Chapter 11 How did he do it?
Even though it was the first BOSS in the first copy...but because the name was so difficult to remember, Aiwas had completely forgotten it.
In order not to waste his teammates' time, Aiwass always skipped all the cutscenes in this four-player dungeon.
He had no idea what Adhmar looked like outside of his combat mode. He only remembered him as a hunched giant with purple spiderwebs covering his skin.
They called Admar Xiao Zi at that time.
Because this is the first enemy that transcends the path. In the early stages, players rarely see other bosses and NPCs with purple light effects, so this intuitive name was given.
It's called Little Purple because there's a "Big Purple" after this instance. In another instance, there are enemies called "Old Purple" and "Purple Girl." With the start of version 1.2, when the number of enemies in the Transcendental Path increased, they stopped using those names.
Along with the memory, the extremely simple mechanism of the "evil bartender" was also revived.
Admar was seen holding the counter with both hands, his arms swelling at a speed visible to the naked eye, and directly bursting his sleeves.
He suddenly slapped out with his right hand at an extremely fast speed, as if it was wrapped in a gust of wind.
"[Determined Style]."
Even before he swung his palm, Aiwass had already predicted and given instructions from behind.
The moment I heard the order.
Haena's body moved on its own accord, even before her mind did. A halo beneath her pupils swirled, and she swung the sword sideways, her left hand resting on the front. Her weight dropped, and her right leg pushed against the ground. In the blink of an eye, she assumed a stance to resist the onslaught.
--choke!
It was clearly the contact between the palm and the rapier, but it made the sound of a huge hammer hitting iron felt.
The sword, which was strengthened by the Law and Tactics of the Way of Authority, blocked the attack firmly!
Haina could clearly feel a huge force rushing towards her along the sword.
If she hadn't obeyed Aiwass's command like a conditioned reflex and used "Determined Style", she would probably have been sent flying backwards and hit Aiwass in the wheelchair behind her!
But at this moment, her body was like a poured foundation, completely channeling this power into the earth!
After the blow, she instinctively aimed at the opponent's attack point and launched a sharp counterattack!
He swung his sword backhandedly, slashing along the lower side of the right arm that had been bounced back, all the way to the left shoulder.
Blood spurted out, and the evil bartender stumbled back in pain, bumping into the wine cabinet behind him.
A wine bottle fell due to the collision, making a crisp cracking sound when it hit the ground.
She remembered the instructor's teaching of "don't be reckless" and instinctively wanted to return to her original standard posture.
However, Aiwass gave the order at the right time.
"[Giant Power Strike]."
——Is it really possible?
A flash of hesitation passed through her mind.
The massive blow requires charging, and you cannot move or parry before it is launched; and you cannot change your moves after the blow is launched, so it is easy for a nimble enemy to dodge and counterattack.
According to the instructor's instructions, this move should be used when it is certain that the opponent is no longer able to fight back or dodge, forcing the opponent to choose defense - and then shatter the opponent's defense.
After gaining an advantage in the initial encounter, you should use [Sharpening the Blade] to temporarily sharpen your blade, or use [Shout] to intimidate and further weaken your opponent by exploiting their weakness. Keep your opponent within the range of [Charge Slash] while maintaining ample space behind you to retreat, dodge, and parry.
...Oh, no, it seems like Mr. Aiwass is behind me. Should I move aside first?
But if that happens, wouldn't that expose him...
While her brain was rapidly engaged in complex thinking, the moment Haina's attention was distracted, her well-trained body began to move on its own.
After receiving Aiwass's order, she took a deep breath, held the dagger with both hands, and slightly hunched her back like a cat before hunting.
After about half a second of accumulating strength, her figure shot out like lightning.
A sharp and cold white light like a crescent moon flashed in the air, and the counter in front of the wild elf bartender was directly cut off by her sword.
The huge impact force caused the bartender's body to freeze in place instantly.
The bartender subconsciously tried to defend himself, and his left arm, which was blocking his front, was also cut off!
The bones of his forearm were grimly broken. His left hand, purple and swollen as if severely edematous, fell to the ground. The bartender let out a shrill scream, and the purple lines on his body quickly faded back along their original path.
The scream was so shrill that it scared Haina.
And his posture of being out of combat mode made Haina unsure whether she should continue to fight with him.
At this moment, Aiwass's serious voice came again.
"Haya, get out of the way."
She misstepped and lightly jumped half a step to the side.
——All I heard was the sound of gunfire.
