" Ready for the second round? "
With a slow step, he moved towards the scorpion. A spear rotated in his right hand, drawing the monster's attention away.
Ramiel didn't know if the creature understood him, but the words weren't directed at it.
About 800 meters away from the battlefield stood two women. One of them was struggling with all her might not to lose consciousness. The strain on her body from the spell proved too much. Her skimpy clothing became nothing more than a wet rag. Her legs felt like cotton wool, yet the woman still stood on them. It's not easy to break a horned beauty.
Asme couldn't give up. Despite colossal exhaustion, she gave it her all. Her mana reserves were scrubbing the bottom, but she still wouldn't give up. If she let go now, she might as well commit suicide. Ramiel's fate depended on her. She couldn't let him die.
The horned beauty's mind slowly clouded over, and her eyelids became heavy. The woman bit her lip to keep from fainting.
No... I can't give up... I must... I must hold on.
Exhausting the rest of her remaining strength, she concentrated on maintaining the spell.
Next to her stood Caera. Her eyes were fully devoted to the battlefield. Even though she could only see blurry figures, she was constantly looking for an opportunity to attack. A thin trickle of blood oozed from her hand, but Caera didn't remove the arrow from the taut string. She waited patiently for the signal, trying to ignore the pain.
Finally, after the second scorpion blast, she heard Ramiel's voice, distorted by the echoes of the battle in the distance. As the meaning of the man's words reached her mind, she released an arrow. The bullet glided through the air and turned into a thin beam of darkness. It resembled a laser beam but was much more menacing.
Before the scorpion's senses could warn it, the monster felt immense pain, then realized that something had pierced the joints in one of its limbs. The spell proved too weak to do more harm. The ice armor proved to be too strong, even the bleeding stopped under the sulfurous cold.
Sensing an opportunity, Ramiel moved at full speed but had to be careful; the beast's tail had been freed in the last blast. Using similar tactics to the last time, he sent three monsters to attack. This time, their goal was to destroy the injured limb. The man didn't know if they would succeed, but they were a good decoy even if they didn't.
The Condemned Sloth and the wolves rushed in with murderous intentions. Its claws and teeth ripped open the fresh wound, tearing the meat from inside. The wolves remained no worse, their massive jaws ripping apart the ice armor, digging into the pink flesh.
Scorpion felt the insects destroy his third limb, but he couldn't ignore Ramiel. He had already done it once and regretted it sternly. After thinking the situation over, he decided to sacrifice one of the legs. The monsters wouldn't do him any more harm anyway.
Ramiel pursed his lips. He hoped the scorpion would rush at his subordinates in a frenzy, but it ignored them and concentrated on him.
Well, all that's left is brute force... Agreeing to his fate, Ramiel circled the monster.
Deprived of three legs, the scorpion couldn't keep up with the nimble former hunter despite the monster's supposed statistical advantage. Apparently, the loss of limbs was too painful.
Taking advantage of the monster's dead zones, Ramiel attacked its abdomen. To kill the mutant, he had to somehow disable its stinger. It was too dangerous. Even with his current stats, the former hunter parried its attacks on feel. The scorpion's most dangerous weapon was far too fast.
Along with the vertical cut, a large piece of ice armor fell off the monster's body. Ramiel had no time to celebrate. He kicked at the ground with all his might, knocking himself up.
In this manner, he evaded the ice spikes growing out of the ground.
Taking advantage of his flexible body, he flipped through the air and landed on one of the ice formations. Wanting to gain more momentum, he bounced off the ice spike as a springboard. However, this move turned out to be a mistake.
Losing its ability to think rationally, the scorpion went so far as to self-harm. This was due to his damaged mind and the curses imposed with the Cursed Condemnation. Wanting to kill Ramiel at any cost, it bent its tail in an unnatural way, breaking it.
