He got me after all…

I felt my knees buckle, and I fell face first onto the cold stone floor.

Lade kicked and punched, tossing me around like I was a rag doll. Bastard… I expected the fight to be hard, but I didn’t think it would be this difficult! I wondered what he was going to do to me once he wins and I lose conscience. Would he hang me near Una? But he had no time for torturing. Would he take me with him as a trophy?

Stop… I had to clear my mind and distance myself from everything. I had to forget about the pain and imagine my stat bars.

Imagine the vertical line that divides the red... Divide the blue and yellow bars into full and empty parts.

Good.

Now pull them simultaneously…

I recalled that in some games you could slow down time during a battle or even press pause to make a tactically right decision. Unfortunately, though this world had a game interface, it didn’t have such an option. However, it had something else — experience. Not only the level up kind, but real fighting experience that couldn’t be compared to the one I got through a VR-headset.

My brain was working at full capacity even though I was engaged in a deadly fight. It was in moments like these that it used its hidden reserves.

How can I win?

The first option was a combination of Twilight Wanderer and a grenade into his chest. However, that was too dangerous as I risked Lade dying, which would put a stain on my “pacifist” record. Not to mention that the explosion could attract more enemies, and that Una would see something that she probably shouldn’t see.

The second option was to increase my own speed and stop being his punching bag. There was only one way to do that though.

Having gotten rid of the debuff, I deprived him of his most powerful skill for some time as it had a several minutes long cooldown.

Upgrade “Acrobatics” by three levels.

Why did I decide to spend this amount of Everyday Skill points? Because I now had level 4 Acrobatics. Joy of the Acrobat gave me three bonus levels. Upgrading it by one level wouldn’t help me much now. I needed at least two. But since level ten was a milestone I hoped to get some bonuses. And so I did.

Attention! You have acquired “Acrobatics” level 10. You can now choose its further development. Agility has been increased by 100.

My body became lighter at once. I rolled over to my side and leapt to my feet. Lade chuckled balefully and rushed after me. I jumped up, gripped the cage’s bars with my left hand, and lifted myself up; I looked like a flag fluttering on the wind.

A phial with Enhanced Healing Potion appeared in my right hand. I uncorked it with my thumb and quickly poured it into my mouth.

Aside of the already mentioned bonuses, upgrading Acrobatics to level ten gave me something else — I could now clearly see how to best utilize the space around me. My style of fighting was best suited for open spaces before, but now…

Jumping at the bars of a nearby cage and holding onto them with one hand, I aimed the other at Lade. Black smoke rushed from my splayed fingers. The effect didn’t work. Jumping up as well, Lade grabbed the bars and, turning, tried to kick me with both feet.

I jumped on the floor, materialized the trishula, and aimed upward. The monk dodged, ran up the bars as if they were a staircase, and landed behind my back.

Darting forward, I rolled over and found myself right at the door of the prison. I jumped to my feet, pushed off the floor, and gripped the bars again, this time taking the Master of Fast Shooting’s Crossbow out of my inventory.

You have dealt 130 points of damage.

Lade has fallen under the effect of your “Aura of Darkness.”

Lade has felt the “Tranquility of Darkness.” Lade loses the desire to fight you and your squad.

The monk’s expression changed again. He stretched his neck slowly, and then opened his mouth to say something…

I understood that he was trying to get rid of Tranquility’s effect. If he succeeded, everything would go down the drain. I needed to use the situation to my advantage before it was too late.

Copying Lade, I ran across the bars toward the ceiling.

Trident of Darkness.

I hit him in the back. Yes, it wasn’t fair, but I bought myself enough time to attack him again.

Power Strike.

A fight to the death with a strong and experienced enemy, what could be better for discovering new abilities? What else could’ve made me stronger? Blood was boiling in my veins; the thrill overcame me like a tidal wave. However, if I was to be honest, I didn’t like it. I preferred it when everything went according to a well thought-out plan, when chances to fail were close to zero.

It was a pity that things almost never happened that way.

Although I managed to become as fast, or maybe even faster than Lade, and even though I managed to “calm down” and attack the helpless monk twice, he managed to find a way to counterattack every time. Getting tired of running, we started openly exchanging hits.

“Well, you’re good, lad!” Lade suddenly said, jumping back. “I wish we fought on the same side!” A dark-green phial appeared in his right hand.

He threw it in my face without as much as a swing of his hand.

