34 - Eerie Hero

The monster's sword swung down with more power than a skeletal arm should be able to summon. I evaded the attack by the skin of my teeth and spun around as the blade passed me, striking with all my force to smack into his weapon.

Grimshade swiveled his torso to dodge, a feat of flexibility that twisted his joints beyond their normal range, and he struck my blind spot.

I dodged a series of thundering strikes that followed, each powerful enough to shatter boulders, using all my mental capacity to determine how to land a lethal strike.

Every time I moved my arms, my blood spilled out and evaporated, my bones screeched, my entrails wailed. Every tendon in my body had torn and healed repeatedly, recombining imperfectly. I'd forced my level 8 body to endure damaging high speeds and power that shattered walls with my hatchet, and this had consequences. My body wasn't strong enough to handle this forced performance increase from the buff skills.

And why? All to fight Grimshade without dying. Still, my chances kept getting slimmer and slimmer. Though we seemed evenly matched, my opponent was an undead monster who wouldn't get tired. I was already breathing heavily and feeling the drag of my reckless performance increase. Even worse, my buff skills would run out soon.

Regrettably, Grimshade was more experienced in combat than I'd hoped. I had increased my speed and power to match him, but he'd seen through almost all of my bluffs and used Shadowstep to attack my blind spots. Defeating him in a matter of minutes seemed almost impossible.

In that case... I did have one more trick up my sleeve, although the strain on my body would increase.

I took a half step away from him and launched a flurry of attacks. At this distance, I focused on dodging his attacks since his longer falchion held an advantage over my shorter daggers. As I remained vigilant against attacks I couldn't block one-handed, I drew a magic circle with my left hand, darted into his blind spot, and then launched another flurry of attacks.

In the game, you could pause the input of an attack and pick it up again as long as less than a second had passed. I'd tested that the same held true in this world.

Grimshade saw how I began forming the outlines of a magic circle and activated the one-handed sword skill |Savage Stripe| to interfere with my casting. The instant before he activated his skill, he lowered his center of mass, turned his blade horizontally, and swept it from left to right. It was possible to predict the path of his |Savage Stripe| attack if you knew the reach of his weapon. I had anticipated he knew this skill because of his job as a [Shadow Walker] and his having four available skills.

'I've seen that attack a million times before!'

With the boost from |Savage Stripe|, the tip of his falchion went faster than the speed of sound. Despite being too quick to see, I knew where it was going.

When I got close to Grimshade again and caught his skilled-up weapon with both hands on my dagger, sparks erupted from the blades. Luckily, I'd stopped his momentum. Rather than jumping or crouching to evade Savage Stripe, I blocked the attack to not be at a disadvantage.

Amid a terrifying frenzy of clashing weapons, Grimshade and I switched places with each other so much that I felt dizzy. Nonetheless, I used the opportunity to draw more of my magic circle and noticed it emitted a pale green light.

"Here goes nothing!" I shouted. "Come dance with me! |Skystep Waltz|!"

|Skystep Waltz| was a skill that belonged to the advanced job of Sword Dancer and allowed the user to create footholds in any place in the air they liked. This function kept the fight open regardless of the environment and expanded the variety of tactics.

However, I'd run out of mana within thirty seconds due to the skill's excessive consumption per second. I could now incorporate a vertical component to launch strikes in my fighting style. Close-combat fights using Aerial against other players had been my party trick in The Conquest.

I aimed at Grimshade with my dagger from all directions, mixing genuine attacks with bluffs. It was impossible to remember which direction was up, given dizzying changes of direction and viewpoint. While this confused me, it wasn't a problem because I could create footholds anywhere. The most important thing to remember was to target the enemy's weak points and keep them on their toes.

Repeatedly changing directions in midair, though, put an immense strain on my legs. My feet would give out before I ran out of mana.

'Gah... This is tough... But I've finally landed a hit!'

A first successful swipe from behind left Grimshade vulnerable, and he fell prey to further attacks that caused him to stumble. Sparks flew as my blade struck his armor, accompanied by a cacophony of clanging metal. The bones beneath his armor were themselves as strong as iron, and my steel dagger gradually lost its shape.

