Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player
chapter-158

Kieran learned Seethe Burst after using the required 12 Skill Points. As expected, Seethe Burst could unleash tremendous amounts of damage; however, it was only marginally better than his other skills because of its limitations.

「 Seethe Burst (Lv.2)

Skill Rank: B

Skill Type: Active

Mastery (00.00%)

Description: Expands Blood Mania's sanguine coating to create an exquisite blood blade that deals separate stabbing and explosion damage equal to 324% and 1620% of the user's Attack Power, respectively. Any enemies struck by the blood explosion will acquire 10 Bleed Stacks with 100% certainty. [Note: Increasing your proficiency with this skill can create a ranged effect.]

Consumption: 4% Health & 40 Mana

Prerequisites: «Blood Mania»

Cooldown: 33 seconds 」

Seethe Burst's current limitation was naturally its range. It was a skill that compounded on Blood Mania's base form to launch a reasonably extreme burst of damage. The expanded Blood Mania wouldn't be much larger than Crimson Ashrune, but it dealt decent damage to make up for this drawback.

Kieran awaited the next Sand Larva to test the extent of this skill. The sanguine coating surrounding Crimson Ashrune rippled as Kieran activated Sanguine Slashes.

The constant damage of this skill was practically unmatched in his current arsenal. Even if he faced off against minimal monsters, keeping Sanguine Slashes perpetually active was optimal.

Any damage he inflicted would return at least a fraction of the Health lost to Sanguine Slashes' activation consumption.

It didn't take long for the next round of enemies to appear. The only difference now was that 5 Sand Larvae surfaced simultaneously.

Kieran targeted one alone while Ezra handled another.

Kieran evaded an incoming Sand Bullet before sliding across the grainy desert floor. As he slid, a subtle twister encompassed Crimson Ashrune before transforming into an exquisite blood sword almost twice its original size.

Bzzzt! Bang!

An odd noise followed by an explosion occurred, shaking the desert's floor in a small radius while a moderate crater formed underneath the blast of this blood sword. Kieran was immune to damage inflicted by his skills, so he didn't worry about his proximity to the explosion.

What left Kieran astonished was the aftermath of the skill!

-26,312

-409,680! [Critical Hit]

The Sand Larva had died in a single hit!

Over 430,000 damage was unleashed in one hit after factoring in the 20% increase from Crimson Ashrune, the effects of Blood Mania and Tormented Beliefs, and finally, the 150% Critical Damage Modifier Kieran possession.

"Aw, hell naw! Do you see what the hell I'm talking about? He killed that crap in one hit. ONE HIT!" Bastion shouted in disbelief. Although his eyes had witnessed the scene, his brain refused to regard it as truth.

"Yeah, that boy is stronger than a motherfucker. I'll tell you that much," Nemean said. However, he covered his mouth afterward because habits that stemmed from his childhood peered through his speech.

"Hahaha! I knew it would happen. You can join the army all you want, but you can't move away from your roots. It's still in you," Bastion chortled after listening to the way Nemean spoke.

Kieran similarly turned his head. "Are you from Metro City?"

"Yes," Nemean gave a bitter smile.

"Interesting," Kieran gave a meaningful smile but didn't confirm that he was from there.

Although he felt some semblance of trust for his party members, he couldn't be too trusting. Not until he was stronger and could compete with unimaginably strong humans.

After all, X-hancers had opened his eyes to the possibility of superhumans. If that was the case, his comparatively frail body, which still conformed to the limits of ordinary humans, couldn't compete.

"Would you like to see something even more mind-blowing?" Kieran answered with an impish grin.

"Please… I fear I'll pass away from heart palpitations. Cardiac arrest, is that you? Being in Aatrox's party has aged my cardiovascular system by 40 years!" Bastion put on an exaggerated display and feigned as if he were woozy.

Nevertheless, Kieran's lips curved into an increasingly naughty smirk as his body disappeared with a crimson flash. The backlash from his movement sprouted a sand geyser that shot up to the sky.

Whoosh!

Accel Shift magnified Kieran's movement speed in conjunction with the effects from his passives, creating a monstrous outcome. No party member could track his movements until he reappeared with his blade pierced through a Sand Worm beside Ezra.

Kieran gave her a faint smile while standing beside her.

"You know, you shouldn't smile at a lady like that. It could cause many misunderstandings," Ezra said in a flirtatious voice. She could tell at a glance what Kieran's intentions were.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have revealed his frightening speed.

