The Achievement Junkie

Duorda was laughing heartily as Jack tore through the skeleton horde. Flaming wind blades flew everywhere as Jack was seemingly teleporting from one part of the horde to the next. His speed was incredible and overwhelming, leaving many of the less adaptable skeletons to face their demise.

It was simple for Jack to eliminate the skeletons, even if they had such great equipment. They were far too slow to keep up with him and their levels weren't enough to withstand a higher-leveled hero with a plethora of powerful passive skills.

"Amazing…" Duorda sighed, letting loose another pulse of dark energy. However, this didn't summon anything. Rather, it caused the remaining skeletons to return to their slumber underground.

Jack dropped his transformation momentarily, staring at Duorda. "What are you up to?"

"I don't want you destroying all of my treasures. It's taken me ages to collect so many and it would be pointless to lose them so easily," stated Duorda. "But their interference has cost you plenty of mana, so their losses aren't entirely wasted."

"Does that mean…"

Stretching both arms out, Duorda showed more of that dark miasma from earlier. "You've proven strong enough to face me, but you've yet to learn what true power is!"

Dense black energy flooded the entire space. It felt harmless but Jack already knew about the life-draining properties of the attack.

Not wasting time, Jack rushed straight forward. The katana in his hand streaked through the air as Jack retook his hellish minokawa form. He left nothing to chance. Jack didn't want to spend a single second more in that miasma than necessary, which meant Jack needed to fight as hard and as fast as possible.

As the miasma parted and Jack rushed forward, Duorda stood firmly with even denser dark energy around his hands. More black lightning bolts shot out toward the incoming attacker.

Neither backed off. Jack evaded the first few black bolts while Duorda waited patiently for Jack's charge. Both finally connected. At such a range, Duorda stood still and tanked Jack's attack combo while his black lightning hit Jack directly in the chest.

The crypt lord wasn't knocked back at all. Duorda stood firmly without hesitation or flinching in any way. While his arms, chest, and skull had been slashed and carved into, the dark-boned skeleton kept his curious gaze on Jack. He was more interested in how Jack was fairing after receiving those black bolts at point-blank range.

Coughing, Jack stepped back a couple of meters. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth as Jack was unable to keep some from dribbling past his lips.

"You're good, Jack! Much more amusing than the others," commented Duorda.

"Thanks…" Jack spat out some of the blood, wiping his lip clean and staring back at his opponent. He watched as black energy covered Duorda's body and restored the crypt lord to tip-top shape. Still searching for what Daruun had hinted at, Jack asked, "Why fight?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why should we fight?" Jack repeated his question. "You're so strong and I don't understand why you stay here. There were times when I felt facing you was more difficult than fighting a god, so why stay hidden away instead of rising to the heavens like them?"

"I have a purpose. Until that purpose is fulfilled, then I'm unable to leave," Duorda answered.

Feeling like he was finally getting somewhere, Jack sighed, "Then… What is that purpose? Is there a way I can help?

"You're already helping me," answered Duorda.

"How can I--"

"Survive and you'll fulfill my purpose!"

The black energy around Duorda gathered in his palm and extended out from there. It condensed more and more until a large black sickle made from pitch-black bones was created.

"Wait! Aren't you a mage?!" Jack shouted, utterly floored to see Duorda with such a sickly-looking weapon.

"Yes. Also, I'm a warrior," Duorda stated as he took some warmup swings.

"But… you're a spell blade?!"

"Correct! And you're one of the few opponents worth going all-out. Be proud, Jack, for your demise is at hand! Struggle to remain in existence!"

Leaping with terrific strength, Crypt Lord Duorda charged Jack with his double-edged sickle at the ready. Heavy dark energy was pouring out of the sickle as Duorda swung it around with one hand, proving his physical prowess.

Jack leaned back and avoided the first swing. The hero was confident in his ability to dodge but he was still shocked to see how quick and strong Duorda's physical body actually was. Also, Jack recognized the aura around the blade as a more condensed version of the draining miasma that filled the air. It was a blade that Jack didn't want to block, let alone touch.

Surprisingly, Duorda's strikes were extremely precise and viciously quick. The moment Jack evaded the first attack, he could barely keep up with the follow-up strike.

Crypt Lord Duorda was more excited than ever. His joy was at an all-time high. After failing to even have an opponent for five hundred years, Duorda found himself fighting a man who could keep up without needing to seal his strength. And Duorda was amazed further to see that Jack was still so lively after destroying multiple Undead Dragons as well as dozens of high-level skeletons with magical gear.

"Good! Great!" Duorda shouted, spinning around along with his swings to continue generating momentum with his huge sickle. "Show me more, Jack!"

As Duorda swarmed Jack with a frenzy of sickle strikes, Jack evaded in amazement. He understood that Duorda would be lv. 89 but Duorda was the first opponent to act unaffected by fighting within proximity of Jack's poweful flame body. While most undead were naturally weak to fire, it was hard not to be startled by Duorda's reckless abandon to charge Jack's flaming person.

Jack didn't use three bloodlines at once, not yet. He didn't want to burn through mana unnecessarily when he still had no clue about the limits of Duorda's strength. Not once, not twice, but three times now had Duorda shocked Jack with abilities that the crypt lord never had in-game. And seeing Duorda's natural confidence made Jack assume that there was still more to come.