๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
I stayed still and waited for the burning being to make move. This has always been my fighting style and the reason Astoria called me the backline warrior.
After minutes of waiting, the burning figure finally made its move.
The figure charged then attacked me with a right hook and then a straight punch on the left before aiming its hand which fired a hot flame from it.
I dodged the right hook by dashing back, and the left punch by dodging to the right however, the flame burns my left shoulder.
Right now my death perception was still going off even if I was at a distance where I could not be harmed. 'Tch, my perception becomes practically useless whenever fighting that black thing.'
I dashed to the burning figure with my katana raised trying to slash it. The figure dashed back in response, however, my katana was enough to reach it so I slashed the black core. The core moves away before I could slash and so I instead slashed the body.
The body was easily slashed by the katana however there were no wounds visible on its body. Before I can go for another slash, the figure grabs my katana, locking me in place and it raises its left arm into a fist and punches the right side of my torso.
While the figure raises his hand, I grabbed my last long knife on my left shin and held it into a reverse grip then quickly slashed the hand that was grabbing my katana which manages to cut the arm, freeing me.
I maneuvered my body to dodge the blow while also trying to slash the arm with my long knife however it only passes through the burning arm and I was burned in my right tricep.
'Solid and not solid at the same time.' The burning figure continues its assault with each hit slowly reaching me. 'Its body is clearly just made out of fire meaning my katana does nothing but somehow it can turn parts of itself solid, but ho-" Suddenly the burning being became much more faster and I was hit in the right side of my waist, the left neck, and my left shoulder.
I was blasted by the sheer impact and was now rolling in the direction of the flame wall but my senses felt the tingling sensation of death approaching so I stabbed the ground with my long knife, stopping me just next to the flame wall.
The burning figure stands still waiting for me to stand up and after a moment, I stand quickly before falling to one knee due to the painful burns on my body. Every attack that landed on me suffered a fourth-degree burn while the ones that scraped or indirectly burned my skin had a second or third-degree burn and my back was suffering from a first-degree burn because of me being next to the flame wall for a small amount of time.
I was breathing heavily and the pain was slowly breaking my expressionless face and my polo shirt was already in ruins because of the burns.
As I stand up, I put my long knife to its sheath. The burning figure seeing that I stood up, charges at me again. It punches me with a left hook then a right jab before aiming his hand at me to use his flame attack then dashing towards me while aiming for my chest.
I dodged by ducking and quickly walking left while blocking with my blade then dashing left to avoid the fire attack before dropping to one knee and being forced to block the blow with my katana.
The distance between the figure fist and his chest was about 75 centimeters meaning my polo shirt was burned and so was my skin suffering a second-degree burn from it.
Seeing an opportunity to attack, I let go of my left hand from gripping the handle causing my block to weaken, and with the figure managed to get closer making the distance 25 centimeters with my katana in between preventing it from directly contacting the skin.
The burn worsened into a third-degree burn but in return, I managed to grab my long knife in a reverse grip and slashed the core although shallow, however, the core started deteriorating and the flaming figure retreated quickly falling to one knee.
As the core was slowly deteriorating, the farthest part of the core splits off on its own letting the rest deteriorate into nothing.
The burning didn't seem to be damaged nor weakened because of the smaller core, in fact, it only made it even harder to hit.
I slowly approach the figure with my katana shaking a bit from the pain. Silently, like a robot, it lowers his body before dashing so quickly that I didn't even have enough time to react.
As it dashes leaving behind a fiery trail, it twists its body, putting strength into its shoulder and raising its fist upward, and using the momentum gained, it punches me as hard as it can.
An overhead haymaker. I was hit by the punch in my torso destroying many rib bones however the burning figure's attack continued till it hit the ground leaving a small fiery crater behind.
I rolled to the ground and was heading straight to the wall of fire but thankfully I was able to use my hand to stop myself next to it.
My torso suffered a fourth-degree burn and I was on the verge of internal hemorrhaging but thankfully it didn't happen.
It was already miraculous that I managed to not lose consciousness from that direct hit, let alone even manage to stop myself from hitting the wall of fire. Three out of five of the fingers I used to stop myself, lost their fingernails and were now bleeding while the other two were on the verge of falling off.
Everything in my body was burning up to the point I can even hear my own flesh sizzle.
As the figure slowly approached me, I stood up again and took at the burning figure.
I was desperate for some reason, I didn't have anyone or anything to live for, so why was he fighting?
I readied my katana with one arm while the other grabbed something from my pack. I pulled out a potion with dark-red colored liquid on the inside. I bought it in the first week of being an adventurer from the merchant branch of the adventurers guild but by then I was letting Astoria take the frontline so I didn't have any use for it until now.
It was called berserk potion. Contrary to its name, it was actually nothing more than a fantasy version of anesthetic. It didn't even make me stronger.
As I drink it, all of the pain receptors in my body become very weak to the point of not working at all, making all the pain go away temporarily.
I wield my katana with both of my hands and after a second we both dashed to each other.
For the first time, I attacked first, aiming for the core with a diagonal upward slash.
In response, the burning figure blocks it with its arm however, not a second later I pull my katana before performing a horizontal slash that was aimed at the core however the small core was moving about making me miss.
The burning figure tries to retaliate by punching me so I dodge to the right and I was only burned in the left tricep which I did not feel.
The figure attacked, aiming for the left side of my head which I dodged only burning off a part of my ear. I then slashed the figure many times however none of them hit the core.
I then tried to stab it with my long knife however, instead, it got stuck. I was punched so I didn't manage to retrieve it.
As the wooden handle burns to nothing, the blade which was imbued by that mysterious thing. For some reason, it forces the burning body which was always not solid to have a physical body making the core unable to dodge.
Although I didn't know or notice such a change, I made a mad dash to the figure. It seems that my pain receptors were coming back to normal and I was starting to feel the pain again.
I screamed loudly which I only heard before madly slashing the core. The burning figure tries to block with its arm, however, my constant slashes manage to cut both of its arms before finally, I managed to cut the core cleanly.
The burning figure begins to disappear while I drop to the ground, breathing slowly. After a second, the wall of fire also starts to disappear, and sound returns to my ears.
Both Astoria and Freya dashed to my body and checked my pulse. "He's alive, get a healer!" After a second in astonishment, the female commander shouts at the stunned crowd. "You heard her! bring him to the medical tent now!"
As the color of my eyes slowly disappears and my vision becomes blurry, that was the last thing I heard before losing consciousness.