Even with Izroth successfully parrying the blow, with his current defense stat of 95 and the 15% physical damage reduction from the passive skill Blessing of Helilatiaa, he still received almost 300 damage from one attack.
Izroth managed to quickly slash out with his Blade of Lightning, counter-attacking with a strike that hit just below the dorsal fin of the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark.
-220
Sadly, his Blade of Lightning did not deal bonus lightning damage due to the skill Lightning Field not being activated, however, he did succeed in shaving off a little more than 2% of its total HP with that one attack.
'Even though it has 10,000 HP, its defense is not all that impressive.'
After the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark knocked Izroth back, it did not pursue him. Instead, it opened its enormous maw and the water surrounding the monster seemed to be compressing into a spherical form.
Izroth would not wait to find out what this attack was and immediately executed an evasive maneuver. He swiftly swam down at the angle to position himself below the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark's body.
Izroth paid close attention to the monster's gaping maw and when he saw that the water had stopped being compressed, he instantly accelerated downward in a vertical line.
In less than half a second later, a compressed sphere of pressurized water shot out at Izroth like a cannonball. Its speed was incredibly fast and this was definitely not an attack he wanted to meet head-on.
Although Izroth accelerated just as the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark completed its skill, the attack still locked onto Izroth as if it already knew he would try to avoid it.
Izroth remained calm and just as the compressed sphere of pressurized water was about to crash into him, he dived down behind one of the corals. The attack crashed into the solid coral destroying a great deal of it in the process.
'Even if you have an advantage in water, let's see how I'll deal with you little fish.'
Although this creature was several times larger than Izroth, compared to some of those sea creatures in the Seven Realms who were the size of a small world, it was just a little fish.
The Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark eyes turned beastly as it swam downward towards the coral reef where Izroth was located.
Izroth decided it was the best course of action to fight in a more restrained and enclosed environment. Fighting in the open sea against a creature with nearly twice his own speed would just be making matters more difficult for himself.
The coral reef was filled with a multitude of corals, rocks, and a seaweed-type plant. This type of area would severely limit the movements of the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark with its huge body. For Izroth, however, it was an ideal battleground.
As the sea creature neared the coral reef, its speed noticeably decreased as if it were attempting to avoid crashing senselessly into the various objects. By the time it arrived inside of the coral reef and moved closer to Izroth, its speed was reduced by more than 30% of its initial amount.
The Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark was about to chomp down on Izroth, but when it snapped its jaws closed there was no resistance whatsoever.
Even though the sea creature was still a bit faster than him, Izroth evaded its bite with relative ease. Of course, if he were to use Flickering Steps then it would be simply impossible for it to touch him at all. However, there were too many unknown factors about this place and so, it was more reasonable to save its usage until it was actually required.
As Izroth dodged to the left side, he quickly slashed out with his Blade of Lightning, leaving behind a light purple trail in the process. This strike was targeted at the gills of the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark located not too far away from its pectoral blade-like fin.
Though this was not just a regular attack. Izroth's sword had two faint shadows following every movement it made. This was the improved Phantom Strike that Izroth had just achieved the maximum level with.
The Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark was able to prevent its gills from being struck with the first strike. However, it was powerless to stop the next two strikes from slicing into its gills, even though it was sure it successfully protected its vital point.
-60
«Critical Hit»
-540
«Critical Hit»
-860
Just as Izroth's Phantom Strike hit with its third strike, the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark lashed out at him in a furious way, spinning its body around rapidly to use its sharp caudal fin to attack Izroth. It just received an extensive amount of damage and its precious gills were nearly completely butchered by Izroth and so it was only natural that it would be angered.
Izroth reacted swiftly, repositioning himself slightly so that a sturdy coral blocked the path between his body and the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark's sharp caudal fin.
The Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark's caudal fin pulverized the coral, however, it lost all its power when it did and there was none left to even remotely damage Izroth.
With his strategy of using the corals and rocks as a way to deter the sea creature's assault, Izroth launched a counter-attack at every available opportunity, causing the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark's HP to decrease rapidly.
80%...
63%...
41%...
24%...
When the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark's HP reached 24%, Izroth's Blade of Lightning released an oppressive aura as it streaked in the sea in a dominating fashion.
As Izroth's sword was closing in on the sea creature, its movements began to become chaotic as if it were scared of something. This was due to the feared effect from the First Baneful Sword: Destruction that Izroth was currently targetting the sea creature with.
Izroth's Blade of Lightning sliced cleaning across the body of the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark, starting from its eye, over its gills, and all the way down to its caudal fin.
«Critical Hit»
-2,460
That final strike was enough to bring the sea creature's HP all the way down to zero.
