It was just as impenetrable down here as it was up there.
Even with Sturdy Arm, Strong Blow, and Greater Cutting and her class effects in play, it didn’t feel like she was slicing through that.
But that wasn’t the only reason she’d gone for the ankles.
She braced her legs front and back, gritted her teeth, and, with the scythe still hooked on the girl’s feet, yanked back on it. Intending to pull her feet out from under her and knock her down. But—
“Too heavy!”
She didn’t budge.
Like a tree trunk.
Impossible.
But still somehow true.
No Death had taken her foe’s strength into account and put her full force into it, but she was the one who wound up nearly stumbling forward. The sheer weight her arms felt clashed with this little girl’s appearance.
Perhaps this was a special ability or magic-item effect, but it made No Death feel like she was trying to fight a towering tree. The way that yank felt, no matter how hard she pulled, this girl wasn’t going down.
A shudder ran through her.
The girl must have seen her off balance. She fully extended her staff hand, reaching through the spartiates and swinging it down toward No Death.
Full advantage of reach and swing, making for a spine-chilling attack.
She was in no position to dodge. Even if a spartiate jumped in the way, that would hardly slow this swing down.
But No Death sent them an order anyway.
The moment she did, the nearest spartiate tackled No Death, shoving her out of range. The girl’s staff dropped like a black meteor, shattering the spartiate in her stead.
No Death rolled across the floor, deftly unhooking the scythe from the girl’s ankles as she did. She used the momentum to scramble to her feet and thrust the scythe forward to keep the girl back.
But the girl wasn’t trying to follow her. Instead, her tiny body flashed, and black gusts burst out, shattering the remaining spartiates.
The rain of bone fragments soon dissipated into thin air, and the girl raised her staff again, no emotion in her eyes at all. Then she started fidgeting, as if she’d just remembered to.
Do I summon more? There’s one thing I wanna confirm first.
No Death starting spinning the scythe above her head. Vnn, vnn. The sound of it slicing the wind broke through the silence, echoing. The girl was patiently waiting, watching to see what this led to.
Slowly, bit by bit, No Death’s toes crept toward the girl.
She closed the gap until—
The blade had built enough speed, and with a sharp breath, No Death made it shoot out toward the girl’s left wrist.
Even with a blade coming at her so fast it cleaved the air itself, the girl didn’t seem concerned. She just mechanically placed her body in the blade’s path, clearly aiming to hit back with another counter. She was getting used to No Death’s speed; she moved without a hitch.
But—as the blade shot through the air toward the girl’s arm, its path leaped upward.
Changing up the patten she’d twice demonstrated.
It was going right for that scrawny throat.
Would this hit prove fatal? From the way things were going, she wasn’t too sure. But like the belly, the throat was exposed. Probably a trap, but still—if she scored a direct hit, like the belly, odds were she could lay down some real hurt. A number of her classes would kick in, and she might do enough damage to turn this losing fight around.
The exchanges thus far had proven No Death was the more accomplished fighter. That was why she’d avoided using any feints, going entirely for basic attacks. The girl had grown used to that simplicity, and for that reason, like her martial-art-enhanced charge earlier, she was unable to dodge the swing at her neck
The scythe’s blade sliced that slender throat, and—
“Gah!”
the staff hit her.
She’d held it in so far, but this time, the impact forced a grunt out of her.
No Death leaped back, eyes wide.
“……Again?”
Not a drop of blood fell from the girl’s throat. But there was a faint mark showing she had sliced the skin. That must have done damage. Did she have some ability active that negated attacks on weak points? That would invalidate a number of the skills No Death had acquired.
Is she even alive? Is she…an undead the King of Darkness made?
She must have looked rattled, because the girl stammered, “Er, um…d-do you want to surrender? Er, well…I won’t hurt you anymore, and I can guarantee your safety…after.”
What did No Death think about that offer?
Creepy.
From the get-go, this girl’s attacks had contained absolutely no hostility, no bloodlust. Some people might call that a kind heart or ascribe some other emotion to it—but if you weren’t trying to hurt or kill and still repeatedly dropped skull-crushing blows, could that really be called kindness?
To No Death’s point of view, this girl was deeply unsettling. Even if she was her niece, she felt no connection to this strange dark elf.
If this offer was made for reasons she could understand—pity or even superiority—she might have been insulted, but not repulsed. But this girl had no such emotions.
…It would make more sense if I treat her like an emotionless undead acting the part.
It was all kinds of messed up, but to her, it felt like every action and mannerism was pure performance. Still, that wasn’t what mattered here. No Death’s personal opinion was irrelevant.
