Zach didn't need an alarm clock, for in the moment that the sun cast its first rays on his forehead, his eyes popped open all on their own. Finally, there was light in the sky, which could only mean one thing: it was time for round four.

Thank the Gods! I can't take any more waiting!

Wiggling his way out of his sleeping bag, Zach stood upright on the grass, where he stretched, yawned, and then forced himself to be patient enough to make a quick breakfast, take a quick pond-bath, and clean himself up a bit. Yet even as his eggs cooked on the portable stove, he found himself bouncing off the balls of his feet impatiently.

Last night had been rough.

Yesterday, once his Unleashed Phase had run out, Zach had fallen into a very, very deep sleep, one that might be more accurate to call a coma and had lasted long enough so that, by the time he'd awakened, it had already been late in the evening. And thus, with the daylight hours gone, the only remaining thing for him to do was to try to go right back to sleep. And that had proved almost impossible. So instead, he'd stayed up until well after midnight practicing sword forms while sweating it up and hopefully raising his stamina.

Swing after swing, he'd imagined various adversaries in his head, their forms taking hold in the shadows. He'd blocked, parried, and struck the empty air, but in his mind, he'd fought an endless slew of enemies until, finally, having exhausted himself, he was able to lie back down and go to sleep, only to toss and turn and drift in and out of restfulness.

Now, with light back in the sky and with his Unleashed Phase coming off cooldown, he was ready and eager to make good on his promise to himself yesterday.

That thing dies today, he thought. Or I do instead.

Still clad in nothing but his underwear, Zach grabbed his sword and scabbard off the grass with one hand and wiped a few toast crumbs off his chin with the other. With that, he strapped the scabbard onto his back, sheathed his sword, grabbed one of each rejuvenation stone, and then stepped carefully around the decaying boss until at last making his way up the twenty steps towards the rectangular opening that served as the entrance to the tower, inside of which his destiny awaited.

I know how to beat this guy now, he thought confidently. Then he glanced at his sword, the rune-like letters glowing on and off a deep purple. Thanks to this weapon, I can actually win.

Zach had devised a plan to defeat this so-called "Legion Portal Guardian." It was a plan he'd put together in his head even as he was fighting it yesterday at around this time. And though he intended to use Unleashed Phase for his next attempt, if his actions proved successful, he was fairly sure he could defeat the mob even without it, though for the moment, he decided to play it safe. For this reason, as he squeezed his way through the partition that separated both sides of the central atrium, he immediately activated the ability, causing his body to glow, and the impossibly black smoke to make its appearance. Having waited for his cooldown to refresh, he did not need to use Phase Reset, and so he was still entering with a Phase Level of 0.

There it is…

table class="chapter-table"

tbody

tr

td width="312"

pHP/p

/td

td width="312"

p3,110,000/3,110,000/p

/td

/tr

tr

td width="312"

pName/p

/td

td width="312"

pLegion Portal Guardian**/p

/td

/tr

tr

td width="312"

pLevel/p

/td

td width="312"

p60/p

/td

/tr

/tbody

/table

Carefully, Zach put down the red, purple, and yellow rejuvenation stones near the partition in case something went wrong. He also considered summoning his Kralzek's Beast for an extra layer of security, though he decided against it, as the thing was much higher level than Zach, and therefore, if his war mount was active, Zach would lose a ton of experience points if—no, not if, when—he killed the dual-axe-wielding Orcish elite mob waiting ahead of him.

Drawing his sword and gripping it tightly with both hands, Zach approached the level-60 elite that had given him so much trouble until now. "Today's not going to be like yesterday or the day before," he warned. "I've figured out how to crush you."

As Zach neared, the mob replied with a half-growl, half-shout. "Krest zencht harganar!"

Even before it took off in Zach's direction, Zach was already side-stepping out of the way. By this point, he was now fully accustomed to its opening attack, which seemed to be the same every time: a lunge and a swipe with its right-handed axe. Thus, having easily maneuvered himself out of the elite mob's path, Zach waited for it to spin around and enter into its usual fury of attacks.

And that was exactly what it did.

"Morgar bark kur!" it shouted as it got right up in Zach's face and began wildly flailing its arms around, which in turn caused both its axes to rip through the air in a multitude of directions. Zach leaned over to the left to dodge its first strike, then leaned directly backwards to evade its second. He did not bother to return with an attack of his own, however, despite clearly seeing an opportunity to do so. Nor did he counterattack during yet another perfect opening that the mob provided after it lunged at him and missed.

Patience, he told himself, studying the mob's movements very carefully for the opportunity he knew he needed.

