Chương 309: Chapter 292. Final Moments Of Round 2

" What!? You think just because I have some cracks in my armor, that's enough!? This armor isn't even in its complete form, and you all still can't break it unless you trade all of your abilities for it! You're going to die in this forest, you miserable sow! Then your foolish husband is next! Mark my words!" He screams at me as he sees that I have another halberd. I guess he thought that I wouldn't fight back just from him overpowering me slightly during our last exchange?

He's very foolish to think that, but it doesn't matter for much, unless I can take advantage of that foolishness. You got him angry, Sarah, now what can we do with that?" What!? Nothing to say about that!? Just going to look at me silently!? You think I can't tell that you're thinking about some kind of a plan!? Well, it's worthless to think! Any plan an ant can think up is worthless against a stomping boot!"" Maybe you're right?"" Of course I'm righ-" Kick! /THUMP! Woosh! /" Get back here!"

Before he could finish his sentence, I ran into the trees around us, if I can't beat him into a head-to-head clash now, because of his Enhancement Spell, I have around 3 options. the first is simple, run away until it runs out, but I want to end this as quickly as possible. /DING! / Hm? Ah, it's arrived. One of the other abilities I received from Love Warrior is called Love Watcher. Despite how it sounds, it's actually an ability to check on John's Status. This includes his general mood and things like that.

I'm fairly well-hidden, so I think it'll be a good time to take a look.

John Ericsson Health. Good. Mana. Poor. Jobs Paladin/Summoner Physical Condition. Uninjured Current Mental Status. Tired. Unconscious. Relieved/Scared. Love Status. Mutual With Sarah and Anna Ericsson. Potential Suiters. 1. Laura Buckley 2. Asha Clearfield 3. Cynthia Dreadnaught 4. Alice Mars 5. Lucy Smith 5. Ruby Flameskin 5. Emily Metis 5. Jaime Wilkin 5. Mary 5. Ashley Garrett 5. Charlotte Nyx 6. Sharon Ashblade Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

While I would like it better if it could give numerical values of John's Status, I'll take what I can get. Before Anna and I arrived together to help John, his Status read as "Severely Fatigued", it seems that a combination of Anna's healing and John's natural recovery ability as a Paladin has boosted him to only being tired. However, more than that, I could feel the irritation of this Status biting at me.

That Ranking that has vexed me for the past year fills my mind for a brief moment. It's bad enough that I don't truly have a full answer to what constitutes the Rankings. But that vixen Laura has remained steadfast at Rank 1! Besides that, I also wonder about how Asha is so high, yet Sharon is so low!? That and how theoretically, with Emily and Ruby spending so much time with John you'd think their Ranking would be higher! I know they Love him as women, so why is it that they're so low? Also, how is Mary there!?

And beating out those 3!? And why is there a 7-way tie in the first place!? Questions for another time I suppose? Hopefully, he wakes up soon though, I'm still so worried. That and so he doesn't miss my figure as I defeat this God. That still was the plan after all. Speaking of which, the 2nd idea I had was to simply attack him head on. Since I've been doing this since the start and it's led me to being surrounded by a forest of black trees, I'd say it's not the best option currently."

Don't think you can avoid me for long, you demon scum! You're so beneath me that finding you will be like child's play! I could make this easy! I could! But instead, I'm going to hunt you! Like you all used to do to the other races that you felt so "superior" to!" I have no idea what he's screaming about, maybe there were Demons that did that, but I share the same opinion of my Parents when it comes to the Demons that act like that, Death.

However, with his hollering, I know where he is relative to me, I can use that to my advantage, I use an elementary Wind Spell called Silent Step. Its effect is like it sounds. It lowers the sound of my steps as I walk. With it, I wait for the right moment to step away from the tree I was behind and make my way towards the back side of my enemy. I plan on smashing him into the ground and using Wind Magic to keep him on the ground and break his armor with this halberd of mine. I just need to find the right moment."

You're not going anywhere soon! This place is now enclosed around itself! No one is going to save you!" Again, he shouts, it looks like I really angered him, this was both good and bad, good in that, he's definitely not thinking clearly. Back when he first appeared, he would've definitely used the easiest method to find me, now that he's so angry, he's simply trying to do this in a way to crush my spirits as badly as possible.

