DD 202 Ch 29 (Patreon)

Chapter 29

I blew out a breath as Charlotte shook my shoulder. “You’re up.”

“Thank you.” I flowed out of my meditative pose and walked to the raid.

The rest of the Haylon class cheered for me, while many of the other students seemed to think the betting was over.

The moment all washed over me like a receding tide as I stepped through the raid doors.

“Ah. Welcome.” Barret had a practiced smile. “Crimson won’t stop talking you up, so best not to disappoint her.”

I nodded to him. “Of course.” I bowed to Crimson. “How does this work?”

“They bring a monster and you kill it.” She crossed her arms under her chest.

I drew a short sword and a dagger, twirling them in my hands to warm up. “Alright, I’m ready when you all are.”

“The tank already went to get the first.” Crimson said.

“The first?” The Royal Academy’s professor spat. “You think he’ll actually finish the monster? It’s a raid monster, meant for twenty five players to defeat.”

Crimson ignored him and stared at me.

I got the message loud and clear. Crimson wanted to see a spectacle.

A large man came rushing around the stone wall. I hadn’t really taken in my surroundings, focusing instead on the task at hand.

Behind the man lumbered a giant beetle.

With no time to waste, I shot off towards the beetle as it approached. Its hard exoskeleton seemed the perfect target for [Triple Breach] as I started my damage in full force, activating [Sprint] so I could stack on the beetle as I hammered away.

Purple lightning raced down my arms from each strike as my speed rapidly increased.

Crimson wanted me to show off, so I dumped each of my attack abilities one after the other, pushing my stacks higher right off the bat and then activating [Metamorphosis].

My muscles swelled and despite the increased size, I sped up. My clawed hands replaced my weapons as I worked through a form that was meant for clawed weapons.

I pushed myself as hard as I could, my muscles aching with effort. But those aches were almost becoming second nature after training with Crimson.

A five minute fight might as well be a marathon, but the first thirty seconds would greatly change the curve of my damage thanks to the way [Liminal Speed] worked.

Purple lightning crackled off of me with such force that it scorched the limestone floor beneath me.

Finally deeming me the real target, the monster turned away from the tank and swiped at me.

It felt like the monster was moving in slow motion and I deftly dodged out of the way, only to return to the spot where [Triple Breach] had cracked its armor.

The tank tried to get aggro back, but I continued to pull it off him.

“Ignore the monster. Get him another one!” Crimson shouted from the stands. She sounded happy.

I was left with the giant beetle as it tried to smash me with its legs or hook me with its mandibles.

Though, I was too fast for it, dodging out of the way mostly with my incredible speed, though a few times I used [Dodge] for the simplicity the ability provided.

It was a simple monster, an easy ‘tank and spank’ as some called it. Thus a large amount of my abilities were useless.

Though, that wasn’t what was important right now. Killing the beetle as fast as I could was all that mattered.

My damage ramped up to incredible levels and the beetle was now showing signs of damage.

The other beetle loomed like a taunt for me to finish my current one.

A glance at the professors showed that they were suitably impressed and Crimson had a giant grin on her face. At least she was happy. I couldn’t care less about the other professors’ feelings.

My claws tore through the beetle and on the next hit, there was no resistance as I stumbled forward into smoke.

Not wasting another second, I rushed the new beetle and tore into it. This time I had plenty of stacks right from the start. I immediately felt like I was making headway on the monster’s health.

In what felt like no time, there was a buzzer just as I punched, and the 2nd beetle puffed into a cloud of black smoke.

I turned to the professors, having to squint to see through the lightning around me.

“Unbelievable.” The Royal Academy professor gasped and pointed a finger at me. “What did you do to cheat?”

“If you can’t tell, does that mean he’s better than you?” Crimson laughed. “Ken, show him your fist to prove that they are real.”

My stacks were running out, and she wanted me to make an impact… so I didn’t hesitate, nearly teleporting in front of the professor. “She told me to.” I told him as I cocked my fist back and activated [Liminal Speed].

The world around me shattered and everything froze.

Still in my demon form, I smashed fist after fist into the Royal Academy Professor’s face.

He was frozen in space as each blow slightly deformed his face.

My smile grew each time. He had a very punchable face. Each punch devoured a stack, but I had built up enough.

By the time my stacks were low, I dropped the ability saving enough in case I had to dodge a counter attack.

The world knit itself back together and the Royal Academy’s Professor flew back off the bleaches, ripping the top level with him and crashing into the stone wall behind him as his head popped like a melon.