'Let's end this, here and now!!!'

I put all my strength into each blow while ensuring each slash formed the next step in a pattern, the manual motions required to activate a skill. Soon, my weapon became a twisted lump of steel, unrecognizable as a dagger, but that didn't matter.

"Bro..." Sophia called out. "Beat him!!!"

"Time to die!" I screamed. "|Piercing Drive!!!|"

To answer my yell, Grimshade explosively projected Aura from his entire body and chanted a skill name of his own, |Aerial Fracture|.

The tremendous energy we both released collided and created a massive shock wave.

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Sophia Garcia's POV.

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For as long as I could remember, my brother had always looked out for me. He'd been there when I'd collapsed at school, and the kids in the neighborhood had picked on me because I got lost in the mountains. I couldn't protect myself and would not be able to stay by his side as he grew up unless that changed.

That was why I'd worked so hard to get stronger, so we could one day walk the path ahead together. I stopped being a picky eater, started drinking plenty of milk, and tried harder at school.

One day, bro had announced that he would take the entrance exam for Adventurers' Academy. He probably wanted to follow her, that woman.

Adventurers' Academy was a superelite school. Its academic results were impeccable; it accepted fewer than one percent of applicants, and many graduates became famous adventurers. And somehow, bro had passed. I felt conflicted. Part of me had wanted to cheer him on and be proud of his accomplishment. Another part worried I could no longer reach him.

There was only one solution: I needed to get into Adventurers' Academy too. I would prove I could pass the exam and catch up to him. From that day on, I studied and trained like crazy, forcing myself through a lot. I'd spent plenty of time researching the dungeon and Focus, the top clan. That even led me to attend a martial arts school.

As I studied, the image my father had planted in my mind of what it meant to be an adventurer expanded and filled out. I realized that I'd only seen a tiny fraction of the world. Day by day, I fell more in love with the idea of becoming an adventurer, inspiring me to study and train even harder.

Shortly after bro had entered Adventurers' Academy, he explained that he'd head to the dungeon immediately. I asked him to take me along, expecting him to refuse. To my surprise, he'd accepted. I couldn't wait! After hearing that, I ate larger meals, ran even more, and got my body in good shape. At least, I hoped I was strong enough not to get in his way.

For all the terrifying dangers I'd heard about the dungeon, my first trip had gone smoothly. It had almost been disappointing, to be honest. In no time at all, I'd reached level 7 by using a method that bro had called "power leveling". And I was unbelievably strong, just like famous adventurers I'd seen. I might have even daydreamed about becoming stronger than bro...

Whether at home or school, the dungeon had been the only thing on my mind. Bro had bought me new armor, and I couldn't wait for our next raid—a golem hunt.

But then he showed up, the monster that filled me with despair. He was fear incarnate. The sight of him made me feel like my heart got strangled and crushed as the black Aura that emanated from his body gave him the appearance of a demon. My instincts screamed a single thing: this wasn't an enemy we could beat.

For the first time in my life, I was sure I was going to die. That frightened me, but what scared me more was the thought of losing my brother. It would all be my fault. If only that guy hadn't cut my leg... If only I'd never suggested partying up with those three... Regrets rushed at me like a tsunami, dragging me under.

I'd told him to run. Yes, my voice had trembled from fear. Still, I'd managed to say it.

'Ah, it looks like I'm going to die,' I thought. It crushed me to give up on life, but there was no other way.

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Or so I'd thought.

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What happened instead? Before my eyes, bro chanted a strange spell and suddenly changed. He was like an eerie hero now. His muscles began to grow big slowly and his veins began to swell and bulge. His blood mixed with his Aura to form a dark purple glow around his body along with dark purple mark slowly spreading from his body before reaching his eyes, turning his sclera into dark as his eyes glow gold, pushing it past its limits. I'd never seen magic like that before in any book or picture.

He told me that I will watch him as the hero-of-the-day today with reassuring smile, yet he clearly wasn't okay.

