Chapter 904 Forward
Sylas exhaled a breath, his fist passing through the chest of yet another opponent.
Their Physicals had already climbed to over 3,000, and now he was having quite a hard time suppressing himself to face them. There was just something about their skill in combat that was on another level.
They were primal in a hard-to-describe way, and yet sharp at the most unexpected of times. It was like they had perfectly fused what it meant to be a beast and what it meant to be a human into one, forging something completely new.
At the start, Sylas found that he was learning from them quite quickly and seamlessly. But as their strength and skill increased, what he could glean slowed considerably, and he found himself…
Confused.
It was a feeling that he rarely got.
This time, he had been forced to kill his opponent with overwhelming power because he couldn't grasp what he needed to do. If he pushed it too far, he would have ended up getting injured, and that wouldn't have been good.
He had no idea what challenges lay ahead, so getting injured just for the sake of training, when he could have otherwise defeated the opponent already, didn't make much sense.
But by the same token, if he wasn't taking those risks with weaker opponents, as the skills of the later Great Apes became more complex and harder to read, and as their Physical stats caught up to his, and maybe even surpassed his own, it would border on the impossible.
What should have been an easy trial, one that he had high compatibility with, ended up placing a roadblock right ahead of him.
The worst part was that, though Sylas was confused, he knew what the roadblock was.
He couldn't be as fluid as them because he was unwilling to… let go in the same way.
By now, he understood that the statues that lined this road weren't necessarily all of the strongest Great Apes that had ever been. Instead, they were Great Apes that were true to this unique form of close combat. This was the real reason their stats had started off so weak.
If anything, their stats starting so low was giving him a chance.
But by the same token, as he approached the true elites, it was going to become hard—much harder.
Sylas, though, was too used to battling with his mind in overdrive. He was always thinking about every little variable, considering every single little angle.
He had won many fights due to his intelligence alone.
Of course, it didn't seem like the Great Apes had turned off their minds entirely. But they had seamlessly managed to blend an instinctual form of battle with an intelligent one.
He could feel it. They knew how to be wild, releasing the limits of their body when they needed to. But they were also capable of suddenly pulling back, using subtlety or precision as well.
The first Great Ape he battled was more wild than anything else. But as he progressed, the style became more refined.
Oddly enough, his Mixed Martial Arts was unable to capture the essence of this style.
It was one thing to not understand what was going on. It was a completely different level of frustration to understand exactly what the problem was, and yet feel like you were unable to do anything about it.
Sylas had known that taking this route would be a risk, mostly because he already had the two clashing auras of beasts within him. Adding a third would certainly be a problem. But he didn't expect that the sorts of roadblocks he would be facing would be so unforgiving.
'Next…'
There was nothing coming to mind, so Sylas could only enter the next battle.
—
[Grimmar]
[Level: 50]
[Physical: 3322]
[Mental: 1777]
[Will: 991]
—
It was getting close. Even with Nosphaleen, his Physical stats were only just above 4000 or so.
Sylas had never felt suffocated by those with weaker stats than his own before. But with so many of his abilities sealed off, there was hardly any other path for him other than to suffer.
He began to battle, his eyes remaining sharp.
At some point, he knew that he had to relax somewhat. He loosened up, trying to go with the flow more.
But that was when the first blows began to land on him.
With his extreme Constitution, they felt more like dull knocks against his body, but they still made him frown.
Sylas forced himself to relax more. At this point, if he wanted to find a path forward, he was going to have to rely on this Constitution of his. It was almost 7000 with the Scorned Wraps effects, even without Nosphaleen, and was over 9000 with her.
The trouble was that… the Strength of these Great Apes was more than their stats showed due to their unique Comprehension. There was almost certainly a great boost to their Physical stats, and considering the power of the Comprehension, it was at least FFF-.
This meant almost +1000% in combined stats by Legendary mastery. If this percentage was split across the right stats, Sylas would find himself out of luck very quickly.
Unfortunately, there was just one path forward. So, he began to take a beating, trying to feel the rhythm he was trying to find.
But it just kept slipping away from him.
CRACK.
The fist of Grimmar shattered against Sylas' chest after hundreds, maybe even thousands of exchanges.
Sylas was beaten and bruised, but the Great Ape simply had nothing left. He collapsed, and Sylas had no choice but to kill him, a frown still on his face.
Near the end there, he felt like he was faintly touching something, but it was still so distant. He could either grasp it in the next second, or never touch it even within ten years.
He heaved for breath, his inhales alone felt so uncomfortable in his chest.
'Next. Forward.'
He had three days to figure this out. He didn't believe he couldn't.