The two figures stood for several moments in the clearing staring at one another before the large white figure leaned down, beginning a chaotic charge towards the much smaller human.

“…” Mican’s frows furrowed as his form crouched down, facing the demon head on.

It was immediately obvious to him that his previous plan of stalling the battle out would be more difficult than he had originally thought it would be. The demon clearly knew of its disadvantage in a prolonged battle, seeing as to how it didn’t bother with any sort of face off. It was apparent that the freak wasn’t confident in the skinless monsters’ ability to keep the adventurers at bay.

“AHAHAAHAA!” As the creature’s massive frame barrelled forward, it roared in laughter towards the young man, baring its yellowed and rotted teeth as spittle flew from its mouth.

To maximize speed and momentum in its horrible charge, the monster had even resorted to using its hands as leverage on the ground, as if a beast on all fours. With its disproportionate and gangly limbs, the four-limbed method of running almost seemed fit for the creature, despite its humanoid form.

Each step the demon took left a clear imprint on the ground, and it almost felt as if the earth was rumbling from the sheer force of every stomp.

On the other end stood Mican, his back straight and unwavering. The monster was terrifying, and Mican would be lying if he were to say that he wasn’t afraid, but he wasn’t frightened of the fighting, or even of the death the creature would bring him, but rather of a life unlived.

There would be far too many regrets left for him to die right now. It was because he was afraid that he would fight, it was how he faced his fears in the hopes that it would make him a greater man.

He was no perfect person though, shown in the rapid, erratic pace of his breathing, and the slight shuddering of his fists as the large monstrosity lumbered towards him. There was no time to be fearful of failure, of this he was well aware. The best and only solution in this situation was for him to try his best, and perhaps only then could he die in peace.

“GRAAAHHH!” Rose closed the distance fast with his strange running method, leaping towards Mican with long arms outstretched, grabbing at the young man’s face.

“DIE!” Dirt sprayed up into the air as Mican swiveled back in stance, pushing his leg backwards and reaching into his cloak.

Crkow!

Grabbing onto the hammer that lay tucked into his trousers, Mican pulled back his arm and swung at the demon’s head with all of his might. The iron head of the tool connected with the freak’s temple with a crack that resounded into the night sky.

The young man had hoped for the cambion to let his guard down, not expecting him to have a weapon concealed on him. His plan had worked wonderfully, but not in the way that he had expected.

Instead of shattering Rose’s head, the head of the hammer had pierced directly into the demon’s temple, as if a sharp weapon instead of a blunt one. A cold black liquid spurted into the air from the blow, spraying onto Mican’s face and clothes.

“Ugh.”

A loud thump sounded out as the demon collided headfirst into Mican, sending the both of them rolling on the ground in a large heap of white and blue. As he was hit, the hammer in his hands went flying into the grass several meters away from him.

Breaking his momentum with his arms, Mican kicked the demon off of him with his legs, scrambling up and jumping backwards several steps.

“Guh!” In spite of his attempt to be nimble, a red spray of blood burst into the air as the cambion raked his fingernails across his chest in his getaway.

It was pure and raw strength that had allowed these four gashes, as opposed to the sharpness of his nails. The cambion’s nails were blunt instead of sharp, serving to only further the pain that the young man felt. Four strips of flesh had been torn from his chest, bleeding profusely and paining him immensely.

Saliva dripped from between Mican’s gritted teeth, splattering onto the bloodied blades of grass beneath. His muscles had been fully clenched, and the veins in his arms were protruding and bulging outwards. The pain was excruciating.

“You…” Breaking his momentum with his arms, the freak skidded to a stop a good few meters away from Mican.

Glaring at him, it held its hand up to its head, feeling at the wound. A small hole the size of a child’s fist could be seen through its temple. Black blood gushed out, dripping all over it’s body and onto the ground.

It was an extremely clean hit, owing to his hand-coordination trained by his various hobbies, and his powerful body and mind.

“How could you be this powerful?” The creature’s skull like head gave a clear frown as it glared daggers at the young man. “It’s been only a mere few days.”

Rose had clearly not expected such strength, owing to its question, but Mican gave it no relief.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Breaking out into a sprint at the demon mid-sentence, Mican decisively closed the distance. As he approached, he stomped forward with one leg, twisting his hips and inserting immense force into his arm, shooting a fist out like a rocket towards the creature’s head.

Another loud thud rang out as Mican’s fist connected, shattering the cambion’s nose into small pieces like porcelain. Immediately after the blow, Mican kicked out towards the creature’s stomach, landing a solid blow that sent the creature to its knees.

“Die!” With a loud shout, the young man grabbed the figure’s kneeling head with both of his hands, his knee shooting out to connect with the bone demon’s face with a solid thump.

The blow further flattened the demon’s face beneath his knee, black blood bursting out beneath them from the impact.

Directly afterwards, the young man jumped backwards and distanced himself from the creature. Moving in quick but small hops, he grabbed the small hammer that lay on the ground before standing upwards, staring at the creature while catching his breath.

“…”

“Urgh…” A small groan sounded out into the air as Rose uncovered his face from his hands, looking up at Mican wordlessly.

