tingling sensation grew stronger, originating in his stomach. It took a moment for him to realize what the sensation was. My Boss Slayer title! He thought, looking around and trying to figure out what direction the boss was. He frowned. He couldn't get a specific direction. It was almost as if… As if he was standing exactly where the boss was.

Atlas shifted to Defence Form and looked around with eyes narrowed sharply. He no longer had any perception skills, so he decided to make one right then and there.

He focused hard on observing everything around him trying to track where the boss was.

He noticed a slight- if air could wobble, that's what Atlas thought he was looking at right now.

He felt a mental click and a notification appeared.

Skill Gained: Surface Perception (SS)

Atlas used his new skill to focus even more deeply on the wobbling air. He felt like he could almost make out a form towering over him, but just when he thought he could see it, he blinked and the form vanished. He tried again, but it felt like whatever he saw had doubled down on hiding from him.

Jagged claws ripped into his back, completely ignoring his armor. Atlas cried out as blood spurted from his back, trapped under his armor. Atlas was worried, how had the creature gotten through his armor?

Realizing that his Defence Form was futile, he shifted to Recovery Form, as that one attack had taken more than half his health. Just when he finished shifting, he was picked up and bodily thrown into the nearest tree. Atlas crashed through the tree and two more behind it before stopping on the forth tree, the rest of his heath, even with his ridiculous recovery, drained fully.

He knew that the monster would be hot on his heels, so he strained using Surface Perception to its fullest, trying to spot whatever was attempting to kill him. He felt the skill fuse with his burning red eyes, and there was another click.

Tiering up…

Surface Perception (SS) -> Deep Perception (SS)

Atlas could now see the air slightly shimmering and wobbling in front of him and he threw himself to the side, rolling out of the way and manifesting his scythe. He held the blade in front of his face to try and block any attacks, but as he did, there was a crunch and Atlas's face snapped back, the creature somehow managing to go through both his scythe and armor. Atlas swung out in his pain and felt it connect, finally managing to draw blood for the first time this fight.

His face brightened as he realized this fight could actually be won, but then the monster grabbed him by the leg and threw him. Atlas used his wings and a bit of air magic to stop himself from a repeat of his earlier clash with the trees. He lost sight of the monster and he strained Deep Perception even further, trying as hard as he could to find the monster.

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He didn't want to die.

Skill Evolution!

Deep Perception (SS) -> Danger Sense (Z)

And just like that, Atlas could see.

The monster was fully revealed to him. It was a hulking bipedal bundle of fur and claws, with golden streaks all over its body like it was a car and its driver had decided to spruce it up a bit with what looked like completely random streaks. Atlas couldn't judge its exact size, but he would have placed his bets on 8 or 9 feet tall.

Phase Wolfman: Lycore

Tier: 4 Level: 389 CP: 5.6

Atlas then scanned the monster's skills. It only had three, but they were very potent.

Greater Invisibility (Z): Become completely invisible. You can only be seen by perception skills that are equal to this skill rank, but some skills can notice you slightly. Uses Mana, effect is slightly dependent on Intelligence and concentration.

Mighty Claw (Z): Your claws deal twice the amount of damage that they should, and no creature your tier, lower than your tier, or one tier higher can be immune to your attacks.

Phase Shift (ZZ): You can choose a specific part of your body to become incorporeal, and can change back and forth at will. Effect is dependent on Intelligence and skill with Phase Shift.

Atlas now understood how the monster had fought him up till now, it had been Invisible until he had noticed, he wasn't sure why it had waited for him to notice it, but it did. When he had noticed it, it had unleashed his fury at him with his two other skills, ignoring his armor and dealing a large amount of damage to him. Atlas didn't know why it had thrown him, as his skills didn't help that at all but then he used Master Scan to check on the bosses stats.

Endurance: Low

Constitution: Low

Strength: Very High

Dexterity: High

Wisdom: Average

Intelligence: Very High

So he was a shock trooper. Great in short skirmishes but not good for extended fights. Atlas could use that to his advantage. He would just have to hold on. Atlas looked down and saw the wolfman crouching low before jumping shockingly high up at Atlas. Atlas teleported to the ground and shifted to Strength Form watching as Lycore hit the peak of its jump and began to fall. Atlas watched as it realized what had happened and glanced down at him, eyes wide.

It fell like a rock, and Atlas started his swing early before pausing mid swing, pulling back and swinging again, hoping that the wolfman would mistime his phase and get hit with the full force.

It didn't.

Somehow Atlas had miscalculated, and the wolfman phased through the scythe easily, landing in a deep crouch and lashing out at Atlas, phasing through his armor easily. Atlas was flung from the force of the punch, all of the wolfman's momentum going into its punch.

As Atlas was sent flying he briefly wondered. What had he miscalculated? Was it the wolfman's skill itself? It's skill with the phase shift? Is it Intelligence? All three? Atlas had thought he was winning the fight after a single scratch. Now he was down to a sliver of lifeforce, he was bleeding from a wound that hasn't healed yet, and he was running out of options. The wolfman was pristine, having already shrugged off the only attack Atlas had landed.

Atlas wished he had been able to land a solid hit with Strength Form, he was sure it would have been enough to end or at least severely wound it.

Atlas shifted to Magic Form, summoned a giant fireball and hurled it at the wolfman as it ran at him, maybe he could hit it with magic while it was incorporeal…

The wolfman phased through it with ease, landing a crushing blow to his face through his armor yet again and Atlas fell to the ground with a thud.

He lay there as the wolfman loomed over him, raising a final claw to end him.

Atlas teleported away, going the farthest distance he could and then repeatedly teleporting until he found himself at the guild barracks once more. He lay in bed, frustrated with the boss he had just fought and also himself. The monster was strong, extraordinarily so, but Atlas still felt like he should have been able to beat it. It was basically the very definition of a glass cannon with insane firepower but terrible endurance and constitution. For all Atlas knew, his only attack could have taken almost all of its life force to heal, though it was unlikely.

But more than even that, Atlas was upset that he had lost and fled from battle almost instantly after promising to kill the next big monster he faced. With a final sigh of regret, Atlas fell into a fitful sleep, thinking of all the things he had done wrong.

***

A cloaked figure turned to another wearing the same garb. A deep masculine voice drifted from its hood. "He is back. Send Slaitor and his men to go capture him."

A distinctly feminine voice responded from the other hood. "Are you sure? Slaitor failed last time he faced off against him."

The man waved his hand. "It doesn't matter. Slaitor just reached tier four because of the grief of losing his younger brother, while this man seemed to have leveled hardly at all judging by our reports. He will definitely have them beat in the skills department, but it shouldn't be enough to make him too much of a threat." He paused. "On second thought, maybe we should send a couple more just to be sure."

The woman bowed deeply. "Thy will be done." As she stood, she was obscured in a black mist and vanished from the air.

The man shook his head in the open air. "What are we coming to? The Prince is here, probably because of us, a member of ours was killed in broad daylight by some hobo, and now I am being ordered to kidnap the same hobo. What is happening to our Order?"