“We blooded him. Finish him off!” roared a guttural voice, and Alex fought with every fiber of his injured being just to keep from falling under his enemies’ killing blades.
Spin and strike! Sweeping blow to knock weapons aside. Leap back and thrust!
His mentor’s words flowed through him, almost as if he were by Alex’s side, his arms moving almost of their own accord as he glimpsed his polearm cleave one shrieking cultist’s wrist in half, another dao flying free as Alex leaped back from the remaining three who charged at that moment, the central one coming to an abrupt stop, eyes wide with the horror of death as Alex’s weapon tore through his throat.
Quickness check made!
You have taken one Light Wound and 15 damage!
And then all was madness as the two still-armed cultists charged as one, Alex just barely getting his reinforced forearm up in time to bat aside the dao swinging for his neck, the steel blade clanging against the metal bar welded to his cuir bouilli wrist guard, the painful jolt nothing compared to the pain of death. Yet Alex failed to counter the second dao that tore through his armor and into his shoulder. He could only roll with the blow so it didn’t bite too deep and smack the shaft of his ji at the man’s face, buying Alex a single moment’s pause as blood spilled from his wounds.
Moments away from death, he had no choice but to close.
Grappling initiated. Skill check successful. You have closed with your opponent!
He rushed inside the closest swordsman’s guard, drawing his far shorter gladius and thrusting in a single practiced motion as he had a hundred times before when dueling a laughing Liu Li who knew just how to pivot her hips and send him tumbling before his blade could strike true.
Not so the wide-eyed cultivator before him now, rancid breath washing over him in a dying wheeze as Alex’s blade plunged deep into his bowels, before Alex tore it free.
Finesse check made!
The man stiffened and gasped, unable to swing his sword as his arm spasmed and clenched, but stiff enough for Alex to pivot around and shove toward the one enemy still standing so the cultist’s blade plunged into the already dying man’s abdomen, Alex seizing the moment of confusion as the remaining infernalist cursed his fate, wrenching his dao free of his dying companion, only to blink with confusion as one powerful Ruidian hand clamped against sword wrist, the other jamming a razor-sharp gladius under his chin and into his brain.
The infernalist had time for only a single blink of confusion before his eyes rolled back, collapsing in death, Alex yanking his bloody blade free before it was torn from his grip.
For an endless moment, Alex’s heart raced with fiercest triumph, having survived an ambush that should have sent him crashing back into the River of Souls. It was everything he could do not to howl his victory. But only for a moment, his eyes quickly darting about the room, catching sight of the still sobbing cultist mewling at the savaged ruin of his hand, still spurting blood.
Alex frowned, knowing he had knocked back at least one more man.
Duck!
Trusting his instinct, he dived into a roll before springing back to his feet and spinning around, armored forearm ringing with pain as he parried a flurry of deadly cleaving crosscuts from a furious-looking infernalist that fought with the mad strength of a cultivator. Far faster and deadlier with a dao than any foe Alex had ever faced before.
“I’ll see you dead for what you’ve done, Ruidian scum!” the snarling man promised.
Before stumbling back with a lurch, eyes widening with shock, having just avoided the stream of caustic bile Alex had spat from between his teeth.
Quickness check made! Preferred weapon equipped once more!
Alex forbore from trying to close with the man who wielded his dao with such chilling speed and grace, taking advantage of his foe stumbling back to leap for his own discarded fangtian ji, his enemy’s eyes widening with dismay that quickly turned to a killing glare.
“I will claim every last ounce of your blood, Ruidian!” Said the pockmarked cultivator, trembling with fury. “You have made an enemy of Bloody Wei, and when I’m done with you, your soul will be begging to serve me in Hell!”
The infernalist charged forward with a howl, and Alex knew his life was in genuine peril. Everything depended on him connecting with his enemy before the blisteringly fast cultivator could strike true.
He did not dare over-commit in the lunge, nor aim for deadly cleaving cuts. Instead he stepped back and pivoted even as he lashed out with a sweeping strike aimed just above his foe’s knees.