It’s bone-white nose had been completely shattered, covering its face and dripping off of its chin. Multiple tiny cracks could be seen stretching out like roots through the creature’s face, but they were so miniscule it seemed meaningless.

Inwardly, the young man was extremely shocked. Even before his body had become powerful, such a blow should have been enough to cave in a man’s head, yet the demon before him seemed to be only slightly worse for the wear.

“…” The demon’s empty sockets stared up at him, black liquid oozing from its shattered nose and the hole in its head.

There was at least one comforting fact in the confrontation, which was that his assault had an effect. The demon’s constitution was as strange as he had remembered, its body like porcelain instead of flesh.

“You’re pathetic, and weak. You’re like a roach dying in its own shit and piss.” Rapidly clenching and unclenching his fists, Mican loosened his wrists as he warily taunted the demon.

There was one peculiar fact, in which that it had almost seemed too easy for him to get away with the sequence. He had expected some strange power or awful ability, but the demon seemed to be largely inexperienced in battle, which struck him as slightly odd.

“Let us see if you can still laugh as I eat you alive…” Gripping the bloody hole on its head, the demon snarled at Mican.

Even despite its lackluster facial features, Rose seemed fully capable of expressing itself through its face, and the fact greatly disturbed the young man.

He shook his head from side to side, shaking off the feeling of disgust that washed over him. Gripping the hammer tightly, he crouched his body down low, centering his mass, before jumping out into a sprint towards the white figure.

As Mican quickly neared, the demon raised its large arm into the air, swinging it at the charging man like a tree trunk. A blast of wind sent outwards fully displayed the weight and power behind the arm, blowing back the grass beneath it. How could such an empty body contain such a horrific force?

As the bone-white arm came swinging down towards him, Mican stopped in place, forcefully breaking his momentum with his legs skidding across the ground. A wave of dirt flew upwards, breaking apart on the demon’s body even as its arm came swinging down.

Widening both of his legs in stance, Mican raised his shoulder in front of him and swung himself towards the arm, all of his weight behind the blow.

Wham!

A thud sounded out along with a loud crack as the young man slammed into the arm, breaking its momentum and sending it flying back.

Stumbling over from the sheer strength of the blow, Mican threw out his hand to break his fall. Shoving his arm against the ground, he jumped back up in one swift motion, slugging his fist out towards the demon’s chin in a brutal right hook.

The execution of the sequence was very clumsy, and sloppy, but he paid it no mind.

“Ugh!” The freak coughed out weakly as Mican’s fist connected with its lower neck, black blood flying out from its mouth, staining the young man’s blue cloak.

While the strike was hard and solid, it was unable to fully knock the demon back. Rose withstood the blow by merit of his own sheer weight and mass, merely stumbling backwards while sending a kick shooting Mican’s way, in a direct course for his chest.

A loud crack sounded out in the night as a figure flew into the air. The red blood flying from its mouth was illuminated under the blue moonlight, gleaming as it soared through the sky.

“Gah!” A groan was forced from Mican’s mouth as he crashed into the ground, all of the air sent flying from his lungs.

Even despite the hard landing, the sheer force of his momentum sent him pushing through the dirt, piling up into a small mound behind him.

“Ugh…” A line of blood seeped from the young man’s mouth as he lay on the ground, staring up at the large moon in the sky.

At least one of his bones had been broken by the blow, though he didn’t know which one. Along with that was his shoulder, which had been dislocated by the impact of the earlier blow, where he shouldered the demon.

His method of battle was a crude one, but it was all he knew. It was a thousand times better to be trading blow for blow than standing off with his opponent.

Forcing his head up, the young man gasped, struggling for air as he scoured his surroundings in search of his opponent. The blow had sent him nearly fifteen feet away from where he was originally standing, showcasing the demon’s monstrous strength.

Still standing in the same spot, shadowed by the massive blue moon behind it, the white cambion grasped its throat with both of its hands as it stared at the young man.

Between its hands, in the light of the moonlight, a large indentation the size of Mican’s fist could be seen imprinted onto the demon’s neck. A trickle of black liquid dripped down its throat as it watched him, its face showing no visible emotion, save for its widened eyes.

“GRAGHURGH!!” A warbled shriek reverberated throughout the forest as Rose screamed.

Raising its hand into the air, the cambion shot its finger out toward Mican, pointing at him while screaming unintelligibly.

“Urgh…”

In response to the gargled howling, the twelve skinless corpse-eaters began shambling their way towards the young man from behind him, slowly encircling him.

Still gasping for breath, Mican narrowed his eyes as he slammed his trembling hands onto the ground, forcing himself to his knees.

Rose was playing by every underhanded method in the book, planning to sap his strength with his troops while he was exhausted from the previous blow. It was a method only a cunning person would think of, befitting the title of demon in Mican’s eyes, but all was fair in war.

Kneeling down, Mican slammed both of his fists repeatedly into his chest, forcing himself to breath as he continued attempting to suck in several mouthfuls of air, even as the creatures slowly surrounded him.

Propping a hand onto the ground, Mican glared up at the skinless corpse-eaters, his hands slowly clenching into fists as he watched them approach.