A brave warrior held his own against a strangely large skeleton inside a vast cave room with a ravine by the center.

Parrying its heavy blows away with his kite shield, he was in the meantime trying to find chances to return attacks.

Earlier, Alexei had jumped over the ravine to protect Sova in the nick of time.

He then told everyone to retreat and call for help while he held off against the threat.

In the background on the other side of the room was the group helping each other to get away from the fight.

'Death Knight'

Commonly confused with skeletons, they were the main cause of death for many adventurers aspiring to go up in rank.

One should be wary of the vengeful warrior spirit that resides within, for that is what makes them formidable opponents.

That was the excerpt from Vixella's adventuring handbook.

In terms of capability, a Death Knight would take approximately a party of Gold-Plate Adventurers or 'Experts' to take it down.

Sometimes a single Platinum-Plate (Master) Adventurer could also do it.

Even with that said, it was and still is strongly recommended to take caution and use numbers against Death Knights.

Whatever Alexei was doing in the meantime seemed to work. Vixella was still focusing on rearranging SnooFie's fractured bones.

The group of boys left Snoofie, Vixella, and Alexei behind to their fates as they went back towards the surface to call for help.

The Holy Spirits and Bubbly Formations popped about as the bones were being put back together one piece at a time.

It sure took long to find the specific spots, seeing how the Death Knight had crushed most of it into smaller pieces.

After all, breaking your bones was the last thing a fighter would want to do.

Even if they could use healing magic, it would take quite some time to heal.

In the meantime, the battle that Alexei was having wasn't going too well in his favor.

The Death Knight did not leave any openings for him to exploit. He had already been forced onto the defensive after just a minute.

It seemed to be furious that its attacks did not affect Alexei due to him skillfully parrying them away with the sturdy Kite Shield.

Blindly flurrying at Alexei from random angles, the DeathKnight began forcing him to block the many light attacks constantly.

Sparks skipped off from his kite shield with each glancing impact. The flurrying blows weren't heavy and didn't tire Alexei much.

Despite his opponent starting to become reckless, Alexei was still only able to slip in a few good grazes in here and there.

Slight damage was done to the Death Knight's visible bones in the armor gaps but it was nothing near enough to stop it.

Finally making sure that SnooFie's condition was stabilized, Vixella stood up and raised a palm.

Seemingly noticing this, the DeathKnight began to circle behind Alexei to block the line of fire.

"Alexei. Get out of the way-"

"Easier said than done-!?" Alexei stepped back to disengage but nearly fell as he was chased after by the DeathKnight.

Barely avoiding a follow-up shoulder bash coming directly at him, Alexei quickly re-steadied his fighting stance.

No matter where Alexei tried to circle away, the Death Knight would always end up in Vixella's blind spot.

Eventually realizing that the attempt was futile, Vixella hopped over onto the other side and drew her Falchion.

She glanced up to see the DeathKnight once again flurrying light attacks in which Alexei easily blocked with his shield.

Vixella carefully approached the two who were dueling by the middle, trying not to draw attention as she waited for a chance.

After a few long seconds of seeing the clash- "Alexei. What's that shield made of?"

"You're asking that now-!?" he backed off from the DeathKnight momentarily, "It's just a regular steel kite shield...!?"

"Wait, it's not Valoratian Steel? Not Enchanted?"

"No-!? Do you think I'm that rich...!? Anyways, what about it-"

And upon blocking the next blow, his shield shattered apart.

"Huh...?" Alexei didn't understand what happened as he was thrown back.

Bursting shards of metal pierced into the gaps of his plate armor, slipping through the chainmail and leather pads without remorse.

The fragments cut deep into the flesh, splattering blood everywhere. His flimsy arm then recoiled along with the body that spun.

He's ragdolling body was tumbled across the cave floor as it skidded to a bloody stop.

Vixella grimaced at the sight and was about to rush over to check on him but was stopped by the DeathKnight.

The hulking skeletal form waved its giant sword, hinting her not to interfere as it then slowly approached Alexei.

Mumbling out incomprehensible things due to shock and pain, Alexei struggled to crawl himself away from danger.

Despite his last and desperate attempts, the small puddle of blood splashed behind him as heavy footsteps came closer and closer.

Upon realizing it was hopeless, he turned around to see the giant blade coming down at him from above- And his vision went black-

BOOM! The blade cut through the ground and jammed deep into the cave floor.

Dust burst everywhere in the vicinity as it became hard to see what happened.

However... Outside the cloud of debris, Vixella was nowhere to be seen either.

The blade that plunged into the rocky cave floor was right in front of Alexei's crotch.

It was, in fact, just a few centimeters away from ending his lineage once and for all.

"Safe~!" A single drop of sweat trickled down Vixella's face as she comically slung Alexei over her shoulder and ran off.

The DeathKnight gawked at them momentarily before attempting to pull out its blade which was stuck in the ground.

It became troubled as it saw the carefree Vixella rest the half-dead Alexei and begin to cast healing magic on him.

Once again, it tried its best to pull out the giant blade.

Stuck. Still stuck. Wait, isn't this just plot convenience-!?

The DeathKnight paused and glanced up to see Vixella at the far wall stabilizing Alexei's condition with healing magic and holy spirits.

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As the bubbly formations eventually finished popping away with the firefly lights, Alexei coughed and slowly sat up against the cave wall.

"Thanks, Vix... Thought I was a goner... Ahm, although they're broken, it didn't fracture like SnooFie's... Looks like I'm still in luck."

Alexei unfastened the half-broken Kite Shield from the limp left arm and instead quickly strapped it onto his functional right arm.

