9 Chapter 8: Thou Wilt Find That Blood is Spirit

I activated my Strength skill and followed up with a Whirlwind Strike, doing decent burst damage against the katana demon.

"Arcane Missile!" Ayame called out, sending four blasts.

The demon easily sliced through the projectiles and rushed down Ayame with blinding speed.

"Mana shield!"

A screen composed of hexagonal shapes appeared before the mage girl, blocking her from the katana demon's slash. The demon then jumped backward, retreating.

With my sword poised in front of me, I slowly inched forward. The katana demon focused on hit-and-run tactics, so the fight required much patience.

In the blink of an eye, the demon dashed toward me, performing a thrust. I instinctively tried to block, but the enemy's blade managed to hit my side, taking my health down to eighty-five percent. After the singular strike, the demon retreated, preventing me from landing a counterattack.

For a few seconds, the two of us circled one another.

Ayame fired more arcane missiles, but the demon deflected them once again.

"The katana demon is immune to arcane damage," I said. "Use spells that deal physical damage."

"But I've only ever studied arcane magic!"

"Don't you have anything else that you can do to hurt it?"

"Uh, I'll look through my grimoire."

Ayame took out a book from inside her robes and flipped through the pages. If I couldn't master perfect dodging, she would be my only hope in beating this boss. So, as long as I keep the enemy's aggro, Ayame should be safe to launch as many spells as she wants.

I sure as hell don't want to die this early in the game.

The katana demon attacked again, breaking me away from my thoughts.

Alright. All I have to do is dodge at the exact time.

Just as the sword could hit me, I pulled away, but it was too late. The demon struck me again, taking my health down to sixty-one percent.

Blood splattered onto the ground even though there was no wound. Now that I thought about it, video game physics was really, really weird. Weapons were able to cut straight through solid armor, and blood would magically appear even though there wasn't any physical cut.

"I found a spell!" Ayame called out. She then began the incantation. "Within my blazing heart of stone, I call on the Earth Mother's urge to destroy. Eruption!"

The ground underneath the katana demon glowed a menacing crimson. Then, a magma geyser spewed forth, sending the demon into the air. When it crashed down, flames covered its body, and its health bar was at fifty-two percent.

It was inflicted with the "burn" debuff, and its health drained to forty-two percent before the fire finally went out.

"Hah! Got 'em!" Ayame exclaimed. "Before learning arcane magic, I dabbled in a little bit of earth magic. Unfortunately, I have to use an incantation since I'm not too experienced with it."

When a mage learned magic, they needed to channel the divine power in words by speaking a short incantation. After speaking the incantation and focusing mana, the spell will form, but the more one practices a certain spell, the easier it becomes. The highest level of mastery for a spell is being able to cast it without saying an incantation. Even then, casting a spell without an incantation was an immense feat, and most individuals needed a staff or a catalyst to amplify their magical power. In Ayame's case, she was able to perform incantation-less arcane magic with the help of her staff, but she hadn't studied any other types (except for the Full Heal spell, which she also managed to cast without an incantation).

In terms of mechanics in the normal game, whenever someone cast a spell, there would be a short delay, which was the character speaking words. Using a spell multiple times will increase the player's mastery, and once they have fully maxed out the gauge, they can cast the spell without any startup time.

"Good job," I said to Ayame.

"Just one more Eruption and I can take him down!"

"Well, I wish that was the case."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

The katana demon got up, and its eyes turned a fiery blue. It then reversed its hold on its blade and crouched low, like a cat preparing to pounce.

There was an ear-splitting boom, and the demon was on the other side of the map, leaving a trail of floating embers in its wake. I fell to the ground, having taken a massive hit. My health was at forty percent.

"What just happened?" Ayame exclaimed, inching backward.

I gritted my teeth. "When the katana demon gets below fifty percent health, it becomes as fast as a bullet, and its attack slightly increases."

Another sonic boom. The demon seemingly teleported across the arena again, moving too fast for the eyes to comprehend. Now, my health was at nineteen percent.

"Full heal!" Ayame said.

Rejuvenating energy swirled around my character, bringing me back to one-hundred percent hp.

"Ayame, can you cast any speed buffs on me?"

"Sorry...no can do."