Everything about his appearance gave off his assurance of victory. I couldn’t avoid whatever was in that phial — something expensive and very powerful, something like the paralyzing flame that we had used against the Warriors.

Lade saved his Ace for last, huh? Did he only now realize that he could really die?

Well… Then it’s time that I take out my Joker.

Twilight Wanderer.

The phial and its dark-green contents flew right through me. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed that the phial had dissolved into viscous acid before it touched the stone floor.

Drops of acid spattered everywhere; the dense vapors filled the air.

Rushing forward, I went through the astonished Lade and appeared behind his back. I turned around to assess the fallout of his attack — half of the room, from the floor up to the middle of the walls, was covered with a layer of the dark-green stuff. Had I been in my corporal form, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to dodge that. And if I had decided to jump up, the gas would’ve poisoned me.

Trident of Darkness.

You have dealt 357 points of damage.

You have defeated Lade.

XP received: 5,310

You can use the slaying skill on Lade.

Phew… It’s over… Keeping on a straight face, I glanced at the defeated monk and walked confidently to Una.

“Have you heard about… Monkeys?” she croaked. Flashing a tired smile, she lifted her head to meet my gaze.

“I have,” I answered, thinking that she was talking in delirium.

“You jump like monkeys in a cage,” she snickered and coughed dryly.

“Shut up, smartass,” I chuckled. “It’s bad for your health to talk.” I tore off a piece of her cape and put it in her mouth. “Endure. This might hurt.”

“Erghh-aghh…” Una wheezed and jerked when I pulled the dagger out of her side. I glanced at the item’s characteristics and put it into my inventory.

“A little bit more… Good girl…” I muttered, grabbing the handle of the other dagger.

“Arghh!!! Phew! Damn you, Bon!!!” she shouted, managing to spit out the makeshift gag. “Is this how you to treat a lady?! Damn you!!”

“Shh-shh-shh,” I whispered, wrapping my arm around her, “we don’t want the enemies to rush in here.”

Getting her off the hook, I carefully put her onto the floor and took out the yellow phial that I got from Liro.

“No… Don’t waste it on me.” Lifting her hand up with some difficulty, Una covered my hand with hers. “Finish me off, Daerk. It’ll be easier that way.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snorted and poured Restoring Potion 3 into her mouth.

Her wounds started to heal in front of my eyes, and her armor and cape began to restore themselves. Casting Tranquility on myself, I materialized a couple of lock picks and got rid of her shackles without much difficulty.

“Thank you, my knight. You’ve saved the princess,” she giggled.

“Don’t make such comparisons, nothing good comes of them,” I chuckled. But still, my heart skipped a beat when I remembered the other girl thought me her knight.

“What? Can’t I be a princess?” Una snorted and, sitting on the stone floor, drew her face close to mine. “Thank you…” she said quietly, putting her hand on my cheek and looking me in the eyes. “No one risked their life for me before.”

She tenderly kissed my cheek and quickly retreated.

“We have no time to waste. Give me a dagger.” She outstretched her hand demandingly. Taking out a regular dagger out of my inventory, I offered it to her. “Do you mind? He owes me something,” the girl asked, nodding at the unconscious Lade.

“He’s yours by right,” I answered coldly, feeling glad that another problem solved itself. I couldn’t finish him off.

Lifting up his bald head, Una cut the monk’s throat with a flick of her wrist.

“Hmm… Not a Gleam,” she said thoughtfully. “Great.”

“You thought he would drop a Fraction of Guer-Shui?” I asked, pretending not to care.

“It doesn’t matter. Do you hear thumping?” she asked. “That’s the Decayed, they’re gonna be here soon. I don’t know was it the noise that attracted them or the use of very powerful potions. Will you cover me?” She smiled and outstretched her arm. Lilac sand rushed from her fingertips, dancing in the air and drawing out the outlines of a portal.

There wasn’t a trace left of the dark-green acid. It corroded the stone for about ten seconds before it just disappeared; nothing prevented the two Spiders from rushing into the prison. Not in a hurry to attack, they halted at the entrance, scanning the room and transmitting the information to one of the Mothers.

Suddenly, they simultaneously ran forward at Una. They were definitely ordered to stop her from opening up a portal.

They didn’t succeed. Level fifteen weaklings were nothing for someone like me.

“Thank you, Daerk. Come back, too,” Una said, disappearing together with the portal.

You’re welcome. Get there safe. As for me… I’m in no hurry to get back home