Chapter 164 Old Skill
"Your shield can handle a few small pebbles, but what about a real Boulder," Abe said with a smirk.
'This should be enough to push me to properly sync with my newfound strength or pummel me into the ground and possibly kill me.' Alex thought with a smile as he looked at the giant boulder forming before him.
Abe was summoning tens of boulders around him and throwing them in front of him into a transparent gravity globe.
The gravity globe was a skill that allowed the Boss to create a Gravity Globe with a radius of 10 ft, and it had 200G of gravity inside it on its own.
The skill was quite weak as it was easy to get away from the gravity globe range even with the high gravity, but the way Abe planned on using it made it quite dangerous.
All the small boulders thrown into the gravity globe were getting crushed and merging to create a bigger and stronger boulder while getting constantly condensed by the high gravity around it.
'Let's see if I can execute something similar to my favorite move.' Alex thought as he took a deep breath, gripped his sword with both hands and started pumping a vast amount of mana into his sword.
Alex's sword flared with dark mana, making it look like it was lit on dark flames, and after a few seconds of burning mana, Alex started to control the mana and condense it on the blade's edge.
"This attack looks strong but also quite unstable, so what do you think would happen if you lost your focus," Abe said with a chuckle, seeing Alex preparing an attack.
Alex ignored Abe's remark and focused on controlling the mana and condensing it as much as possible on the blade edge while constantly increasing the amount of mana he was pumping into his sword.
"The only way to find my answer should be by the results," Abe said, clapping his hand twice and then pointing at Alex.
The burning infected creatures around Alex, who were getting away from the dark flames, heard their orders, instantly turned back, and charged through the dense flames toward Alex.
'Miasma Field'
Alex was focused entirely on the Mana and his sword, but he could still hear what was going around him, and the moment he listened to the charging creatures, he used his only AOE skill.
After the Rank upgrade, there was no casting time for the Miasma Field skill, and immediately after it was activated, a field of fuming darkness with a radius of thirty meters was created around Alex.
Alex kept his eyes closed, and to buy some extra time, he increased the normal mana usage of 300 to 900 per second to significantly increase the damage.
The Miasma Field didn't completely stop the charging creatures, but it slowed them to a snail's pace while destroying their bodies rapidly, making their already low hp bar go down much faster.
Alex concentrated on preparing his attack while the Boss did the same, and after a few seconds, Alex opened his eyes with no emotion in them.
'This looks similar.' Alex thought as he looked at his sword, which was now pitch black, covered in calm and gentle-looking dark flames.
'Let's see it in action.' Alex thought as he looked toward Abe, who was hidden behind a massive boulder.
"Your attack looks ready, so let's see what it can do," Abe said and through the giant boulder covered in a gravity globe toward him.
Alex took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the sword hilt, raised his sword over his head, and slowly tightened the muscles in his arms, abdomen, back, and legs.
After feeling everything in sync, Alex slammed his right foot forward and slashed his sword with all his strength.
The giant boulder was a few feet away from Alex when he swung his sword, and for a moment, Abe had a confused look thinking the human was releasing his attack prematurely, slicing nothing but empty air, but that thought vanished into thin air as clear panic appeared on his face.
Alex's sword slash left a trail of darkness in the air, and the moment he completed it, a silent sword slash made of pitch darkness ripped through the air at lightning pace, slicing right through the boulder like butter and everything in its path.
Alex didn't need to look up to see the result because he could feel that he executed the attack perfectly from the deeply ingrained memory of his previous life.
"AAAAAAAAA......"
After a moment, Alex raised his head, hearing a somewhat muffled scream, and the first thing he saw was the giant boulder slowly crashing toward the ground because the gravity globe keeping it in the air was destroyed.
While The Boss, who had a cheeky grin on his face the entire time as he stood proudly in the air, was now looking miserable, completely missing his left shoulder and arm while a giant chunk of left side ribs was gone, including some part of his leg.
"BOOOMMM"
The boulder crashed on the ground while the Boss just looked at Alex with a livid expression, but his enraged look quickly turned into a twisted smile.
'The freaky regeneration passive from the Beast Monarch Legacy.' Alex thought, looking at the gushing blood from the sliced shoulder and other wounds slowing down rapidly.
"You can also move very quickly to save getting split into two halves, and here I thought you just knew how to create cannibalistic abominations and talk," Alex said mockingly with a smirk.
'I will deal with it after clearing this dungeon.' Alex thought, hearing a few system notifications.
"I plan to beat you into submission to know how you increase your Rank, but seeing this devastating strong skill for your Rank, I wonder how many more secrets you are hiding," Abe said with a creepy wide smile as he chuckled like a twisted maniac.
'It's about time I end this fight.' Alex thought as he checked his remaining mana.
Alex canceled the miasma domain and sprinted toward the boss as he activated his 'Minor Null Energy' skill to maximize his damage.
After reaching close enough, he jumped toward the Boss, but the Boss floated backward before he could even reach him.
Alex expected this to happen and was prepared for it, so after reaching optimal height, he used his newly improved skill to 'Air Jump' to create a solid footing in the air and used it to shoot toward the Boss.
'Death Illusion'
The boss was ready to avoid and get out of the way, but Alex was not in the mode to play Tag with him, so he used the mental skill to put the boss in an illusion and paralyze him in place for a few moments.
'You are late,' Alex thought, seeing the boss regaining his senses.
Alex zoomed through the air like a bullet and slashed his sword right at the neck of the Boss, slicing it clean as he zipped right past him.
Alex used the Air jump skill once again to shift his direction toward the ground, and the next instant, he landed on the ground with a loud bang.
Alex canceled the Null energy skill just before he landed as it burned through mana at an insane pace after the one Rank upgrade.
Alex saw the Boss dropping to the floor like a corpse, but he didn't celebrate because he knew that Abe was a legendary grade Boss monster with a vast amount of health, and a simple beheading would not end his life.
Any normal fourth Rank creature would die in a few minutes most of the time if its head is decapitated, even with its high vitality, but a fourth Rank boss creature was different because of its gifts.
The Boss grade creatures have very high vitality, and a legendary boss has one of the highest, and the best gift was the second Phase each fourth and up Rank Boss could enter.
The second Phase not only boosted a few of Boss' creature strengths but, after activation, it also healed them of any critical wounds, so even if their head exploded like a watermelon, they would be fine.
"You are not celebrating my death?" Abe said after using gravity to stop his body and decapitated head from hitting the ground.
"Shut up, and just enter your second Phase," Alex said in an irritated tone after hearing a system notification reminding him he had just lost another permanent point of intelligence.
"Second Phase? Do you believe I will deploy a weak trick when I have something much better?" Abe said with a creepy smile while returning his head to its original place.
"Avatar of Cannibalism."
Abe said out loud, and his body was instantly covered in dark blackish-Red runes that started shining with intense light.
'How the hell this bastard gained this skill after consuming just the first heart of the Beast Monarch." Alex thought, shocked by the new development.