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—------- .
/SHUA!/
/CLANG CLING!/
In one swift movement, Dale swiped his right hand across the air, transferring the momentum to the chains wrapped around his wrists.
/CLONG!/
The long chain swiped across the air, cutting through it as it zipped its way to the enemy.
/BAM!/With a heavy impact, the chain collided with the shield's barrier, but it did not break through, albeit it gave some of them a scare due to its sudden impact and weight.
Still, in truth, Dale was only having fun.
/Raise… Swipe!/
Once again, he raised his hand, this time, his left one…
/BAM!/
Another massive chain fell upon the Heroes, causing the room to shake a little.
/BOOM!/
/BOOM!/
In the following moments, Dale continued his bombardment of the Heroes as they walked on the bridge, seemingly playing around without an aim in sight.
However, that would be far from the truth…
/Clang…/
"Hm?... Oh no!"
When one of the Heroes realized what was going on, maybe it was already too late?
/PULL!/
Beneath their foot, the bridge itself started to collapse, it may have once been unbreakable while under the power of the Ancient Ritual, but now, it was only a slab of stone of high craftsmanship.
Its original material was resilient and shaped in a way to maximize the structural stability, but could it support such an onslaught?
To make it worse, whenever he swung his chains, Dale purportedly aimed at the bridge itself and at the support beams connecting it on each side, weakening it with each strike…
If one wasn't enough then ten, if those weren't enough then twenty…
And eventually, it began to collapse.
/CRACK!.../
His first gift to the Heroes, would they…
"RUN!"
"I-I can't! The opposing force is too much!" The priestess exclaimed in agony as her skin cooled down, breaking due to frostbite
Out of everyone on the bridge, she was the only one whose strength was still in the double digits even with all her items.
She didn't look frail, but she was no champion either.
"I got you!" A woman on the said exclaimed as she held the priestess by the waist
"NOW RUN!" The Tank said as he bit his teeth
"HAAA!"
/SLAMM!/
The man punched the back of his shield, causing a sonic wave to ripple through the surroundings, momentarily pushing back the blizzard and ash storm around them.
This gave them enough time to run while the bridge beneath them…
/SMASH!/
Crumbled into pieces under Dale's last attack!
/BAM!!/
/SHATTER!/
As the pieces of the broken bridge fell into the abyss below, the Heroes breathed heavily amidst the storm that once again engulfed them.
The coldness had reached a maximum and the pushing force was so great it threatened to push them out of the platform.
And Dale knew that very well.
/Smirk…/
His position with his items was by far the most advantageous thing he could make use of, and he had no intention of fighting them face to face even if it meant ending this fight in a boring manner.
/Shine…/
But of course, the Heroes weren't that for nothing.
"^!@#%!@#^8&@..."
Protected by the large tower shield of the Tank, the Priests started to murmur something in an incoherent tone…
Her body began to shine as her hands clasped one another, faint whisps of light gathering in the air…
"DOMAIN OF ETERNETY!" She exclaimed loudly as she raised her cross-staff, causing dazzling light akin to that of the sun to cover the whole room, momentarily blinding Dale as well
[Ding]
[Terrain effects are temporarily nullified under the…]
"Hm…"
Dale didn't need to read the notification to understand what was going on.
It seemed like his opponents were better than he expected, he had underestimated them.
He should've run to them and prevented them from crossing the bridge at all costs since the Abyss itself is a form of death.
But at the same time, it was exactly because he was unaware of their abilities that he did not carelessly approach them, as a timed combination of their powers might be enough to push him from a favorable position into an unfavorable one.
Yet… It wasn't like he was in a good position to begin with.
After all, Dale had always been fighting against the odds.
/Raise…/
Dale began his next move right after he deactivated his rings since their consumption of Mana, albeit not much, wasn't negligible either.
/Write…/
With his left hand, he started to write strange runes in the air with his Prime Origin, something he had never done before, not even mentioning it!
Dale had once tried to use Magic and even Elven Runes, but those clearly failed.
And in all of his simulations, the Reflection never once tried to perform them either, maybe because it recognized its own lack of proficiency or its incapability.
Whenever it faced the top Duelists, he always rushed ahead, however now, he decided to try something different.
What had changed? Was it just a whimsical action?
"Tsk! Get yourselves together! The fight barely started." Said the Tank as he got into position once more
/CLANG!/
'It's time to start this Raid.'
"Spear Lady... And the Sword Bastard…"
"We know." Said the girl that just saved the Priestess as she pulled her spear from her back
"Hey, I'm not a Bastard, muscle head, I'm just elegant..." Replied a man as he hunched his back
"Shut up and stop the Boss from doing whatever it's about to do, and be quick about it!"
/DASH!/
/CRACK!/
In the blink of an eye, the two of them dashed forward.
The woman held her spear forward with one hand, closing her other hand as her eyes sparkled with power.
With each of her steps, yellow footprints were left in the stone, glowing faintly under the strong flames in the air.
Meanwhile, the swordsman held his sword in a relaxed way, a faint smirk on his face as he seemingly slid on the ground, by far one of the strangest footwork Dale had ever witnessed.
The other Heroes weren't still either.
Using his body to protect his teammates, the Tank was like an unstoppable wall.
Behind him, the Priestess slowly drank a potion, having overdone herself to muster more energy than she was capable of to disperse the weather effects of Dale's rings.
