And this time, he actually fights the boss

The beast in front of John was frantically looking around, trying to find the ones who killed its kin. Thankfully, it seemed to work on video game mechanics, as it didn't turn around and just went from looking left to looking right and back, so John could easily sneak up from behind, sprinting the last meters and used Vault to gain an early advantage striking at one of the hind legs of the beast.

Vault Applied! 2x Damage, Bonus damage added!
Backstab! Critical Hit! 2x Damage!
**** Area! 1.5x Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 6x Damage
108 DMG + 15 DMG (Light)+ 12 DMG (Vault) + 66 DMG when pulling out

That hit was a nice start, though John hoped that he would already cripple the wolf with that attack, seemingly not dealing enough damage for that though. The glowing wolf retaliated by quickly turning around, creating a gust of wind doing so and pushing John back, who put up his shield. This didn't seem to bother the wolf though, who blasted a jet of fire from its mouth straight at John who now had no other choice but to dodge the attack, not wanting to be grilled at the start of the fight.

He did manage to get away by diving to the side, and straight into an oncoming paw from the beast, swatting him away into the wall.

-24HP (Defense subtracted, original Damage: 33)
-11HP (Defense subtracted, original Damage: 20)
3 DMG (Armor)

Shit, that one hurt. Thankfully, he could just get up without having a concussion or anything similar. This time, waiting for the gigantic wolf to take the offense, John readied himself to dodge underneath the wolf sprinting at him and thrusting into its chest with a well-aimed strike. And he didn't have to wait long, as the creature sprinted towards him, coursing with electricity and running faster than he exoected, but he was still able to dodge the pounce of the thing, sending it flying into the wall. Sadly his plan to impale its heart didn't work out as it was just too fast, but at least he was able to cut the thing:

Counter! Bonus Damage added!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 1x
20 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 10 DMG (Counter) + 30 DMG (Wall)

-4 HP (Lightning Aura)

This discrepancy in damage between the first attack and the second attack was staggering! He did less than half the damage as with the sneak attack. This was showing John one thing: He had to fight smart because fighting smart would get a lot more damage. Scanning his surroundings, he could see that nearby to the point where the wolf was now stuck in the wall, thanks to it ramming through it, was a big iron ring bolted to the wall; it probably had been used for banners since on the opposite end of the courtyard was one as well.

So John didn't wait for the thing to come to him this time but prepared for a better strike himself. Casting Magic Rope towards the ring (and leveling it up in the process), he tied a knot around it and let it float horizontally so that it wouldn't dangle in the field of view of the wolf which by now got its head unstuck from the wall and was by now running towards him again, leaving a trail of ice behind it this time. John was able to tie the rope around its neck at the last second, already feeling the coldness the wolf was radiating right now just from standing close to it. Now that the head of the thing was fixed, at least for a short while, John took a running start, used Vault once again and struck the beast directly between the eyes.

Charge, Lv.2
Vault, Lv.2, Bonus damage now is 3x Physical Damage Multiplier

Vital Area! 4x Damage!
Critical Hit! 2x Damage!
Vault applied! 2x Damage! Bonus Damage Added!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 16x
224 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 48 DMG (Vault) + 192 DMG when pulling out

Enemy Blinded! 50% more likely to miss. Damage dealt to enemy increased by 1.5x
-2 HP (Frost Aura)
Movement slowed by 12% (Frost Aura)

Thanks to the Vault, he was now standing on the back of the wolf that was still trying to break free from the shackle of the magical rope (and John could somehow feel that it wouldn't actually break free anytime soon) so he took another swing at its head while his own life slowly ticked down thanks to the Frost Aura.

-2 HP
Movement slowed by 18%

Blinded! 1.5x Damage!
Critical Hit! 2x Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 3x
48 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 45 DMG when pulling out

-2 HP
Movement slowed by 24%

Shit, he should really get off the wolf now. Doing just that probably saved him from a very unpleasant landing as the beast bucked against the bindings, actually ripping out a piece of the wall just as the rope was destroyed. That piece of debris flew a mile away from John, but it could have hit him if he was still standing on the back of the wolf... And while he dodged the rock flying through the air, he didn't dodge the claw coming for him. Thankfully the vision of the wolf was impaired, thanks to his efforts in striking the head, so he could deflect that one without taking any damage, taking a swing at the claw in the same movement.

