Dodging wasn’t really a problem. But with the headache slowly growing in his head, Aiden was having a hard time of it. When was the last time he’d gotten a headache?
He couldn’t remember.
Again, he leaned to the side, bent at the waist to avoid a diagonal slash from a cleaver. Elaswit’s expression was empty as she attacked him. She moved with him, footsteps carrying her so that she kept track of him.
She’d attacked Aiden on top of Gangnar’s corpse and had forced him down to the ground. That brief encounter had taught Aiden that she still had a lot of strength left in her.
Footwork’s sloppy, though, he noted, narrowly avoiding a kick to the ribs.
[Friend of Foe] was a powerful skill because it pulled your enemies to become your allies. It was a named gargoyle specialty but not all of them manifested it at level fifty. Some manifested it at level hundred. In lesser gargoyles, those not named, it affected lesser beasts and monsters only.
But, despite the power of [Friend of Foe], it had one weakness. Those under its effect lost their intelligence. Or at least a certain level of it. All they did was fight on instinct. Their bodies simply repeated skills and actions ingrained into them, instincts honed over time, maybe months or years of practice.
And that was it. The strength of the skill, however, was that those affected by it knew nothing about holding back. They struck with all that they had until they had nothing. Until they were nothing.
Elaswit swung at Aiden’s head and he leaned back rather than duck forward. When he did, blade swinging past him, cutting the air in front of him, he stretched his leg out. He hoped to destabilize her, perhaps knock her feet out from under her.
Elaswit spun into her attack easily, avoiding his foot. She brought her cleaver up, twirled it once above her as if it were a simple longsword before she brought it down violently. Aiden survived once more by the skin of his teeth, stepping to the side almost immediately. His legs were pelted with pieces of rocks displaced from the broken ground.
The little exchange taught him one thing. Elaswit was faster than him. She was reacting just as well, matching his speed and attempting to surpass it.
What level is she?
Aiden found himself wishing he’d taken her up on her offer to exchange their details. In hindsight, that would’ve been useful. If I was planning on fighting her.
Moving into a variation of footwork he had learnt from the Order, his feet carried him away from Elaswit. He moved backwards as if he was a man staggering away from losing his footing.
He moved fast and he moved quick.
Elaswit did the same.
You’ll have to fight her, he thought as she followed him around the place.
It was a funny thought considering he was doing his best at fighting her. Right now he had no idea what her level was. He couldn’t get a complete read on facing her without more information.
You beat The Demon of Nel Quan.
Aiden almost snorted at that. He’d beat Jang Su, a simple boy. The Demon of Nel Quan was who the boy would one day become.
Elaswit swung her cleaver in an upward, diagonal slash and red mana burst from it.
Just great, Aiden thought. With the way he was running, she’d caught him at an odd angle, dodging was almost impossible.
Almost.
[You have used skill Leap]
Aiden soared high into the air and the arc of red mana whizzed past beneath him. It cut a groove into the ground as it passed and Aiden took note of it. The few times he’d seen Elaswit use the skill across a distance, it hadn’t left grooves that deep in the ground.
So either her mastery had risen quite well or her increase in level was quite good. There was also the possibility that she was simply funneling too much mana into the skill.
It was why he couldn’t simply beat her as he’d defeated Jang Su. Fighting Jang Su had been different from this. For one, Jang Su hadn’t been trying to kill him. Also, the boy hadn’t been allowed the use of skills. He had no weapon. And while he’d out-leveled Aiden, he’d been a novice.
Jang Su had been new to the craft. New to the violence. Aiden had possessed eleven years of unarmed and armed combat experience against far more terrifying foes. Aiden had had skill and strength. Jang Su had just been a boy. A strong boy, but a boy nonetheless.
Even then, it had taken a lot out of him to win that fight. And he hadn’t even won it.
Elaswit, however, had years of experience fighting against a human opponent. Surely she’d been fighting with different weapons from the moment she was old enough to hold a sword or a spear.
The moment Aiden’s feet touched the ground, he darted left, around a standing stalagmite. One of the remaining four in the place. Its top shattered as he dashed past it, exploding in a bright red.
Elaswit was really putting her all into each swing.
