Chapter 527 Jack“s On-The-Fly Strategy
"Give my undead life meaning!"
Both skeletal knights rushed Jack. They attacked in tandem with perfect synergy, not getting in each other's way as their strikes overlapped and they defended one another.
Still wielding both katanas, Jack roared in confusion. He didn't want to kill Duorda when Duorda agreed to work with Jack after the fight but it didn't seem like Jack had a choice in the matter. Flames erupted and covered Jack's armored body. His three bloodlines were cohesive yet prominent in all their glory.
The holy knight attacked first and the deathly knight attacked second, seeking an opportunity to sap some health from Jack as a counter. However, Jack pressured the holy knight in return to avoid a direct collision with the deathly knight's draining abilities.
Thick spatial energy sliced through the air as Jack carved through the air as it slashed across the holy bone shield. And though Jack's back was to the deathly knight, his wings hurled flaming wind blades to keep it at bay while Jack pushed the holy knight further back. Jack didn't want to face their tag team as they were the embodiment of partners being of one mind, literally. He was determined to at least keep them from comboing him to death.
While they were gradually pushed apart, Jack made sure to keep the holy knight as his first target.
Unlike the black, deathly knight, the holy knight couldn't passively heal itself. It would need to use spells actively to do so, but those same spells could be used on the deathly knight as support. And the key to any great battle is to remove the supports first! This was especially true when Jack was under time constraints of maintaining his three-bloodline combo.
One possible way of remedying this was if Jack upgraded his dual-wielding skill to aid him in facing such a tactful duo alone. But he was impulsive and searched for a better tactic if it was available.
"More! Keep it up, Jack!" Duorda cheered for his challenger, excited to see Jack's determination and wit in action.
A heavy layer of miasma filled the chamber, proving to Jack that he needed to end this fight as soon as possible. But Jack got an idea, wanting to test an old, in-game phenomenon.
While hammering away at the defending holy knight, Jack used Sudden Death to flank the deathly knight. The hero willingly clashed swords for the first time. It made no sense to Duorda until he saw Jack lean the back of his hand against the black shield.
A small wave of white, holy energy pulsed out of Jack's hand and into the shield, then entering Duorda by default. Jack clashed swords once again and was happy with the results.
Reengaging with the holy knight via Sudden Death, Jack chuckled to himself, "So, that wasn't just some glitch."
"You remembered! Magnificent!" Duorda laughed as well.
"How couldn't I? Everyone knew that resurrection spells would jam your draining ability, even if it's only for a second. Besides, that glitch was the only way for me to solo you back then," stated Jack, repelling the holy knight further back.
"You soloed me? You're Jack_J.! You're him, right!" More excited than ever, both iterations of Duorda attacked Jack with a new sense of vigor.
"You remember me? From a thousand years ago?"
"How could I ever forget?!" Duorda clashed against Jack's wind blades to close the gap, attempting to reunite his two halves. "I'm so glad Daruun chose you in the end. Now I get to fight you for real! Don't hold back, Jack. You're giving me hope still!"
Jack turned up the DPS as he refused to let the tag-team get back together. Spatial Disruption slowed the knights as Jack leaned into the holy knight's shield. A bright flash of light filled the room for a moment, leaving the deathly knight behind without Jack or his other half.
That deathly knight cackled, still mentally connected to the white death knight and seeing everything on the other side. "Jack! A stupendous plan, indeed!"
Without anything to do, the black death knight took a neutral stance and waited patiently.
A second bright flash of light emerged else, far from the ninety-ninth floor and Earthen Keep. The empty third floor of the Leisure Guild's storehouse suddenly had life reappear outside the small, abandoned town.
Jack backed off for a moment and smiled at the holy knight. "Sorry if I don't have time to explain where we are, but fighting your two halves together would only make it harder for me. No one else is here and the floor has a lining of roxite so we won't destroy it."
"Jack! A stupendous plan, indeed!" the white death knight laughed along with the hero. "Then hurry and finish me off. Be careful or you might become too weak to finish my other half."
They clashed again, only now Jack could divert his full attention to a single foe that couldn't steal Jack's health passively.
Spatial Slashes flooded the area as Jack held nothing back. Combo attack after combo attack with flames was paired with it the barrage as well. Simultaneously, Jack was utilizing Sudden Death to attack from a new angle with each barrage of strikes. Everything Jack did was purely to bring about the demise of the holy death knight.
As Jack chipped away at the holy death knight, Jack noticed cracks and cuts appearing on the skeleton's body. It was still casting healing spells and focusing on defense, but Duorda's white half failed to keep up without the aid of his passive life drain ability. Such was the weakness of Duorda's unique ability. It was terrifying when both halves fought together but weakened when separated.
Finally, Jack appeared just above the holy death knight and decapitated it after signs of damage were prominent on the head. Once the head was decapitated, the body still moved on its own of course, but Jack kept the disembodied head tucked under his elbow.
With a big smile on his face, Jack then teleported again, leaving the scrambling body of the holy knight alone on the empty dungeon floor. Once its head was long gone, the skeleton fell to the ground, completely inactive and motionless.