*ptui!*
Succulent spit out a mouthful of his saliva mixed with blood and rubbed his chin,grateful that his jaw was not broken, the force of that punch felt like he was kicked by a horse that's twice its normal size.
"not bad, but that was only a warm-up, now let's get real serious"
Succulent stated stipp confident in his skills however at that moment a memory flashed in his mind, it was a memory of the first time he killed a person, it brought him no pleasure at the time but recalling the memory that set him on this path brought a smile to his face. When a person you trust betrays you, the only thing you can ever rely on afterward is money.
"bring it"
Succulent charged in with a sword in hand. He had wished to finish this quickly, but then again, he was merely supposed to test him out.
Succulent swung his sword, expecting Arthur To Parry or dodge him however the blonde knight did neither of those things and Instead planted his foot on the man's stomach with enough force to send him flying across the area and crashing onto some ruble.
Before Succulent could get up, Arthur rushed after him, grabbed him by the leg and threw him all the way to the other side, and once again caused him to slam on to some rubble.
"I mean, if you're the best six arms has, then I suppose I can just play with you for a bit"
Arthur spoke, his voice marred with disappointment, and he could not believe that eight fingers underestimated their foe and sent a half ass illusionist who couldn't even kill a teenager.
"you son of a birth, you'll pay for this"
Succulent roared out as he wiped the blood off his mouth and took out a blue potion from his pants and drank it, which reminded Arthur of Nfirea, whom he had saved during the undead incident in E-Rantel
'too bad I don't have any red potions to show him'
He lamented as he watched Succulent charge at him. The reason Nfirea was able to begin trying to make a red potion in the first place was because he saw one and had a sort of starting point to base his research off of, but Arthur was not a Player of Yggdrasil so he has no red potion.
Succulent came in close and went for a one-handed thrust, but Arthur instead used the armor on his arm to block the invisible strike that came for his neck.
*clank*
Metal collided against metal and sparks flew in the air, Arthur once again planted his foot on Succulent's stomach and sent tumbling across the ground and rolling in the dirt.
Although Arthur did consider telling Renner about the kid and maybe have him work for the castle, thinking about it now, he kind of skipped the whole corner village thing.
'I probably should visit the village'
He thought before redirecting his attention back to Succulent once again.
"This is boring me. Didn't something else come with you for the ambush?"
*ugh* "so you knew about the ambush?"
Succulent asked as he stood On his knees, the pain on his stomach was unbearable, despite Having taken a healing potion he still felt the pain, a healing potions not only healed wounds but it alleviated pain and for a whole five minutes any damage you take afterwards would be less than it should be.
"It was obvious that you were baiting the US to attack, or at least it was obvious to Renner. I was expecting Zero to be here. At least He'd put up a good fight"
Arthur explained as he slowly walked towards Succulent, already prepared to kill the man, this wouldn't be his first human kill in this world, a few assassins were sent by some nobles who probably thought that he would be a threat to the throne, but regardless he still felt a great sense of hesitation. One can not simply kill another without a little hesitation; only psychopaths commit murder without a second thought.
Arriving before Succulent, who was still on his knees, Arthur swiftly delivered a kick to his gut, forcing him to the ground once again
"you know if you didn't participate in literal slavery and kidnappings I would probably wouldn't have to kill you but the entirety of Eight Fingers as an organisation needs to be dealt with, my kingdom can't have scum like you"
'Alright imagine The Slashes'
Hearing such words Succulent was quick on the realisation and immediately scrambled to stand up however he suddenly felt an overwhelming weight push down on him preventing him from standing up, his instincts as an assassin began to scream at him to run away but unfortunately he could not
'SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! MOVE DAMMIT'
Sweat trickled down from his forehead and onto the floor as he felt the power of the individual that stood over him, the loud drumming of his heart were nearly deafening to his ears, his eyes bulged open at the realisation that his life was now at the end of its line with all his mental fortitude he forced his head to look up and speak.
"Zero! Hel–"
And with a single movement from his finger
*Shliiinck*
*splatter*
He could not finish his sentence as his body was cleaved into three parts, like when a chef is slicing the meat before cooking, it was a clean cut with no unnecessary messiness. The three sectioned body simply splattered on the floor, and everything went silent.
"ha! I guess I needed to be calm to do it"
Arthur expressed, despite feeling some hesitation before he hardly felt anything after, just satisfaction that he managed to get closer to mastering the technique.
*creak*
The sound of the door being opened forced Arthur to turn his head towards its direction; there were still a few buildings left despite having blown down some of them with his initial attempts at using the cursed technique.
"Oh ho, I didn't think you were actually here, and you have an elder Lich as your back up"
Arthur spoke casually as he saw the muscular and tattooed figure of Zero and the Red robed Undead he didn't know the name of, but he does recall seeing him in the episode where Sebas was destroying the head of six arms members.
"you know, I was just about to finish a nice and juicy piece of meat when you arrived, I don't appreciate that"
"heh heh!"
Zero spoke, and Arthur could not but chuckle at the way he worded that sentence.
"something funny?"
