Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 19. The Slaughter of the Ever-Forest
In the Ever-spirit forest, Gray, Edward, Rosemary, and Soku stand in front of Massif, the imposing Demi-human man. An Arch-Gorilla, the giant six arms monster with red skin, six-eyes, and a spider's mouth.
Gray: “So…are we just gonna go all out?”
Massif: “~~~~~”
Massif says nothing, letting out a long groan, then ending it with a nod of his head. Gray closes his eyes, nods his head as well, and wastes no time to start the duel. Gray pools mana out of his body, coating it around himself. With a quick step, he lunges towards Massif, but is quickly stopped in his tracks by a jab.
This sudden jab is fast, but Gray can block fast enough to make sure he doesn't get hurt, but he’s still launched backward. While flying backward, he stretches his cloak out, attaching it to trees to slingshot himself forward. Rosemary and Edward are quick to react, so while Rosemary goes into the fifth stage, Edward moves in to swing his sword down on Massif. Massif can move his large body in such a way you’d think he was a leaf blowing in the wind. Seamlessly dodges the swing, plants his foot on it to hold it down, and then through another devastating punch to his chest. Rosemary grabs Edward by the cloak on his back, throwing him back so she can fight. The fifth stage is powerful, being able to weaponize wind as a base of attack. Even with the powerful golden aura flaming off of her, sending waves of wind pressure through the forest, scaring off every animal in the area Massif pays no mind to this though. Clashing fists with her, he plants his feet, dragging through the thick dirt, so he’s able to acknowledge her power, but he’s far above it. Grabbing her arm, he slams her to the ground, causing a sound impact. Since all of this has happened so fast, Soku has yet to move, and Gray has just shot himself back at Massif, flying toward him at high speeds with two Titans Impact attacks ready. Massif scoffs at Gray’s straightforward attack, but he’s surprised when he uses his cloak to pull himself away.
Now knowing that his attacks are faint, he pays extra attention to his surroundings. Soku uses her cleaver-like sword to launch a blade of wind right at him. Massif blocks it with such ease that Soku feels powerless. But she powers through it and launches herself at him, swirling in such a way it’s as if she’s a wheel made of wind. Rosemary stands up, Gray swings around in the trees, getting to his right side, Edward stands back up, and Soku flies towards him. Now, in a four-way deadlock, anybody else would panic, or so they’d think. Without any current weapon equipped, he stands his ground, ready to counter them with his bare hands. First, he grabs the end of Edward’s sword, pulls him in, kicks his chest, and takes his sword. Then he uses Edward's sword to counter Soku’s wind wheel. Next, he turns around, and his jaw opens up, and a thick web shoots out of it, wrapping around Rosemary. Lastly, he uses the wrapped-up Rosemary as an attack, swinging her at Gray, spinning in a circle, and hitting all of them. He lets go, chuckling as they go flying, tumbling through the forest, only stopping when they hit a large tree. Since Edward was at the end, he smacks into the tree, then gets hit with the force of his friends on top of that.
Gray: “What’s happening!?”
Soku: “I’m rusty! Give me a break!”
Edward: “At this rate, we’ll be broken on our way to Constal, if we even make it there.”
Rosemary: “We could run?”
Massif stops his feet, creating a large shock wave, then begins screaming out.
Massif: “IF YOU RUN! I’LL CATCH YOU! IF YOU HIDE! I’LL FIND YOU! IF YOU FIGHT, I’LL BEAT YOU! YOU CAN DO NOTHING BUT LEARN HOW TO LOSE!”
Gray stands up, pushing Soku and Rosemary off of him, proud and ready.
Gray: “OH WE KNOW HOW TO LOSE ALRIGHT! ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES IS WHAT WE DO! NOW, WE'LL BEAT YOUR ASS A LIL HARDER! CAUSE WE GOT A HELL OF A LOT OF FIGHT LEFT!”
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Massif smirks and then starts sprinting towards them.
Soku: “AH SHIT!”
Edward: “BREAK!”
They all begin running off in different directions; Edward runs to the left; Gray to the right, and Soku takes out her glider, blasting into the air, leaving Rosemary to charge Massif.
She blasts into the sixth stage, letting off a shock wave similar to Massifs. The flame-like energy turns to a thicker outline around her, like armor. Rosemary flings her arms up, blocking his charge, which creates zapping noises. She uses this burst of strength to fight, trying to hit him with various attacks. Though he’s able to dodge each one, and each missed attack creates large bursts of wind, one after the other. Soku, mid-air, blasts down a targeted wave of wind directly below her, about to consume Massif. He backs off, giving Rosemary a chance to breathe, but she dives right back in. This time Gray sneaks up behind Massif, letting his Cloak branch off into various tendrils. Each tendril mixes with the other, creating two thick arms on both sides of his body. He then closes his eyes, focusing on the mana around him.
