"You fucking bastard…." - said the man as his eyes were filled with rage.
(There is no fucking way I would mistake that fucking sword! It is the fucking sword I personally gave Arthur on his birthday!)
"FUCKING ANSWER ME YOU FUCKING MONSTER! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE MY BROTHER MOTHERFUCKING SWORD!" – shouted the furious adventurer.
"…"
(Confusion.) – thought the dungeon master, as it couldn't understand why the man in front of him was acting in such a weird way.
Why was the person in front of him shouting?
Why is he acting like that little girl from before?
Why?
The dungeon master didn't know….. And truth to be told, it didn't at the time make him curious enough to find out what was going on.
Instead, the golem rushed in and swung its sword at the man, who just raised his long sword and blocked the attack, completely stopping the mannequin's blade, which surprised the puppet.
"[SWORD ART: STRIKE]!" – the man swung his long sword in fury, pushing back the puppet sword alongside its wielder altogether and even managing to wound the puppet with the said counter, which both surprised and alerted the construct.
"…"
(Danger.) – thought the dungeon master, as it recognized the invader in front of him as "dangerous".
"ANSWER ME, YOU CREATURE!" – shouted the man as he rushed towards the puppet.
"WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT SWORD?!"
The man swung his long sword at the puppet, causing the puppet to dodge the sword by stepping backwards, before then trying to land its own counterattack by swinging from below, but the man noticed the attack incoming and once again used his sword to easily block the attack.
However, while the man was focusing on the sword, the puppet launched its free hand, trying to stab the man with its claws at the swordman, but he noticed the attack coming his direction and instantly leaped backwards, dodging the claws while also making a small distance instantly between the two combatants.
But the man didn't even want to give a creature a chance, as he once again rushed in and swung his sword, managing to quickly land a strike with a sword on the creature's torso, before it could either block or dodge the incoming attack.
"!"
(Danger. Blade, damage too much.) – thought the dungeon master, realizing that the man's attacks were far too deadly for the golem to handle.
(Avoid direct hit.)
"[Sword Art: Slash]!" – the man rushed at the puppet and swung his sword at it, unleashing his weapon art as the puppet panicked.
The creature once again tried to raise up its defence while also attempting to dodge the attack.... But the man's blade was way too fast for the creature as it dug into the puppet's wooden body and then pushed the creature altogether from the impact, which not only knocked the creature away but also made it fall down on the ground.
[Weapon Art (A.K.A Battle Art)]
[Mages can call forth the fourth power of elementals, giving it a shape and purpose, by either controlling the said elementals or by using spells.]
[To cast spells, you would need to use mana. This is a pretty much basic form of knowledge.]
[Mana and spells are one of the forms of power that exist in this world.]
[But they are not the only ones.]
[Weapon Arts are form manifestation, similar to the magic.... But at the same time, nothing alike.]
[A physical manifestation of the physical power.]
[Like magic, arts need to be learned, trained, understood, and improved.]
[Sometimes Weapon Arts can have a simple purpose like increasing the cutting, stabbing, or smashing power of the weapon.]
[Or may, for example, increase overall power and weight of the attack.]
[Like the {Sword Art: Heavy}, which increases the power of the attack.]
[And there is also one major difference between Magic and Weapon Arts.]
[The Weapon Arts uses up the user's physical strength.]
*Huff* *Huff* *Huff*
(W-what is going on…. Why does my sword feel so heavy?) - thought the man, realizing that something was wrong after he unleashed his weapon art on the puppet.
(…The strike wasn't good either, I screwed it up…..Shit…It lacked enough power.)
(Did that bastard poison me somehow!? But he has not wounded me once..…. And if there was some sort of poison in the air then..... No wait…. God dammit.)
(Exhaustion…) – thought the man as he realized that his non-stop search for his brother had an extremely obvious side effect…. Exhaustion.
The man's exhaustion accumulated nonstop, and he had not noticed it even once.
Why?
Because his obsession blinded him.
But after unleashing his weapon art, which drained his stamina, he only THEN realized the problem.
...
But even so, he did not care.
He did not care one bit that he was exhausted.
All he cared about was one thing.
Finding out what happened to his brother.
And right now? The creature that stood right in front of him may be the only being that holds the answers to his questions.
He wanted to get to the bottom of this, no matter what happens to his own body.
"…"
(Right arm… Critical condition…. Verge of breaking.) - thought the puppet as it annylized its damaged body and realized its arm, which held the sword, could not work properly after sustaining the critical damage.
(Hit? No. Break. No defense. Only attack.) – thought the puppet as it handed over its sword to the other still functional arm, while the young man stared at the puppet, who was breathing heavily.
(First attack, failed. Second attack, failed.)
(His attack, work. His second attack, work.)
(My attack failed, his work?)
(Arm damage, next attack, may destroy.)
