Skeleton Swordsman (2)
Having once commanded this place, it would be on an entirely different level from anything I had faced so far.
As I drew near, the skeleton swordsman lifted its head as if to look at me. From the empty hollows of its skull came the uncanny sense of a gaze. If it was still standing here like this, that meant it had met challenger after challenger in this place—and beaten every one of them.
I raised my sword. The skeleton swordsman raised its own.
"Hah!"
I charged in first and swung.
Clang!
Its blade caught mine. The instant the swords met, a biting cold seemed to lance straight through me.
"Ugh."
My body felt as if it were freezing solid; I couldn't keep the blades locked. The moment I fell back, the skeleton swordsman took a step toward me. It was faster than I had expected, and for a heartbeat I had no answer at all.
Whoosh!
Its sword came whipping in, aimed at my abdomen.
"Hah—!"
When the keen edge bit into my armor, I knocked it aside in a panic.
Clang!
I had twisted to block in a rush, and my stance collapsed. I stumbled back again, wide open. Faster and stronger than I thought...
Unlike the game, where a swing was flattened into a simplified motion, even an ordinary sword stroke now looked varied and blindingly quick.
But the skeleton swordsman simply stood there, giving me time enough to find my stance again. What is this—is it toying with me?
I bit my lip and raised my sword once more. This time the skeleton swordsman came at me first. Fast again.
"Hup!"
Boom!
I tracked the arc and barely blocked it, but the impact left my hands numb, barely able to hold on. This isn't ordinary strength.
"Kh..."
I could almost feel the skull's gaze, close now. The will to fight pouring from those pitch-black sockets pressed down on my whole body.
Even so, if I just kept bracing like this, the skeleton swordsman's cold would kill me. I can't stay like this.
"Haaaaah!"
I shoved its sword back with everything I had. I had put so much into it that my stance had to give, and I nearly went over. Fortunately the skeleton swordsman eased back a little as well, and I managed to reset.
"Hah... hah..."
But at this rate there was no way I could win. Just clashing blades hurt enough to drain the strength from my hands, and my body temperature kept falling. Even the winter-forest potatoes were starting to show their limit.
The skeleton swordsman looked at me and lifted its sword high.
"That's..."
Its signature pattern—the most dangerous one—was about to come. I have to dodge. But my body was stiff; moving fast was going to be hard.
Cold gathered around the swordsman, then climbed toward the point of its blade. Left, first...
The thought had barely formed before I threw myself to the left, and in the same instant a massive impact slammed into the ground where I had been standing. Every time the skeleton swordsman's blade came down, it carved a trail far larger than the sword itself and unleashed a brutal shock.
"Urgh."
I had to get up fast and keep dodging. Every time I threw myself clear, the strength drained out of me, and the shaking ground made it harder to rise again.
"Ha... uwaah..."
Even so, I managed to slip past by the skin of my teeth. Hold on just a little longer and it's over.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
After several impacts, just as I thought it was finished, the skeleton swordsman charged me like a bolt of lightning.
Clang!
"Aaagh!"
Another blow carrying unbelievable force—and with it, I felt the strength leave my hands completely.
"Hah..."
And I went down. From the ground, I looked up at the skeleton swordsman looking down at me.
Am I going to die? I swallowed hard and groped for anything I could grab. There was nothing nearby. My sword flew too far.
"Selen!"
Levan's voice reached me. If he comes now, it's far too dangerous...
If he got dragged into this for nothing, he would die too.
"I-I'm fi—"
The words wouldn't come out properly. Before I could finish saying I was fine, I heard him running this way.
"Selen! Hah...!"
Levan hauled my slumped body upright. His warmth against me brought a little heat back—enough that I thought I might be able to move again.
"Th-this is... that thing?"
Fortunately, the skeleton swordsman was generously giving us time to meet again like this. It kept feeling as if it were going easy on us. More than wounded pride, all I felt was relief.
"Miss Selen!"
Runesa, arriving right behind him, had even brought the sword that had gone flying.
"H-here. I've brought your sword."
Along with the blade, she pressed one of the potions she had been carrying into my hand.
"I'm still fine."
"Hey, you..."
Just as Levan was about to start in on me, I got straight to my feet.
