My first ambush of a Lesser Devil had been successful, so there was no reason not to do it again, this time with Holy Strike and experience of how fast and tough they were. This time, I hoped not to get poisoned. I was now Ambidextrous, and I knew my dance partner better.

This time, I also made my throwing knives easy to reach. After killing the Lesser Devil, I wanted to kill as many of the annoying archers as I could. They are firing small arrows, but the damage still adds up, and I would not like to find out what getting one in the eye would do. My helmet is good, but it is the only piece of armour I have.

I hope to have time to collect my knives later. That is the problem with throwing weapons. If you don’t get to collect them, you have lost them for good. Archers have the same problem, although I know there is a common Create Arrow Skill. Maybe there is a Create Knife Skill, too, but I haven’t seen it.

Before I leave my hiding place, I re-cast Self-Clean to remove as much smell as possible. I wrap myself in light, and, using my stealth, I head out. The density of monsters has thinned. That is good. Progress is being made.

I went into full stealth with light wrapped around me, and I had cast the Self-Clean Charm twice. The fucking trial is out to kill me. The Lesser Devil now has an Infernal Lynx prowling around it.

The Devil is still the main target—it is the most dangerous. I need to distract the Lynx long enough to kill the Devil. I waited in the back, watching and waiting for the Lynx to not be between me and the Devil. I switched out my sword for the axe, with a knife in my off-hand. The stab with the sword was only partially successful last time, so I would try a chop to the neck. I wish I had more weapon skills, like the Chop skill. My highest level of weapon skills were still my knives and the Razors Edge technique, hence the knife.

No, wait. I made a mistake. I put the axe away and got the sword back out. That was close. The reason I was as effective as I was last time was that I could use Thrust with my sword. No, wait. I can’t use Thrust and Holy Strike together. I can use one after the other—Thrust with the sword and Holy Strike with the knife. That is the best combo. Or, I could Holy Strike with the axe and Thrust with the knife. No, the sword is longer, and I am better to Thrust with the sword in this case. My Knife technique is better at slicing than thrusting. I really wish I could practice these skills before going into combat; things like that will get me killed.

Sword, then knife, and I can probably strike with the Razors Edge Technique two or three times with the knife in quick succession.

Ready… Wait… GO!

Dash, Thrust, Light Flash, Holy Strike Knife, Knife, Holy Strike Knife, Light Flash, Sword strike, and Dash to the Lynx. No poison this time, Yes!

Dodge the claws and Holy Strike with the sword. I let my Light Manipulation go, so I am visible now. Holy Strike also uses mana, so I need to be careful. The rolling, moving fight is what I need to whittle down the numbers.

Let’s dance, you monsters!

The Lynx got its teeth into my arm while I dodged an arrow, but a Holy Strike knife to the brain fixed that, and then I was moving and striking. These Imps were pretty good to practice on. They were only dangerous in numbers, and as long as I kept moving, I wasn’t in a lot of danger.

Minor Regeneration was working, but it was not too distracting for the small stuff. I had some close calls. I was almost cornered by three Infernal Lynxes, and I took deep lacerations on my leg. I almost exited the fight to rest but decided to go a bit longer as Regeneration was working OK.

That was a bad decision. I should have exited and rested. I am an idiot. I was going to fight cautiously, and I did not act cautiously.

I just killed the last of the three lynxes and threw a knife to kill the last archer I could see, and I ran around the corner right into the claws of the last Lesser Devil. With the Devil were two more Lynxes.

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I dodged, and instead of ripping my heart out, he only exposed some of my ribs. The flesh immediately started turning black. The feeling of Minor Regeneration kicking in was almost as painful. It seemed like it was trying to burn out the poison.

I knifed it with Holy Strike, and it did not like that at all. I had to go into violent acrobatic dodging to get away from the Lynxes. I threw a knife, and it penetrated one of the lynx's eyes but didn’t kill it. I thought that was a good thing, though, and I blinded the other eye as well. That one was out of the fight, and I figured doing that to the Devil would be a good thing, but I only had one throwing knife left.

