Undying Warlord

Dilan was far from being normal.

He was no ordinary Ascender and knew that using [Bearer of Pain] and [Bracing Pain] to replenish his mana and to amplify his stats would be more than enough to defeat the Gold Tier-1 Minotaur.

Even his Strength would reach the same as the Minotaur's the moment he utilized [Bracing Pain] to its full potential.

But was that really the right way, to always use his occupational abilities to overwhelm his opponents with higher stats? Would that always be helpful to survive the future dangers he was bound to face?

Dilan didn't think so.

It was quite obvious that there would be times when even his strongest state was, at most, on par with his opponent's as he would advance further.

There would also be times when his stats would be lower than the monsters and other beings he faced.

While the latter would be in his favor, the latter would be a disadvantage but was something Dilan couldn't avoid.

'If I cannot rid myself of this bad habit, I might never be able to do so...'

Dilan knew that it was a bad habit to overwhelm his opponents with his high stats. It didn't provide him with as much combat experience as he truly needed.

[True Weapon Specialist] might be a powerful passive ability because it would imprint lots of knowledge and experiences in his mind but that was already it.

His body had yet to get accustomed to fighting like a true master, to exceed his physical limits and fight desperately so as to overcome everything.

Dilan was aware of his problem and the Minotaur Leader in front of him seemed to be the perfect target to figure out his flaws, learn how to fix them and what else he needed to improve.

'One minute. If I cannot figure out anything in one minute, I'll finish the Minotaur with my brute force!'

One minute might not be long but [Second Acceleration] would wear off afterward. He would have to use his mana in an unrestrained manner in the one-minute-long fight as well.

Thus, he couldn't reactivate [Second Acceleration] once it had worn off. This would force him to use [Bearer of Pain] to replenish his Mana.

As a reaction, [Bracing Pain] would amplify him, which would mean that re-activating [Second acceleration] would increase his Agility much more than it was currently doing.

The current condition with which Dilan was fighting could be called perfect. While his Agility was much higher than the Minotaur's, its strength was equally much higher than Dilan's.

Their average stats were more or less similar, which was why tactics, instincts, usage of abilities, and combat experience were currently the most important factors that decided over life and death.

It was perfect and Dilan got up from the ground in an instant before he blasted off.

He rushed toward the left, leaving behind the Minotaur leader, who had almost caught up with him before.

It roared out in anger and pursued Dilan while closing the distance between them by taking shortcuts through the inner area of the Pagoda's highest floor.

Dilan had already expected the Minotaur leader to close its distance to him.

However, while focusing on him, the Minotaur leader didn't even realize that the other Silver Tier-1 Minotaurs were also charging at Dilan.

The Minotaur Leader rushed some of them over, providing Dilan the opportunity to finish them off in a clean slash of his blade.

Using the serpent-form of the Blazing Serpentine Blade allowed him to utilize many complex maneuvers, and attack monsters that were not located in the first row.

His Agility was shockingly high, and his surprise attack was ruthless and precise. The Silver Tier-1 Minotaurs were unable to block his attack.

The Minotaurs he attacked were killed in an instant. They were not even able to issue a single noise before they slumped to the ground.

This sound attracted the attention of many Minotaurs but they couldn't understand what was going on because their mind was not working rationally owing to their Berserk state's influence.

It prevented them from realizing that Dilan's attack pattern had changed and that he was not fighting openly anymore.

He was using small and devious attacks to either injure his opponents or to finish them off, silently and neatly.

While rushing through the Pagoda's highest floor, Dilan killed more than 8 Silver Tier-1 Minotaurs before he was forced to face the Minotaur leader head-on.

Luckily, by then, Dilan had come up with a tactic to face the powerful strike of the Tier-1 Minotaur head-on.

As it slashed out at him with its terrifying strength, he was unable to hide his smile.

It was a sly smile that spoke volumes about the cruelty of his plan.

But being cruel was not something new for Dilan. He slashed the Blazing Serpentine Blade at his opponent while twisting his body.

Using the large blade as a shield, he tried to deflect the Minotaur leader's attack while simultaneously averting it slightly to prevent being cut in half.

Dilan could have evaded it completely but this would have allowed the Minotaur leader to issue a second attack not long after its first attack.

To prevent a subsequent attack that he wouldn't be capable of defending, Dilan forcefully averted the Minotaur leader's attack with most of his weapon's body.

While the lower body of the Serpentine blade was in the longsword form to allow him to wield it properly, the upper part and the tip were still in the serpentine form.

They were coiled around the Minotaur leader's sword-arm's wrist, where their razor-sharp edges dug into.

After Dilan had enhanced the Blazing Serpentine Blade's endurance and sharpness using one of the highest quality whetstones, he was not afraid of seeing it break, or that it might not be sharp enough to cut through his opponent's hide.

While blocking the Minotaur's attack, he simultaneously issued an attack, cutting deep into the Minotaur's wrist before burning everything.

It was not neat, but Dilan felt that the Minotaur's strength behind its attack was gradually decreasing.

This gave him the chance to issue a follow-up attack.

The Minotaur was currently roaring out in anger and pain, and its high-pitched whining caused a painful ache in Dilan's ear.

He tried to ignore it as much as possible, leaned his body forward, and retracted the remaining part of the Blazing Serpentine Blade before shooting forward.

Meanwhile, as he blasted ahead, the Minotaur's sword slashed into the ground, while the arteries of its wrist had been cut through.

Blood spurted through the surroundings, and splattered on Dilan's face but he kept his sky-blue eyes wide open as he slashed at the Minotaur while passing by it.

However, instead of attacking its chest or any vital spot that might kill it instantaneously, Dilan cut through the Minotaur's left leg.

But his attack was far from over as he passed by the Minotaur. Blasting out with the serpent form of the Blazing Serpentine Blade the moment he reached the Minotaur, its razor-sharp blades dug deep in both calves of the monster's legs.

A moment later the Minotaur was forced to the ground as its legs couldn't carry its heavy weight anymore.

Yet, even after that attack, Dilan didn't think of slowing down.

The Blazing Serpentine Blade whipped through the air, cutting through the Minotaur's thigh, eyes, and elbow in a matter of seconds.

Meanwhile, Dilan's eyes steeled as a faint smile formed on his lips.

'So that's what the [True Weapon Specialist] really means?'