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< Side-Quest/Challenge: Father Gascoigne >
Description: You have stumbled upon a wild and feral British priest chopping up a corpse and it seems like he has decided that you do not deserve the privilege to live anymore. Ti to prove him wrong.
Requirents: Defeat Father Gascoigne.
Reward: 2 to all physical stats, 2 insight, 1x Random Low-rank skill recovery.
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I didn't pay attention to the quest that just popped up in my rearview, instead, my eyes were solely trained on Gascoigne. He gave off a dangerous vibe. While I had confidence in myself, this was different.
On a fundantal level, it is impossible for Gascoigne to defeat . I am immortal and he isn't. But I didn't care about that. I was here to improve myself, not to have a dick-asuring contest. Regardless, if Gascoigne couldn't defeat then why was he dangerous?
He could kill .
One might wonder, how could soone like Gascoigne could murder soone like who has slain gods. And there was a simple reason for that. It was skill issue.
I may have killed gods, demons, and anything in between but the reason I could do that couldn't be purely attributed to skill though that was a big factor. Most of the ti I brute forced my way through my enemies. As in reality my fighting style is completely unrefined and falls short in front of soone with actual skill and experience.
And Gascoigne. I'm sure is soone with skill and experience. There is a saying, "Beware of the old in a profession where most die young". And Gascoigne definitely fit that category and more. But knowing the danger I couldn't help but be excited.
This was an opportunity to challenge myself and improve. Before I could contemplate for long however the old hunter raised a modified pistol in my direction and pulled the trigger, sending multiple pellets of quicksilver at more like a blunderbuss.
The mont I heard the bang I rolled to the side as the veteran hunter charged at with his axe raised. The mont my roll stopped and I got back on my feet Gascoigne had reached and swung his axe down with impeccable dexterity.
But if there was sothing I was good at, that would be dodging.
I shifted my body to the side as the axe passed by on trajectory to hit the ground. As it passed I pulled my own gun and aid toward Gascoigne's face. But before I could pull the trigger I felt a dull pain in my chest as the air was forced out of my lungs and I was thrown back.
Gascoigne withdrew his extended leg before shooting toward again, relentlessly he swung his axe horizontally, and seeing as there wasn't enough room to dodge I brought my cane up with both hands and braced.
Mid-swing his weapon transford as his full might t against my own ager one with my baseline stats. Under the weight of his swing, I was batted toward a pile of gravestones, crash-landing in the middle. I felt blood gather into a pool in my lungs.
It seems I lost the first round of clashing huh? So /this/ is what a real hunter is supposed to be. Efficient, ruthless, skilled, and effective. How fun.
I pushed myself up as Gascoigne kept a distance. Retrieving my cane I withdrew its blade from the sheath as it got clad in blue lightning. Now, it was my turn to go on the offensive.
My leg muscles tensed like springs before the power in them was released as I dashed toward Gascoigne whilst he raised his axe to intercept . But before he could I arrived before him and thrusted with my lightning-clad blade toward his head.
He dodged the stab by tilting his head before swinging his axe from the bottom up like an uppercut. I leaned back to narrowly dodge before thrusting at his midsection which he sidestepped.
'Ti to step it up.'
My muscles strained as I started tapping into my body's true potential. I released several thrusts far faster than before toward Gascoigne as he dodged and blocked my blows. Suddenly, as I stabbed once more, the blade actually connected with his shoulder, and his face grimaced in pain.
But his grimace only lasted a brief mont as I heard a loud bang ring in my ears before I felt the air get knocked out of before Gascoigne grabbed my face and threw like a rag doll. But before I hit anything I regained balance and skidded across the floor.
The mont my montum ground to a halt I transford my blade into its whip form and lashed out against Gascoigne, the whip nearly breaking the sound barrier.
Gascoigne, knowing he couldn't dodge it in ti, raised his arm, intercepting the whip before it reached its full speed, yet the whip still mangled his arm, wrapping around it and shocking him as it did so.
But with a mighty yell, Gascoigne pulled on the electrified whip, sending toward himself as he readied his axe. But there was just one problem with his plan.
Just as he pulled in I used all of the energy in my blood to send even more electricity toward the whip, paralyzing Gascoigne for a second. A deadly amount of ti in a battle like this.
Then I unsummoned the whip using concentration before I resummoned it in my hands and untransford it. As my body slamd against Gascoigne's I stabbed the blade through his stomach before pulling it out and going for another stab. But before blade t skin, my instincts warned to dodge.
I knelt down but too late did I realize that his aim wasn't for my head, the realization ca too late as the spread of bullets ripped my right hand off and sent my weapon flying. But at the sa ti, I retaliated by blowing off his weapon with my own gun on my left before doing a backflip to gain distance.
"RAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!!!" Just as I regained my balance I heard a guttural roar co from Gascoigne before his body nearly exploded with blood and black goo, revealing a werewolf-like beast with light gray fur nearly twice his previous size beneath.
The mont I saw the beast co charging at with reckless abandon I knew I had won the battle yet it left a bitter taste in my mouth that I hadn't been able to best Gascoigne in a test of skill. And now that he was nothing more than a mindless beast he stood no chance at beating .
I ducked under the swing and put the muzzle of my pistol up to its chin and firing, the bullets seed to have hurt yet not dealt any lethal damage. While it was staggered by the quicksilver bullet rattling its brain I slamd my leg into its midriff before pulling back and striking its chest with another kick.
The beast shrugged it off and tried tackling as it leaned forward and started sprinting at with its arms spread to the sides. Just before he grabbed I kneed it on the chin before following it up with an elbow and a left hook.
Hitting him felt like hitting a giant bag of frozen at. As it staggered from my combo I pulled out my pistol and reloaded using inventory before hitting its kneecaps, chaining a knee to its jaw just after it staggered.
Beasts that are slaves to their instincts and impulses are so of the easiest enemies to fight. For at least they are.
Because they simply fall flat against a beast that's more monstrous than them. My instincts are far more refined than Gascoigne's beast form and I was far, far more experienced in fighting AS a beast AGAINST a beast.
Chasing after the dazed beast I didn't even give it a single mont to rest before jamming my thumb into its eye socket.
Fire is weaker against a bigger fla. Brutality is weaker against even more vicious brutality. A beast that can't keep a calm mind is an easy-to-fight opponent for .
I have spent years fighting madn, hollows, beasts who run on instinct. And I have slain hundreds of thousands of them, maybe even millions. I have died hundreds of tis to them, I am well acquainted with hunting mindless beings.
I slamd my forehead into the beast's snout. I transford my bleeding stub of a wrist into a pointed weapon and stabbed it into Gascoigne's shoulder. His claw hit my left arm, ripping it off its socked but I was barely even shaken as I reeled my spike arm back.
A familiar motion, one I had repeated thousands of tis over. A move that pushes the human body to its absolute limit. I didn't need the assistance of the system and skill levels to perform MY move.
All my muscles were forcefully pushed to perform at their absolute limits for a brief second. My spike arm moved so fast that it looked like a blur.
'{Deadman Style: Pierce}'
My arm pierced straight through Gascoigne's ribcage. As a result of the recoil my arm was completely shattered and my legs were broken but Invictus kept standing. Taking out a blood vial I quickly chugged it down. Now that my hand was restored I set Gascoigne's corpse down.
I could tell he wasn't a bad person. There was no need to disrespect his corpse by just throwing it away like a used rag. After I put the corpse down the notification I saw brightened my mood.
{ PREY SLAUGHTERED }
A/N: What did you think about the chapter? I like reading comnts and suggestions they help motivate . And so do powerstones.
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