“Why did it have to be you?” Alysia’s face twisted in anguish. “You don’t understand! I have to kill you now!”

I gritted my teeth. “If you have the ability!”

Her expression grew sad. “You have the resolution to die. You would have made a splendid Dungeon Diver. Know that I do not have any ill will. This isn’t personal!”

As I prepared, I sent the message through Slave Communication. “Get out of here. Slave Order, escape!”

“M-master!”

“What is going on?”

“I can be there to help!’

“No! Listen to me and go!” I responded sternly, allowing no nonsense.

Slave Communication thankfully wasn’t blocked by the strange device, and the girls responded to the urgency of my voice. Using Map, I checked on the girl’s locations, and it looked like this spell only loomed over the fort. Shao had already met up with Lydia outside, and both of them were on their way to meet up with the other girls and the Tibult brothers.

In short, they could go at any time. I assured them that I would escape on my own, but I couldn’t if I was worried about them. This exchange took about thirty seconds, which seemed to be about the amount of time Alysia needed to get over her shock and ready herself for her first attack.

Meanwhile, I abandoned my typical skills of Dungeon Diving and Slave Master. I felt almost naked without two of my strongest classes, but they wouldn’t keep me alive here. I settled on True Hero, Hero, and White Mage. I had a feeling that most Basic Magic spells would be useless on her.

“Quick Attack!” Using my sword, I took the first attack as soon as I was ready.

She had waited for me. Her blade caught mine and then kept going, and I was thrown back against the wall. I healed and then added Armor for good measure. Then I tossed out a bottle of poison which smashed to the floor and released green, noxious gas. She swung her sword again with an almost disdainful look, and the green gas dissipated with ease.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be…” She said.

“Don’t hold back!” I shouted back at her.

Although I said this, my arms were hurt with a single casual attack, I already knew she was stronger than I was. I’d like to say I could use my Moderate Swordsmanship and Basic Weapon Proficiency to overcome her strength and levels, but it stood to reason she had better ability in that as well. Still, I had no choice but to attack. This time, I rapidly swung three times and then ended with a True Hero skill called True Strike. Its name appeared at level 15.

My sword glowed and seemed to move at a strange trajectory. True to its name, it struck her shoulder. While focusing on that, she struck out with her foot, kicking me in the gut with enough force that I felt two ribs break. There might have been a third as I struck the wall again. I coughed, and blood came out of my mouth. That wasn’t good. Strong Heal!

If I could do something like this more to her, perhaps I could wear her down. I can heal. She can’t. My best bet was to wear her down, death by a thousand cuts. That’s what I thought, but as I looked at her shoulder, the wound had already healed.

“High Regen…” I breathed.

“If you wish to do damage to me, you’ll need to manage better than that!” Her expression started to turn serious. “I’m sorry, I’ll try to make this quick.”