The man snarled, leaping over the shaft of Alex’s weapon, but only at the cost of losing his own rhythm of attack, forced to stumble into his own defensive role as Alex’s ji snaked out for a killing blow.
Bloody Wei hissed and snarled, flourishing his dao once more as he charged, and Alex felt his heart lurch as the man’s blistering series of inhumanly fast slashes actually managed to bat his ji aside.
Had he not been fighting in retreat, his weapon’s shaft always guarding his line as his foe contended with a constant flurry of defensive blows, Alex might be little better than the man still sobbing over his ruptured hand. And Bloody Wei knew this as well, as evidenced by his dark smile as inhuman speed and skill as he steadily closed the distance, despite Alex’s greater reach and desperate maneuvering.
“Soon, Ruidian. Soon your blood will pour forth from the thousand lacerations I will inflict upon your screaming flesh!”
Alex smiled back, and perhaps his foe understood then why Alex was so silent, eyes widening in memory of the caustic spittle that had almost scored his flesh.
“No!” Bloody Wei cursed, flinching and dodging left as Alex spat a completely harmless glob of spittle at the man, his ji simultaneously lashing out for the man’s suddenly vulnerable legs.
The infernal cultivator howled, sensing his doom as he desperately lurched even farther back, dodging the half-moon blades but not the last 2 inches of the razor-sharp double-edged spearhead that cleanly cleaved through his left shin, the man stumbling to the ground with a desperate scream.
And no matter how brilliant he was with a blade, no matter how much he screamed and begged, it was over.
Even if he was so supernaturally skilled as to successfully protect his skull from a polearm’s cleaving blows, he couldn’t protect his extremities nearly as well. A half dozen furious chops delivered at maximum range soon separated Bloody Wei from the very bloody remains of his legs.
Alex coldly circled the now shrieking, dying cultivator, pausing only a heartbeat to spin around and plunge his fangtian ji through the chest of the one guard who had just popped around the corner before crashing to the ground in sudden unexpected death. Before dodging to the left a heartbeat later, twisting away from the desperately thrown Dao he had just known his foe would launch for his head, hearing it clank against the back wall before slowly closing on the now shrieking Bloody Wei who was begging for mercy, swearing to serve Alex for all his remaining days.
Alex said not a word, simply finishing the gristly task he had started, his weapon blasting through the cultivator’s skull before he wrenched it free with an audible crack. Only after making sure his deadliest foe would never rise again did he bother with the final survivor who was stumbling back on shaky feet, holding up his maimed hand and blubbering in frantic desperation, before Alex silenced him forever as well.
Alex paused, then, taking in his surroundings as the hollers and shouts of disorganized men, few as they were, could still be heard, finding himself before yet another corridor of rough-cut logs in this maze-like fortress still leaking sap the color of blood. He couldn't help but wonder if this entire maze with its odd, zig-zag pattern and the grizzly carvings of twisted winged creatures feasting upon helpless men wasn't all some odd construct of darkest Qi or whatever foul energies these diabolists used.
Alex shook his head, not daring to hesitate even a moment longer. He knew his rapid blitzkrieg movement was the only reason he had en
countered a single hastily put-together ambush. He might not be fully oriented, but equally important, he didn’t think any surviving cultivator had any idea where he was either.
It was only then that the pain and fatigue finally hit him, stumbling for just a second as he slipped on a puddle of blood.
His own.
Four mortal foes and one Bronze Cultivator have fallen before you! Their potency is now your own!
Experience earned!
He was chilled to think that perhaps the initial backstab had done a lot more damage than he had first realized, that it was his boosted Vitality and battle-fury alone that had kept him going for so long. And he suspected the jolt of energy he had received with each kill was the only reason why he was still upright. Maybe the only reason why he was still among the living as well.
He grimaced as the room began to spin.
