For I Am A Side Character - 34: Testing the Aranean Form

The Aranean Sword and Shield Form-style.

The reward that Soril received after his fight against Jessabelle. Against the odds that were stocked against him, in the moment of his impending doom, the spirit of an Aranean warrior came and lead his hand forward to forge his victory. After that, the ghost was never seen since.

Now, as Soril stood with a conditionally movable body, he went to ask for a simulation capsule under Sergeant O’riley’s permission. The sergeant owed Soril that much at least.

And when he finally was able to enter the simulation capsule, he requested to have orcs and goblins stand as opponents before him. When they were summoned, he picked the two weapons he was familiar with most of all.

Holding a shield and sword on hand, he looked to the monsters before him and took his position. There, as he readied himself to the practice of this skill, he looked at all the variations of skills and information plastered before him by the system.

[Profile:]

Candidate: NPC

Mission Status: In Progress

Level: [7]-[ >11,000 exp until to the next level…]

Strength: 25

Endurance: 24

Intelligence: 19

Agility: 24

Mana: 60/60

Skill:

[The Aranean Sword and Shield Form-style (Novice level)]

-Heavy Slash

-Heavy Shield Counter

-Heavy Block Stance

-Heavy Rush

-Mountain Splitter

-Shield breaker

[Mana Spear – (Proficient Level)]

[Mission #3: Conquer a Dungeon.]

[Rewards: [Reward: 3 questions for God & 10+ System points.]

[Failure: You will be submitted with a curse that will last a whole month ]

[Time Limit: 27 days left]

Compared to before, his stats has grown quite a bit since he last checked on them.

Seeing that each skill he obtained, there were some descriptions of mastery written by these skills.

The Skill Levels of mastery were arranged by:

1) Novice

2) Advanced Beginner

3) Competence

4) Proficient

5) Expert

Seeing that he was still quite new to the use of the Aranean form, Soril was but a novice, but with his skill and constant use of the Mana spear, he was at a proficient level with that kind of skill.

Soril’s level hasn’t grown much since that time he went into a dungeon…he hasn’t been there since the time in the sewer dungeon with the rats.

Now that he obtained quite a strong skill, the Aranean Form, he was now intending on going to conquer the dungeon and succeed in his 3rd mission. But first he had to test out his newly gained skill.

Heavy Slash – Heavy Slash is often depicted with exaggerated movements, delivering a significant amount of damage upon impact. Depending on the warrior, Heavy Slash may also have additional effects such as staggering or knocking back opponents, making them a valuable tool in combat scenarios. With the added history and essence of the Araneans, heavy slashes were a staple to be used on combat.

Heavy Shield Counter – refers to a defensive technique or skill commonly found in hunters who’s class is similar to that of a tanker, particularly those featuring swordplay, melee combat, or martial arts. This skill allows a warrior to use a shield or similar defensive equipment to not only absorb or mitigate incoming attacks but also to retaliate with a powerful counterattack. Heavy slashes are mostly done by the Araneans when an opening is made by a shield counter. It is a staple used by the Araneans to use during combat.

Heavy Block Stance – A defensive stance or posture adopted by the Araneans when handling against incoming attacks that no normal shield could handle. This stance emphasizes a strong and durable defensive position, allowing the Araneans to withstand incoming attacks with a heavy emphasis on blocking or mitigating damage. Once this skill is used, in a brief moment, the Aranean warrior cannot move, but his defense is secured like a turtle hiding in its shell.

Heavy Rush – An aggressive and powerful charging or rushing maneuver performed by the Araneans in taking down giants in the past. This skill allows the warrior to quickly close the distance between themselves and their target while dealing significant damage or exerting strong crowd control effects. It can be applied by either using a shield or a sword.

Mountain Splitter – An evolved form of the heavy slash. The warrior uses a forceful overhead swing with their weapon, bringing it crashing down upon the target with tremendous momentum and impact. This attack is characterized by its sheer destructive power, capable of inflicting heavy damage and potentially causing knockback or stagger effects to enemies caught in its path. Mountain Splitter is often utilized as a high-risk, high-reward offensive technique, offering the potential for devastating results but also leaving the warrior to be temporarily vulnerable due to the lengthy wind-up and recovery time associated with the attack. For a novice, this skill is done with both hands in hold with the weapon in question, but for a master, one can simply use a single hand and a heavy shield counter to execute a flawless exchange of power.

Shield Breaker – is a strategic maneuver that uses a palm/fist technique that ables the warrior to break through its opponent’s shield. This skill is specifically designed to bypass or neutralize an opponent’s defensive capabilities, typically targeting protective barriers like shields or defensive magic like a mana barrier.

Seeing these descriptions and reading them one by one, Soril had an understanding of what these skills were capable of. By being able to utilize these skills proficiently, he can easily rise through the ranks and handle the dungeon with ease.

Remembering back to when he was able to pave a path against the wall of flames created by Jessabelle, something that powerful must have been done by the Mountain Splitter skill, and being able to rush in forward at quite the lengths, it must have been done by the Heavy rush skill.

