Show Me the Money

Chapter 172 - First Battle As an Elementalist

The first notable function of the Elemental Sword was that its size could be changed at will. Its length could range from several meters to the size of a dagger, like how Fatty was using it now.

Out of nowhere, Fatty appeared below the Cerberus' stomach. He stabbed the Elemental Sword straight into its stomach before immediately enlarging the sword's size.

"Aroooo…."

The hellhound howled tragically and quickly darted back. At the same time, the three heads cast down attacks in unison.

Gusts of fire, water blades, and venom fell on the ground, generating enormous AoE damage and even killing a bunch of the surrounding demonized creatures. Unfortunately for the Cerberus, the wave of attacks didn't display its intended result because Fatty had long disappeared from the spot.

After landing on the ground, the hellhound looked around haphazardly with all three heads.

"Aroo, aroo!" The beast howled, extremely agitated. Its paws clawed and dug up the dirt from the ground. Billows of demonic smoke rose up from its body, making the creature look all the more terrifying.

"That didn't count," Fatty stated and suddenly appeared to the side before dashing once more toward the Cerberus.

"Grruuuuu… hoooo…" The hellhound crouched very low, its back arched and three heads held high. The exact moment Fatty entered its vicinity, it spat out a cloud of flames.

Unlike the previous flame, this one was black. Before the fiery blaze even neared Fatty, he could already tell that its temperature was enough to roast a person alive till they were well-done.

"Firewalk," Fatty didn't bother trying to dodge. Instead, he welcomed the inferno head on. Surprise flashing in the eyes of the hellhound, Fatty softly breathed out the word the instant he collided with the flame. Then, Fatty disappeared without a trace.

Whoosh!

-589

Still spitting out fire, a cut appeared on the hound's head, so deep that the bone was revealed. The wound dragged through half of the creature's skull, almost enough to slice off its head.

With the incoming fire quickly driving to a halt, Fatty once again appeared below the Cerberus. Indeed, the cut just now was a product of the Elemental Sword.

THUD.

In spite of the extreme pain, the hellhound raised its front leg and ferociously stomped down on Fatty. Fatty already had his guard up, so at the moment of impact, he twisted and landed on the upper side of the paw.

"Deadly Poison."

Fatty whispered as he slashed, flipping his body and jumping away. A green light flashed above the damaged head. Shockingly, the 0.1% chance of poison proc'd.

-350

-350

……

Each second sapped away 1% of the target's health for ten seconds straight. From the looks of it, the Cerberus had 35,000 max HP, which wasn't too high.

Ten seconds later, the health bar above the creature's head had dropped by a large chunk. After taking several hits while not even getting close to the enemy, the hellhound's rage escalated to a new level. The left and right heads spat out water and fire attacks simultaneously. At the same time, it jumped up and bolted at Fatty.

Ignoring the demonized mobs, Fatty hurriedly retreated. The hellhound was persistently hot on his heels. Just as it was about to catch up, Fatty suddenly halted and vanished.

"Rawhhhhh!" The hound's heads fiercely swiveled around and spat out water blades, fireballs, and venom in a frenzy, causing the environment in a several meter radius to become damaged. It loathed that skill; it absolutely hated how that person could suddenly vanish!

When Fatty showed up again, he was a dozen meters away from the Cerberus. If it weren't for the fact that he'd just become an Elementalist and improved his skill through the trial, he'd be hard-pressed to fight against this Gold Rank hellhound with his previous ability and class.

Despite being attacked several times and losing 10% of its max HP, the Cerberus hadn't suffered any fatal injuries. Its three heads howled in unison. Then, a column of water over ten meters long shot toward Fatty.

Fatty did not plan on wasting the ten allowed uses of the Movement Arts, so he sprang aside to dodge. While he did so, he lifted his left hand and shot out a crossbow bolt aimed at the eyes on the hound's left head.

Clank.

The hound closed its eyes and the arrow collided with its eyelid, producing a crisp noise before falling on the ground.

Fatty's brows slightly creased. The hound is regaining its health too quickly. If I can't kill it soon, all the effort put into attacking it earlier will have gone to waste.

Such a shame I didn't learn One Strike or else I could use it alongside Sprint and end this thing with a 100% chance to kill.

While Fatty inwardly made calculations, his feet didn't stop moving as he struggled with the Cerberus. The latter knew full well how difficult to handle this human was, so it approached Fatty very slowly while continuously spitting out attacks.

The one that could spit venom didn't attack along with the left and right head, but the hound was cleverly casting all of its water and fire skills that were below level. Due to the perfect timing of the attacks, Fatty was nearly hit numerous times.

"Let's take care of this one first," Fatty set his sights toward the cut located on under the fire-spitting head. Once again, he used the Elemental Movement Art.

Seeing Fatty vanish again, the Cerberus was at a loss until it felt a heart-piercing pain stemming from its left head.

"Aroooo…"

The hound's left head tilted up then dropped back down. Black blood gushed out from the slash. More than half of its neck was sliced off by the Elemental Sword, leaving the head hanging very loosely from what was still attached.