He asked while he used a hand to command Davernoch to separate and stand a bit far away from him, Zero understood that even if Succulent was a weakling among six arms he he was still skilled so this swordless swordsman warranted his caution, but there was a hidden excitement in his heart.
"oh nothing really, just that you should think before you speak your words carry different meanings when heard by different people"
"Is that so? Communication was never my strong suit, I'm more of a fist to face type of guy"
Zero expressed with a smile on his face and took a typical fighting stance, one that prompted Arthur to take his own. He patted his side, feeling the pommel of his yet to be used trump card.
"Just so you know, I'm called the iron fist monk for a reason, so any old sword won't cut it with me?"
Zero spoke again, this type with a much more menacing tone of voice, and Arthur found himself at a loss for words. He suppressed the overwhelming need to laugh at the man's face.
"pffft!! ….. oh, really? Pf… guess we'll see"
Arthur responded, struggling to hold back his laughter, which helped deepen Zero's scowl. Silence descended the area with nothing but the wind whistling, Zero and Arthur stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
'An undead is weak to blunt force attacks and holy magic, right?'
He asked himself as his gaze shifted to Davernoch who stood besides Zero, Sebas was able to kill it with a punch so powerful its head exploded, Arthur wondered if he could replicate that or will have to use Excalibur to vaporise it.
Arthur's momentary focus on Davernoch allowed for an opening, which Zero capitalised on. Using his Boots of Speed, he quickly closed the distance between him and Arthur
'Shamanic possession: Rhino'
The Rhino tattoos on his arms glowed red as he swung his fist towards Arthur's chest. This was a test to see the durability of the armor.
*clank*
The fist connected, and Arthur slid back as the force of the punch was enough to slide him four metres back. He hadn't expected the giant of man to be so swift, and he made the rookie mistake of not paying attention to his enemy.
"Not a bad piece of Armor, of course I held back but–"
*click*
*boom*
The sound of metal against metal echoed in the air before Zero was launched through the air and crashed into the building he had just exited.
Arthur quickly turned toward Davernoch prepared for an attack, but the undead to his surprise, Davernoch made no Movements or any attempts to attack. Seeing the undead have no desire to fight, he turned His attention back to Zero.
Zero jumped out of the building and landed he dusted himself off. There was a self-satisfied smile on his face.
"Like I told you before, cutting attacks don't work on my skin is harder than steel."
He was once again informed.
"although I see why you're called the swordless swordsman, I didn't even see that attack."
Zero praised, he couldn't tell if his foe was just that fast or if it was magic attack but regardless it was fast and swift, it reminded him of Peshuryan's swift sword Slashes but faster.
"How about you join Six arms? With Succulent taken care off there's a vacant position"
Zero offered, while he still likes to enjoy himself with the fight, it will be difficult to find someone skilled enough to be worthy of Six arms.
'I heard brain Unglaus was a bandit now he'd work, but I don't know where he is'
He thought, seeing the opportunity before, he might as well ask rather than bank on finding a washed-up swordsman.
"nah I'm good, and besides Eight fingers isn't going to exist for long, I can have criminal organisations in my Kingdom"
Arthur stated nonchalantly with a shoulder shrug, although he doesn't plan to get rid of eight fingers entirely just Reform it into an organisation that will be beneficial, getting rid of the would create a power vacuum.
"HaHaha!! You're quite the funny guy. I guess I have no choice. Let's do this. I'll show you why they call me a battle demon"
Zero took a proper fighting stance this time. His muscles bulged, and he exhaled a deep breath, readying himself. Arthur did the same however the difference this time was that he focused his mana, letting it rise and fall with each breath he took.
"you said you were immune to cutting attacks, right?"
Much like any technique or attack fillet and dismantle has levels of potency, and if the technique cannot cut, that means its potency was low as such, it needed adjustments.
Zero felt no need to answer a redundant question and once again used his [Boots of Speed] to propel himself forward, the boots worked by ignoring his heavy weight and allowed him to move as fast as any agility based class that's the same level. So if he was fighting a level 20 assassin, his speed would match that of the assassins if he was also level 20.
Once again, he closed the distance between him and his opponent and swung his fist, using the same move as before, but this time at full power, his aim was to break the Armor.
However, at the same time Arthur's copious amounts of mana spiked and burst forth from within his heart and traveled all over his body. This time, with no motion from his hand whatsoever, the technique was released…
*Shliiinck*
The expected clank of steel against fist was instead replaced by the distinct sound of a knife slicing through the air, and blood sprayed from Zero's arm as he dawned a look of confusion on his face The arm that was supposed to destroy Arthur's armor was sliced clean off his shoulder. The pain delayed before it reached his brain.
"Grrhaaaaaaaah!!"
He screamed his lungs out and dropped to his knees, holding the stump of an arm that was left. Fortunately for Zero, he had enough mental fortitude to withstand the pain.
"Davernoch now!"
He shouted as he turned to look at his undead companion only for his eyes to nearly pop out his head. The undead was nowhere to be found.
"oh shit he ran away! Hahaha!"
....
A/N: thoughts on the chapter? How was it good, bad or you hated it?