Death March — Fixed

“Greetings from the battlefield, this is your commentator, Alex--no Tek. -- I’m expecting to get even more skills, I can feel my tension rising; and while pretending to be dead and hiding behind my now gray cloak I activate many skills, but--I didn’t expects a situation like this. Well then, let’s get started with - “Let’s Dance with Demons--The final part!”

I quickly take a two-handed sword from my storage, and at the same time, the Mages begin their counterattack, after waiting so long behind the soldiers.

Fireball, Firestorm, Wind Blade, Lightning--well these are my names for the spells which rain down onto the Demon at the same time--they also land on me, who seems to be petrified near the Demon.

Soon afterwards, more attacks come: Stone Bullet, Sandstorm, Water Ball, Snowstorm.

Then the last attack--a simple pillar of light that pierced the heavens.

Again, I state that these are names for spells that I came up with on the fly, basing them from both what they look like and spells from games--they may have cooler names, if I were to ask the Mages.

 

>>Skill: Fire Magic Acquired.

>>Skill: Wind Magic Acquired.

>>Skill: Lightning Magic Acquired.

>>Skill: Fire Resistance Acquired.

>>Skill: Wind Resistance Acquired.

>>Skill: Earth Magic Acquired.

>>Skill: Water Magic Acquired.

>>Skill: Ice Magic Acquired.

>>Skill: Earth Resistance Acquired.

>>Skill: Water Resistance Acquired.

>>Skill: Ice Resistance Acquired.

>>Skill: Light Magic Acquired.

>>Skill: Light Resistance Acquired.

 

The Log seemed to blur as the messages appeared at incredible speed.

Maybe because of my Level, the damage isn’t much--but it still feels rather unpleasant.

The Demon seems to thing the same, and began to return Lightning Magic back to the Mages.

Probably predicting this barrage of Lightning, the Mages raised a barrier before the spells even had a chance to hit them.

After being hit by the magic earlier, my robe and shield shattered.

Being a small distance away from the Demon, I rapidly stand up and jump towards it, closing the distance in a second--and swing the two-handed sword at the Demon’s large, ugly, head.

But it seemed to sense my attack and quickly tilted its head, causing my slash to cut off one of its horns.

 

>>Skill: Two-Handed Sword Acquired.

>>Skill: Helm Splitter Acquired.

>>Skill: Air Combat Acquired.

>>Skill: Weapon Destruction Acquired.

 

The soldiers are looking over here, while talking to each other about something. They are probably surprised that I managed to not only survive their barrage of Magic, but also launch a spirited counterattack.

With my now disheveled long blond hair swaying in the wind, my silver mask reflected the sunlight as I faced the Demon again--I had the suspicion that the hooded robe wouldn’t suffice, so I added a wig and mask to my disguise--just in case.

After receiving even that much concentrated Magic, the Demon only suffered about 20% of his health in damage.

I place the two-handed sword over my shoulder, placing the flat of the blade on my skin. I have no problem wielding the weapon, but it is more difficult to balance correctly because pf the strange weight and shifts as I swung it. It’s good that I have become younger, but since my body is also lighter, it makes battle a little more difficult.

For now, the Demon is getting too close to the Mages’ position, I need to lead it away and further into the plaza.

I don’t want you to misunderstand me, this isn’t because of some sort of idiotic heroism, or not wanting anymore victims--the reason is actually fairly selfish: they may do damage to the Demon, but also make it difficult for me to fight--it also might make me feel guilt if they are all annihilated--

Taking advantage of the dip in my attention, as my thought get derailed, the Demon attacks me--dashing along, its clawed arms extended towards me, trying to spear me with its long digits.

Even if I tried to shake it off by darting around and blocking with my two-handed sword, it doggedly closed the distance, not letting me get away; in this situation, the two-handed sword was a handicap for me, so it would be better if I got rid of it.

I threw the sword at the Demon, causing it to block instead of attacking me, and take that chance to take a hatchet out of my robe and swing it at the Demon.

But, because the hatchet cut deeper into the armour-like black skin, I had to leave it there and jump back to avoid the Demon’s mad counter.

 

>>Skill: One-Handed Axe Acquired.

 

While empty-handed, I’m exchanging blows with the Demon, rapidly trying to retreat. Sometimes, I pick up the weapons that the soldiers had dropped, to add damage to my attacks. Since I haven’t activated physical-attack related skills, I am only doing small amounts of damage.

Should I break the deadlock soon?

While no soldier has died yet, almost all the knights have wounds all over their bodies, only a few are unhurt. The Demon was definitely restricting its power and playing, aiming to exhaust the Humans before toying them to death--otherwise there would be a lot of casualties.

It seems that the Mages have run out of Magic Power, they are no longer attacking.

Seemingly, it’s not only me who can see the situation, because the castle gate opens and several horses come out, pulling on a cannon.

I position myself to grab the Demon’s attention from the gate, to allow time for the cannon to be set up. I quickly change position to the wreckage, and when I get to them I make sure I have the Demon’s attention, before ducking down and drawing even more weapons from my storage.

Placing a blacksmith’s hammer handle first through my belt loop, I hold a massive battle-axe in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other. This wouldn’t be practical for normal people, but because of my enormous STR stat, I can wield them just fine.

Maybe because I now look heavily armed, the Demon’s expression has become more vicious.

Jumping from behind the remains of a carriage, I strike first with the sledgehammer.

The Demon guarded with both his right hands--but I ignored it and swung in from the opposite side with the two-handed axe.

Yes--One of his left arms fell off!

Hmm, I remember in some mangas and animes, when a Demon loses their arm--it could attack independently--or at least cause havoc, or regrow.

