Veins of miasma reached into Elliot, and a peristalsis pulsed from what remained of the castle into his chest. Holding his hand up, a crackling blue fire appeared on top of his palm and what little strands of hair remained on his skull stood up from the static charge.

“You think you can escape?!” Elliot snarled, pointing his palm upwards towards Gale. Blue flame, in almost lightning form, erupted from his hands, lighting up the sky. It struck the wall just beside where he held on, exploding the stone into fragments and cracking the base of the gryphon.

“Her Majesty’s gifts belong to me!”

Below, the knight pushed off a large piece of wall. It lunged immediately to Elliot’s position with a sideways cleave. A blue flame blocked the strike and sparks lit up the area.

Debris turned over, and ghouls started popping out. The knight pounced at the ghouls that emerged, slicing whatever came out before they could even manage to pull themselves out the stones.

The knight repeated this series of movements, charging at Elliot and then picking out a random ghoul that was clawing its way out.

Gale pounced up from the wall. Upwards was where Elliot was at ground level. His motion became that of a spin, blade out. Phase Touch ready along its edge.

Elliot spun around to meet him. Blue fire erupted from his hands, blocking Gale’s blade. “Her Majesty sees all!”

The blade almost made it through the wall, but even with Phase Touch, it was repelled. A blue fireball went at his face. Dodge roll to the side. Blade swung once more, but the blue flame wall was still there. This time, the blue wall reacted and blocked the blade fully, spitting blue sparks at Gale’s face.

“Insolent worm! You dare strike Her Majesty’s chosen?”

The knight landed on a pile of rubble among the debris. A group of ghouls clawed their way out. Heads immediately sliced off after they poked out. The knight rushed back suddenly towards Elliot with a sideways slash.

Gale dropped flat. Knight’s sword passing overhead.

Elliot dodged and countered. A blast of blue fire wave threw the giant sword off course. The clash between two forces sent shockwaves through the open field.

“Both of you, just die!!” Elliot screamed. Rocks flew away from the rubble as ghouls jumped out. Several ghouls pounced at Gale and the knight.

The knight’s sword met them mid air, halving any of the ones that met its blade. With a reverse of his sword, the motion was aimed at Gale. Sword embedded itself into the ground where he just was.

Elliot seized the opening, blue lightning crackled from his fingers. The knight pulled his sword free from the ground and charged straight at the blue lightning.

Gale circled wide. The knight’s strikes came faster, each blow powerful enough to make Elliot step back. However, Elliot matched his strength with thicker walls of blue flames.

“Her Majesty’s power flows through me!” Elliot thrust both hands forward, blue flames spiralling around him like serpents. “You cannot stop her will!”

The knight answered with a slash, splitting Elliot’s fire and staggering the corrupted priest.

Gale sliced a pursuing thrall that came too close, decapitating it in a single motion. He spun past two more, Phase Touch’s edge finding necks left and right. Each strike opened his path to Elliot.

But before he could manage to reach Elliot, the knight’s sword swept through the space between them, forcing both Gale and Elliot to retreat. More black smoke came from the knight’s armour.

Blue lightning arced once again from Elliot’s hands to strike the knight’s blade. The energy crackled along the knight’s black armour.

The knight’s sword swept through the field in a wide arc. Debris flew everywhere as lightning discharged from the sword’s tip, hitting random pieces of debris and ghouls while slicing through any large stone it met.

Gale rolled under the strike. Some of the discharge hit his sword. No damage though.

“Her Majesty demands your death!” Elliot launched another volley of blue fire, but the knight paid him no attention. All his focus had shifted to Gale.

The knight’s pitch black blade whistled past Gale’s ear, then reversed direction faster than he expected. He barely managed to dodge as it sliced the tip of his nose, causing blood to drip. The knight’s sword came from below, this time sweeping him off the ground.

Gale leapt backwards as much as possible. Sharp rocks buried themselves on his palms as he pushed himself off the ground further away from the main combat area.

Something about the knight’s state was familiar but different. The way he fought was as if he let something in beyond his will. Two entities seeped into the knight’s body and outwards at the same time. It was like Breath of the Void that twisted the perception of reality, yet mixed with a certainly hostile substance, corruption.

The knight’s helmet snapped towards him. His next attack seemed to come from three directions all at once. Multiple copies of the blade occupied three different sets of spaces simultaneously.

There was nowhere to go. All possible dodge options were gone.

Gale phased his whole body and buried himself in the rubble. The knight’s sword followed. The area he was just in cut thrice in three different ways.

Getting out of the rubble, the knight had changed. More surreal, as if his eyes played tricks on him. The knight’s physical form was fractured. Multiple knights would strike at a single point and join once again once the movement was finished, like afterimages merging into one.

It lunged at Gale once more with the same movement. A side ways slash, but three times the same horizontal way.

Gale deflected that strike downwards. His body launched backwards from the force three times what he expected. The broken stone wall exploded from the impact of his body.

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[Essence: 29/100]

Time was ticking. He was using up essence to amp up his muscles just to keep up with Elliot and the knight. Neither of the two monsters seemed to be tiring anytime soon.

It didn’t matter how long he fought. It didn’t matter if he ran away now and fought another day. The insurmountable gap between the two and him was too big.

The system even said there was a time dilation. What year would it be if he ever came back to Earth from this world?

Muscles fatigued. Essence depleting fast. No clear win condition.

Dad, mom. If you’re looking right now. You should’ve taught me the true ways. I wouldn’t be in this mess if you just parented me properly. He wouldn’t have to hide all his life. Didn’t have to constantly repeat ‘stay low, blend in, survive’. Maybe I’d even be woopin these guys’ butts.

Yet, those words no longer held any meaning. There was no way to stand tall when he couldn’t even break through the goddamn flame walls. There was no way to kill the knight with all that armour he’s got going.

