Izroth stood straight and placed his left arm behind his back. He held his right arm out in front of him with an open palm facing upward and pointed in Present Order's direction.
There was an unnatural silence that filled the air and only the sound of the roaring flames erupting from the ground a few meters away could be heard.
Mirage held her breath as the surrounding atmosphere grew tense in an instant. As for Luna and Azalea, they were both calm and relaxed as the fight began.
Present Order leaned forward and pushed off his left foot with his buckler leading the charge and his greatsword tilted at a slight angle. His first two steps were incredibly slow, however, the moment his foot touched the ground a third time he accelerated at a great speed. He used the skill Unimpeded Rush as his opening move to immediately close the distance between Izroth and himself.
Izroth stayed perfectly still up until the moment when Present Order's buckler was just about to slam into his body. He swiftly stepped to the side as Present Order shot right past him and missed his initial charge.
Present Order stopped around two steps away from Izroth. There was a small delay when a player missed with the skill Unimpeded Rush. Although it was only a 0.5-second window, it was more than enough for skilled players to take advantage of the vulnerability. It was one of the major drawbacks of using Unimpeded Rush and why the skill itself required a lot of practice to use properly.
Izroth twisted his lower body slightly as his leg lifted up off the ground and shot towards Present Order.
There was nothing Present Order could do to defend against it and time as Izroth's foot crashed into his back. Present Order's entire body became stiff and he was unable to move after he was struck by Izroth. This was due to the paralyzing effect of Izroth's skill Serpent's Bite.
During their time fighting against the Lava Beast, Izroth used two skill points to max out Serpent's Bite. The only thing that changed when he did so was the amount of time an opponent spent paralyzed was increased to two seconds. Also, instead of simply having a high chance of causing the paralyzing effect in the opponent, it was now certain as long as the target was successfully struck.
"You wish!" Present Order shouted as a blue aura encompassed him. The next moment, he was able to move around freely as if he had never been paralyzed in the first place. It was a popular skill for most warrior-type classes after they reached level 30 called Break Restraints. It allowed the user to break free of any crowd control effect(s).
However, the cooldown time on it was quite high compared to most other skills, therefore, most players would only use it in emergency situations where it was absolutely necessary.
Present Order did not believe that a combat master like Izroth had more than one crowd control move and so he did not hesitate to use Break Restraints. He swung his greatsword with a great might in an arc aimed directly at Izroth.
Izroth was a bit surprised that his Serpent's Bite had no effect against Present Order. He knew about the existence of crowd control removal skills, however, he did not expect Present Order to use it in such a hasty manner.
Woosh!
Izroth lowered his body and evaded the incoming greatsword. At the same time, powerful and concentrated energy started to converge at Izroth's fingertip as he aimed at the side of Present Order's torso area.
Present Order lowered his arm with the buckler attached to it and moved it in a path to block Izroth's attack. However, the strangest thing happened that caught him completely off guard.
Izroth's fingertip pierced through Present Order's buckler as if it were nonexistent. It did the same thing for Present Order's plated armor, bypassing all of his defenses and striking his body directly!
It was a move Izroth created specifically to combat opponents with high defensive capabilities, Fissuring Point. Although its cooldown time was usually five seconds since the target was someone with a shield, the cooldown time on Fissuring Point was increased by thirty seconds.
Present Order felt a brief impact before losing nearly 25% of his HP! That attack that seemed so harmless had actually caused such a massive amount of damage. At first, Present Order was baffled since his defensive stats were no joke. He had witnessed Izroth's damage in their fight against the Lava Beast. How was it possible that he did the same exact damage to him that he did to the Lava Beast?
"It must be some kind of skill that ignores defenses... I refuse to believe that my defense stats are comparable to some normal monster trash...!" Present Order said to himself as he gritted his teeth as he gripped onto the greatsword in his hands before slashing down. He wanted to cut Izroth in half!
"A few good hits! All I need is a few good hits!" Present Order kept replaying those words through his mind as he thought about Izroth's mediocre HP stat. If he could just land a couple of good blows, this fight would be over in no time.
Izroth had already begun to make his next move as he dodged the greatsword and struck out with his fist.
Bang!
Izroth's fists rained down upon Present Order without mercy. Every time Present Order would try to strike using a skill or a basic attack with his greatsword, Izroth would avoid the attack and continue his assault. In essence, he was practically pummeling Present Order to death!
Unfortunately, since Izroth did not have any fighter-type weapon such as fighter gloves or gauntlets equipped, all of his basic attack punches only did around 50% of his total attack damage and were unable to critically strike. Therefore, he was slowly shaving away at Present Order's HP due to their incredible defensive stats.
"This is..." Sinking Clouds was speechless as he watched the ongoing battle. What was that combat master doing? Was he really planning on fighting against his brother without using any weapons?