The area was silent for a moment as I realized I just killed one of the professors in what looked like an instant to all of them.

That silence was broken by Crimson as she fell off the bleachers laughing. “You fucking killed him.”

It seemed I wasn’t in any danger and released [Metamorphosis], feeling my body shrink back down and the chains on my weights rattled with the shift. “I didn’t think that would do that much. I punch you like that all the time.”

Crimson was holding her stomach. “Yeah. I’m level fifty seven and tougher than nails. He’s just an average level forty-four. You could probably out DPS him.”

The Trusk professor pushed up her glasses. “I didn’t even see him move. You Barret?” She waved her hands and a bird shaped green glow shot out to land on the dead professor’s body.

“No. I lost track of him during his assessment.” Barret stared at me.

He was decently famous, a duelist class and level fifty-two.

“It seems you have an incredible student.” The Trusk professors acknowledged.

Barret was still focusing on me. “What do you think about a transfer?” He asked suddenly.

Crimson’s laughter stopped dead.

I smiled at him. “Once upon a time I would have jumped for joy at the prospect. You might not remember, but I tested with Machen.”

“Oh, I remember. It seems my eyesight isn’t as keen as I thought.” Barret seemed to understand it was his loss.

Crimson had picked me up that day after he turned me down.

“Well, I can’t imagine training with anyone other than this psycho.” I hooked a thumb at Crimson.

“I’m not that bad.” Crimson rolled her eyes.

I reached under my uniform and unhooked my weights.

The chains rattled as they slid down my body and fell out the bottom of my pants leg with a boom that cracked the dungeon stone underneath me.

“You wouldn’t even let me take these off for the assessment.”

Crimson smirked. “Can’t let everyone see just how awesome you are yet. Also, I’m now going to increase your weights for training.”

I groaned.

“What happened?” The Royal Academy’s Professor sounded out of it as he reached back to push off the wall and slipped on the slick blood. “Blood? My blood? I died?!” He jumped to his feet in outrage. “You told your student to attack me and he killed me?”

“He did.” Barret pointed at me. “Crimson didn’t lift a finger. I think I’m starting to understand why I couldn’t get any information from the UG on your student, Crimson.”

She stuck her tongue out. “The Scaredy Cat locked his information down tight after he fought at the beginning of the school year.”

Barret grunted. “You shouldn’t call the UG President that.”

“You knew who I was talking about?” Crimson grinned.

“Are we just going to ignore a student attacking a professor?” The Royal Academy professor decided to try and make it an issue.

“If you want to press charges, then I’ll just make your next death more permanent.” Crimson shrugged and gave the man a glare that caused his legs to actually shake.

“We are almost done. How about we move on?” The Trusk Professor tried to salvage the situation before turning to the UG tech. “Was your system able to detect him during the whole fight?”

The tech had been quiet and focusing on his laptop while the professors bantered. “Unfortunately, during the fight with the second beetle we started to miss his attacks between frames. However, given we have an estimate of the beetles’ total health from the first one he defeated, we can just double that?”

Crimson winked at me.

“That’s fine.” Barret seemed to be in charge of the assessment. “What does that come out to?”

The tech’s fingers danced over the keyboard. “9021 DPS.”

Trusk’s professor let out a whistle. “At level thirty, he’s nearly a raid on his own.”

I dipped my head towards the professors. “This was a rather ideal fight for me. I’m sure others excel at multiple targets, higher bursts or even able to take more damage. I still have much to learn and strive for.”

Barret cursed. “How did you train him Crimson? He’s not so bad.”

“Huh? I just nearly kill him day in and day out.” Crimson shrugged. “You know, when he did a really good job I made him some heart stoppers and health potions and trained him until he ran out.”

I flashed back to when Crimson had given me those potions that had kept me awake and full of energy for an entire day of training. “Wait, those were called heartstoppers?!”

She chuckled. “You’re fine. I had a revive if we ever needed it.”

“It’s a miracle you haven’t broken him.” The Trusk professor gave me a look like she was trying to peer inside my head to see if I was still sane.

“Oh. That’s all his grandparents. Old school adventurer types.” As if that explained it all, Barret made a sound of understanding.

“Alright, head on out. We’ll post the score and I’m sure you want to enjoy the looks on everyone’s faces. I want to finish this.” Barret rubbed his back like an old man.