Discover the truth on your own terms.

What did that mean? The knight had said that before, but now it felt like the knight had told him directly.

Gale dodged another strike from the knight. Sword missed him by millimetres.

Elliot’s blue lightning struck at both him and the knight simultaneously. Sword held up. Heat passed through into the blade. On the other hand, the knight just casually shrugged it off.

Telling me to kill that thing?!

[Essence: 25/100]

Hold on. The system gave him that mission. Why would it if he couldn’t even fathom how to beat that thing that breaks its throat from just laughing? However, from the very beginning, the system never gave him an impossible task, even when he was still mundane.

First kill? That was done by using a goddamn book. The system guided him. It measured his readiness. The mission updated because it knows that he could kill Elliot. Otherwise, why wouldn’t it just say exit the rift?

There has to be a way.

Gale looked towards where the two monsters fought. A barrage of blue lightning and wild slashes that spewed out inky darkness. An impossible task of bringing down mountains.

If the system really did guide him, there was no reason for him to kill something he had no chance of winning against. He wasn’t strong enough to beat Elliot alone. It could be that Elliot was the key to getting out of this world. But then how could he kill something unkillable? He wasn’t ready to deal with such monsters. But-

Think Gale. Think.

Your original goal wasn’t to get stronger. The ultimate goal was to leave this place. The difference between being good and being great is knowing how to beat your opponent. Your opponent is this world. Your checkmate is you leaving this world. You can grow stronger after you get out of here; and maybe you won’t have to do it alone.

Gale looked at Elliot and the Knight at the same time. The knight gazed back at him, changing its course. He ran, and the knight chased persistently. Elliot was focused on killing both of them at the same time. The thralls could be used to block Elliot’s vision momentarily.

The only answer here was mutual destruction.

He needed to get the two to fight against each other, or at least kill each other. Make the monsters fight each other. One was crazy. One was insane. Ironically, there was no difference.

Another blue lightning bolt came at both him and the knight. Ten steps back to dodge, then shift right.

Gale went into a trance. Seconds needed to be counted. Blue lightning almost faded. Now.

One. Two. Three.

The knight twisted, his form breaking apart again and reforming into a single striking point.

Four. Five.

Gale rolled under another random wild overhead swing. The blade whistled past his ear, then reversed direction without warning.

Six. Seven.

“Die! Die! Die!” Elliot’s screams pierced the air. His hands crackled with building energy.

Eight. Nine.

Gale pretended to lunge at Elliot, but backed off right away. Elliot turned his way and a wall of blue flames blocking his path flickered and died momentarily. He counted the seconds until Elliot could summon another defence.

One.

Another blue lightning bolt came out of Elliot’s hands immediately.

Two.

The knight’s sword carved through a line of thralls.

Three. Four.

The knight always struck low after an overhead swing. It was certain Elliot’s lightning took exactly ten seconds to build between strikes. After the wall of flames dissipated, it left him vulnerable for five precious seconds.

Five.

Blue fire erupted again as Elliot recovered. The knight paid it no attention, charging randomly at anything moving in the vicinity. The series of actions repeated a couple more times.

Gale strictly kept counting the seconds in between Elliot’s movements and the patterns of the knight’s strikes, letting the pattern repeat three or four more times.

More thralls shambled forward through the rubble. Gale, finally confident in his analysis could tell that the madman still had some semblance of logic.

Elliot could only deliver the lightning every 10 seconds. The blue flames had no recovery time, but they weren’t as dangerous as the lightning. On the other hand, the flame walls were Elliot’s best defence after the blue flames. It dissipates after 1 second and then take five seconds to be ready again.

When the knight chooses to strike overhead, itll then swing wide with a lower slash. After which, it would strike everywhere with no pause. Then it would lunged at anywhere and anything that moved with its blade in the lower position to do an upper slash. The only problem was that the knight had no recovery time in between.

Gale mapped it all in his head as he dodged. The knight’s insanity. Elliot’s timing. The thralls’ movements. A plan began to form, though not for him to defeat either opponent, but to ensure both monsters killed each other. It wasn’t about overpowering the enemies with his strength.

It was all about using whatever he could to checkmate this world. To get out of this damned hellhole.

Gale ducked under another swing from the knight. Ten seconds between lightning strikes. Five seconds of vulnerability after the flame wall dropped. The knight’s overhead slash followed by that low sweep and a lunge.

The timing had to be perfect.

Blue fire erupted from Elliot’s hands. “Her Majesty demands your blood! Sacrifice yourself for the greater good!”

The knight released another flurry of strikes at Elliot, all being blocked by the blue flames.

The flames spread across the rubble-strewn battlefield, forcing Gale to retreat.

Gale thought of the illusion he had practiced. It was enough to move it a bit, but it took a lot of essence to cast and maintain. He was running low on essence. Yet as he saw the battle happening before his eyes, there was a feeling that this scene before him would never happen again.

In other words, he only had one shot at this. Everything fell into seizing that moment.

Gale, you idiot. Change your goddamned life with your own hands.

You already know. Life never waits for you to be ready. It always rains fists on you whenever and wherever you least expect it. There is no difference now.

Look at you. Your arms are weak. Legs dead weight. Essence depleted.

Life ain’t gonna wait for you to make a move.

Breath of the Void started to nip at Gale’s flesh once more. The world twisted. Perception inverted. Reality bent as the void wished. Inky darkness swirled around him, but it was different than before.

The dark knight looked more like a knight in white shining armour. Inside the patches of ink, galaxies and starlight spread out.

Behind Elliot, a tortured apparition with a deranged smile. Gale remembered that smile. It was the same inhumane smile stretching too wide to be considered human.

One shot, Gale. You got this.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep