“You realize a bounce is not a useful sturdiness test when you’re actually going to launch yourself from here right?”
“Just let me do my thing okay?” I chuckled.
“Fine, fine.”
I positioned myself properly and crouched. I locked my muscles in place and recoiled, surging high into the air. I pulled my sword out and held it up, letting the sharp point slice through the surface as I crashed through the thick layer of ice and straight into the open.
I gasped as I pushed up from the pile of snow above me and threw myself to the side, away from the gap I had now created in the surface. I immediately looked around me and saw that the dark clouds at the peak were now much further away than before. I was now on a lower portion of the mountain, just as I’d expected.
DING!
Freya sent me a message.
Was that you? We just heard a pretty big rumble a few hundred yards down.
I grinned.
Pretty likely it was me. Use your map and find me. I should be close by.
It took about five minutes for me to notice two figures walking in from the distance. Freya had a small smile on her face as she looked at me. “That was quicker than I’d expected,” she said.
“Tell me about it,” I smiled. I looked at Nazu, who still had a pretty solemn expression on his face. I hadn’t expected anything different from him anyway, especially since it hadn’t been more than ten or fifteen minutes since I’d left.
I heard thunder rumble, this time not from the ground but across the sky. A flash of blazing lightning struck the ground right above us, sending rock and snow flying through the air. I braced my face, but kept looking straight through the rain of debris.
My eyes widened as I saw a man emerge from the where the lightning had struck. He was dressed in white armor decorated with golden streaks. A dragon-shaped helmet sat on his head, and his armor had scale like patterns over its arms and legs. A serrated blade of silver steel peeked out of the sheath on his back, large and deadly.
“Greetings, Eternal,” he said. “We finally meet.”
And I could tell immediately, this man was no friend.
***
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Who the hell is this? I stared at the man before me, at the piece of pristine white armor he wore. Its streaks of gold caught the dull sunlight, reflecting it sharply into my eyes. I looked at the man, trying to gauge what his aim was here.
“He knows you’re an Eternal,” Nyx said. “That’s never been a good thing.”
“Who are you, warrior?” I said, keeping my eye on him.
I heard him chuckle, and he stepped towards me, the snow on his foot sliding off as he made his way forward. I felt a certain unease as he approached me, but I stood my ground, trying to observe anything off that could give me an advantage against him. I quickly used my Analyze skill, banking on my new upgrade to give me just a mental image of what the skill had found on him.
DING!
The screen popped up in my mind, courtesy of Spirit King and Nyx.
Name
???
Race
???
Level
???
Health
???
Mana
???
Stamina
???
WHAT THE HECK? I panicked. This was not good. It was never good. There had only been one time before where I’d been completely denied information about a person, and it was when they outmatched me horribly in terms of level, strength and skill.
And I’m talking about like a 400-level difference here.
“Who the hell is this man?” Nyx asked, fascination is voice, but great concern beneath it.
“Freya,” I said, backing up a bit and keeping my voice low. “Take Nazu and head out. You need to leave.”
“But, Zoran you need-”
“Leave,” I said. “Now.”
I saw her reach out to me, possibly to voice her denial of this plan. But she pulled back immediately. She glanced at the man in front of me and then at the young Kobold. In one fluid motion, she grabbed Nazu by his waist and shot away, disappearing in a flash.
“Hmmm, the elf left,” the man in front of me said, his tone making it seem he was trying to understand what was going on. However, the fact that he was questioning our moves did not bother me. It was the calmness with which he said it that did. It was like he thought of us as a bunch of young kids, running around, not knowing what exactly we should be doing.
I hope Freya gets away far enough, I said. There’s no telling what this guy can do.
“Mmm,” Nyx said. “I’ll monitor your map and alert you on how far away she is intermittently.”
Thanks, I said, just as the man walked a few feet closer to me.
“Why are you running away from me, Eternal?” he chuckled.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“A friend.”
“A friend,” I repeated, not believing those two words for an instant, and I doubt he did either, given the playful tone they were uttered in.
“Indeed,” he chuckled. “Now, as a friend, I ask you. Bring back the kobold.”
He’s after Nazu too, I realized.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Nyx said, worry in his tone.
“What do you want with him?” I asked.
“Nothing serious,” he said. “I would recommend you bring him back so we don’t have any conflict between ourselves. I’d hate for things to turn sour.”
“If it’s nothing serious, I’d recommend trying to make do without him,” I grit my teeth, angered that this man assumed I’d just listen to him regardless of how much information he gave me.
He sighed. “Well,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that it has come to this now.”
His body moved in a flash, and the next thing I knew he was right in front of me, fist bearing down on my face. I bent my knees a bit and threw my hands into the air, grasping my palms together and blocking his attack. His fist landed hard, and a terrific boom sounded from the contact point. Just the pressure from the attack was amazingly strong, sending the ground beneath us crumbling, the surface unable to bear the force of the strike.
