Chapter 54: The Rage Meter

I rushed forward, keeping the Doom Axe close to my body as I closed the distance between us.

The dwarf immediately shifted his stance and prepared to intercept me.

The moment I entered his reach, his long axe swept toward my chest, forcing me to raise the Doom Axe defensively. Our weapons collided with a heavy clang, and the impact traveled through my arms.

His gauntlets flashed as the runes activated, disrupting the lightning around my weapon.

However, I had anticipated that reaction.

Instead of allowing the energy to disappear completely, I poured more mana into [Thunderclad], forcing lightning to surge through my limbs and reinforce my body.

His ability interfered with the current where our weapons met, but the energy flowing through my muscles was spread across a much larger area.

I couldn’t prevent his power from disrupting the lightning at the point of contact, yet I could maintain enough of the effect to keep strengthening my movements.

The dwarf’s expression changed when he realized what I was doing.

He had expected me to rely entirely on the lightning surrounding my weapon.

Instead, I was using [Thunderclad] to reinforce myself, making it harder for him to deal with me simply by disrupting the energy between our weapons.

Even if he managed to suppress the lightning around the Doom Axe, he would still have to contend with the strength and speed the skill granted me.

It wasn’t a perfect solution. His ability could still interfere with the lightning, and maintaining [Thunderclad] consumed mana. If I kept pouring energy into the skill without making progress, I would eventually exhaust myself.

However, he could no longer neutralize my entire advantage with a single well-timed block.

I shoved his weapon aside and struck at his shoulder.

He twisted away, but the Doom Axe caught the edge of his armor, leaving a fresh scrape across the metal.

Before he could retaliate, I followed with another swing, forcing him to retreat a few steps.

I pressed forward, alternating between attacks aimed at his upper body and strikes directed toward his wounded side.

Each time he tried to establish his preferred distance, I moved closer and forced him to respond.

For a few moments, I managed to keep him on the defensive.

He could no longer stand comfortably beyond my reach and punish me whenever I approached.

My reinforced movements let me recover faster after each swing, while the weight of the Doom Axe forced him to respect every attack.

He still had the advantage in technique, but I was starting to make it less useful.

Then he changed his approach.

Instead of blocking my next attack, he stepped inside its trajectory.

My axe passed too far to the side to threaten him, and before I could pull it back, he slammed the wooden haft of his weapon into my ribs.

Pain exploded through my side.

My breath caught in my throat, and the force of the blow interrupted my attack.

I tried to step away before he could follow up, but the dwarf was already moving.

He hooked the lower part of his axe behind my ankle and pulled sharply, taking advantage of my unbalanced stance.

I lost my footing.

I attempted to recover by shifting my weight onto my other leg, but I had already committed too much of my momentum to the previous swing.

My foot slid across the stone, and I fell backward before I could regain control.

The dwarf didn’t give me time to get up.

He brought his weapon around and struck me across the chest with the flat of the axe blade.

The blow landed with enough force to lift me partially off the ground before sending me sprawling across the stone.

My back struck the surface hard, and the Doom Axe nearly slipped from my hands.

For a moment, all I could do was lie there and struggle to breathe.

I rolled onto my side, coughing as I tried to draw air into my lungs.

Every breath sent a sharp ache through my ribs, and my chest felt as though someone had driven a heavy stone into it.

The pain was bad enough that I had to fight the urge to remain on the ground, but I knew better than to give the dwarf that opportunity.

"Damn it!"

[HP: 421/560]

I stared at the notification, trying to process how much damage I had taken.

My health had dropped by nearly ninety points in just a few exchanges.

The exact number wasn’t important, but the rate at which I was losing it was becoming a serious problem.

My physical strength and passive abilities had helped me withstand the punishment, but they couldn’t make me invulnerable.

I could reinforce my body with lightning, improve my reactions, and endure injuries that might have incapacitated an ordinary goblin.

None of that meant I could afford to take direct hits from a Level 30 Berserker indefinitely.

Worse, I had made a mistake by becoming too focused on my new advantage.

Once [Thunderclad] allowed me to push him onto the defensive, I had started treating every opening as an opportunity to attack.

I had been so concerned with keeping him from regaining control that I hadn’t paid enough attention to the possibility of him changing his tactics.

He had recognized that I was becoming more comfortable fighting him and used that confidence against me.

The dwarf approached with his weapon held low, his boots scraping against the stone as he closed the distance.

"You learn quick," he said. "But you make the mistake of thinking that understanding an opponent is the same as knowing how to defeat him."

I planted one hand against the ground and pushed myself up.

My ribs protested immediately, and I had to pause long enough to steady my breathing before I could stand properly.

The Doom Axe felt heavier than before, but I refused to let go of it.

"Funny. I was about to say the same thing."

His brows drew together.

I kept my attention on him, but my eyes briefly shifted toward the system display.

The number beside my Rage skill had reached its maximum.

[Rage: 100/100%]

A grin slowly spread across my face despite the pain.

There was a...