Fuck, this is bad!

The statue whipped its arms back, and I flew across the air, clinging for dear life to the sword. It got dicey for a second, where I was hanging onto the sword with a single strand of slime. The next thing I knew, I was smashed into the ground with half my body over the gaping pit.

The statue easily ripped its sword away and lifted it high above its head. I formed a shield, and the sword collided with it. In all retrospect, the sword should have eviscerated the shield, all the more because of the additional buildup. Whether it was because adrenaline enhanced my magic or the statue’s programming weakened its attack, I could keep the sword at bay.

Not for much longer. I could feel the pit yearning for me, clawing at me, whispering for me to come down. A gravitational pull, weak at first before becoming stronger gradually, threatened to yank me through the ground itself. It was like the pit was alive, and it was cackling at how close I was to falling into its grasp.

My strength was rapidly fading, both from the statue and the pit. I’d revolved my plan around stealing the sword when the statue slackened its grip due to shock. It wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice, though, and I wracked my brain for a new strategy. However, it proved to be exceedingly difficult to think cohesively when I felt fragments of my body tear from the rest and zoom into the pit.

Damn it, I need to—!

A bona fide supernova imploded in the cramped room, filling every square inch with its blinding light. Glaring blue seared into my visions and overwhelmed my orbs, overloading the Skill in its entirety and making me lose connection. An ocean of blue was all I could see and even if it was momentary, the pit itself was being rendered irrelevant by the unfathomable glow.

Then, just as quickly, the all-encompassing light faded in both range and intensity, compressing into a singular ball of fire floating in the air. One I was acquainted with, and had in all honesty, forgotten was here.

The Will-O’-Wisp seemed completely unaware of the freakish display of power it had performed, more content with circling around the statue. Pushing aside the shock at the spectacle, I started to warn the Wisp to get away before I stopped. Something was off about the statue.

It wasn’t moving.

The crimson eyes burned as furiously as ever, but the statue didn’t budge a millimeter. Jumping onto the opportunity, I employed my plan again. Sending tendrils of slime to wrap around the sword, I pulled on the weapon as hard as possible. There was some resistance, but it was only a matter of time before the sword burst through the statue’s flimsy grip and careening towards me.

Startled by the speed at which it was approaching, I squished myself to the ground. The sword whizzed past above, hitting the wall and bouncing off, flipping through the air several times before tumbling into the pit. I waited cautiously, hearing the sword hitting the sides of the pit numerous times until it just…stopped. Like the sound was swallowed up or ceased to exist.

With the burden of the weapon gone, I faced the statue. Whatever effects that had been plaguing it were wearing off as the statue turned its helmeted head towards me. Although it was impossible for it to exclude any emotions, I fancied it was angry at me for depriving it of its prized weapon. The statue lunged forward, a hand outstretched to grab me by the midsection.

I jumped up, landing on the statue’s head and bouncing off before it even realized what’s occluded. Quickly catching itself before it collided with a column, the statue shifted its direction and charged again.

Although it was certainly easier to deal with now that it had no weapon, that didn’t mean it was easy by any means. The statue incorporated what felt like various different fighting styles into its combat, alternating between them at a rapid pace to keep me off guard. I held no doubt that if it was up against a seasoned warrior, a knight trained in the Army built up to be the defenders of the land, the statue would win in a heartbeat.

Its method of combining fighting forms meant that whenever one got too complacent in dealing with a specific type, the statue switched over to a new one and completely threw the opponent off. The opponent was no longer suited for that kind of fighting and was forced to account for their weakness in a split second. After having crafted their fighting style over years, this was a high-impossible task. I didn’t believe there were many people in the Army, or in the world for that matter, who possessed the keen battle senses to pull this off.

But I didn’t have a concrete way of fighting. I hadn’t devoted years of my life to figuring out the best way of fighting suited entirely to me, unique and wholly perfect. I was clumsy in battle, every action being driven by desperation and rage rather than a place of calm. Because of this, what would discombobulate most warriors only emboldened me.

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It wasn’t exactly a compliment to my fighting prowess, but I’d take any advantage I could get!

