I swallowed. If the Claw Eldritch had a mimic, odds were the rest of them did as well.

I was right. A spectral Knight wielding twin longswords landed on my platform alongside the Greatsword Eldritch. An armored archer materialized alongside the Shield user, who was two platforms away, boxing off a potential avenue of escape.

The Katana Eldritch was not far behind, standing a few platforms back with some ghostly backup of his own as well—a squadron of wolves standing beside him, chomping at the bit to rip me apart.

I took several careful steps back as the monsters boxed me in. My grip tightened on Osiris as I carefully considered my options. I pulled Ebony as I slowly shifted my stance.

"Come on then," I called. "Don't leave me waiting."

They all pounced at once. The Twin-sword knight leaped ahead, as did the eldritch knight and the two clawed assholes. The wolves leapfrogged from platform to platform with their handler.

I beat back the first two knights and the clawed Eldritch with an energetic spin of Osiris while I spiked parry, shoving all of their attacks back at their faces at half of the force. I leaned to the left, dodging a fatal hit from the archer. I activated Focused Shot and Demon Evade.

Armed with double damage, I took a bold step forward, leaping toward the Katana Eldritch, who was already mid-air. Osiris blurred ruthlessly, gutting his wolves with uncanny precision before I faked him out with an Arbiter Strike. He raised his blade to block, and I even noticed that he had his eyes on Ebony, which was fully charged. He didn't see the Burst-enhanced Spartan kick to the chest coming.

It punted him to a platform, and I Angel pulled to him while pointing my charged gun at the leaping asshole behind me. It was the clawed Eldritch. The bullet took his head off. He fell towards the sea, but apparently, the shot had not been enough to kill him. A blackened tentacle sprouted from the layers of his armor, latching onto a rigged platform.

I detonated the asshole before he had a chance to knock back his flask. The explosion eviscerated him, but it wasn't quite enough to deal a death blow.

For fuck sake.

Still riding off my first Demon Evade boost, I twisted mid-air with the help of Gust, avoiding my second arrow shot while being yanked toward the Katana guy. I switched to Rebellion and spiked Gust just before I landed, allowing me to avoid a blue crescent hurtling towards me, but it seemed to be a feint. A kick lashed out lightning quick as soon as I landed, and my acrobatic skills came in clutch, allowing me to flip backward while kicking him in the chest and twisting mid-air as I launched a blue crescent of my own, opening his chest.

Quick footwork threw me forward to meet his swinging blade, but I dropped to my knees, gliding past him just before we reconnected. Burst threw me back at him, and I spiked another Burst even as Arbiter swung. The blow wrenched him off his feet, tossing him sideways. I yanked his ragdolling body back. It exploded in a frenzy of black tentacles that rushed at me. I pulled Betsy and unloaded a spread into his body while still hanging on to him with Ophion. It opened him up like dead poultry, and just below the area where his kidneys should've been, I saw his shimmering weak point and smirked.

It was a black gem-looking thing.

His tentacles lashed at me in defense, but I responded quicker. I unsheathed my infernal Katana, spiking one of the precision enchantments I had baked into the metal. The rune shone an overpowering teal blue as a thin aura wrapped around the blade. In three cuts, I removed most of its tentacles and yanked him closer with Ophion before it could produce any new ones. My infernal Katana slashed the anchoring bead in half, startling the Eldritch monster.

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Congratulations. You've defeated an Eldritch Avatar. 2000 Blood Orbs

I kicked his dying body off the platform while I summoned Eryx and activated Cloak. The dual-wielding knight summon charged at me a second later, spinning his swords. Eryx burst with explosive demon energy and density as my punch threw him back. The Eldritch knight advanced to replace his companion, stabbing at me with his Great sword. I did not make the mistake of trying to block the strike, leaning out of the way instead. Unbalanced, I was almost unable to dodge the summon's double sword swing when they landed.

Burst threw me sideways, and Gust allowed me to recenter myself in record time, but it wasn't enough. They came at me as one, the great sword user supplementing in areas where his partner fell short and vice versa. I switched up on them when I suddenly twisted and flipped backward. I fainted throwing a Round trip at the Eldritch knight, prompting it to raise his blade to block, leaving his aggressive and typically forward summon vulnerable.

A fully charged round trip bit into him, eviscerating and pinning him on the spot. His partner came swinging at me, but I angled around his companion, tossing another round trip straight at his neck with a wicked grin. The Eldritch knight paused for a second before he continued swinging, splitting his summon in half.

"Hardcore."

I vaulted backward, and while I was mid-air, I sensed the Claw Eldritch Avatar's hand approaching, benefiting from my Acrobatics 20% boost and Evasion. Gust allowed me to maneuver mid-air, dodging the strike, and I fired off a Round Trip with Aquila, pinning him in the air.

As I landed, three more Round trips fired out in rapid succession. Each was diagonal and covered a major section of its body.

I landed, weaving to the left to dodge another arrow shot before twisting around and battering the Eldritch's body with Stingers. Blades of compressed wind and Angel energy battered its body until its orb popped, finally killing it.

The Eldritch knight exploded with a savage, golden aura. I narrowed my eyes, immediately recognizing the buff Golden Vow. This technique gave you a flat 30% boost on your attack. As if that was not bad enough, he burst into flame, and I set my jaw. Flame grants me strength. That granted another 20% boost.

I was suddenly unsure of taking him on in a straight fight. His strength already dwarfed mine, and his speed was awfully close despite enhancements.

Did I even stand a fucking chance?

I got my answer when he moved.

Evasion barely activated in time, and I matrix dodged, sliding below a cut that devastated the Island I was standing on.

"Nope."

Even with my speed boost and fire coat, I was barely hanging on.

I channeled a Burst to each leg and shot forward with the left one, vaulting off of my platform. Gust threw me toward the underside of an Island. It allowed me to avoid a vicious spray of gravity-charged arrows.

I hustled across the underside, fetching the bomb I'd stashed there. Boost threw me to another platform before I even made my way across, saving me from another island-splitting strike.

This one felt at least twice as strong as the previous one, and when I turned around, I found out why. As the chunks of the Island slowly tumbled to the sea underneath, I caught a glimpse of the knight. His sword glowed white, and I recognized the skill.

Royal Knight's Resolve.

The skill granted you a flat attack boost of 80% on your next hit. Considering the Sword guy's strength, it wasn't all that surprising that he broke the Island. Despite the severity of the situation, I was fairly calm. I retrieved five bombs and escaped five Royal Knight's smashes before I noticed something was amiss.

The knight stopped chasing me, and the eldritch monster carrying the shield was no longer standing beside the archer, who was aiming at me.

He let out shot after shot, peppering me with arrows, enchanted and unenchanted. Thunderer materialized in my hands. I fired at him after dodging an arrow shot to the face. The sky flashed purple, and most of its upper body was gone when the dust cleared.

Congratulations. You've defeated an Eldritch Avatar 2000 Red Orbs.

And now, there were two. New Chapter

"What were you saying again, Shin?"

I laughed as I strapped all five bombs to the underside of the largest Island before twisting over the edge and landing on top.

"Let's get this over with, then!" I taunted as my eyes searched the wreck around me. "I don't have all day!"

I felt him before I saw him. The ground underneath me shivered like it'd been struck by an earthquake, and then I heard Shin's loud, raucous laugh. When I turned around, he was standing there—a monster over 7 feet tall with four hands, two heads, and three weapons: a great Sword, Katana, Spear, and Tower Shield.

My face bled all color.

"Oh…shit."