Strange Robed Man

"Die, fucker!"

The warrior shouted as he performed a downward vertical smash.

Boom!

"You really shouldn't scream if you want to sneak attack me."

The warrior heard a voice behind him as he felt a force on the back of his neck.

He then collapsed unconsciously on the ground.

"Tsk, if I only have my dagger…"

Regis muttered as faced the attacks of the swordsmen head on.

Wush— Wush—

The two swordsmen struggled to land any attacks as he kept dodging them seamlessly.

However, it could be seen that Regis was being pushed back once again.

'Just a little more…'

Regis thought as he kept dodging.

'Finally!'

He exclaimed internally as he dodged the two swords by performing a backflip, grabbing the two-handed hammer of the warrior in the process.

"Ha! You're really overestimating yourself, brat!"

"Just because you can defend with a mace doesn't mean you can use a hammer too!"

…

The two swordsmen berated Regis as they simultaneously rushed at him.

"You're right, but…"

Regis smirked as he placed the hammer horizontally in front of him.

"...even though I can't wield a hammer…"

'...I sure can defend with it!'

Clang— Clang—

He continued in his mind as he successfully defended against the two swords.

In the past few weeks that he had been utilizing his gift of Perfect Adaptation, a certain question popped up in his mind.

What is adaptation?

It simply means that it was the process of receiving something and building tolerance towards it.

One question that plagued him was if he could mimic techniques with it.

He had read stories of heroes being able to replicate the attacks of their opponents just by seeing it once.

Unfortunately, he found out that his gift wasn't like that.

So far, the only information he acquired regarding his gift was the fact that he could adapt to anything.

Building tolerance against poison, making him practically immune to it.

And the ability to be able to adapt to any attack in three exchanges.

Regis analyzed that his adaptation to attacks using weapons of any kind was divided into three stages.

These stages were block, parry, and counter.

Though he still wasn't sure if this was also the case with energy techniques, his happiness didn't diminish one bit.

Clang— Clang—

Clang— Clang—

The two swordsmen were dumbfounded as they found it difficult to get through his defense.

They noticed that the way Regis wielded the hammer was amateurish.

However, they also found out that his movements seemed to be the best possible course of action.

This enabled Regis to successfully defend against their attacks.

Moreover, as time passed by, they felt his proficiency of using the hammer was also increasing.

Using the hammer in the most efficient way possible in order to defend.

This was the adaptation process that was currently happening caused by the two swordsmen's onslaught while Regis held the hammer in his hand.

"Just keep attacking!"

"We'll just continuously wound him until he gives in!"

…

The two swordsmen conversed with each other as they kept slashing.

"You know I can hear you, right?"

Regis asked sarcastically as he kept defending against them.

However, due to the overwhelming number of attacks he was facing, he only limited himself to defending the attacks that would cause large and fatal injury to him.

After all, he was also starting to get exhausted as the battle went by.

Clang—

He defended against the sword that went for his neck.

Slash—

However, he couldn't dodge or defend the sword that caused a shallow wound to his arm.

Nevertheless, the smirk on Regis's lips didn't disappear.

Despite his worsening situation, not an ounce of desperation nor fear could be found within his eyes.

Swoosh—

"I thought I told you already…"

Regis spoke as he heard an arrow cutting through the air.

He immediately turned his body.

Using the stem of the hammer, he accurately struck the head of the arrow, making it spin in mid air.

Trung!!!

Then, with the head of the hammer, he accurately struck the back of the arrow and sent it to where it came from.

Woosh!!!!

This time, the arrow travelled even faster.

"What the fu—"

Shuick!!!!

The archer couldn't finish his words as the arrow quickly pierced his eye.

He didn't even have the time to react before he collapsed on the ground, unmoving.

"...that I won't miss next time."

Regis spoke as he watched the archer fall.

"You cocky brat!"

"Die!"

…

Seeing the opening, the two swordsmen stabbed their swords towards his back.

Thud— Thud—

""Ehhh??""

The swordsmen became confused as they heard an unnatural sound.

It was a sound that shouldn't be heard from a sword stab.

The two of them could only look forward in horror as they saw Regis turning towards them with a smile on his face.

"Oh, I forgot. Your sword attacks don't work on me anymore"

Their confusion slowly turned to fear as they saw something– the wounds on Regis's body earlier, were now nowhere to be found.

Slam—!!!!

The heads of the two swordsmen smashed with each other as Regis performed a wide smash with his two-handed hammer.

Collapsing on the ground, the swordsmen died instantly.

Huff… Huff… Huff…

'Fighting without demonic power is really exhausting…'

Regis breathed heavily as he slowly turned towards the last bandit.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Interesting!!!"

However, the last bandit, the robed man, was only applauding him with a smile.

Not a hint of panic was on his face.

Seeing this, Regis frowned. 'He seems a little strange…'

The robed man spoke, "You're really strong! However, you seem to have a bad memory…"

"Bad memory?"

Regis's frown deepened, "What do you mea-"

"Haaa!!!"

He heard a loud shout behind him as he felt a pair of strong arms hug him tightly.

"Haha! I'm still alive, you monster!!!"

The warrior who fell unconscious earlier was now awake.

"Ahhh, fuck…" Regis smiled helplessly.

'Do I really need to use demonic power just to get rid of these trashes?'

He felt stumped as he had just decided to not rely on demonic power, yet here he was considering it already.

"Thanks for the advice earlier, hehe!" The warrior said sarcastically.

"Tsk."

Feeling the tight hug on his body, Regis didn't bother to struggle.

He was tired and couldn't use any energy.

Even the mana in his heart was too miniscule to be utilized.

"Are you going to kill me now?" Regis asked.

The robed man laughed, "Well, no. But I need to punish you for killing my minions."

"Eh? And how do you plan to do tha- fuck."

Regis couldn't help but curse as he sensed the mana gathering towards the robed man.

The mana then gradually materialized into a circle.

'He's a mage!?' Regis thought in shock.