Chapter 9: Monarch
Monarchs—also known as 'minibosses', in layman's terms. These beings were commonly found in Dungeons, guarding important chokepoints or treasure chests. Zane had seen a number of them before, but was never put into a situation like this where he had to actually fight one—and all by himself, no less.
He gritted his teeth. This was not going to be an easy fight. Not only was this Monarch almost double his level, Zane also did not have proper equipment. The closest thing he had to a weapon was a sword he salvaged off of an Undead Knight, and as for armor—he was stark naked from the waist up.
No matter how one looked at it, the situation was not great. A frontal assault would never work due to the level and experience gap, but Zane couldn't afford to run, either. He'd already clearly pissed this guy off, so if he tried to turn tail and run now, he doubted the Monarch was just going to let him go. In fact, the only reason that first strike didn't kill Zane right away was probably due to the Monarch's sense of honor.
Dahrka—Fallen Paladin. If Zane's guess wasn't wrong, this creature used to be a knight when he was still alive, probably someone who loyally served the very man who lay in that coffin to the point where he was protecting him even after death. As a noble knight who valued his honor very much, this fallen monster's pride would never allow him to simply kill an enemy from behind, but rather grant them a chance to fight back on equal grounds.
Such was the way of the warrior.
If Zane were to flee like a coward now, then without a doubt, Dahrka would chase and cut him down without any mercy. A duel was the only way out of this situation—and he had to win.
"Fine. You want a fight? You've got it."
Steeling his resolve, Zane pulled out his longsword from its sheath hanging from his belt. He still couldn't handle it very well, but thankfully, it wasn't too heavy for his current strength after leveling up a few times. At the very least, it wouldn't slow or drag him down.
This was going to be his first plan. He was betting on the fact that as a former knight, Dahrka would not be that skilled in using double daggers as a weapon. Zane could take advantage of that to see if he could break through or spot any weaknesses, but the chances of that were low.
That was fine, however.
He had a few more cards up his sleeve than just that.
Dahrka, determining that Zane was ready for the duel, narrowed its fiery crimson eyes and readied its daggers, before dashing towards its opponent.
Or more accurately, teleported towards him.
Zane, eyes widening, quickly brought his sword up in defense, and managed to parry the first strike out of luck. This wasn't just incredible movement speed or experience—this was real short-distance teleportation, instant and deadly.
But if Zane could acquire that skill, then…
Dahrka, perhaps not taking to that very kindly, silently disappeared and reappeared behind Zane, before cutting down once more.
"Tch!"
Zane knew he would be unable to twist his body around in time, so instead, he dove forward, just barely avoid the fatal slash. The bare edge of the warrior's dagger still managed to scratch him, however, leaving a enormous diagonal gash down his back and driving him insane with a burning hot pain.
"Argh…!"
Zane fell to the floor on one knee, breathing heavily. How desperately he wanted to catch a break—but unfortunately, once a duel began, there were no timeouts. Quickly, he activated his [Basic Invisibility] skill and let go of his sword, thinking that would get him a moment of relief.
How wrong he was.
Dahrka, without a second thought, teleported straight in front of him despite his invisibility, and cut once more towards Zane's body.
"What—?!"
Letting out a gasp of surprise, Zane quickly brought his arm up in a panic, and the dagger's glowing black blade cut into his flesh.
"GAH!"
Faced with Zane's scream, Dahrka emotionlessly vanished yet again, and carried on with the same hit-n-teleport tactic it had been using up until now. Gritting his teeth, Zane quickly fired a few bolts of fire out of his finger behind him where he expected Dahrka to appear, but this opponent was no novice fighter. Easily outsmarting Zane with its rich combat experience, the fallen paladin teleported to a different angle, and landed a kick in Zane's stomach—though not before slicing the flaming projectiles up to bits.
"Ngh!"
Letting out a low grunt as he was sent flying backwards, Zane crashed into the wall and slowly slid to the floor, leaving a small crater behind in the location of impact.
"So… even invisibility is useless against you, huh?"
Unsurprisingly, the battle was one-sided. The level and experience gap were simply too much for Zane to handle.
As Dahrka teleported straight in front of his defeated body, Zane sized up his opponent once more. He was nearly out of strength, out of mana—and to make matters worse, his wounds were barely regenerating. The next strike would come soon. The next strike would end it all.
Was he going to die? Here?
Him? Zane Silverdale?
No, no. Something didn't add up in his head. He witnessed his own party members eating each other alive, killed his own best friend, and drank his blood to get here. To survive.
All of that was for him to live. Yet now, he was about to be killed? Already?
