chapter 60- Fight of pride

A black bamboo straw hat, a padded armor tunic that seems like what a Japanese ninja would wear in the Sengoku period. A katana in its hand, and the black sheath which was holstered behind the back of its waist belt, rather than the side of the belt.

I could barely see the face due to it facing down to the ground, so the hat and the darkness covered all its facial features. In that short amount of time, this person reached us and cut Tommy open, while having the protection of the Pillar of Light and a thick layer of armor, in a blink of an eye. That speed, that power, unfathomable.

My eyes were bloodshot, it was holding and dragging my brother across the ground like a garbage bag, to piss upon my friend's dignity and honor like that. How could a fellow human do such a thing?

But I wasn't a fool; I wasn't ready to die yet, but I was ready to kill, even another human.

"Halt, I plead with you, we can talk like human beings, there is no need for violence," I said. The truth was, if this guy got close enough, I would rip its heart out and eat it.

It didn't say a word, not a sound.

I sweated, and I knew Max was sweating as well. This thing before us, the question was if it was even human. If it was, then maybe communication was possible; probably it was the native of this realm. Did they understand? Was there a way to translate spoken words?

With a quick jerk of movement, I gripped my daggers in a guard cross, blocking an attack that aimed towards my chest, being pushed back and stumbling across the rocky floor. Its attacks were even faster than the beholder, and its strength was equal if not higher than the dark knight.

I barely could stand on my feet; I was facing the ground, vomiting. The vibration of the recoil reached my arms and my body. Numbness was the word to describe my arms.

I watched as the shoulder of Max was slashed open, blood spilling across the ground. I took back up, I barely could do anything.

When's plot armor when you need it? But I didn't need luck or fate to be on my side right now.

"You maggot, I demand an answer, or are you going to kill us? What are you, a murderer? Where is your humanity?" I grunted with frustration and desperation.

I closed my eyes, breathed in and out. Let my weapons flow as flexible as my fingers, as long as my arms, let it be one.

I reopened my eyes; good, it hadn't attacked yet. But I could only jinx myself that much until it actually happened, as the pressure of the wind pushed towards me, as it vanished with speed far greater than the sound barrier could handle, almost shattering my eardrums.

But I did the same trick as I did with the beholder, counter-attack. I thrust my dagger outwards at the same time; the wannabe samurai bent its legs.

Just as a blade was going to reach my eyes, it retracted, pulling its blade back. It wasn't prepared for a counter; I also pulled back.

Surprised it, but I didn't wound it. It was looking bad. This time it didn't want to use a contest between speeds; it looked like it wanted to see what I was worth.

"A challenge, I see. I accept."

Of course, if I could during our bout, I will definitely play dirty.

It dashed, not at the same speed as before this time. I could react as I blocked the first attack; it then went in with another three attacks. I parried all four attacks perfectly, yet it wasn't losing momentum with each attack; it was gaining more force for each attack.

It kept getting harder and harder.

I was backed up to a wall as it chopped at my head, trying to chop it off. I quickly jumped, using the wall as a platform over the head of my opponent. My dagger aimed towards its head, but it spun in a full one-eighty-degree turn, its blade above its head, blocking my attack with that maneuver.

I flipped back to my feet as they landed. I dodged a full-on body stab by that thing as I moved out of the way. It didn't stop its restless assault as it kept attacking and attacking. Its battle style seemed endless and repetitive but had volume to each attack.

I kept blocking and parrying. It was going easy on me; if it wanted, it would have killed me a thousand times over. To them, I was their toy; this was a game to them.

With a flip backwards, it kept dashing towards me. I needed a counter this time. I moved forward, our blades clashing for a split second, then the recoil bounced me off. I then did a roundhouse kick to try to catch it off guard.

Yet it seemed to know what my next movements were. It reversed the situation as it kicked below, tripping my other leg as it did a leg sweep.

My balance was too good to fall over again, so I did a handstand and flipped backwards once more. It kept rushing with those same attacks. I just kept blocking and blocking. I could finally see it, its pattern, its end goal. Each attack wasn't random or thoughtless but well thought-out and calculated. It was attacking, and I was blocking, but in doing so, I would have to move to a corresponding stance that would work in favor of my opponent. It seemed like it was kiting me, moving by its will. I was the puppet, and it was the puppeteer; our dance was no more than an interlinked web network.

I tried to escape that flow since I was the one not in control of the battle, yet it seems to want me to be its guinea pig.

Screw it, I attacked aiming for its throat, maybe its eyes, its wrist and its heart. But its blade was blocked and deflected. I stood a bit distance away, trying to escape the control of the flow which I did, successfully.

I heaved my chest up and down; I was nearly out of breath. But my opponent was calm and normal. Maybe I should use steal and take its sword? Maybe I should use mystic steal and take its skills?

I had to do something to escape, but then it got in a battle range, two hands on its weapon now, its feet firm to the ground. I too, got in a stance.

I still haven't seen what was underneath that sun hat. I got the perfect attack. I made my daggers disappear.

Instead, I changed my stance to the same as my opponent, reaching my hands over my head like I'm holding a blade in my hands. But there wasn't anything. My opponent seemed confused but didn't care.

It took a step forward as well as I did, that timing was the same, no delay. I needed to predict; its attack needed to do the same with no flaws.

We darted, leaping our feet in the air and lunging, swinging down, one with a blade, the other with nothing.

I watched as time seemed to freeze on me, the katana close to slicing my shoulder and my arm off my body. I then activated the skill, steal. The katana now vanished from my opponent and now within my own grasped, a complete turn of the situation. I was now the attacker, and my opponent was now the armless opponent.

As I cut through its shoulder, making it bleed for the first time since the beginning. It was still, I couldn't go any further, blade still stuck within the body. I let go of the blade and re-equipped my dagger aiming at its head. My opponent dodged, leaning back, that was until I saw its face, its head.

It was no human but a spider head on a humanoid figure.

My dagger ripping the sun hat off its head. Now its disgusting head was visible to all, well, only to me.

I smiled for the first time, maybe it was possible to kill this thing. But the spider swordsman went into a frog-like position and jumped, flipping explosively up onto the ceiling of the cavern thirty feet or more high.

It stared upside down, pulling the katana out of its shoulder.

I spread my fingers out to use mystic steal, but it did it faster as it reached its palm wide open as webs spread out from its fingertips, enveloping me with webs going around my body, capturing me.

As I was trapped, my body not moving, I watched in horror as I was stabbed with a blade sticking in my chest. Purple veins started to appear on my body, I was foaming at the mouth. I was losing my consciousness; I was fading out.

Blackness swallowed my vision.