Right now, Zach's goal was not simply to deal damage, for that would be a waste of energy. It would also be totally pointless. With 3.1 million HP, trying to whittle this thing down strike by strike was a fool's errand and one that Zach was now certain was wrong. No, there was a better way of dealing with this elite mob. And he'd figured this out after using his Phase Slash on it several times yesterday morning.

Just be calm and wait for your chance!

Zach did his best not to guard unless he absolutely had to. The elite mob was incredibly strong, and there was a very real cost in terms of stamina and pain that came about each time he was forced to deflect one of the Orc's blood-dripping axes, such as right now, as it made an unavoidable downward slash with both its axes at once, each aimed for the top of his head.

Taking a lurching step forward, Zach then bent his knees, and with all his strength, he swung his sword directly up and into the path of the two axes. With a clang, his blade collided with the Orc's two weapons, and having stopped both at once, the shocking pain that flared up in his wrists was immense and caused him to hiss in agony. Still, he held firm, and he backed away as the Orc pursued. As it did so, it left itself open to several different attacks. But Zach made none.

He simply continued to wait.

table class="chapter-table"

tbody

tr

td width="312"

pUnleashed Phase Duration/p

/td

td width="312"

p14:32 Remaining/p

/td

/tr

/tbody

/table

"Krest zencht harganar!" the Orcish elite barked out as it began cycling through its varied, but ultimately predictable series of attacks, all of which Zach had seen before, including its most dangerous one, where it extended both its arms wide and then collapsed them together, its dual axes converging upon Zach like a wall closing in. Zach, for his part, kicked off his front foot and dashed backwards and out of the way, yet in doing so, he ran out of room, as his back had now hit the wall.

Good thing he was in Unleashed Phase, then.

Activating Phase Blink, Zach blasted forward so fast he could not even see or register the movement; one moment, he was pressed against the stone not far from where his Phase Slash had knocked down a section of the wall yesterday, and in the next moment, he was about at the midpoint between the partition in the central atrium and where he'd just been standing.

Then came the sonic boom, which even caused Zach's ears to ring as it echoed in the otherwise quiet tower.

"Morgar bark kur!"

table class="chapter-table"

tbody

tr

td width="312"

pUnleashed Phase Duration/p

/td

td width="312"

p14:02 Remaining/p

/td

/tr

/tbody

/table

Keeping his cool, Zach held his ground as the Orcish elite pursued him. Though he realized he could do with a bit more distance, he didn't want to risk provoking the mob into using its ranged magical attacks, as he was not well positioned to deal with those; instead, he waited for the Orc to catch up to him, and then he shuffled side to side in order to dodge two fast slashes, one from each axe, followed by a downwards slash with just its left axe that Zach chose to deflect, causing pain to once again travel into his wrists.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Come on, already, he thought, struggling to remain patient. What the hell is taking you so long to—

And then it finally happened. The mob finally used the attack that Zach had been waiting for. Even before it did so, Zach could feel his eyes lighting up the moment he saw the Legion Portal Guardian bending its knees. Because this meant it was going to jump up—it was going to leap into the air and then powerfully slam both axes down on top of Zach, an attack that had been used to deal over 100k damage to his Kralzek's beast the day before last.

And exactly what I need to get started!

Having seen the attack several times, Zach had no issue in avoiding it; no, the challenge would be in perfectly timing his response. And so, as Zach watched the Orc hop into the air, he readied himself to react. Keenly, he observed as, a moment before slamming its axes down, the Orc's two weapons actually began to glow a bright whitish color as though becoming filled with energy.

"Krest zencht harganar!" it shouted as both axes fell upon him.

Now! Now! Now!

Zach, at last, took action.

First, he took one big, lunging step backwards and away. As a result, the Orc missed him entirely and landed in a crouching position with both of its axes biting into the stone flooring. Then, taking an equally large step back in the direction he'd come from—towards the Orc—Zach lifted his blade as high above his head as his arms could reach, and while gritting his teeth, he slammed his weapon down on top of the elite mob with enough effort to make him grunt.

And he rejoiced as he hit his target with pinpoint accuracy.

His Primordial Void Blade, which narrowly missed the Orc's head, its chest, and its groin, instead landed precisely where Zach had been aiming. With a satisfying tear along with a significant splash of blood, his blade cut the Orcish elite right on its left wrist. And though Zach only ended up doing 9,211 damage, he could feel the success of his attack in the way his sword cut deep into the Orc's tissue and chipped away at bone.

