(A few minutes ago, Leo)
If a single word could be used to describe West Duke James's fight against Leo, it would be 'Pitiful'.
The West Duke was supposed to be the strongest of the four Arch-Dukes of Unity Empire, who was also hailed as the country's best swordsman.
By all means, if it was a fair fight between Leo and the West Duke alone, Leo was bound to have a hard time taking him down, however, with Dumpy added in the dynamic everything changed.
The little frog had improved leaps and bounds after his first 'real' combat adventure alongside his Lord Father and Grandfather, and with him taking the initiative to confront and tie down the West Duke in a sword battle, Leo was granted the full freedom to move and attack the Duke on his own.
Straight from the get-go, as Dumpy charged ahead of Leo and crossed swords with the West Duke, it became clear to Leo, that both Dumpy and the Duke were more or less evenly matched.
Whether it was speed, strength, or technique, Dumpy lost out in no department to his vastly more experienced opponent, causing the West Duke to immediately widen his eyes in panic.
"What sort of a monstrosity are you? I've never heard of a beast being so strong?" The West Duke wondered, as according to the game's core engine, a beast like the Ancient Swamp Frog wasn't supposed to exist in this world.
It was only because Leo was able to hatch him out of a rare egg that a beast like Dumpy was born in this world, however, the impact of his birth was far-reaching.
For the NPC's of this world, they could never really take Dumpy as seriously as they were ought to, until they met him in person, however, by then it was usually too late.
Under Dumpy's relentless pressure, the West Duke eventually lost sight of Leo completely who used [Vanish] to completely hide his presence and be-gone with the wind.
And then the hunt began…..
Every passing second, the Duke could feel a creeping sensation on his neck, but he could never really be sure as to when or where Leo would attack from.
Forced to spread his senses thin, he got hit by Dumpy more than once in their battle, as he picked up small cuts and nicks on his otherwise ornate armor.
In the end, he never sensed Leo's [Kill Strike] coming, as Leo stabbed him from the back, ending his life as a great warrior in a rather pitiful fashion, in what could be described only as a dastardly death.
"You coward…. You didn't even face me fair and square–" James complained before collapsing on the floor as he spat a mouthful of blood.
"Duke, are you retarded or something? Why should I fight you fair and square? What are you to me? My childhood buddy I shared an underwear with? I'm the fucking rebel leader…. What did you expect?" Leo asked, as he plunged two daggers straight into the Duke's eyes for added effect, expediting his neural shutdown.
[System Notification :- Congratulations player 'TheBoss' for having defeated the master warrior 'Duke James' in battle.
You have gained
+2 levels….. ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ]
[Global Announcement :- Error Error Error…. Global Announcement Cancelled]
[System Notification :- Congratulations player 'TheBoss' for reaching the level-cap imposed within the game. You are now at the highest level permissible.
You have gained
+1 Skill Slot! ]
[System Notification:- More rewards for your unprecedented achievement are now being calculated…. Please wait for a while before we distribute them]
A series of odd system notifications flashed before Leo, who looked at them with amusement.
He had no idea that level 1000 was the highest permissible level within the game, as he thought that life would continue as usual even after he crossed the level 1000 mark.
Having gained yet another skill slot was definitely a welcome change, as this meant that he now had 2 more empty skill slots that he had not yet used, giving him ample room to grow in the future without needing to change any of his core moves that he already knew.
However, the global notification being cancelled and the additional rewards being yet to be calculated felt weird to Leo, as it was a situation that had never happened to him before.
"I don't understand why there's a hold-up? It's not like I jumped from level 900 to 1000 in a single day, I was at 999 for a while now.
How hard was it for them to believe I was going to hit level 1000?" Leo wondered, as he shook his head in disappointment.
"I guess that means Captain Kid is going to visit me real soon" Leo mused, as he signalled for Dumpy to follow him and jumped atop the nearest tall house, hoping to gain a better view of the city.
*Thud*
Landing with a soft thud, Leo looked around, only to find Luke engaged in a high stakes duel against Cervantez nearby, which Leo enjoyed with the best seats in the house.
"Yes! Drop him on his fucking head brother!" He cheered from the stands, as Dumpy looked at the crude and unrefined way Luke fought with disdain.
"He could have finished the fight in one blow, Lord Father, this method of dropping the opponent on their head is simply inefficient" Dumpy complained, as Leo only smiled but did not respond.
He did not wish to encourage Dumpy to fight inefficiently and hence he did not contradict the frogs words, However, he did draw immense satisfaction from seeing his brother prevail over his longtime superior, as today, Luke finally felt like a proper fighter again.
"Well fought….It was a fine battle" Leo said in the end, as he walked up to Luke to congratulate him on his win, which Luke accepted with grace.
Both the Skyshard brothers had made big leaps forward today, however, Leo was yet to know just how significant his leap was.