"...How do you want me to help? On the way in, I saw it had already blown the other skeletons away."
"Right. Jump in for no reason and you'll just die for nothing."
I looked at Levan. At the worry on his face, I bumped his side with my elbow and smiled.
"I'll fight a little longer. If it looks like I can't move, come save me."
"I'll be saving you a bit earlier than you think, so if I jump in, you stop on your own."
I nodded and stood before the skeleton swordsman again.
"Hoo..."
Until I was ready to fight once more, it simply waited for me.
"It waited for you?"
Only when I raised my sword and took a fighting stance did the skeleton swordsman lift its blade again.
"Looks like it."
Waiting for me while I was down—for a skeleton, the thing had a strangely romantic streak.
"I'm going... again."
Since it had waited, fighting with everything I had was only polite. I had caught my breath, but the cold I felt with every inhale was growing sharper.
I drew that breath and charged the skeleton swordsman once more. It had waited until I moved, and now it set its stance to meet my rush.
"Haaaah!"
The instant I thrust, I felt that strange power gathering in it again.
Clang!
Its blade came down in a flash and stopped my thrust cold. When I tried to lift my sword and force it back, a fierce pain began to spread through my whole body.
"Urgh..."
The sensation of blade meeting blade was, even the second time, nothing like ordinary strength. In an instant the skeleton swordsman twisted, and as it turned, its cloak snapped across my vision and shut it out.
"Hah."
I raised my sword to defend in a hurry, and almost at once an impact slammed into the blade I was holding up.
Clang! Clang!
Trading blows in succession, I felt as if my body were about to shatter—but at the same time, I understood something. There was mana riding the skeleton swordsman's swings.
"Then..."
Locking blades like this was a loss for me from the start.
I have to end it fast. Somehow, I have to land one clean hit.
The moment that thought struck, the skeleton swordsman—watching me across the distance that had opened between us—began gathering mana again.
If I fell back any farther, it meant to unleash a powerful burst of mana and kill us the way it had the other skeletons. Then it wouldn't be only me. Levan and Runesa would be in danger too.
"No choice, then."
This was my only chance to attack. One mistake and I would die, but the only opening was now, while it prepared its strike.
I ran at the skeleton as cold mana gathered around it, and the moment I tried to close in, it shifted its stance to bring the blade down on me.
"Ngh!"
For an instant the sword looked so terrifying that I rolled aside at once.
Boom!
A heavy impact struck where I had been running, and a visible bluish cold burst outward. The ground shook, and I felt my body freezing—but I didn't hesitate. I got up and pressed forward.
This is all I have to do. Dodge once more and I'll be close enough to strike.
And the skeleton swordsman's blade moved again.
"Hah!"
I rolled aside once more, and now I could reach it as it prepared its third attack. I have to make this one blow count.
The moment I thought the opening had come, I thrust without hesitation.
Thuk!
My sword touched the skeleton swordsman's body for the first time, and in that instant I felt its bones break. Got it.
Having left itself open mid-cast, it reeled back as if the impact had been worse than expected, and I swung again without pause.
"Uwaaah!"
The moment I raised my sword, I felt something unlike usual wrap around me. I had been worn down by the skeleton swordsman's cold and its attacks, and yet a strength far greater than normal surged through me.
"Hah!"
I brought the sword down. The skeleton swordsman raised its own to block.
Clang!
But the instant the blades met, its sword snapped, and mine smashed straight through its body.
Cut wide open, its bones broken, the skeleton swordsman crumbled and slowly vanished.
...I won.
And the moment I felt the victory, the strength drained out of me. Dizzy. I can barely stay standing.
"Haa..."
I sank down, and almost at once Levan came running to where I was.
"Selen! Wh-what. You won?"
"Yeah."
Seeing him coming, I felt what was left of my strength loosen even more. With the skeleton swordsman gone, the terrible cold of this place had vanished, but the shivering chill in my body remained.
"Cold. Ugh..."
"Hold on—Runesa! Get a fire going, quick."
With the skeleton swordsman gone, this place ought to be safe.
I gripped Levan's arm tight. Why does he feel so warm?
"Wh-what are you doing?"
Startled, he tried to push me away—then flinched, and pulled me into his arms instead.
"You're freezing. Hoo... I'll let it slide just this once."