Usually in this world, these kinds of attacks and skills were naturally learned by the people who had the same class as Soril, the kind of people who carry both a shield and a sword. But the Aranean’s were quite different back then…as not only were these skills more stronger than in today’s era, but they were used against enemies like giants inside a dungeon. Each time these skills were used, they were more heavier, more fierce, and they had the essence of a warrior dripping in each move made.

Comparing the skills of today against the skills of before, it was like comparing day and night.

In Today’s era, not a single hunter has known the skill Mountain Splitter or a Shield Breaker, instead, they have skills with fancier names but weaker effects like Titan’s Strike and Barrier Break. The very essences of these skills lacked what the old generation had.

In other words, the past was simply superior in skill compared to today’s generation.

Now in the machine, the simulation capsule was able to mimic the condition of his body. So as he stood with a group of monsters in front of him, he was just as tired and not fully well…but well enough to fight against the weak.

‘Okay…lets do this.’

The first skill he had in mind was “Heavy Slash”

With that said, the moment he went and rushed himself at the orc, he simply reminded himself that when using a skill, it must have been similar to that of using a mana spear. Just a thought was enough to bring out the attack unto the enemy.

But the moment he went and swung his sword while thinking of “Heavy Slash” as an attack, his sword only went and slashed against the stomach of the orc, and he killed it easily. But the sense he had within his form felt wrong.

“…No, this isn’t right.” he said to himself as he knew that nothing has happened when he attempted to use his skill.

As the orc died, he simply backed off against all the other monster and simply gathered his thoughts.

‘…What’s wrong…what’s missing in this attack?’ as he thought deep of his situation, the goblins were able to rush to him at quite to speed with their daggers and spears on hand. But to their attempt, Soril was easily able to defend himself and push them away like so using his shield.

‘This is an Aranean skill…think back Soril…what did it feel like when I slashed against the walls of flames?…how did it feel for me to use such a skill?…what did the warrior said to me?’

And as he thought deep of this, he remembered the warrior’s screams.

“A true Aranean warrior would have stood up even at the lost of his leg and arm!”

“A true Aranean would have faced death in the eye and put death in his place!”

“Carry the legacy boy!…become a true warrior!”

“Fear means nothing to a true warrior, so stand up…embrace the pain and face the challenge that blocks your path.”s

These voices screamed at him like they were uncontrolled and voilent…and as he dug deeper into the memories, he remembered the last words said by the ghost.

“Be true to your desire’s boy…as you have a sword and shield on hand, never forget that these weapons symbolizes the very essence of a warrior…the very essence of an Aranean.”

“!!”

In that moment, he was instantly brimming with a courage he had not felt before.

The courage of an Aranean Warrior.

In it, he stepped in forward again and made his skill show to the monsters in front of him.

[Heavy Slash!]

In that simple but ravage chant in his mind, the simple swing of his sword caused the goblins in front of him to be ripped off like butter and they were thrown away from his position like they were balls hit by a bat.

Just like the skill, the slash was heavy and simply powerful.

In just one strike, he has easily taken down five goblins in ease.

“…Khk!” but to this skill, he felt pain rushing to his arm.

The use of an Aranean skill was more than he could have imagined. He had to train his body more tougher if he wanted to use this skill without any drawbacks.

As he stood there with five less goblins in the room, he then brought out his shield and faced himself once again against the orc who carried an axe.

He waited his chance as the orc was raising its axe up to the air, readying itself to strike down, and is it did, he then activated his second skill. He raised his shield and met up against the falling axe.

[Heavy Shield Counter!]

The moment the axe encountered the shield, the orc felt and unwavering force coming from shield, making the orc feel somewhat worried…almost as if he was hitting an unmoving object. With his axe making contact with the shield, it was then instantly filled with an unknown force similar to the power of the orc’s own swing of his axe. The force behind the shield caused the orc  to raise his hand uncontrollably and lose his grip of the axe and in it, it gave Soril the chance to use the combo which was the addition of a heavy slash.

[Heavy Slash!]

In it, the orc was instantly cut in half all the way through.

“…Good. Its working.” he said as he then looked to the other other orcs and Goblins in front of him.

They were quite a distance away, so with that put in place, it gave him the chance to use his next skill fit for the job.

[Heavy Rush!]

In his step forward, the force of his legs leaping forward, caused the very ground below him to crack and in it, he also felt an unbelievable pain surge within his legs.

“!!” just like with the heavy slash, his body could not yet fully handle the force of his own skill’s power.

But as he made this skill happen, the force of his dash was not only powerful, the moment he came in contact with the monsters in an instant, they were not even able to stop him in his tracks.

“Krahk!!”

“Krehh!!”

“Kuuuggff!!”

Monsters screamed as they felt their bodies crushed against the force of his dash.

And as the skill ended, he was placed in the middle of the room, yet again surrounded by monsters who were now extra mad at his previous stunt.

“Hmm…this is strange, did they add more monsters in the simulation?” he asked himself as he could see an uncountable numbers of monsters surrounding him.

And ot this question, beyond the simulation, Sergeant O’riley was alone in the control room. Controlling the very amount of monsters inside that room.

