Dying twice in one day, quite unfortunate, but Edol's misfortune wasn't over yet.
The boy opened his eyes once again, the same dim red landscape greeting him. A few meters away the demon who had just murdered him looked up in surprise.
Edol stood still for a second before collapsing. The pain from being stabbed was gone, but the memory of it still lingered.
That horrible, gut-wrenching feeling of the sword.
The pain shooting all the way through his soul.
Those eyes, looking down at him.
Ahead of him, just a few meters away, the demon who had taken his life seemed to be smiling.
'This bastard!'
Edol struggled to his feet, staring the demon in the eye.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
It grinned, then raised its sword once more.
Rage began to well up within the young Englishman. He forgot the pain he'd just experienced and prepared to attack his newfound foe.
"You're going to die, ugly demon! Even if it takes me a hundred tries… I'm going to kill you!"
Edol dashed at the still-standing demon, a plan forming in his eyes.
'Feign left hook, then dodge right and punch him in the head! I can then put him in a chokehold or something… yea, this'll work!'
The demon watched him approach without making a move. Mild interest showed in its eyes, but it still didn't view Edol as an opponent.
Edol reached it, throwing a punch with his left arm.
'Shit! I can't pull this back!'
Edol wasn't trained in martial arts, and he was never a big fighter. He had put all his weight on his left leg as he went to feign, and now lost his balance.
The demon didn't even need to pull out his sword this time. It brought its spiked gauntlet down onto his head, killing him for the third time that day.
The pain was just as unbearable as before, but Edol recovered a few seconds after respawning. The pain only lasted a moment each time, his death and respawn keeping him from feeling too intense of a pain.
It was as if something possessed Edol, amplifying his feelings toward this demon. He had to avenge himself, had to make this thing stop looking at him like that.
The fear in Edol's eyes disappeared, and his sense of pain dulled.
Edol charged at the demon again, but the outcome didn't change.
'You must have a weakness, demon, and it seems I have multiple lives. You might be stronger than me, but let's see if you don't make an error!'
Edol charged again, meeting a swift doom, but he didn't give up. A haze of blood hovered around the boy's eyes, blocking out any hesitation.
"Die!"
After spending just a moment each time recovering, he ran back crazedly, trying to reach his enemy.
Charging straight at the demon?
Decapitation.
Feigning left?
Impalation.
Diving under it and trying to tackle the demon?
A crushed skull. If the demon had known what had sent Edol here in the first place, it might have aimed for his head every fight, just to please itself.
A smile grew on the boy's face despite the intense pain and repeated deaths. He didn't look sane, and when the demon caught sight of Edol's smile, it took its first step backward.
"Hihihih... You must have a weakness!"
After trying over twenty times with no success, Edol stopped charging at his nemesis after respawning, hunching over from the stimulation of dying twenty consecutive times. He tried to calm himself and began trying to add strategy to his reckless attacks.
'This thing… I can't even touch it! It's like playing dark souls without a weapon! I just get insta killed every time!'
His brows furrowed as he struggled to think of a decent plan.
'Ugly here is strong, fast, armed with two swords, and might be a god… and I can respawn, hopefully many times. It would really suck if I just died for good one of these times, killed by this demon that keeps looking down at me.'
'In general, my only advantage is that any damage trade is good for me since I just revive every time I die anyways.'
As he sat back and thought, the blood rage that'd previously overtaken the boy started to die down, and for a moment, he realized just how messed up the current situation was.
'This thing has killed me so many times, but I'm the one still charging back in?'
Edol looked back at his foe. It was still grinning as it looked down at him.
'Well, I can't stop now! This ugly bastard is dying today!'
The demon standing in front of him was an opponent that had to be defeated, and there was no stopping before he achieved success.
A cruel thought began to form in Edol's head.
'If I just disregard my own safety, I can probably land a hit or two on this monster!'
Edol turned to the demon, who seemed to be amused while watching him scheme. Edol took in a deep breath, as if preparing for the incoming pain, then charged once again.
Disinterested, the demon raised up his sword once again pointing it directly at Edol, waiting for the boy to dodge left or right, and then slash him in two.
A look of determination enveloped Edol's eyes as he launched himself at the demon- right onto the sword.
The massive bastard sword tore a hole right through Edol as the demon watched him in shock.
Had this weakly, hairless goblin given up on life, and decided to give itself to his blade?
A grimace covered Edol's face as the pain spread through his body. He was sure nothing back home could have hurt this much, not even being impaled in such a manner. He wasn't wrong. Injuries to the soul would certainly hurt much more than to a simple physical body.
Nevertheless, he endured the pain, looking into the demon's eyes.
"Screw you, Ugly."
Before his consciousness fled, Edol thrust his hand forward, punching the demon squarely in the cheek.
It was his first victory. Sure, perhaps it didn't really hurt the demon, but this was the greatest victory he could hope for at the moment.
The first in a long line of victories, hopefully ending with him finally putting this demon down for good.