Now, backing away somewhat in the direction of the partition, Zach waited for the Orc to return to its feet, which it did rather quickly. And with that, he continued his little dance with his foe, returning to a steady rhythm of dodging, evading, and occasionally guarding against the powerful attacks that were sent his way. And this, he continued to do as sweat began sliding down his forehead and his breathing turned to pants; still, he put up with his rising exhaustion, and he waited patiently until, only a few moments later, the Orc used that very same attack once more.

And as he had only just done, Zach waited, stepped backwards, then forwards, and bam! He sliced his sword down on top of the same wrist a second time, dealing 8,422. Afterwards, he again continued to back away, having to use Phase Blink once he hit the partition so that he was back to the middle of this space, not far from where the mob would always be found standing stationary before it aggroed.

"Hit me with it again," Zach taunted. "Come on. Do it."

And as luck would have it, the elite did just that. It bent its knees, shouted out more archaic words, jumped up, and slammed its axes down. And Zach, repeating what was quickly becoming a familiar movement, did the same back-forward-step-slicing combination, slashing it across its wrist for the third time.

Yet it was upon this third strike that Zach saw his real moment of opportunity finally arrive. Following the appearance of the 9,002-damage number that popped up into the air above the elite mob's head, Zach realized it was now gripping its axe at a slightly awkward angle—one that looked less sturdy and off a bit. Having softened up its flesh quite a bit, this was the moment that he'd actually been waiting for.

It's time, he thought. Now's when I go for it!

Even as the Orc got up and rushed towards him, Zach was already swinging his sword diagonally downwards. "Phase Slash!" he cried out, aiming his attack at the same wrist he'd been attacking.

A visible distortion—a ripple of sorts—appeared on the air itself, one that blasted off towards the Orc, which was only a few feet ahead of Zach, who eagerly watched with a sense of nervous excitement as his Phase Slash struck exactly where he'd hoped: the left wrist.

And though it only did 19,211 damage as opposed to the 80-100k it'd done against the elite mob yesterday, the damage wasn't what actually mattered. It wasn't what was important. No, what was actually important was the rush of blood that followed the complete severing of the Orc's left hand, which spun around in the air a few times as Zach's Phase Slash knocked the appendage cleanly off the Orc's body. A moment later, a clink resounded as the left axe dropped down onto the stone, and this was followed by a thwap as the hand landed immediately after.

"I told you I'd win," Zach said with a wink as the Orc charged at him.

Though still terribly dangerous, things had changed. Zach could sense it. He could feel it in his gut. Against a one-handed Orc, as long as he didn't become overconfident, he could easily stand toe-to-toe now. No longer did he need to wait for carefully timed moments.

Grinning, he watched as the Orc took a swing at his throat with its remaining right-handed axe. Zach leaned backwards, letting the weapon glide above his chest and face before straightening his back and slashing the Orc four times in quick succession, each dealing between 8-15k damage. Truthfully, Zach didn't even really need to make those attacks, nor were they smart from an energy-conservation standpoint—but he really wanted to make this thing bleed for destroying his Sword of Light Amidst Darkness. Thus, he carved an X-shape into its chest and another one into its forehead.

"Krest zencht harganar!" the Orc shouted as it flailed around its only remaining axe.

Zach, being cautious but a bit braver, stepped towards rather than away from its attacks, and this was so he could begin retaliating with his own attacks, only this time around, they were targeting the right wrist. And for this, Zach did not seek out "big" or "explosive" moments to inflict maximum damage; no, he was content with simply taking quick, effective, and light strikes at the Orc's wrist any time it came near him, which was often, since it was now the only hand the Orc could attack with.

Right now, for example, the Orc made a shoulder-to-shoulder, horizontal swipe at Zach's head. Zach retaliated by both ducking and swinging his blade in a rounded, upwards arc, inflicting 5,211 damage but further accumulating damage on that wrist. And it was these small, methodical cuts that he would continue to inflict until, eventually, less than a minute later, it was time to use his second Phase Slash.

And for this, he led in with a Halting Strike, using its brief stun to keep the mob in place; although the duration of Halting Strike was only between 0.5 seconds at its worst and 1.2 at its best that was still just long enough to keep the Orc in place so that Zach could follow up with a very quick, almost point-blank Phase Slash, which connected perfectly. Now, Zach beamed with pride in himself as the elite's other hand was blown off as though struck by an explosive. The hand was not only severed, but it was further torn into two separate chunks as his Phase Slash snapped it right off the Orc's body.

And now, with no remaining hands, the Orc, it…

…it just stopped.