As much as he hated the thought of using up such precious resources, now was not the time to stint. With that thought in mind, he forced himself to drink down one of the ruby red potions Master Liu had insisted he take in those mad moments before they had split up, even if dying captives might need it at least as much as he.
Because no captive would be saved if he was dead.
Silver Rank Masterwork Healing Potion imbibed. All bleeding & Critical Wounds stabilized. 1 Health recovered per second for the next 200 seconds. 1 Wound Tier alleviated per 10 seconds for the next 200 seconds.
He took a deep breath, centering himself, sensing no one else nearby.
Good.
He allowed himself to sink into a healing trance for a full minute before he felt the last of his injuries fade.
Blade quickly re-coated and mouth full once more, he darted around the corridor, thrusting his ji to impale any stalking enemy that might be there.
His weapon caressed nothing but air.
The passageway was empty, save the desperate howls at the end of this final shadowy corridor, Alex struck by the sudden miasma of dread emanating in pulsating waves from the dark chamber beyond.
And when he fought his mounting dread, approaching on cautious feet, he found himself at the lip of a vast, imposing chamber whose hideous walls seemed to soar impossibly high, illuminated by sourceless crimson light that pulsated to the beat of drums of flesh and bone being pounded upon by a living corpse, or so it looked to Alex. The creature was emaciated, sores covered its entire body, broken teeth wide in a rictus of a grin, gazing sightlessly out of cavernous sockets dripping pus and ichor. And how Alex sensed it all with such crystalline clarity when he was easily a hundred steps away was beyond him.
Yet the vast chamber was just barely large enough for the crimson pentagram at its heart, glistening as if painted with fresh blood. And chained at the periphery of this nightmare construct were over two dozen desperate, wide-eyed people, many wearing the torn and tattered finery of wealthy merchants or lesser nobles, others wearing plainer linen, all utterly alike in their desperate screams and pleas for mercy.
And as horrific as the sight was, what truly made Alex’s heart pound with dread was the sliver of absolute darkness manifesting in the center of the pentagram… and the hideous tendrils of ropy flesh comprised of a thousand fused souls howling in torment, all of them twisted into the shape of a massive black claw now trying to force its way free.
“Yes!” roared a powerfully built man with massive arms and thighs thick as oaks, his ugly, misshapen jaw curling into a vicious grin as he whipped about a massive ball and chain, snapping it around almost as easily as Alex had once manipulated yoyo’s, a lifetime ago. “Soon our lord will break free, and all those fools who dared to mock me at the academy will pay for their insults in blood!”
The monster who radiated the power of someone far beyond basic cultivation, no doubt a Bronze Ogre at the very least, turned to the only other occupant not blinded or tied to the pentagram, everyone else screaming in terror as that infernal claw trying to tear itself free of the dimensional rift that Alex could only guess led straight to Hell, reached for helpless flesh.
The shriveled, ugly old man who looked as jaded and corrupted as a former monk forever strayed from the righteous path could look, laughed gutturally, spitting black phlegm and sneering at the victims with contempt as he breathed deep of the unholy energy.
“That is right, Feng Quan. Our master will soon break through and make his mark upon the Golden Realms, tearing entire city-states free of this fragile world, and sending them hurtling into the abyss when he finally ascends to the black throne!”
He then snarled, his head snapping Alex’s way, eyes blazing with an eldritch inner light, his hands roiling with flame. Alex could sense the destructive Qi even from this distance, suddenly realizing his dire peril.
“An intruder broke through!” the corrupted monk hissed. “Master Vile will reward us well if we take his head.”
The giant, wearing a massive breastplate of steel, a kilt of chainmail, thick rawhide boots, and little else, just laughed. "Wonderful! A fresh toy for my meteor hammer! Come forward, little worm, and see what comes of daring to cross a Bronze Ogre only a half-step away from Silver Giant!”
Alex clenched his jaw as terror, disgust, and a furious desire to make these monsters pay all flooded through him. His heart broke as he glimpsed desperate eyes belonging to savaged women and children among the others, all struggling futilely against their manacles. Their plight burned away all hesitation, all fear.