I should be able to wear her down, Aiden reasoned as he ran. But there was a slight problem with that plan and he knew it. When a [Butcher] ran out of mana, it wasn’t that big of a deal. They were not a mana dependent class. As long as a [Butcher] had sufficient stamina, they remained a threat.
Elaswit’s eyes trailed Aiden as he moved, lifeless. Empty. For a moment he was reminded of the [Empty Berserker] that she had been. A title the people had chosen to bestow upon her. It had been a hybrid of what she had become by herself and what she had become to the people.
Aiden thought about weaving an enchantment onto himself as he ran but his body twitched negatively at the idea. He had a headache. It wasn’t throbbing yet, but it was there, considering if it should start throbbing.
He didn’t care what anybody said, but when you used enough enchantments or potions and your body started showing qualities of any possible ailment, it was always a sure sign to stop doing whatever you were doing. The last thing he needed right now was to weave an Enchantment of Lesser Lightning or something, just to find himself helpless on the floor with some unhealthy seizure.
No. I have to tire her out myself.
Aiden changed direction abruptly. He made a straight dash at Elaswit. If he could see her attack coming, he could dodge it. And while tiring her out was a good idea, he was beginning to think he’d be the one to go down first. After all, there was no way he had more stamina than she did.
So he had a new plan. Disarm her. Every other plan would come after. Improvising, after all, wasn’t always a bad thing.
Elaswit ignored his charge and swung her sword above. The red mana blasted to the stalactites above and Aiden swore under his breath. There was a loud crash as mana met stalactites and they fell, sharp spikes aimed to skewer.
Aiden moved, feet dancing as three stalactites fell. The first shattered against the ground where he would’ve been if he’d kept charging forward. He slithered away, steps carrying him until he was completely out of harms way as the rest hit the ground around him.
It annoyed him slightly that this had been a part of his plan against Gangnar only for him to end up improvising because she hadn’t been available to execute it.
Now she was using it against him as a part of her plan.
The moment he was free of the chaos of falling stalactites, Elaswit was already charging him.
Fuck it.
Aiden ran into her as well. He kept his eye on her cleaver while also keeping the attention he could spare on the rest of her. Right now, her skill was his biggest threat. He didn’t think it would kill him, but it would hurt.
At a higher level the skill would’ve been deadlier, capable of cutting his current self in half with one blow. But Aiden remembered what it had done to the stalagmite when she’d attacked him. The top of the stalagmite had shattered not been severed. Even if it was like a sword strike, the skill was more blunt force that sharp edged.
When they met at the end of their run, Elaswit stepped into a powerful swing. Aiden did not dodge. He did not step away or duck from the blow. Instead, he stepped into it.
Here goes nothing.
He switched into a variation of the Order’s one armed combat. Defensive hand raised to the side, he turned at the hip, tightened his shoulder blades and supported his wrist with his other hand. The back of his hand connected with the wrist of Elaswit’s swinging arm, striking wrist and sword hilt.
Aiden grimaced as pain filled his hand. Just how much strength was the princess working with?
The technique was designed to disarm a swinging opponent from their weapon. Unfortunately, while Elaswit’s hold faltered, her cleaver did not fall from her hand. Aiden scowled. Still, he now had an advantage. So close to her, her cleaver was practically useless. If he could maintain this distance between them, he could ignore the massive cleaver.
So he did.
Elaswit stepped back, trying to get away from him, and he closed the space back with a single step, hands moving, attacking. His first strike caught her against the cheek with a closed fist just below the eye. The next one struck her mouth. The third struck as true as the second, breaking the skin of her lips and drawing blood.
The fourth—
Elaswit drove her head into Aiden's, headbutting him. Aiden’s reeled back from the blow and hands shot out in front of him on instinct. He grabbed at her as his vision swirled and his headache became an adamant throbbing pain. The last thing he needed was to have any real space between them while he was disoriented.
His hands took purchase on something. Aiden had no idea what it was, but it felt like cloth or hair. All he knew was that it was soft and his hold was strong. Thinking only of his safety, the rest was unimportant.
With his vision swirling, he pulled himself forward. He received another blow to the head for his worries, straight into his nose. He tasted blood, smelled it, too, and heard something crack. His legs threatened to buckle under him and his hold weakened.