-586

Attacking the weak point was surprisingly effective, with Fatty dealing over 500 damage. In addition, the Elemental Sword was also due credit as the weapon dealing the damage.

The hellhound was thoroughly enraged now. Its middle head suddenly spat out a rain of venom that covered a ten-meter radius. Fatty hastily tried to retreat but was still hit by the acidic substance.

Sizzle… Smoke rose up from the wound as Fatty's health instantly plummeted.

-182

-146

The two numbers popped up from his head one after another. Luckily for Fatty, this venom attack was an AoE skill. Otherwise, he would have been easily insta-killed.

Quickly swallowing a Small Restoration Pill, Fatty stopped retreating and once again charged forth. He made use of the recovery period following the venom attack to take out a vial. Smearing the vial's contents on the Elemental Sword, Fatty stabbed into the hound's body.

The Cerberus was dumbstruck as its body suddenly froze. Seeing the Golden-Winged Ant Poison put into action, Fatty became delighted. This poison is indeed useful.

During the 10 second paralysis, Fatty enlarged the Elemental Sword and hacked at the existing cut on the left head. After only a few seconds, he successfully cut it off.

Retreat. Fatty resolutely decided to step back. Once the paralysis wore off, the hellhound pointed its heads towards the sky and let out a long roar. Then, the remaining two heads opened their mouths in unison and spat out two round objects at Fatty.

"Theses are… inner cores?" Fatty mused as he quickly Earthwalked several hundred meters away.

Boom! The ground trembled violently the instant the two inner cores landed. Fatty looked back and saw a giant hole spanning over 20-meters wide at the spot where he just stood.

"This is the power of the inner cores?" Fatty silently appreciated his luck for having the Elemental Movement Art. Otherwise, an attack like that could even send a resentful knight back to the respawn point if hit, ignoring the knight's high defense.

Seeing the inner core attack fail to kill Fatty, the Cerberus was stunned a little. It opened its mouth to retrieve the two inner cores, turned its body and spat them in Fatty's direction for the second time.

The might of the inner cores was nothing that any player could stop right now. His back against the wall, Fatty had no other choice but to use the Movement Arts to evade once more.

Boom! Another deep hole appeared as the ground shook again. Fatty showed up at another spot only to discover that an inner core was already flying his way.

The Cerberus was truly crafty. It used one core to force Fatty to use the Movement Art skill before using the other core to ambush the emerging Fatty.

While the Movement Art didn't have cooldown time, it still took time to activate. If Fatty used it now, he'd still be affected by the force from the core's collision.

"Spatial Spoon," Fatty was expressionless. He moved his hand, and a portal opened before him, Fatty immediately stepping in.

Boom! Inside the secluded dimension, Fatty saw the inner core hit the ground. A ripple spread out from the epicenter of the clash like a wave. All the rocks it passed by were turned into dust.

After attacking several times without the desired result, the hellhound was no longer able to keep it up. The inner core was the power source of a monster, using it to attack was akin to hurting itself.

Open its mouths to retrieve the cores, the hound turned around and fled. Fatty showed no mercy, exiting the dimension and landing directly on the boss's back.

Fatty's two legs gripped the creature's sides tightly while his left hand grabbed its fur and his right hand slashing its body violently. The Cerberus shrieked painfully, but there was nothing it could do to stop Fatty.

Puff. The remaining two heads attacked at the same time. Water blades mixed with venom fell from the air. After they landed on the surroundings, the trees were left with bare trunks after a short series of sizzles.

Fatty rapidly came to a decision as he looked up to see the deadly rain. Remaining unmoved, when the first water blade approached, he activated Waterwalk without delay.

Whoosh, whoosh. The water blades fiercely fell on the hound's back. Fatty's image flashed amidst the storm of swords before he finally appeared as the last attack fell from the air.

"Whew." Fatty heaved a sigh of relief upon emerging. Looking at the tiny chunk left on his health bar, he revealed a pained smile. While his method was effective, Fatty had forgotten that there was venom mixed in with the water. Therefore, he was still hit by it despite being unaffected by the water; it was fortunate that he wasn't poisoned to death.

Promptly stuffing a Small Restoration Pill into his mouth, Fatty landed on the Cerberus' back looking as if the previous barrage had never occurred. This hellhound could have made a suitable mount. It's a pity that the mission required it dead.

After repeatedly using its inner cores, the Cerberus had become dispirited. It nearly collapsed when Fatty wildly assaulted it from his mounted position. Lacking any other option, the boss had to bombard its own back once more. However, Fatty learned his lesson last time. Instead of taking the storm head-on, he moved underneath the hound's stomach and waited for each wave of attack to pass before climbing back up.

This type of magic monster was like a mage, practically doomed when faced with close combat. After being attacked for over half an hour, the Cerberus let out a final whine before falling to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

"Whew, finally done," Fatty jumped off the creature's body. This fight had been very unpleasant to him as he had to rely on the Small Restoration Pills and Elemental Movement Art to dodge the hound's fatal fire, water, and venom attacks. If not for these two factors, Fatty would have died several times over. Putting that aside, he had finally killed it.