She had to focus on how she could get out of this mess and turn things to her advantage. If suggesting she might surrender would help, then it was worth exploring the dead.
“I could do that…,” she began and then trailed off.
Right.
Talking was what you did if you were buying time or had already won.
Was the girl winning?
No. There was no clear victor yet. The girl did have a bit of an advantage. But if she’d started talking here, she was most likely just trying to buy time.
“Tch!”
With her loudest click yet, No Death once more closed the gap. She could try hurling martial arts from a distance, but this girl had those scrolls at her disposal. No clue how many or where she was keeping them, but it was safe to assume there were more where those came from, and chipping away at each other would not end well for her.
On the plus side, it seemed safe to assume this girl had no other ranged attacks. If she did, she wouldn’t have needed to use a scroll.
Did she raise a thief class? Is that how she’s using scrolls? No, she did use those self-buff-looking spells, so that’s not likely.
But No Death also had no effective ranged attacks; at a distance, she didn’t see a way to win.
But what about up close?
Less awful. So that’s where she’d have to take her chances.
This time, she took a swing right at the kid’s face. Maybe the girl didn’t want to get cut there, because she slapped the scythe away with her staff.
This stung No Death’s hands.
The staff swung round into a counter. Greater Evasion and Instant Reflex were enough for her to dodge it.
They were either evenly matched or her warrior know-how—predicting her opponent’s moves, adjusting her read—was starting to show and tipping the scales her way. But no matter how much damage she racked up, a single Heal would undo it all and lead to a loss.
Then I should go for it…
No Death had two aces up her sleeve.
The first guaranteed a kill.
The second was extremely versatile.
She could use the second to defeat a foe or cover her escape, so she didn’t want to waste it.
Was it time to pop the first one?
When she’d attacked, the girl acted like it hurt. But was that real? Doubting it wasn’t getting her anywhere.
Every thought she’d had about this girl was pure conjecture. Every bit of it could be wrong. Maybe she was just as cute as she looked. Maybe she really didn’t like fighting at all.
But No Death couldn’t shake that fishy feeling.
What do I do? If…let’s say there are others as powerful as her. In that case, I might find myself in a situation where I wish I hadn’t used it too early. I’d rather kill this girl without using that move…but can I?
The answer was, I don’t know.
If that was her only Heal scroll, maybe? But getting it done quickly probably wasn’t possible.
Naturally, these thoughts didn’t slow her hands. She was slashing away with her scythe but drawing no blood and getting hit by those brutal counters.
The girl could stand still and take aim, but No Death had to dart in and out of range, swinging her blade all over. She had to keep her feet moving to control the distance and she had to keep her weapon moving to attack. If she didn’t devote a chunk of those resources to evasion and defense, it was tough to avoid getting hit by those counters—and the girl didn’t seem to mind that she got hit first.
The only place the girl did actively block was her face. And when she aimed for the stomach, the girl’s counter was extra nasty.
That was the sum of what she knew.
I guess…I gotta? It will end this.
Use it now or would she need it later? That was the question.
She was looping through it.
The girl’s flesh split open, but in return, she landed a clean hit on No Death’s side.
She felt bones creak and imagined her innards shaking; she was flung backward. The pain was so great, she almost threw up, and her boost went skidding across the floor as she tried to regain her footing.
That was the hardest blow yet. It affected her breathing. The pain had her diaphragm twitching. Acting confident, she thumped the floor with the butt of her weapon, leaning against the staff, her legs crossed. She slowly pulled her helmet off, flashing a mask—a smile—like it hadn’t hurt at all.
A pose allowed by her foe’s lack of aggression.
“Well, fine,” she muttered breezily. Her mind made up. Time to make sure this girl died.
The girl didn’t come after her.
And that would cost her life.
“Hey, you suggested I surrender, yeah? One thing I gotta know…are you undead? Did the King of Darkness make you?”
“Huh? Er, um…why that question? And not like…terms?”
“Answer me.”
“………………………I-I’m not undead. I’m what I look like!”
“Cool,” No Death said, thinking.
Had the girl delayed her answer because she didn’t get why it was asked or—because she wanted time to think?
I mean, I asked ’cause just looking didn’t tell me anything…and why’d she just brush off the mention of the King of Darkness? Fine, whatever. Undead or not, this’ll kill her.
She put the helmet back on and used the talent she was born with.
Aiming this talent at the divine weapon allowed her to use the ultimate power of the god of death, Sulshana. Thus—