No.
He willed himself to act. Fingers clamped back shut. His hold tightened and he pulled himself forward and to the side. He smacked into something, body against body. It was firm but soft. Vision still swirling, he held on tight. Elaswit would have to drop her cleaver if she wanted to do any real damage.
She did not.
Instead she hugged him. That didn’t matter. Aiden had successfully isolated the real threat of the cleaver, now he just had to…
Elaswit squeezed.
Her hug tightened and Aiden’s breathing became strained. A groan slipped from Aiden’s lips as pain filled his chest. The princess had him in a bear hug. A powerful one. His hands left whatever they were holding, his mind panicking for a second as his ribs suffered under the weight of her hug.
His hands went down and beside him. They took purchase on Elaswit’s arms and tried to pry them loose. Aiden tugged and shoved and pulled and grabbed. Nothing worked. His vision had stopped swirling but now it was darkening at the edges.
The pommel of Elaswit’s cleaver was digging into his back. She wasn’t large enough for her arms to completely wrap around him in a proper bear hug. So one hand held onto the wrist of the other hand behind him and she continued to squeeze.
Somewhere at the edge of pain Aiden remembered that while he was the right size for his age, maybe even more fleshed out than he had been at this age in his previous life, he really needed to add more weight.
Focus! he scolded himself while his hands continued to scramble for his freedom. He thought he felt something crack and hoped it was all in his head.
Calm yourself!
It took him time to obey. Years of experience fought to usurp instinctual panic. While his arms relaxed a little, he did his best to make sure his entire body did not relax with them. The last thing he wanted was his body succumbing to Elaswit’s power.
Just how much does she have in her strength stat?
Pain still filled his head with his headache, some spread farther about, crushing his entire chest from the punishment Elaswit was inflicting on him. Aiden would’ve liked to count on her violence, hoping she would throw him to the side with all her strength like they did in the movies, mistaking destruction for greater pain. But that was stupid. Any fighter knew that the moment you had your opponent in a disadvantageous position, you did not go throwing them into tables and televisions—or in this case, the ground or other stalagmites.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
When Aiden got some modicum of control back, he looked down at Elaswit. He met her eyes and found her face strained. She wasn’t suddenly fighting against the compulsion of the skill. She was straining to exact the amount of strength she was using to crush him.
He raised both arms to his side, hands open, then clapped her ears with all the force he could muster.
The sound of the attack was loud and reverberated through the open area.
Elaswit released him immediately, crying out in pain as she staggered back. She raised her hands to her ear and covered them in pain. Only one hand covered an ear successfully. The other hand was having a problem since it was currently occupied by her cleaver.
She bent at the waist, almost doubled over in pain, gripping her ears in pain as best as she could. Aiden had never been so glad that [Friend of Foe] did not turn the affected into some kind of painless foe.
He charged her immediately. Elaswit caught sight of him and moved to avoid him. She pulled her head from its vulnerable position. Raised it and pulled it back. Aiden ignored it and went for her legs. First, he would take her balance.
Even the [Butcher] class needed good footing to use their cleavers properly. He kicked her ankle, stepped to the side as she pulled her leg back in pain, and kicked her in the thigh. The kick shook her and she swung her cleaver at an odd angle.
Aiden danced away, easily avoiding the strike. His head continued to ache but his vision was no longer so bad.
Elaswit’s cleaver bit into the ground with so much force it almost buried a great portion of itself in the ground. Aiden shook out his leg. Kicking her thigh had been like kicking a brick wall.
Elaswit tugged on her cleaver once. When it didn’t come free immediately, Aiden rushed her. He feinted to the side, aimed at an angle where she would need her sword arm to stop him. She hesitated for only a moment—probably torn between trying to pull the weapon out one more time and defending herself—before releasing the cleaver. Aiden had been hoping for it but hadn’t been sure she would take the bait.
He turned, caught the swinging hand in both hands, and threw her over his shoulder. She hit the ground with a massive thud. Maneuvering himself, he locked his legs around the arm and fell back, putting her in an arm lock.
Submission was not the plan.
“I hope you forgive me for this,” he said to her.
