Chapter 45: Purple Dagger
Shiro hopped backwards as she started to float mid-air.
Her robe fluttered slightly while she watched with a small smile.
Lyrica summoned her weapon as she charged at the Murloc.
*GLUPGLUPGLUP!!!
Sidestepping, Lyrica dodged easily as her blade glowed with a slight red tinge.
Heated Edge!
Slashing twice with her skill, Lyrica caused a cross to be burned into the side of the Murloc.
"GLUPGLUP!
Crying out in rage, the Murloc swung his tail as Lyrica quickly slid on the ground, narrowly avoiding the tail swipe.
Stabbing the sword into the ground, Lyrica vaulted herself onto the back of the Murloc.
Twirling the sword, Lyrica caused a multitude of lacerations to appear on the Murloc's body.
The Murloc's eyes glowed red as sparks started to flicker around him.
Seeing this, Lyrica quickly jumped backwards, avoiding the lightning.
Pivoting on her leg, Lyrica twisted her body as a gale started to pick up.
Whirlwind Slash!
*PUCHI PUCHI!
Two deep ghastly gashes could be seen on the back as Lyrica took advantage of her momentum to increase the damage.
Not wasting the excess momentum, Lyrica shifted her footwork and cleaved downwards.
*BANG!
The blade cut deeply into the flesh but wasn't able to sever the tail.
Lyrica frowned slightly seeing this.
The Murloc retaliated by bending back at an abnormal angle. His mouth opened wide as it wanted to swallow Lyrica whole.
Kicking the bottom of the blade, Lyrica dislodged the blade from the tail as she rolled out of the way.
*BOOM!!!
A miniature dust cloud exploded outwards as the Murloc's head crashed against the ground.
Quickly re-orientating herself, Lyrica narrowed her eyes.
The Murloc's tail could be seen swishing around in the smoke.
*GLUPGLUP!!!
Smashing through the cloud of smoke, the Murloc charged towards Lyrica as she quickly vaulted upwards to avoid being eaten.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!
Destroying a large portion of the scenery, the Murloc tilted his head back as it swallowed everything.
"Creepy f*cker." Lyrica muttered with a frown.
The abnormal size of the jaw freaked her out as there was something that unsettled her mentally.
She just couldn't stand looking at such a disgusting thing.
Meanwhile, Shiro was becoming more and more satisfied watching Lyrica fight.
Not only were her movements fluid, but she was also starting to improve on her hidden proficiency.
Adding her own movements to flow from one skill to another, all whilst not disrupting her current tempo.
The subtle shift in her centre of gravity shift to cooperate with her footwork and wrist movement didn't escape Shiro's eye.
'At the rate she's going, she may very well be the youngest to ever comprehend her attack domain. In this life and in my previous life' Shiro thought. Having an ally like this would definitely make future Dungeon runs easier as it was hard to solo the higher-level ones.
Just one monster would have people struggling as they all had their own skills that could kill a person quickly.
Whilst Lyrica was fighting the boss, Shiro scanned for his HP.
[Murloc River Guardian LVL 20 – Elite]
HP: 39,300/75,000
MP: 20,590/50,000
'He's going to die soon.' Shiro thought with a smile.
The Murloc slammed his hands into the ground as Lyrica dodged.
Stabbing the blade deep into the back of his palm, Lyrica twisted her body and gave the blade a roundhouse kick.
*BANG!
The kick to the blade ripped a large chunk of the flesh out as Lyrica caught the blade once more.
Following the momentum, she slashed towards the Murloc's eye.
*GLUPGLUPGLUP!!!
Seeing that Lyrica has it handled, Shiro decided to craft the weapons she needed for the next two bosses.
The whip and the dagger.
Not only that, but Shiro needs to make sure they didn't break due to the MP durability.
Hiding her hands behind her back, Shiro started to imagine the blueprints.
'The dagger itself needs to be strong, tough and powerful for a level 20 weapon. It can't be the throwing dagger type I use, it must have high durability.'
Lightning sparked in her palm as metallic fibres started to appear and merge together.
Twisting together, a dagger slowly formed as Shiro made sure each component was extra tough.
Constructing a skill chip, she added disguise onto the blade.
[Reinforced Orphenium Dagger (Purple) LVL 20]
+20 Pierce
+20 Durability
+20 Critical Rate
+25 Critical Damage
+20 Bleed
+20 Sharpness
Passive: Mana Repair
Mana Repair – Repairs durability when user inserts mana into the blade.
Durability – 40,000/40,000
This was the blade that Shiro managed to create. Not only was it of the purple rank, but she had used up an astounding 45k MP to make this dagger. For such an amount to be inserted to a level 20 dagger would propel it to the purple grade easily.
Twirling the dagger in her hands, Shiro smiled.
This was a weapon, similar in design to her old dagger. Orphenium was one of the sharpest, yet most brittle materials back then. The only problem was its durability.
The dagger she had now was basically a copy of the dagger at a lower level.
*BOOMM!!!!
'Just in time I guess.' Shiro thought as she saw the Murloc collapse down lifelessly.
Lyrica wasn't too tired out as she was only panting lightly.
Landing softly next to her, Shiro tapped her shoulder.
[Good job.]
"Thanks. But I should have killed him faster." Lyrica sighed as she sat down.
Hearing this, Shiro only shrugged as wanting to do better was always a trait she liked to see in others.
Collecting the corpse, Lyrica was about to head up to the second floor when she was stopped by Shiro.
[Here take this.] Shiro typed as she passed Lyrica the dagger.
"Hm? A dagger- OH MY GOD A PURPLE GRADE!" Lyrica shouted as her hands quivered.
Purple grade equipment was exceedingly rare even in the front lines. While they may be more common with lower level equipment, they were still something rarely seen.
