-Dark Forest-

"Thanks, Lili for healing me. Now I can fight back again, I hope my remaining mana is enough to defeat them," Lili sat down exhausted. Akko is still exchanging spells with Azzie, I should help her. Azzie is stronger than her but she's trying her best to manage somehow.

I rushed towards Azzie to use my sleeping spell like I used to Marie to stop them.

"FIRE SCATTER!" Flames burst around the area making me approach her harder. But it's not enough to stop me.

Ugh! I sensed a murderous aura from above! I looked up and someone with a giant sword almost slashed me in half! That was different from all of the players I faced so far! This time I really thought I was going to die!

"I thought I had you there. Too bad, I love it when people get cut in half. " This guy is really scary. His giant sword has bends on it which only means he trained really hard.

(ZETH / WARRIOR: A

EQUIPMENT: IRON LONGSWORD / HIGH-QUALITY IRON ARMOR

MASTERIES: HEAVY WEAPON / HEAVY ARMOR)

"You know that attacking people when they're not looking is really rude. What if I cut you in half instead?" I will not just stand around here and take your trash talks.

"Get ready..." He's coming. I took out my dagger. Let's see what you've got.

"RUSH!" What the?! In an instant after dashing, he was already below me! I didn't even see what happened!

"STAGGERING BLOW!" Ahh! A surprise attack from below that looked like an uppercut with his sword! I tried to defend from it but my sword and hands went with the flow by his attack! My hands are in the air! He turned around and was preparing to use another move!

"CYCLONE!" A roundhouse slash is coming its way to cut me in half but I'm not going to let him do that! I turned around as fast as I can to defend from his attack with the shield on my back!

*BAAAAAAM! CRAAAACK!*

Ack! Blood spouted out of my mouth! The force of the attack knocked me back and broke my shield. I fell down and my face hit the ground. Luckily, I'm alive. With one attack... I'm already done...

(WARNING: High-Quality Light Shield has been broken.)

(WARNING: Health is extremely low.)

(WARNING: Afflicted by Back Severe Injury, defense is reduced dramatically and health won't regenerate for a while.)

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"Scy!" I heard the cries of my teammates. My consciousness is fading...

"Use my power... Give me your mana and I'll let you win..." I heard a whisper and it's the same as before. It's the same voice when we were running from the Chimera.

"Please give me power. You can get the mana you want. Just give me a chance to kick this person's arse..." As if I have a choice. I gambled. My only choice was to just stay and get killed or used all my mana for something that might help me. I focused my mana on my hands...

Dark smoke surrounds and twirls like a whirlwind around me. My body absorbed the Darkness!

I can't feel my pain anymore. And somehow, I can feel so much power! I stood up and focused my power.

"What the hell was that?! You're almost dead a minute ago!" One of the not so important spell casters said.

"It's the same as my spell... It's the fusion of the Soul Stone and the player. But after he runs out of mana he can't move for a while after using it. Like what happened to me right now. It's like a double edge sword. It may be really powerful but it will also kill you if you don't use it well," The brat explained.

(DEATH SHADOW TRANSFORMATION: AFFINITY LOW)

"So, you're hiding something like this, huh. How about I show you mine too! This is the soul stone from defeating one of the toughest monsters in a dungeon in the forest really far from here, your monster soul is not powerful enough to defeat me, though. IRON KNIGHT'S WRATH!" I can feel his power... almost as if he's twice as strong as before!

(IRON KNIGHT BOSS RANK: B)

His basic armor changed into more powerful and defensive armor. His weapon also changed into a thin but incredibly sharp long sword. His attack and defense improvements are really great, I can tell by just looking.

The dark smoke slowly covered my body and started to create a black armor which looks really cool. A sword and a shield also were magically created, I'm not sure where did they come from. The armor looks kind of heavy but I don't feel any weight on me. It's like I'm still wearing the basic armor set that I usually use.

Akko and Azzie stopped attacking each other. They are literally not equal in power but somehow Akko did her best. Elou was already tired too and can't even stand after that last attack of Deandre to him. The fight will end between me and this guy, which I don't really know who.

"Hey Little Boy, I'm not sure where did you get that kind of power. But let me tell you one thing. No one has ever beaten the Mighty Undefeated Champion, Zeth. I'm pretty sure you know me, right? I'm on the poster for the game. You probably have seen that." Did he just say Zeth?! Am I really fighting him right now? And why the hell are we really talking about that right now? We're in the middle of the fight.

"What the?! You tricked me into talking about myself! You Bastard! Let's see if you can do something about this again! RUSH!" The same move! But this time it was faster! In an instant, he was preparing his next move!

"STAGGERING BLOW!" It was the uppercut slash from below! I didn't block it but instead, I dodge it by dashing back. I'm not getting caught by it again! He once again did get near me and preparing his last move!

"CYCLONE!" That slash again that broke my shield. This time I jump in the air to dodge it.

"A good fighter always has a reserve move when his attacks didn't work. OVERHEAD SLASH!" Not the overhead slash! He jumped too, trying to hit me with the overhead slash but before he gets near me...

"SHADOW FIRE EXPLOSION!" A powerful explosion hit him which pushed him away and canceled his attack.

"Hey! Who said that you can use range attacks! That was uncalled for!" Damn it. He really talks a lot.

"Hey, Celeste. How do you keep up with this guy? He really talks a lot. Is this some kind of psychological attack?" I said trying to piss him off.

"Let's get serious then," I know that he was just testing what I can do. This time, I'm going all out. It's kill or be killed.