Chương 29: An Explosive Finale

"Still, this space is cramped—no room to stretch our limbs. Let's move to the courtyard and have our bout there." Owen's gaze sank.

"What do you say?"

"No problem!" Ryan was secretly delighted. He'd been fretting that fighting indoors would tie his hands and keep him from giving his all—and now Owen had proposed a change of venue himself. Nothing but good news. The three left the room for the manor's courtyard, far larger than Lillian's boudoir.

"But I'll say it plainly up front: since this bout has a prize, I won't be holding back—so watch yourself!"

"Please, teach me well!" Ryan cupped his fists in salute to Owen, then turned to Lillian.

"Do you have a ranged weapon—a bow or crossbow? I'd like to borrow one." Lillian nodded and produced a crossbow, handing it to him. [Repeating Crossbow: After one loading, fires twelve bolts in succession. Bronze grade. Attack +100, Agility +20, Strength +10. Weak-Point Strike: striking a weak point ignores the target's defense and deals crit damage. Equip Level: 10] A fine piece. Ryan nodded, satisfied, then borrowed a thousand arrows from Lillian, each +30 attack, completing his pre-battle preparations.

"If you're ready, I'm coming!" Owen's gaze sank; he drove off in a lunging stance and shot at Ryan like a bolt of lightning. Because he used only one-tenth of his strength, his stats weren't suffocatingly strong in Ryan's eyes. [Garron Owen (one-tenth strength): Gold Boss, Level 30, HP: 500, 000, Stamina: 200, 000, Attack: 2, 200, Defense: 1, 600, Skills: Unknown.] Sure enough, even at one-tenth power, Owen matched a Level 30 Gold Boss.

A 500, 000 HP cap—a full 300, 000 more than the Source of Chaos Avatar he'd fought in the underworld! And his attack and defense crushed that avatar utterly. Proof that even among Gold Bosses, the gap in strength could be vast. But Ryan didn't panic at Owen's charge. Coolly tracking his movements, he made an unexpected move: a backward leap, drawing the crossbow. The motion flowed seamlessly—practiced enough that even the battle-hardened Owen couldn't help an inward note of praise.

Under the 10x movement-speed bonus, Ryan's figure was swift as wind, slipping clean past Owen's assault. Volley! Thunk thunk thunk thunk! Hiss hiss hiss— A torrent of bolts poured out under Ryan's tenfold acceleration, falling like fine rain onto Owen's chest before he could check his force. System: [Ding! Weak-Point Strike registered! Crit damage dealt, ignoring defense!] With the Repeating Crossbow equipped, Ryan's attack neared 500, and paired with the Weak-Point Strike bonus, every bolt dealt nearly a thousand damage to Owen. In the space of a breath, all twelve struck home on weak points, dealing over ten thousand damage. At this rhythm, a few dozen more rounds would bring Owen down. But in practice, the difficulty was absurdly high. Ryan had only gained the upper hand in that first exchange because Owen had let his guard down.

A battlefield veteran would never let himself fall into the same pit twice. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"The kid's got some skill—but only that." Owen's gaze sank; he closed in again, his clay-pot fist driving at Ryan. This time, though, his movements carried a faint wariness, with room left to shift mid-strike. That alone made hitting his weak points many times harder for Ryan. That's exactly what I wanted. Ryan's gaze sharpened, the corner of his mouth lifting.

If Owen had charged in heedless, it would've given Ryan a headache—prime openings vanish in an instant, and against a frenzied assault he'd struggle to seize the lead in so fluid a fight. But now it was different. Years of combat experience made the veteran Owen instinctively want to avoid more damage, so his attacks lost their headlong drive, and the pressure on Ryan dropped sharply.

Now Ryan could kite Owen endlessly with his blistering speed; harder to land weak-point hits, yes, but with the Combo talent stacking, so long as he stayed steady, the longer it dragged on, the higher his damage climbed—all to his advantage.

"Kid! Quit dancing and come at me sword to sword!" A minute in, Owen's face had gone dark. All that time, and he hadn't so much as brushed Ryan's hem—while the kid's attack power had quietly grown, until it began to threaten him. -601! -602! -603! … Owen wanted to curse. A pity speed had never been his forte, and with his strength pinned to one-tenth, catching Ryan was a pipe dream. No good—keep this up and the kid will needle me to death! His gaze sank. His HP had dropped nearly half; he had to change something.

Swish! A flash of light, and in the blink of an eye Owen donned a suit of gold-gleaming war armor, a crossbow now in his hand too. Unlike Ryan's green-glinting Repeating Crossbow, Owen's blazed dazzling gold. Damn—you can do that*?! * Ryan paled. Owen's strength had been so suppressed that the Amethyst armor Ryan wore had been stripped off for failing the level requirement—and who'd have thought the man, stymied so long, would simply don a full set of fresh Gold gear? How am I supposed to play this?

His gaze sharpened on Owen's stats; under the Gold set's boost, they'd surged. [Garron Owen (one-tenth strength): Gold Boss, Level 30, HP: 280, 000/600, 000, Attack: 4, 000, Defense: 3, 300, Skills: Unknown.] And worst of all—in the Gold set, Owen's movement speed had risen markedly. Kiting him as before was now wishful thinking. Hiss! In the instant Ryan froze, Owen drew and fired in one smooth motion. -3, 500!

The breath of death wrapped his heart; at the last hair's breadth, Ryan threw every ounce of himself into a sideways shift and just dodged the vital point. Even so, 3, 500 damage dropped his HP to a bare 1, 000. One more hit and he'd lose.

"No! I can't lose!" Ryan roared inwardly, his eyes resolute. Miss this chance, and opening a shop would become who-knew-how-many times harder. He had to seize this with everything he had. Conventional methods couldn't win now—so… His gaze sank to a corner of his bag. There, over a hundred Fire Seeds lay quietly, glowing thick with light. Come, then. Enjoy the explosive finale. Shadow Raid! Charging Wolf! He cast every speed skill at once, his movement surging again.

A vicious glint flashed in his eyes; both hands seized fistfuls of Bronze Fire Seeds, and he closed in. Thorn Pierce! Countless thorns burst in from every direction, sealing off Owen's retreat in a blink. A sky full of starlight came pouring down. Over a hundred Bronze Fire Seeds, hurled straight at Owen. Feeling the rain of flame descending, Owen—briefly pinned by the thorns—paled and wrenched free, trying to pull back. Thump!

But with the knockback from Shadow Raid, Ryan barred his retreat and drove a kick into him. In an instant, Owen flew in an arc, dropping into the ring of falling Bronze Fire Seeds.

"Damn it, the kid set me up!" Feeling the violent energy gathering around him, Owen couldn't help a curse. But whatever he said, it was far too late. In a moment of silence, the rain of fire fell, and a violent roar erupted, shaking all of Dragon Blood City three times over. KABOOOM! A gray mushroom cloud rose slowly over the Dragon Blood City Lord's Manor.

"The kid's got some tricks." High in the boundless void, two old men stood side by side. Victor Fane gazed through the clouds at all that unfolded below, the corner of his mouth slowly curling.

"Seems our worries were unfounded."

"My thoughts exactly." Silas Lowe shrugged, in full agreement.