/Whispers…/
Meanwhile, behind her, two cloaked figures whispered faintly, channeling Mana onto their hands as colorful auras started to surround them.
On their left, two of the remaining members of their party moved in group, trying to flank the Boss or find other weaknesses in the room, as sometimes, the Boss itself isn't the weakness.
Like the Classic Lich and his Vessel, not that it was like this in reality...
"..."
On their right, the Archer stood still with his bow held up high, waiting for a chance to pull his trigger.
However, he had a strange expression on his face as he held his arrow.
There was… A sense of familiarity with this situation.
And without his knowledge, the memories of his hardest fight yet flashed by his eyes.
Yes, many hours ago, he faced an opponent that made him reconsider who he was and he fought and trained.
He may have never fought the previous Rank 1, but merely looking at her fights he knew he was no match.
There was a fundamental difference between them he couldn't cross.
Stll, one thing was seeing and admitting, another was experiencing said difference.
In that fight, his opponent made use of every weakness he had and more he never knew he even had, observing and copying if not shattering all of his tactics.
A Fighting Demon, those were the only words he had for that knight in Red Armor.
He was stronger, faster, more astute them him.
His decisions were better, sharper, and deeper, they connected like a spider's web, trapping him in his own movements, sometimes without him even doing anything.
He didn't last long against him, in fact, he had been the very first opponent that managed to completely deplete his Quiver of arrows.
It's not like he couldn't fight without it, he had a sword just for that purpose.
It was just that he had never faced an opponent that pushed him to such a degree.
He had lost more than once, but in those situations, it was usually a fight of speed and initiative.
When everyone in your league is strong, a fight can end within a moment just like common swordsmen in ancient times.
Even if both were immeasurably skilled, one wrong move could dictate one's loss.
And that was how he lost.
A sword to the chest, a knife to the neck, not many can recover from such wounds, much less deliver a counterblow while their lives drain away...
Only the most brutal of warriors can continue.
/PRESSURE!/
"..."
/Gulp…/
And right now, as he stood ready with his bow, he couldn't help but feel the shadow of that knight's presence in this beast.
The way he stood with his arms around his body and the way his eyes glowed in red light from behind his rusted visor…
There was an uncanny resemblance to that opponent…
He wasn't the only one that felt like this though.
Next to the mages and the Priestess, the last member of the party, previous Rank 5 stood still with his War Axe in case the Boss had some sort of back-range Skill.
Because leaving behind the weakest members of a party alone is nothing short of reckless, even if they lost some offensive potential.
Here, they didn't have the chance to reset and try again.
It was do or nothing.
/PIERCE!/
/SLASH!/
The Spear pierced forward towards his visor while the sword slashed diagonally towards his neck.
At the tip of the Spear, Yellow Mana gathered to form a cone, and at the edge of the sword, energy sprung from the hilt to cover it in a faint later.
Great if not Exceptional control, to the point their expressions didn't even change.
Fatal strikes, each possessing great power and finesse behind them, as to be expected from the people chosen for this task.
/FWOOSH/
/Clang!/
Dale raised his right hand, deflecting the spear thrust with his gauntlet while he blocked the sword strike with the chains around his left arm, however, his fingers still moved as he wrote something in the air…
/SWING!/
However, the woman wasn't unskilled, she quickly altered the course of her spear, piercing through the chains and swiping them away, allowing her partner to place his hand on Dale's chest.
An opportunity he wouldn't miss.
"!@#)(#"
/Shine…/
The man said something in a low tone in a language that wasn't immediately translated by the System, causing Dale to frown as he pulled his left leg a bit.
He felt heat spreading through his chest, but he ignored it for now.
"!!"
/SWOSH!/
The chains connected to his leg swiped bellow their feet, causing them to fall…
The man was surprised, he expected a reaction to have happened by now, and so did the girl, that was why they fell so easily.
A slight moment of carelessness.
But that was everything he needed.
/SLAM!/
"GUAH!"
Dale kicked the swordsman in the stomach, sending him flying back into the Abyss while he grabbed the woman's spear forcefully, raising it into the air while she struggled to maintain her grip over it.
All the while his left hand kept writing a long string of strange runes in the air, the words circled his wrist, coiling around it like wraps in an injured hand.
He then proceeded to kick her in the stomach, only to have her twist her body and lock her legs around his arm before kicking him right in the neck!
/BAAAAAM!/
The reverberations of her kick spread throughout the entire room, but despite that, Dale barely even moved.
"..."
His neck was moved a bit, but that was all.
The only one that felt pain was the girl as her leg wasn't protected and she just slammed her shin directly on metal.
Their eyes locked, and the girl felt her body freeze.
And as gravity seemingly vanished, she knew immediately that this would hurt...
"Shit…" She exclaimed as her world spun
/SLAM!/
Before she or anyone else had the time to react, Dale grabbed her by the hair, pulling her down before he slammed her face onto the solid earth…
He then raised his greaves, gathering a catastrophic amount of energy…
/SLAM!/
/SPLAT!/
[Ding]
[Player,... has died]
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Notes
Another chapter bigger than expected, a chap that was initially 3K words long ended up becoming three chapters each.
I added a lot of interactions between the characters and more fight scenes... Well, at least most of these chapters are fighting.
And so will be the next one. Peace!
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