(….)
(Copy. Rabbits.)
"…"
(Something is off. Is it not attacking? Does this thing have some form of intelligence? But it's not bleeding, nor does it have flesh…. It's not a living being.... But what?) – thought the young man who was trying to regain his breath while also somewhat regaining his mind, noticing that the creature in front of him wasn't exactly a "living" being per se.
(Wood… Is its body made out of wood?)
(However, it is somewhat tougher, and it has some strength, but not enough to overpower me.... No. I'm the one overpowering it.)
(…Even at my current state, I can destroy it with ease….. Claws and my brother's sword. Those are the only things I need to worry about.)
(And-)
"!"
The swordman heard something right behind him, something walking behind him, which instantly put the man on high alert, realizing that he and the puppet weren't the only beings inside the dungeon.
The man turned around in panic and saw the wooden mannequin right behind him, instantly realizing that the being he was staring at was an enemy, which caused the swordman to swing his sword in panic and cut down the puppet, destroying it instantly as it tried attacking the man.
However, this was a two-way attack from two different directions.
"!"
The man realized the dungeon master already swung its blade at him, alarming the man who tried to turn around and raise up his guard.... But this time, he didn't manage in time to put up a solid defence.
The two blades clashed with each other, and the puppet sword slid across the man's blade, pushing it slightly away.... This ended up causing the blade to slip past the man's guard, resulting in the blade stabbing the man right in his side, managing to finally land its first hit against the invader.
"!"
"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" – but the man wasn't done even after getting stabbed, as he then shouted in fury, remembering the face of his brother, which gave the man the power to fight back.
And in that very moment, with the mix of anger and all sorts of emotions, the man experienced a surge of energy.
An adrenaline rush.
The sudden burst of energy and fury made the man move once again as he just grabbed the sword that pierced his side and pushed it away, overpowering the golem who tried to keep the blade inside.
The puppet realized that something was going on and instantly tried using its damaged arm to try and stab the man with its claws.....But the man noticed it and swung around his sword so fast that the puppet couldn't react…. And then the next moment, the puppet saw its right arm rolling on the ground.
However, the puppet didn't stop as it tried attacking again with the sword.
"[SWORD ART: HEAVY]!" – but the man did not show any mercy nor let the puppet have its way as the swordman swung his long sword, confronting the puppet sword and causing the two blades to clash.
The two blades clashed.... And right in the very next moment, the puppet's sword was sent flying.
The strike of the man was powerful enough that it instantly knocked away the puppet's weapon, disarming it.
However, even after losing its sword, the puppet didn't stop as it thrusted forward its claws towards the man, aiming for his neck.
"[Sword Art: Slash]!" - But the man's adrenaline rush wasn't over yet as he swung the sword at the claw and collided with it..... Which ended up with the creature's entire forearm getting destroyed by the man's blade.
"!?"
[FEAR]
The dungeon master realized that the creature in front of him was strong..... No.
It realized that it was scared of the creature that was in front of it.
No matter what it did, the creature would counter him. It would destroy all of its attempts.
And as the battle progressed, the puppet's feelings would rise.... The puppet becomes terrified of the creature right in front of it.
[TERROR]
(Hands! Gone!) - The puppet tried stepping away from the man as his mind was getting consumed by fear.
(Claws! Gone!)
(Weapon! Gone!)
The puppet was completely terrified of the man.
The puppet couldn't even think of anything, even thinking about any sort of attempts, as its entire mind was now completely taken over by fear and terror.
The only real thought that the creature had in its head was this.
(I will die!)
The creature realized that it had no chance at winning.
It realized that the creature in front of him was beyond its abilities.
It realized that it would be killed by the creature in front of it.
(I don't want to die!) - thought the creature was consumed by fear as it tried stepping away from the man.
The creature was terrified.
It was completely terrified of death.
It knew that at this rate it would die by the hands of the creature in front of it, if the puppet did nothing at this rate.
...
But at the same time, the puppet realized something grim.
It has completely run out of options.
It had nothing.....
And even if it had something, the man was not planning on letting the puppet go.
It will kill the creature and aim to find the truth behind his brother's disappearance.
"YOU MOTHEFCUKER!"
The man mustered the last of his strength and bloodthirsty charge towards the puppet, ready to slash down the creature in front of him, while terrifying the puppet.... Who realized right something as the blade was approaching it.
(Ah…. I'm dead.) - The puppet realized that there was nothing it could do, and it was about to die.
"...."
"...."
However, in the very next moment, the man fell on the ground as his sword went past the golem, completely missing the attack.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"???"
It took a moment for the dungeon master to regain its mind from its stunned state caused by the overwhelming amount of fear.... And once the creature regained its mind, it realized something.
It wasn't dead.
This extremely confused the puppet as it realized that the blade that was about to end it had done nothing and instead was just lying right next to the puppet's feet.