She was kneeling on the ground, and sweat was dripping down her face. Eruption and Full Heal were powerful spells, so they must have taken a toll on her mana. As a specialist in arcane magic, she can cast arcane spells without using much energy, but using other unfamiliar types would quickly drain her.

This was a trial by fire. If I didn't learn how to perfect dodge, I wouldn't be ready to fight the bosses in this world. And so, I braced myself for impact and closely eyed the katana demon. Whenever it was about to strike, it lowered its stance and angled back its sword arm.

I waited a few seconds as the enemy circled the arena's edge. Luckily, it was only targeting me since I was the first one to capture its attention.

The demon crouched down.

Now!

I dodged to the right, but it was too early. The demon dashed faster than the speed of sound, striking me again and bringing my health down to fifty percent from one hundred—a critical hit.

Things were getting dicey. This was the worst time for the enemy to land a critical hit.

In Serial Slain, the damage was slightly randomized, being within a ten percent offset from the base stat (not counting defense into the calculation). As for critical hits, they increase the damage by a random multiplier between one-point-five and two.

Once again, the katana demon crouched. I delayed my dodge by a fraction of a second, but I was too late this time. A blazing flash of light engulfed my vision as the demon burst through me, taking my health down to twenty-two percent.

If the katana demon hit me again, I had a chance of surviving, but my chance of dying was way too high for comfort.

Dammit. I should have crafted stronger armor before doing this. Playing the fully immersive game was completely different from pressing buttons on a mouse and keyboard.

"I'm...sorry," Ayame said, painting. "I exhausted...myself.

I'm such a dumbass. She had so much confidence in me, and even her parents trusted me. Yet, here I was, already on the verge of death.

I took a deep breath.

No pressure.

My name is Ares, the cool-headed badass that's destined to defeat the Demon King.

I can do this.

That's right. I'm nothing like myself from the real world. In Serial Slain, I'm one of the most powerful beings in the world.

This measly katana demon should be a piece of cake.

And so, I concentrated on the enemy. I had to get the timing right no matter what.

The demon crouched, and I held my breath. Just as it took off, I sidestepped, and for a short moment, everything shifted a shade of blue, and time slowed down.

This is it! A perfect dodge!

I activated Strengthen, and then I used Whirlwind Strike, taking down the demon's health to fifteen percent.

The demon retreated to the edge once again, and it circled me.

By performing a perfect dodge, one could slow down time for a short period and act much faster than normal. When I played the game in real life, I always had trouble performing perfect dodges since it required me to evade just before an attack hit, but it looks like I finally managed to pull it off.

This strategy was the only way to defeat this boss because it was too fast to hit normally. If you tried to rush it down, it would run away to the other side of the cavern. Much of the player base hated this enemy, calling it a pussy for not fighting fairly.

The katana demon crouched.

I had the timing correct last time, so all I had to do was replicate it. With my Strengthen active, I should be able to take it down in the next hit.

The demon attacked, and I dodged.

Wait...

No...

A familiar flash enveloped my eyes, and the immense force of the demon's strike knocked me backward.

My health was at two percent.

Shit.

Not again.

This is already the second time I've almost died.

I was immensely lucky on that last strike. It looks like RNGsus was on my side just this once. But there wouldn't be a next time. I was dead in one more hit.

Ayame called out, "Ares! I've recovered a bit, and I found a spell in my book that can increase your speed. I should have enough mana to cast a simple spell like this."

I shook my head. "Don't do it. It'll mess up my timing."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I got this."

I took another deep breath and braced myself for the incoming living bullet.

The katana demon crouched once more.

I had to wait roughly three hundred milliseconds before dodging.

Now!

The demon leaped forward, and I evaded to the left.

The world turned blue, and I froze for a second, surprised that I actually managed to pull it off again.

This was no time to hesitate. My Strengthen had one more second left, and I brought down my sword on the demon's back, taking its health to zero.

The demon dispersed, and a chest opened in the center of the room.

"Yes!" I screamed.

You can't believe how hard I popped off. My heart was still pounding faster than a racecar engine.

Ayame celebrated too. "You did it!"

That was too intense. I think I might have to take a break for a while after this dungeon. Maybe I'll go eat ice cream or something. I don't know if they have it here, but I'm dying for something sweet.

In the meantime, I'll first have to collect the dungeon rewards.