Let’s try to remember to pay attention to that arm--

 

>>Skill: Two-Handed Axe Acquired.

>>Skill: Two-Handed Hammer Acquired.

>>Skill: Duel-Wielding Acquired.

>>Skill: Herculean Strength Acquired.

 

Even though I have been fighting rather frantically, switching between Axe and Hammer--I am unable to use both at the same time, because I can’t pause long enough to put skill points in my new skills--the cannon still isn’t prepared.

The Demon begins to breath in deeply.

Magic is incoming!

I move quickly, closing the distance rapidly, trying to disrupt the Demon--which was a bad move.

The Demon let out an Acid Breath attack.

Even though I saw it once--

I completely forgot that it has this kind of attack--

Moving on instinct, I guarded with the Axe blade, holding it upright like a shield--but it broke almost immediately, along with my wig and what remained of my robe, which burned horribly.

“Ouch--Dammit!” I muttered as I quickly ducked behind the nearest cover and threw off the remains of the robe, pulling another from storage draping it over my shoulders.

I wore commoner clothing under the robe, and there is also a large hole burned into the shirt as well--I spent money buying them just yesterday, and one shirt is ruined.

If the surface area of the axe had been much smaller, my face would have been burned as well--

 

>>Skill: Decay Resistance Acquired.

>>Skill: Quick Dressing Acquired.

 

I allocate skill points to both Decay Resistance and Quick Dressing--I wonder how many skills there are? I really could use the help of a wiki--

Since the axe is no longer usable as a weapon, I throw it away; then I draw the blacksmith hammer from my belt loop--since it didn’t really seem like it would be affective, I decided to put it back into my inventory when I got the skill.

 

>>Skill: One-Handed Hammer Acquired.

>>Skill: Blacksmith Acquired.

 

Umm, I think blacksmithing is quite different to this--

Meanwhile, the installation of the cannon is complete, but it still seems that it will require even more time before it can fire--

I pick up the sledgehammer that I had discarded earlier.

Of course, the Demon doesn’t let up with his attacks--but either it is because of the Evasion skill that I got earlier, or I’m getting used to fighting, but I seem to have some more of a margin in this fight.

I really should end this fight soon.

Still dodging the Demon’s attacks, I allocate skill points into the One-Handed Sword skill.

Oh, it seems that the cannon is ready to fire, and the Mages on both sides begin to cast spells--the Demon actually seems rather worried about the cannon, it quickly changes targets and charges towards the cannon, taking the chance when I avoided its tail attack.

With a sigh, I discard the heavy sledgehammer, picking up a random sword which was laying on the ground as I chase it; the Demon, with agility that seems impossible for such a huge body, jumps over the multiple soldiers which tries to block it.

The soldier in light armour, with a spear, try to cower out of the way, but they become prey to the Demon’s poisonous claws--but the Demon suddenly stops.

Just like the Demon, I jump over the soldiers and swing my sword in mid-air, managing to cut off one of the Demon’s bat-like wings; with a grin I pierce one of its legs with the full length of the sword’s blade, pinning it into the ground. After getting the Sword Skill, I can somehow understand some of the principles behind swordsmanship.

There is only 30% of the Demon’s health bar remaining.

Furthermore, I pull the remaining arm on the Demon’s left side to the ground and pin it there with the Dagger in my belt, pounding it into the stone with the blacksmith hammer. The Demon lets out an ear piercing howl, its remaining two right arms flailing in agony.

 

>>Skill: Fighting Acquired.

>>Skill: Capture Acquired.

 

I glance over at the man who looks to be the commander, standing calmly by the side of the cannon and seeming to measure the best time to fire at the Demon--I quickly draw a spear from my inventory, and pin one of the remaining right arms of the Demon to the ground, before nodding towards the commander.

He doesn’t hesitate and swings his arm down, at the same time, I jump out of the line of fire.

The cannon shoots out what looks like glowing buckshot, causing innumerable wounds to appear on the Demon’s armour-like black skin--moreover, as a final blow, the Mages launch a barrage of Magic, like earlier.

I wonder if the cannon can shoot multiple rounds, since it didn’t finish off the dying Demon--the Mages don’t seem to have enough Magic power either, since only three people cast spells.

I could end it if I run there with my sword, but let’s give the honour of the killing blow to those guys. Like I said earlier, this isn’t out of goodwill, but they would probably react badly if I stole the kill.

The Demon managed to stop flailing around, and used its one remaining right hand to lift its body from the ground and roared--a lightning bolt flew from its mouth and caused the cannon to explode.

Is there no one who can use a barrier anymore?

Then slightly late, the Mages use Magic to shave away a little of the Demon’s HP--and knights get off their horses and sidle up to the Demon with their longswords drawn.

It seems that the Demon’s life will end after it is completely encircled, huh?

The end can already be seen--but the Demon hasn’t given up yet.

With a strange noise, the Demon thrusts its free hand into its chest, pulling out a dark red heart. The heart is beating quickly, beginning to pulse harder--matching the violent movement, light begins to appear and over flow.

The knights hurriedly try to destroy the heart, but they don’t make it in time.

With a loud ‘pop’, the heart explodes, the light flashing out like a shockwave.

When the light subsides, several of the Mages who set up barrier have become corpses, and only the lower half of the Demon’s body remains; the ground is gouged out in a fan shape, following the direction the Demon was facing--towards the castle gate--which has been partially destroyed.

The remains of the Demon’s corpse falls apart and becomes a strange black dust.

In the following chaos, I slip into the alley, and hide myself.

 

>>Title: Combat-Ready Acquired.

>>Title: Skilled Warrior Acquired.

>>Title: One Who Dances with Demons Acquired.

>>Title: Hero Acquired.

 

--I wonder if that last one is sarcasm.