*CLING*
Arthur deflected one of the clouds at the last moment as he jumped to the side, dodging another one that snuck behind him. But, he didn’t even have the time to stop as he bounced back, tilting his body to the side as two other clouds passed through the empty gaps a split second later.
Every single move he made was purely instinct as his mind didn’t have enough time to think properly or judge the situation. He was being relentlessly attacked from all angles at the same time. The fog was seemingly one single entity that can divide into different limbs and parts, each with its own consciousness.
But, what made the battle so horrendously hard for Arthur was the coordination in the attacks. None of these foggy clouds was moving on its own and instead, they were deliberately attacking him in a manner where he would be trapped dodging one cloud and end up getting by another.
The result was that in the span of a minute or so, Arthur received a lot of damage. He was thrown around like a ragdoll and almost killed in more than one instance. At the same time, Arthur wasn’t able to do much to the fog.
Surely, when it attacked him, the fog was manifested in its physical, solid form which allowed him to hit back. But, that didn’t work well for him because of the lack of opportunities to actually deal damage.
*Swish*
‘Behind me!’ Arthur leaped in the air, dodging one cloud. But, at the same time, another one smashed into his chest, sending him flying back as he landed on the ground.
“This is so annoying!” Arthur clenched his teeth as he rose up and looked around him. Even as he was regaining his composure, the clouds were already planning a new attack to stop him.
‘Two from the front, two from the back, one from above, and three are hidden somewhere around me waiting for me to screw up so that they can use that opportunity and attack. This is great! I’m having a lot of fun here!’ Arthur quickly looked around with his eyes, calculating everything in a split second.
Then, his body went into action, moving quickly as he deflected and dodged the attacks coming at him. ‘I need to find a way out of this! I won’t last long like this!’
Looking around him, Arthur wrecked his brain for ideas while he was trying to survive for as long as possible. There was only so much he could really do at that moment aside from fighting.
Escaping was an obvious one. But, Arthur quickly realized that it would be impossible for him to actually escape as the fog was basically all around him, and wherever the fog was, the clouds would attack him.
*BANG*
Feeling the impact of a hit on his leg, Arthur stumbled forward as he got quickly crowded by the clouds. Quickly, he activated ‘Soul Fear’ and ‘Lonesome Warrior’s Howl’ consecutively, pushing them back with a huge shockwave.
“ENOUGH!!” He yelled in an outraged state. His eyes flashed with a cold glint. Then, with a loud roar, he dashed forward and swung his sword with all his strength, blasting one of the clouds back. Then, he turned around and grabbed the second one, only for the others to attack him again from all angles.
*BOOM*
Arthur slashed with the bloody claw, sending the clouds back temporarily as they merged together again.
‘This isn’t working! They keep recovering no matter how much damage I deal to them! It’s all because of the fog around us!’ He clenched his teeth as he ripped the cloud apart with his bare hands and then threw it away. ‘I need to find a way to separate these clouds from the fog!’
But, he didn’t know how. So, Arthur quickly opened his profile to check what he had in store. At this point, he had a lot of skills he could use, and looking at them might give him some ideas.
However, never did he expect that an idea would instantly strike his mind the moment his eyes fell on the profile and one particular detail.
‘This is it!’ His eyes lit up as he quickly looked up. The clouds didn’t notice the change in his expression and continued their relentless attacks while Arthur ran around, trying to dodge them to the best of his abilities.
‘I think I know what to do!’
At some point, Arthur suddenly stopped and faced the clouds with a cold expression. “Come on, face me one at a time, cowards! Attacking me like this is just pointless.”
But, they ignored his clearly provocative words and continued their assault as if nothing happened. Arthur clenched his teeth and started running again. ‘How can I make them turn into one sphere?’
Looking ahead of him, Arthur exhaled. ‘It has to be like that, doesn’t it? Ugh, I hate this!’ Clenching his teeth, Arthur shifted direction and ran around the area. Some clouds followed after him while others vanished and waited for him to come toward them.
Circling around, he rushed into the middle of the battlefield, followed by the fog. At some point, the other clouds emerged, attacking him all at the same time.
‘Not yet.’ He thought to himself as he ran toward them. Knowing fully well this could kill him, he still kept his composure. ‘Not yet…’
The distance between them became a few inches. ‘Now!’ Then, he ducked down. At the same time, the clouds of fog smashed into one another, missing Arthur. That expectedly didn’t deal any damage to them as they merged into one massive cloud above his head.
Arthur saw that and a wild grin appeared on his face. “Got you~”
Then, Arthur lifted his left hand up. Covered in his bloody claw, something manifested on the palm. A small blue sphere that quickly expanded in size to become twice the size of his hand.
The cloud, still merging, didn’t notice that. By the time, it tried to attack him, it noticed the change.
“Goodbye, bastard!”
*BOOOOM*
A giant blue flame smashed into the cloud from the bottom. The bright flames quickly caught into the fog, eating the cloud in a moment. Then, Arthur heard the sound of flakey ice forming around the cloud.
In a split second, it ate the entire thing, covering it in a thick layer of frost.
*BANG*
Falling to the ground, the cloud stopped moving completely. The entire place was submerged in silence again as Arthur stared at the ice ball with wide eyes.
‘Shit… That was close. But it worked…’ Looking at his hand, Arthur smiled. ‘I was right for using Frost Flame. The fact that this fog is essentially moisture in the air, then this flame would turn it to ice instantly.’
Arthur smiled to himself as he stood up again. His idea was very smart, but he knew that this wasn’t the end of it. Hell, before he could even finish that thought, he saw the fog around him twitch and move as they formed other clouds.
So, Arthur exhaled as he snapped his fingers and manifested another frost flame. ‘This definitely looks a lot cooler. Now I look like a proper RPG player.’ He grinned.
“Oh, I’m about to have so much fun turning you idiots into balls of ice.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
