Maria readied her weapon and met Hecate’s mana-covered fist with her ax. When their strikes connected, she was greatly surprised by her opponent’s strength. Even with all the stats obtained from her Calamity and the special equipped effects of her Zantetsu-R, she was evenly matched with Hecate. They traded attacks blow for blow and neither side relented. It was quite clear to Maria that Hecate had learned some form of martial arts because she was fighting using her fists and legs.
She was learning something similar just for the game, but she was self-taught, while Hecate seemed to be formally trained and had adequate fighting experience to boot. It was quite tricky to fight with her and Maria was only able to trade blows because she had the reach advantage.
If they were to fight without weapons, Maria could convincingly say that she would lose. Hecate didn’t even seem to be going all out yet, as there was a crazed grin on her face as she continued to strike at Maria.
“Let’s take this up a notch, yeah?”
“?!”
Hecate changed her pace and began employing feints in her attacks. The change in pattern caught Maria off guard and one of her opponent's punches landed squarely on her face.
“Ugh–”
“I’m not done yet, my little flower!”
Her opponent followed it up with a flurry of punches that landed square on her face and body. Maria wanted to counter but Hecate didn’t give her a chance. Each of her punches caused some kind of split-second mini-stun on her so she couldn’t activate any of her skills to break out of this attack chain that had completely locked her down.
“Kehehehehe!” Hecate maniacally laughed as she continued her assault.
Maria kept on taking those punches and waited for just the right moment to launch a counterattack. When one of Hecate’s attacks landed on her chest again, she quickly moved and grabbed onto the girl’s arm before swinging her head forward and headbutting Hecate right on the nose.
“Gah!”
“You sure had your fun pummeling me, but now it’s my turn you damned bitch.”
“!”
It was the first time Maria actually swore at someone and it showed that she was completely livid. This was the first time in the game that she had been so one-sidedly beaten up that it greatly hurt her pride, so she definitely wanted payback.
Not only that, Hecate was merciless and kept on attacking her face and chest. If she hadn’t been wearing any armor, those hits would’ve struck her breasts and that would’ve hurt even more–and on top of that, she'd definitely feel humiliated for having her breasts punched. This girl who was fighting her not only wanted to defeat her, but she seemed to also want to humiliate her for some reason. It was the first time they had met but this girl appeared to have some sort of vendetta against her.
Maria wanted revenge so she wasn’t going to hold back anymore. She quickly pulled out her Zantetsu-R and transformed her Calamity to its Z-form before she started slashing at Hecate. Hecate was quick to recover but Maria had followed up her headbutt with a [Wail of Anguish].
With Hecate being so close to Maria, she couldn’t block or evade the sonic attack and was inflicted with the [Fear], [Silence], [Blind], and [Deafen] debuffs, but they only lasted for half a second. The debuffs were supposed to last 5 seconds but Hecate had a passive resistance skill which shortened any debuffs’ duration on her by a large degree. However, that half a second when she was disorientated was enough time to allow Maria to connect her attacks. She copied Hecate and imbued her mana into her swords, which enhanced their power by quite a bit. After being wrapped up in her mana, flames flared around her Calamity-Z while Zantetsu-R began flowing with a silver light.
Maria was surprised for a moment because this was something new. She didn’t know that wrapping her mana around her weapons could change them like that. She had only done it because Hecate had done it, which allowed her to fortify and empower her strikes.
*DING*
You have gained an understanding of aura! You have learned the special skill: Aura Mastery! Aura Master Lv. 1 has been added to your extra skills slot!
“Oh?”
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
Maria smirked before she quickly rushed straight in front of Hecate and slashed her with her two swords. When the slash she made with Calamity-Z struck her opponent’s body, it caused a small explosion which stunned Hecate for a split second, while her Zantetsu-R’s hit cut not only her HP away, but also her MP.
“You had a great time punching me earlier, so how do you like it now that you’re on the receiving end?!” Maria uttered with a sneer on her face as she continued to chain her attacks.
She wanted to use a skill or a spell, but that would break the chain she made with her attacks and give her opponent an opening to back away or defend. Maria wasn’t going to allow that to happen, but just like what she did earlier, Hecate wasn’t just silently receiving her attacks. Her opponent was looking for an opening in her otherwise unbreakable attack pattern. Hecate did manage to find it and deflect her Calamity-Z’s slash and collide it with her Zantetsu-R which broke her chain.
“Got you~”
Hecate whip kicked her in the face and sent Maria flying away. She quickly recovered from the attack and glared at Hecate before yelling, “Can’t you stop going for my face and chest all the time, you dumb bitch!”
Hecate laughed as she replied with a twisted and enraptured look on her face, “I can’t help myself, especially when I see a face as beautiful and immaculate as yours…it makes me want to mess it up!”
