Royal Roader on My Own Chapter 16

His name in Royal Roader was Deathworm.

I don't know what his name is here. Nor do I need to know. The important thing isn't his name but his usefulness.

'He's much bigger than I expected!'

He looks like a long worm, but his body is the size of a bus. He seemed to be about 20m long as well.

Regardless of that, he was actually quite agile.

I still didn't feel like I was in much danger. I already knew his strengths and weaknesses as well as how to hunt him.

Plus, unlike the way he came out of the cave, he was quite calm in the hall. It was almost like he couldn't find me.

It was because of the special ability on the Skywolf's Leather Armor. He couldn't read my presence.

Stealthy Approach wasn't useful against high level monsters, but it was super effective against monsters less than level 50.

'It was a great purchase!'

I first threw the 'lightning' magic marbles to multiple places.

As the marble made noises from falling down, Deathworm sensitively responded. However, once the noise disappeared, it settled down again.

The magic marble let out a light. Thanks to that, the entire hall because brightly lit.

I could inspect Deathworm even better.

On top of his head, there were two antennas with a nail like tentacle underneath it.

On his tail, there were no antennas, just tentacles.

He had a large mouth with teeth that looked like shark teeth.

There was no unique characteristics on his body. His skin just looked a bit thick.

I should be fine as long as I am careful of the tentacles on the head and tail.

'Then shall I get started?'

I erased my presence as I cautiously approached the side of Deathworm.

Deathworm did not notice my approach at all.

After approaching until I was 1m in front of him, I swung the cutla.s.s in both of my hands.

Papat!

The surprised Deathworm started to struggle. I just followed his movement and continued to swing my cutla.s.s.

It was the 'Continous Slash' I learned from the TBSA textbook. In an instant, I was able to hit five critical hits. The green damage counter started to come out quickly.

···
[1]
[1]

But the damage was terrible. The least possible amount of damage. This meant that my attack was weaker than his defense.

In Deathworm's point of view, it was probably just ticklish. But he must at least feel the attack since he continued to flail his body.

Shuaaat-

It was the tentacle on its tail. It came towards me as if it was trying to pierce my body.

'Ack!'

I didn't need to overdo it. I stopped swinging my cutla.s.s and activated stealthy approach to get far away from Deathworm.

At the same time, a voice rang inside my head.

The reason I was excited to meet Deathworm.
And the reason I was so happy to see him again.

It was because of this.

Combo!

To my knowledge, it was the strongest attacking skill in Royal Roader.
Of course, the majority of the people who played Royal Roader would not agree. There were many strong one hit skills such as 'Rage' and 'Blood Attack' in Royal Roader the game.

However, that is because they don't know how to properly use combo.
In simple terms, combo was just continuous critical hits. In other words, if you can successfully land multiple critical hits, it becomes a combo.

It is very easy. There is no easier skill to learn, and no easier skill to use.
However, on the flip side, there is no skill that is harder to learn than combo and harder to use than combo.

Why?

In order for combo to show it's true power, it needs to be at least on the 20th level.
So, combo itself is very easy, but to properly land a combo with a strong power is extremely difficult.

But it was possible for me.

How was it only possible for me?

The biggest reason is because of my high dexterity. The majority of other users did not get their dexterity higher than intermediate level 4, but I raised it all the way up to advanced level 3.

Thanks to that, I could just casually swing and still get a critical hit. It's no wonder it was easy to get higher combos.

However, there's actually another just at big reason.

This guy! It's thanks to Deathworm.

In the game, even when he dies, he revives. In addition, anyone under level 30 who is killed by him didn't have a penalty for dying. Thanks to that, I was able to practice the combo on Deathworm without fear of death.

Of course I made a new record.

The first record I broke against Deathworm was a 12 hit combo. Until I came around, a 12 hit combo was the best record for humans.

But I was able to establish a new record of 36 hit combo at once. With this Deathworm as the opponent.

So then how much effect do you think the combo had?
If you look at the basic quality, each level/hit adds 10% extra damage. It is compounding so it gets better the more it goes up.

For example.
If the 1st level damage is 100%, then the second level damage will be 110% of that. 3rd level damage is 110% of that number…and it continues to exponentially grow like that.

So, at the 10th level, the combo damage will be 236%. 20th level, 612%. 30th level, 1,586%.

