“Dwarven Tyrant! Dwarven Tyrant! Will you please answer about what is to be done about the fifty dragonslayers that attacked you?” – Ortris

“Eh? I’ve already told them I’m not attacking them, besides we have more important business to deal with. Like preparing for the next Realm Expansion. Hmm if they succeed that is.” – The Dwarven Tyrant

“Wait, are you saying that you don’t believe Mezhar and his team can complete the highest Trial?”

“What? Where’d you get that from? I didn’t say that.”

*The Dwarven Tyrant has never been the best of liars.

Ryan slid to the side as he dodged a vertical swing. The [General] moved faster now, more fluid, connecting his swings with unerring strikes. Uncaring about his bleeding foot. Ryan was still able to keep up–but the General was using movement he hadn’t shown before.

A slice with the side of the shield came at Ryan’s head.

He made an emergency dive, feeling, once again like a cornered [Rogue] than anything else. The slice left the General’s side open, not that it was anything to take advantage of. Grivkas twisted his other arm in his awkward position, swinging his sword in a stupidly long arc over his head. Ryan kicked back on the ground, diagonally, in case the General attempted to add a mid-[Cleave].

General Grivkas fought like a true [Warrior] now.

Not like Zedart, who focused on economic perfection, but a fighter that used durability and overwhelming strength to brute force exchanges.

Ryan dared a glance at the treeline, the humans didn’t bring crossbows but they had shortbows and arrows–and throwing knives.

The strategist mage looked happy to let both of them duke it out. An orc woman stood among the group looking like she didn’t want to be there.

That was Ryan’s one ray of hope in this.

He spun, stepping back and pirouetting around the slash from the General so that he was closer to the center where the portal lay. Grivkas didn’t give him any time to breathe, nor would Ryan make it to the treeline without being riddled by projectiles.

Ryan deactivated [Dangersense] for Grivkas–a trick he’d picked up during the bullipede fight. The [Dangersense] was for the archers, they were the greatest threats. For the General?

It was weird and maybe it was his Epic egging him on, but it felt like he could still win. Despite the new movements, despite the strength and speed differential, Ryan could win. He had the General’s measure.

And there was one way to survive, and that was forward.

Stepping towards the General, he swayed to the left to dodge a thrust, closed in then ducked when the sword swung from the outstretched position. Jump back to dodge the shield bash, then step forward again to keep the tempo.

Don’t stop or he was dead.

Something pulled at the back of his mind. A skill. A plan.

Something he hadn’t shown yet.

Pull back from the swing, don’t even bother with the shield, take out a knife, throw it at his face. He will sway to his good foot. Dive in, get close. The [General] can no longer swing quick enough but he might still pull out an elbow or a kick – like that.

The General kicked.

Ryan dodged and resummoned his soulsword in his free hand and [Quick Stabbed] at the calf, slicing through the armor cleanly, the sudden appearance of a new blade and pain made the General leap backwards.

But how could Ryan let that go?

He threw his basic sword at the gaps in the helmet. This time it pinged off the helmet as the [General] focused on trying to increase the distance.

[Instant Dodge] +…

He slashed forward, diving in. A suicidal maneuver as the General interrupted his own retreat by stepping hard into the ground. The demon swung with both shield and sword, bringing his arms together to embrace the elf in a mutual hit.

[Double Stab]

The [Instant Dodge] skill was interrupted midway as the combination skill failed and he froze in midair. The sudden inertia let Ryan contemptuously dodge the wild swings. Grivkas froze in shock at the moment as Ryan sliced upwards.

Right through the gauntlets and bone of the General’s sword arm.

[Unrelenting Aura Of Intimidation]

Finally, the General had some fear in his face. Ryan stepped in close and dodged the wild shield swing then kicked the injured leg out from Grivkas. Ryan’s blade sheared through the [General’s] armor and pierced the heart.

That was when the human commander made his move.

His [Dangersense] blared at the overt attack. A Strategist might have been able to hide the presence of his troops but this was a step too far, and Ryan was ready for it.

“Fire!”

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Ryan wrapped himself with the collapsing body of the demonic [General]. Pulling in Grivkas’ round shield to cover the gaps that Avale’s shield on his back didn’t cover. The pings of arrows were loud as they pelted off both the armor and shields of the corpse.

A particularly spiteful arrow pierced the gaps in Grivkas’ helmet.

Ryan twisted around to check for any gaps in his ‘cover’, an arrow went right past his face through one of the gaps between the shields. Ryan adjusted until he felt comfortable he’d gotten all the gaps. When that was done he started trying to unbuckle the massive round shield off of Grivkas’ arm.

That was when the ‘corpse’s’ elbow suddenly came alive and tried to push Ryan’s chest forward. The force almost made him collapse backwards and out into the open. Ryan pushed hard against the elbow until it finally gave up, limp on the ground.

“Dick final move, Grivkas.” he muttered.

“Avale…” The corpse whispered, “I will join you soon.”

“Goddamnit Grivkas,” Ryan muttered, “now is not the time for a sappy backstory.”