No, no, no. That can't be true. Not after everything he's been through.
Yet as Zane stared into the cold body of mist that seemingly made up the Monarch wraith's form, he felt so incredibly weak. So incredibly… defeated. He could feel himself slowly being sucked into those two vertical pupils that still reflected the same burning red flames, demonic and unforgiving.
Wait. Pupils...?
At that moment, the realization dawned upon him. And despite the grave injuries on his body and the utterly hopeless state of the battle, Zane smiled.
He'd found a weakness.
Just now, Dahrka could've easily simply teleported away from Zane's attack. There was no reason to first slash it apart. The warrior's fighting style thus far had always been quick and efficient, so why change it now?
Zane had an idea. A potentially stupid one, but an idea nevertheless.
So when Dahrka lifted one of its daggers and prepared to finish him off, Zane was ready to test his theory.
Using up all of his remaining strength, he dashed to the right, while simultaneously creating a humanoid clone of fire using his flame manipulation abilities and sending it out to his left, mirroring his movement. This was a neat little gimmick that Leo often used—although clones were more complex shapes and used up more mana, the base casting directions were the same as any other [Fire Manipulation] usage. Zane had learned this trick from his deceased friend, and although he'd never personally used it before, the clones hardly needed to be perfect—as long as they resembled the shape of a human and his theory was correct, it should be fine.
And as expected, sure enough, Dahrka dashed towards not Zane but the clone, and cut it to pieces.
"… Heh."
Grinning sadistically, Zane let out a low chuckle.
His guess had been right on the money. Now, it was time for the tides of this battle to turn.
Reaching his hand out, he created several more mirages of himself, and disabled his own [Basic Invisibility] to conserve mana. After all, there was no need for it anymore—these flaming mirages of himself were enough.
Dahrka, confused, looked around at all the new heat signatures that suddenly appeared in its vicinity, and was left at a loss for what to do for a moment. Ultimately, however, it began doing what it did best—kill.
Teleporting from one mirage to another, it slashed through the flames with its daggers, starting with the one closest to it. To make things even more confusing, Zane had his decoys start launching fireballs at the fallen knight, causing it to have to worry about more things and reducing the amount of opportunities it had to teleport.
It was simple—Zane had figured out that the Dahrka used infrared vision to see, and was naturally attracted to hotter, more intense sources of heat. Back when he had been analyzing his opponent, he'd noticed that the wraith had eyes. Specifically, it had slit pupils—a trait that helps filter out visible light. And if this warrior-turned-wraith wasn't seeing him with visible light, there had to be some other way for the wraith to know where he was.
Of course, it was a gamble. But based on how it reacted to his fire attacks, it was a gamble that Zane was willing to take.
And when the fallen paladin was overwhelmed by all the flames around it—that's when Zane would strike. He remained patient—suddenly, however, his eyes bulged and he doubled over, blood spewing out of his mouth.
"… Damn…"
The exterior wounds on his body were already beginning to heal thanks to his vampiric nature, but those daggers were no normal weapons, judging by the energy they were giving off. It'd definitely dealt some inner damage to Zane's body—damage that could not be healed as easily as a cut or a gash.
He needed to end this, and fast.
Wiping the blood from his lips, Zane stretched his other arm out, pouring the last of his mana into his flames. Immediately, his remaining clones surged like wildfire, invigorated with new strength. Each one grew tenfold, in both size and power, and burned with a light far brighter than anything the dungeon had seen before.
He flicked his hand, and the conflagration threw itself at Dahrka, engulfing and burying the shrieking wraith's terrified screams beneath the massive pillar of fire. Zane's body was trembling with exertion, and his vision was beginning to black out. But despite it all, he stood defiant, his eyes shining with determination and conviction.
Zane looked at the fallen paladin, one final time. Behind the walls of flame, its gaze burned with the hate and anger that there was before.
But now, there was... something else.
Something much more... primal.
Fear.
Narrowing his eyes as the flames reflected in his pupils, Zane clenched his fist, and the pillar imploded in a burst of bright light. The smoldering remains of Dahrka fell to the floor with a clatter. There was no scream, no yell. Just a warrior meeting its end, and accepting defeat.
"Begone," Zane uttered, and the defeated ashes of the fallen paladin faded away, leaving behind nothing but its twin midnight daggers and empty cloak that slowly drifted to the cold stone ground.
[Dahrka, Fallen Paladin (Lv. 15) — Defeated!]
[+150 EXP]
[Player Level Up!]
[Lv. 9 -> 10]
[+10 SP]
[Class selection is now available!]
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