"How did you get something like this?!" Lyrica asked.
[No questions. Just use this for the next floor and kill the boss. After that, return it to me and I'll give you the whip for the final boss.]
Understanding the subtle hint of ignorance is a bliss, Lyrica stopped asking questions.
Entering the 2nd floor, Lyrica adjusted her grip on the dagger several times as she tried to get a better grasp of the weapon.
[Unlike the dual-ended blade, the dagger doesn't have the range or the damage. You have to focus on pinpointing the weak areas and strike there.]
"What do you mean?"
[Understand that like most humans, monsters also have innate weaknesses like the tendons. Cut those tendons apart and they won't be able to move.] Shiro smiled.
[Break the spine and they collapse onto themselves. And naturally, you can also go for the anus but since you're using a dagger you won't be able to make use of that weakness.]
'Thankfully.' Lyrica thought.
[Just make sure you move fast and attack the weak points. Circling around and slashing at the tendons is a foundation move every dagger user needs. Beginner or not.] Shiro smiled.
Lyrica nodded as she closed her eyes. She tried to remember the feeling of when she was using the dual-ended blade. She needed the muscle memory to help her out during this floor.
Thankfully, the second floor consisted of mages, basic troops and shamans. While the magic was a little harder to dodge, she should be able to handle it.
Sneaking to the first group of Murlocs, Lyrica suppressed her nervousness as she narrowed her eyes.
'There are 3 mages and 2 troops. I should go for the mages first while avoiding the troops. If I deal with the troops, it would be annoying to dodge the magic.' Lyrica thought.
Taking a deep breath to suppress her nervousness, Lyrica reopened her eyes.
Dashing towards the group, she kept her body low on the ground.
The mages detected her immediately as three fireballs were created and sent towards her.
'Remember the feeling, remember the feeling…' Lyrica thought as she needed to dodge.
Pivoting on her foot, she sidestepped away from the first fireball.
Slamming her palms on the ground, Lyrica used the force to slide under the last two fireballs.
'I-I did it!' She thought in excitement. Making sure to not lose her rhythm so far, she continued her dash towards the mages.
The troops raised their swords as Lyrica flicked the dagger into a reverse grip.
*DING!
The sword came into contact with the dagger as Lyrica twisted her body and slammed a kick to the side of the Murloc's cranium.
The force caused him to recoil backwards as it gave Lyrica enough room to grab the second Murloc troop.
Slashing her dagger at his wrist, she caused him to drop the sword.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Three fireballs fired towards her as she used the Murloc as a shield.
*GLUPGLUP!
The Murloc cried out in pain as his back was scorched.
Throwing the Murloc away like trash, Lyrica arrived at the first mage.
Panicking, the mage smashed the staff towards Lyrica.
Grabbing the staff, Lyrica pulled it towards her as the mages lost his balance.
She used her left leg to kick behind the knees of the mage, causing him to kneel before her.
*PPFFFF!
Slashing the dagger at the spine and neck arteries in one swift movement, blood started to spray out.
"Pui!" Quickly spitting out the blood that got into her mouth, Lyrica rolled to the side avoiding the fireballs.
Grabbing a hand full of sand and dirt, she threw it towards the mage's eye.
*PFFF!!!!
In the time that the mage was blinded, she slashed his neck leaving only one more target on her kill list.
With the final mage, Lyrica decided to finish it fast.
Twirling the dagger in her hand, she built up the momentum and flung the dagger towards the mage.
*Pa!
Shiro did a facepalm as she saw the dagger fly through the air and was about to land in the ocean. It had completely missed the target as Shiro flicked her wrist.
A wall of ice was erected as the dagger struck the wall.
Seeing Shiro facepalm herself, Lyrica knew about her mistake. Sure she may have retained some of the muscle memory, but she still wasn't used to throwing daggers.
Quickly rolling out of the way, Lyrica dodged the fireball. Grabbing the downed mage's staff, Lyrica ran to the ice wall and vaulted herself up.
Ripping out the dagger from the wall, she did a backflip and landed softly.
Finishing off the mage with ease, Lyrica sighed.
She was about to talk when an ice spike shot past her face.
*GLU!!!!
A cry rang out as Lyrica looked behind her and saw that it was the Murloc she kicked aside at the start. An ice spike was embedded into his skull as it collapsed weakly.
[Don't let your guard down. Make sure each and every one of them is dead before you look away.]
"…understood."
[Also, why did you throw the dagger? You've never trained in dagger throwing at all. How would you expect to throw the dagger with both the accuracy and the power needed to kill that mage.]
"I-I just thought it looked easy when other people do it."
[You need to have good control over the flick of your wrist, the strength of your arm and the point where you release the dagger. They all play a part in how to throw the dagger correctly. If any of them are lacking, there is a high chance of the dagger not being able to hit the target with enough force.] Shiro typed out as she took the dagger.
Without looking back, she flicked her wrist and the dagger shot in a beeline towards the tree.
[See? It looks easy due to how casual I threw it. But do you think it's easy to perform?]
Lyrica shook her head.
[Then why the hell did you try to throw it?!] Shiro asked as Lyrica looked down.
Shiro knew she had to be strict with Lyrica at times. As much as she wanted to assist her, if she wasn't careful, Lyrica would develop bad habits.
[If I wasn't here to stop that dagger from flying into the ocean, you would have lost your weapon. Even if you had your dual-ended blade, what would you do if you had no more weapons?]
"I'm sorry…" Lyrica apologised as she knew she made a big mistake.
Shiro sighed as she passed the dagger back to Lyrica.
[We're spending a while here to train your dagger arts.] Shiro typed as she pulled out another dagger.
She was going to make sure Lyrica understood the basics of daggers.