Then he broke her arm, dislocated it at the elbow. Elaswit screamed in pain. She tried to bring her arm to her chest. Perhaps she was trying to cradle it.
Aiden let her have it.
The very short moment where she retrieved the hand gave him another opportunity. It was exactly what he needed and he scrambled after her. He swung his arm under her armpit. It took her a moment to react, but he’d already gotten her in another lock. Hands clasping each other behind her head, he had her at an odd angle, his shoulder pushing up her arm as he caught her neck in the crook of his elbow.
With all the force he could muster, he squeezed and didn’t let go.
Elaswit thrashed about, tried to shake him off. Aiden still didn’t let go. He leaned into the technique, put all that he had into it so that he squeezed with everything that he was. At an angle so odd, Elaswit tried and failed to maneuver her way out of it.
“Come on, princess,” Aiden groaned, squeezing tighter. “Go to sleep.”
He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, him squeezing and Elaswit thrashing. But it couldn’t have been so long. It was only a matter of time before she relaxed in his grip.
Then she went limp.
Aiden released her immediately, then rolled on his back. A deep, loud and relieved sigh escaped his lips and he stared up at the tips of the stalactites above. They stared right back at him, deadly weapons if only they were used.
Aiden wasn’t completely sure what he’d done would work. For all he knew, when she woke up—whenever that would be—Elaswit might still be under the compulsion to cut him in half. Still, this had been the lesser of two dangers.
At some point in the fight, he’d considered releasing her from the skill she was under the way he’d released himself. With [Walking Canvas] he would’ve probably been able to influence her with a weaving of lesser madness. But the risks would’ve been too great if it was successful.
And not for her.
With how his body was feeling and how much he had put it through, he had no idea what the weaving would’ve done to him. For all he knew, it could’ve broken him mentally or done far worse damage than he could possibly imagine.
There had also been the fear of the pain that had come with it the first time. Aiden didn’t want to admit it, but a pain that had made him beg for death wasn’t something he wanted to go through a second time so readily.
Aiden laid there, staring at the ceiling above for a while longer. He was catching his breath, getting his bearings about him. He’d been through a lot, and Gangnar had been a special kind of menace.
How many levels would I have gotten if I’d fought it alone?
It was a good question. But a better question was if he would’ve survived if he had fought it alone. He wasn’t completely sure he would’ve. But at least he’d completed his quest, finished the scenario.
He hadn’t expected to level up as much as he’d done when he’d entered the cave, though. He’d been expecting to cap out at around the mid twenties at best. His aim had been the unique skill. But Gangnar and the gargoyles around had had other plans.
So now, here he was, comfortably in the mid thirties. And too high for the cannibal town quest. It wasn’t that he was too high to attend the trip. The quests and scenarios very rarely ever discriminated unless they were human sanctioned. The problem was that, at his level, there would practically be no benefit for him in going on the quest. He doubted he would even level up through the entire quest.
I just keep having to change my plans.
The thought hovered in his mind but he wasn’t sure he wanted to do that. The future was already a bust. That much he could admit. He’d done too much, made too much of a mess. And barely two months in.
But it didn’t matter. Not anymore. If he wanted to achieve what he was trying to achieve, the future was highly unimportant. It had taken eleven years for Ted to find a possible way back home in his previous life.
Aiden intended on doing it in a far shorter span of time.
Whatever Ted and the [Sage] had done in that last fight, it had proven one thing: Ted’s method was capable of working. Aiden did not know the specifics of how he had gone back in time, but he remembered a few pieces of information from that night.
The [Sage] had afflicted him with time magic and Ted had afflicted him with spatial magic. The time magic had sent him back and the spatial magic had changed his location. At least he was really hoping that it was the case.
If he was correct, it meant that there was a way. The giants and the Order.
They were the solution. But the weak did not simply venture into the mountains and the unusable did not simply venture into the reach of the Order. If he was to approach the Order, he would need to be strong and have something useful to present.
The moment the thought came to him, Aiden paused. The giants in the frost mountains. What if I’ve been looking at this the wrong way?
Aiden would’ve scratched his head in frustration if he had enough strength to.
Eight frost mountains were on Nastild. But of the eight only four were on the human side of Nastild. So unless there was someone who’d broken the treaty between the humans and the magical sapient beings of Nastild, then answer to the question of which frost mountain he would find the giants on would be none of them, right?
