Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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[A Seed of Cataclysm has been imbued into the land]

/BADDUM!/

"UGH?!"

'My body…'

An intangible wave of energy phased through his body, the air, the ground, everywhere the moment the girl cracked the seed.

[The Level of all players in the instance will be adjusted to 20]

"?!"

'Shit… So she used that Seed.'

Level Cap was a type of restriction he had used more than once because not only was it simple and direct to understand, but also because it was a bearable disadvantage to have.

With the Temporary Skill, it didn't matter to him how much his Stats were reduced, there was no challenge he couldn't take as the Reflection could still make the most out of his strength, so even if he lost a massive chunk of it, it didn't matter much even if it caused him to become rather fragile.

There were instances where he almost died due to his reduced Stats, but that was mostly due to his own abuse from adding too many seeds together, otherwise, there was no foe he couldn't take, at least, none beneath 9-Star, which was the highest difficult mission he did, already counting the modifiers.

"So that's your trump card? Don't you know you'll also grow weaker?" Dale asked out loud as he grasped his spear tightly

"... Even if so, the Stats I lose are incomparable to yours." She said as she crouched, getting in a stance

"... You really came prepared…" Dale said in an amused tone as he took a deep breath

'I wonder what else she prepared.'

Albeit her words were true, given the fact Dale was thrown all the way from Level 69 to 20, losing a total of 118 Stat points, she couldn't know about his original Stats.[1]

Before entering the Tutorial for the first time, at Level 0, Dale's Physical Stats were all at 50 due to his intense year of muscle training, and that was only the beginning of it.

The Aspect of Might gave him +25 to all of his Stats…

His Physical training, which may be little, still had an effect on his body…

The Stat potions, the ones Yumi made, and the ones he drank from the Loot Boxes… Not to say the ones from the tutorial Dale had in his inventory just waiting to be used.

His modified Heart, the Vermi's Pot Ritual, the Tripodal Mark…

Flesh Rebirth which changed both his Strength and Constituion Ratios.

All of this together added up to a substantial amount.

Maybe if instead of Level 20 she had instead limited the Level to 40, she would have had a greater advantage, but now, the more she lowered her own Stats the further away she ended up from him despite their Levels remaining the same.[2]

After all, he had all of that added up, a result of sweat, pain, and effort, there was no way she could keep up with it.

… There was no way for her to have anything remotely resembling that… Right?

"..."

The girl did not say anything in the end, and neither did Dale.

One last showdown…

/Dash… CRACK!/

"!!!"

With a powerful impact wave, the girl vanished from her location, reappearing behind Dale as she swung her daggers at his neck at breakneck speeds!

/CLANG!/

"Urg…"

He barely blocked it, not because the strike was heavy, but because it was too fast!

/Swing!/

Continuing with her flurry of attacks, she struck his waist, shoulder, thorax, and neck within a split second, pushing Dale back a little as he felt the coldness of her knives pass next to his fingers.

It was clear and evident that she was targeting those.

/Clang clang!/

Focusing, Dale gathered his energy and circulated it within his body, but before he even had the time to do so, she plunged her dagger into his chest!

/GRAB!/

"..."

"..."

Dale managed to grab her hand holding the knife, and by dropping his spear, he now had both of her arms in his hands.

But this didn't mean she was done, not at all, in fact, he was the one at a disadvantage.

"What's your goal with this? Even if you defeat me, I'll just reappear in the main Lobby." He said with some struggle due to the woman's growing strength

He could see it, faint wisps of greenish energy revolving around her arm muscles, giving her unimaginable power.

"..."

As expected, she said nothing.

/FLASH!/

Her two daggers flashed with a green light, and Dale immediately felt an emptiness in his hands.

'!!!'

Due to his great reflexes, he saw her two daggers moving at high speeds towards his chest.

"Hupp!"

In one swift movement, gathering and redirecting his circulated Mana onto his feet, he crouched beneath her attack, tackling her by grabbing onto her waist.

"..."

