Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Arda roared but didn't swing his sword. This time, he jumped on Adam, seemingly trying to bite him. Adam slashed upward, his sword slashing Arda all over its chest, and when the tip of his sword reached Arda's throat Adam crouched, holding his sword firmly.

-55 HP!

Then, as all of Arda's momentum was stopped, Adam threw him upward. Arda tried to attack Adam but he couldn't do anything in mid air. As he fell back towards the ground, he was met with Adam's sword once again.

However, Arda was stronger than Adam so he wasn't sent flying, and just smashed into the ground.

-52 HP!

-2 HP!

As he got back up, Arda roared and his body seemed to shine a little bit. Adam looked at his HP bar and saw it was at 75%. What was happening?

Still, Adam didn't intend on letting Arda do whatever it wanted to do, so he attacked him. However, Arda dodged the sword and punched at Adam. Adam had to bend his body backwards to dodge the punch.

+20 HP!

Adam was shocked. How did the boss get healed? But after five seconds another heal of 20 HP appeared. Was that his natural healing?

Until now Adam thought bosses in Epoch didn't have that mechanic of being able to heal themselves over time, but it looked like only Chieftain bosses had it…

Adam couldn't just let Arda recover though so he rushed at him. Arda sneered and slashed his sword towards Adam. Adam activated [Mighty Strike] and feigned to block Arda's sword. The demon grinned and put even more force into the slash.

However, at the last moment, Adam lowered himself, dodging an unexpected blade of fire thrown out of the fire blade, and slashed at the wrists of Arda's hands.

-82 HP!

Arda's was forced to drop his weapon, which immediately disappeared, and before it could take its revenge Adam used [Charge]. Arda was sent into a stunned state and could only receive another two attacks from Adam.

-53 HP!

-53 HP!

As he woke up, Arda tried to attack Adam, but it was sneak attacked by King Slayer, sending it into a period of stun once again.

Although Arda had gained a natural regeneration that healed him every 5 seconds, the damage Adam and King Slayer were dealing to it were too big.

After two more minutes of fighting, Arda fell below 10% of HP, and entered Berserk mode. Since now Adam had almost died a lot of times, but he had received a nice surprise. The woman who was held prisoner had thrown a few heals on him.

However those last 10% of health were the most difficult, because Arda was mad he couldn't be stunned anymore and he had become stronger, faster and had a better defense. Still, after another two complete minutes the two were able to take away Arda's last 200 HP.

As Arda fell to the ground, they both received several notifications:

[You have defeated 'Arda'! XP +1500]

[Your skill 'Mighty Strike' has leveled up!]

[Your skill 'Charge' has leveled up!]

[Congratulations for being the first party to kill a Chieftain Monster! Your achievement shall be spread around the world! Do you want your name to be shown? If so name your party.]

Adam looked at King Slayer and said "I'm definitely showing my name. What about you?" King Slayer seemed to hesitate, but after a moment he smiled and said "Why not? How should we name our party?"

Adam thought for a moment before saying "A mix of our names?" King Slayer asked "Valiant Slayer?" Adam smiled and replied "King's Heart?"

King Slayer nodded and said "Good name… Let's put that." King Slayer was the leader of the party they were in so he was the one who put the name.

[System Message: Congratulations to 'King's Heart' for killing the first Chieftain monster in Azure Sky Kingdom! Reward: 200 Fame in the Azure Sky Kingdom, 10 Silver Coins!]

[System Message: Congratulations to 'King's Heart' for killing the first Chieftain monster in the world! Reward: 200 World Fame, 1 Gold Coin!]

Suddenly both players' pockets seemed to have become much heavier. Of course it was only in their mind, but knowing they had gained so much money was just… great. Adam was tempted to look in the chats and see what the reactions of the different players would be, but decided not to as it wasn't time yet.

While King Slayer started collecting the loot, Adam headed toward the lady who was bound by the chains, and as he arrived in front of her he bowed a little and asked "My lady, thank you for your help. How could we help you out of your chains?"

The lady looked at Adam in the eyes, and quickly said "Destroy the base of every chain… Be quick, the master of this place will come back if you can't be fast enough."

Adam looked around and saw there were 11 chains that were still intact. Adam headed for one of them himself as King Slayer went for another one. The chains were resistant, but damaging the magical array was easier.

