Himura Satō

Am I demented? No, I must be demented for this plan to be even conceived. I mean, who in their right mind would have planned to enter the dark hoping that the five people that I am following would not just outright kill me.

I got lucky, I realized that just from seeing that lady with the staff do some weird psychic-float-some-shit-up magic. Thanks to her, those weird glowing skulls on the ceiling were destroyed due to her whenever she curls her hand.

“Lucky…” That fact infuriates me to no end. It might have saved me but the fact that I could not do it through my skill alone made me irrationally angry. I squeezed the spear that I was holding harder. I took it from one of the skeletons when I unexpectedly went ahead of them.

Looking deeper, there is not much to say, it was about 140-160 centimeters in length. The tip was like a short broadsword and in this darkness, I could not tell whether it rusted or new. “Just a short broadsword with an absurdly long handle.” I comment.

From the distance I could hear the distant clankling and shouts reverberating. Finally heading into the light, although not that bright, makeshift braziers blinded me instantly.

As tears appear and my vision, blurry. I did not see how narrow this ledge was and so with my second short step, I fell into what seemed like a gigantic cavern. Panic ensues within the first millisecond of me falling. In the second millisecond, with adrenaline starting to rush through me, I push my body forward returning to standing position. Then, for the next three seconds, I grabbed the ledge with my left and stammed my body into the wall.

My feet could feel solid ground but this was clearly worse than before. The ground was only as long as my feet, good thing I was facing the wall, or else I would have gotten vertigo. “Owww, I wanted to have a good entrance.” I complained to myself as I made my way to a rope that they probably used.

I glance to the four fighting below, both them and the old seem to have noticed me. “It might still be possible.” I conclude, hastening my pace so that they don’t notice me. Soon enough, I reach the rope. I grab the rope with my left and turn towards them, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Surprisingly, they were holding their own. Both men held the skeletons back with their strengths, sweeping them, like dust. I felt envy, seeing them with such strength.

The archer with the knife-like ears was peculiar. Usually you would think she would stay in the back but this one was in the front like the two men, in between them. Her bow was longer as well but had the same design and the tip of her arrows was large, almost blunt which whenever shot, pierced through three to five skeletons at once and since she was firing them three at a time in a cone-like shape, it cleared a lot of space between them. It was almost like those arrows were specifically made to crush these skeletons.

The lady with the staff, with her weird magic, grabs those same arrows and gives them back to the archer. Sometimes she crushes a couple of skulls by curling her hands or sometimes she would also extend both of her arms in pushing motion and as such the skeletons were pushed back forcefully.

But despite my compliments, they were making no progress, the man in the middle of the cavern kept reconstructing the skeletons. “If I joined them, I could turn the tides in their favor.” Realizing that the last minute of me looking at them was the perfect opportunity, I quickly climbed down, hoping that my left would not get rope burn.

The old man notices me, I nod at him before jumping down. The lady with the staff noticed me as well as the others, but they were too preoccupied. I slam my spear to the group, standing upright.

Although my hair has always flowed back due to my hair products, it only stayed that way because I do not move a lot. But since I have been more dynamic lately, courtesy of the monsters in this world. My hair stopped flowing back and instead returned to its natural flow. It was like the aftermath of fighting pixie addicts.

Anyway, using both my hands, I push them back, only for a few strands to return to my forehead. I grab my spear and looking at it, I comment, “Huh, this spear’s blade is pure black.” And then I exhaled. That was the last thought I had. That exhale was like a switch, a ritual of some kind. It helps me focus, clear my inquisitive thoughts, and focus at the task and the task is…killing him.

I stare at the man in the middle of the cavern, planting my feet firmly and grabbing the spear with both hands. The man looks back at me and then, he slams his staff in front of him and lifts up his right arm, opens his hand and moves it as if he was grabbing something invisible then spoke something. The lady with the staff shouts something with a distressed tone.

Violent crackling noises reverberated which slowly became even more violent until a purple javelin-shape appeared which looked like it was made out of lightning. The next second he threw it at me. The archer, who was in front of me, already dodged it but surprisingly, me as well.

As the lightning approached me, I felt a weird sense, sensational but terrifying. I could not think about anything, it was similar to seeing, smelling, or touching something dangerous. Pure panic ensues and your body would try to instinctively try to survive whatever it was.

This lightning was foreign so it is not surprising that curiosity might have slowed me down for half a second or so but instead the next thing I knew, my body, full of panic, rolled to the side and avoided it.

