Chapter 64: Demon Knight
Having grasped the technique of redirecting the force, Madison's success rate of blocking and creating openings increased by a large amount.
Being able to consistently redirect force and strike the enemy was a huge boon to the party.
Sure Shiro could do it too, but tankers had follow up skills that could allow them to stun the monster for long periods of time.
Parrying another attack, Madison narrowed her eyes before sliding the sword along the boss's weak point between the armour.
Seeing the boss's HP get reduced down to 1, Madison knew her role was over.
Tankers rarely had a finishing move they could use to end the boss. Therefore, this job was left for either the mages or the swordsman.
[Lyrica you want to do the honours?] Shiro asked with a smile.
"Sure."
Lyrica summoned her dual ended blade and twirled it in her hands to get them warmed up.
Making sure her body was ready, she crouched low and dashed towards the boss.
Her body flared with a silver aura along with a pink one.
Madison was curious as to what Lyrica was going to do. Since she had her own fights, she wasn't able to see Lyrica fight meaning she had no knowledge of her berserk skills.
Lyrica's body flicked and appeared before the boss.
Stabbing the blade under the boss, Lyrica used her arm as a pivoting point.
*BAM!
Kicking down on the blade with her heel, she not only demonstrated great flexibility but also burst power.
In a short burst of strength, she was able to lift the boss off the ground.
Slamming her palms into the boss, she used compressive power and launched him higher.
Seeing that the boss was ready, Lyrica adjusted her grip on the sword.
The edges of the blade set aflame with a neon pink radiance layered on top of it.
Twisting her body, Lyrica twirled her blade for a moment before stabbing at the boss.
A flaming lotus appeared around her with each of the petals striking the boss.
*BOOMM!!!!!!
Madison was sent stumbling slightly when the attack landed on the boss. She couldn't help but open her jaw wide when she saw the clean holes through the boss. Some of the holes were even located in the hardest part of the boss's chitin armour.
*BOOM!!!
The boss landed heavily on the ground.
Helping Madison up, they collected the loot.
"Damn, Lyrica that was crazy what you pulled off." Madison praised seeing her burst potential.
"Hahaha." Lyrica only laughed while feeling a little embarrassed.
[Madison, you should be able to class up now. Why don't you do it in here as to not cause a commotion.]
"Sure."
Tapping her class up button, a silver radiance flickered around her.
*DONG~!
The chime of a bell was suddenly heard as Shiro widened her eyes in surprise!
'She managed to fulfil all the hidden conditions for a hidden class?!' Shiro thought as the force caused them to back off a little.
*DONG~ DONG~ DONG~
The bell chimes continue to ring out.
A hollow form of a knight could be seen appearing behind Madison. With white armour and golden highlights, it looked just like a holy light.
However, just as Shiro frowned a little, the knight started to flinch in pain.
"GAHHHH!!!!" His cry could be heard as dark crimson chains shot out from the ground.
Stabbing through the body of the knight, it's armour slowly morphed into the armour befitting of an evil overlord.
Creepy sharp protrusions could be seen around the shoulders, arms and legs. A red cape fluttered behind while neon red lights served as his eyes under the helmet.
His hollowed figure started to overlap with Madison's as Lyrica became nervous. Shiro held her back and showed Lyrica her phone.
[Calm down. It's just her class up. Somehow, she's managed to fulfil the stringent requirements to get a hidden class even though she's already picked the knight class.]
Gold and black aura surged the closer the knight came to completely overlapping her figure.
It was only after 5 minutes did the aura start to die down.
[Madison LVL 21 – Demon Knight]
'Demon Knight?' Shiro thought as she had never heard of this class at all.
"Madison?" Lyrica called out, slightly worried about how Madison felt after class up.
Black goo suddenly rose from the ground and covered Madison's body. Shocked, Lyrica dashed forwards to help Madison.
Reaching for Madison, Lyrica's hand was repelled by the black goo.
*BAM!
It struck against her chest heavily and sent her sliding backwards.
Before she could charge at it again, Shiro pulled her arm.
"Shiro!" Lyrica cried out as she turned to her.
Shiro only gestured for her to watch.
The goo shifted for a moment before retreating.
Madison's brown hair became black with slight highlights of red. Her face could now be classed as a heroic type of beauty when compared to her previous 'girl next door' beauty.
Her figure became much more accentuated with her bust and rear getting a decent 'boost'.
This caused Shiro to look down on her own body and sigh at the fact that she still looked like a kid.
Opening her eyes, Madison looked at her body and moved around a little.
Turning back to Shiro and Lyrica, her crimson eyes bore into theirs.
"…well this feels a little odd and… comfortable?" She said as Lyrica sighed in relief.
"You scared me then. I thought the black goo thingy had consumed you." Lyrica said as Madison laughed.
However, her body hunched forward a little due to her new bust.
[You should get used to your lumps of fat quickly. They might affect you in combat.] Shiro typed with slight jealousy.
She wanted to get her womanly figure soon as well. While it wasn't to attract males, it was rather for her to be able to fight better since her reach for close quarters combat was abysmally short right now.
[That being said, what can your Demon Knight class even do?]
"Hmm… I've lost most of my original skills and replaced with the Demon Knight skill branch. Erm… It seems like I have a lot of damage potential along with tanking potential." Madison said.
"What do you mean by that?" Lyrica asked since most class only had one or the other. But then they have both, the effects would be weakened.