The statue pressed forward, advancing on me as it delivered a flurry of kicks and punches. Its arms and legs became blurs, and it moved even faster now. I bobbed and swerved as best I could, but it was impossible to avoid getting a few glancing hits, which felt like being struck with a battering ram. The statue accelerated its strikes, forming cracks and breaking away entire chunks of the wall and columns.

My diminutive stature was the sole factor keeping me in this fight, but the statue was adapting around it. It was rifling through its collection of fighting forms like a roulette machine, searching for the type that was best suited to deal with an enemy of my size. Once it found it, the battle was over. I needed to take care of this before the statue discovered it.

A perfect round kick split a column in half. I darted to the tunnel, waiting expectantly in front of it. The statue didn’t waste a second in following me, performing an excellent flying sidekick. I veered to the left right before it would make contact with me, just as I’d done a dozen times before. This time, however, the statue’s attack landed on the wall that had randomly appeared to block me in. Instead of breaking through like it had with every other wall, the statue actually rebounded and a metallic Tiiingth! reverberated across the room.

The impact appeared to have stunned the statue because, in a surprisingly reminiscent-of-human action, it stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over a rock. Although it regained its balance and asserted its position, it had inadvertently moved back several feet.

I eyed the fractured ground below it. The statue had hit that particular area countless times, both with its sword and its feet, and the aftermath was showing. As the statue adjusted its weight, the stone floor creaked and minute cracks formed.

Gotcha.

Activating [Fire Glyph], I expunged an enormous amount of fire. The last of my Magic Points went into this attack; it was all or nothing. The red-hot flames washed over the statue like it had before, flickering against the stone armor but unable to melt it down. That’d probably require me to achieve Level 20 or something close. That was fine. I didn’t need to melt the statue.

I needed to prevent it from coming near me, and the force of the fire was enough to keep it stationary for now. And second, I needed to damage the worn-out ground. While the flames may not be at the level of heat to injure the statue, it was more than enough to serve as the final tipping point for a slab of stone centuries old that had already been abused abundantly.

I let the flames taper off and the moment I did so, the statue lunged forward. The instant it placed its foot down, the ground gave way and it toppled forward.

For a split second, I was paralyzed with fear that I’d misjudged how fast the statue was. Maybe it had cleared enough distance so the fall wouldn’t take it out completely. It looked that way: the statue lunged for the edge as the earth crumbled to pieces, managing to dig its fingers into the ground.

Then momentum carried the rest of the body forward and the head smacked into the side of the pit with enough force that I heard a crack. The statue’s hand unlatched from the ground and slipped over the edge, leaving the room barren of any sentient murder statues.

I sighed, sagging against the wall. One battle after another. It was tiring. I started slinking towards the tunnel, already thinking about how I was going to break through the wall. Why had the statue been able to even scratch it? And what was the source of the metal sound?

I passed the Wisp without a word and headed into the ground. Reaching the wall, I was about to touch it when a dim light intensified behind me. I glanced over my back to where the Wisp was at the edge of the pit, peering down and shining a light into the abyss. I groaned and made my way back, intending on persuading the Wisp to abandon its curiosity with the statue.

I’d barely gotten halfway there when a hand rose from the darkness and clamped onto the edge. I stuttered to a halt, disbelief etched into every atom of my body. I’d been so sure, so unshakably certain and unwavering in my belief that nothing could escape the pit that I hadn’t even considered making a contingency.

The hand scratched at the ground, pulling itself and what was attached higher. First a set of broad shoulders revealed itself. Then a plume popped out over the edge.

All the while, I stared in mindless denial. The pull I’d experienced while half my body was hanging over the edge had been immense. It was as if a swirling vortex was located at the bottom of the pit, drawing everything unfortunate enough to come within range of the suction. The statue completely fell into the pit; there should have been no chance of it climbing back up.

Yet here it was, doing just that. Seemingly with only raw upper body strength, it was exerting superior force to the pit in its endeavors to exit the hole. It was certainly grueling, slow, and intensive work, but it was happening.

The helmeted head emerged from the inky blackness, the crimson red light in its visor glowing brighter than any flames I conjured. It narrowed onto me and I felt a shiver run down my surfaces. I had a gnawing feeling it wasn’t going to hold back anymore.

Fuck.