Trembling fists tightly clenched his near indestructible fangtian ji.
Even if he were to die here and now, he would accept it.
He knew all too well what it was like to stare into the pitiless face of death, desperate for a savior, for a kind turn of fate, ever in the back of his mind that terrible year he had lost his father, his siblings, and was stricken with cancer.
But mercy never came.
He had died and been reborn, and now dozens of others were doomed to suffer a fate even worse than death.
He could never go back in time and save his family in their final desperate moments, or spare that idealistic young man determined to make his mark upon the world from the terrible wasting sickness that had spelled his end before he could amount to anything at all.
But damn if he couldn’t at least try to save the people before him!
To be the hero for them, that he could never be for himself.
All this raced through his mind in an eyeblink, noting the way Feng Quan twirled his ball and chain, smirking so cruelly as Alex jogged forward, knowing Alex had no chance of even getting close before his body exploded against the force of that whistling ball of steel.
Alex glared his hate at that smirking monster.
Feng Quan laughed. “Hating until the last, boy? That alone I can respect! Now come, worm, die fighting me, unless you wish our fallen monk to set your very soul ablaze!”
Alex said nothing, merely pivoting his approaching jog, so the giant blocked the view of the fire mage, even now snarling at Alex's maneuver.
“He thinks to dodge my glorious flame, death brother. Show him what comes of daring to mock us with his very existence!” hissed the older man.
“Gladly!” roared the giant, his steel ball whistling through the air.
Quickness check made!
The ground Alex had stood upon just a heartbeat before exploded in a shower of dirt and stone. A blow that would have easily ruptured even a solid bronze breastplate, as if the giant wielded not a medieval weapon but a cannon ball.
The diabolic cultivator’s eyes widened with surprise. Not just that Alex had dodged, but that, for a heartbeat, he was nowhere to be seen at all.
Bullrush!
Adderstrike! Adderstrike!
The giant’s choked out a furious growl as Alex’s ji blasted into his jugular with all the force and fury he could muster, hitting hard enough to shatter oak. Not once, but twice.
Primary Elemental Ward has been ruptured! Dark Path Infernal Ward still in effect!
Alex bli
nked in momentary disbelief even as his surprised foe managed a smirk, a casual smack of his arm sending Alex’s weapon cartwheeling away, for all that he coughed up blood. "Fool! To think any lesser would dare to strike an Ogre! Do you truly think you can pierce my..."
Then he screamed as Alex lifted up on the balls of his foot and shin-kicked in the most unorthodox of places, blasting into the man’s crotch.
And he did not stop there, taking advantage of his foe’s momentary shock, quickly drawing his gladius and plunging his blade into his foe’s femoral artery in the heartbeats the monster was distracted by pain. Yet before Alex could dart away and regroup, his nemesis had already dropped his ball and chain, grabbing Alex’s shoulders with fingers as strong and powerful as steel.
Alex gasped as agony flooded through him, his backup weapon clanking to the ground. And for all his desperate blows, the giant’s mail skirt had saved him from a gushing femoral artery. Though Alex suspected it was the diabolic cultivator’s inhuman resilience, or perhaps that infernal ward his interface had noted, that had spared him any significant injury from normal strikes. Even the naked flesh underneath the mail skirt that Alex had managed to score had suffered only the most insignificant of injuries, a single drop of blood trickling down the giant’s leg.
Save versus shattered arms made! Damage reduced to hairline fractures. You have taken 30 damage and 2 Light Wounds! Combat penalties muted by battle-frenzy! Kill on!
The giant glared with hate-filled eyes. “I will make you pay for that, worm! I will tear your arms free of your own body and beat you to death with them!”
And Alex’s eyes widened with horror, unable to believe the strength and resilience of this monster. He had survived multiple Adderstrikes right to his jugular with a weapon that had butchered so many armored foes that night without any Qi being used at all.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 41