The Achievement Junkie

Chraat stared at Byron, dumbfounded by his sudden interference. Also, He could feel that Byron's strength had returned to him. "What are you doing!? How did you escape?"

"You'll have to thank my new friend," laughed Byron while he pointed and the still rampaging fiery fiend.

"But-but that's impossible!" yelled Chraat as he forcibly pushed Jack back. The troll captain was on edge, no longer confident he could win.

If he were at full strength, he wouldn't be too worried, but Jack's tactics and attacks were too strange for him to anticipate and he underestimated him. Now that he knew Jack was stalling the whole fight, Chraat cursed himself for his own arrogance.

"Brat, I've toyed with you long enough!" Chraat charged toward Jack as he dropped his improvised club and retrieved his true club mid-swing.

Jack in his wild state tried to meet the troll blow for blow, despite the level gap. His temporary lv. 21 strength proved resilient but matching Chraat's blows with a true lv. 30 weapon wasn't something Jack could shrug off.

The red-hot lv. 20 rapier bent upon impact, unable to match the force of the lv. 30 club. In his crazed state of mind, Jack had forgotten it was a featherweight rapier he was wielding and not a heavy blade that could take hits.

Flung back into the staircase, Jack was momentarily airborne, yet his gaze remained fixed on the troll.

The troll captain attempted to charge Jack again but was quickly cut off by Byron wielding the green saber. "Where are you going? I haven't shown you what I learned from all those lessons you taught me down here. Now, I can finally share some of my insights, so try and keep up with me."

Chraat flinched when Byron parried his club's full power swing. This proved to Chraat that the poison was taking effect and fighting like this would only speed it up. He knew that this fight needed to end quickly.

"What's wrong? Scared speechless? I may only be lv. 31, but you're nowhere near your peak lv. 36 condition. I wonder who will walk away from this?" taunted Byron.

Before Chraat could respond, Byron disappeared. His heightened senses quickly caught wind of an attack coming from his right, the same side which could no longer wield a weapon. "Coward! Only fighting me when I'm weakened. You don't deserve to be called a warrior."

Byron paid Chraat's comments no mind as his saber swung towards the troll's arm with incredible speed.

This saber was very unique and was an heirloom of the Balt family. It was always gifted to the heir of the clan after they reached lv. 30, as a testament to their strength and potential.

The reason it was valuable was partially from the material it was made from. No one in the clan knew what material it was, they only knew it was most likely from ancient times.

It was specially crafted and designed as well, carrying a weighted tip at the curved end. This made it a little awkward to wield, but if it was mastered then the wielder would be able to easily decapitate a man or sever limbs.

This was why Chraat claimed it for himself and why Byron was ecstatic to get it back thanks to Jack's distraction and aid.

Unable to grab anything to defend himself, Chraat clenched his face muscles in anticipation of the impact and readied his counterattack.

Just when Chraat was ready to receive the blow, a flash of heat washed over him, setting off a mental alarm.

The troll had no way to dodge the incoming flame body as one of his arms was braced for impact and the other was mid-swing towards Byron.

Jack tackled Chraat, pushing him into the dungeon floor with a crash.

Byron was more aware of the situation then Chraat, so he held back from striking in hopes to instead attack the downed troll. Instead, as Byron turned to swing at Chraat stretched across the floor, his side was smashed by a fiery arm that pushed him onto the floor as well.

In Jack's current state of mind, he wasn't paying attention to the fight between Byron and Chraat, not differentiating between friend and foe. All Jack saw was someone who harmed him previously and someone that appeared to be getting in his way.

Both the troll captain and the Balt Guild heir were puzzled by Jack's actions. It was one thing to intervene and try to face Chraat, it was another to act indiscriminately.

"Jack, what are you doing!?" yelled Byron.

The flame body faced Byron and pounced towards him. Eager to kill his prey and claim victory, the Hell-flame Fox instincts had taken over.

Byron got to his feet and vanished with no time to spare, narrowly dodging the flame body's tackle.

Still without clothes or armor, Byron was fighting while stark nude so the skin at his side was singed and burned by the intense hell-like flames that made up Jack's body.

Chraat wasn't faring any better. Thanks to Jack's tackle the troll captain had lost a lot of skin and was covered in burns across his left arm and torso.

While Chraat struggled to push himself up with his numb muscles and handicapped right hand, Byron appeared in front of the troll. His green saber was already in mid-swing, aiming for the left elbow as Chraat was propped up on his one good arm.

Fear filled Chraat as he realized what was happening. Forced to retaliate, Chraat propped himself up with his crippled right arm and lifted his club to block.

The block was successful, but the mix of Chraat's heavy bodyweight and the weight of Byron's attack was too much. A splintering sound echoed through the dungeon, followed by Chraat's pained groans and shouts.

Byron attacked again, this time disappearing and reappearing on Chraat's right side.

When he noticed the bones protruding from Chraat's crippled wrist, Byron smiled. Byron's saber aimed at Chraat's right shoulder as the troll was toppling over his weakened arm.

Just as the blade approached the troll, Byron felt a familiar flash of heat.

Not wanting to harm Jack, Byron vanished again. After happening twice Byron was certain that Jack had no clue who was a friend and who was a foe.

Chraat, who was wincing in pain and was still struggling to get up, failed to notice the raging Jack until Byron disappeared.

As Jack dove and missed Byron, he made a direct hit against Chraat's right side. With that Chraat's entire upper body was covered in burns.

The worst part was that the searing flames that Jack was producing made contact with Chraat's exposed bone and flesh. Pain shot through the troll's right arm like it was struck by lightning. "AAAAGGGHHH!"

Jack grabbed hold of Chraat, forcing them both into a death roll. The insane heat of the flame body was roasting Chraat alive while Jack's mouth was ripping at Chraat's shoulders and chest.

Byron remained completely still in hopes to keep Jack from attacking him further. Plus, he wouldn't dare to attack the two while they were in a flaming death roll. The difficulty of only hitting the troll was beyond what he felt comfortable trying.

"You… You!" Chraat was losing his sanity to the unimaginable pain he felt. He released his club and grabbed Jack by the throat. "Die! Just die!"

Jack's instincts kicked in once again, recognizing that the troll was easily superior in terms of strength. So, in retaliation to hand around his neck, Jack released the troll's shoulder and latched onto Chraat's neck instead.

An extremely furious grunt escaped Chraat's mouth. He wanted to physically rip Jack from his flesh, sacrificing his right shoulder in exchange for Jack's life.

However, Jack's hold on the troll's neck made it impossible for Chraat to do so without suffering a possible mortal injury.

Switching strategies, Chraat let go of Jack's neck and clenched his fist. He punched the fox with everything he had, desperate to get this flaming demon off him.

Jack's strength wasn't enough to threaten Chraat's life, and the troll understood that. But he also understood that Jack's flame body alone was causing him crippling damage that couldn't be recovered without serious medical attention and a ridiculous amount of time to recover. Especially because every wound Jack created was instantly cauterized and scarred Chraat's body.

If it weren't for the difference in raw strength, Chraat learned that he would have lost his life to the low-level Jack.

The troll's punch landed on Jack's throat forcing him to release his Jaw.

Immediately taking advantage of this, Chraat grabbed Jack's neck again and threw the fiery threat as far away as he possibly could.

Jack slammed into a nearby empty cell, crashing through the wooden bars and setting them on fire.

A painful whine came from the rubble. Byron and Chraat stared intently at the flaming pile of debris, waiting for Jack to spring out full force.

They were both glad to see the flaming Jack crawl out weakly, give another pained whine, and pass out.