“Hmm, fifty orcs and one hundred goblins should do well enough for him.” he said to himself as he grinned at the many numbers of monster being created in the simulation.

The reason behind this was because Sgt. O’riley was purely curious on Soril’s limits in a battle.

He saw it against Jessabelle Morrison and he was quite impressed by the results….and yet since he had the chance to test Soril again, he tested Soril in a test of endurance. And yes, this was quite unprofessional of a teacher in the academy, but that didn’t mattered to anyone as long as no one found out about it.

Sergeant O’riley simply had the room all to himself.

“Hmm..he’s using some skills I’ve never seen him use before? Why now? Why didn’t he used it against Jessabelle before?…no wait…he did. He used a similar skill before against the wall of flames she created. But why did he use it then? Why didn’t he used it against Jessica when they were sparring? Hmm…”

As the sergeant was sitting there, observing Soril with questions in mind, another person came into the control room, carrying a clipboard on hand.

“…I couldn’t really believe your text when you said that you were in the Simulation Control room…but you were, why are you here?” asked a female acquaintance known as Miss Fien.

“Did you bring the results of the duel?” asked O’riley as he sat watching Soril fight against a number of monsters by himself.

“…I did. Its quite surprising how our thoughts were on point…he’s compatible with her.” said Miss Fien.

Referring back to the program of the school where students were paired with another student to figure out their compatibility with one another and increase their growth, namely this was called [The Mix-up Theory].

“So…How compatible are they with one another?” asked O’riley.

“…Its not as compatible as his current partner Jessica Young, but his compatibility with Jessabelle Morrison is over 45%. This proves that if Jessabelle Morrison were to be paired up with Soril Remus, then she will most likely grow from this in both prowess and skill!” said Miss Fien excitedly.

“Hmm, that is a good number, but its nothing compared to his current partner, Jessica young who was a compatibility rate of over 80%…” said the sergeant.

“So what should we do?” asked Miss Fien.

“I don’t know…I think its best that we have this checked out to the principal…maybe he can give a wise solution to this problem.” suggested O’riley.

“Eh…but what we’re doing is wrong, it could get us in trouble. Involving a student from a different class in the mix-up theory is one of the things that mainly causes chaos in the theory itself.” said Miss Fien, worryingly.

“Haa…I don’t care really. From where I’m standing, Soril is growing well with with his current partner…I’m not the one with the issue here.” he said.

“Ehh!? but you were the one who suggested that we do this!” she said.

“I know, but its not us who gets the final say in this matter. So it doesn’t really matter what I choose to do, the only person who makes the call is the principal.” said O’riley as he then added 25 more orcs into the simulation.

“…Okay. Fine, I’ll present these results to the principal then, with both our names on it.”

“Fine by me.” said the sergeant nonchalantly.

“Tsk…Huh? What is that?” as Miss Fien was done talking with the sergeant, it was only then did she noticed that O’riley was adding more monsters into the simulation against Soril.

“W-who is that?” she asked as she could only see a pixelated image of a student fighting against a huddled group of monsters.

“That’s Soril Remus…currently he’s fighting 35 remaining orcs and 53 remaining goblins…its only been about five minutes or so and he’s already wiped out dozens of those monsters with ease.

“What!?” to Miss Fien’s shock, she saw Soril’s skill behind the screen…and seeing him fight, she was convinced that Soril was more than just a good student…

[Heavy Shield Counter!]

[Heavy Slash!]

[Heavy Rush!!]

[Heavy Slash!!]

[Heavy Shield Counter!]

[Heavy Rush!!]

[Heavy Block Stance!]

[Heavy Rush!!]

[Heavy Shield Counter!]

[Shield breaker!]

[Heavy Shield Counter!]

[Shield breaker!]

Over and over again, he has used the Aranean form to his will, and to it, his body was breaking down quite badly as time went on.

With his condition worsening each time he used heavy skills, his body ached in pain. But he didn’t cared for it…

He was gaining experience each time he used this skill’s to his will. Not the kind of experience one gets to evolve their level, but the kind of experience learned in combat.

His proficiency with these skills were simply growing little by little…

But sooner than later, he knew that he wasn’t going to last, so he decided to use his final and strongest skill on hand.

With orcs and goblins surrounding him, he then shielded himself.

[Heavy Block Stance!]

Soon as they gathered before him, slashing down on his body with their weapons, he then used his next skill to push them away.

[Heavy Shield Counter!]

In this skill, the orcs and goblins were thrown away at quite the distance…

Seeing his chance, he betted everything he had with this one strong skill.

With two hands on his sword, he made his final blow.

[Mountain…Splitter.]

In that simple chant, he swung his sword horizontally at 360 degree spin , after that, a wave of great power surged inside the simulation, and instantly, a force blew every goblin to bits and every orc in half…

The only person left standing there was Soril…who in the simulation, had his two arms both broken and bleeding.

“…Damn.” in that final say, he crashed down to the floor like a ragdoll.

*Thud!*

In the use of the mountain splitter, it was simply too much for him…he realized he couldn’t use it yet.

And on the control room, Sgt. O’riley was seen grinning even more so with Miss. Fien quite shocked by what she has just seen.

They had just seen a student of great power.