Moving through the legs of the lizard, weaving through its attacks, and slashing down on its belly, it was easy. It was supposed to be easy. Or that's what Lucius thought before the world spun and a fiery hot pain ripped through his side, everything hurt, the world was spinning, and his sword was gone. Hitting the sand didn't make it better, but it at least took some of the impact, forcing himself up even as his legs threatened to give out. The whole body didn't want to listen to his orders. he had failed because of his own foolishness. He was no longer was C grade, he couldn't take a mountain of damage like nothing, he no longer had access to every single passive he had, no more chronomancy to revert damage and heal, nor to stall his enemies.
He heard Hayate shout at him, not that he could make out what it was, as his ears were ringing, scanning the field for his sword even as his head and neck protested with a headache and pain, he found it a few feet away from him on another dune. Running and absolutely not stumbling and falling like 3 times, he recovered his sword. Looking back at the fight, Hayate wasn't going to last long if he didn't act now, but running away would be hard, he had a choice: go and fight with Hayate or run away and possibly doom himself to an early grave. Lucius sighed trying to compose himself he wasnt going to abandon his friend, he made his choice and ran towards the lizards tail. ``dammed F grade body´´ he grumbled to himself as he ran, his body was better than a normal human, yes, but not better than a one piece human, hell even his class and rare stat didnt give him the advantaje to fight above his grade for now.
Ducking the tail snapped out of his thoughts, yeah, no time to think right now. ``The belly is softer, and the joints are a better target to aim for!!´´ he shouted. It was going to be hell, but adrenaline was coming just as he needed, he had minutes to end this before it all went to hell. Activating [Basic martial reinforcement], he felt his energy moving and going into the sword, a slight blue sheen of energy across its blade appeared, it was clumsy and uneffici-nope not the time, brain.NOT.THE.TIME. Slashing at the lizard's legs, he noticed the difference, it was now cutting through a lot easier than before. Slowly moving through and cutting near the joints helped make the lizard focus more on Lucius, as it was the only thing it could do, as it no longer had tendons. Good news: Hayatee was now free to attack the soft underside. Bad news: Lucius didn't know how to block or parry with a sword correctly.
As the tail came down to him he lifted his sword and put it on the attacks path with a forearm on the side of the blade and the other gripping it to hard, the tail slamm was bad, his arms felt like jelly and so did his legs, he could even swear his sword whined due to the strain, he should've lisened to Rezzlar while he taught him swordmanship that time, he was now regretting it. But it seemed that he would not get time to regret as the tail was coming down again, lifting his sword again in the same position to block it wasnt the best option but it was the only one he had as his legs didnt want to stop being jelly, so the tail came down again making lucius stumble down into the sand, and the lizard struck down again again, and again, damm this lizard was petty, as the tail continued to bombard lucius trying to take him out. Yeah, the lizard was petty, but Lucius was stubborn. ``Come on, you dammed overgrown fish with legs!! You're not going to win!!´´
Status
Name: Lucius Aurelian
Race:[Human(F)] Lvl:23
Class:[Martial artist(2nd-rate)] LV:23
Profession: N/A
Hp:1200/15,050 (Bleeding)
Qi:1400/22,850
Yeah, he was either making it out of this, only if Hayate defeated the lizard, and the amount of exp was enough to level up 2 times. He didn't want to have hope, but that was the only thing that would save him from just dying at this moment. But for that to happen, he needed to make the lizard focus on him, so he did the only thing he could: cuss at the lizard, because why not? If you saw a monkey screaming at you, you would for sure get weirded out and confused. ``Getting tired? You sure are weak for having that size!! Evolution sure failed you, you ugly bastard!!´´ Seeing the tail lift more than before made him accept reality. He was gone. But he had successfully enraged a lizard. Something was something. And the tail came down, only this time it didn't hurt that badly.
[-600 hp]
[Ding] [You have defeated Giant-Lizard Lvl:26]
[Bonus exp and sp obtained for defeating an enemy above your level]
[Ding] [Race Human(F) level up 23>24]
[Ding] [Race Human(F) level up 24>25]
[Ding] [Race evolution available]
[Ding] [Class Martial artist(2nd rate) level up 23>24]
[Ding] [Class Martial artist(2nd rate) level up 24>25]
[Ding] [Class evolution available]
[Ding] [Skill selection available]
He let out a sigh of relief, looking around, he saw Hayate jumping down from on top of the lizard's body. ``What took you so long?´´ said Lucius, coughing blood while trying to move the tail from on top of him. ``The thing is scaly and... slippery, what happened to you? You look like you fought a rock and failed´´ said Hayate, gasping, clearly tired of doing something.
``Maybe because I did fight a lizard with a rock for a brain´´ said Lucius while planting his sword in the sand and trying but failing badly at standing. ``Why did you shout slurs at it? Not like it would change anything, and it was kinda cringe´´ said Hayate, looking smug at Lucius. ``To be honest, not my best moment, anyway, I'm in no state to move, and if my position tells me something, the second one is already emerging´´ said Luciuss while feeling the sand vibrate and a growl emerging nearby.
``Yeah, we're in no state to fight that, hell, my sword is pretty much dull at this point after having to stab so many times on the lizard skull´´ said Hayate, lifting his battered and sorry-looking sword smeared with the lizard's blood. ``Mine is no better´´ said Lucius as he was sure his sword was going to break with one good hit.
``Evolution?´´ asked Hayate, looking at Lucius on the ground. ``Evolution, with luck, it will spit us out in a few hours once this lizard is gone´´ said Lucius while trying not to blackout due to the adrenaline running out. Quickly, he accepted the Race evolution. Being sent to the weird void the system used to evolve them didn't really bring much out of him other than curiosity about how it works and how it evolves them, but alas, those questions don't really have answers, not in that universe.
------------------------
Appearing once again in the desert again without feeling like a shaken and squished bag of bones and meat was good, the sun was already setting, no sight of the lizard around. This was fine. Looking at his status, he decided that standing right now was not an option, so he just lay down on the sand.
[Race evolved Human(F>E grade)]
[Race will now give free stat points] [A settlement of past race grade evolution pending freestat points will be given]
Status
Name: Lucius Aurelian
Race:[Human(E)] Lvl:25
Class:[Martial artist(2nd-rate)] LV:25
Profession: N/A
Hp:17,050/17,050
Qi:26,050/26,050
System points: 14,806
Stats
Martial Power:682(+7)
Martial Energy:300
Free points:620
He got 500 free stat points, nice. The sand was nice, and he was tired. A little nap wouldn't hurt, would it? Hayate would wake him up.
...
Waking up with Hayate shouting at him was not what he expected, nor did he expect to wake up covered in sand, nor in the middle of the day. Yeah, this wasn't expected, but now he needs a shower.
``RISE AND SHINE, OH LUCIUS THE SLEEPING BEAUTY!!´´ screamed Hayate. Lucius couldn't find the why of the sleeping beauty comment, but he didn't want to know what was going through Hayate's mind. ``I'm awake. Really, stop shouting´´ said Lucius while shaking the sand away, god it was awful to have sand on his hair.
``We're going home, point the way´´ said Lucius. He really didn't get why Hayate looked annoyed. ``I was shouting for 2 hours before you woke up, and now you just want me to point the way? Thank me for at least waking you up and not letting you here in the middle of the desert´´ said Hayate, looking annoyed.
``Thanks for waking me up, now point the way, I want to take a shower´´ said Lucius before shaking like a wet dog to shake off the sand. Being smol had its benefits.
``That way´´ said Hayate, pointing in some direction while trying not to laugh. ``Laugh all you want, I feel no shame´´ said Lucius, and he meant it.