Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 30 – Ruler of Lightning

—–CROW—– 

Automatic defense skills that are always attached to magic-related classes.

A Lizardman is using a shield that supplements durability so that it doesn’t get taken down in one blow by a physically superior enemy.

Isn’t that unfair? It’s a warrior, but it has a warrior counter skill.

Was the weapon that guy was holding actually a staff, not a spear? But its muscles are ridiculously ripped for that.

The fact that it’s electric-type is also a problem. I don’t have any resistance skills that cover the electric element.

And due to the nature of electric attacks, there’s a possibility that my movement will be stopped the moment I get hit.

Of course, I won’t know until I get hit.

Anyway, let’s first find a way to counter that unfair barrier. There must be some kind of restriction.

– *Dash!*

I distanced myself from the rapidly approaching Lizardman and took out a few stones from my inventory to throw.

Fortunately, the guy’s speed wasn’t very fast, so I should be able to freely create distance and check it.

– *Zap!*

The thrown stones were shot down by the electric shock again this time. Since it’s come to this, let’s see how many times it can block.

I have plenty of stones in my inventory. This time, I took out five small stones at once and threw them in a scattering manner.

Three of the five stones were shot down, and the remaining two simply missed.

But in fact, even if it stood still, only two stones would have hit properly. I threw them like that on purpose.

Since it blocked stones that wouldn’t have been a threat even if they hit, it seems to be an automatically activated skill, not a manual one.

Considering that it intercepted stones that wouldn’t have hit even if left alone, I can roughly guess the interval at which the barrier operates.

And, of course, that barrier can’t be maintained indefinitely.

Is it a time limit, a number of uses limit, or a toggle-type skill that is maintained until MP runs out?

Thanks to the speed difference, I have the initiative anyway. Let’s take our time and uncover its weaknesses one by one.

– *Whoosh!*

This time, I threw the shield instead of a stone. As it is heavier, the power of the same throwing attack is significantly different.

The electric shock of the Lizardman collided with the rapidly flying shield. With a crackling sound, the shield was deflected.

It’s not shattering like a stone, but it’s being deflected by the electric shock.

The power of the electric shock emitted by the barrier seems to be constant regardless of the type or power of the projectile.

– *Chirp!*

Perhaps it didn’t like my method of unilaterally throwing things, but the Lizardman is rushing in faster than before.

I took out a spare shield from my inventory, equipped it, and charged in with my longsword held out.

If the barrier’s activation interval is as I expected, I should be able to counter it with a thrusting attack instead of a slash.

I used my favorite skill, Sword Charge, to aim for the area near its heart.

Perhaps because it thought I would continue to use cowardly long-range attacks, a look of bewilderment appeared on the Lizardman’s face.

A perfect thrusting attack against a Lizardman that wasn’t expecting a counterattack. This will definitely work.

– *Zap!*

However, my Sword Charge cut through the air. To be precise, it passed through the flashing lightning effect.

The Lizardman, which turned into lightning, evaded my attack and thrust its spear from behind.

This bastard, are you immune to physical attacks?

**

I instinctively dodged the spear thrust from behind and quickly leaped to change my posture.

[Intuition Lv.8]

The Intuition skill warns me with a peculiar tickling sensation when an attack comes from outside my field of vision.

When the level was low, I wondered what kind of skill it was, but now that it has reached level 8, there is no better skill.

While fighting the high-ranking Lizardmen, there were many moments when I wondered if I had eyes on the back of my head.

But now I can move as if I have eyes on the back of my head.

– *Slash!*

As the thrust missed, the Lizardman quickly changed its stance and swung its spear horizontally.

The speed of its attack transition is quite fast. In terms of skill, it’s not inferior to a high-ranking Lizardman with a red stripe at all.

I could have just taken the hit from the spear shaft and counterattacked, but I just dodged it for now.

Since it uses electric shocks, there might be electricity flowing through that spear shaft.

Moreover, this is not an opponent I should be fighting in close quarters. If I’m not careful, I’ll enter the barrier’s interval.

I threw the hand axe I had on my waist and leaped back to create distance.

“Phew.”

Damn, that was a close call. What was that just now?

It’s not like some kind of Logia devil fruit user from a pirate manga, dodging an attack by turning into lightning.

If it’s really like that, isn’t it impossible to defeat? That manga’s protagonist won because he was made of rubber.

No, it can’t really be immune to physical attacks. It must be some kind of evasion skill with limitations.

It’s either impossible to use continuously, or there’s a limit to the number of uses. It must be one of the two.

The biggest problem is still the barrier. I can’t do anything because I might get electrocuted the moment I enter a certain interval.

“Should I change my weapon?”

I put the sword in my inventory and took out a spear similar to the one the Lizardman was using.

[Basic Spearmanship Lv. 8]

I learned spearmanship just in time for this.

