Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player
chapter-102

〈Battle Alert: Health has fallen below 50%. «Blood Mania» has increased Attack Power by 35%.〉

〈Battle Alert: «Tormented Beliefs» has activated. Attack Power, Attack, and Movement Speed are increased by 30%〉

If Kieran were skilled enough to control how much of his Health was sacrificed, he would have immediately forced himself to activate both of these passive Skills at 100% by dropping his Health below 20%. But, because the only way he knew how to sacrifice his Health was through Blood Mania, it was challenging to make that happen.

Nevertheless, after recalling Agrianos and Scar and how they could manipulate their Vitality as they saw fit, Kieran felt it was only a matter of time before he arrived at the level. At that time, he would no longer be bound by the scope of his skills; he'd be able to transcend them!

Whoosh!

After gaining the boost from his passives, Kieran's Attack Power now hovered above 1,400, a decent increase from the previous 800 now that his weapon's Attack Power no longer applied. While his Strength wasn't affected by this change, meaning it wouldn't change the weight of his attacks, Attack Power still played a notable role in determining the winner in each exchange.

Kieran moved quickly while Sera's large-scale healing skill, Cleric's Prayer, gained at Lv.25, healed Bastion and Nemean. With her Spirit as the base of the healing value, she recovered more than 700 Health instantly!

Adding her to the team was undoubtedly one of the best decisions Kieran could've made. Her allocation of attribute points made her the most effective of the three healers.

Once he was healed, Bastion was the first to move forward against the Lesser Cyclops. Although his class focused primarily on Defense, there were still some offensive skills in his arsenal that he could take advantage of. For example, Protective Strike.

This was a skill with a high aggro value because of its interruptive properties. If used when an enemy was targeting an ally, it would forcefully redirect aggro towards the user of this skill. In this case, Bastion used the attack, slashing his short sword as the Lesser Cyclops tried to attack Nemean.

The Lesser Cyclop's furious roar shook the cave as it looked at Bastion with a bloodied gaze. The dense murderous intent could be felt even by Sera and Sithik far away. Its mouth shuddered as a bestial growl festered in its throat.

"Come on, you big oaf! Show me what you got," Bastion roared back while slamming his short sword against his large shield. After being teased by the party earlier, Bastion was unusually worked up and intended to show his worth right here and now.

Like when they first fought, Bastion exhibited a grasp of combat that drove Nemean to compete with him. When the Lesser Cyclops grew near, Bastion bashed his shield into the boss's arm and jumped aside.

Although he still suffered some damage, compared to the first few attacks he suffered, this action significantly reduced it. Beside Bastion, a series of hollow blows sounded as Nemean struck the cyclops's leg with a chain of attacks.

While the Lesser Cyclop's attention was preoccupied, Kieran rushed forward and ran up one of its arms before leaping towards its chest. He used a Wild Crash to plunge his sword into the cyclops's chest, who screamed out in pain.

Once it felt that stab, it beat on its chest, planning to squash Kieran like a little bug. However, Kieran turned his body and barely avoided the blow by swinging above its knuckle. At the same time, he kicked up at the expected weakness in the cyclops' jaw.

But instead of being stunned, Kieran was grabbed out of the air.

Before retaliating, it roared at Kieran, covering him in its grotesque saliva before tossing him at the cave wall. With his Health already being dangerously low and the fact that Bastion, who possessed significantly heightened Defense, lost most of his Health from a single attack, Kieran would absolutely die if he were to take both of the impending attacks; both the forceful throw and the enormous fist following behind it.

But, with his mantle as a True Berserker, one who refused to give up in the face of adversity, how could Kieran accept death? His eyes slammed open with a crimson light as he broke the moment by turning his body in midair.

Kieran's feet landed firmly against the cave wall with so much force that they formed holes. However, the damage channeled through his body was minimized, losing an acceptable 15% in the process.

Afterward, a crimson squall surfaced around Kieran's body as he lifted his blade and unleashed three crimson tempests just before the Lesser Cyclops could smash him into the wall. The first tempest was aimed at the direct center of the fist. The other two lacerated each side of the cyclops' arm, dealing a large amount of damage for the current situation.

-22,934! [Critical Hit]

-15,290

-15,210

Because a cyclops was not a goblin-type monster, there was no source of increased damage to rely on. Kieran could only work with the boost from his passive skills and the high damage value of his current skills, especially the upgraded skill—Sanguineum Tempests.

