Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Along with the serene noises of falling grains of earth, Kaizen felt a great pressure in the air, as if something was about to explode. He turned around and saw that the forest guardian had moved a little from his position after standing in one place for so long. Now the guardian was standing upright, his armor glowing brightly.

"Don't you dare speak to me that way, stranger. I have protected this forest for centuries and I will not allow anyone to mock my duty, even if it is a foolish visitor like you. Now, leave this place before I am forced to take drastic measures." The voice echoed with a serious and threatening tone.

Kaizen quickly raised his hands, showing that he had no ill intentions, but he did not remove his sarcastic smile from his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just wanted help, if possible."

The guardian was silent for a few moments, as if pondering what to do. Finally, he replied:

"Very well, I will tell you what occurred with the library, as I believe you wish to know..."

"Actually, I want to know about my amig-" Kaizen was saying, but was interrupted by a counter-position from the guardian.

"However, I will only tell you what I have seen if you show yourself worthy of it. Resist one blow from me and then you will know what there is to know." Said the guardian.

Kaizen stopped to think about this proposal for a few seconds. He knew that this guardian was not weak, after all he could not even see information about him with the <Analyzer Eye>. However, there was one specific detail that Kaizen could see when he used this ability and that small detail made all the difference.

[Creature: Forest Guardian

Level: ? | Attribute: ? | Nature: ?

HP: ? | MP: ?

Attack: Defense: ? Defense: ? Speed: ?

Strength: ? | Wisdom: ? | Resistance: ?

Resistance to Spells of: ?]

Surely few people would realize the difference in this stats screen when compared to any other. Even Kaizen took a few seconds to notice, yet he did.

After all, the Guardian of the Forest was not being referred to as an NPC by the system, but rather as some kind of creature, like a monster. This was the first time Kaizen had encountered a monster that could speak the human language, and apparently also knew how to reason logically and negotiate.

'Even the Druid Centaur, who was a Mythical creature, couldn't speak, even though he was very intelligent and proficient. At most, he would scream with ferocity and grunt in pain when I hit him. 'So that can only mean that this thing standing in front of me is actually a Legendary Rank creature,' thought Kaizen.

Psyker wasn't sure if at his current level he could withstand a blow from a Legendary creature. He wasn't even confident that he could defeat a Mythic Rank creature on his own.

After all, he was only a level 63 player and considering that he had a bonus on the numbers of all his Attributes, for all the effort and for spending training his physical conditioning in the forge, he believed he was only slightly stronger than a level 100 player. Besides, most of his strength came from tiring and annoying his opponents with an aggressive variety of skills, so his vitality was not his strong point and this would be essential to withstand a blow from a Legendary creature.

Still, when the guardian swung his armor components and asked:

"So what? Will you back down or will you take it?"

Kaizen didn't even think twice and nodded with a fearless smile. "Obviously, I'm going to accept. I need to know what happened in the library even if it kills me."

The guardian was, without a doubt, the most imposing aura figure Kaizen had ever seen and the guardian seemed to have been excited to have had his condition accepted by Kaizen.

With his gleaming armor and a giant rusty sword in his hands, he stated:

"Very well, I am coming."

The guardian advanced quickly toward Kaizen, raising his weapon into the air. His speed was so frightening that Kaizen's eyes could barely perceive his initial movement, and like the beam of light, the guardian moved with superhuman speed forward, gliding through the air. He seemed to have launched himself toward his enemy, raising his sword above his head.

Unconsciously, Kaizen thought to dodge. His survival instincts told him to do so. However, consciously he knew that he should stick to the deal and stood his ground.

However, the forest guardian never said that Kaizen could not try to defend himself against his blow.

Kaizen knew that not just any of his abilities could effectively help him resist the blow of a Legendary creature. Among those that could were only his main skill, which was <Telekinesis>, and the <Giant's Lungs> skill, which allowed him to momentarily double the amount of his attribute points, which meant that he would have 1600 HP points instead of the normal 800.

He had milliseconds of thinking to decide which of these two abilities he would use as the sound of the sword cutting the air echoed throughout the forest.

With a gesture of his hand, Kaizen created a shield of <Telekinesis> in front of him to defend himself in the first instant.

The guardian stepped forward and slammed his heavy sword into the shield with what seemed like a series of relentless blows, but the shield acted as an unyielding barrier in the first few moments, deflecting or blocking the attacks with great effort. The shield glowed with the intensity of the impacts, and Psyker began to sweat as he watched his MP bar drop, struggling to keep the shield in place.

However, Kaizen couldn't even imagine that it wasn't sword blows that were hitting his shield, but rather the air particles that the sword had cut through.

An instant later, the guardian's true blow reached the shield of <Telekinesis>, and the impact of the sword was so powerful that it broke the shield instantly, hitting Kaizen right in the chest area. In the same second, he was thrown backwards, flying through the air and through the trees before finally slamming hard against the ground a hundred meters later. The thud of his body falling to the ground startled the birds in the nearby trees, and they flew away as he grumbled in their tuned tones.

On the other hand, the guardian, with his frightening speed, was already back in his original position, as if he had never moved.

Kaizen came close to being broken in half when the sword hit him, and he only didn't die because he managed to use the Skill <Giant's Lungs> to double his HP at the last second.

[You lost 988 HP points].

[Caution! You are suffering from the Severe Bleeding condition. The 'Severe Bleeding' condition is the last bastion preventing you from death. Recover at least 40% of your life in the next two minutes or you will die].

Psyker stared breathlessly at that notification as he lay on the ground. His abdomen was hurting more than any other part of his body, and he could feel his own blood leaking from the left side of his chest. He wanted to get his life back soon, only his whole body was too weak to move for now.

"Shit, that's shameful." Kaizen said aloud, gritting his teeth in anger.

Soon, the guardian approached at a slow pace. His sword was over his shoulder, and he was moving with more flexibility than when he stood up.

"Oh, you survived my attack. Now that is surprising." Affirmed the guardian when he found Kaizen lying on the ground.

"If you are so surprised, why did you come all this way?"

"I wanted to believe you would be alive and look at you, you are. For what it's worth, I haven't moved this much in about three hundred years. My joints are still a little stiff, so I'm not at my full potential."

"Humph." Kaizen grumbled. He would hate to admit it, but he had lost that fight this time. He was no match for this Legendary creature and probably no match for any other.

"And what are you doing lying there? Come on, get up. If you don't take care of that open rib, you will surely die," said the guardian, pointing at the protagonist's chest with his sword.

Irritated, Kaizen forced his muscles to stand up. After all, he only had 20 seconds left before the Severe Bleeding killed him, so he had no more time to rest.

Kaizen frowned as he lifted his back, and soon remembered that he still had a healing potion with him. Sitting down on the floor, he quickly looked for the bottle with the potion in his inventory, opened it in a hurry, and swallowed the bitter liquid.

The effect of the potion was immediate and he felt his life coming back to him. The intense pain in his abdomen gradually subsided and he began to feel stronger.

[You recovered 800 HP points.]

[The Severe Bleeding condition has been cured.]

Kaizen sighed with relief and turned to the guardian, who was watching him as if with a smile on his face.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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