Counter applied! Bonus Damage added!
Blinded! 1.5x Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 1.5x
30 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Counter)

Enemy crippled! Movement speed reduced by 25%! Damage dealt to enemy increased by 1.5x

John was sure that he was slowly but surely taking the thing down, having reduced the creature's health by two thirds by now and handicapping it further and further. Looking at his sheet, he saw that he was still around 50% with both Health and Mana. This was going way better than the last fight!

While the wolf was busy with its paw, John used Vault to get the wolf another time, this time into its side where he could easily back away from again. However, the wolf moved its body away in the last moment before slamming it into John, who got thrown back by the ****.

-8 HP (Defense subtracted, original Damage: 17)

John was getting really tired of this whole back and forth; he had to do something that would stop this thing for good. Thinking about his possibilities, John realized that he should **** Magic Rope way more, seeing as how that was the moment he got the most damage out of his skillset.

Looking around John found a thick root in the ground near the wolf. Hopefully, the tree was powerful enough to last at least some time against the thing, now that it was crippled. Using Magic Rope to tie one end of the rope to that root he then sent the other end around the unhurt front leg of the beast, bringing it to a fall a couple of feet in front of him. If his calculations were right, this would either be the last or second to last Vault he could use, so this was his hope to end this fight. Using his Edge to secure a critical in this strike, John took the root as a step to jump off of with the help of his spear, twirled in the air to move himself in the right direction, and then rammed the spear between the eyes of the wolf.

Vital Area! 4x Damage!
Critical hit! 2x Damage!
Vault applied! 2x Damage! Bonus Damage Added!
Blinded! 1.5x Damage!
Crippled! 1.5x Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 36x
520 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 108 DMG (Vault) + 432 DMG when pulling out

Achievement unlocked: No kill quite like Overkill!
Deal more than twice the damage a defeated enemy had as health left in a single strike

+50 XP (XP Reduction included)
+2 Drops of the beaten enemy
+2 Stat points
Ring of the Slayer

Achievement unlocked: Four Digit Dealer
Deal more than 999 DMG in a single hit. You're going the stupid damage route, aren't you?

+100 XP (XP Reduction included)
+2 STR
+1 AGI
Permanent 10% more damage dealt

Permanent Threshold of 25 Strength reached!
Each point of Strength will now grant more regeneration than before (retroactively)
Inventory Space doubled
Damage Increased by 1.5x automatically

Holy shit! The damage of that last hit was disgusting! Also, this was way easier than he expected it to be, thanks to all the crazy multipliers even if he took a lot of damage. Thankfully he was done with this fight now, though. He was pretty sure that the thing could've been a bigger problem if he wouldn't have gotten such luck with his hits and if the difficulty was at 100%.

After finding her at the other end of the courtyard, John ran towards Kim, eager to see what she thought about his fight. "So? How did I do?", asked John with a wide grin.

"Very well, too well in fact. Your fighting style, while very basic and rudimentary, can be extremely powerful, striking at weak points of the enemy, dodging out of attack range, using the surroundings to your advantage. But it is clear that you are inexperienced, often taking the too obvious way and getting punished for it, and not knowing when to strike and when not. All in all, I would say you are a highly advanced beginner in the Abyssal martial arts, but it is highly dubious for someone that only dabbles in this kind of thing since yesterday. I will need to bring this up to my father; he will want to talk to you at some point. For now, come here so that I can heal you. While your body seems to handle wounds weirdly, I can feel that your life **** is diminished."

She then put her hand on his chest where he got hit by the giant wolf (even though thanks to Gamer's Body there was no wound there anymore) and her hand started to glow in a soft auburn glow. "Wait, so you can also heal? Isn't that the exact opposite thing what fighting is for?" asked John, clearly surprised. For himself, multitasking made sense, since he could basically get a skill out of anything and wasn't bound by 'class' restrictions. He was pretty sure that there would be some hindrance for a fighter like Kim to learn healing magic...

Sighing, she just replied, "It is apparent that you have no former knowledge in the various martial arts, which makes your performance here even more curious. But no, healing and fighting are not opposing one another, in fact when you learn to fight you have to learn to heal. Every fighter knows that it is just as critical to know how to mend a wound as it is to inflict one. You do well learning this as well, Newman."

"I will keep that in mind. A powerful healing spell would do me good anyway. So, I guess we are done here now, let me just grab the stuff from the boss, then we can leave this place. I'd suggest we return to the room where we came in, no telling where we would come out of..." Kim nodded to that and went off in the direction of that room.

John meanwhile had some loot to get!