I did not need to look at the cavern wall to realize that it would have killed me if I got hit. But nonetheless, at this moment, I could care less but experiencing it. After the archer fired three more of those big-tipped arrows, I dash past her.

I am decent at two-handed swords and knives but that is all, I do not have a single experience on how to use a spear, only bits of knowledge I obtained here and there. Following the spearman's action, I swept the skeletons but with my strength, I only managed to bat them away.

But that was all I needed to do, as long as I can push them back, I can advance. I was already so far from the group that skeletons behind me, slowly chased me. The man in the middle once again, starts to lift his right arm.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I hear a shout behind me and the lady with the staff tosses her staff to her left hand and with her right, she flings it towards the man. In response, rocks and bones flew towards him. At the same time, the knife-eared lady pulls out a regular barbed-tip arrow from her quiver, places her index finger on the tip after pulling her bowstring back then fires it towards him.

The man remains unfazed as he extends his left arm, opens his hand as if commending those projectiles to stop. In response, multiple small brown hexagonal shape barriers appeared, blocking every single projectile except for the arrow in which he tilted his hand slightly, which also tilted the barrier blocking the arrow slightly and as the arrow pierced the barrier, it went to his side instead.

Judging from how small those barriers were, he was precise in creating those barriers. Despite his look, he was a professional, calm, and precise yet his eyes tell me otherwise. The man flung the lightning at me after saying something but this time, I was aware of it, of course, the weird sense appeared once again but this time, I dodged aware of both the weird sense and the lightning.

As the lightning passed me, the weird sense disappeared. Not even a single second has passed and three big-tipped arrows pass me, clearing my path towards him. These arrows were larger, looking back, the archer was floating and was holding a greatbow instead of a longbow.

I ran before the skeletons could catch me. I ran up his makeshift spiral staircase and onto his circular platform. I look at him for a second, and we both engage in combat.

Back to the group, the archer floats back down, the lady with the staff seems exhausted. The archer speaks in a thankful manner and returns their focus to the skeletons around them.

The man with the axe inhales a large amount of air before holding his axe at the very end of his handle with hands and then recklessly, he spins, splitting the skeletons in half. After stopping, the lady with staff pushes them even more, granting more space while the man with a spear covers for him as the man with the axe vomits.

The lady with staff puts her back to the cavern wall, she rests her staff on her shoulder, raises both of her arms slightly and then clasps her hands together, creating a mysterious force around the platform, preventing the skeletons from interfering.

Back at the makeshift platform, I try to stab him thrice. The first one, he grabbed his staff with his left before summoning those barriers again, hitting them felt like I stabbed a wall despite the fact that it was floating in open space. The second, he simply side-stepped, and for the third, I directed it to his head. As a reaction, he simply moved his head a little, making it, as if my attacks were useless and weak.

The man simply lifted his right arm, extended his thumb and index finger which made two barriers appear between my extended right arm. With his extended finger, he closes them in a pinching motion and in response, the barriers move towards my arm.

In panic, I moved my arm away but as for my spear, it was cut, falling to the floor. What is left in my hand is the three fourths of the shaft. The barriers disappear as he drops his arm while back-stepping. A fast crackling noise reverberated and floating in his hand was pure lightning. It had no solid form but it was certainly similar to a knife, almost like how previous ones were javelin-shaped.

He then lifts his arm up, letting go of the lightning at the right moment so that it heads towards me. I took one step back in panic, crouched ever so slightly before side-stepping to dodge it. Before a second passes, I do the same motion, throwing the shaft towards him which he summons a barrier to react.

After raising his arm above his head, a javelin-shaped lightning materializes which he throws at me. I grabbed the hatchet on my belt and threw it at him as I dodged. Unexpectedly, it collided with the lightning, destroying the wooden handle and leaving a melting iron on the ground .

Only two and half seconds has passed but at that time, he has summoned two lightning simultaneously while making a barrier in between. While I, in comparison, have lost my spear, nearly lost an arm, and did nothing to hurt him. I exhale, bottling up the feeling of doubt, anxiety, and inferiority inside me.

As he dashes back, I follow with a dash as well, pulling out my sword at the same time. Since I have only used a wooden katana, I have severely underestimated the weight on an actual sword, forcing me to use both of my hands.

I slash horizontally which was blocked by a barrier. I pull slightly, before striking his head which was also blocked by a barrier. He jumps back, pointing his staff at me. The brown gem fitted at its tip glowed dimly with purple color.

