Fighter Supreme

Thankfully, for Arthur, his ears were a better indication of movement compared to his pair of eyes. He perked up his eyes and focused on the movement in the air.

For something as large as the zombie general, it was quite easy to pick out his movement compared to the other critters hiding in the dark. The movement of the air waves he made was much more conspicuous compared to others.

This meant that Arthur practically heard him coming. The general free-fell through the air like a meteor heading for earth, in a way, it kinda reminded Arthur of his experience when the moon was crashing to the ground back when he was trapped alongside Lady Myra in the painting.

It was that same sense of exhilaration and imminent danger. The difference being the zombie general was travelling much faster than the moon and he had a clear target in Arthur.

Arthur rolled out of the way and seconds later, the zombie general slammed to the ground and the impact shattered all the tiles on the floor.

If Arthur failed to predict the general's movement and allowed the enemy to fall into him, he would be mushed into a pulp. Just the thought of that possibility made a chill run up Arthur's spine.

The crash landing sent a tremor through the ground. The quaking it caused was much more violent than the one caused by the roar earlier. This time, Arthur found it to be somewhat difficult to hold his balance. He teetered dangerously as his body threatened to topple to the ground.

Just as the young man was trying to find his balance, he saw the sharp end of something long coming right at him. It was aiming right at his head.

The general had already regained his balance and he used the staff the poke at Arthur's head!

Acting on instinct, Arthur screamed right at the weapon. The rebound in his voice sent him flying backwards, thus evading the attack that would have plucked his head right off. Arthur was given a brief glimpse into the rotting zombie's feeling when Arthur decapitated it earlier.

The situation was much too urgent for Arthur to come up with any plan. The shout that he elicited was the most basic form of vocal materialization. Its aim was simple, which was to push Arthur away from the dangerous weapon.

The force that sent Arthur backwards continued to travel forward before coming into contact with the zombie general. The enemy faced it fearlessly. The force knocked into the general but was unable to make him budge. He barely moved an inch from where he was standing.

Seeing this, sweat trailed down Arthur's face. Granted, the shot of vocal materialization was done in a hurry but it should carry all the punch that one would come to expect from this skill.

Arthur had used this skill before to move boulders and send enemies flying from the ground but now, it failed to even budge the zombie general. The adversary was completely unfazed. This did not bode well for Arthur.

Arthur was more of a tactical fighter, using the nuances of the environment and his voice to tip the battle to his favour. He was not one who normally used pure force to overwhelm his opponent.

Unfortunately, the zombie general did not give him the chance to do any planning. The general was the fast and furious type.

After Arthur's shout faded away, the general pressed forward instantly. With just a jump, he managed to close the distance between them. The general was physically impressive and impossibly agile in his life and that agility did not seem to be affected by his current state of being undead.

The general swiped the staff upwards trying to knock Arthur's head off his shoulders. Arthur ducked at the last minute, avoiding the attack by the breath of one's hair. The general did not get demotivated, if anything, his attacks had only gotten more relentless. He quickly pulled the staff back and slammed the edge down in one fell swoop.

The staff arced through the air and Arthur managed to evade it by rolling to the side. The staff that missed Arthur formed a perfect hole on the ground. This went to show the force that was behind the swing.

The general followed through with the movement of the staff and poked the staff into the ground. Using the staff as a support beam, the general leaped up from the ground and aimed a kick right at Arthur.

Due to the earlier roll, Arthur was still trying to get up from the ground. The smooth and relentless series of attacks from the zombie general had truly overwhelmed Arthur. The young man had faced fast enemies before, but they were not as fast as this. Furthermore, the zombie general had a mastery over close-quarter combat that could not be rivaled by Arthur's previous adversaries.

The zombie general was fast and knew how to work that agility into his attacks to his overall advantage.

Arthur had just recovered from his roll when the kick from the zombie general came. It was physically impossible for Arthur to evade an attack like that. He was not that good with his body movement. After all, Arthur had been relying more on the power of his voice rather than his physique.

The kick landed squarely on Arthur's chest and the young man felt the wind had been knocked right out of his lungs. If he was physically weaker, Arthur would have spat out blood right there and then.

Arthur collapsed to the ground, feeling absolutely winded. The series of evasion had already exhausted plenty of his energy and that kick to the chest knocked more power out of the young man.

Arthur rubbed the soreness on his chest.

As expected, the final guardian of this crypt was not an easy enemy. However, Arthur was not going to give up without a fight. There was a resolute glow in his eyes as he looked at the zombie general. A man proves his worth on the battlefield, and Arthur was about to prove that he had grown from a boy to a man.