To give you an example, if the base damage was 10, with a 30 hit combo, it would do 150 damage.

On top of that, if you use rage or blood attack as the last part of a combo, the damage becomes 2x again.

No wonder I became a combo fanatic.

That obsession will repeat itself in this Royal Roader as well.
That was the reason I took on the challenge of clearing the 99th tunnel, the reason I selected the TBSA, and finally, the reason I bought the XL weakest potions in bulk.

'Register skill! Confirm skill information.'

[Skill]
Dig: Intermediate Level 7, 27%
Rock Breaking: Intermediate Level 3, 49%
Mineral Selection: Intermediate Level 1, 6%
Tunnel Construction: Intermediate Level 2, 93%
Continuous Slash: Intermediate Level 1, 19%
Combo (Under 40%): Beginner 0%

Once I saw the skill information, I had an 'I knew it' moment. It was because of the 'Under 40%' next to the combo skill.

This describes the relations.h.i.+p between my strength and my weapon. It means the strength requirement of the weapon needs to be within 40% of my strength. If I used a weapon that had a restriction that was 40% higher than my strength, I can't use this combo skill.

I don't know who or why they created this world and brought me here, but I can at least confirm that all of the details from Royal Roader have followed through as well.

Anyways, this was the beginning. I feel bad for Deathworm, but I plan to raise my combo skill as much as I can with this opportunity.

'He has a terrible life anyways. Go after serving as my sandbag for a while.'

I used stealthy approach to approach Deathworm again. Then I activated combo.

Of course I used the 'continuous slash' I learned from the TBSA textbook. It was still a bit awkward, but by the time I finish hunting Deathworm, I should be able to use it perfectly.

After that, I can learn a proper TBSA.

The more I repeated my attacks the more daring my movement became, and combo continued to climb to a high level.

At the same time, I also became safer than before. It was because I was able to read Deathworms movement as time went by. Its movement was pretty structured. Almost like it had a habit whenever it gets. .h.i.t.
Because of that, after a while, I could predict Deathworm's movement, which meant I could do more bold attacks.
As I continued on like that, I finally heard a happy message.

Those feel good messages did not stop there.

Every time I managed to complete a higher level combo, a new record was established and I was given the corresponding bonus. I then put all those bonus stats into agility to increase the power of combo.

Just like that, I managed to get up to a 19 hit combo.
However, the damage to Deathworm did not change at all.

Papapat!

…
[1]
[1]
[1]
…

How tough must it be? Even a hit with a 19 hit combo could not defeat it's defense.

The situation finally changed once I pa.s.sed the 20 hit combo. The damage quickly started to increase.

···
[2]
[15]
[28]
[43]
[59]

This is the power of combo.
If the basic damage is 22, then it becomes 135 at a 20 hit combo, 148 at a 21 hit combo, and 163 at a 22 hit combo.

If Deathworm's defense was 120, then any damage under 120 will only cause 1 damage. However, once the damage pa.s.ses 120, then the damage above 120 will all go through.

That was the reason the damage started to quickly increase after the 20 hit combo.
I continued to attempt combos and after a long time, I managed to succeed in a 29 hit combo.
But I had to stop there.

It wasn't because my abilities were lacking. It also wasn't because my HP fell, nor because an obstacle got in my way.

It was because Deathworm could not take anymore damage.
The reason I was able to succeed in such a high combo on the first day was because Deathworm became a mess. WIth scars all its his body, its speed became much slower, so it ended up becoming a giant sandbag by the end.

If I hit it with a few more combos, it will end up dying.
That can't happen. We still have a long way to go.

I left the half-dead Deathworm alone and confirmed the information in my skill window.
I didn't need to look at anything else. The only important skills right now were combo and TBSA's continuous slash.

[Continuous Slash: Intermediate Level 2, 31%]
[Combo (Under 40%): Intermediate Level 2, 26%]

Among the two, I really just focused on combo. TBSA was something I needed to relearn properly anyways. My goal for combo was minimally intermediate level 5. If I'm lucky, I might even manage intermediate level 6. To do that, Deathworm needs to continue to be alive. I couldn't let it die so easily like this.

That is why I spent a lot of money to prepare something.
"Here you go. Eat this!"

Translator : Miraclerifle
Proofreader : Miraclerifle