With no remaining weapons and seemingly unwilling to use its feet to kick, the Legion Portal Guardian just outright stopped. It remained right where it was, upright but unmoving, no longer even barking out its Orcish war cries. Carefully, Zach got near it. He feared it might try to bite his throat, as it had very sharp teeth. Yet, for whatever reason, the elite did not seem capable of using them as weapons, nor did it seem capable of using its feet. With its hands cut off, it was beginning to look like the mob was essentially "deactivated."

"But it's still got a ton of HP," Zach said with a laugh.

table class="chapter-table"

tbody

tr

td width="312"

pHP/p

/td

td width="312"

p3,001,522/3,110,000/p

/td

/tr

tr

td width="312"

pName/p

/td

td width="312"

pLegion Portal Guardian**/p

/td

/tr

tr

td width="312"

pLevel/p

/td

td width="312"

p60/p

/td

/tr

/tbody

/table

table class="chapter-table"

tbody

tr

td width="312"

pUnleashed Phase Duration/p

/td

td width="312"

p9:51 Remaining/p

/td

/tr

/tbody

/table

Standing less than three feet away from the Orcish elite, Zach kept his guard up for a good twenty seconds, wanting to be absolutely sure that there were no surprises in store before he took any more action. Yet as the time ticked down, the Legion Portal Guardian really did just stand there like a statue, frozen in place, no trace of pain or life in its eyes, the embodiment of non-sentience.

Measuring the distance between himself and the Orcish elite, Zach backed away just a little bit so that he could fully extend his sword in the mob's direction, such that the distance between the two of them now spanned the length of his blade. And with that, he gently pressed the edge of his sword against the elite mob's throat. From there, he wound up, lifting his sword high above his head before placing it back on the throat again as though warming up for his swing. Hey, why not? From this point forward, everything was a free hit.

And so, feeling out his next attack, Zach continued to make "mock" swinging motions before finally deciding to commit. Now, using all of his strength, he actually stepped forward and into his next swing, whipping his sword madly across the air as he shouted out his anger.

His sword ripped across the air for a wild, reckless attack that Zach would never, ever dare make against something that wasn't essentially just a bloody scarecrow. In fact, Zach struck out with such reckless exertion that his entire body followed through and spun full circle with the blow. It was a purely offensive slash that caused his blade to make a whistling sound in the air as he struck the defenseless mob's throat, dealing 144,211 damage, and digging his blade deep into its unarmored, but solid skin. The sound of his blade making impact was a gross combination between a thwap, a squish, and a "splash."

The mob did not react, however. So, Zach wound up and took yet another, equally powerful swing.

And then another after that.

Now, Zach's mostly naked body was slowly becoming drenched in mob blood as he began brutally hacking off the thing's entire head. He felt like a butcher. It actually made him a bit nervous and queasy, especially in the way the Orc would simply stand there and take it. Something about the way its eyes remained trained on Zach made him uncomfortable. But as long as it continued to do nothing in response, Zach wasn't going to stop.

Thwap. Thwap. Thwap. One swing after the next, the head became slowly hacked away until, finally, it detached.

And when it did, in the exact moment Zach finally succeeded in lobbing off its head, a number popped up above the Orc's torn, blood-shooting neck stump in bold, very large, and blood-red lettering, something Zach had never seen before and what likely only applied to humanoid-type mobs following decapitation. The number was about three times the size of usual damage numbers, and the dark red color gave it a sense of finality.

999,999,999,999,999,999

And with that, the Orc fell forward onto its belly, where it then disintegrated into fine grains of sand while leaving its still-wet blood behind, including all over Zach's body, where he'd found himself drenched in it.

+110,000xp

Zach blinked, then guffawed. "Wait, how much XP did I just get for that?" he exclaimed, refusing to believe his lying eyes. "What the hell?"

No wonder Jimmy had managed to fly up the levels at an Elf-like speed. It seemed that soloing things meant for entire raids really paid off. Like, holy shit! The sheer amount of XP was beyond belief.

Zach grinned as he began to wonder: was this thing on a timer-based respawn? Or was it weekly with the dungeon reset? If it was the former, Zach was about to grind his ass off. If it were the latter, he would have no choice but to proceed.

And speaking of proceeding, he could now see where he was meant to go next, as the moment the Orc died, the wall to his right began to rumble along with the entire tower itself, and from out of the stone itself, a series of steps began to form, one which ran in circles all the way around the tower and seemed to lead to the second floor.

So that was how you climbed up.

Zach sheathed his sword, turned around, and went back to his little "camp" he'd set up. He knew he'd pass out soon from E-debt. But this time, his dreams would probably be much more peaceful and content.

He'd done it.