Chapter 21: The Demon Lord
"I thought those trolls couldn't get uglier," Bryce commented as the golden light stretched across the cave, ushering warmth to every corner.
However, as Bryce was weaker than the enemy, the undead existence repelled Excalibur's might, freezing his power. Even if there was a clear level gap between them, the monster stood with its chilling eyes glowering at Bryce, not moving forward. It was as though he was scrutinizing Bryce and his sword.
Bryce did the same. At first, seeing the level gap and feeling the coldness, he had doubts about facing the animated corpse, but as Excalibur let out its might, Bryce's confidence kicked away all uncertainties, raising his confidence.
Yes, he was just level fifteen, but a heroic bloodline dwelled within him, he wielded a divine sword, and his stats were far ahead of those common villagers and other races. Naturally, Bryce knew that he wasn't the only special case in the world and that the undead before him had better stats than your usual level forty human.
But contrary to Bryce, the chief didn't have any weapon, he was also without armor, and no way his coldness could match Excalibur and Bryce's holiness in the long run.
After peeking at Gengo, Bryce asked him through eye contact whether more enemies lurked around, and as his friend shook his head, not sensing anything odd, Bryce knew he could move forward and fight freely.
"It's our chance to level up in abundance," Bryce left his party with those words. The same holy protection circled around him as his healer did her best to support him, and feeling less burden on himself, Bryce charged with his sword before him.
Excalibur seemed to shiver with excitement, impatient to slash the undead.
"Inferior creature, a mistake of the world!" Bryce shouted those words just before the clash, wanting to see whether those would work on the animated corpse. But as nothing flashed in the monster's eyes, Bryce knew that the undead no longer had any pride.
Not liking this fact but still believing in his Excalibur, Bryce sent a thrust, eager to see the effects of a holy curse; his holiness invaded some of the monster's zone. The undead's body then jerked, finally extending its hand forward, it stretched its fingers widely and intercepted Bryce's attack with its bare flesh.
BANG!
The sword and the undead's skin heavily collided, sparking two opposite energies. Particles of deathly blue-black and golden-blue energies coiled around each other, then, at last, Bryce's holy curse made way for his sword inside! His tip sank in, and more holiness spread like veins across the chief's hand and forearm, making Bryce grin.
'With that curse on your arm, I will soften your tough skin and cut your arm,' Bryce thought after drawing back his sword, he ducked and avoided another arm, then jumped to the side, not planning to give up on the wound he had inflicted with his Excalibur.
The undead chief did its best to hurt him, pointlessly flailing its hands like a zombie. It hadn't cried, for it was undead, but the wounded arm surely lost a lot of strength and speed as the holy curse gnawed on its flesh, and coldness no longer was a problem as Excalibur's warmth kept Bryce's side safe from it.
Bryce struck close to his plan and the undead's arm like a bothersome fly, too, constantly finding ways of throwing his sword's attacks at the undead. After slashing a few more times and finally cutting off the arm, Bryce distanced himself, then looked at the monster, feeling like the undead had returned to life with a different purpose than vengeance.
The way it fought was just pitiful; it was like a child throwing tantrum with little arms. Every move was simple and predictable, and as Bryce had a constant influx of stamina, he could move just fine. His only worry was that his mana wouldn't keep up, but he would keep going even without it.
Still, the coldness was a real deal. Bryce knew that he would have no way of coming close to the undead if it weren't for Excalibur in his hands.
But with that weapon tightly in his hand, Bryce couldn't see himself losing against the undead troll.
Yet, when it parted his jaw and shrieked like a banshee, the coldness swept through Bryce, coming out victorious as all golden light doused, his blue eyes lost their beautiful color, reverting to dark, and Excalibur in his hands revolted, scalding his hand!
Bryce's heroic bloodline froze out of nowhere. Moreover, Sharla's protection dissipated into nothingness as well, leaving him naked before the undead monster! And this very grotesque existence raised its fist — seeing this, Bryce tilted his body and exposed his left side, for he didn't plan to give up on his divine weapon — and smashed forward, breaking Bryce's bones.
Losing his left arm to the strength of level forty undead, Bryce cried for the first time, the cracking sound still ringing in his ears. He flew backward, bounced off the ground, then sprawled amidst pebbles.
Excalibur was still in his hands, and it hurt him as Bryce was just a mere human without any unique bloodline of his. He was completely clueless and lost for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what had just happened. But as he was from Earth, and many fantasy ways were still foreign to him, Bryce could only stand up, try to call off Excalibur, and bring out his other side.
-
-
-
-
A few minutes before Bryce suffered a significant blow, Gengo and Sharla had been following his moves with seriousness and little thrill. Their friend was doing fine, he was like a dwarf compared to the troll, and leveraging his height, Bryce avoided and cleverly inflicted deadly blows.
Seeing how well he was doing, Sharla shifted the priority of two skills to give him more energy to jump around, lowering some defenses. She believed it'd be better this way.
Gengo kept his senses around the cave and outside. Should more trolls appear, and god forbid more undead, Gengo would notify everyone so that they could think of a different plan.
But even with his animal senses and holy energy within him, Gengo failed to notice a certain existence.
When he heard a thud next to him, jerking his head to the side and spotting Sharla on the ground, unconscious but intact, Gengo found a man in a black suit standing with a smile.
[Demon Lord, Devin S. Gold Lv. ??? HP: ??? MP: ???]
"A dog with holy energy, how funny. How come the pope is nowhere around when I want to see him the most? He'd love to see you, little friend. Oh, he'd love to see you so much," he chuckled, imagining a meeting between the holy dog and pope, then reached for Gengo's head, putting the dog asleep.
Devin then took off his glove, glanced at Bryce and the undead, then whispered, "If my eyes don't lie to me, they never lie, then you're one of those who should have never been born."
His bare hand let out a black-blue glint.
In the next second, the troll became stronger.