It only took five seconds of normal attacks to destroy one chain. They were able to destroy them swiftly, until only one remained. At that moment, there was a great disturbance in space, and Adam saw a giant hand was heading towards them, trying to flatten them.

They both dodged, and attacked the node with their strongest attack, directly destroyed the chain. As the last chain got destroyed, the seal on the lady disappeared, and a holy power started drifting out of her.

A rough voice that seemed to come from the void itself cried out "Impossible!" However, the lady extended her hand and a holy beam of light was launched from her hand.

It was stopped midair where a mirror suddenly appeared. The mirror tried to resist, but couldn't do anything and was destroyed.

Once the mirror was destroyed, calm regained the room, and all traces of enemies had disappeared.

Adam and King Slayer looked at each other relieved, they had almost died too many times for this quest… But it should be worth it. They both turned toward the lady.

She was dressed in long white robes that weren't least bit dirty despite being held prisoner in that seal. Her face was extremely beautiful and had a Holy feeling.

[Princess Victoria] (Gold, Level 140)

??/??

As for her identity, the two expected it. But it was her level and rank they didn't. She was this powerful? How strong was the one who imprisoned her then? Her level was impressive, but again NPCs and players had ranks, and Gold was really high.

After a moment she looked at them and asked "How did you find me?"

King Slayer walked forward and said "I found a note on a dead knight, talking about you and your circumstances. I then asked my friend for help."

Victoria looked at Adam curiously and after a moment she asked "Are you really a Northman Berseker?" Adam smiled awkwardly and said "I have already been asked the question. I am one, but I learned other skills in my life too."

Victoria smiled and said "You are special, Valiant Heart." She then said "But where are my manners. You two saved my life, I should give you two a reward. What could I offer you…"

She looked at the two and after a moment said "You two seem to lack good equipments, and skills. Here you go."

As she said that, two books, a blue heavy metal chest armor and a black light leather armor. Adam received one of the two books as well as the heavy armor, while King Slayer got the other book and armor. Adam immediately checked the two items.

[Vest of Everwinter] (Rare, Class Armor, Level 5-20)

Requirements: Berserker

Defense: +50 (53 for level 6- 70 for level 10- 150 for level 20)

HP: +500 (530 for level 6- 700 for level 10- 1500 for level 20)

Strength: +30 (32 for level 6- 45 for level 10- 90 for level 20)

Endurance: +30 (32 for level 6- 45 for level 10- 90 for level 20)

Everwinter: Forms a blizzard that freezes everything in a five meters radius (the number of meters depends on the level of the equipment). Frozen enemies are 70% slower, and all their attributes are 30% weaker. Cooldown: 2 hours

Just this armor was enough to satisfy Adam, but the skill wasn't any less better.

Lunar Smite (C): Deal 4 attacks instantaneously, each of the four dealing 100% of frost damage to every opponent with a small chance of reducing their Agility by 30%. Cooldown: One minute.

At first Adam was scared he would get another skill that demanded Mana, as he could barely use Wind Blade already because of the mana it takes. Fortunately, this was just the right skill for him. It was even of the frost attribute, meaning he would get 50% of additional damage.

Adam learned the skill and equipped the armor. As he did so Victoria said "It suits you well. If you are ever bored, you can come find me in the royal palace… I'll let the guards know about you."

Adam was stunned. Was an NPC flirting with him? A princess at that? Whatever he thought though, he wouldn't dare say no to her. She was Level 140 after all.

So he bowed and said "It would be my pleasure, Princess." She smiled satisfied and took out a crystal, and disappeared from where she was.

[Your reputation with 'Princess Victoria' is now: Friendly]

[Quest Completed!]

Rewards: 3000 XP, 40 Silver, +500 Fame in Azure Sky Kingdom, Class Armor, Lunar Smite (C).

[You are now Level 6! AP+5]

As she left, Adam looked helplessly at King Slayer who was making a strange smile. He asked "What about Arda? Don't tell me he didn't drop anything good?"

King Slayer smiled even more as he said "There's one skill, three pieces of equipment, a forging design and some materials."

Author's Note:If you are thinking Adam is way too naive to let King Slayer just pick up the loot and tell him what they got, Adam isn't actually that naive. Although he can't see exactly what it is, Adam can still see the number of items King Slayer picks up, as well as their rarity.