I need to stay as calm as I can, if I let my emotions run wild, I'm not sure if my Berserker Rage will give me the boost in ability needed to beat him. Half of the reason I've done so well is my ability to think and use my Martial Arts knowledge to capitalize on his weaknesses in close quarters combat. The bad news of his being angry is that he's not trying to hold back. Which in itself is a double-edged sword. He's using his mana up, but he's using it up trying to kill me." Not here! Don't worry!

I'm just running out of places to look!" Again, he looks around different trees. His anger is still growing, like a child who loses every game they play. This worked out for me however, the angrier he gets, the less he's likely to notice my sneaking around him. Which brings me to the 3rd idea I had and the one I decided to use. Simply do a combination of the 1st and 2nd ideas I had. Run and hide in the forest and then attack him when his guard is down.

Instead of approaching from the front, I'd wait and strike from behind, since I haven't done this successfully yet during our fight, I think it's worth a shot. I'll attack him, force him face down into the ground and then hold him there with a strong burst of Wind Magic. Then the killing blow will come easily for me. It'll either pierce the armor or destroy it and hopefully, him as well. But to do that, I'll need to get closer to him, which is the hard part, Silent Step can only take me so far.

Regardless, I need to push on, nothing will come from just sitting and wishing there was an easier way." That's the Western side done!" He continues to search as I finally get fully behind him. The mana that he's begun to give off feels more like miasma rather than anything regular Magic can give off. Even when it came to my Father and Mother, when they would release their mana, it would only feel as if the gravity around you suddenly strengthened, and it would force the weaker Demons around us to kneel.

In contrast, his mana feels sickening and twisted, like something is dead and you can't tell where the smell is coming from. It all seems to emanate from that twisted sword, like a festering wound from some plant, it looked almost as if there was blood and puss from an infection pulsing out of the back of the blade. Where did he even find something so macabre? It was almost too hard to look at. Either way, I stopped looking, since it was only distracting me. I followed him for a few minutes.

Eventually, he screamed to the sky." Enough! That's the East side done with, you filthy slug! I'll use a new method of capturing you! Hahahahaha!" His manic laughter made me hurry behind a tree, whatever he had planned, I could tell it wasn't good. I stayed hidden for a moment so I could be protected if he tried anything, that's when I heard the first sound. /SHING! SWISH! / A flying slash attack again, it ripped up the ground like a dog digging a hole. This was followed by more sounds. /SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!

SHING! / More and more marks appeared on the ground as the sounds of flying slashes came one after another. Eventually, trees, the ground and even the leaves covering the branches had deep cut marks all around it. It looked like an Army had been ordered to destroy a forest. The trees, thankfully, were still standing and I could use them for cover. But the area around me had become filled with broken branches and destroyed leaves. I struggled to find a safe clearing to take a step. /SHING! SHING! SHING! RIP! RIP!

/ Judging from the sounds coming after the sword slashes, he's moved to cutting the other side of the forest, seems he's grown bored of this side? If I was going to take a step, now was the time. I quickly got up and looked for a step. After finding a clearing, I went for my first step.

"!" Only for a branch that was carried by the gusts of wind from the impacts of the sword cuts to land on the spot I took my step on. It was too late to stop myself, I could only quickly ready myself for the battle to come. Unbalanced! /CRACK! / There it was and I watched as his head turned. /DING! / Another alert sounded and like that, I felt relieved, that sound was the sound of John's Status finally improving. He'll wake soon. That means something important...

I can let loose fully now without regard for anything else. Since I know he'll come for me in time. / WOOSH! RUMBLE! / STRENGTH! EUPHORIA! I quickly let loose the anger that has been building in my chest that I've kept controlled for so long. Finally, I didn't need to think my moves through, I could just do the most natural thing for me. I let out a smile as I knew, the events that would happen next. And I knew who would be the first thing I would see when I opened my eyes again.

The darkness began to take my vision as black and purple mana began to explode out of my body.... This feels so good... No more holding back... I can fight and kill him as I please... And John will save me before the worst happens.... Before I lost myself to the darkness, a voice belonging to the target said the word I was thinking of.

"Finally!" He smiled his twisted smile at me, but it was fine, because I knew he'd be losing that smile soon. He mouthed something again as I finally felt the Calamity Mana take over." Found you!" GRIP! The darkness took my vision fully as I felt my right hand grip my halberd with enough strength to crush a skull into dust...