Chapter 31: A Beast.

One of the gargoyles dashed forward and slashed with their halberd diagonally but John simply evaded and moved closer. Exploiting the gap left by the side swing and using his superior speed he summoned his demon machete and slashed.

*Chop!* *Spurrrt!* ''RAAAARGHH!''

Taking off both of the gargoyle's hands. Not letting up, he then unsummoned the demon's machete and replaced it with the caestus which he used to deliver a brutal straight to the gargoyle's face.

*Crack!* *Boom!*

Most of the gargoyle's face was caved in from the force behind the blow as it was sent reeling back. The beast spun on his heel and quickly assessed his situation.

'/One disabled, one stunned, one dead, one functional./'

/'Stunned one recovered, disengage target. Duck./'

He narrowly ducked a halberd aimed for his face. Without letting it pass over him he grabbed the halberds hilt and directed its direction to the ground. And when the halberd blade hit the roof and got lodged inside it he stomped down on it. Pinning it underfoot.

Suddenly, he felt his instinct flare up. He sensed an attack heading toward his vitals. However, with his current position, he couldn't respond to it lest his first target escapes so he decided to take it on the chin.

'{Deadman's Style: Grit}!'

Using his muscles that were already performing at their full potential as well as his immense control over his own body he hardened and tightened his muscles to brace for the impact. While also spamming heal with whatever focus he had left.

But due to the fact that his instinct was rough and inexperienced, he failed to properly discern where exactly the attack was heading.

His head.

*Chop!*

He brought up his arm to intercept it but the strength of the enraged gargoyle cleanly chopped off his arm without much resistance and continued heading for his head.

*Gouge!*

The blade dug deep into the side of his head, gouging out most of the left side of his face. Scattering teeth, brain, and shards of bone onto the roof.

Yet despite his grievous injuries, the beast was still laughing like a maniac. Even though his nerves and body were screaming out in pain he ignored them as he laughed.

"/Hahahahahah!!!/"

Yet all that the gargoyle saw was the maw of a beast covered in black mist widening. The frozen gargoyle couldn't even react as the beast mouthed the words.

"{Force}."

A giant shockwave erupted around the undead which sent the gargoyles reeling backward. But due to the abuse it had suffered throughout the fight, the roof finally gave in from the shockwave, sending John plummeting down.

But thanks to this the gargoyle halberd was disarmed from the gargoyle and was freefalling along with John. He grabbed the oversized halberd that was floating in the air and spun around to gather momentum, then slashed the gargoyle who took his arm off, giving it a deep gash on the shoulder before succumbing to the chains of gravity.

*Bam!*

Unfortunately, the fall didn't last forever as John hit the ground, hard. Twisting his legs strangely. But that, along with his numerous other wounds got rapidly healed by the black and white mist floating around him. Groaning, he pushed himself up from the pile of rubble.

'/Body weak. Tired, crumbling. Stamina insufficient./'

Even though the wounds might have healed the accumulated exhaustion hadn't. And draining his focus completely had given him a splitting headache. His body barely responded to him.

(A mere human cannot challenge the world.)

It was impossible for a man like him to challenge Lordran. To challenge beings that are, far, far stronger than himself. He was a human trying to complete an inhuman task.

He got up while using the halberd as a crutch. Legs shaking.

'/Isn't the solution simple then?/'

'/Then I just have to become something beyond human./'

Pain doesn't matter. Injuries don't matter. Without suffering. Unaffected. Immovable.

'/Become unstoppable./'

< {Pain tolerance lv.10(max)} has evolved into {Dreadnought lv.1} >

Suddenly, as if he wasn't tired at all he stood upright. And bent his knees.

'{Deadman Style: Leap}!'

And shot back onto the roof like a bullet.

*Crash!!!*

The moment he landed on solid ground he got into position and held the halberd in a reversed grip. He tensed all of his muscles and threw the giant halberd like a javelin.

'{Deadman style: Bullet}!'

*Stab!*

The halberd flew like an arrow and lodged itself on the back of one of the gargoyles. Drawing out a pained roar and alerting the other two.

The only gargoyle without wounds charges at him. In response, he summoned his Deadman's blade in his only remaining hand.

Once again he stood tall. His armor tattered beyond recognition. Missing an arm. Dead tired. About to collapse at any moment. Yet not faltering in the slightest. The only thing intact was the red hellkite cape fluttering behind him.

At this very moment. Even as his body grew more monstrous by the second did he feel truly alive. Power surged in his veins. Undying. His beast-like senses heightened to the limit. No blade was able to fell him.

