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Chapter 5 Effort

I looked up to see a older women with brown hair and emerald eyes being suspended in the air by vines wrapped around her arms and stomach that led into the ground. At first it would appear that she would be immobile and that the vines being in the ground would prohibit movement but in fact, quite the opposite. The vines were surprisingly strong enough to dig through the dirt and allow her to have free range of motion in all directions. Who was this person and why were they here to kill Sorrow?

"The looks on your faces tells me you don't know who I am, and sadly, that is the truth for many people. I shall grace you with my fake name only once. I... am Dian Emrys, and I am here to kill you."

The name held meaning for one reason, her surname. The Emrys house holds the title of the third largest noble house in the four main kingdoms. which also meant that even if we survived this encounter we would have no chance of blaming them for any harm done to us. This might be were I say goodbye to this life, I got valuable information though so the next time I return to my save point-

Sorrow stood up slowly, his aura began to flicker like a hot white flame,

"If you think you can kill me go ahead and try, but don't touch him."

Sorrow put a hand out in my direction and I winced having a flashback of the last time I died, but, to my surprise I didn't die, and the vines holding me in place got blown off and thrown into the air. Maybe there's hope for this life after all. I don't know what the outcome of this sudden event will be but I know that It's better than I could have ever intended for it to be! I'm feeling fired up now! Things seem to be working out in my favor.

Dian began quickly circling me and Sorrow at a fast rate, her vines dug through the ground unnaturally, seeing plants move was both cool and terrifying at the same time, If only my ability could be more effective in a fight... If I could set a save point before an event like this I could use it to the fullest. Come to think of it, my previous save points were set at random moments but I wonder if I can...

'Set save point?...' I said the words in my head, trying to give them more meaning that just a thought. Words of my own voice were spoken just like before in the same strange tone.

'save point set,'

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I'm hoping that actually worked, if things take a turn for the worse, it's the only thing I can rely on.

As I expected, moments after setting the save point a sharp pain jutted down my body, this time though, it hurt more than before, I gritted my teeth to brace myself. I don't think I'd ever get used to this pain.

Then, the same red wispy strands of energy flowed out of my body, and to be honest, it really was a lot like an aura, I wonder why? It seems Dian noticed the tendrils coming off my body and decided that she didn't want me to do anything magic related. She reached a hand out and a thick vine burst from the ground heading for my face, I attempted to dodge but the plant was eerily fast and hit me directly in the face. The impact almost made me lose balance but I kept my feet grounded, now wasn't the time to falter. I immediately started to run toward the vines that were holding the woman in the air. I already gauged what kind of fighter she was, one that prioritizes not getting hit in a fight most out of everything, so all I need to do is bring her down to my level.

The vine winded back to hit me again but this time I was prepared, I quickly ducked as it headed for my face and nearly avoided a concussive blow, almost making me fall over in the process due to the sudden shift in weight.

I need to be faster, I need to be stronger. I realize now why so many people push themselves to accomplish hard things. It's a feeling I've never quite had before. And I want more of it.

Dian was still circling us and saw now what my plan was, but... I looked to my left and quickly realized she was barely putting in effort against me at all, Sorrow was barely defending himself as vines from all around him were constantly striking and winding to catch him off guard, even with him constantly crushing the vines around him with his ability more just showed up in a never ending swarm, I had to do something.

Earlier in the morning I picked up something as a back-up plan in case the man on the roof-tops didn't give in to my bluff, my apprentice blade. An apprentice blade is the first blade given to a young swordsmen as a show of progress. This is the perfect place for it's intended use, I didn't train for hours at a time just to stand here doing nothing.

Those with a powerful true name often never learn how to actually fight without their abilities, which means they can be caught off guard easily by enhanced swords skills. The metal most blades are made out of can gain an aptitude for certain repeated movements which it will eventually learn to enhance if someone makes the movement, we call those learned movements enhanced skills, and the enhanced skill for this blade, is consecutive slashes.

I dashed toward the vine that flew over my head just moments ago, and, instead of using my enhanced skill, I leaped off of it, using it as a platform to jump toward Dian who was now entirely focused on Sorrow.

'Enhanced sword skill: consecutive slashes.'