/SWIPE!/

He lifted her into the air, ready to throw her onto the ground with every ounce of his brutish strength, but in a display of technique that made him go numb, she twisted her body while sending energy to all corners of her body in a flash, knocking the back of his head with her knee and hitting his elbows with her hands, causing him to lose his grip of her as she sent him straight to the sand.

/Flash!/

Not only after that, she vanished, reappearing further away from him in the very same stance as before they started this fight.

"Huff... Huff... This is a bit... Embarrassing." Dale said as he shook his helmet around, trying to get all of the sand to fall

"... You could've tried to finish me off there, why didn't you do it?" He asked as he kicked his spear from the ground to his hand

"..."

/Sheen.../

Instead of replying, she raised her daggers, vanishing once more.

"Of fucking cour..."

/BAAAAAM!/

Like a flash of lightning, she kicked his chest sending him sliding across the arena as he used the bottom of his spear to keep himself upright.

'I blocked that... Somehow.'

'I can still somewhat trace her, but she's on another level compared to the guys from Rank 1,000 to 200...'

/Dash!/

/Clang clang clang clang!!/

A flurry of strikes all aimed at his weak spots came flying from darkness one after the other.

From the ground, she slashed upward before following up with a fast sideway bite with her daggers at his waist.

When those failed she used a surprising amount of strength to send his spear above his head before aiming at his crotch!

/CLANG!/

"HUFF!"

But this time, Dale tackled her with his shoulder regardless of anything, unwilling to feel the pain of a knife stabbing his... At any cost.

"Tsk... You're low, aiming for my Mythical Cannon." Dale said out loud as he held his left arm

There was now a deep gash in there, and he could feel a tingling sensation in it also.

This was the first injury he had ever received ever since he started fighting and for such a futile reason...

'Poison... It hurts.'

'The wound isn't closing as fast either, is it due to my lower Constitution or due to the poison? Maybe a Trait/Skill of the knives she's using.'

"..."

"You're not one of many words..." He said with a weak laugh as he coughed a little as well

Dale was also someone of little words during a fight, and despite his previous behavior in his last few fights, he was now completely and utterly sober. Focused on the enemy in front of him.

The reason he spoke so much was to try and give himself time to think and maybe even have the time reach the 30-minute mark as a Plan B.

Though Dale wasn't sure if he could make this fight last that long, if he wanted to or not... .

/DASH!/

/CLANG!/

The girl initiated another flurry of strikes as if she had infinite stamina, this time, aiming at the weak spot that was Dale's left arm.

Because she was so fast and observant, Dale was unable to circulate his Mana at all to counter-attack, always being interrupted by her whenever he tried to do so.

His lack of training was showing itself now.

/Clang!/

Dale finally managed to deflect an attack, creating an opening, but maybe that wasn't for the best...

"!"

/KICK!/

Using the momentum from her previous deflected attack, the girl kicked him in the chest lightly as she jumped in the air…

However, the moment her boot came in contact with his chest, a wave of green light traveled from her sole to his chest... Before it exploded violently.

/BAAAAAM!/

"GAH!"

Dale was sent flying backward like a cannonball, slamming against the nearby walls of the Arena where he remained like a hung doll.

"..."

Looking at him from afar, the Assassin girl said nothing.

/Crack…/

"Haa… Shit…" Dale said as he unlodged himself from the wall, jumping onto the ground as he cracked his neck from side to side

"That tickled a little." He spoke out loud with a smile as he took his leather helmet off, much to the surprise of the girl

/Pfft!/

Spitting some of the rock and sand debris in his mouth onto the ground, Dale scratched his nose as he looked at his helmet.

It was useless now, not only it but his entire armor.

By losing over 100 Stat points, Dale was now unable to wear his set properly, and that was showing itself in his fight against her.

He could still wear the gloves, boots, and the spear, but those alone did nothing to him apart from weighing him down.

It barely did anything to stop her blades from reaching his skin.

Of course, as a HardCore player Dale could enjoy the defensive properties of the armor without any issues, but the bonus Stats and Skills it gave him were now completely and utterly meaningless.

