"How dare you not run in terror!" Clelb shouted as he felt that the horse creature in front of him was not even afraid. As if it was seeing him as a weakling, this highly pissed him off. He hated when people, creatures, and monsters did not show him the fear he felt he was due.

'Huh, I don't understand sounds.' Cephaphyr said as he flapped his wings to get rid of the rest of the poison. Which were causing his feathers to slowly melt as if the poison was acidic, causing a smell he really did not like.

Hearing Cephaphyr still talking, Eldrian felt like facepalming. Leading him to try and explain to Cephaphyr that neither of them was communicating correctly.

'I don't think he can hear you, Ceph.' Eldrian said as he looked at Clelb, wondering just how strong this monster was.

'Huh, how come?' Cephaphyr asked, turning his head towards Eldrian.

This caused Clelb to become furious, no longer in the mood for talking and reigning over the weak. Something he normally loved doing, he loved playing with them. Teasing them and prolonging their death.

Now instead he rushed towards Cephaphyr, pulling out the greatsword he wore on his back. Wanting to end it in one strike, something he could not do with his daggers.

He knew he could not do this since beasts were normally quite sturdy and often had strong fur/coat/leather protecting them. His weak daggers were almost never able to pierce deep enough and the poison he had only worked on weaker creatures.

'Watch out!' Eldrian shouted, just in time. Cephaphyr turning back to the Oni and seeing the blade coming for him. Quickly flapping his wings, Cephaphyr jumped back. Causing the space of two meters to grown into ten within a second.

"Try and keep that up!"Clelb shouted as he charged again, only to fail in reaching the horse time and time again. After his sixth failed attempt he grew furious and impatient.

"Fine, then I will kill this one."Clelb snorted as he turned towards Eldrian. Somehow their path had led them near Eldrian again.

Fuck.Was all Eldrian thought as he forced himself into action, bringing grace to his front and blocking the overhead attack. The strength of which was so great that he was knocked back onto the ground. Spitting out blood as he felt the air being forced from his lungs. A clear cut, visible in Grace's shaft from that single attack.

'Haru!' Cephaphyr shouted in distress and started running back, but he would not make it until a few more attacks landed.

Desperate, Eldrian cast Drive on himself. He already knew he was too slow and weak, but luckily Clelb was using a weapon he was not used to. If he had been using his daggers, then Eldrian would be dead already.

The reason for Clelb's nonoptimal use of weapons was because he was furious and not thinking rationally. A common fault of demons, more so in semi-demons; Oni. Who received amplified faults of demons and only some of their strengths.

As such Clelb was not thinking clearly, wishing to end the weak elf through sheer strength. Something which he was confident he could do. As such he used his Tier 2 magical sword, not his Tier 3 daggers, nor his magic which was, in fact, his strongest asset. Being a magical assassin

Clelb knew that the weapons might not be able to cut into Cephaphyr. But he did not care, believing himself superior. He wished to use the sword as a club and beat the horse to death. Feeling it was the best way to enjoy it, magic might end it too soon. Yet this had only led him to have to chase Cephaphyr who was running, so now he decided to do the same to the elf.

Blocking another hit Eldrian could feel the muscles in his arms tearing. Each attack sent shockwaves through his body and robbed him of at least 10 HP. He only had 40 left at this stage.

Jumping to the side Eldrian managed to avoid the next attack. Only to find a foot coming for him. Luckily he had trained a great deal and never only focused on the weapon of his enemies. As such he managed to bring grace down to block the attack.

Doing so saved his life, but cost him his best weapon. With a snap, Grace broke. The two cuts into its shaft, with the added kick, causing it to split like a branch.

Shit!Eldrian, desperate, pulled out the spear Cephaphyr had made for him. Without thinking he threw it at Clelb, hoping to buy the second he needed for Cephaphyr to reach him. Hopefully also being able to save him then.

Seeing the spear heading towards him, Clelb smirked. It was far too weak to pierce his toned body. Yet on impact, the spear did not pierce, it did not shatter. Rather it exploded into a web of wood, which encircled the Oni and then connected to the ground. Fixing him into his current position as it also pierced into his body, draining a great deal of his strength.

What the?Both Eldrian and Clelb though, not understanding what had happened. For Eldrian this was one of many thoughts, for Clelb, it was his last.

Cephaphyr, at full speed, rammed his horn into the Oni. His horn easily piercing through its back and heart.

Looking at the horn sticking out of its chest in astonishment, Clelb failed to comprehend how he died.

[426k XP gained]

[Player has gained 3 levels]

Eldrian sighed in relief as he fell unconscious.

...

"He is waking!" Margit shouted in excitement, having been worried that Eldrian would stay like that.

"Thank goodness, I thought he had died," Floyd said, having feared that his healing had failed. No matter what he had tried, he could not cause Eldrian to wake. He could only heal his wounds.

"Even if he did, it won't matter. He would just resurrect..." Terlas said, stopping as he saw the glares from the others.

"What... Happened?" Eldrian asked, relieving Terlas from needing to explain himself. Eldrian's memories were muddled, the last thing he remembered was throwing that spear as a last desperate act.

"You killed an Oni! And a really strong one at that!" Sabrea shouted as she looked at Eldrian's torn clothes, even his armor was now little more than scraps. She could not stop herself and rushed in to hug Eldrian, who was still trying to comprehend what had happened. Sabrea's act did not help, instead, it caused his mind to go blank for a few seconds and he enjoyed her warmth.

"What's an Oni?" Eldrian asked after Sabrea let go and the last few seconds of the fight came back to him. Remembering the system message he was so shocked that he missed most of the explanation Sabrea gave him.

400 thousand XP... What, how?Eldrian looked at the message again and again, and at the now 20 free attributes he had.

It took him some time to get over the shock, after which he asked Sabrea to start over. She did not mind, certain that Eldrian had to be having a hard time grasping what had happened.

There was one good reason why Eldrian was not frantically looking for answers and instead of taking it slow. He had already confirmed that everyone was alright, even Cephaphyr who had fought with him. Cephaphyr was calmly sitting at the edge of the platform and enjoying the sunset.

Sunset?"How long was I out?" Eldrian asked, shocked that the sun was already setting.

"Almost the entire day," Floyd answered, taking over the conversation. He started explaining to Eldrian what his condition had been. It was certainly a death sentence for a human without a healer. But for one with, it should not be that bad. Especially when said healer was Tier 5, someone who could even resurrect people.

"What!" Eldrian shouted in surprise, feeling it would have been better if he had just died. Resurrecting only took half an hour. But after the shock about the time passed, Eldrian thought it through and realized the XP he would have lost, two entire levels. This was his understanding of the death penalty past level 10, the developers have made this clear with the update post. That was over 200k XP!

A bit later he also realized what Floyd was trying to say, "Wait, you said that you healed me. Then, why did it take so long for me to wake up?"

"That is what I wish to know too. Have you ever experienced something like this before?" Floyd asked.

"No... Wait," Eldrian thought back to the last time he had died, where he had not died like others. Instead, it had been more like a true death.

"Maybe, I am not sure. It was a while ago, but last time I died." At this Eldrian was interrupted.

"Wait, you died before?" Sabrea asked, shocked to hear this.

"Yeah, I mean most Chosen have. It's not a big deal."

"No, it might be." Floyd countered as Sabrea nodded to show her agreement with that statement. "You just said that something similar happened last time. What exactly happened, and what connects these two?"