MMORPG: Ascension of the Strongest Spirit Master
Chapter 41: Victory

Chapter 41: Victory

Vlad took a deep breath. The air tasted bitter and toxic, but it was not harmful, on the contrary, it felt comfortable.

He opened his eyes, his fingers closing around the hilt of the sickle as he examined the weapon, not surprised seeing that Vel hadn’t manifested as a reaper’s scythe since it was to be expected with dual nature.

’The transformation and these chained sickles are a direct reflection of Vel’s nature,’ Vlad thought as he stretched his wings, feeling his connection with them and his innate understanding of how to use them easily.

’She is shy and timid, too hesitant to do anything, let alone strike directly. A full frontal assault is not her style.’

’So, of course, she would take a form that suits her. Use wings to keep her distance, sickles to strike from afar, to spread her poison without ever getting too close.’ Vlad reasoned, his grip tightened around the curved sickle handles, the chains between them rattling as if agreeing with his thoughts.

"Flexible weapons like these are not exactly my specialty," Vlad thought, eyeing the chained sickles, "but I can handle it,"

Vlad’s transformation resulted in a 30% stat boost, and if he wanted, he could grow it by another 50% by dropping his health below 10% and triggering the second effect of his lone calamity title.

But Undying Fury came at the price of sanity, and while with boosted strength, his chances of victory would increase, so would his chances of death since he was already one mistake away from death.

So, dulling his mind while he was not accustomed to his elevated strength and a new weapon was the last thing he wanted. However, even if it triggered, he was confident in his ability to take control and still win.

"Let’s end this," Vlad murmured, his eyes locked on the dark colossus as it slowly rose to its feet.

"GRRRIIIIALALLLLL!" It growled, its one remaining, lightless eye blazing with rage as it fixed its gaze on him.

Vlad circled left, letting the sickle drop from his hand as he caught the chain just before the blade kissed the floor.

"Let’s test my spirit skills," he thought, a sharp glint in his eye.

With a twist of his wrist, the chain hummed, coming alive, as the sickle arced into the air, spinning beside him in a tight orbit. It cut through the stillness with a low howl, carving a trail of miasma behind it.

Vlad had not used his spirit skills because Plaguebearer’s Touch was too weak to do any real damage to the Eclipseborn, and Venomous Bloom required ten seconds of physical contact to activate, which, given their differences in strength, was not achievable.

However, with the Spirit Convergence, all these problems were solved, as now not only were the skills stronger and had no cooldown time but with the weapons like chained sickles, it was easy to execute the two skills.

Still, Vlad had no intentions of using the Venomous Bloom skill because it required sixty seconds to mature and deal real damage, and by then, the battle would already be over.

’Plaguebearer’s Touch’

Vlad activated the first skill, and the two curved sickles began to bleed a toxic haze thick with poison and the stench of plague.

The Eclipseborn, having regained control, observed the changes in Vlad and finally moved like a dark bullet using the shadow lunge skill, swiftly closing the distance.

Vlad released the sickle, the cold chain slipping through his fingers like a steel serpent. Then, with a sharp wrist snap, he closed his grip, halting the chain, and gave a swift pull. The blade curved mid-air and whipped back toward the beast’s left flank.

The sickle struck with a shriek of metal on metal, but still, its tip dug into the colossus’s dense hide, yet that did nothing to slow the monster’s charge.

The Eclipseborn didn’t flinch, its massive frame barreling forward, shadows writhing around it as it prepared to throw everything at its slippery opponent.

The shadows curled into two dark snakes that lunged at Vlad from both left and right. The Bear, without slowing, dug his claw into the ground, tilting it at an angle that sent chunks of stones flying like sharp projectiles as he moved forth.

At the same moment, the beast’s jaw stretched wide and snapped shut around the chain. With a violent jerk of its head to the right, it yanked the chain taut, pulling it closer, while its massive bulk barreled forward, shoulder-first, straight at Vlad.

