n

n

nThe lava immediately cooled down into a tray of igneous rock, setting up the stage for the final stretch of the fight.

nOnce again, in tandem with the floating weapons of blood around us, I ran towards him, making sure to keep him just at the right distance to where he couldn’t hit me with his blade, but I could still hit him.

nHe clearly wasn’t proficient in any close combat as he had many times used it after drawing me in with one of his attacks, but just as I had predicted, he was too bulky to pull off any of those moves.

nHe wasn’t particularly fast but what set him apart from everybody else was his insane strength, battle IQ, and overall control of his skills.

nWe exchanged a few swings with our weapons but none of them connected, and as he slowly warmed up again to my fighting style, he incorporated attacks of lava.

nHe tried to mess up my footing with it, but I was too quick on my feet, and due to the slow and groggy nature of lava, he couldn’t really block my high-speed attacks.

nThe only thing saving him now was his insanely strong armor and a good awareness of where my weapon was.

nTrying to hit his head was impossible due to this.

nSHING SHING SHING SHING… FWOOSH

nI would get a few hits in, and then he would make an open move, such as a wide swing that cracked the igneous rock below us.

n“Huff… Huff… Huff… Huff… Bastard… I see what you were doing,” I muttered as I quickly backed away in order to regain my breath.

nThe man was clearly trying to wear me out as our current fight was at a stalemate, with one of us skewering towards one stat.

nSpeed: 33 – Normal Human

nMy speed is still normal, so something must be happening to me in order for me to have this type of speed and power… Is it really just my skills?

n“DON’T BE A COWARD AND FIGHT!” The commander suddenly shouted, and as he flung blades of lava at me, I ducked down and burst towards him.

nI felt the skin on my face stretch, and with the remaining bits of mana that I had, I fueled my buffing skills to their max, causing the remaining floating weapons to disappear.

nThe commander felt a sense of danger and swung down with a massive smile as this was guaranteed to hit… right?

nI suddenly pressed the end of my spear to the ground, sending me flying upwards, and as I fell down, I packed my arms and legs into a pencil-like shape.

n“You just put yourself in a terrible position, boy!” The man shouted before swinging upwards onto my now-falling body.

nI was spinning like a bullet that had just left its chamber and used this momentum to create a powerful swing that was guaranteed to slice through his body.

n“Hah… hah… hah….”

nMy breathing was rough, but the world slowed down before me as my life flashed before my eyes as I slowly turned in the air, just about missing the upward swing.

n“You motherfu-“

nSHING… BAM

n“*cough*… *cough*… *cough*… Hah… hah… hah… There’s no way you just pulled that off,” I muttered.

nAt the last second, just as the blade of my spear was about to split the man’s skull open, he changed his grip on his halberd and redirected the swing downwards.

nHe was so damn strong that even inertia and gravity had nothing on him.

nOf course, the blade didn’t hit me as I was way too close, but the handle was definitely strong enough to break my collarbone and slam me into the ground below.

n“Huff… Huff… Huff… you’re pretty good,” The commander muttered as his chest plate split open, revealing only a surface-level scratch on his muscular torso.

nMy spear had been flung elsewhere, my wounds were starting to reopen, and everything seemed hopeless…

n“Glug… glug… glug,”

nIt was like a torturous silence that overcame the battlefield as the only thing you could hear was the gulping of liquid.

nIt slid down their throat like honey… and the man standing over him was enraged.

nBOOM

n“It took a while for me to find them ever since the war broke out, but I finally got my hands one. All the big families were hoarding this expensive and delicious stuff to themselves… how selfish,” I muttered as I stood up, feeling rejuvenated with new mana slowly flowing through my body.

n“COWARD! USING SUCH ITEMS IS COWARDLY!” The commander shouted, a few veins popping out on his forehead.

n“HAHAHAHAHA! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! ALL IS FAIR IN WAR!” I shouted before taking another small glass vial out of one of my pockets and chugging the red one.

nIt just barely managed to close my minor wounds, but that was more than enough to keep me alive for just a few more seconds before I used up all the remaining blood on the battlefield, sucking corpses dry as I bent their sustenance to my will.

nI created an armory of weapons, and now that his main pieces of armor were gone and he was slowly tiring out… I finally had a chance.

n“WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT YOU ARE!” I shouted before pressing my hand down, shooting the entire array of weapons at him.

nHe blocked all of them from each and every side of his, but once he felt it had stopped, he saw me swinging my blade through his lava, only to catch a glimpse of my red left eye as blood spewed from his chest.

nSHING

nI had cut straight through his shoulder, into the middle of his chest, and then my blade stopped right about where his heart was.

n“ARGHHHHHH!”

nMy blade was stuck in his insanely tempered muscles, and after seeing my shock, he grabbed my head with his massive palm and slammed me to the ground.

nI felt my spine crunch but not break as he pressed me even farther and harder into the rocky terrain below us.

nIt was searing hot from the lava that had just evaporated into thin air, and as I fought for my life, a single metal chest rose out from underneath the igneous rock.

nClick

nThe metal hinge unlocked itself, unleashing a terrible and evil aura that made both of us become littered with goosebumps.

nThe hair beneath my thick military uniform stood up, trying to push its way through the sturdy fabric and alert me of the dangers of this thing before us.

nA tongue slowly drifted out of the chest, and two sharp eyes glared at us… only for the chest to close in on itself once again.

nThe evil aura disappeared, and my alarmed senses stopped ringing.

n“HUFF… HUFF… HUFF… It’s over… But now I’m behind enemy lines,” I muttered before pushing the now limp corpse of the commander off of me.

nThe thing in front of me, planted by the government, gave just enough time for the commander to bleed out as I had cut through several of his organs, and it was only just a matter of time before he died.

nSlowly, I stood up while using my aura to support my body as it felt like my spine would crack under any more pressure.

nI was only able to obtain one small healing potion and one small mana potion with the help of the Wony head… but it was apparent he was just storing tons of them for his own family and benefit.

nAnd, of course, I had to give up some things in exchange for these precious items.

n“Ack… *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough*,”

nSuddenly, I dropped to my knees and coughed up a mouthful of black blood while I felt the literally tattooed vines on my body slither back to my hand.

nMy body felt like it was about to be split open again, and the only thing I was able to sense besides the pain coursing through my body was a few panels floating in front of me.

n“I… have to send… a signal….” I muttered as my senses slowly began to return with also another wave of pain.

nI clawed my way to the edge of the flattened hill and looked down onto the chaos ensuing before me.

n“I WON! I FUCKING WON!” I shouted, not only drawing the attention of my allies but also my enemies.

nCome on… please get the hint.

nMy enemies saw me helpless and weak state, thus charging toward me at full speed, ready to obtain a title for killing the person who had slaughtered their commander.

nVWOOM

nBut just as at least twenty soldiers shot their entire magazines at me, a magical blue shield appeared in front of me.

nIt absorbed and occasionally reflected some of these bullets, saving me from the quick impending doom.

n“Huff… Huff… Finally,” I muttered before feeling my consciousness slip out of my grasp.

nMy head fell limp onto the ground, and the last thing I saw was my side of the war quickly tearing their way through the enemy ranks.

nNow that the main threat was gone… they could finally give it their all without having to be wary of anything else.

n