Chương 78: Chapter 15

After a heartbeat of thinking through a strategy, she sheathed a dagger at her belt and grabbed a swordstaff with a wide guard off the rack. She hopped into the pit at the far end from the tiger, which faced her warily and began circling her. Not having time to play it safe, Shaya lunged at the tiger with her polearm. It dodged to the side with ease and launched itself at her. Just as planned, even including which side it attacked from. Shaya pulled her weapon back and braced it.

The tiger twisted in the air to avoid being impaled, but she still managed to draw the blade across its neck and tilt it slightly off course with the guard. The tiger clipped her with its weight, still more than enough to drive her to the ground. She dropped the spear and pulled her dagger as the tiger rolled atop her. One hand kept its gnashing jaws away from her face while the other plunged the dagger into its underside until its paws stopped raking at her.

With a grunt of effort, she pushed the tiger off her as it evaporated into aetherplasm, almost surprised that none of its claws managed to slash through her gambeson. Shaya's respect for the humble foot soldier's armour grew as she clambered out of the pit. The assistant pointed her to the next challenge and she walked there to let herself catch her breath. The next assistant stood in front of a wide street that was blockaded by a wall of pikes.

"You just need to cut your way through," he explained as she approached.

"You get one weapon." With a greatsword in hand, Shaya hewed her way through a wall of pikes. It was the longest trial yet, the thickness of each pike taking multiple blows to the same, precise location on the haft to chop it down. Doing that by itself was challenging enough, but doing so while avoiding getting caught on the other pikes that bristled toward her turned the scenario into a nightmare. And the pikes weren't even moving. Shaya was panting as she reached the next scenario.

Her next instructor lazily leaned against the wall of a building, before a closed door, and raised two fingers.

"Mystery opponent?" Shaya asked, nodding at the closed door.

"Yep."

"Does a shield count as a weapon?"

"Of course." She strapped on a round shield and grabbed a sword from the rack. A mighty kick blew down the door to the building and Shaya rushed into what appeared to be a tavern, roaring, "WAAAGH!" Her first opponent was stunned by her entrance, another angelic figure in medium armour and a sword that may have proven troublesome had he been ready for her. Since he wasn't, she slid her sword across his throat and kept moving as glowing silver blood flowed from his porcelain neck.

The next opponent recovered and lunged at her with his spear, which she deflected with her shield. He recovered without an opening, so she kicked a chair into him and focused on his ally. The glowing man in heavy armour chopped down at her with a bronze greatsword, the blade smashing aside a chandelier illuminating the room. Shaya sidestepped the attack and drove the rim of her shield into his visored face.

She stomped down on his sword as he stumbled backwards, forcing him to leave it behind, but didn't have time to follow up with another attack. Spinning back to the lightly armoured spearman, she just managed to get her shield up. His spear punched through it. Before he could free his weapon, she twisted, pulling him off balance and stabbing him in the gut. She turned her blade and slashed it outwardly to take him out of the fight, but he clung to her leg as he fell.

Unable to move, she couldn't dodge as her remaining opponent smashed a chair over her. Shaya managed to keep her footing, thankfully, but the angel closed in on her, smashing an elbow into her head, then grabbing for her sword. The two wrestled for the weapon, Shaya at a disadvantage as he grappled with two free hands. She managed to throw the sword away from them before he could wrest it from her and proceeded to smash her shield against him until it was no more than splinters.

With both hands free, she used her greater height and strength to take control of the grapple and smash the man's head into a wall until he stopped struggling. She picked up her sword and delivered the coup de grâce to her stunned opponent, plunging the sword through his throat where the armour couldn't protect him. She watched the angel fade into aetherplasm, armour and all, as she caught her breath again and let the room stop spinning.

The pain and fatigue in her limbs made her wish she could draw upon her magic, knowing that they could offer a quick fix. The only other door from the room led down a set of stairs, which she took slowly as her head still pounded from the battle. At the bottom of the stairs, Shaya found a large room filled with more weapons than any of the other scenarios offered. The attendant gave her a nod as she stumbled towards him, but she read surprise on his face. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road.

If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Maybe I'm faster than expected?

"Your final challenge will be a gauntlet of three scenarios, but you only get to pick three weapons at this point and must use them to the finish." Shaya nodded, which made her head swim, then took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"Alright, which three weapons to go with?" Shaya looked at the weapons before her and considered which ones would let her best adapt to a series of unknown challenges. She also used those precious seconds to rest and recuperate as best she could. As the seconds ticked by, she dispelled her hesitation with a snort and grabbed a sword, a dagger, and a polehammer.