「 Sanguinem Tempests (Lv.1)

Skill Rank: A

Skill Type: Active (AoE)

Mastery (04.00%)

Description: By harnessing the abilities of a True Berserker, the user can unleash tempests formed from sanguine energy reinforced by Mana. Depending on the user's attainments in the Berserk Blood Arts, the tempests can grow in both power and number. In its current state, each conjured blood tempest deals damage equal to 1,815% of the user's Attack Power with a 50% chance of inflicting a Critical Hit. Any enemy hit by the attack will be affected by 10 stacks of Bleed. Once mastered, a maximum of nine tempests may be conjured. (Current Tempests: 3)

Consumption: 5% Health and 50 Mana

Prerequisites: True Berserker, Blade-type Weapon

Cooldown: 210 seconds

Note: The upgraded form of Tempest Strikes moderated to agree with the attack systems of a True Berserker. 」

The first noticeable change was the fact that the skill's cooldown increased from 180 seconds to 210. Secondly, the skill had improved from a C Rank skill to an A Rank one. Thirdly, the damage value had essentially tripled. But while it tripled, Kieran noticed the skill had lost the ability to linger and cause residual damage.

While it appeared on the surface that skill had lost its ability to deal damage over time, that wasn't the case. Bleed was a status ailment that inflicted a set amount of damage per second, 50. Even though 50 damage seemed insignificant, if Kieran could reach the maximum stacks of 30, he would effectively deal a fixed 1,500 damage per second.

Fixed damage meant it could not be affected by damage reduction since it bypassed Defense altogether. Furthermore, because Kieran's class was one centered around blood, there was a possibility that his Bleed ailment could evolve into a specialty unique only to his class. Of course, that would mandate Kieran to spend a frightening amount of Skill Points to experiment with Blood Mania or go through an ungodly number of battles.

Either way, Kieran achieved the desired effect with this attack since one of the attacks landed as a Critical Hit, and the lacerations caused the cyclops to lose 500 damage per second, forcing it to retract its hand.

"Holy shit! Even a boss like this has lost over 10% of its Health because of Aatrox's attack?" Bastion gawked.

However, Kieran's following words doused Bastion's amazement with ice water. "I can only use that attack once every 4 minutes. The damage might be great, but the cooldown is disgusting. Still, I may have found a way to beat this thing."

They wouldn't be fighting a losing battle if Kieran could inflict enough Bleed stacks to neutralize its regeneration. But, its skin was too tough and leathery, making it difficult for his weaker skills to penetrate and successfully acquire a Bleed stack.

And, because each stack only had a duration of 5 seconds, he needed to act quickly. The chances of his basic attacks inflicting those stacks were zero since it couldn't break the skin. And, for him to fall below 20% Health to gain the next boost, he'd have to receive another attack which could put him in danger now that his Health barely hovered at 30%.

Of course, Kieran could spam Sanguine Slashes, but that would take a heavy toll on his Health, one he currently couldn't support.

"Nothing comes without risks," Kieran remarked after extracting his feet from the wall and falling to the ground.

As he did so, Bastion and Nemean were forced to face the aftermath of his actions, facing the full-on frenzy of the enraged Lesser Cyclops.

Once its Health decreased to 50% under the constant attack of all the party's attackers, it punched the wall, which caused many large rocks to fall from the ceiling, but that wasn't the reason for its action. As the team dodged the falling rocks, with Kieran cleaving some in half, the cyclops ripped its arm away from the wall.

Only now, there was a huge club in its hand that destroyed the wall as it was removed. Given the considerable amount of room present, its arm movement wouldn't be restricted if it swung this club around.

"Have mercy on my soul. What did I do to deserve this?" Bastion muttered with a bitter smile. It was bad enough that he had to withstand punches strong enough to shatter any average human's bones, but now there was a goddamn club in the mix? Bastion truly couldn't take the stress.

The cyclops' first action after picking up the club was launching a full-scale attack on the ground. The tremors were so powerful they lifted the party off their feet as if it were strong enough to defy gravity!

"Oh… okay. I see what's going on here. We're courting death going up against a boss like this," Nemean laughed hopelessly. This was the first time they experienced a boss strong enough to lift them off their feet with an attack that wasn't aimed at them.

The cyclops then lifted its head and roared skyward.

"Stop complaining, toughen up," Kieran scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying. I think I deserve the fanciest drink after this. Take me out to dinner," Bastion smirked.

"I don't roll that way," Kieran immediately declined.

"Aug- Damn you! I favor women, but I'll be damned if you don't spoil me after all this trauma, rich man!" Bastion scowled.

"Maybe, but that would be signing your soul to the devil. Accepting my drink would mean you can never leave my side," Kieran said with a faint smirk. Bastion couldn't tell if he was serious or joking, but Kieran's current appearance made him shiver.

"Now, I advise you to watch out because look what's headed your way," Kieran remarked.

Bastion instantly turned around to the club not too far away. "Mommy…" He squeaked.

Bang! BOOM!

Like a cannonball fired from a cannon, Bastion was sent flying back and into the wall behind them. Whether he was dead or alive was unknown, but the cyclops revealed a pleased smile.

"Stoo…pid," the cyclops said after much difficulty.