’Oh...Wow…he actually attacked me…I didn’t think he was that far gone, but apparently, I successfully broke his brain; that was easier than I thought.’ I mused while jumping back, allowing the stone atop the staff to wizz past my face, barely an inch away from hitting me.
"Ho…and here I was thinking I was fighting a mage; how impressive, Ryan Bishop! I had no idea you doubled as a Warrior." Before I could even speak another word, Ryan howled in anger and attempted a sweeping horizontal staff strike, which I easily ducked under before bouncing back up.
"Oh my, you nearly got me that time. Hehe, it was so impressive." One attack after another, Ryan gave it his all to strike me down with his staff. Yet, each time, I was able to barely move out of the path of danger, albeit I was merely making it seem as if I was hardly able to dodge, but in reality, it was so easy I had to hold myself back from laughing my ass off.
Especially with seeing how serious the young man was acting while striking.
How is this possible? I thought he was a Mage-Type like me; he should have weak Physical Stats; what is going on?
Ryan’s thoughts came through my Telepathy skill as if he were speaking aloud, causing my grin to widen under my mask.
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’Hm, based on how he is moving, I’d say his Physical Offense is in the ballpark of 3-5 points, pretty bog standard for a mage-build Alpha-Ranker, considering it’s pretty important that you distribute a couple of points in it to move around and avoid incoming attacks.’ Analyzing his every move, I hopped around side to side, back and forth, practically dancing on a razor’s edge between injury and freedom.
Yet all the while, I stayed on defense, deciding to wear him down before striking, just like a tiger stalking its prey.
It didn’t take long for me to grow bored of the game of cat and mouse, though, having seen enough, I augmented my legs, crouched down, and dashed to the side of Ryan before slashing out his Achilles tendon with my dagger, causing the young man to scream in agony.
"Four points in Physical Offense, SLASH, five points in Physical Defense, SLASH, 22 points in meta physical offense, SLASH, Unknown meta physical defense, and a 23-point Intellect Stat, Ryan Bishop, your numbers are all easy to read."
Speaking in a deathly calm tone while continuously lashing out with my dagger, I dropped to my right knee and delivered a Particle-powered kick to the small of the young man’s knee, earning a loud pop as I dislocated the joint in a single strike.
"AHHHHH!" Ryan screamed as the pain overwhelmed his senses in turn, making him collapse onto the ground and try crawling away.
"You were a fool to neglect your Talent and allow me to get so close to you." Appearing directly on Ryan’s flank, I kicked him with all my might in the stomach, flinging his body a good two feet off the ground.
Before he could land, I even went so far as to execute a flashy spin kick, striking him in the chest and sending him hurtling a good 10 feet away until he crashed onto the hard ground and skidded another couple of feet.
"Your first mistake was believing you stood a chance; from the beginning, I had been sending you false signals; your best bet would have been to continue running until I got bored, but no, that ego of yours made you ignorantly buy into my weak façade." Stalking over, I raised my leg and then slammed it down on his stomach, causing Ryan to empty its contents mixed with blood into the air and allowing it to splatter all over his face and my pants.
"You…bastard…" the young man under my foot struggled to form a complete sentence and, in the end, could only muster up those two words before the fierce light in his eyes muddled and turned into fear.
He knows my stats; how does he know my stats? Even if he could guess one, he was spot on with all of them…does he have a skill that allows him to view my system panel?
That fear in his eyes contained a trace of bewilderment and confusion as he struggled against my leg, only making me apply more force in the process.
Feeling the strength I was emitting to hold him in place caused Ryan’s fear and confusion to transform into pure terror, as he could practically see the reaper descending to greet him.
I…I…don’t want to die…I was going to become stronger than the faction leader and get my revenge…I was going to live a life my friends could be proud of…
"A foolish notion, the weak will stay weak; you never even considered evolving to a higher racial classification; instead, you were content being a filthy Basic Human." Reading his mind, I taunted him further, wishing to instill the most terror in my opponent as it made killing them so much more worthwhile.
By responding to something he hadn’t vocalized, I watched a tremor run through Ryan’s body as he coughed up another mouthful of blood without breaking eye contact with me.
"Before you ask, of course, I can read your thoughts, you fool; I know damn well my Talent has been analyzed by enough people to hit the nail on the head when it comes to what I can and can’t do. You should have known better, and although your Stats are high enough to stop me from controlling you, that doesn’t mean I will lose out physically."
"Let me let you in on a little secret dipship." In a display of flexibility, I leaned forward, bringing my face close to Ryan’s without removing my foot from his chest, and whispered.
"Unlike you moronic High-Rankers, I achieved evolving to 6C, and thus, my stats, ALL of them, are at the Cap, so even if my talent may be weak in a fight, my body more than makes up for it."