Kraugr's Revenge

"It's here," Kraugr says with a deep serious voice full of malice.

"What 'it'?" I ask.

"The thing that defeated me."

"Oh, this is getting interesting," Zuriel says excitingly.

"Whatever you do, do not use physical attacks. Only magic or else, it'll return it to you ten-fold."

So that's why he was defeated. His fighting focuses mainly on heavy physical attacks.

"I'll handle it, then," Maat suggests.

"No, this is my fight. I will settle the score with this soulless thing. A thing like this defeating me—who sacrificed blood and sweat for hundreds of years training, makes my blood boil!"

Steam puffs out of his nostrils before he roars so loud, letting that thing know he's here. He barges into the floor alone and we follow after him. Then there, we see. It's a dummy made out of straws with its eyes glowing blue.

<The Dummy of Reincarnation Level 200>

"You guys stay back," he says as his fist emits red light. He's imbuing them with magic. "I will shred it into pieces!"

He fights it one on one. He's relentlessly chasing after it. I'm surprised by how fast and smart the dummy is. It's dodging and blocking without touching his magically-infused fists.

"The Dummy of Reincarnation," Zuriel says, rubbing his chin. "I never knew that the All-Seer has it as one of his toys."

"This is an old relic dating back from the Divine Calamity," Maat explains, looking a little distressed. "How did he get his hands on this?"

"From the CTO, I presume," Zuriel says.

"CTO?" I ask.

"Short for Chasmic Trading Organization."

That sounds like it's from the real world. "What's that?" I ask.

"Just a group of guys who collect relics and stuff from inside the Ring and sell them in exchange for gold or other things they'd like to have. That and among other things."

"So, like a black market?"

"Yup, that's the right way to put it. I tried to buy something from them once."

I sense that it's something dumb.

"They charge too high for an essence that makes women hungry for you."

Now, what did I say?

"But of course, I won't need that," he winks at Maat, slowly gliding his hand around her waist. "I already have one gorgeous woman that's head-over-heels for me."

"As if," she scoffs, folding her arms but letting him kiss her cheek.

Ugh! Why of all places?

"I'll forget I saw that," I mutter, turning my sight to the fight.

The dummy is still playing defense, letting Kraugr chase it around the place. I think it's trying to exhaust him. He has to realize that but I won't tell him. He's too angry. I will be as good as dead if I tell him that he's doing badly. Not that I could do any better.

"It's playing with him," Maat chuckles behind me. "What a blockhead."

"Hey, that's not nice, you bad girl," Zuriel says as he pokes her sides. She chuckles.

What's wrong with these two? Thank goodness Kraugr is with us so I can say I'm not the only one with a sane—

He's so agitated, thrashing around like an animal as he couldn't land a hit to the dummy.

Forget it, I'm the only normal person here. Too normal, in fact, because these three are ridiculously strong. Now, do I have to be a crackhead if I want to be strong? Zaori too is strong and is definitely a crackhead.

Kraugr charges at the dummy at full strength. It stops to stand its ground. It's finished!

*Boom*

Woah! That was a heavy blow! I'm squinting because of the gusts of wind and dust but when it's over, I'm even more dumbfounded. The dummy strikes back with its own powerful punch! Ten times stronger than what Kraugr dealt!

"I'm confused about who is the real dummy here," Maat spites.

"He ran out of mana at the last second," says Zuriel.

"And the dummy knew?" I ask.

"It can read a person's status. Their mana, injury, buff, and among other things."

"Then how are we supposed to defeat that?"

"You won't!" Kraugr bellows. "Because I will!" His face is swelling and his mouth is dripping with blood.

"No, you're injured," I reason. "Let me help y—"

His glare is enough for me to swallow the words I just uttered. He's gonna kill me if I interfere with his fight. Okay, let him be. . .

Zuriel and Maat laugh at me. He says, "I guess that's his version of saying 'No thanks'."

"Know his vocabulary," she adds.

"Shut up," I growl at them. "You guys aren't even funny."

Why do I always have to be surrounded by annoying people? Ugh, I miss Nisha's kind company and Helena's adorableness. I can't believe I take them for granted. If I get out of here, I promise I won't.

The magical infusion around Kraugr's fists is back. I'm surprised that he suddenly becomes cautious with his approach, advancing slowly as he puts on his stance. He launches a jab and a hook which the dummy evaded. Then he surprises it with a roundhouse kick. It is without infusion so the dummy isn't afraid to take it. It encourages him to do it even. But no, he infuses his leg with magic at the last moment! A solid hit!

There it goes hitting the solid glass window with a very loud thud echoing in the place. Its straws are scattered all over the air!

"Siu!" Zuriel cheers.

"Now, we're talking," Maat says.

The dummy picks itself up and has grown as weary as Kraugr. I feel that this fight is gonna get serious from now on. They clash again and the dummy desperately wants to retaliate. Wait, it has emotions of its own? I thought it was only a soulless thing.

I remark, "Is it just me, or does this dummy acts like a real person?"

Zuriel explains, "The thing is, the way it works is by taking the Frame and memory of a dead person. It's like the reincarnation of someone but in a lifeless object."

"So, who's this inside of it now?"

"I'm not sure but I heard it was the All-Seer's long-lost friend."

Long lost friend. . . This thing?

The winner is getting more obvious as the fight stretches out. The loser loses more, taking damage after damage. It is the dummy that is losing. The straws on its body are shedding from Kraugr's punches until the red Frame inside its body gets exposed.

"Victory is mine this time!" he concludes, grabbing the Frame. "Whoever you are, rest in pieces!" Finally, he shatters it in his fingers like it's made of sand.

"Thank you. . .," a whisper says. I think that was from the soul of the dummy.

That's the end of it. A well-fought battle. Kraugr got his revenge and the person in that dummy got their deserved rest.

"Nice fight, Kraugr!" Zuriel compliment as they bump fists.

"It was easy," Kraugr boasts although he's injured all over. "It caught me off-guard the first time we fought. I knew I'm gonna win this time. How about that?" he taunts me.

I avert my gaze shamefully. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you 'are' sorry. Don't ever underestimate me again, boy. You still have a lot to learn."

I know that. Compared to you who lived hundreds of years in this world, I'm still learning everything from scratch. Don't worry, I'll surpass you in time. Just watch.

They leave most of the "floor cleaning" to me so I leveled up a few times. Carmillo's skill tree is a bit complicated with a lot of words I can't understand. They're written in Latin. I just upgrade those that I can upgrade without thinking too much. I don't have time for that, after all. All I notice is that I became faster, tougher, stronger, replenish more effectively, and the bats I summon have increased in size. It's not even my main Daemon Frame so it's okay. This is a hack-and-slash Frame, unlike Algron which requires me to carefully choose the path I want to take according to the way I want to fight my battles in the future.

"You're getting used to this, huh?" Zuriel remarks as we climb the staircase.

"A little bit," I say.

"That's good."

We have arrived at the next floor. This time, it's unusually large. How could this be? I still remember that the building looked like a vertical cuboid from the outside. Here, it's a whole arena like those in ancient Greece. . . or Rome? I'm not sure which but you get the point.

"What the hell?" I mutter.

"We're in His domain," Maat says. "I'll face this foe. Like Kraugr, I'll secure my revenge!"