To conserve her strength, Shaya elected to open the door normally rather than kick it down and walked through, polehammer levelled to spear anything that attacked her. Three growls greeted her as she entered, followed by a conjured wolf lunging at her from the side. Shaya spun, snapping the beak of her weapon into the creature's flank and throwing it off course. Another wolf lunged at her, again from behind, and she stabbed it with the polehammer's butt-spike.

The third joined the fray before she could finish the first two off, letting them retreat and recover. In moments, she was forced onto the defensive as all three nipped at her with coordination. The door slammed shut behind her, stranding her in the small room with the three wolves. She whirled, using every end of her polehammer to ward off attacks and score glancing blows. It didn't take long for the wolves to grow desperate and escalate their strategy.

The most wounded of the three lunged at her and she swung towards it with all her might, crushing its ribs as it flew through the air. The other wolves pounced. Shaya dropped the polearm and drew her blades. The sword opened a gash on one wolf, but the animal still slammed into her leg. The other locked its jaws around her sword arm and bit down, hard. Shaya gritted her teeth against the pain and stabbed it repeatedly in the throat before it could rip through her arm.

She shook the dying wolf off her sword arm as the other bit down on her leg and pulled her to the ground. That ruined her attack, the sword glancing off its hide. It dragged her across the ground, staying away from her dagger, and she stabbed at it with the tip of her sword. Shaya felt her own rage grow to match the wolf's. With a roar of her own, she pulled her leg back as hard as she could. The wolf growled as it continued to shred her leg, but that just meant she dragged it closer with her manoeuvre.

Back within reach of her weapons. The wolf's growling cut off as her dagger and sword plunged into it. Shaya glared down at the torn padded armour on her legs, thankful that the wolf hadn't gotten hold of the leg the tiger had already shredded through. Her legs felt warm and wet, but the blood oozing from the bite marks hadn't soaked through the many layers of cloth just yet. She picked herself up, along with her equipment, and moved forward.

The next room was cavernous, offering plenty of room to manoeuvre, but Shaya's pleasure didn't last. At the centre of the room stood a horse-sized crab, mandibles rubbing together as its eyes locked onto her. It rushed her without hesitation, massive claws lifting into the air. Shaya dodged around its attacks and flinched as each slam cracked stone and each snip threatened to crush a limb. She conserved her energy, knowing that glancing blows would do nothing against its tough shell.

It grew agitated, its attacks growing wilder, and eventually she found an opening. She sidestepped a massive claw by a hand's breadth and brought her polehammer down with all her might. There was a sickening crunch as the monster's shell cracked open, exposing the tender meat within. Shaya dodged back as the creature lashed out in pain and anger. Dropping her polehammer, she once again drew her sword and dagger.

A few heartbeats of dancing around its attacks later, the creature slowed and grew defensive, keeping its massive claw back to guard its injured side. Shaya lunged in to bait out its other claw, spun around it, and whipped her dagger into one of its eyes. It grew crazed once again and Shaya waited. It only took a moment for her opportunity to arise, and she exploited it without mercy. With two hands, she shot forward and plunged her longsword into the crack she had created.

The monster crashed to the ground with an alien roar, but its thrashing didn't last as it evaporated back into the Aetherium. Shaya grabbed her gear as the creature evaporated off it, but frowned as she looked at the broken haft of her polehammer. Barely a hatchet-length handle survived. Holding onto the broken weapon, she strode through the final door. A tall man in full plate greeted her, golden, glowing eyes staring at her from behind a closed visor.

Shaya noted with a smirk that the round room was about the size of one of the Five Rings' duelling areas. That offered her some room to manoeuvre but meant the battle would still be more intimate than she'd like… especially with her polehammer broken. The angel saluted her with a longsword and settled into an aggressive stance, sword held high. Shaya, being an Amber mage, appreciated just how well a good defence enabled a good offence. She didn't appreciate how little defence her gambeson offered in comparison.

With a sigh, she drew her sword and dropped into a defensive stance. Her opponent attacked and Shaya danced once again. She parried with her sword and attacked with her hammer when she could, but the splintered haft just didn't let her get enough leverage to land solid blows against her armoured opponent. With how few openings her skilled opponent allowed, she knew it wouldn't be of much use. I can outlast him…

let the heavy armour tire him out as he comes after me, Shaya thought, breathing heavily with pain and exhaustion as her previous battles caught up to her despite the adrenaline. Maybe if I hadn't already gone through eight other scenarios; there's no way that's an option now. I need to end this with a few decisive actions, and I'm going to need to hit this guy hard with something that gives me more leverage…