Gray {I can’t fully control it…hell, I can only keep my body in check so it doesn't kill itself…but IT’S WORTH IT!}
Gray opens his eyes, revealing them to be growing a bright white, though strangely they are almost transparent, his eyes being barely visible. He may have little to no control of his body, but he can put his focus into his cloak. He charges Massif at the same time Rosemary does, attacking him together. Rosemary’s increased strength and speed give her an advantage, while Gray uses his spiritual state to give him a perception advantage. Each dodges each of their attacks, but Gray uses the cloak to stretch to places he can’t normally attack. One arm flies to his head, another to his side, his leg, his arm, and lastly to his privates. In the situation he’s in now, trying to dodge a barrage of punches from both Gray and Rosemary, he flips in a sideways circle. The weak tendril arms are knocked away, then Gray and Rosemary both get punched right in the face, but he’s met by a large blast of wind behind him. The wind is four times larger than them, carving through everything around them. Edward dashes through, snagging both Rosemary and Gray. Massif tries to fire off another web, but Gray slashes it with his sword, so now he gets hit by the large blast of wind. Though he’s not affected much by it, Edward, Gray, and Rosemary use it as an opportunity to charge at him. Edward goes down into his OD, and Awakens it, forcing his body into the supremely powered state that is the Dragon Spirit.
Rosemary bolts ahead of all of them, about to clash right into Massif, but he catches her hand. Gray moves in next, wrapping his mouth in the cloak and holding his other arm back. Edward leaps at Massif while Soku speeds behind him, charging an instantly strong blade of wind. Now at another dead-lock, Gray and Rosemary struggle with all their might to keep his arms down. Rosemary’s bones crack, breaking down from the immense pressure that is the sixth stage, but she remains content. Edward jumps into the sky, bringing down his great sword right onto his head while the strong wind blade is further powered by Soku’s mark of providence, allowing it to blast as fast as sound. But suddenly, two arms emerge from Massif’s shoulders, shooting out, forming instantly, catching Edward's swing. Two more arms do the same, coming out of his sides, blocking Soku’s attack with not much resistance. The blade of wind explodes, causing a large blast to follow, cutting his back, and angering him. Rosemary’s body gives out, the same as Gray’s hold in the spiritual state, lessening the strength of the cloak. Massif slams Rosemary’s body against Gray’s, sending them both flying. Edward tries to swing down from his sword, kicking at Massif’s head, but Massif dodges. Since he dodged, Edward’s legs are forced under immense stress for nothing, cracking his leg bones. He’s then grabbed by all four of Massif’s extra arms and is forced to face a barrage of punches to the chest, breaking rib after rib.
His armor begins to splinter, about to give way, so Soku charges him. She coats her body with mana empowered by her mark. The sure speed and destruction caused by this is staggering, but Massif turns his body, facing Edward in the way of her attack. She barely stops herself, leaving herself open to another blast of webbing, trapping her within it. Still holding Edward, he throws his head up and down, slamming her into the ground repeatedly, then after the fourth time doing so, she loses consciousness. He stops slamming her, and then he wraps Edward up in webs as well, leaving only Gray and Rosemary.
Gray: “Rose get up! Rose! ROSEMARY!”
Gray shakes Rosemary over and over, nudging her to get up, but she’s unresponsive, lying unconscious. He stands up and looks at Massif, then at his sword, finding his sword missing. He then looks to Massif again, watching as he grows in height. His muscles grow, his arms, his mouth, and four extra eyes also emerge on his face. With this newfound monstrous form, he smirks at Gray, awaiting whatever move he’ll try and use because he knows he’ll fail. Gray’s OD begins burning, but he pushes through, bites his lip, unsheathes the wrist talons, takes a deep breath, and uses his trump card.
Gray: “KNIGHTIC!”
A wave of spirit mana rushes over Gray, taking a portion of his mana and stamina to create the strength that is Knightic. Next, with tendrils attached to two trees, he jumps back and prepares to slingshot himself toward Massif. He then creates two Titan Impacts below his feet, using them to blast himself at Massif as fast as he can. While he’s flying towards Massif, he stretches out a hand-shaped tendril behind him, then blasts it towards Massif, flying right past the currently airborne Gray. Massif dodges the tendril and watches as Gray makes two more Titans Impacts on his hands, about to smack into Massif like a missile. Massif grabs the tendril right as it’s about to pull itself back, then pulls Gray towards him, messing up his momentum. The Massif kicks Gray in the face, sending him flying back, but before he hits the ground he’s snagged by another web.
Massif: “You’re clever, but strength needs to come in time, you have no understanding of your mana at all.”
Gray: “SHIT!”
Massif: “I mark this battle…no, I mark this slaughter over.”
Gray: “WALNIC!”
Gray makes a thick shield in front of him, but Massif punches right through it, hitting Gray so hard in the face that it knocks him out instantly.
End of Chapter Nineteen