Drork’s next attack pierced Luke’s face even more deeply than before since he charged instead of going away. His armor was also split in two, and now a massive cut that went from his forehead to his button belly could be seen. A lot of blood was gushing from his wound to the point that Rina considered healing him even though that would enrage Luke. At least he will have the chance to hate her because, at that rate, he won’t have the chance soon... The difference in power was too big and he couldn’t face an opponent like that without any support. He had fought well until now, but continuing with that would be madness. She had to stop him...

Still, Rina failed to notice Luke’s ax piercing quite deeply Drork’s neck, not enough to kill and quite far away from beheading him. Still, it caused enough damage to activate the Stunning Blow’s effect... it paralyzed him for a full second.

"Wait!" Drork said.

Luke didn’t wait. He used Stinger and his other skills to keep attacking the wound and the same point over and over again. Luke didn’t feel any resistance to attacking a wound, so his ax began to cut and cause even more damage. Blood began to splash around like rain, but Luke didn’t stop. He kept using his skills and opening the wound... Until he beheaded Drork. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

You obtained 15.987.700 experience points.

You obtained 500.000 gold coins.

...

You have leveled up.

You obtained 290 status points.

When Luke saw those notifications, his mind began to clear for some reason. It was probably because his body was healed, and the sensation of leveling up was truly calming. Still, his body was hurting all over, mainly his muscles and joints. Although he couldn’t think clearly, Luke recalled everything that had happened.

"Are you back with us?" Rina asked.

"Yes..." Luke replied and then looked at the body of the enemy, and then he took out the items that he had. "Let’s retreat. We still have work to do.

Titanic Claws

Vorpal effect: it grants you the power to hit five more enemies or deliver five extra blows on the target that will cause one-fourth of the damage of the first attack. This effect can’t be blocked.

Strength + 70, Speed + 70

Durability: 138/150

Perfect Aim Ring

It grants you the power to hit any target no matter what the situation.

Cost: 500 MP

Durability: 20/20

Ring of the Exchange.

It grants you the power to recover ten percent of the damage that you caused to your enemies as mana. This effect can only take place once per minute.

No wonder those claws were so powerful. Maybe it was because they were two. The status bonuses they offered were two times better than Luke’s ax, he was planning to change weapons, after all, but he wasn’t so sure if claws were the best option. Still, he wasn’t that satisfied since the enemy caused him so much trouble and didn’t drop anything, and he only had three items with him.

"Can I heal you now?" Rina asked.

"What are you talking about? I have already..." Luke said and then noticed that the wound had gotten smaller, but it was still there. "What the hell... even after so many level-ups."

The wound was a lot deeper than Luke had imagined. He probably didn’t notice that because of the rage and the effects of his skills. Although Rina began to heal him, the wound took a while to close completely, and the scar was even harder to remove. Still, Luke couldn’t just wait while standing still since the monsters were surrounding him. In the end, while using the claws, Luke literally punched his way out of the battlefield.

"Retreat! Now!" Luke’s voice echoed through the battlefield.

The dark elves were exhausted. Even though they put up a good fight and had the help of the skeletons, a few dozen of them died. Despite that, no one blamed Luke since he fought an overlord by himself when he almost attacked them from the sky. They saw the noises of their battle, so they knew that they wouldn’t be able to stop that enemy.

When they reached the flying fortress, they realized that they had stopped the horde for half an hour and killed at least forty thousand of those monsters. They still could cause a lot of damage, but it would take a few days for them to recover their original numbers. However, things wouldn’t be the same as before since the Overlords won’t underestimate them any longer.

"Are you satisfied now?" Shalia asked.

"It is unusual for you to protest against my actions," Luke said. "Unfortunately, I am not quite satisfied yet. I just beat a moron that underestimated me through and through."

The usual Shalia was more supportive of Luke’s stubbornness. Still, after hearing what Aivern said, she couldn’t help but act a little differently and think things more seriously. Regardless, it seemed that she would have a lot more time for that because they saw in the distance... The horde retreated.

"It seems that they realized the death of their friend," Rina said. "They won’t continue with their plans until they deal with us."

That was good, and it was bad... Good because no more stupid dark elves will deny joining Luke’s side and be killed by the horde. However, it was also bad because the strength of the enemies was unknown. Luke had a hard time against a single one... What if five of them try to kill him at the same time? He needed to prepare for all possible outcomes.

First of all, Luke bought an upgraded crystal and then upgraded Pain Resistance. After that, he began to look for a new set of armor that would have a well-combined effect while he resumed his training with Poison Resistance. However, he didn’t have much peace to do that because some dark elves decided to make their oath.