"Stay still!" Present Order yelled in anger as he swung his greatsword around in a wild manner. By this point, he had become extremely frustrated as he was unable to strike Izroth a single time. To make matters even worse, he was being assaulted with nothing but basic fist attacks after Izroth's first two moves against him.
As time passed by, Present Order's facial expression darkened as he was overcome by rage. The woman he was trying to impress was watching this disgraceful performance. How could he not feel humiliated? His HP was slowly dropping down and had already decreased to around 5,000.
How could it be possible that some piece of trash combat master was able to reduce him to such a state? Present Order believed that Izroth had to be cheating somehow or had some unknown item that could explain the current situation. However, Present Order refused to sit back and allow himself to be freely humiliated in front of Mirage.
Present Order removed a paper talisman from his inventory and in the next moment, the paper talisman started to disintegrate. A bright light was released from the talisman and washed over Izroth without warning.
'Oh? So that's a talisman. It's my first time coming across one.'
Present Order smiled gleefully as his little surprise was successful! However, there was a part of him that was a bit depressed at having to waste such a valuable item. But, when he thought about the x100 Five Cycles Pills that awaited him after he won this duel, he felt more reassured about using it.
It took him a good amount of RMB to obtain the Immobilization Talisman. After all, it was a rare quality talisman that was not easy to come by and required a top-level Alchemist to make.
At the moment, Alchemist was one of the most popular classes within RML, however, there was still only a handful of people that had unlocked the rare side ability to create talismans. Not to even mention rare quality talismans.
Name: Immobilization Talisman(Rare)
Usage: This talisman immobilizes all targets for 1.2 seconds within 5 meters from the user's location, preventing them from moving.
Cooldown: 1 Minute
"That guy...!" Mirage was taken aback. Now Izroth was in serious trouble! She did not expect for Present Order to go so far and pull such a dirty hidden card. There was an unspoken rule about using those kinds of items in a PVP duel.
Izroth was unable to move a single muscle as Present Order did not waste any time and used one of his strongest offensive skills to attack with. A red aura appeared around Present Order's greatsword as he lifted it above his head before bringing it down in full force, aimed directly for Izroth's head. He wanted to end it with a single blow!
Present Order had a look of victory on his face. Did he care about some silly unspoken rules? Of course, he didn't! He would use whatever means necessary to win.
Woosh!
"It's over." Sinking Clouds said with a smirk on his face. He knew that his brother would not allow himself to lose so easily. It must have been all a part of his plan to give Izroth some hope before snatching it away at the last moment. His brother truly understood how to put on a good show!
All of a sudden, Present Order felt his body becoming heavier and heavier with each and every little move he made. Before he could comprehend what was going on, he was engulfed by a strange yet beautiful crystal.
A few moments later, a crystalized statue of Present Order in the middle of an attacking motion appeared on the battlefield. His greatsword was just mere centimeters away from making contact with Izroth's head.
The effects of the Immobilization Talisman ran out and Izroth could finally move again.
Present Order tried to struggle free from the Crystallization skill Izroth used, however, it was like trying to swim through a pool filled with lead.
Overbearing and terrifying energy gathered around Izroth's right hand. If one looked closely, they could see the illusion of a sword hidden away behind the aura.
Azalea narrowed her eyes as he observed Izroth's movements closely. The skill he was currently using felt similar to the one he used against her at the end of their battle.
Izroth slowly stepped to the side and released the Crystallization skill.
Woosh!
Present Order's greatsword continued on its attack path as he was unable to cancel the skill midway through. However, this left him wide open to Izroth's attack.
Crash!
Present Order's greatsword crashed into the ground and caused the surrounding couple of meters to slightly tremble as the attack created a decent sized hole in the ground where it made contact. But, in the next moment, Present Order saw everything around him turn gray as his HP fell down rapidly before stopping at 1.
Izroth's First Baneful Sword: Destruction was just as deadly without using a sword thanks to its special effect. There was no way for Present Order to avoid the attack and Izroth dealt over 5,000 damage with a single wave of his hand!
Present Order was in a complete state of disbelief. He could not believe what just happened. He refused to believe what had just happened! However, the realization hit him when the system alert sounded off in his ears.
〈System Alert: Duel has ended! Player Izroth has defeated Player Present Order!〉
"If I remember your words correctly, you said that the winner can choose the fate of the loser. I hope you have not forgotten your promise." Izroth said using Present Order's own words against him as he raised his hand up into the air.
"Brother! You dare!" Sinking Clouds erupted in anger as he pointed his staff towards Izroth and began to cast a spell.
"Wu Zemin, you dare interfere?!" Mirage was just about to try and talk to Izroth to see if there was a way to spare Present Order. After all, even though she strongly disliked him, he was still the son of her father's close friend. Also, she knew how long he was capable of holding grudges.
However, before she could even try to resolve the issue, Sinking Clouds was ready to attack Izroth! How could she even bother justifying anything if promises weren't kept?
Woosh!
The next moment, three magic missiles flew directly towards Izroth from Sinking Clouds' staff.