He didn't know what was happening to him.

He didn't need to.

/It just felt so right./

{Thus the tale continued...}

The gargoyle went with a strong diagonal swing. But instead of dodging or blocking the monster challenged it head on, responding with a slash of his own.

*Clash!* *Clash!* *Clash!*

They clashed multiple times in quick succession. Even though the gargoyle was more skilled than the beast but his absurd instincts allowed him to bridge that gap. And his Deadman style along with Mad hollow combat actually allowed him to overpower the gargoyle in a clash.

Just as he was about to clash with another swing again, he jumped up slightly to avoid the axe tail aiming for his legs. He turned to look at the perpetrator which was the armless gargoyle.

{Deadman Style: Skewer!}

*Pierce!*

He quickly fixed that problem by spearing the sword through the gargoyle's chest at extreme speeds, affixing them to the wall. Thus killing them. Just as quickly as he dispatched the armless one, he summoned a Demon Machete and intercepted another strike.

*Clash!*

As the clash happened he left the machete and quickly switched to a spear then chucked it at the gargoyle. It quickly went to block it but as it did the monster switched to the Black Knight Greatsword and used Deadman Style to slash.

*Spurrt!*

He drew a giant line on the gargoyle's midsection but in the process got struck away by the halberd. In order to not be thrown off the roof and to his certain death, his clawed fingers sunk into the roof and dragged across it. Helping him narrowly avoid plummeting to his death.

and even better was the fact that he had ended up close to his severed limb. He rose up from his position and nonchalantly strode over to the arm as the gargoyles wailed in agony. When he got to it he simply picked it up and stuck it onto the bleeding stub.

*Fshhhhh.*

When the severed points made contact, the black and white mist surrounding John swirled around it and mended the two parts together rather painfully. He clenched and unclenched his hand a few times before nodding in satisfaction.

But now, filled with more anger the monster slowly strode over the gargoyle clutching its midsection to keep its guts in. The sheer bloodlust emanating from the beast sent the gargoyle into a panic.

*crusch.* *crusch.* *crusch.*

Every step of his dug into the roof tiles and shattered them. His stride was filled with excitement and hunger along with rage. His face was covered in void-like shadow, the only thing escaping it was a burning violet eye and a feral grin that stretched so inhumanely wide it drew blood.

As he drew closer, the gargoyle attempted yet another desperate flail but alas the beast just effortlessly sidestepped it.

After finally reaching the beast he swung down with his bare hands. Crushing the gargoyle's arm. The gargoyle tried to reach out with its other arm but he simply grabbed it and using immense force snapped it in half.

*Snap!* "Raaaaaurg!"

Before the gargoyle could even think to release a fire breath the beast slashed its throat open with his claws. And now that the Gargoyle was rendered helpless the monster raised it up and opened his gaping maw.

*Crunch*

And bit down. Ripping a large chunk of flesh out of the gargoyle's shoulder and swallowing.

Yet it seemed like that wasn't enough as he ravenously started devouring the gargoyle. Its screams falling on deaf ears. By the time the other gargoyle recovered enough to help his friend the only sight he saw was a blood-covered beastlike figure munching a disembodied leg.

The moment he noticed the gargoyle he quickly swallowed the rest of the leg and dashed at the gargoyle with speed even faster than before. The gargoyle brought its arms up in a cross shape to intercept the knee.

*Slam!* *Snap!*

The gargoyle's arms snapped from the force and it was sent crashing into the wall. But as it was pulling itself out of the rubble it was met with the beast leaning over him.

It was about to breathe fire toward him before it could the beast grabbed its snout and crushed it. His grin feral as blood leaked off of it. And surprisingly it let go of its snout and returned back to leaning over the gargoyle, seemingly anticipating something.

The gargoyle reached for its halberd and swung, but he simply grabbed it by the handle and yanked it off the gargoyle's hands. Then snapped it over his knees before resuming position. Grin widening even further, seemingly mocking the gargoyle.

It tried throwing its shield but it was knocked away. It tried scratching but its arms were broken. It tried kicking, but its legs were broken. And each time he stood there with a vicious mocking and amused grin.

But after the gargoyle stopped struggling the grin just faded, replaced by a neutral expression as shadows covered his face. With almost robotic movements he summoned his sword and with the burning and collapsing roof behind him, he stabbed the sword through the chest of the gargoyle.

And passed out.

[VICTORY ACHIEVED]