" Fuck " - the former hunter cursed. He wasn't prepared for such a situation. Nobody in his right mind would expect something like this. He already knew that it was too late to dodge. His only hope was to survive the attack.
Ramiel grabbed his spear in both hands, not wanting to die, preparing for the coming shock. The man's momentum was too great to stop him without injuring himself.
The scorpion's tail struck the spear's metal shaft, throwing Ramiel backward with tremendous force. Moments later, his body hit the hard ground and slid for a while.
Ramiel felt some of his bones crack, crying out for mercy. For a moment, he was out of breath. He would have been left a wet pancake if not for the armor.
Ramiel stood up, spitting blood from his mouth. He desperately wanted to lie down and rest, but the scorpion certainly wouldn't let him. The men were comforted by three things. First, the monster's most dangerous weapon had been destroyed by himself. Its tail had detached from the rest of its body under the influence of an unnatural movement.
Secondly, the self-mutilation was considered an attack by Ramiel, imposing the curse of rotting flesh.
Third and finally, Sarron's poison was slowly doing its work. The scorpion's movements became noticeably slower, and purple veins appeared beneath his ice armor. The poison may not have done any damage, but it certainly affected him.
Unfortunately, Ramiel didn't escape unscathed either, or rather his weapon. Numerous cracks appeared in the spear's shaft, filled with the resulting ice.
Its structure had been compromised, and the blade of the spearhead had blunted. It would have been a real miracle if it had persevered until the end of the battle.
Not knowing much better alternatives, Ramiel drank one of the red potions. He didn't have too many left, but in situations like this, it would be foolish not to drink one.
Scorpion didn't know what the man was doing, but instinct told him that he had to stop the man's actions at all costs. He moved towards Ramiel, but after a moment, he fell, losing balance.
With a loud crack, one of his remaining limbs broke. The monsters that had long ago been turned into ice icicles did a great job of weakening it. Under the influence of the inflicted wounds and the weight of the body, the limb couldn't hold. Unable to maintain balance, the scorpion fell, giving Ramiel a chance to resume the offensive.
The monster was no longer thinking rationally. It tried to get up by injuring itself even more. This task turned out to be almost impossible; three limbs on the right side and two on the left were definitely not enough to move efficiently. However, this didn't make it an easy prey. Despite the lack of a tail and limited movement, it still possessed efficient pincers, capable of tearing Ramiel's body apart in a single move.
The former hunter's spear met the scorpion's pincers. The man tried to flank the monster, focusing only on its right side. The task was more difficult than it may have seemed. The tight space, coupled with countless icicles of ice, made the plan effectively difficult.
Ramiel, having no other choice, showered the scorpion with a hail of blows. His spear thrust and stabbed with dizzying speed, just to turn with a deft flick of the wrist to cutting and jerking.
Ramiel plunged into battle, revealing some of his fighting style. His body moved with dizzying speed, performing all kinds of acrobatics. Sometimes, it was a simple spin around his axis, creating something like a tornado with his spear or just a wild punch that forced his body to do acrobatics at an unnatural angle.
An outsider would have judged it a beautiful circus show, but for Ramiel, it all made sense. He could inflict as many small wounds as possible thanks to the strange movements. What did this translate into? To the Cursed Condemnation, of course.
Ramiel's fighting style was based on two aspects. Fighting to extinction and gaining the upper hand with Leach and Cursed Condemnation. Everything else was just a supplement to these two skills. For this reason, he developed swordsmanship that lacked destructive power, but the amount of minor damage he could inflict compensated for this. The downside of such a fighting style is the requirement for a properly prepared body.
Ramiel didn't have one at the moment. He would definitely feel the effects of his thoughtless actions. If it hadn't been for hardening his body in the lake, his tendons and muscles would have ruptured long ago. But that was a problem for later. First Ramiel must survive, only then would he worry about the consequences of his reckless actions.