The puppet nervously looked downwards and spotted the man who was about to kill it, just lying on the ground as he had a visible problem with breathing.... And nothing else.
He was just lying down, not doing anything.
Not moving his body, not attempting attacking or even trying to scream.
Just lying down flat on the ground.
As the man was about to strike down the puppet…. He just stopped working and fell.
"?!?!"
The golem was completely flabbergasted as it could not understand the current situation one bit.
Why did the enemy suddenly fall all on its own, and wouldn't do anything?
Was he dead?
No.
He was breathing.
Then did he bleed to death?
No. The man didn't lose a critical amount of blood, and the wound that the dungeon master had inflicted wasn't deep enough to even make that happen in a short span of time.
Then what had happened?
The golem could not understand one bit what the hell was going on, as it was still consumed with fear.
...
In reality, the answer was very simple.
The man screwed up.
Battle Art.
This isn't magic, but instead a physical manifestation of the physical technics given form.
And unlike magic, the techniques usually don't burn mana at all, they use the user's stamina or create a burden on the user's body.
The man hasn't slept, hasn't taken proper rest, and has not eaten enough.
His body did not have enough energy.
Adrenaline rush may give you a sudden burst of energy that you desperately needed to corner the creature….. But what do you think would happen if you rely on it with your current state and use reclkleslly the Battle Arts multiple times?
The answer is simple.
Burnout.
The man had completely lost all of its stamina and more, resulting in the man's body just shutting down from the state of total exhaustion as it did not have even a shred of energy yet.
At this point, the man should have lost his consciousness.... But the man did not give up. He was only conscious thanks to his bloodlust, which terrified the dungeon master, who didn't know what to do as it stared right at the swordman's face, noticing his gaze.
It's the only means of fighting that has been completely robbed.
It didn't have its claws or the sword. It was completely disarmed.
It wondered.
How can it kill the enemy right in front of it?
Desperation made the creature think.
Think about anything that it could do?
Create monsters?
No. They need time to be born.
Grab the sword?
No, it doesn't have hands.
It tried to think and think, but it couldn't come up with the proper answer.
…
In desperation, it thought about its previous foes, the ones that it had slain.
It has thought that maybe it could use something like inspiration or mimic the enemies it fought, just as it tried to mimic the first swordman.
Archer?
No.
Don't know how to use the bow and can't even use it even if it wanted to.
Magic?
No.
It doesn't know any offensive spells yet.
Swordman?
No.
He wielded only the sword and shield, but again, no arms.
Rabbits?
Charge at the enemy with their heads?
No.
It wouldn't.... Or would it?
"!"
As it was trying to remember the rabbits, the puppet had thought of something.
The rabbits didn't just attack with their heads.
They attacked with their horns.
Their tips were sharp.
Sharp like puppet claws.
Sharp like the puppet sword.
…
Sharp like the puppet destroyed wooden arm.
The puppet arms were destroyed, with both of them missing both forearm parts.... However, the destroyed parts ended up leaving behind sharp and edgy ends... Meaning that they could be used as a weapon.
A weapon that could possibly kill the foe who was, for some reason, lying down on the floor.
"…"
Puppet approached the man, who tried standing while breathing heavily, terrifing the puppet as it instinctively took a step back... But the man, right in the very moment, collapsed as soon as he tried to get up.
The swordman stared at the puppet as it stood right in front of him.
The puppet once again approached the man, before then it put its feet on the man's head, trying to hold in place as the swordman struggled…. Before moments later, the puppet thrusted down its destroyed arm, stabbing the man right in the neck, causing the man to scream.
…
It worked, but not nearly enough.
It bashed, it stabbed, it bashed, it stabbed.
Over and over, attacking the man's neck over and over, causing the blood to spill everywhere around the floor and over the puppet's body.
The man tried struggling, even somehow mustering enough strength to grab the doll's leg that was holding its head.
But that only made the doll panic and start attacking the man's neck way faster, over and over, never considering how much its own destroyed arm was getting more and more damaged with each hit it landed.
The man continued to cling to the puppet leg…. But after a while, the grip had loosened, and the arm came off moments later…. But it didn't stop. The puppet did not stop attacking.
The fear and terror drove the puppet to just attack and attack and attack, nonstop, over and over.
It didn't care as the blood splattered, nor did it care when parts of its destroyed arm started coming off after countless impacts.
It just didn't care.
It bashed the man's neck over and over.... Even after any signs of life were no longer visible.
…
...
Only after hitting the man countless times on the neck, the creature stopped... Staring at its body, which had its neck barely hanging.
The creature stared... Observed.... And annylized.
(Dead?)
The puppet stared down at the swordman, standing right in the middle of the puddle of blood while having its very own body covered in the same blood.
It finally stopped attacking and realized.
That the swordman is dead.