Dark Slayer

"Alright, tell us about it," said Mark.

Technically speaking, I could clear this [Event] if I were a little stronger, all by myself. But I didn't lose anything by not becoming stronger. The decisions I made up to that point were as perfect as they could be, and I didn't regret any of them.

This was the first time that I used [Save & Reset] how it's supposed to be used, and I felt quite invincible. I knew things that I could only know after restarting the game more than 10 times, which was a huge time saver.

"Here is what we are going to do," I said while keeping a smile on my face.

After explaining the plan to my party members, Mark and I entered through the main entrance of the cave, while others entered through a different entrance that I found in my previous [Resets].

The cave's walls were modified and had a mine-like structural property, and it was lit up with many torches.

"—hey, can you hear me?" said the skeleton crow on my shoulder.

"I can hear you loud and clear, Mr. Entwine."

The [Vision Sharing] of Brass wasn't just about sharing; it could also be used as a means of two-way communication, which further boosted its usefulness.

"—Action, are you sure we are going to be okay?"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. You can also trust Carl and Kevin if needed."

In one of the [Resets], I tested to see if the team could work together or not. By that, I found that Carl and Kevin had surprisingly high battle synchronization with each other, which couldn't be matched even by lifelong teammates. They could easily handle someone as powerful as Mark if they were together.

It didn't take us more than a minute to encounter our first enemy, which Mark defeated, and I knew Brass and others were fighting just by looking at the crow's state.

"Are you sure we are going the right way, Action?" said Mark anxiously.

"Don't worry about that. All you need to do is trust my skill."

"I will."

After I checked out the surrounding areas in one of the [Resets], I found two paths to reaching the mountain's center, which was our final destination.

The path that Brass and others were taking was the safest yet longest route among the two paths, but that didn't mean that it was a good path. In one of the [Resets], I tried to destroy this hideout by entering from the safest path, but we all failed miserably.

This plan was simple. Mark and I were going to hunt as many Dark Mages and Undead as we could, while Brass was entering the mountain's center without any problems.

Crank-! I was slaying Undead as much as I could. Even though the cave system was filled with torches all over, I couldn't help but wish for more light. After all, a sophisticated attack requires an absolute comprehension of what is going on, and I couldn't achieve that in the dim light.

Mark and I entered a bigger area after running around and killing everything we saw mindlessly. The area was filled with seats and tables. There was a chalkboard standing proudly in the middle of the room, which indicated a Dark Mana circle formula.

"Who are you?" said the hooded man, who was holding a stack of books in his hand.

We quickly put our guards up for any upcoming attack. The hooded man looked no different from the previous mages, but I could feel that he was stronger. I guess Mark felt that as well.

The hooded man understood the assignment and went offensive.

I came across this man before. He was a Dark Mage, but unlike the previous mage, he was a high-level one.

"Hey Mark, do as I told you before," I said.

Before we came into this cave, I put up a plan for every scenario that we were going to face, and strangely, no one thought that it was strange.

Mark nodded in agreement and attacked the mage with a dashing start. He pulled out a sword and quickly went berserk with his [Stamina Sacrifice].

‌

[ Mark Felon Used "Stamina Sacrifice" Skill ]

‌

[ Opponent Used "Dark Missile" Skill ]

‌

The mage quickly changed his attention to Mark and countered his attack with magic, completely losing sight of me.

I pulled out the Sword of Beginning from my [Inventory]. The crack on the sword was visible to my eyes, and it hurt my heart to use it again, but it was needed for this situation.

I looked up and saw that the mage was using his mana as low as possible to make his opponent exhausted, and he was good at that. Mark was using too much stamina, and that wasn't good for the fight. He was getting slower with each punch, and I was sure that he wasn't going to win the fight.

"Huff—Hey Action, puff—can't you help me?" said Mark.

"Not yet."

Of course, I knew this would happen. After all, I experienced this situation multiple times. I could easily kill the Dark Mage if I wanted to, but I didn't. There was something that I wanted from him.

After a few minutes, I joined the battle, as it was time for me to strike. I could feel Mark's exhaustion from my back. I was surprised to see him still standing.

The Dark Mage looked at me, cracked an annoying smile, and said, "I can't feel a lot of vitality from you. You are weak."

"Maybe. But I'm confident that I can beat you easily," I said while focusing determinedly.

"We will see."

‌

[ Skill "Swift Cut" Activated ]

‌

[ Opponent Used "Dark Shield" Skill ]

‌

Right after I dashed towards him, he cast a magical shield to block my attack, but I shattered it easily. The mage quickly dodged the attack while having his eyes wide open.

"H-how did you do that?" he said.

"Well, I have some hidden items."

He looked at my sword intently, which made him serious. He was going to tell what I hoped he would say.

"N-no way. T-that is a holy weapon. B-but there were no paladins in the city. I was sure of it."

Paladins are holy knights who serve their god and fight for good. A paladin is considered one of the best classes against any dark art, and they are feared by many. The most noticeable thing about a paladin is that they always carry a holy weapon around to channel their Divine Mana into it.

Of course, I wasn't a paladin, but my weapon had an interesting setting to make the dark mage believe that I was one. The Sword of Beginning was created with a branch of Yggdrasil, the tree of life, and it contained the mana of Life inside of it.

Even though Dark Mana was fierce, that didn't mean there weren't any countermeasures against it.

‌

[ Opponent Used "Dark Missile" Skill ]

‌

The Mage quickly cast another magic to render me useless, but I quickly slashed the missile with my damaged sword easily.

The panicking look on the mage was quite enjoyable for me.

‌

[ Opponent Used "Black Fireball" Skill ]

‌

He was using his skills left and right without any care due to his panic. This allowed me to easily slice off his magic by observing his obvious pattern.

"D-don't come clos—!" said the Dark Mage.

The mage then slipped and fell. I quickly ran towards his fallen body and pointed my weapon at his face. He didn't cast any more magic since he knew that I could slice his hand easily.

"Any last words?" I said while looking at his panicked eyes fiercely.

I could see his face under the black hood. He was nothing more than a 20-year-old kid who fell for the power of darkness. His face was beyond frightened, yet he didn't look away from my face.

"Everything could go according to plan if you didn't appear. I'll make you regret entering our secret hideout. For my life, bring any good for the Demonic Ascended."

After he said the words, his eyes and nose began to fill with nothing but blood… and he died soon after.

"Bingo," I said, smiling.

The undead crow that was lying in a corner woke up and flew toward me with its purple eyes.

"~ Hey Action, I feel an excessive amount of Dark Mana from afar. Are you guys okay?" said Brass.

"Yes, we are okay."

"~ I advise you guys to hide as quickly as possible. This signal is loud enough to make a newbie mage notice, so it might cause havoc in your area."

Well, that was the reason why I did that and didn't kill the mage right away. I wanted him to send a distress signal to steal the attention of other mages from the 2nd entrance to here.

"You don't need to worry about anything. Just reach your destination," I said.

I looked away to see if Mark was okay, and he was better than I thought. He was shocked about the way I beat the Mage, and he wasn't hiding it from his face.

"How did you do that?" said Mark.

"That is a secret."

"B-but if you could beat him so easily, then why did you send me to attack him?"

"Umm…"

He was right. But for some reason, each time I decided to attack the mage, he insisted on killing me without sacrificing himself. I found that he would do that if Mark attacked first, which was a bit strange.