**

When I started seriously fighting with high-ranking Lizardmen, I soon began to feel the limitations of my weapon.

To be precise, I realized how much influence reach has in close combat.

Lizardmen used all kinds of weapons, such as swords, shields, axes, and hammers, but the most common weapon was the spear.

On top of that, Lizardmen are all huge, with a height of 2 meters.

It was very difficult because they were superior in physical condition and used longer weapons to maintain distance.

Thanks to that, my skill in forcibly engaging in infighting has improved a lot, but anyway, the sword as a weapon definitely had its limitations.

So, since the growth of my swordsmanship had also slowed down, I started to try other weapons besides the sword.

The first one was the spear.

Fortunately, I had very good instructors. Since the spear was the weapon most used by Lizardmen.

I learned spearmanship in a practical way by directly clashing spears with them, and eventually acquired the Spearmanship skill and raised it to level 8.

It’s not just the spear.

After getting used to the spear, I also learned how to handle axes and blunt weapons, and even learned how to fight using only a shield without a weapon.

I’m still best at using the sword and shield combination, but now I surpass high-ranking Lizardmen in most weapon skills.

My class is just a warrior, but I’m practically a weapon master.

It’s not quite master level since they are all still basic level, but it’s excellent for the 3rd floor.

When I took the unique spear stance of the Lizardmen, the white Lizardman re-gripped its spear as if surprised.

– *Whoosh!*

I rushed at the startled guy and thrust my spear. It was so surprised that its reaction was slow.

I maintained distance so as not to enter the range of the electric barrier and used spearmanship like out-boxing.

This guy’s spearmanship seemed to be quite good, but there were strangely some vulnerable moments.

“Aha, now I get it.”

While learning spearmanship, I learned that Lizardman’s spearmanship had its own forms or techniques.

The more experienced a Lizardman is, the smoother it is in using the techniques, and at the same time, it fills in the gaps between them well.

But because of that fraudulent lightning barrier, this guy’s defense is very loose when it takes actions outside of its techniques.

– *Zap!*

And when I attack that gap, it uses the evasion skill that turns it into lightning to change its position.

A method of filling in the gaps in spearmanship with skills, not experience.

But after seeing it so many times, I can see a pattern. Is it not used to long battles?

– *Slash!*

I predicted the location of the Lizardman, which used the evasion skill to take my rear, and turned around and swung my sword.

Since I took the trouble to learn various weapon skills, it would be a waste not to use the method of changing equipment during battle to strike at a gap.

I had already grasped the number of consecutive uses of the evasion skill that turns it into lightning. It couldn’t dodge and was slashed in the face.

And when I threw the hand axe a little while ago, I was completely convinced of the weakness of the electric barrier.

The power of the electric shock that is fired when entering the operating range of the barrier is not that strong.

I was already thinking about wanting to develop my electric resistance.

– *Zap!*

When I entered the barrier’s interval, the fired lightning penetrated my body.

It’s definitely tingly, but it’s not unbearable. I threw away the spear and raised the dagger on my waist.

But the moment I tried to stab the dagger into its neck, the Lizardman’s face contorted strangely.

Since I had fought Lizardmen so many times, I could roughly understand the meaning of this distorted expression.

That’s a smile.

It’s not just a smile of joy, but a sneer that comes out when the opponent falls for a trap it has prepared.

“Damn it.”

The shining lightning surrounds me. I can tell just by looking. It was hiding a trump card that could subdue me.

The lightning surrounding me formed a ring, and then it poured down lightning towards me inside it.

– *Zap!*

I dropped the dagger from my hand. There’s not much pain, but all the muscles in my body are trembling.

Is it a skill that paralyzes the opponent within range through electric shocks? It’s the worst counter skill for a close-quarters warrior.

The white Lizardman approached me leisurely, who was being electrocuted and unable to move, with its characteristic sneer.

– *Chirp, chirp!*

It picked up the dagger I dropped and held it up as if to say, “Try to dodge it if you can.”

It seems that this guy also knows how fraudulent this paralysis trap is in a fight between warriors.

That’s why it’s openly exposing its openings with such a triumphant look.

But, you lizard bastard.

Do you know what level my Paralysis Resistance is?

– *Stab!*

A new dagger I took out of my inventory pierced the Lizardman’s neck, triggering a critical effect.

I was a little wary because I had never been hit by the electric element, but in the end, paralysis is just an additional effect.

It seems that it wasn’t enough to penetrate my resistance, which I developed by injecting all kinds of poison, including paralysis poison, like a cocktail.

Well, it’s only natural for a 3rd-floor field boss.

[Paralysis Resistance Lv. 11]

How could a double-digit level resistance skill be pierced by this much?

The electric barrier and evasion skill that I was wary of were all just flashy bubbles when I looked at them closely.

“What’s your name, Ruler of Lightning?”

How are you going to rule with this level, you weak lizard bastard.

—–CROW—–