“Thank you all.” I dipped my head again, enjoying the angry glare from the Royal Academy Professor and headed out past the UG tech, tanks and healers who were giving me new, respectful gazes.

Outside the raid, most of the students had already started to party, those they deemed significant had already gone. That, or they had run out of patience now that they were done.

Haylon however had scooted forward, many with drinks in hands as they watched the scoreboard with my exit.

Prince Albar was off to the side, trying to pretend he wasn’t paying attention either.

The scoreboard flickered and his attention jerked to it.

Ken Nagato - 9021 DPS

Haylon’s reaction was explosive as they screamed. One and all of them rushed me in congratulations.

“Ken! You stomped them! They are all terrible hunters compared to you.” Felin squealed, caught up in the excitement, bouncing up and down.

“Only nine thousand? Couldn’t push into the five digits?” Des teased me with a smile and planted a kiss on my cheek.

“We are going to crush this raid!” Harley jumped on my back, her hands going over my eyes as she threw her weight around and threatened to topple me over. “Healers! Look! We will destroy this raid if you follow me and Ken! Harley’s Healers is a subdivision of the Silver Fangs and we are recruiting.”

“Get off him.” Penny lifted Harley and plopped her to the side before the rosy cheeked tank smashed into me in a drunken hug. “You did fantastic. I always knew you were incredible.”

She used a little too much strength and I felt my ribs ache.

“Penny.” I wheezed.

“Say my name again.” Penny’s eyes were blurry with a few too many drinks.

“Off him.” Fayeth pried Penny off with Des’ help.

“No way! It’s impossible, no inhuman. There’s no way it could be so high!” A loud voice caught everyone’s attention.

I turned to see Marin staring at the board with her finger shaking as she pointed.

“It’s… it’s… IT’S OVER 9000!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

I smacked my palm to my face. “Of course someone is going to say that.”

The other Trusk students started to do their own renditions of the joke.

Felin glanced at them and then turned to Fayeth. “Is there significance to the number?”

Fayeth shrugged and glanced at me for an answer.

“It’s a human… joke? They are quoting a famous anime.” I sighed.

“Well, congratulations for joining whatever elite club being over nine thousand entails.” Elysara kissed my cheek. Her Censors parted the crowd as she moved through.

Really, I had no idea how Prince Albar could have missed that she was a princess. Authority just oozed off of her. She didn’t need a crown to look like royalty.

Bright red hair got up in my face as Helen scowled at me. “G-good job.” She took a second to work the words out.

“He’ll be carrying us in the raid with that sort of damage. Say it bolder.” Penny egged on Helen.

“Hush.” Helen was clearly embarrassed. She’d been avoiding me since her mother scolded her. “I look forward to raiding with you.” She finished and pushed Penny off of her before escaping into the crowd.

Marin pushed herself up to me, she was shorter than I expected up close. “You are like, super strong then?”

“I guess so.” I scratched the back of my head.

“Does Haylon take transfers?” She asked in full seriousness.

“No! Our Queen!” Several Trusk students always seemed to be following her.

“There aren’t any spots in Class A.” I answered in full seriousness, unsure if she’d really do it.

“Oh.” She stuck her tongue out and scratched the back of her head. “I was just joking.”

“Our Queen!” Trusk students cheered. “Long live Queen Marin!” They quickly reabsorbed her into their group.

I really had no idea what to do with the Trusk students.

Charlotte shoved a drink in my hand. “Well done. Time to celebrate.”

There were some cheers nearby after that statement.

“We need to wait for Fayeth to finish, and then I’m going to get Crimson to make a portal to the safe zone.” I said the words loud enough for the other Haylon students to hear.

It quickly passed from person to person and my classmates were hurrying to pack up and get ready for the portal.

None of them wanted to make Crimson wait.

I stayed by the entrance for Fayeth and locked eyes with Prince Albar through the crowd. Lifting up a hand high enough that he could see, I rubbed my thumb over the tip of my index finger.

He knew the move. I was waiting for him to pay me.

The Prince’s face became a mask of fury before he jerked himself away like it was a force of will and started to lead his class back through the dungeon, likely heading to the safe zone on his own.

“The look on his face when we beat him there.” Des leaned on me. “I’m going to enjoy it. Maybe be ready to snap a picture.”

“Share it with me when you do?” I smirked.

This was a major blow to the prince, and I’d just have to follow it up with winning the bet with him on the raid.

For now though, it was time to celebrate the end of the DPS test and understand how deep into the raid we’d be cleared to go.