The bartender's left eye was pierced by a bullet, and blood spurted out from the back of his head. Blood bloomed like flowers on the wine cabinet behind him.
His body slid down slowly and weakly, leaving a trail of deep red blood.
She didn't even see where Aiwass had hidden the gun. He was still sitting in his wheelchair, motionless and quiet. A faint puff of white smoke still rose from his black cape, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly beneath the cloak.
From Aiwas's perspective, tiny white spots of light gradually emerged from the corpse and flowed into his body.
Kill the second-level transcendent and gain 14 free experience points.
Aiwass smiled happily.
Let me grab a kill, thank you.
Although the experience gained from directly killing monsters in "Ouroboros" is quite small, leveling up mainly relies on tasks, crafts, purchasing and reading books, as well as the experience rewarded from daily dungeons...but every little bit counts.
Not to mention, he is currently at a low level, so the benefits of leveling up by taking free experience are still quite high.
These 14 points of free experience, plus the 24 points given by the previous counter-killing of the demon scholar, are evenly distributed among the three skills of the demon scholar, which can almost upgrade him to level four.
He could also allocate some experience to the Priest class, raising it to level 2 to open up the path, and then raise the Demonologist to level 3. This was the plan with the greatest short-term benefits.
Alternatively, you can hold onto it for a while, allowing it to learn other skills of the Path of Devotion—for example, Fire Worship, Illumination, and Blessing—skills that are more useful than Prayer but more difficult to level up—and then add experience points. This experience can directly raise the Priest to level 5 at the very least. This is the most cost-effective way to level up in the long run.
After all, the level of "Demonology" can be steadily improved by reading the mysterious books of Demonology; "Basic Prayer" can be steadily improved by praying at least twice a day for three minutes each time; and "Demon Contract" can be slowly replenished with strength from the Shadow Demon without him doing anything.
Only the "foundational ceremony" was a bit troublesome, mainly because of the word "foundation".
It was too low-tier. The ritual Aiwass had used to craft the Shadow Blade was too high-level, so it didn't even yield any experience. Aiwass simply couldn't memorize such low-level rituals—a ritual he could memorize had to be one he used frequently, or one he could hang out to slaughter pigs.
From this perspective, a Demonologist can level up even if left alone, while a Priest is much more difficult to level up, and can only be achieved through gradual grinding.
If a priest can be promoted to the second level as quickly as possible, it can prove that he is a "person who is willing to give."
Otherwise, how could he have such smooth progress on the path of dedication?
Is your level of dedication higher than mine? If not, what gives you the right to say I'm not a good person?
That's an invincible life-saving card! He can also naturally be regarded as a key student and benefit from the seminary's resources... This way, he will not be a "bad student who took three months off at the beginning of the semester" but a "weak and sickly but pious and kind genius."
But in this case, these 38 experience points are a bit too little...
Aiwas's mind was full of thoughts, and in just a moment, he came up with a new bad idea.
Haina looked at the corpse, completely stunned. It was obvious that she was not like what she said, that she could kill calmly just because she had "killed someone before".
Before she could react, she asked why Aiwass suddenly wanted to kill the man.
Aiwass, the villain, took the initiative to complain and asked, "Why didn't you just behead him? He couldn't stop it."
"……ah?"
Haina's mind froze for a moment before she quietly explained, "Because he's much weaker than me. I saw that he had already lost his ability to resist, so I thought I should be able to capture him alive..."
Indeed. This guy's combat instincts are quite accurate.
Aiwas secretly agreed with Haina's statement in his heart.
If things had ended there and they had simply left with the captive evil bartender, the case would have been closed.
But Aiwass can't really let the Inspectorate torture him - what if he gives me away?
Although the Moriarty family has some influence, he cannot say for sure whether his adopted son will be convicted if there is clear evidence.
Aiwass then changed the subject and said sternly, "Did you notice? When he saw you demonstrating the Tao, his first reaction was to resist, even to attack you.
"What does this mean? It means he has no intention of admitting his guilt and accepting punishment!"
— Nonsense, a vicious criminal who has killed someone and has a weapon on his hands and will be sentenced to death if caught, suddenly ran into a police officer who came alone. How could he just shoot him directly? Even if he didn't fight back, he should at least try to escape.
Aiwass complained in his heart.
But his expression remained unchanged.
He simply said word by word, "You knew he was much weaker than you the moment you made a move, even before you even started. So, how could he not know that? If he knew, yet he still actively resonated with the Dao and attacked you—what does this mean?"