I dodge to the left as the lightning attacks my previous position. Placing my left palm to the pummel, I thrust my sword towards his neck. In response, he guided my sword with his staff, it then glowed a dim brown, summoning a barrier which blocked an arrow.

“ᎴᎧᏁ'Ꮦ ᏝᏋᏖ ᏂᎥᎷ ᎷᎧᏉᏋ!” The archer shouts, I could feel her tone being pointed towards me and so I continue to pressure him more, walking and dashing perpendicular to him to block his path, making him unable to get away from his spot.

The man looks at the archer, a luxury I could not afford as I was still attacking him. The archer had dipped an arrow into something slimy and dark which she then put into her bow.

My stamina had long since ran out, at this point I was running purely on instinct. Although I did know how to use a two-handed sword, the last time I actually wielded one seriously was seven years ago, making my experience with it practically non-existent.

It did not help the fact that everytime he took a step in a direction, I hopped towards it, cutting him off which meant I was using more energy than he was. The man in question growled for a moment before biting his staff as it glowed a dim brown, summoning a barrier slightly above his foot, a few feet away from us.

At the same time, both of his hands began to make crackling noises. Reacting accordingly, I dashed towards him as he jumped into the air and landed at the barrier. I also jumped but I used his foot as my platform, stopping him from jumping from another newly created barrier.

I grabbed his staff to stabilize myself before lifting my arm and slashing him. Due to our distance, I pulled slightly back, maximizing my slashing power. I only managed to get halfway in severing his left forearm and it made it harder when he struggled violently to get the sword off.

I started to flex what muscles I had which resulted in a pang of pain emerging from my forearm but beared with it as after two nerve wracking seconds, I finally severed it. With his channeled lightning, he tries to kill me by stabbing it to my chest after raising his arm.

Through crude maneuvering, I dodged it by hopping his back but unfortunately, the blade of my sword melted in half. I pushed the sword to his head, slathering his face with remaining melted residue that was still on my sword.

He screams and I look at the archer. We did not exchange gazes as by the time I looked at her, an arrow was flying towards us. The man, still full of energy, managed to move his head so that it only nicked his neck.

For some reason, the barrier at his feet disappeared and we dropped back to the platform. I felt a gust of wind going up, but looking down, I did not see anything that caused it.

With his remaining arm, he touched his neck and looked at the mysterious liquid. He did not have that much time however as I rushed him with my spear blade, my sword discarded. For whatever reason, instead of using his magic, he swung his staff instead but I met it with the spear blade, almost pushing me but allowed me to get closer. A pain in both my forearms emerges as a result

Finally his staff begins to glow again but at the same time a gust of wind heading downwards could be felt, he looks at the source of the wind but like before, it came nowhere. Looking closer, the same arrow was heading towards him again.

A quick gaze to the archer shows that her left arm was extended, moving it as if the wind was at her command. With such a discovery, I was not going to let that chance slip. And so, dash towards him, almost falling due to exhaustion.

The man side-stepped the arrow but as his gaze followed it, he saw me, low the ground, the spear blade in both hands, and charging towards him. As she channels another lightning, the archer lifts her open hand, curving the arrow upward and then she closes her hand and pulls it towards her chest which then makes the arrow go back towards him, passing me.

The arrow hits his shoulder and at the same time I stab the spear blade at his stomach and with one final desperation, he tries to hit me with his staff. I let go of the spear blade and with insane practiced precision and speed, I reached in my pocket, opened my switchblade, switched into a reverse grip, side-stepped as a reaction of his attack, and finally, pushed myself up then stabbed him in the neck.

The accumulation of stab wounds killed him before he made another move. We both drop to the platform. My victory could be felt across the entire cavern as more than half of the skeletons collapsed. The lady with staff, realizing that the man can no longer bring back the skeletons, lifts her staff high into the sky which then glows a beautiful bright pink.

The mysterious force that I cannot even care about crushes the remaining skeleton into shards and the lady with the staff almost drops to the ground but the man with the axe catches it.

It was a beautiful sight, a woman who fueled her all into that magic, on the verge of collapse was caught by the man she loved. The three who saw the scene could not help but smile, solidifying their victory. The archer spoke to the two in a casual and joking manner.

During that moment, I stayed silent, drool pouring out of my mouth as I tried to catch my breath. Kneeled to the ground next to a disgusting corpse, the only thing that kept me awake was absolute elation of victory.