“Impressive,” he smiled. He swirled around, landing a kick straight to my head. I put my hands up to my side in defense but he smacked right through them, sending me flying through the air and up half a hundred yards of snowy terrain.
I picked myself up fast, my mind annoyed about how this exchange was going along. “Nyx, get the Berserker out.”
“On it,” he said.
I saw the man charge up to me, his fists ready for another blow to my face. I shot towards him, my confidence renewed as I saw specks of light collect around me quickly. Our paces increased in an instant and we met, our fists swinging right at each other. They interlocked, sounding another boom from the contact, only this time, it was much louder, and I had used much less effort.
I jumped back, the sound of metal clinking along with my movements familiar to my ears. I looked down and saw that my body was now completely covered in a helmetless armor of jet back, the metal woven in sharp angled cuts. The piece looked like the battle version of death, and that’s exactly what I wanted it to be.
“You need to be careful,” Nyx said. “Remember, this armor eats up your mana at rates faster than you can replenish.”
Don’t worry, I said. I’ve tweaked it a bit to make it more efficient since the last time I used it. But I get your point. I’ll restrict the time I battle in it.
“Impressive,” the man before me said, and I could tell he was trying to gauge my battle equipment. “That is an impressive piece of armor. The Berserker armor.”
I froze. He knows its name? I asked.
“Why would he know his name?” Nyx asked, sounding just as confused and panicked. Just who was this man?
We need to take him down fast, I said, realizing I had to use my armor’s full advantages while I still had them. I slid Dawnbreaker out, holding it tight
in my arm. One second I was standing on the rocks between the snow, and the next I was in front of the man, my arm half-swinging, my weapon hurling down onto his helmet.
In a flash of silver, something smacked into my sword and I fell back, off balance. The man stood in front of me, still calm, but his sword now in his hand, the serrated blade of silver poised menacingly in front of him, the tip pointed right at me.
He’s a much better swordsman than I am, I muttered, understanding that from just that one exchange. Even though I was strong I didn’t have any formal swordsmanship training, and though most of the time that didn’t pose any problems, it most certainly was an issue when I was going up against someone who was as strong as me, and had had proper training in the arts of the sword.
“I had hoped I wouldn’t have to use this,” the man said, a sigh in his voice. He was still treating me lightly, and that bothered me a lot. Why was he so strong?
My eyes widened. Another Eternal? I blinked.
“They’re not supposed to be up and about,” Nyx said. “We know this.”
Yeah, but how else can we explain his strength? I said as I looked at the man. He was looking right at me, as though he was anticipating what my next move was.
“This is intriguing,” the spirit said.
“I cannot ask multiple times, Eternal,” the man sighed. “I do not wish to fight with you over the kobold. Give him to me and we can avoid all of this.”
“Why do you want him so bad?” I asked. “Why are you so afraid to tell me?”
He sighed once again. “You just don’t listen, do you?” He disappeared in a flash, and before I knew it, his blade was inches from my face, swinging straight into it. I threw my sword up fast, and the metal clashed. I slid back a few feet just from the force of the blow, but I kept my sword high up, right above my face.
I’d merely glanced ahead when I realized the man had already shot to me. His fist smacked into my face and I went flying back. He didn’t stop though and surged forward, rushing to where I was going to fall before I did, and landing a stronger punch against my back before I could even hit the floor.
In the next few seconds, all I saw were flying skies and racing fists, with the man keeping me in the air constantly with just his flurry of uppercuts. My health dropped fast, heading to below half in less than a few seconds. This man was toying around me. His strength was impeccable.
“Diablo, you need to use your special skills,” Nyx said. “Now.”
I hesitated, but gave in, making my own compromises. “Ceebros!” I yelled. The world around me stopped for a second, and the images washed away, replaced by nothing but darkness. I saw black for as far as I could see, and in an odd way, the sight left me with a calming peace.
“Frozen Night,” Nyx said. “Didn’t think you’d use that move of all things when I said you need to use your special skills more.”
“I need breathing space,” I said.
Frozen Night was a spell from the Dark Arts that allowed me to put myself in a detached space, away from reality. If I left this space I’d re-enter back into the very moment I left, so from my point of view, time in the actual world just stopped while I was here. It was quite convenient, although this was the first time I’d used this move since I’d come back to this world.
“You could have used an offensive spell,” Nyx said.
“Did you see what the guy was doing to me? I was getting battered.”
“That’s true. You were. He’s way too strong for you to take on by yourself.”
“And if we don’t stop him, he’s going to go after Freya and Nazu. And you know what might happen to Freya if she goes against him. Even in her full form she can’t take him out on her own, but she won’t back down either.”
“Maybe together you could-”
“She needs to be safe. I can deal with this guy myself.”
“Wait. Are you planning on using-”
“No, I am not,” I said. “It’s not the time or the place for Blood Drive. I’d rather do things myself than use that.”