Kieran naturally wanted to attract Ezra, not in an intimate sense, but in a practical one. The more confident Ezra became in Kieran's skill, the higher the chances of a successful partnership.

"Oh? How so? Although, if I'm being honest, I wouldn't mind." Kieran finished his words with a sensual wink before raising his sword above his head and vanishing.

The large greatsword seemed to want to pierce the sky as it released a crimson radiance supported by one of Kieran's skills. Once it reached the peak, Kieran brought the sword down like the decree of a blood deity, creating a vertical current of massive blood energy.

Once it reached the last stage, the power Blood Mania commanded was simply phenomenal.

After this interaction, Kieran awaited the cooldown of his skills and the appearance of new Sand Worms. Since his Perception's increase dropped from 196% to 136%, Kieran estimated that all of the nearby Larva had been eliminated.

From what his ability told him, 15 enemies remained beneath his feet. Given the unequal percentage distribution, Kieran was even more certain the increase varied upon unique conditions.

Thirty seconds passed before adult Sand Worms surfaced.

Not only did they have significantly higher Health, but all the Sand Worms that surfaced were labeled as Rare Elites, and there were eight of them.

If this were before Kieran arrived at his current situation, 8 Special Elites above Lv.40 would be an impossible undertaking. But, that was no longer the case after gaining access to many powerful skills.

「 Lv.40 Sand Worm (Rare Elite)

Insect Type, Sand Type

Health: 646,800/646,800 (100%) 」

"Phew, those are some big boys," Lux whistled after looking at their Health. Over 600,000 Health was amongst the highest amounts of Health any player had seen thus far.

Kieran was an anomaly because of his experience, so he didn't count when referring to Zenith Online's general player base.

"Let's see. We have 8 of them, so that's what? Just about 5,000,000 Health overall? No sweat. We'll get it done," Nemean remarked. However, it wasn't easy to tell if he was joking, given his uncharacteristic deadpan expression.

"Pfft, you look like a fish," Bastion snorted after seeing Nemean's expression.

Bastion had the most leisurely role throughout this fight because of Kieran's immense activity. At most, Bastion would only guard against a few bashes before Kieran appeared with relentless momentum.

Meanwhile, Nemean attempted to stun-lock his opponents with a steady stream of combo hits that increased his class's combo meter. This naturally caused high Stamina expenditure, but not so much that it reached nonsensical levels.

Although the party's atmosphere was lighthearted, they grew serious and focused once the Sand Worms initiated their retaliation.

Kieran interrupted their actions by entrapping the Sand Worms with Blood Bind. Although they were only held in place by one or two chains, they were unbelievably thick due to Kieran's current state.

Afterward, Kieran followed up with Wild Crash, reducing four Sand Worm's Defense by 50%. This alone opened the floodgate for damage as Ezra, Luna and Altair focused on the Sand Worms with heavily reduced defenses.

The Sand Worms' Health drained rapidly as Kieran unleashed another Blood Wave whenever the skill came off cooldown.

The battlefield was quickly filled with Sand Worm innards and the blood remnants from Kieran's skills. Sera took an active healing role when Bastion suffered extensive damage while Camila's mind seemed elsewhere.

She sighed and seemed somewhat annoyed while shaking her right leg. Since the others didn't require her presence yet, Camila took the time to curse some unknown person under her breath.

"You think you can just make a fool of me like that and get away with it? I was reduced to a laughingstock!" Camila furiously gnashed her teeth and chewed on her thumbnail.

Ezra had noticed her agitated state earlier, but Camila didn't open up about her issues. As a result, Ezra thought combat could be a stress reliever. But, she soon realized she had made an oversight.

Camila was a healer. How could she relieve stress through heals?

Regardless, Camila was a matter Ezra couldn't focus on right now.

'This party has a truly remarkable learning capability,' Ezra thought. While only Kieran was her match in damage output, none of Kieran's other members could be considered dead weight.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact these players were Kieran's party members, Ezra would have undoubtedly extended a warm welcome to Eclipse. Whether or not they'd accept such an offer was unknown.

Although the Sand Worms posed a greater threat than the Sand Larvae, they were a problem Kieran and his party ultimately overcame.

Despite the loot that littered the ground, Kieran and the others couldn't collect it. However, there was no danger of it falling into the gaping holes before.

All dropped loot appeared inside the party leader's loot table, so it could reappear with the swipe of a finger.

Unfortunately, the beasts didn't give the party a breather before six Sand Worms burst through the desert floor. However, two of them, in particular, made Kieran wary.

Without a doubt, Kieran knew what stood before him.

"Champions."