〈Battle Alert: The cooldown time for your skill «First Baneful Sword: Destruction» has been reset.〉
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated «Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark»〉
〈System Alert: You have been awarded 5,400 EXP〉
〈System Alert: You have been awarded 5,400 EXP from the skill «Equalizer».〉
〈System Alert: You have leveled up to level 18〉
〈System Alert: You have been awarded +3 stat points for leveling up〉
Loot Drop:
-1 silver and 75 bronze coins
-x1 «Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark Fin»
Izroth was inside of this dungeon for less than 10 minutes and he already leveled up twice in such a short period of time! Of course, this was due mainly to him having the Equalizer skill in effect and soloing a dungeon meant for multiple players working together to conquer it.
'The amount of coins received does not go up by much at all.' A level 20 elite monster gave such a small amount of coins. Though Izroth figured this was how the system made it so that the majority of players would have no choice but to earn coins through other various means.
As he picked up the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark Fin, Izroth checked its usage before sitting it inside of his inventory.
Name: Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark Fin(Reageant)
Rank: None
Usage: While most of the fins located on the Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark are all incredibly sharp and dangerous, its dorsal fin is very soft and harmless. It releases a strong fishy smell when heated and causes those caught unprepared to enter into a bestial state when it is inhaled.
'Its effect when inhaled reminds me of the main ingredient for a certain pill recipe... I'll have to do a bit of research when I have some free time.'
Izroth swam up a few meters and not too far in the distance patrolling different sections above the coral reef were three Yellow-Razored Kryrco Sharks.
When Izroth was preparing to head over to the nearest one of the sea creatures, something shiny was glistening on the sea floor, hidden away by the seaweed-like plants.
'Isn't that...' Izroth went down into the field of seaweed-like plants and found a pleasant surprise waiting for him. At first, he was unsure if it really was that item because it was much bigger than the one he used during the Apothecary aptitude test.
'It really is an Isolated Water Droplet.' Izroth reached down and picked up the shiny crystallized shaped marble water droplet.
〈System Alert: You have received x5 «Isolated Water Droplet»
'So five droplets are condensed into a single item. The one used for the Apothecary aptitude test must have been separated individually by one of the apothecaries there. These droplets are not rare by any means. It simply blends in with the environment so naturally that unless someone is intentionally searching for one, it would otherwise be challenging to find.'
Izroth searched the surrounding area thoroughly and managed to collect a grand total of 75 Isolated Water Droplets.
'With this, I'll be able to craft the Five Cycles Pill and still have some left over to run some experiments.'
After gathering all of the Isolated Water Droplets in sight, Izroth swam towards the nearest Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark.
...
Izroth spent a total of 10 minutes collecting the Isolate Water Droplets and clearing the remaining three Yellow-Razored Kryrco Sharks. He used the same exact tactics as he did against the first Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark he fought.
Thanks to his First Baneful Sword: Destruction skill, as long as he lowered the HP of the sea creatures down to 24% and struck one of its vital points, the cooldown on his First Baneful Sword: Destruction would reset. This reduced the total amount of time needed to eliminate the sea creatures.
Izroth received a total of 32,400 EXP. He wished that the Equalizer skill would become permanent. Though he understood that the system would never allow such an unfair advantage as a permanent 100% EXP boost.
He was also awarded 5 silver and 25 bronze coins, as well as two additional Yellow-Razored Kryrco Shark Fins. Sadly, the sea creatures did not drop anything that valuable.
Izroth stared into the distance and was unable to see the end of the coral reef. However, he soon noticed a beautiful colossal coral that appeared as if it was molded by an artist. At the top of that colossal coral was a small statue of an intimidating looking merman riding atop a noble and majestic seahorse-type sea creature. This merman, however, had actual legs covered with scales.
He swam through the coral reef and the only sea life he ran into were the different species of small harmless fish.
Izroth arrived in front of the arc-shaped colossal coral and swam through it.
〈System Alert: You have entered the region «Calder's Reef»〉
The scenery did not change that much as his view was still filled with countless corals, rocks and plants. However, in the distance was a grand structure made entirely out of rainbow-colored corals. The corals were emitting a majestic aura as if this sea was not fit to host its presence.
Izroth observed the grand structure for a moment before swimming in its direction.
The entire area surrounding the grand structure had bright yellow colored sand covering the whole sea floor. It was most likely due to the majestic aura of the rainbowed-colored corals that the grand appeared so enriched compared to the neighboring sand.
At the bottom of the grand structure was a hole big for all four of those Yellow-Razored Kryrco Sharks from earlier to swim through together without touching one another.
Izroth swam into the hole and when he arrived on the inside, there were corals emitting a luminescent light-blue glow. When Izroth moved closer to the coral, the water around it felt warm and comfortable.
There were numerous holes spread all throughout the inside of the rainbow-colored coral and there seemed to be no clear path. However, Izroth could sense multiple presences swimming around him.
Izroth remained vigilant and swam upward into one of the openings.