Darius Supreme

Xela could only watch on in stupefaction at Darius's deeds.

He had the most Agility of the group, at a whopping 150 points, his movement was untraceable for anyone below 100 points.

Xela herself was exactly at that level and just before meeting the Insect Lords Gunner had pushed himself to that level.

The most important thing about reaching 100 Agility was the special ability that came with it, which was Super Instinct.

It was an entry-level version of the Legendary 'Flow State' in martial arts, where one's body moved so optimally that the mind no longer needed to control the body manually.

Super Instinct was not yet there, as it only allowed one to move optimally in reaction to danger, so it only encapsulated the 'dodge' aspect of the Flow State.

As such, Darius still had to manually control himself when it was time to attack, not to mention that in attacking and defending at the same time, the switch between states could throw him off.

This was only something that one could get used to. It required practice and honing oneself in training and in combat, so Darius and Gunner were both facing this issue right now.

Xela wasn't yet ready, unlike Darius she had never engaged in traditional physical fighting, at most using ranged methods.

Still, she was able to notice the slight discrepancy in Darius' movement when he flashed from one end to another.

For one, Xela realized a flaw of Super Instinct right away, which was that it relied on their senses.

The Flow State was not omnipotent, far from it. It relied on your taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight, and especially on the sixth sense, instinct.

If an enemy found a way to block off all your senses before attacking, even the weakest toddler with 1 point in Agility could run you through with a knife. Aside from that, one also had to have honed their senses, for they were the 'input' organs of the body.

The better your sight, the sharper your hearing, the more sensitive your smell, and the more attuned your sense of touch were the more functional the Flow State experience. This was largely how two experts with the Super Instinct would decide a winner.

They could both auto-dodge the other's attacks fine, but if one had sharper eyesight and was able to turn that avoidance into a chance, striking from the enemy's blindspot... no matter how fast, at the same level of speed, it would result in a fatal strike.

Xela pondered over this, even as more Master bugs began to strike on her Isolation Ward.

Darius noticed them and smiled, walking forward with his spear tip pointed to the ground, his pose taut like a predator about to pounce.

The moment he built up enough energy, he burst forward in a reddish-brown blur, appearing behind one Master Insect that was slowly turning around to defend itself. It was one of the Killer class, almost like the very Bugsy boys he used to raise.

Its Agility was also above a 100 points, so its body began to move to dodge Darius's blow. Darius simply shook his head and activated one of his old spells that had little use nowadays, Adjust!

[Adjust - Level 5 Spell

Cost: 2 MP

Description: Control the fundamental force of the planet that retrains all beings to its surface. This spell increases or decreases the user's weight by 25%.]

Immediately, the foe was struck with a weight increase of 25%. In other words, practically a quarter of their total weight had just been metaphorically dropped on their shoulders.

Putting aside whether one had the Strength to carry that, the sudden addition would destabilize any foe, and the only way to adapt was to have high enough Agility. At their current level, the utility of this spell was limited, but it still worked.

The bug that had been about to avoid the strike suddenly displayed its shock as it wobbled during its movement. Darius then angled his spear towards its location, not changing the momentum of his spear.

The result was that he pierced the head of the Insect like those he had fought so far, landing an instant kill.

This wasn't due to his own power, but the spear's. To be frank, it really didn't matter how much Endurance they had.

This spear was the amalgamation of the best metals Darius had come across in Faust, and each of those metals had been Transmuted into existence, meaning that they were 5 times better than their normal counterparts.

All he had to do then was use his Combine skill to merge them with the shaft of the Dragonlance, then Static Transmute them to get a completed spear with a design that was similar to the Dragonlance which had acted as the framework.

It was after this that Darius realized how the Itemancer class was supposed to be played. The Synergy between Analyze, Combine, and especially Transmute was great, so he couldn't help but wonder what new ability he would get upon reaching the Adept stage.

Darius removed his spear from the noggin of the bug he had just brutalized, then struck out at another.

With his current Strength, each pierce seemed to poke at space itself, especially considering the damage of his spear.

What was even more interesting was that the spear devoured the blood and flesh of those it had struck, but not immediately.

As a calm observer, Xela could see a line of blood and entrails slowly leaking out from the Insects Darius had killed so far.

The trail was linked to the spear in Darius' hands, and when such biological materials got close, they would be absorbed into the spear seemlessly, likely increasing its power.

One could even see the draconic emblem on the spear glow with satisfaction, its mouth moving as if it was chewing on something.

Darius was the only one privy to how crucial this was, he could feel the heat radiating from his weapon as it slowly absorbed more and more.

The next moment, a blinding golden flash erupted from it.