As the attacks came, Vlad didn’t slip away using Ghost Weave. Instead, he jumped using the chain pull and unfurled his newly gained wings to rise, pushing off the beast with his feet and gliding to the right, easily avoiding the attacks.

Knowing the wings offered little speed, Vlad dropped to the floor and swiftly pulled at the chain, not to free it from the Bear’s jaws but to pull the second sickle in his hand.

He swiftly moved, using a dash to meet the colossus, who spun to face him. As their eyes met, the sickle was already descending, inching closer to the hollow socket of its right eye.

The Eclipseborn was also ready as shadows surged forward around it, twisting quickly into massive jaws that lunged to engulf Vlad.

Vlad was forced to use ghost weave and his wings to glide right, avoiding the fate of being crushed, but he was able to dig the sickle into the side of the colossus and tear a long gash.

The damage it did was barely 3%, but at this stage, any damage mattered. Vlad pulled his sickle free and stepped back, avoiding the shadow tendrils that lunged at him.

The Eclipseborn came at him with wild fury, shadows writhing across its battered frame, but with his enhanced strength and speed, Vlad easily slipped past its violent bursts, dancing just out of reach, landing strike after strike.

Each cut was precise, deliberate, and poisoned.

In less than a minute, the Eclipseborn’s health had dropped to 13%, while Vlad, despite sustaining a few injuries, saw his health rise by 16% to 19% thanks to the healing passive from his Bloodhound Ring and the lingering effects of his potion.

The effects of its skills had also worn off, and with dozens of cuts marring its once-lustrous dark coat, each one seeping with poison and plague, the battle was tipping more and more in Vlad’s favor.

’It seems I underestimated Vel’s abilities. Now I wonder what the second skill could do,’ Vlad thought, realizing that while his elevated strength played a part, the true bane of giants was the toxic haze that clung to his sickles.

However, while in better condition than the Eclipseborn, Vlad’s mana was nearly depleted, scraping the bottom of his reserves, so he had to close in and quickly end it.

And the Eclipseborn, sensing the end approaching, had thrown all caution aside and attacked with everything it had left, abandoning defense in a final, brutal attempt to kill him.

The Eclipseborn’s bulk crashed forward, shadows flaring wild around its ruined frame, but Vlad didn’t flinch. He surged into the charge, sidestepping close beneath a wild swipe.

He delivered a deep cut to its neck while barely missing the claw that still sliced through his cheek and grazed past his ear, making hot blood trail down his jaw.

However, he stepped in again, delivering another attack only to suffer from a raking swipe across his chest that carved through leather and flesh, leaving a stinging slash just deep enough to matter.

Still, the damage was minor. Just skin and breath, nothing vital.

Vlad stepped past a wild swing and brought his sickle up, the chain tightening behind him, and with a violent arc, he drove the curved blade straight into the giant’s eye.

This was it.

The tip pierced flesh with a sickening squelch. The creature reared back, screaming in fury, but Vlad didn’t stop. He twisted the weapon with all his weight behind it, forcing it deeper, cracking through the socket and into the skull.

It didn’t collapse even as its health reached zero.

Instead, the Eclipseborn retaliated blindly. A claw swiped past Vlad’s head, missing him by centimeters. Another barely missed his side, and a third claw raked across his chest, slicing clean through the ruined hobgoblin armor and into flesh, leaving a deep, burning line.

Vlad stumbled back, yanking the sickle free in a burst of black viscera. His wings flared wide to stabilize his step. He threw a mouthful of blood but smiled, knowing this was it.

The Eclipseborn’s form trembled. Its coat was soaked in plague-ridden blood, dozens of gashes leaking poison. It stepped forward, shadows flaring for a heartbeat, then collapsing into silence.

The monstrous beast finally stumbled, its legs gave out, and it collapsed with a thunderous crash, the fall accompanied by the familiar chime of a system notification.

However, Vlad didn’t celebrate just yet, knowing there was one final hurdle between him and true victory.