It means that he knows he can't outrun you, and out of desperation he has no choice but to risk his life.
Aiwass thought to himself.
“…What does it mean?”
Haina hesitated.
Her mind went blank. If she had seen a question like this on a test paper, she would have thought hard enough to come up with a perfect answer. But now, the fresh corpse was emitting a bloody stench, and she felt a little confused.
"Look," Aiwass suddenly changed the subject, "when he first said the food here was expensive, he was trying to dissuade us. This shows that he doesn't want to have a direct conflict with the Supervisory Bureau..."
"Yes, I understand."
"But then, I only asked you to draw your sword, not even to use your hands. Under such circumstances, he took the initiative to attack you instead of running away or making excuses. Why did he dare to do this?"
"...So, he should have an ability that's very costly to use, and therefore can't be used normally... but at the same time, it's very powerful?"
Haena answered tentatively.
Aiwass nodded with satisfaction: "That's right."
You don’t say, it’s true.
This reasoning wasn't wrong, and it was one of the reasons why the evil bartender chose to fight to the death, because he wasn't completely without a chance of winning.
The Evil Bartender's profession is a "demon" who transcends the Tao. When he enters a seriously injured state, he can recover half of his maximum health in one breath, and then enter a demonized state in which his health is quickly deducted and all attributes are enhanced.
It’s just that your damage is too high, and you can skip the stage with just two hits.
Using correct information but incorrect reasoning to arrive at an equally correct answer, no one could see what was wrong here—even after she brought the body back, the only conclusion she could get was that Aiwass was right.
“…I see!”
Haina was sincerely convinced: "Thank you, Aiwass! You saved me!"
Aiwass nodded steadily. "So when facing a vicious criminal, you must not hesitate. You want to keep him alive, but he doesn't want to."
You see, she has to thank us.
"So what should we do now?" She was now accustomed to asking Aiwass questions and obeying his instructions. "Should we pack up the body and take it back?"
"No rush."
Aiwass pulled his cloak and said calmly, "It's not his turn to be the mastermind behind this.
"The real criminal is in the basement of this bar. She's been listening here for a long time.
"There's no need to confront her head-on—pour the liquor through the crack in the door and then burn the place down."
"...Isn't that a bit too bad? What if she comes out?"
"Then let you deal with her."
After repeatedly verifying that Aiwas was correct, this time Haina finally stopped subconsciously having the idea of arguing.
She just looked at the basement expectantly, holding the unsheathed dagger tightly, eager to try.
“…It’s really surprising.”
Sure enough, a woman's voice sounded from the direction Haina was looking.
She slowly pushed open the basement door.
She was a bald woman dressed in a vibrant red robe, with a muscular build and skin as pale as a corpse. She was at least 1.7 meters tall, and her left arm, which opened the door, was muscular, her chest bulging, and a faint purple glow shone beneath her eyes.
Haina gripped the dagger tightly in her hand, lowered her center of gravity and was ready to charge forward.
But then her pupils suddenly shrank and she stopped where she was.
I saw several purple runes appearing on the woman's right arm, and her five fingers were grabbing it as if she was holding a ball.
A fleeting spirit, like a wronged soul, entangled her fingertips. A bluish-gray mist gathered, forming an irregular sphere roughly the size of a baby's head. Visible cold energy rippled like a heartbeat, sending waves of chilly, almost visible wind swirling along the floor toward them.
Haina didn't recognize this spell, but she clearly felt the threat.
The woman also held the magic ball that had been accumulating power for a long time and did not launch an attack.
that's right.
If she threw the magic ball over, Haina might be able to dodge it at this distance; if she used it to attack Aiwass, then she would definitely not be able to withstand Haina's charge.
But Haina didn't dare to rush over, because she didn't know the specific effect of this spell.
If you are hit by this magic ball at close range, you may fall into defeat directly.
So she stood in front of Aiwass, but did not block the trajectory of Aiwass's shot. The three of them fell into a brief stalemate.
"...How did you know I was in the basement?"
The bald woman stared at Aiwass expressionlessly and asked, "Did I reveal the evidence somewhere?
"…How did you do that?"
“It’s experience.”
Aiwass simply replied, "Because this dungeon has more than one boss."
——Sure enough, reasoning again!
How on earth did he guess that?!
Haina, who was standing by, felt excited and thrilled.
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(End of this chapter)
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