Chương 23: Chapter 23. Competing in Speed

When he saw the Lizardman rushing towards him, he immediately moved back out of the room. The monster turned his back and returned to its original position like a well-choreographed script.

'Should I give up?'

Jack was dismayed. Should he come back later after he was stronger? But what if the clues he was looking for had disappeared by the time he returned? This kind of trace tended to degrade with time. He weighed his options between the risk and potential benefit. There was no guarantee the clue he was looking for would be there even if he managed to get past this boss.

He looked inside the room again. The Lizardman was sitting down with its eyes closed, looking exactly the same as when he first saw it. He looked further behind the monster, to the opposite door which he had mistaken for the entrance door before. He figured that if he managed to defeat the Lizardman, the reward would be passage through that door. He looked at the card reader beside the door, it looked exactly like the one beside the door he was sitting next to.

'I should be able to use the same Administrator card-key to open it, right?' he guessed.

Could he open the door without defeating the Lizardman? Since the monster hadn't chased him once he was out of the room, theoretically it should also let him go once he went through that door. He thought for a while. He thought he should give it a try. If he could not open the door, then he would just give up and came back again after becoming stronger. The trick now was how to open that door while surviving the Lizardman's assaults. It was too fast and too fierce; he wouldn't easily get the chance to operate the key card reader

Jack reviewed the options that were available to him based on his fight experience with the Lizardman just now, and thought of a few combat simulations in his mind. After a few minutes, he opened his attributes window and dumped all his free attribute points to Dexterity. His target now was not to overpower the monster, but to have enough of a window to operate the card reader and open the door. Hence, everything he could do to improve his speed was essential.

After finishing with his preparation, he took a deep breath, ran the simulation over in his mind one more time and once again stepped inside the room.

As predicted, the Lizardman came to life again once Jack stepped into the room. Without pause, it ran towards him. Jack summoned his Magic Shield. The Lizardman unleashed a flurry of slashes once it was in range. Its speed was frightening, but after the previous round against the monster, Jack had gotten used to its attack patterns. He blocked every blow with a combination of Magic Shield and Parry.

He still lost HP, but nothing significant. He focused on defense with no intention of attacking. The monster moved left and right trying to find an opening, but Jack maintained his iron-clad defense. At one point the Lizardman suddenly vanished from view.

'This is it!' He exclaimed in his mind.

He turned around as the Lizardman's scimitar was coming towards him. The monster had used this move several times in their last skirmish. Every time, after jumping behind its opponent's back, it followed up with an attack towards its opponent's chest or neck. Knowing where the monster planned to hit, made it easier for Jack to block.

The powerful blow connected with Jack's white glowing shield as Jack sent a Power Strike to the monster's waist. As he felt the impact, Jack pushed against the floor. Adding the momentum of his jump with the force of the Lizardman's blow, he flew away several meters, immediately putting a large distance between himself and the monster.

The purpose of the Power Strike he gave to the Lizardman was not for damage, but rather to hinder its movement. Once his feet touched the floor again, Jack immediately cast Mana Bullet. The ball of energy rushed forward and crashed against the monster's round shield, it staggered slightly.

Jack whirled around and put the monster at his back. He cast another spell without looking as he started running towards the opposite door. He could hear his four Energy Bolts hit the Lizardman consecutively, further rooting it in place.

He stored his sword as he ran as fast as possible. His left hand kept holding his staff as a Magic Shield again reformed on its tips. His right hand which was now free, took out the key-card from his inventory. Jack had managed to put as large a distance as possible between himself and the Lizardman. All he needed to do now was to open the door before the Lizardman reached him.

He heard fast-paced repeating footsteps behind him. He knew that the monster was chasing him with all its speed. Fortunately, now that he had spent all his free attributes on Dexterity, the monster could not close the distance as fast as in their last confrontation.

He didn't dare to look back and risk his speed decreasing; he just tried to pinpoint the monster's distance from the sound of its footsteps. When he was several meters away from the card reader, he could hear the Lizardman closing in on him.

He kept running at high speed even as he approached the wall with the card reader. He didn't allow his speed to decrease. He crashed onto the wall and let it be the break to stop his advance. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain on his shoulder due to the impact.

With a fast motion, he swiped the card in his hand on the card reader machine. He missed!

'Goddamnit! Get a hold of yourself!' He screamed in his mind.

His heart was beating like crazy. He could hear the Lizardman's fast paced running steps and knew that it was almost upon him, but he forced himself to not look and instead focused on the card reader. He swiped it one more time. This time it went smoothly. He jumped sideways to the door as the card reader went green and, finally, let his vision shift towards the oncoming monster.

Before his feet even touched the floor again, his view was covered by a red shadow that crashed onto him. He felt a searing pain in his stomach as the scimitar thrust through. His body slammed onto the door which had made a click sound half a second ago. Its door leaves swirled wide as Jack burst through into the space behind the door. He tumbled wildly onto the cold flat floor and slid to a stop only after the force that threw him in was depleted.

The room inside was dark, but he could feel his vision whirling around. He clenched his teeth as he endured the pain and forced the dizziness away. He was terrified that the Lizardman would continue to attack him as he quickly looked around to pinpoint the monster's position. He saw it just behind the door of this dark room, standing there with a snarl and a menacing gaze.

He didn't know what the facial expression of a lizard looked like when it was angry, but he bet it would be exactly like what the Lizardman's face looked like now. Yet the monster stayed outside the doorway. Even as the door, which had opened wide due to the impact, slowly rotated back to its closing position, the Lizardman made no move to pass through the door.

The door closed by itself with a click, and Jack was swallowed by total darkness.

He was still on the floor trying to calm his nerves. He looked at his HP bar.

'Holy Crap! I lost almost half my health just from that last assault.'

He still had more than 80% of his health when he had raced with the Lizardman. Now it was less than half. The monster must have scored a critical on his last attack.

After catching his breath for a while, Jack stood up and looked around. He was in total and complete darkness.

'What kind of a place have I gotten myself into this time,' he thought.