The masked player landed on his feet as he stared at Arthur from behind the mask. Arthur couldn’t read his expression but he could easily guess that the player wasn’t pleased.
“I have warned you. You do not understand the grave mistake you have made.” The masked player said as they swung their sword down.
“You’re too much talk and no actions, my friend. Do I look like I’m scared? Maybe you should get rid of that mask to see better.” Arthur signaled for his face with a mocking tone. He knew that he was playing on his enemy’s nerve and he didn’t really care.
“… You’re dead meat.” The player seemed to have taken the bait as they charged toward Arthur in a flash.
*cling*
Their swords clashed powerfully as the two stepped back before they engaged in a quick rain of attacks from both sides. Their speed was terrifying, to say the least as the weapons moved up and down and everywhere, clashing in quick succession.
‘They’re very fast too. I can’t easily overwhelm them with speed either.’ Arthur thought to himself as he dodged an attack and countered with his sword, only to miss his target. Even though he wasn’t trying too hard, he still was surprised this person was quite easily keeping up with him.
Arthur wasn’t arrogant by nature, but he was aware of how strong he was compared to other players. Even amongst the highest-ranked players, he was levels above them. But, he quickly realized that although he was ranked 1, that didn’t mean that he was overwhelmingly stronger than the ones behind him.
What he didn’t account for was the actual fighting experience they had. If someone was trained in martial arts or swordsmanship before starting this game, they would be able to easily beat someone a level or two above them who has no actual fighting experience.
Since Arthur had no actual professional training before, he lacked that advantage, meanwhile, his opponent was clearly good with the sword. As they clashed weapons, Arthur noticed the way the masked player was moving.
They used a lot of footwork and sudden bursts of movement to try and take him by surprise. They were also able to slightly push Arthur back with each clash of their sword and even take him where he didn’t want to go.
They were trained players and very good ones at that.
‘I can’t really face them in a battle of technique or I’m going to lose. Tsk, I didn’t want to really use my other skills but I guess this is the perfect time to try the new ones I have gotten.’ Arthur mused as he sidestepped a sword slash and then jumped back a distance.
“You aren’t running!” The masked player immediately tried to close the distance again.
However, at that moment, Arthur’s body suddenly flickered with a faint burst of light. The masked player saw that and for a moment, they didn’t understand what happened. Then, an overwhelming sense of fear took over their entire body.
No, it wasn’t merely fear, their entire body seemed to have frozen in its place as their heart skipped a beat. They had never felt this before in their life. A terror unlike anything else. It was strong, their mind was wiped clean of all thoughts for a split second. The world suddenly became blurry and even the temperature dropped horribly for them.
‘H… uh?’ Before realizing it, they found themselves falling to the ground with a loud thud. All of this had happened in one single moment.
A moment later, the feeling started vanishing and the effect dwindled. However, by the time they regained their composure, they realized that a sharp blade was pointing at their face.
“Move even a finger and I’m going to cut your head off,” Arthur said coldly as he pointed the Sanguine Blade at his enemy. ‘Wow, Soul Fear actually worked so well. I didn’t expect it to completely immobilize him even though it seems to only last a moment.’ He thought to himself.
Although Arthur had used Soul Fear a few times after acquiring it, he had never seen its effect this up close. It worked well on weaker monsters so he assumed it could work on this player since they technically fall under the ‘Weaker enemy’ category the skill description talked about.
However, he had never thought it would be strong enough to turn them into a completely open and vulnerable target.
‘I guess I’m going to start using this more against players, haha.’
“You… What did you do…?” The masked player asked in a shocked voice. “What did you do?!”
“It’s none of your business, friend. Be grateful I didn’t kill you yet.” Arthur replied. “I have told you to just ignore it and move on but your stupid ego couldn’t handle that. I’m going to assume you’re just another spoiled child from a rich family that never took an insult in their life.”
The masked player was completely silent as they stared at Arthur.
“I know your type. You would probably still chase after me even after I kill you so this won’t really help much. I will spare you the pain of starting all over again and losing your items and you will spare me the pain of being chased around by an angry, spoiled child, how about that?”
“…”
The masked player didn’t reply at all as if he was completely speechless. Arthur found that rather weird but didn’t think much of it.
“Are you going to do that or n-”
“AAAAAAGH!!”
At that moment, Arthur heard a loud roar as something suddenly appeared out of the bushes rushing toward him like a train.
‘Huh?’ The boy quickly tried to move, but he realized that the ambush came from a gigantic human being. Looking up, all he saw was a giant shadow looming over him before the impact.
*BANG*
At the last moment, Arthur was able to put his arms forward, tanking the impact. However, his entire body still shuddered from the sheer strength of the player.
‘HAAAGH!! What… the hell… is this?!’ Sliding on the rough terrain, he tried to push himself back. But, he realized that there was some kind of barrier around his enemy that seemed to boost his defence.
“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!! ATTACKING MY FRIEND IS A DEATH SENTENCE!!” The giant man roared loudly as he pushed Arthur back with all his power, sending the boy stumbling on the ground before hitting a tree. The impact was strong as Arthur felt his bones shake.
“Move, Herculia!”
At the same time, Arthur saw three large rocks fly toward him one after the other from somewhere unknown.
‘You have got to be kidding me!’ His eyes widened as he clenched his teeth. Then, he immediately rolled to the side as quickly as he could, barely dodging the impact as the rocks hit the large tree and burst into pieces.
But, Arthur’s ambush didn’t end there as the next moment, the masked player rushed toward him as he stabbed his sword forward.
*Cling*
Arthur was naturally completely off balance and still on the ground when the sword was falling down on him. So, All he could do was try and deflect it. But, in such a horrible position, the sword still hit its target, stabbing his left shoulder.
The boy groaned slightly before he kicked the masked player away and tried to stand up.
“Stay down, bastard!” The man named Herculia took that moment to jump in the air as he fell on Arthur with his two fists aiming at the boy.
‘Is he insane?!’
The boy tried to jump back, but the impact of the hit still shook the area around him.
“Fire arrows!”
Another three projectiles flew at him from somewhere different, trying to target his blind spot. At the same time, Herculia and the masked player tried to close the distance with Arthur.
The latter stood there and for a split second, he felt something snap in his head. “Enough!!!”
With a loud yell that seemed to shake the entire forest around them, A ripple of aura exploded from Arthur’s body as his eyes turned a dark shade of red.
[You have activated ‘Lonesome Warrior’s Howl’.]
Arthur’s calm face then turned into a furious one. He felt an endless rush of anger fill his entire head, almost clouding his mind and consciousness. However, at that moment, he was feeling completely enraged.
Holding his sword with both hands, he clenched the handle so tightly that his hand almost fused with it.
“I’m going to kill all of you!!”
A//N: Give me all your Golden Tickets!