Another series of deadly attacks followed. Slowly, the blows, accumulating indefinitely, had their effect. They flowed in like a torrent of curses and greatly weakened the scorpion, driving it into tighter and tighter corners. Additionally, the monster slowly lost the feeling in its legs thanks to the poison.
In desperation, the scorpion began to strike wildly in all directions, trying to crush the man, but its attacks didn't even touch their target. Ramiel was smarter. Seeing what was coming, he melted into the shadows.
Away from the battlefield, Caera held Asme, who had lost consciousness. The horned beauty pushed herself to the limit to help Ramiel. She even succeeded, and the result was a complete mana drain. Fortunately, the monster no longer posed a real threat to "Ramiel's Engines."
The elfess, together with the little fairy, carefully followed the battlefield, waiting for the former hunter's victorious return. From time to time, for a measly second, they could see Ramiel's bloodied body as they exchanged blows, but that was all. The rest was a blur.
The women prayed silently to the Great Nenneke for the safe return of the former hunter. They knew the goddess wouldn't listen to their pleas, but in this way, they were able to calm themselves to some point.
As the battle drew to a close, something terrible happened. Ramiel made the mistake of stumbling. Seeing this, the scorpion's eyes shone. It gathered icy air in its maw, spitting it at the aggressor.
" No !!! " - Caera wanted to throw herself to his aid, but the fairy successfully stopped her urges.
" Stop, you can't go there. You will only hinder him. " - Avi stood firmly in front of the elfess. She couldn't let her foolishly sacrifice herself. Not after Ramiel had invested so much in her!
" But he! But he will die! " The woman's heart was beating like crazy. She couldn't accept the fact that Ramiel might die. At the very thought, her most precious organ burst with pain.
" Calm down. Panicking will certainly not help him. At this point, you must trust him. I don't need to remind you that we can't even see the scorpion's movements, let alone fight it. Besides, you should take care of Asme. She needs you more."
Caera clenched her fists in anger. She knew Avi was right, but her helplessness was driving her to frustration. She wanted to help, but she couldn't; she was too weak.
At the same time, Ramiel fought for his life. He used mana to create an ice cage that withstood the scorpion's frigid breath, temporarily saving its skin.
The solution wasn't perfect, it consumed huge amounts of mana. The ice layer grew thicker by the second, consuming even more mana.
Why does my luck have to be so screwed up? First, there were those two damn snakes, and now this scorpion! Where does it get its mana from... Suddenly, Ramiel was dazed.
After all, this monster started as a normal scorpion. Only later did it mutate with the help of crystals... which means he got mana from then...
" Ah fuck... why does it have to be me again. "
Ramiel looked at his armor with regret, seeing no other way to win.
" You served bravely, little one... I hope you won't fail me this time. Ramiel stopped pouring mana into the ice cage and activated a spell hidden inside the armor.
The runes on it lit up, and moments later, he disappeared from the ice trap.
Feeling the resistance diminish, Scorpion was glad to finally defeat the wretched pest after such a long time. It cost him his life, but his honor was saved.
However, something was wrong. His instincts warned him of impending danger, but it was too late.
Before the scorpion moved, with a loud crack, a huge hole appeared in his head. Beneath it was a spear, shattered into thousands of pieces. The weapon couldn't withstand the force of the last attack.
A naked Ramiel landed on the monster's body.
" Tsk, so strong and yet so weak. " - A sneer escaped his lips, and an arrogant gaze filled with a sense of superiority scowled at the mutant's carcass.
" Sssssssss " - The little snake hissed menacingly, agreeing with his bond. They both suffered light wounds, but they were nothing in comparison to the sweet victory.
Ramiel stopped the taunting and looked at the ice cage where black dust lay. It was the remains of an armor. The spell that had enchanted the armor allowed for a one-time teleportation within a 20-meter radius. The price was the armor. After use, it turned to black dust.
Ramiel used it to appear above the scorpion's head and launch a final attack. It was a gamble, but those who don't take risks don't drink champagne.