Fine, you won't give me my openings, I'll fucking make them.
It had been about 40 seconds of fighting, but by now I had this fucker figured out.
Clearly, this halberd wielder attained a skill that made a single strike very fast. That, and he must have some high perception to be able to track my quick movements so well. With such a huge set of heavy metal armor and that damned halberd, there's only one niche class that could fit this mold; filthy damage tanks.
The bane of all fair gamers, a broken tank. Sure, they had lower health, but only relative to fucking tanks. That being said, I know he's only level 1 like me, meaning his first move will more than likely be his entire bag right now. The problem was, his strikes got way too damn close every time I closed the distance, regardless of my speed or angle.
After a couple more fruitless engagements, I'd grown fed up. Call it a short fuse, call it pride, but the guy would not have been such a challenge without magical class skills, halberd be damned. He's clever, I'll give him that, but his movements were sloppy. His stance was decent, but he was clearly unpracticed in it.
That indicated to me his defenses were primarily for show. He too had adopted the art of whimsically overpowered counter-attacking, but his stiff reactions indicated he never learned defense as backup. Of course, this was probably a given. Not because of talent but, why the fuck would he before this? There weren't exactly a plethora of opportunities to practice with these sorts of weapons before the tournament, not without risking serious injury.
Confident in my resolve, I switched my mentality from hyper aggression to a more fluid approach. I knew using my water stance was pertinent, my muscles pulsing with the shuffling of my feet, tapping into my agility stat. It was something I meditated on while enjoying my aquatic paradise.
Sure, you might've found how I cataloged my style during normal, more Earthen times to be dorky, bordering corny even, but here? It appeared I had the last laugh, being rewarded for my diligent faith in utilizing the elements to make concepts stickier. After the molly-whopping I delivered in the second fight and meditating on the stance, a prompt pinged at the corner of my vision.
*Skill unlocked* -> Water Stance (common) - user exerts far less energy while in this fighting stance that revolves entirely on perpetual motion, and receives a +3 in agility, and a 3% boost to perception whenever an attack closes in. Endurance receives a -6% debuff for a time after deactivation, dependent on the longevity of skills application.
3% was far from shabby for a common skill, but the debuff upon deactivation definitely made the humble common ranking make sense, and +3 agility was the more believable aspect of the skill in my opinion. It felt fair compared to assistance the stance afforded pre-global kidnapping too.
Now, whenever I was in Flow for too long back then, a wave of exhaustion would crash over me as soon as I stopped moving. If anything, this -6% endurance debuff would be a softer landing for now, ending up just 1 less point down based on its level. Later on if those numbers got a lot larger however, I'd need to tread carefully, or figure a way to alleviate the after effects somehow. Just, not now. Still, the tiredness felt…deeper than what I personally believed stats could affect. I'm not sure how to put it, other than something within the pit of my gut was spent after exhausting the use of flow, indicating it couldn't be utilized frivolously.
With said stance that was now an official skill active, I put in motion the second part of my plan, using my lightning straight technique.
See, I'd begun adding another elemental concept into my fighting stance not long before No-Face body-snatched the planet. One which I'd practiced rigorously in hopes to interpolate its forms with my water stance. Something deadly, quick, and unpredictable; lightning.
It was a gamble in my mind, trying to convert the conventional unarmed punch I'd practiced under lightning concepts into a Wakizashi stab on the fly, but I had little option. The sooner this fight was done, the sooner I can fight the next prick, and maybe some God will actually appreciate my abilities enough to see utility in choosing me. Then, I can get tools to be that utility, at least for a while.
Not too keen to that specific strain of blind commitment, after all.
Circling my armored and reactive opponent while feigning stabs and slashing motions with my lead hand Wakizashi, my hope was he'd flinch enough for me to skip the use of lightning techniques and find an easy opening, but to no avail. The evasive tank would step out of my range to maintain his defensive integrity and distance without hesitation.
I decided to try stepping off center between stabs to get his body more squared to mine. He'd remained unshaken by my prior fake lurches and steps, until I'd crept close enough for him to throw a halberd slash that kept me away from any feasible openings.
An odd sensation, fighting someone so large in frame compared to me in truth, especially since I depended on my range to win most of my tougher fights throughout my short life. Right before distributing the flow from the left side of my body to explode into my lightning strike, he did the unthinkable; he feigned a slash.
A large part of me was taken aback as I recoiled out of my own attack, but another was excited.
Finally, someone with a little prowess.
Wondering what Korbin would do, I decided the openings were there, I simply hadn't got to them yet.
Be patient, go at your pace.
I began circling again, this time throwing a stab with my lead hand Wakizashi, and twisting my hips to generate speed as I lunged the blade forward. There was a moment during the lunge where he appeared to teleport a little.
I couldn't really tell at first, it took several clashes before noticing his position shift ever so slightly each time he blocked. Yet, my eyes didn't detect a single muscle twitch, even with the perception boost from my Water Stance allowing me to see our attack sequences much slower. I pressed forward again as a test, and right as he began retreating with his halberd raised up to block, it happened again.
What the fuck, is this guy actually mage or something?
Maybe his intelligence and strength were his best stats. Maybe neither, either way I was beginning to lean towards abandoning my attempts to read his strength's from the outside. Instead, I decided to focus on his actions one moment at a time.
After a few more prodding feigns and stab attempts with my blades, along with the occasional calf kick when I got close enough, the fight rapidly grew in intensity. The tank put his elusiveness on full display, denying me the gratification of stabbing his stupid magician face via throwing his own counter-strikes and instantly slipping just out of range.
It's also due to this annoying skill set of his that I found immense fulfillment when he finally started succumbing to the leg kicks. His even retreating steps devolved into a weak shuffle, powered by the proverbial dead-legged limp after a series of parried slashes and questionable near-misses left his calf ripe for the kicking. The tanks posture suddenly jolted down as I landed yet another whipping calf kick, before narrowly Water Stepping away from a wild downward swipe from his halberd.
Calf kicks are brutal for the record, in that they quite literally deactivated your muscles rendering them dead weight for a period of time. How long it took your leg to wake back up varies by how and, most importantly, where you got hit. Clearly, this was the tanks first experience with them as well, which was always the worst. I nearly felt bad.
Now that the magical menace was slowed, I knew there's no way he could react in time for a killing blow. My blade lunged forward again, stepping back as I threw my strike. The lead Wakizashi fired out, stabbing the tip though his chest plate. Feeling my back foot touch ground, I coiled my flow through the leg bouncing my momentum back at him. I exploded out, twisting my body clockwise in a southpaw stance, stabbing for his neck quicker than a bullet train.
No, faster, like literal lightning was about to strike this poor sap right through his eye. For a moment, my weapon glowed a dark purple hue. As my blade neared my opponent's body however, it sped up considerably while being consumed in a new bright white hue. It felt like a star was erupting from my palm as energy rifled down my arm and through my body.
An incredible warmth washed over every sense as the blade traveled straight through the tanks eye socket. Though, all of my attention latched onto the fact I was moving faster than ever before. I was barely afforded mere seconds of pondering before the large mages entire body began dissipating from his targeted eye outward like a stone through a fog. A sudden motion at the corner of my peripherals caused me to slide away, narrowly evading the halberds blade hurtling toward my arm.
My body's twitch reaction leapt away before my mind could react, like I had been puppeteer'd to safety. I turned to see the same halberd wielding magic-man I could've sworn I just murdered less than half of a second.
"Hahaha, I thought you'd be tougher lil' guy. You can't even see me!" The tank giddily jeered with a chuckle.
Oh, oh hah. HAHAHA. Oh okay, motherfucker.