Death Knight
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(General POV)
{Dungeon, 18th Floor}
"[SUMMON MAGIC: DEATH KNIGHT]!"
A black miasma suddenly left Garth's body and solidified into some sort of slimy, dark substance and plopped on the ground in front of him. It churned and stirred for a bit before it grew bigger and started to take form.
As it took form, the slime seemed to fade away leaving a hulking mass of a monstrosity behind. It was so ugly and deformed in appearance that all adventurers took a step back and held their weapons aloft, ready to fight back if it made any movement.
Seemingly ten feet tall of rotten flesh, red skin clinging just barely tight to a an enormous skeleton that carried heavy looking shoulder pads and a helmet with two horns on its head. A tattered cloak fell down its back and it wore black leg armour on its feet. The only other bit of clothing it had was a tattered piece of black cloth tied around its waist.
Garth was extremely pleased that it took its height from the anime and not the light novels, as this made the beasts far more impressive and intimidating.
In its left hand was an eight foot tall shield and in its other hand was a bastard sword that did not look to have proper maintenance yet looked deadly all the same. It emitted a red and black fog that agitated all onlookers save for the summoner himself. In fact all of its gear seemed to be poorly taken care of as there were chips and cracks all over them.
But it only added to the terrifying image somehow, as a sickening stench of death filled the air. It turned out that the cracks and chinks ran red after a moment with a substance that looked all too similar to blood. It let out a huge roar that almost matched the decibels of the Goliath's before it stood in front of Garth, seemingly protectively as it stared down the young girl in front of it.
"What kind of abomination is that?!" Bete shouted as his instincts flared in this behemoth's presence.
"It's called a Death Knight. Something I refer to as a mid tier monster on the lower end of it. Basically just a moderately powerful undead."
"It looks a lot like Udaeus." Said Riveria.
Finn looked at it closer as it stared right back at them, red lights flickering to life in its eyes. Indeed, it looked just like the 37th floor boss monster. They both had the same distinctly red carcass although the floor boss was darker and the horns on the helmet of the death knight seemed to be exactly like that of the Risen.
"You're right, it actually does look a lot like him." Finn commented in realization.
"Hm?" Garth looked at the death knight and then thought back to the Sword Oratoria spin-off. 'Huh, what a coincidence. Which design came before the other I wonder.'
Ais stiffened her stance and lowered herself, ready to flex her legs in a moment's notice.
"What does this monster do?" she asked.
"Well it's basically a good fighter that has strength and speed on its expertise. And it is strengthened by how much fear, disgust and hatred one shows it as well. And I wouldn't recommend dying by it as well."
"Any particular reason why?" asked Tione.
"Because anybody who dies by its blade becomes a zombie."
Everyone just stared at him before looking back to the towering undead that was itching to rampage upon the living before it.
"You still up for it Ais?" Garth asked her. She swallowed some saliva that collected in her mouth and nodded firmly to him as her grip tightened on the rapier.
"Very well." Garth looked up to the Death Knight as it turned to heed the command of its master. "Death Knight, this girl here will be your opponent. You are to test her mettle to the furthest extent you can and use whatever means necessary to challenge her. However, I forbid you from landing a finishing blow." Garth's face darkened. "Failure to adhere will result in severe punishment, understood?"
The adventurers couldn't tell if it truly happened or not but it looked as if the hulking mass of rotten flesh quivered before it nodded and returned to the stare down.
'Undead summons are all too hungry for the blood of mortal flesh. Best I made it know its place more firmly than it being careless and taking her out because it can't contain its bloodlust. Even summons can make mistakes when not paying attention.'
"Begin!"
The Death Knight rose to its full height and roared again as Ais rushed forward and jumped, intending to thrust forwards directly towards its chest. Time slowed down for her as her honed senses began speeding up her perception and she saw the tip of the rapier coming closer and closer to home.
But to her surprise, the creature suddenly lifted its shield and blocked her attack so swiftly, it made it seem like the tower shield weighed nothing. To her further surprise it began to run forward, pushing her while she was still airborne and flinging her to the ground.
She hit the grassy area and bounced in the dirt as the wind was knocked out of her. In her pained gasps, she saw the monster lift its Flamberge and swing down towards her. She rolled out of the way as it sliced into the ground. To her surprise, the dirt gave way like butter to a hot knife as the Death Knight tore through the ground with ease.
Flipping back onto her feet, she received no time to think of a counter as the Death knight pulled the sword out of the ground and swung backwards towards her neck. She quickly ducked underneath and felt the weapon slice of some of her locks as the wind whipped them around her face.
But the creature was prepared as it brought its shield around at the same time and shield bashed her off the ground, sending her flying into a tree. She hit it, sending bark exploding everywhere before she slid to the base and panted in having the wind knocked out of her again before she could recover from the first time.
Even though she'd taken heed of Garth's warnings, the monster was still a lot stronger than she thought, even if she was only testing the grounds.
"You see?" called Garth. "In terms of raw power and magical ability, it may be quite lacking compared to some monsters you've faced. But the key thing is that it knows how to fight, and it is well aware of its own strengths and weaknesses. It capitalizes on them all to maximize its combat ability even against opponents that are stronger."
The Death Knight rushed forward, the ground rumbling under its heavy footfalls and it took a swipe with its sword at her. Ais ducked again and listening in awe as that swing alone felled several dozen trees behind her, shaking the forest floor as they crashed to the ground.