Aiden had been very amazingly stupid. The humans and fantastical species of Nastild had separated themselves from each other ages ago in some magical way.
When the Demon Wars had been drawing to its beginning, those barriers had come down. From what Aiden knew, it hadn’t been intentional. Something about the demonic mana had eroded them somehow. When they had come down, the species had mingled. At first it had been frictional, before they had come to an unsteady agreement with the catalyst of a mutual enemy.
By frost mountains, Ted could’ve meant any of the eight frost mountains. And right now I only have access to four.
While Aiden wanted to believe it could only be one of the mountains on the other side of the barrier, it could just as easily be on one of the mountains on the human side of Nastild. After all, when the the barrier fell and teams were made, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the giants had come and occupied the remaining frost mountains on the human side of Nastild.
This was becoming a problem. Things were getting more complicated and he didn’t like it.
Aiden had just discarded his worries of changing the future because he hoped he wouldn’t be on Nastild for very long, but now he knew it would be longer than he thought it would be. He definitely didn’t plan on staying here for eleven years, though. There was no reason for that to happen. He would do everything he could as fast as he could and get as many of them as he could back to earth.
So what was the point of worrying about changing the events of a future he had no plans of being in?
He’d definitely been going about this the wrong way.
I’ll still need time, Aiden thought as he finally pushed himself to his feet.
The throbbing in his head was gone, reduced to a slow and steady ache. It was like a slow silent hum. A flat crescendo. He could work with it.
Staring down at Elaswit, he found the princess still unconscious, sword arm bent at an odd angle. I should probably pop that back into place.
Running a tired hand through his hair, Aiden inhaled deeply.
The cannibal town was a useless part of his growing process now. Yes, it had been a point of character building for those of them that had gone. It was supposed to be a publicity stunt and a learning experience. A chance for them to work on their first quest as a group and a starting point to introducing them to the populace of Nastild as the heroes that they were supposed to be.
It had gone terribly wrong, however, and had become a touch of a nightmare. It had hardened them a little, which had not been the king’s intention at the time. It had shown them that fantasy had its nightmares as much as it had its adventures.
Aiden didn’t need the character building. He’d seen enough evil already to build three new characters. The question now was how much Ted needed it.
He does not.
There was always the chance that that specific level of character building had been what had led him to whatever qualifications had made him the [Demon King].
Once Aiden got back to the palace, he would ask Brandis for permission to leave. He wasn’t sure if Brandis would agree, but it was an easier way of leaving the kingdom. Personally, he could simply not return. He could place the princess somewhere safe once they were out of the cave and find his way out of Nastild, after taking advantage of all its dangerous adventuring spots first.
But he wasn’t going to leave Ted behind, so Aiden needed to go back. And if he was going to run away with Ted, he needed to do it as peacefully as possible. Brandis was already a powerful man by level before even being one by kingship. And he had powerful men under his command.
He was a good man, but when faced with a choice between being a good man and doing what was necessary to save his entire world, Aiden didn’t want to see what choice Brandis would make.
So the last thing he needed was to be running away from men in the level hundreds while dragging Ted along when he wasn’t even at level fifty yet.
Aiden would petition the king to allow him adventure far beyond, to grant him some level of autonomy in seeking out his own power. He would need to negotiate with the king on that.
And what if negotiations fail?
Then he would need to bide his time, grow strong enough or find an opportunity, then leave with Ted.
And what if Ted doesn’t want to leave?
That would be a very tricky situation. He very well couldn’t go kidnapping Ted… right?
Aiden shook his head. I’m not kidnapping my older brother.
That would be stupid, chaotic, and very likely the beginning of a new set of problems. So what happened if Ted refused to leave? Aiden would have two options. The question was which one he would pick.
He could remain with Ted and the palace, grow himself the best he could with the little he could gain. Or he could venture out, regardless, grow himself the best he could with the limitless he could have. With enough mercenaries and enough money, he could gather a team and gain from even the most difficult of areas.
