Why am I here? I totally should have run away. What in the honest hell are those things? These thoughts ran through my head as I advanced on the super roaches. As I was running, I thought that a battle cry would give me a confidence boost and make myself feel more like some sort of heroic movie protagonist. So, at the top of my lungs, I let loose a primal cry that reverberated in the enclosed space. It worked, letting me delve into an adrenaline rush and giving me the significant confidence boost that I needed to keep going.
As inspiring as the war cry may have been on a battlefield with scores of allies, in my current situation, all it did was alert my foes to my presence. Three roaches that had been circling Mr. Mask began to turn towards me. Seeing the new, much more dangerous threat, they immediately took steps to deal with me. The roach that was in the middle of the trio immediately began to advance on me, with the other two more casually flanking the middle one.
I now had a roach charging straight at me. My mind crystalized, gone were the uncertainty and knowledge that I was out of my depth. In fact, as the roach leapt for me, I felt a confidence that I had never felt before. It was just me and my opponent, two combatants flying at each other at high speeds, with only one of us walking away. Bringing my blade that shone like starlight in the darkness, I struck at the roach's scythes. I swung towards my opponent, my blade grew brighter ending in a flash when it struck the first scythe. As the light cleared, I came to the realization that not only had I sliced off the roach's scythe, but I had also bisected the entire abomination.
As I dealt with one of the roaches, another individual dealt with another. Mr. Mask, after seeing my heroism, must have felt new hope running through his veins. In a moment, he was back on his feet, casting the broken sword away, he hefted his hammer with two hands over his head. With the call of a word of power, the once dark hammer burned with power. Mr. Mask brought the now-burning hammer to bear on the inquiring roach's head, quickly ending the monster's life. This effort, as mighty as it may have seemed, utterly exhausted Mr. Mask, bringing him down to the ground once again. As further bad luck, as the corpse went through death spasms, the corpse ended up landing on top of Mr. Mask effectively trapping him for the time being.
The final roach, now alone, was very cautious, a moment before it and its crew had been the predators about to have the rare meal of humanoid flesh. Just moments ago, my crew and I were the predators, about to have a rare meal of humanoid flesh. But in just a few moments, my situation changed with the death of both of my cohorts and the arrival of Mr. Mask. This changed the situation to a one on one battle with an opponent who had a very dangerous weapon. Or at least, that is my interpretation of the roach's thought process. In any case, I took a different strategy than my fallen brethren. Instead of an all-out assault, I took a much more steady and efficient approach. Utilizing my superior speed and mobility, I took small, fleeting attacks with my scythes, much like the jab of a boxer from Earth. Knowing that a slice from Mr. Mask's sword would mean severe injury or death, I did not commit to any of my strikes and let fatigue and many small wounds tire out the golden sword-wielding intruder. These are just my theories, but the strategy was nonetheless very effective.
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I am in a poor position right now, as my inexperience as a fighter is showing in this exchange. As I sliced at the roach, I over-extended, giving the roach, who had fought for its survival most of its life, ample time to quickly counter-attack. In fact, the only thing keeping me in the fight is how cautious the roach is of my sword. It would only leave the smallest of injuries after each mistake. Still, after around five minutes, I feel drained. The little cuts were really starting to add up, and above all, my stamina was really flagging. I began to wonder if this is how my adventure would end, in a cave, failing to save someone I'd never met, and above all, before I really did anything.
No! I thought to myself, I will not die here. Taking a step back, I brought my blade before myself in a two-handed grip. With confidence, I yelled, "I am the victor!"
In a flash much greater than the one before, the sword of Verethragna responded with a magnificent and brilliant radiance. Also, slightly retreating, the final roach readied itself to dodge the golden sword and finally kill its enemy in a counter attack. I didn't charge at the roach; I tried something new. It may be my end, but I made the decision to follow the words of the god of victory, from a few hours ago that now felt like an eternity. I went with my gut.
Taking a small step forward, I swung his sword with all my might at the roach. Still being a good two plus meters away from the monster, this should have done nothing, but that was not the case. As I swung the blade, the blade itself began to dim a bit as a crescent of golden energy followed the slash of the blade. After the strike finished, the crescent still flew forward in a line of golden death, straight at the final roach. With a mere moment to look as utterly shocked as a horrific giant cockroach could, the final roach went out the same way as its compatriot, bisection!