There was no response to that. General Grivkas was well and truly dead now.

The arrows stopped firing after a few more seconds. He took that moment to carefully slide Avale’s shield off his back and get into a more comfortable position. Then he peeked, the archers had repositioned, before they had been spread out equally. Now they had moved slightly together, congregating to where it looked like there were gaps at the side.

A voice called out from the right side.

“Well, it seems that is that.”

Damned [Mages], arrogant pricks. He could just picture the smug look on the strategist’s face right now.

“Drop your weapons or die, I have an offer from the king for you.”

Ryan spat.

“Of course you do.”

He had finished unstrapping the shield from Grivkas’ arm. Was this why they had stopped firing?

A stupid move.

He was going to make the cocky [Mage] regret this. This was going according to plan.

Totally.

–

Strategist Itrac had made a mistake, that was the honest truth. At first he’d been happy to see the roguish elf and the brute General fight to the death, it even looked like the General would win for a moment.

Then the elf started pushing the General back, moving like a ghost that couldn’t be touched. Dodging death by the barest of margins. The breaking moment was when Itrac realized the elf was mastering abilities mid-fight.

That had truly unnerved him.

The orc hadn’t been lying about the fear skill.

At least now he was in control, the order to fire had been hasty but there was nothing the elf could do but listen to his orders.

“I said drop your weapons.”

The elf started throwing his knives out from behind the shields, all the knives Itrac had seen were accounted for. Plus the enchanted sword that had sliced through armor like it was butter.

The elf was peeking through the shields, still tracking all the archers around him.

“I said drop all your-”

“Shields aren’t weapons!”

Strategist Itrac paused at that. What a childish reply.

“Drop the shields.”

“Fuck that, what’s the offer?”

“This is not up for debate. Do you think you’re in any position to negotiate?”

“Hah! Too bad for you then. The Demon King already gave me an offer. Didn’t you think this was way too convenient? You’re all already surrounded!”

What?

A shiver went down his spine as mortal fear took hold of him. It was impossible for everything to have been staged… unless they knew about his marching army, if they had snuck in and demonic experts had surrounded them now. Both Itrac and his scouts looked behind them for a sudden ambush.

That was when the elf burst out from his cover. A large shield on each arm. The elf sprinted ahead, where the scout line was sparsest and the shields covered the angles from most of the scouts.

“F-Fire!”

The fugitive sprinted low. The repositioning of most of the scouts to get a better aim was biting them back. It wasn’t their fault, they hadn’t completely broken the perimeter, how could they have expected this?

The elf sprinted like a madman that truly believed he could dodge every single scout. He zigzagged while keeping the shields to his sides, actually dodging most of the arrows.

A scout that had kept the perimeter from behind shot an arrow. It hit the mark as the elf barely stumbled from the blow. Still he didn’t fall. The fugitive acted like he was an unstoppable General.

A hail of arrows hit the sides of the large shields, another arrow hit his back. Two scouts had line of sight from the front but only one fired, the elf dodged that one with contemptuous ease.

Why was the other scout not firing? Why was he frozen in fear?

Why wasn’t Itrac casting?

“[Fireball]!”

–

The shout alerted him of the magical projectile from his right. Ryan leapt and curled into a ball as the magical projectile hit his left shield. The explosion sent him hurtling into the treeline. This maneuver was starting to get familiar.

Well that was an interesting way to level up a skill.

Ryan laughed while in midair, arrows missing their mark. He let the momentum throw him into two scouts–their eyes wide as he descended on them.

He smashed one’s face with Avale’s shield and stole the sword, then blocked the arrow from the other scout with the shield in his other hand. Ryan threw the sword and it cleanly pierced the man’s chest.

Maniacal laughter filled the forest and echoed in the clearing.

His laughter.

Ryan grabbed at both the arrows in his back, he ripped them out and poured a healing potion on the wound. He’d already pre-drunk one while he was under Grivak’s corpse. He rolled his shoulders and kicked lightly.

Mobility was decent. Now it was his turn. He was still laughing, feeling the adrenaline coursing, he was free.

“I don’t need an army to kill all of you! Your chance of killing me is gone.”

A scout appeared in his line of sight through the trees, they saw each other for a moment before the man immediately backed the fuck up and hid behind a tree.

Ryan cracked his neck.

Oh yes, this was becoming familiar. He’d killed nearly a hundred demon soldiers in the past ten days. It had been so bad that they’d started hiding from him, not daring to leave their encampment.

It was time to add some humans to his tally.

Ryan felt at his Epic like never before. Instead of a sudden activation it was more of a push,

He had a feeling he understood [Unrelenting Aura of Intimidation] a little more, it did not push him or change the way he acted.

It merely promised him power if he never stepped back. Just like the Trial System.

He embraced it.

The air stilled, the sounds of everything became quieter.

No. He could do better. The Witch Tyrant had shown him the path. Let out your aura like you were the only thing in the world. Because he was. In this Trial, he truly was the only one that mattered.

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