Evan D. Sherden, Realization and Leap Forward (1)

[You cheeky guy, Ill tear you to pieces!]

I dont think so.

Shine flew away from the massive double-edged ax falling toward him. It was a fast, heavy, and absurdly destructive blow, but it wasnt a difficult one to avoid. Rather, it seemed too flashy. Evan could read what Shine was thinking, that if he finished too quickly, he would be struck by Evan.

Dont hold back; lets do it.

[Power? You want to receive my full power?]

Setus scoffed at Shine. In his eyes, Shine was just a kid whose body was a bit sharper than he had initially thought. What could he do with those two tiny daggers? The only things he feared were those bullets the little boy behind him used. Even the witch was a little tough, but he wasnt afraid. If he could take care of those bullets, he could sweep away his foes.

Yes, then lets see how its done.

[Hah!)

Shine moved fast, aiming to get behind his foe.

[Kh!]

Ha!

The enemy moved around carefully, aiming to subdue Shine and reduce his stamina, but slowly

Hes thinking wrong. He would have to hold on for a day to get rid of all the stamina Ive accumulated on this battlefield.

Shines skill had the ability to turn him into a berserker if he could last the battle a bit longer. The number of monsters he had now defeated with his dual daggers was easily one thousand, so not even an ogre could compete with him when it came to stamina or health. After about three minutes of the orc chief Setus and Shine fighting, Setus finally realized something was off.

[Youyou tricky little mouse!]

Whats more, Shines speed was so fast that he would lose sight of him if he werent careful. Setus knew he needed a new strategy, so he tried to provoke Shine.

[You only run away! How boring!]

Oh, bored with your men dying around you? It must be nice to be so easygoing.

[Well, these rats?!]

He tried to taunt them, but was caught by Evan instead of Shine. Setus inadvertently raised his head and looked around. It was true; in the short time that Setus had been facing Shine and looking for a gap in Evans defenses, the rest of the group had been devastating the nearby orcs.

The orcs rushing over here to rescue their chief was a good harvest.

At 1 oclock. I will take care of them. Fire Rain!

Dain, please help me here!

Im on my way!

Since Setus had been caught by Shine and was unable to lead the orcs, the damage and confusion among their ranks had increased exponentially. The corpses accumulated and became mana, then vanished. This cycle continued over and over to the point that the battlefield had grown quiet. Little traces of the orc legions death remained.

Fuck, its too late now to back down.

Setus ground his teeth. It was these humans fault. No, it was that cheeky, purple-eyed little boys bullets that drove the orc army to this.

What the hell are these? A witch that arrived from nowhere with some artifacts! He ruined the great devil runes daily feast!

Setus was angered by the shifting situation and didnt know what to do. In trying to provoke Shine, he had been the one who had gotten exposed.

Its now.

Shine wasnt such a fool that he would miss this golden opportunity. At the moment Setuss concentration was disturbed, he immediately used the power of the Shadow Cloak to activate stealth and swiftly moved behind his foe. His target was his Achilles tendon.

Orcs and humans vital parts arent very different. Devil rune or whatever wont matter!

Shine quietly activated Shadow Dagger, the king of dagger-based attack skills that manifests shadows to double the damage done by daggers for a short time. Added to it was the powerful dual swordsmanship combat skill that he had been learning.

I wont back down until Im the best in the world at this technique!

The moment the two daggers crossed, Shine kicked off the floor and rushed the orc. Setus flinched away as he felt Shine approaching, but it was too late. The two daggers powered by the shadow blades flashed out and struck him in the ankles.

fit feels like a fly!)

Dark mana rose up to block Shines attack, but it couldnt prevent the destruction entirely. The amplified power of the dagger drew a black line as it cut through the spell and the orcs Achilles tendon, drinking the black blood of this variant orc.

[Ahhhhhh!

Setuss scream rang out. Shine tried to continue his attacks momentum, but he had to evade as two fists covered in dark red tattoos flew toward him.

[How dare you! You dare damage the devil rune!]

Oh, did Shines attack just do permanent damage?

Evan mumbled as he recorded the appearance and reaction of the devil rune as Shine collided with the orc. Why was the devil rune integrated with the bodys damage? Was it due to the power of the Shadow Dagger skill? He wanted to explore more.

Shine, can you keep testing?

Sure, now Ive won.

Shine had cut off his movement so completely that Setus couldnt recover. At this point, it was already Shines victory.

[Kaahahahah, what the hell did you do?!]

From now on, Ill let you know directly!

Shine prepared to attack again, seeing that the orc chief was failing to raise the devil rune over his left ankle. At that point, some people began to intrude on the battlefield.

We came to help! Youve done so well so far, how admirablehuh?

Ah

Uh?

It was the commandos that had finally arrived after having finished their own battles. The duke looked at the orc chief Setus, who was letting out a pained scream, and looked dazed at the situation.

Thisdid you do it?

No, Shine did.

Of course, the situation wouldnt have gone so easily without him, but there was no need to say that right now. The two blades in Shines hand were glowing gloomily after soaking in the orc chiefs blood, so the duke quickly realized it was true.

You faced that bizarre variant orc alone? Not Sherden, butwhat?!

[Kruaaaagh!)

It was at that moment when the dukes sudden appearance had distracted Evan and Shine that Setus began to flee. He gave up on his left leg and jumped high into the air with the other.

[I will remember all of you guys! The day I come back, I will decorate the legions flagpole with your heads!

Ah.

Evan, Belois, and the Duke threw a bead, spell, and a spear, respectively. However, a black tattoo in a shield pattern appeared on the orcs back, blocking them all and causing an explosion.

[Be prepared!]

The explosion worked as intended, propelling Setus forward without damaging him. Evan was further interested in the devil runes ability to implement such complex magic tricks.

Yo-ma Great War 5, how hard is it?

It was far from the abilities of the general monsters in 3 and 4, a truly threatening ability that greatly strengthened existing monsters. However, it seemed that there werent many capable of possessing it, considering that only one such orc had appeared. At least, not yet. The Duchy, who should have found them and dealt with them in the 3rd and 4th games, sank with Matthews ambitions

Matthew, that guy is really someone who doesnt help this world.

By the way

Evan watched Setuss back, far enough to look just like a point in the sky, and aimed his bead. A second later, he realized he had a skill he could try.

Heaven Throw

The only throwing skill he had, Heaven Throw. It was a tremendous skill that summoned and dropped ones thrown object above the targets head. He couldnt use it in the dungeon as it was too cramped, but in such an open environmentafter completing his calculation, Evan threw the bead as hard as he could and used Heaven Throw without hesitation.

Heaven Throw!

At that moment, a subspace opened in front of his eyes to suck in the battle bead. Fortunately, the range of the skill was very wide, so it could work on opponents that were far away.

[Quaaaaah.]

A huge black hole opened in the sky, and a boulder the size of a house fell out of it. The rock that fell over Setuss headthe battle bead, which had become enormous, fell to the ground while crushing Setus and countless orcs below him.

Only

Everyone who was there looked back at Evan. It was impossible for them to not notice that Evan was the one who just launched that terrible attack.

Uh

Evan slowly turned his head, feeling the gazes focused on him.

Uh, where did that meteorite come from?

Can you explain, master?!

Evan, this isnt even funny. Its ridiculous.

The great flood ended with an unprecedented minimal amount of damage, and rumors began to spread anew of Evan and his knights.

It was rumored that Sherdens Treasure was actually an arch-mage capable of summoning meteors.