This had definitely been planned by the Assassin who did not show any reaction to the change in Level, her items must've been chosen with this restriction in mind, in fact, this must be one of her strategies.

If the enemy loses not only Levels but their items too, what else could they do against her? Especially Standard Players, they would be doomed.

Dale didn't know if that was balanced or not, he didn't care either way.

The only thing he could do now was to change to one of his earlier Armor sets, because anything would be better than nothing no?

"How annoying." He said out loud as he grabbed his spear from the ground

'My Stats are rather low now, it's been a while since I've felt like this, I can't even use the Corps armor, though I left it back at Resko anyway.'

'But the strangest thing is…'

"Are you giving me a time off? Thank you very much." He said ironically as he looked at the girl

'She always seems to observe me... Well, there were times when the opponent tried to toy with me but they weren't numerous.'

'What does she have in mind?'

"... I'm surprised, that's all." She said without any reaction in her tone

"After all of this, I imagined you would fall in one assault, yet you remain slightly harmed despite barely raising a resistance…"

"... I tried okay?..." Dale said with a scoff, clearly upset at his lack of Skill

However, this did not mean he was taking this situation any lighter.

'I now know why I felt she was familiar.'

'Those movements she used… They're extremely similar to the ones those kidnappers tried to use against me, the energy is similar, even the color is the same as one of them.'

'Those weren't In-game Skills, she's been trained… In real life.'

'It's likely that her starting body Stats were above those of a Standard person also. Adding that to her control… Her confidence doesn't come from nowhere...'

/Crunch!/

[DING]

[A Seed of Cataclysm has been imbued into the land]

"What? Another?" Dale exclaimed as his forehead tensed

[Inventory function has been disabled]

'Tsk! So she wants to reduce all of my chances of gearing myself huh?!'

"... After failing to kidnap me, you now want to silence me?" Dale asked as his eyes sharpened

Now, without his helmet, his raw expression could be seen as he looked at her.

It didn't impact the girl in any way but she could feel the weight behind his words.

"Don't put me in the same sack as those pathetic fools." She said with some anger, the very first time she showed any degree of emotion

"Oh? Why shouldn't I? And if so, why are you after me?" He asked with a frown as he breathed in and out, trying to figure out what to do next

'I'm sure they can do nothing against me in the real world anymore after what Roger said and did for me… Though I don't fully trust him still.'

'My family is my biggest issue, and if that means limiting any potential dangers…'

Dale was ready to crush another seed, the most dangerous of them all…

"... You do not understand what's at stake."

"And that justifies all of this?!" He asked loudly as his heart started to beat loudly

"..."

The girl did not reply, but it seemed as if she wanted to.

But he paid that no head.

Instead, Dale crouched slightly as he pulled his spear back a little.

"I've heard enough for now, I need to blow some steam up."

'When I fought her just now, from this short interaction, she gave me the very same feeling I had when I fought Muddan.'

'The difference between my lack of experience and that of a warrior that grew up fighting, someone with decades of experience.'

'If she's as skilled as she looks, then I'm facing a highly dangerous Assassin with Superhuman capabilities while I myself only have big muscles…'

/Shuaaaa!/

His muscles tensing and his skin releasing steam, Dale exhaled turbid breath as he looked at her, his eyes trembling with excitement.

'But who said that's not enough?!'

/BOOOOOOM!/

Dale's body exploded forward!

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Notes

[1] From level 20 to 49 -> 58 Stats. From Level 49 to 69 -> 60...

Extra, at Level 20, Dale had 90 in his Strength Stat, but after I made the deduction of Stats from his current Level to that of 20, I got 92, so somewhere along that line I added one Level to that.

What I'm likely doing is counting a Level up again, but since the difference isn't big I'm not that concerned, peace!

[2] After Level 49 a HardCore player gains more Stats per Level, so by pushing his Level behind that threshold, Dale loses a considerably amount of Stats while she loses nothing

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