In a place where a lot of buildings could be seen, there was a lone young man walking.
He was holding a sword in his hand with his eyes scanning the place that was excluding the aura of death itself.
The place he was walking in was once a city that was filled with life.
There were people walking on the streets, children smiling, women chatting with each other, and men trying to sell the things they had produced.
/SWOOSH/
But now, the only thing that can be seen here is the term we call devastation.
/TOK/ /TOK/
And in the midst of this feeling of catastrophe, Callius suddenly stopped moving to face a man with a knight's armor over his body.
<Monster in the vicinity detected.>
<Trait [Witcher] is activated.>
From the message he heard in his mind, the said was nothing but a monster anymore.
With his shield and a sword on his head, the knight stopped moving.
'Misbegotten Knight.'
Remember the type of enemy I have seen in the game? I observed him from head to toe.
An armor inspired by the Knights….
But a symbol of the skull in the midst of it was nothing but chivalric.
It is a type of enemy that looks like a knight but fights nothing like a knight.
/SWOOSH/
And before I could even think anything else, the armored man disappeared from the place he was standing.
/SWING/
And appeared beside me with a horizontal swing of his sword.
'He is fast. But I am faster.'
/SWOOSH/
With a smooth step to the side, I evaded the attack in the last second.
/STAB/ /THUD/
And then stabbed the knight where his armor was not protecting, following it with a kick, making it stagger.
'Now a bomb is coming.'
/BOOM/
Just as Callius thought that suddenly an explosion occurred, making the environment smoky.
/SCHLINK/
But having already anticipated that, Callius was standing over the smoke with his hands holding the scabbard of his sword.
'Annihilation Sword. Defiant Dance.'
With a fast move, I dashed into the smoke again.
/SWOOSH/ /STAB/
Attacking the knight on its neck.
/SWOOSH/ /STAB/
And then forcefully twisting my body to side, I dashed again, this time attacking him from his back.
/SWOOSH/ /STAB/
Again.
/SWOOSH/ /STAB/
And again.
/THUD/
After that, a knight suddenly dropped to the ground with a huge sound.
/FLINCH/
'Something is coming.'
But before I could stop for a second, my senses got alerted.
Thinking that, I grabbed my sword and got into a defensive stance.
'It had been a while since my [All Seeing Eye] failed to spot the enemy. It should be strong.'
Because with the amount of time I used my art, it had already reached the point where I could see the stats of most people without alerting them unless they had a skill that was related to scanning.
However, my [All Seeing Eye] is not the only thing that would let me spot the enemy.
'My perception stat is not just there for the show.'
With that thought, I focused only on the environment.
"Hiss…."
While releasing a frost breath to cool my head.
/SCHLINK/ /SWOOSH/
With my sword raised, I tried to block the strike coming from my right side.
Only to cut the empty air.
"Huh?"
/THUD/ /CRASH/
"Kurgh-"
And before I could say anything, I got blasted off by the strike of a person crashing to the wall behind me.
'What was that?'
Before I could think about anything, my senses got alert again, making me tense.
/SWOOSH/
With a fast and precise stab, I tried to attack the place my senses were telling me.
Only to cut the empty air again.
/SLASH/ /CUT/
"Argh-"
And not long after, another attack came, this time aiming toward my chest, making a deep wound.
/THROB/ /THROB/
Before I could move any second further, my head started throbbing.
'Poison?'
"Hisss….."
Feeling my senses getting null, I immediately started freezing my body inside, slowing my heartbeat and blood circulation down.
'Here!'
/SWOOSH/
Feeling another attack coming from my back, I forcefully turned my body back, enduring the pain.
Only to cut the empty air again.
/SLASH/ /CUT/
"Kurgh—Cough…."
Coughing a mouthful of blood, I got attacked again, this time my chest being stabbed.
'What is this? This can't be poison. Something is wrong here.'
"Grrr….."
Forcefully raising my aura, I imbued my feet with it and dashed backward, increasing the distance.
/GULP/
And from that moment of escape, I gulped a potion trying to heal my wounds.
'I don't remember being attacked like that. Why am I feeling like someone is attacking me from the side.'
I thought, trying to understand what was happening.
At that moment, my body got alert again.
"!"
'Right! No, a feint!'
Thinking that it was faint, I tried to block the strike coming from my left side, ignoring what my senses were telling me.
/SWOOSH/
Only to cut the empty air again.
'NO!'
'Annihilation Sword. Void Steps, Final Stage.'
/SWOOSH/
Immediately concluding that, I couldn't afford to be attacked anymore, I dashed backward forcefully, twisting my body, and injuring myself in the process.
"Grr….. Hufff… Hufff..."
'This is not good, I don't understand what is happening.'
'All Seeing Eye.'
Looking at the changes in the environment, I couldn't see anything different.
The same torrents of mana, same vortexes appearing around messing with the environmental mana around.
Nothing has changed.
'What am I missing?'
At that moment, my brain went overdrive, with my eyes processing every bit of information that happened in the last seconds.
'My senses got alerted for a second, signaling an attack coming from my right side, but it was actually from my front. And then, another attack came, this time signaling my back. It is definitely not minded magic since I can't sense any mana being used around. Then, is it some sort of curse of a demon? No, that can't be true. I would have been alerted if that happened; there is no way I would miss something like that.'
'Then, what is the thing I am missing?'
'Mana…. Curse…. Divinity…. Poison….. Aura….. None of those can be the reas-'
'Huh? Aura?'
It was at that moment that the realization hit me.
'Now I understand.'
It was the turning point of the fight…..