Half blind is still good, so I threw, and the fucking Devil was fast. I missed the eye. It did score a deep cut on his cheek, but that was not going to do much. Now, I only had my fighting knives, and I wasn’t going to throw them as they were more effective in my hands with my skills.

Knife and sword. Ambidextrous was really starting to shine, as was Razors Edge. I could easily do two different things with each hand: Parry the Devil with the sword and simultaneously slice tendons on a lynx with Holy Strike with the knife.

Then there were the Imps. Don’t forget the bloody Imps. I was moving faster than I ever thought I could, chaining skills and really leaning on the moves of my two dance partners. I could dispatch an Imp with one precise hit, but the lynxes and the Devil needed Skilled strikes to do any serious damage.

I was taking damage as well. The rotting, burning pain in my chest carried on, but I was also getting cut and clawed, and Minor Regeneration wasn’t keeping up.

The last Imp finally fell, whoops duck, except for the last archer. The blinded Lynxe was dead, and the Devil was missing a hand, and the last remaining lynx was down to three legs.

I was limping. I rolled and grabbed a throwing knife from the dead Lynx and got rid of the last archer. The poison and rot in my chest were growing as Minor Regeneration couldn’t keep up. I grabbed a weak Health Potion and sculled it to try and help, and then I moved to finish this dance.

Stamina and Mana were both low, but it was Mana I needed most for Minor Regeneration. This would be a dance with weapons, except I started a Flash and Dashed to the Lynx. Sword Thrust, Holy Strike knife, knife, knife, and it was done.

Dodge, Dash, and I was dancing with the sword and knife. Thrust is a stamina-based Skill, but Holy Strike uses Mana. Parry, Thrust, Basic Longsword, and Razors Edge were what I used to whittle the devil down, and I finished him with a Holy Strike to the neck.

That was it. I was done. My Status screen flashed up, “Quest Complete - Infernal Infestation removed. The village is now a Safe Zone.”

That is great news. I can relax for a short period. I felt it, too. There was a sense of calm and peace. I knew this feeling from the previous Trials I had been in. I don’t know when the safe zone might end; typically, they could last anywhere from four to twelve hours. I needed to loot and then get some sleep.

I looked around, and I couldn’t see my reward. I checked my bag. Nothing. I will find it. I have a village to loot. All the monsters I killed had turned into loot, and I had noted a couple of suspicious places where there might be hidden caches.

Before I started, I checked my status. Razor Edge and Basic Longsword had both risen to 2. In fact, a lot of things went up, including Ambidextrous and Quick Hands. Quick Hands surprised me, but I was pushing things speed-wise.

The pain was still there in my chest, so I looked in my bag, but I had just finished the last weak health Potion. Then the bodies in front of me disappeared, and the loot was there, including a Medium Health potion from the Devil. I skulled that, and it seemed to be enough for Minor Regeneration to start overpowering the poison. One of the lynxes had dropped a weak mana potion, so I skulled that, too.

Then, I started collecting loot and monster cores. The Devil’s monster cores were larger than the lynxes, and they were larger than the Imps. There were a number of weak potions and a lot of copper coins. The Devils gave silver coins. I started working on the Monster cores as I roamed the village. Getting that death poison would be great.

I did find a skill stone that had dropped from a random Imp. It was a skill called Create Dart. I learned it, and it did what it said and used mana to create a dart in my hand. Apparently, the toothpick arrows were called darts, and it had a groove at the back for a bowstring and looked like a small arrow. I created one and threw it, and it threw very well and accurately. It penetrated the mud wall exactly where I aimed. As the skill levelled, the mana cost came down, but the strength of the dart also increased. I had been collecting my throwing knives, but this was a good fit for me.

The monster cores have not produced any skills yet. I am about halfway.

I paused at a shop. I could see the reward chest in the middle of the square, so I went over to collect my reward.