Her words and expression caused a chill to run down Maria’s spine. Hecate was many levels higher than her but their stats seemed to be about the same, but despite them being evenly matched in that aspect, Maria felt like she was in danger, as if a snake was eyeing her like she was its food. This was the first time she felt that she was the one being hunted. She had never experienced this sensation before, even when she fought against Thor, who was even stronger than her current opponent.
“W-What the hell is wrong with you?” Maria asked with a bit of aversion.
“Oh? You’re not calling me a bitch anymore? Please, call me that again! I love it when you call out to me so endearingly~”
“You’re sick in the head!”
“Am I? I am very much willing to be your bitch, Maria~ as long as I can pummel you every day and mess up your face!”
Hecate flashed right in front of Maria as she took her speed up a few notches. This speed increase caught Maria off her guard again but she knew where Hecate was going to attack her, so she instinctively raised her sword to defend herself. Her reaction was fast but, unfortunately, Hecate tricked her into defending her face and instead attacked her stomach. Hecate’s fist landed painfully in the pit of Maria's stomach, which knocked the wind out of her lungs.
“Gah!”
“Hahaha~ show me more of that pained look, Maria~”
Maria gritted her teeth as she growled at Hecate, “I’m going to kill you!”
This time around, it turned into a slugfest. Neither side bothered dodging and just traded blows with each other. Hecate struck Maria with her fists while Maria would return the attack with a slash of her sword. The newly learned [Aura Mastery Lv. 1] quickly leveled up to [Aura Mastery Lv. 2] thanks to her constantly applying aura onto her weapons. The sudden increase in level made her blows even more powerful. Seeing the intensity of her aura rise a few notches, Hecate quickly backed off after blocking one of Maria’s hits.
Hecate smiled at her opponent before saying, “I must say, Maria, you really are talented…to think you could copy my [Aura Mastery] and learn it after just watching me that one time~”
“Haah…haah…enough talk. Don’t think I’ll be pleased to hear any of your compliments!”
“Kehahahaha, it hurts, right?”
“?”
"Come on, don't tell me you haven't felt the love I've put into my blows because I've certainly felt yours~"
Now that Hecate mentioned it, Maria finally realized that her body was feeling pain from being attacked by her opponent, though it would disappear as quickly as it came thanks to her character's stats. Her pain parameter settings were indeed bugged, but that only happened in certain quest scenarios, so feeling the pain now was very odd. Whenever she fought another person or mob, the pain parameter would work just fine, but in this battle with Hecate, she felt the pain from all of her opponent's blows.
“Y-You…is your pain parameter bugged as well?”
“Bugged? Haha, of course not. It’s because I set it to the highest possible value. In a fight, feeling your opponent's strikes is simply a must!”
“!”
“The feeling of being struck by your swords is truly exhilarating! It's making my heart race faster than ever! Hahahaha!”
“Y-You’re insane!”
“Am I? Kehehehehehe~”
Maria began to sweat. She was certain now that this girl had a screw loose in her head. To think she would enjoy the pain she felt caused by her opponents’ attacks. Being cut or stabbed by a sword, Maria had already felt what it was like due to her bugged pain parameter and she hated it.
“This has gone long enough. I’m taking off the gloves now,” Maria said as she changed into her [Nightmare] form. 3 copies of her appeared from her shadow and they began summoning her familiars.
All 4 Marias and her familiars bared their weapons at Hecate, who only began to giggle and laugh excitedly at this development.
“That’s it! That’s it! Don’t hold back! Play with me some more!”
Hecate began to roar as she enveloped her body with mana. The air began to shake as her mana extended beyond her body. It even caused shockwaves which buffeted Maria and stopped her from interfering with whatever her opponent was doing. The mana around Hecate solidified into a white cocoon and after a few seconds, it began cracking and revealed Maria’s opponent, who had changed into a different form just like her.
“Hehehe, you’re not the only one who knows how to transform~” Hecate said with a smug smile on her face.
Her body was glowing with a white aura as her hair, eyes, and body had completely turned bluish-white. It seemed similar to Maria’s [Nightmare] form as it was apparent that a few of Hecate’s stats had been increased by quite a bit.
Maria readied her weapons and prepared to attack but she didn’t jump in straight away as she waited for her opponent to make a move. Earlier, they had only been using aura-infused normal attacks to fight, so they kept many of their skills and spells hidden. In this scenario, taking the initiative would be good, but Hecate was a dangerously skilled opponent. Maria felt that it was better if she played a more counter-oriented style until she got used to Hecate’s fighting style.
Hecate could see what Maria was trying to do, so she got into a stance while the floating black and white orbs that had been stationary earlier began moving towards Hecate before they started hovering around her body.
“Earlier, we’ve only been fighting using aura-infused attacks. Now, let’s start using our abilities, alright?”
“Hmph, even without you telling me, I was already planning on doing that.”
“Then let’s get round 2 started, shall we?”