With the second option, it didn’t matter if Ted became the [Demon King]. Aiden would be powerful, strong enough to do a lot. He could simply find his brother and plan from there. [Demon King] or not, the priority was getting home first. Stopping Ted from becoming the [Demon King] was only so that he could eliminate the chance of making an enemy out of Nastild.
Aiden stretched, pulling himself from his rampant thoughts. They weren’t thoughts he was supposed to be thinking while trapped in a cave with an annoying headache. What he needed to do was make his way out of the cave with the princess.
But first…
Aiden pulled up his interface and checked on the information he had not yet seen. The information Gangnar’s skill and Elaswit’s attempt on his life had kept him from checking.
[You are now Level 35]
…
[Congratulations Prisoner #234502385739!]
[You have reached level 30]
…
[You have gained stat points]
[You have gained 8 unallocated stat points]
[Your existing stats have gained additional points]
[Dexterity 15 --> 19], [Agility 8 --> 11], [Mana 14 --> 17], [Speed 12 --> 16], [Perception 9 --> 12], [Strength 6 --> 8].
…
[Dexterity 19], [Agility 11], [Mana 17], [Speed 16], [Perception 12], [Strength 8].
…
[You have 8 unallocated stat points]
[Would you like to use unallocated stat points?]
[Y/N]
Aiden moved past the stat point allocation request. He had just hit level thirty, which meant he would’ve gotten another class skill.
[Congratulations Prisoner # 234502385739]
[You have reached level 30.]
[You have gained a class skill]
[You have gained Class skill Modify Engrave]
…
[Modify Engrave (Mastery 02.00%]
All enchantments are designed to achieve a specific function, engraved for the very purpose. If you possess the skill and the mastery, you can upend any engraving, alter its function. Do this wisely.
Aiden read the skill twice before discarding it.
Why the hell was his interface talking to him about morality when describing his new skill? The answer mattered very little right now. What mattered, was getting out of the cave.
He pulled the notifications back to his stat point allocation and finished up with that little task. From his experience with Elaswit and a little need for balance, he put two points into [Strength]. It was the only stat that hadn’t been in the double digits.
His class didn’t really require strength, but his fight with Elaswit had shown him that no matter how fast he got and how much his weavings could boost him, he needed a little bit of extra strength in his base stats.
The remaining stats got single digits except [Mana]. Aiden had questioned himself a number of times before making his decision, torn between [Dexterity] and [Mana]. In the end, he had settled on [Mana], giving it two points.
[Dexterity 19 -->20], [Agility 11 --> 12], [Mana 17 --> 19], [Speed 16 --> 17], [Perception 12 --> 13], [Strength 8 --> 10]
Aiden stretched, feeling sore muscles and tired bones. Looking down at Elaswit, he went to work. Popping her elbow back into place wasn’t a very difficult thing to do. He had more than enough experience popping joints out of place and into place.
The princess didn’t even flinch when he did it.
With that done with, he undid her cleaver’s strap from her back and wore it. Picking the cleaver from the ground, he strapped it to his back. The thing weighed four times the weight of an average sword. As she got stronger and leveled up, Elaswit’s weapons would only get heavier.
Aiden adjusted the cleaver on his back, its weight unforgettable, and picked Elaswit up. He carried her in both arms like a princess. If they ran into any problems on their way back, dropping her wouldn’t be too difficult, and getting rid of the cleaver was something he could do in a single gesture to release it.
Weaponless, he really hoped he wouldn’t run into anything.
Ready for his return, he thought about the natural array, where they had come in from, and activated his new unique skill.
[You have used skill Pathfinder(U)]
The moment the skill came alive, Aiden felt a gentle breeze against his skin. It caressed the hair of his arms and he turned in the direction it flowed towards.
In front of him was a gentle line like a rising whisker of smoke. But this one moved forward where smoke rose upwards. It was gentle and it was true, undulating in a straight line. It led out of the open space where it took a curve down the path they’d come.
It was a soft sky blue.
“Now that’s something you don’t see everyday,” Aiden muttered to himself.
Making sure he had a good grip on the princess, he followed it.
If there was an [Advent of the Demon King I], then somewhere out there, there was going to be or there already was an [Advent of the Demon King II].
Aiden wondered who would stumble upon that scenario as he followed the line of smoke.
For now, all he could think about was resting.