Chapter 89: Grand Chariot
As the fight prolonged, Zeke can't help but notice that there seem to be a huge gap in strength forming. He expected as much with an enemy like Gallio. Someone who continually scaled up and proved all of Zeke's preparations to be useless against his raw force and brute strength.
[00:27:43]
Zeke read the notification on Samael's time limit. There isn't much time and, Zeke knew that maximizing the remaining minutes will probably be the deciding factor of the fight. Hence, he observed closely, not failing to continue preparing the other things he has in store for Gallio later on.
Again, Gallio made a huge swing which disregarded all defenses. Samael has no choice but to block this as, the creature knew instinctively how the blow would deal a devastating amount of damage. Using the sword, Samael blocked the swing and yet, this proved to be insufficient.
The [Conjure] got pushed back considerably by the attack. This is Zeke's reason in believing that Gallio has continued getting stronger. On their first exchange of blows, Samael and Gallio found themselves evening out each other's blows. Neither of them moved an inch as they barraged each other with attacks. However, this time it's different.
Bit by bit, Samael continued getting pushed back by Gallio's swings. While some do get absorbed by Samael's shield, there are just too many swings done within intervals. This left the [Conjure] with no room to make a strong blow.
"What the hell is going on here?" Zeke said to himself, looking at the king's abilities. He actually thought that Gallio would somehow have a skill that could effectively hide all of his attributes and abilities. Glade has something like this, one which fooled even the [System's Analysis] as Zeke actually believed the elf to be on the same level of Sylph before.
"Don't mind if I do." Zeke continued, peeking into the whole set of details connected to the King's fighting prowess.
As always, it is Gallio's prideful attitude that told him not to hide these. Because, even if the enemies see all his stats, there is still no way for them to defeat him. In his head, Gallio believes that he is the strongest. Since childhood, the king has always won his battles. It didn't matter how many foes he faced, at the end, it is always the Lion who stands triumphant. This same cheekiness may just be the only weakness of Gallio but, only a few are able to utilize it well. This includes the leader of the traitors 1,000 years ago, Glade, and Zeke.
"That explains a lot." Zeke said as he saw the skills in front of him.
[Skill Name: Crimson Beast]
[Skill Type: Passive]
[Information: A skill that comes with the activation of Ultimate Berserker. The skill creates three effects that activate together with Ultimate Berserker.]
[1. The skill owner gains +10 in all attributes for every minute that passes.]
[2. The skill owner converts all damage received into temporary attribute points.]
[3. The skill owner will gaina boost in attributes for every percentage of health missing.]
It is somehow similar to the skill owned by Zeke's [Blood Elf Bladesman – Erio]. But compared to Gallio's skill, the one owned by Erio seem nothing more than base level skill. Zeke instantly knew that the skill is bad news, especially if wielded by someone like Gallio. A living and breathing being who has honed his skills to perfection and, someone who owns a lot of powerful skill is bound to get more out of it.
This is the reason why Gallio didn't mind no matter how many times he was hit. With every damage done to him, he only grows stronger. But there is nothing Zeke could do about this. He has no means to chunk out all of the King's health in one blow…or maybe there is.
"Samael keep it going buddy." Zeke said, continuing to charge his bullets.
During the fight with the [Chimeras], Zeke used twelve bullets in total. It took that many bullets to finish the creatures. With the numbers in mind, Zeke intends to charge thrice the amount. This will be problematic for Elysium once unleashed. But Zeke is not stupid enough to release a continent destroying attack to defeat a single enemy.
He has a plan.
Samael and Gallio still fought. But, with his increasing power, Gallio began getting bored with the Samael and the other summons. This is a bad habit of his. He gets easily bored when fighting measly opponents. With his whole skill set being released, the king wants nothing more than an opponent which could completely level the floor with him. Hence, he finally decided to join Zeke in on the fight, getting swords from the nearby summoned knights.
He then threw them to Zeke, surprising the gamer who used [Shadow Dive] once more.
"Why is he attacking me all of a sudden?" Zeke thought to himself.
Both [Conjures] and [Summoned Knights] cover the battlefield. There is no safe spot for Gallio to take and yet, he seems to not care. With the sword in his hand, Gallio continued destroying all enemies in his path.
[Archer]
[Paladin]
[Swordsman]
[Defender]
All these creatures simply get obliterated with a single strike of Gallio. As he is already forced to fight, Zeke began being more forceful with his attacks. Creating [Conjured] creatures over and over again while waiting for the perfect opportunity to begin his combination.
Gallio found a hole through Zeke's attacks and, began sidestepping throughout the battlefield. Accompanying this are more summons getting destroyed by the king. Reaching Zeke, the human used [Shadow Dive] again to escape. The king followed through but, Zeke used [Flash Step]. And yet, even with this, the king is still able to catch him. Zeke repeated this over and over again, trying to get the king off his tail. In fact, Samael even tried stopping the king but, Gallio simply dodged the [Conjure] wanting to continue his little game of tag with Zeke.