But sparing no more time to ponder on this, she rushed forward through its legs and managed to get behind it. She leapt towards its back and attempted to skewer it in the neck. But the rapier bounced off the armour hidden beneath the cloak. Realizing this, Ais landed on the ground and quickly leapt backwards as the monster turned around.
She narrowed her eyes at it, and it stopped a little to return the stare down. Her eyes narrowed further as she crouched to the ground. The death knight lowered its head in acknowledgement of the unspoken challenge and gripped the flamberge tighter.
"Ariel." whispered Ais as a shield of wind whipped round her. She shot forward with much greater speed than before. The death knight lifted its shield and tanked the speeding bullet of magic that was the Sword Princess and used its body weigh to ground itself before pushing forward.
Ais used her speed again to get around it and strike at the arm which held the shield. But once again the death knight swung the shield around like it weighed nothing and bashed her blade aside. It swung its sword downwards and Ais was forced to twist her body in an awkward way.
It didn't prove to be enough as the tip of the giant sword grazed her stomach, ripping through the cloth and cutting into the skin, drawing blood from her. Her experience kicked in however, as she used this moment to spin around to built momentum in a swing of her own and partially cut through the bone of the monster's arm. The stench threatened to make her gag but she held her breath and with draw her weapon.
If the death knight felt any pain, it did not care to show it as it immediately straightened and began swinging down attack after attack. Each strike was expertly parried by Ais all though it took a lot from her to bear with the strength packed behind them all. It messed with her footing as well but she only barely managed to stay upright.
The death knight advanced further and tried to go for another shield bash but Ais saw it coming this time and jumped backwards. "Slash of Wind!" she cried out and sent a blade of wind from the rapier at the ground where the death knight was about to step.
The magic attack dug a deep rut which the unfortunate knight got his foot stuck in and fell face first on the ground. Ais seized this moment to jumped on its back and attempt to drive her rapier into its eyes, trying find some sort of weak point.
The death knight moved its head so the rapier merely connected with its helmet. It immediately got back to its feet with Ais still on its back, dropped its shield and sword and began attempting to grab her. Ais continuously dodged the grabs while still trying to go for the non-existent eyes.
Seeing that it couldn't grab a hold of her body, it waited for the next time her arm came around its head to skewer his eyes before grabbing that arm in its massive hand and smashing her down on the ground on her back. Ais choked in pain as her body bounce.
Halfway through the bounce, the death knight grabbed her leg and swung her around in a full circle before letting her go and sending her sailing past her friends and through several tree trunks.
"AIS!" her friends called out to her collectively as they saw her smash through the trees and crash into a larger trunk. The ground started rumbling as they saw the death knight rushing after her with its shield and sword in hand. Meaning it was actually headed their way.
They managed to get out of the way in time with exception of Bete, who before he knew found himself shield bashed face first into a tree as it barrelled past him.
Ais patted her forehead as she felt something warm run down her face. She knew it was blood before she even looked at it, but the fact this monster was able to make her bleed like this suddenly made her remember that she had not bled that much lately.
The only thing she'd been doing while desperately trying to raise her stats was killing monster's she'd already fought before over and over again. It helped her improve the Hunter developmental ability, but it gave her little gain in Excelia.
She looked up as the death knight came to a stop in front of her, steam blowing from its nasal cavity. Its rotted face left no nostrils to blow air from. Ais narrowed her eyes and steadily raised her rapier at it.
Some ways behind the beast, she caught Garth watching their battle closely with an unreadable expression on his face. But as soon as he made eye contact with her and smiled.
Ais was then suddenly reminded of the thing that had been weighing heavily on her soul recently. Ever since the silver-haired boy appeared which was only about a week ago, he'd displayed monstrous amounts of power time after time so casually, she dreaded to think what his real power looked like.
The incident with the meteor gave her some insight into that very matter. To make the ground itself shake from a mere jump, and shatter a meteor the size of a mountain with one punch, and then to shrug it all off with no hint of tiredness, nor fatigue nor any wearing of any sorts.
It had made her realize exactly how much of his strength he was concealing, and the level on his guild registration just seemed that much bigger. The realization of it towered above her, and the flame she would always see burning behind him only ever seemed to burn brighter no matter how much the fire in her own soul burnt in that desperation.
Fixing her gaze back on the undead, she swiftly realized that this monster...was nothing compared to its master, not even an ant. If she wanted to be as strong as Garth, or strong enough that he acknowledged her as powerful, then this monster would just be another stepping stone to that position.
It certainly did not have as much raw power as some other's she'd fought, but it was intelligent and ruthless. It fought like a human, and knew exactly how to counter one, and it made sure to use its environment as well as its body to its fullest advantage. Truly, this was a monster worth of a good fight.
The flame in her soul roared as she flared her magic to life.
"Ariel." She said quietly as glowing wisps of wind suddenly flickered into life around her.
"Tempest." The magical wind around her became much more thicker as she called upon more of her mother's power that was passed down through the blood they shared.
Bending her knees slightly, she used the same attack she'd weaponized against Garth as suddenly the Winged Rapier began glowing brightly with the same green hue as her magic. She blitzed towards the Death Knight at speeds that even surprised her as the monster quickly brought up its tower shield to block her attack.
"LIL RAFAGA!"
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