He glared at the monster for a few seconds as the monster did the same, then the fight began. Blood, noise, and shock waves exploded in every direction while the fortress's corridor became a pile of rubble.

The monster's strength was on an entirely different level. He was perhaps just as strong or more so than the Lich I'd seen on TV, the strongest ever recorded. Yet bro fought with all his might, surpassing what was expected.

They battled at extremely close range, moving around so much that it was dizzying. I couldn't register what was happening because they moved so quickly. Even so, I somehow knew that the fight was more complex than a simple exchange of blows. The fighters calculated changes in their line of sight or stance, every step taken, and every movement of their weapons to deceive their opponent or get the upper hand.

I'd learned the basics of combat at the martial arts school because I wanted to get stronger. My studies included reading tons of books, watching plenty of television, and collecting research on the magic and tactics used by adventurers on the front lines...

But nothing could compare to the sight happening right before my eyes. The battle was high-level, logical close-range tactics mixed with a ferocious desire to risk your life to demolish your opponent. None of the videos I'd seen of the top clans came close. In every possible way, the fight surpassed even the best my wild imagination had to offer.

Barely a minute had passed since the fight had begun, but huge holes gaped in the walls and the ceiling. Dust clouds made it difficult to see, and the uneven floor had no stable surface to stand. Still, the fight continued as the ground trembled.

In the middle of one flurry of attacks, the monster unleashed a weapon skill that seemed powerful enough to slice through space itself. I feared the monster would push back bro until he cast a new spell that sped him up. He began leaping in every direction like a bouncy ball, the sound of an explosion roaring each time he changed course.

Bro had finally landed his first hit on the monster, indicated by the metal clang. From there, he landed a succession of clean hits. He then jumped up, kicked off against a spot in the air, spun his body around, and struck a peculiar pose. With that, his blood-colored Aura exploded, and he dove toward the monster.

While sparks rained on him, the monster swelled his own black Aura and faced up at bro. Was he about to use a weapon skill as a counter?!

"Bro!" I cried out. I couldn't help it; this final clash would decide the fight. "Beat him!!!"

The next blow would decide the winner.

"Time to end this lovely session!" screamed bro. "|Piercing Drive!!!|"

"|Aerial Fracture|," the monster chanted.

The two weapon skills clashed with a fantastic flash of light and thunderclap. And the resulting blast spewed molten dust into the air, so I couldn't see who had won.

Slowly, the light faded to reveal a deep, wide gash running through the remnants of the stone floor. That was where bro's weapon skill had hit. I looked inside the gash just in time to see the monster, torn to pieces, transform into a magic gem. It was larger and more beautiful than any gem I'd seen before.

I looked around for bro, and I suddenly felt dizzy while my chest tightened.

"Oof..." I said, moaning. "I...guess I still get to level up even though I didn't do anything."

The sense of omnipotence was greater than what I'd felt when I'd leveled up multiple times at once on the fifth floor. I also received the |+3 Skill Slots| skill.

I found bro sitting down.

Gone was his usual thinner self, replaced by a more muscular figure as he'd wasted away. How could that be? His left arm was missing from above the elbow, yet a healing skill appeared to be in effect. Bone grew back from the stump with a hissing sound followed by muscles and tendons gradually knitting together above it. What skill could that be? No skill I knew could cause such extraordinary regeneration. The healing was working faster than it had done during the fight as well, maybe because he'd leveled up.

"Bro, are you okay?" I asked.

"Better than ever, that guy... he gave something I ceritainly couldn't resist~" he said, still joking while wheezing. "But...my legs... wouldn't be working for a while, great... It might be better for us to go up to the tenth floor...rather than go straight home... Phew, I'm out of mana, so I'm just gonna..."

At that point, bro's body slumped onto the ground. His eyes closed, and his breathing calmed. I had so many questions for him, but I figured he deserved to rest.

"Thank you, bro," I whispered, taking in his sleeping face. The sight of this eerie yet magnificent hero was unknown to all but me.