"Well I have a skill called Demon Knight Manifestation. I'm able to summon the power of either an attack type demon knight or a defence type demon knight into my body.
"The catch is that the MP drain will always be 0.5% MP/second. When I run out of MP, it'll be taking my HP at a rate of 2% per second.
"I'm also able to turn it on and off when I desire but there will be a gap of 1 minute before I can use it again." Madison said, explaining her new skill to the duo.
'Hmm… An MP drain of 0.5% for every second means that she can use this mode for 200 seconds every time granted that she doesn't use any skills. But there should be a follow up skill that increases her MP regen so that she could sustain this mode for much longer.'
[Do you have a skill that helps you increase your mana regeneration?] Shiro asked.
"Hmm let me check… Yes I do actually. It's a passive called Mana Drainage. For every successful combo break, parry and counter I do, I regain 5% of my mana. I have to do it in that order though. So if I miss a counter, I won't get the 5% mana back.
"Right now the skill is at Tier 1 so I'm assuming the MP regen will increase the higher tier I go." Madison replied.
Shiro raised an eyebrow to this. While it didn't seem hard to do, using it effectively would be hard to do since to do a combo break, one would need to wait until the boss lands more than 10 hits on a person.
On higher levels, there are boss's who build up momentum the move hits they land, so this skill is a double sided blade where the reward wasn't worth the trouble. As of now that is. Perhaps when it tiered up, the requirements and the MP regen would increase making the skill worth the risks.
But the immediate solution for Madison's Demon Manifestation would be to have a support that could help regenerate MP or have an equipment that contain the Mana Eater skill.
However, if they were to gain an equipment with the Mana Eater skill, Shiro would be the first to send it to the recycling bin and make a skill chip of the skill.
[Should we get an outfit for you. Because it seems like your assets are about to spill.] Shiro typed out with a blank expression since Madison's shirt looked like it was about to burst.
Madison blushed a little seeing this.
"I can't help it ok?! Who knew a class up would increase my breast size!!" Madison cried out as she covered her breasts.
Shiro only shrugged as their initial goal was attained. With her classing up surprisingly to a Demon Knight, she should fair much better in the simulation.
Upon leaving the Dungeon, they returned to the dorms.
Shiro stood in her room before narrowing her eyes.
Opening the window, she came face to face with Nan Tian.
[And if I didn't open the window you'll just be another weird f*cker stalking the window of a young girl.] Shiro typed out.
"But we know each other. Doesn't really count right?" Nan Tian chuckled.
[No it does count. So what do you want exactly?]
"Nothing. Just telling you that you'll be seeing me for half a year."
[Are you serious?] Shiro asked with a blank face. She was currently despairing at the fact that this high levelled creep was going to be seeing her for 7 months.
"When was I never serious?" Nan Tian laughed while floating in front of her window.
Due to the fact that her room was situated closer to the small forest, Nan Tian was out of the public eye.
However, she was now contemplating on a room change so Nan Tian wouldn't be able to do what he was doing.
"Ah. If you're wondering about having a room change, don't bother since I'll still be able to visit you."
[Shameless.]
"Not as much as you. Who the hell would be as shameless as to go for the ass?"
[Me?]
"…True." Nan Tian agreed.
[Well if you're going to stalk me why don't you make yourself useful. Got anything good to sell? Especially with the stunt you pulled during the auction.] Shiro typed out as she turned around and sat on her chair.
"Ai, both of us know that even if I gave you them for free, you won't be able to use them." He said with a shake of his head.
[Who said I wanted to use them? I just want to buy the ones with nice skills and keep it in my collection.] Shiro replied.
She wanted to see if she could recycle some of the weapons and armours for their skills.
"Letting armour and weapon rust as a collection is rather wasteful don't you think? Shouldn't weapons be best used on the battlefield. No point letting them rust without serving their purpose."
[True. If that's the case then there's no point you being here is there? Why don't you go do what you need to do?]
"How hurtful. You're already chasing away your future branch master." Nan Tian said with fake drama.
Shiro kept her expressionless face on while she watched all of this.
"Fine fine I leave. See you later little snow~" Nan Tian laughed before his body flickered away.
"Tsk, creepy b*stard." Shiro muttered.
Locking the windows, Shiro did her routine of setting down traps before falling asleep.
###
Early the next morning, the trio gathered together and walked towards the gathering spot for the second event.
"Hey Shiro, why does it seem like you're a little cranky every time you wake up?" Lyrica asked.
'Probably because before sleep, I have the Nan Tian stalker. And after sleep, I find out the Lucius stalker came by.' Shiro thought with annoyance.
In this regard, she much preferred Nan Tian since he at least gave her alone time when sleeping.
[Nothing much.] Shiro replied.
"Period?" Madison asked as Shiro paused.
'Can a snow girl even have a period?' Shiro thought as she was pretty sure a snow girl didn't give birth.
[No it's not my period.] Shiro shook her head.
[Just focus on the task at hand. While this is only the second round so to speak, it is still an important round for you to get noticed by the larger guilds. Remember, don't seek out the fights. Take advantage of already occurring ones.] Shiro suggested.
Arriving at the venue, Shiro tilted her head back and stared at the giant building that was coloured a cream white.
'Hopefully, I'll be able to keep a decent performance record.' She thought before entering the venue.