"Alright... Stay back- No, I- Let's fight it together...! I can still fight... We have a chance at winning this- Even with one arm----"

BZZT! A jolt of lightning magic cut off his sentence, sending Alexei into a deep sleep.

Vixella then stretched a little, "Finally, I can have a moment for myself to have fun."

The DeathKnight's skull perked up, looking at Vixella who casually paced towards it.

The DeathKnight, upon seeing her close the distance, desperately pulled out its blade in one yank and backed off a few steps.

Raising its guard higher, the blade was shifted into a hanging guard stance; this puts the hilt up high and the blade downwards.

Was it the battle instinct that made the Death Knight take such a precaution? To enter a defensive stance right away!

"Since everyone here wants to get out of this alive, I suggest---- Woop, never mind... You're already dead anyway!"

The DeathKnight looked at her for a second before fumbling around on the spot as if it was offended.

It then held forth the giant blade towards her from the distance to declare its intention to fight head-on.

"Woah, a fight to the death? Really? Man, you seem like a cool guy, can't we just be friends?"

The DeathKnight shook its head and took a stomp forth. It would not let its warrior's pride and ideals down by backing out of a fight.

A small glimmering beam of dense colorless light then soared through the air without warning.

Despite sneakily pivoting her palm, the DeathKnight had shifted its giant blade to take on the beam.

In return, Vixella raised her hands and conjured forth magical light formations aimed at random angles.

Multiple lights beams instantaneously impacted where the DeathKnight stood as dust formed everywhere.

When the dust cleared away, the DeathKnight stood completely unscathed.

It looks like the enchanted gear had mostly nullified Vixella's light beams.

"As I thought, my weaker attacks can't do anything to that enchanted armor..."

However, the extent of Vixella's magical power could probably do it if she amplified them enough.

If the gear wasn't enchanted with reactive runes to counter the specific element, she could do it.

Although considering that the piercing beam might collapse the cave room itself, she took back the thought.

Well, if SnooFie and Alexei weren't lying unconscious in the room, she would probably have done it already.

Vixella took a deep breath before easing up her standing composure.

"Aah, how troublesome! I can survive a cave-in, but these guys can't-!?"

Brandishing the Falchion from her hilt, she swished her cloak slightly and began pacing forth.

The steady walk would then speed up to a quick pace, a jog, and---- What? Where did she go?

A CENTURY LATER

(Battle Music Transition)

Vixella closed the distance between them with a single step assisted by a burst of compressed wind magic.

The view of the world shifted as she slid underneath the mowing giant blade to avoid being chopped in half.

Springing up, she swung up with the Falchion using the rising momentum's help.

The exposed joint underneath the Death Knight's right pauldron was her main target.

Much to her expectations, she didn't amputate the Death Knight as it hit the elbow plates instead.

The DeathKnight, upon realizing that it couldn't avoid the blow, decided to take her hit its armor instead.

Instead of continuing to furiously engage in the melee distance, the both of them then mutually backed away to a safe distance.

Vixella did not leave a moment for either of them to think about their next move as she smacked her palm against the ground.

CRC... CRA- CRACK! CRACK!

The cave floor spiked up multiple times as spikes rose around the DeathKnight- All missed.

The DeathKnight who didn't expect such an attack slowly backed away in slight wariness.

"Waah, still bad at controlling other elements... Looks like I need to train harder from now on."

The DeathKnight, upon hearing her remark, did a quick dab before recomposing its combative stance.

"Hey, don't dab on me!" Vixella proclaimed out angrily as she cast forth an intense burst of water infused with Holy Spirits.

This Holy Water, unlike normal water, was pure and crystal clear... Thus was also able to cleanse and purify undead.

Staggering back from the Holy Spirit Water, the Death Knight pivoted itself away and strafed aside from the trajectory.

In the next second, sparks lit up the cave room as the hulking skeletal form suddenly became enveloped by lightning magic.

Being unable to cast lightning magic properly due to lack of control, Vixella instead used the trail of water to conduct her attack.

The DeathKnight had little time to hesitate as it jabbed its large buster sword into the cave floor, grounding the electricity.

Slight smoke came off the chiseled, burnt, and electrified carcass as it pivoted up its skull to glare at her with its hollow eyes.

Upon seeing it slowly get back up, Vixella laughed. "Mad? Well, that's what you get for dabbing on me, you-"

And just then, a few voices cut off her mocking speech as it rang out from somewhere in the background.

"Uh oh, looks like the rescue team is coming! Let's finish this before they get here!"

The Death Knight nodded to her idea and raised its large buster sword high once again.

Vixella charged in with the Falchion poised to strike. In return, the DeathKnight swiped against her from afar.

She then saw how bad of an attempt that was, but still decided to parry it with her falchion- CLANGGGGG!!!

A loud crack of metal snapping echoed inside the cave room as the upper half of Vixella's Falchion flew off and jammed into the ceiling.

Much to both of their expectations, the Falchion had snapped in half upon parrying a somewhat heavy but below-average swipe attack.

The two of them stopped in their engagement upon being mutually thrown off by what just had happened.

Glancing at the broken Falchion in her hand, she raised it to inspect the broken blade.

"Shit, now that I see it... It seems that no effort was put into tempering this metal at all."

Sure, it was made without effort, but the Falchion surely did serve its purpose to a good extent.

Or well, it was quite normal for crappy weapons to break after clashing with a Death Knight, no?

She tossed the broken blade away as DeathKnight then solemnly lowered its skull to condole her.

In return, Vixella smiled weakly as she opened her arms, inviting the DeathKnight to finish her off.

And so, the giant blade was lifted... And swung down-!