Understanding the situation. Zeke teleported to a favorable area for him. The king soon followed with a swing of his blade - successfully landing a hit. Yet, to his surprise, the human remained standing even after taking the blow.
At this point, [Sun Eater] has already accumulated enough to make Zeke endure through Gallio's onslaught. Not only this, he also has [Knight's Vow] which adds even more defensive abilities to him. The king is unaware of this or course as, in his mind, Zeke is already far below the summoned Samael. Hence, his momentum got destroyed, giving Zeke the perfect opening to begin his counter play.
"Okay old man. Let's dance." Zeke activated [Mana Conversion] again. He waited for the fight to resume before activating it again in order for the king to drop his guard. The sudden burst of power skyrocketed Zeke's attributes yet again. This time, Zeke has reached the level of Samael.
Utilizing the [Shadow Area] created by [Sun Eater], Zeke continued [Shadow Diving] all over the battlefield. Aside from this, Samael did his part by limiting the, movements of the king. Suddenly, Gallio found himself in even more trouble than he hopped for. And yet, the smile on his face is still plastered.
Zeke used [Death's Void - Melee Form] while charging the bullets one by one. Even with the number of swings and slashes he made – Zeke still can't cut through Gallio's [Leo Rex]. Leading him to conclude that, the weapon is somehow magically enchanted as, his weapon is supposed to be able to cut through any physical defense. The same is true with Gallio's armor which, Zeke needed to exert effort on in order to actually make a decent cut.
Gallio, however, has no trouble cutting Zeke over and over again. Yet, with [Knight's Vow] and all other defensive skills of Zeke, these same attacks are greatly minimized. To the point where it feels like a goblin is attacking him.
"This is getting more and more exciting kid! Keep it up!" Gallio said, once again destroying a group of [Conjures] and [Summoned Knights] and, hitting Samael's shield. [Abyss Barrier] activated, leaving Samael with zero damage once again. The king knew of the trick and, with his innate gift on fighting, he already adapted countermeasures for the move.
"Shockwave." The king continued, blasting Samael away – effectively tearing off parts of the [Conjure's] armor. The king didn't stop there. He threw his sword toward Zeke's direction. The human dodged of course but then, something hit his nape…it isn't a skill shot not a decent weapon. It's a pebble which the king picked up. With his senses getting sharper and sharper together with his continually growing power, Gallio has once again reached the point where, even with the two of them combined, Zeke ad Samael are having a difficulty fighting back.
However, he isn't the only one adapting. Zeke has also made a bunch of moves already. As soon as he began his counterattack, Zeke has actually continued leading Gallio on.
"Ground Spikes" He began, surprising the king from the pointed things that shot up from the ground. The human then continued this with a mass of [Poison Clouds] wide enough to cover the whole area in a thick mist of deadly poison. Zeke gets damaged by this but, with all of his regenerative abilities and damage reducing skills in play, he just heals through the poison even without any poison resistance.
"Why did you have to ruin all the fun I'm having?" The king got disappointed right away, slashing through the mist of poison. But just as he did, a new layer came up to fill the gaps. The king slashed through this again and yet, new layers came up over and over again.
Outside the king's field of vision, Zeke placed 50 [Poison Clouds] on each [Winged Monkey] he owns, making them circle around the battlefield and, effectively releasing the poison over and over again. On the ground, detonates of the same poison are in effect and, together with these are the spikes. Hatchlings also popped in front of the king continually, only for them to disappear as soon as they use their [Counter] ability – dealing damage to the king using his own attacks.
While all this went on, Samael continually charged at the opponent. With more of his senses being dulled by the poison, Gallio's strength greatly decreased, turning the tides against him once more. Adding to his troubles are the [Ground Spikes] which still continue popping from the ground.
Both attacks aren't meant to finish off the king. They are meant to confute and distract him during the fight. Zeke knew that this won't work for long and, the king would once again find a way out of the predicament. Yet, even before the problem could arise, Zeke already has a way out of it.
[Sun Eater] now occupied most of the battlefield. As such, Zeke freely moved around the terrain without any restrictions nor limitation. Together with Samael, they made combos after combos against the king. From time to time, Zeke would summon the [Hatchlings] which would simply die after activating [Counter].
Pain crept all over the king's body as Zeke did not relent from the attacks. Watching this, both Glade and Pier laughed their hearts out in amusement. To see a human defeat a monster that completely outclasses him is not something you see every day after all.
Over and over again, the hits have made their way through Gallio until, his armor finally shattered into pieces, leaving the king bare. With only a minute left in Samael's timer, Zeke told the creature to activate its trump card.
Samael screamed and, emitted an almost dark blue mana. Then, everything went dark as the notification came.
[Grand Chariot Activated]