“Fine,” he said. “That isn’t even your strongest attack though, just saying. There is a lot more you could use.’
“And all of that is going to lead me down a path the former me walked.”
Nyx stayed silent, and that was expected. There was no proper response to ‘I might become a mass murderer if I use those skills’.
You already are, my mind said, but I ignored myself, and focused instead on the situation at hand. It was going to be hard to defend against this man without a proper plan in mind. I looked at my health bar and saw that I’d recovered to nearly full health, courtesy of my health regeneration. Still, it was concerning that I’d had this much of my health taken down in the first place, and at such a rapid pace at that.
The worst part? It felt like all this had happened even though the man had held back his true strength.
My eyes widened. “He’s not trying to kill me,” I realized.
“What? He literally tried to knock the lights out of you,” Nyx said.
“But he held back. He knows I’m an Eternal. He knows if I die I’m just going to be resurrected somewhere else he can’t find me at.”
“What does that have to do?”
“He’s not searching for just the Kobold. He was looking for me as well.”
“And why would he be looking for you?”
“I can’t answer all those questions, okay?” I pouted.
“By the way, your mana has gone down by 20% already. It’s probably time you got out of this space.”
“Oh,” I blinked. “Yeah, it probably is.”
Frozen Night ate up my mana for every moment that I was in here. It wasn’t a small amount by any means and it just added up to be pretty large even if I stayed here only a few minutes. That added on with my Berserker armor’s mana usage meant my total mana was going down pretty fast right now.
“What’s the battle plan?” I asked, willing to spend a few extra minutes before I left this space.
“You tell me,” Nyx said. “You said that man wasn’t out to kill you. I don’t know how that influences your take on how to defeat him but I’d assume that would have some impact.”
“I’ll figure something out,” I mumbled.
“So we have no battle plan?”
“Sounds like it,” I put my hand into the air. “Ceebros break!’ I yelled. The darkness around me shattered almost immediately, and I found myself halfway in the air, the man right behind me, ready to punch.
Not this time, I thought and twisted, throwing my fist around and making contact with his. The blows sounded a loud boom once more, sending a pressure wave out of the impact point. We both pushed back, sliding across the snow before coming to a stop.
“Hmm?” the man looked at me. “Something is…different.”
I shot at him, sword in hand. He stood there stagnant as I swung, and in a flash he raised his blade up, fending off my strikes fast. About ten seconds and fifty strikes later, I struck my sword into the ground and used it as a pivot, swirling around and kicking him right in the head. My kick landed clean and he flew through the air, smacking into a rock formation a few yards away and crunching it down to rubble.
That seemed to have worked, I thought.
“Ugh, that was unexpected,” the man stood up, brushing the rubble off his armor. “You seem less restricted now. Interesting.”
I looked at him, ignoring his words and trying to read his body language instead. However, I could tell absolutely nothing. He was extremely calm, and quite confident as well. There was no advantage to be exploited here.
He shot at me, and struck hard with his sword. The blade slammed into my armor faster than I expected, but I was quick enough to shift my body weight, pushing forward hard enough to prevent myself from being thrown by the blow. I immediately swung my sword from the side, the blade smacking right into his helmet. He however stood there still, unfazed from the attack. He pulled back his blade and slashed at
me once again, this time even harder than before. I went flying, hitting a block of rock and smashing through it.
He pushed after me, grabbing me by the shoulder and smacking his fist right into my abdomen. I gasped, watching as my health quickly dropped to a little more than half from just the previous flurry of attacks.
“I won’t give you many chances, Eternal,” he said, seating himself atop my chest and pinning me to the floor. “Give me the kobold.”
“This intrigues me,” I said. “You saw him run away from here. Why didn’t you just go after him?”
He stayed silent. A moment later he swung down with his fist, landing it straight in my face. Pain struck through my muscles, as multiple blows landed across my cheeks, first turning them sore then bloody. My health went down quick, sinking to the dangerous red in seconds.
I guess I’ll just have to resurrect, I thought as my body began to turn numb.
“ZORAN! SWITCH!” A voice yelled.
A massive sword came out of nowhere and smacked straight into the man, throwing him hard to the side and crunching through multiple layers of rock before coming to rest in a pile of rubble.
I looked in front of me, my gaze weak, and saw blazing eyes of red looking at me. An elf of red hair and white skin knelt over my body, strands the shade of fire falling onto my face.
“Freya,” I said, my voice hoarse. “You unlocked your seal.”
“I heard the commotion,” she said, touching my face. “I couldn’t leave you be by yourself.”
“Nazu…”
“In a cave far down,” she said. “He’s inside a shield I set up with my full strength. I doubt anyone can break it that easily, if they find him in the first place.”
“Can you keep that man at bay?” I asked.
She nodded. “How long?”
“Thirty seconds.”
She smiled. “You got it.”
“Thirty seconds?” Nyx asked. “Are you finally going to use one of those moves?”
The Eternal: Dragonborn - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 2) Page 15