The light pouring from Billabong's sword didn't just glow—it materialized into a blade that was bigger. I mean, way bigger than his original claymore. It looked like a supersized, glowing-white version of Guts's sword from Berserk, radiating pure, holy menace right before our weapons were about to clash in what would undoubtedly be an epic (and likely fatal for me) showdown.
Dude, not good—don't parry that! my brain screamed, overriding every single one of my gamer instincts. I listened, because that sword was screaming "final skill" louder than a raid boss on a megaspeaker. "RAAWR!" he bellowed, and the giant light sword sped toward me, keeping up faster than before, even though it was now the size of a small car. Its sizzling whisper grew louder, a sound like a lightsaber on steroids closing in for the kill.
Force Dash now, I thought, pushing the panic button. I blasted upward, the massive blade nearly slicing me in half, missing by a hair's breadth. They say in chess your best defense is a good offense, my uncle once told me when we played, a last-minute call on my part. Here goes nothing! While I was way up high and my foe was mid-swing, Force Dash now! I commanded my skill. I zipped downwards, aiming my sword directly at his head.
Thunk! I felt the shock of his rock-hard skull reverberate through my entire body, a jarring oof. But hey, I dented his helm—progress! At the exact same instant, I felt an upward slash on my left forearm, but it wasn't his glowing sword. I saw a faint red light, like a thorn, piercing my skin. I kicked him backward, tumbling him away, and backed off, blood dripping from my forearm. "Veil of Thorns," got it, I nodded to myself—no, I nodded to my thought. You know what I mean.
Force Dash:
Charges: 0
On Cooldown: 3; 1 (4 sec); 2 (8 sec); 3 (8 sec)
Billabong staggered back a bit, clearly shaken by my audacious attempt. "Ugh," he grunted, clutching his head. "My head..."
"You alright, Billa?" SmileyX called out, a sliver of concern cracking through his manic grin. "Be careful, big man! He has lightning speed. Looks like he only has three charges and needs cooldowns." He deduced it instantly. Damn, this dude's sharp as ever—he's gonna be a formidable opponent, my gut churned, a new respect (and fear) bubbling up.
"Uwwwwaaa!" the Beholder growled, throwing its tentacles in the air in protest, like a toddler having a tantrum because its show was interrupted. The floating eyes to its right actually covered their peepers, then pointed their tentacles at me, unimpressed, as if to say, Seriously, this guy?
The little floating eye beside it to the right squiggled and clapped its tentacle downward. Is it cheering for me? Uh, thanks, I guess, I thought, weirdly flattered by the pint-sized fan.
"Why you!" Billabong roared, raising his sword and running toward me. He unleashed an arc slash, then an X-slash, then a cleave in rapid succession. Predictable, even with his boosted speed and massive blade. The loophole wasn't him shouting attacks—it was the time he needed to maneuver that oversized glowstick. Plus, I noticed he avoided hitting the ground, clearly not wanting to destroy it. Something to exploit.
He launched a barrage of combos. Attack after attack, I dodged, rolled, and leaned on my Heightened Awareness like a crutch. Its capability was beginning to sink in—every attack line, red dot, the probability was always spot-on after seeing and experiencing the enemy for a while. My mind jotted down this crucial revelation, realizing the potential of my unique skill. To SmileyX, it looked like foresight because to him, I knew what was happening, what the attacks were, their trajectories. But my skill wasn't that perfect—good thing it gave probabilities I could work with.
Then, I spotted it: his skin and armor's texture slowly reverting to normal. Opportunity! I slid across the rocky ground, evading his vertical thrust, yanked my dagger, and swung. The blade hit—no longer rock-hard, but tough leather. Stone Skin was wearing off, though it still had a little effect. I carved a cut and Force Dashed into a forward roll as he tried to swat me with his huge right hand.
Heightened Awareness:
Billabong:
Status: Poisoned (1) (Type: Cursed Poison)
Status Effect: Slow 5% (adds 1% every second, max 30%); throbbing pain at poisoned site, nausea, vomiting, and feeling sick increases every second. Infection: Untreated poison can kill character after several days.
Whoa, poison can actually kill you in this world? Wait, of course, dummy—even back home it could, but these effects were scary AF. No wonder my Troglobro Toni hated it. I eyed my dagger in a whole new light. Handle with care—you don't wanna accidentally nick yourself with this nightmare fuel.
"What're you doing, Billa!? You can do this—kill 'em already!" Smiley snapped, his cheerleading turning frantic. "Wuuuuh!" The Beholder seconded the motion, its tentacle raised like it was demanding my head on a platter.
Billabong glanced at his wound—a horizontal gash with an eerie purplish hue around it, darkened veins spiderwebbing out. "You sneaky basta~!" He barfed pixels mid-sentence, his voice gargling in disgust. Ooh, nasty poison, my mind nudged.
"What'd you do to~?" Another censored pixel-vomit, a gross, digital projectile.
"What did you do to him, you... dirty person!" Smiley demanded, his happy mask tilted in confusion. Dirty person? Me? What's with his weird word choices?
"No more playing games!" Billabong declared, wiping his mouth and looking a little green around the gills. He reached inside his pack and pulled out a metal-and-glass syringe. My General Awareness pinged:
Chamoine's Berserker's Blood: Stick it in, feel the urge to destroy everything, and then, go destroy EVERYTHING! And here's the kicker—you won't feel bad about it, none at all, 'cause you're not going to remember a thing. Amazing, right!? Then it switched to manual mode: Remove needle cover, aim, and...
"No, Billa, don't do it! Remember last time you used that!?" Shouted Smiley, his usual glee replaced by genuine alarm.
Without any hesitation, Billabong jammed the needle between his breastplate and helmet and squeezed. His hand fell, and he began to twitch. "Grahaha!" Laughter bubbled out, manic and unhinged, like a villain's debut. His eyes turned glowing red. His sword's light dispersed, reverting to the Serpent Tongue, now just a very large, very scary piece of corroded metal. He convulsed a little, the syringe still stuck, dangling there like a grotesque party favor. Smoke rippled out of his mouth.
Billabong: Enraged/Berserk.
He then swung his sword around wildly, swatting at invisible enemies. Began kicking rocks, stomping the ground, laughing—I mean, he was crazy. Then he picked up a huge boulder and hurled it towards me at amazing speed, which I cut with my sword; its pieces crashed to my back. When I looked back, he was gone. Where in the—?
My Heightened Awareness pinged the ground around me with red: Incoming aerial attack. I glanced up, and there he was, flying, just like that, his left hand gripping his sword overhead, swiftly dropping on me at amazing speed, his eyes zipping, glowing red with his descent. Laughing like a lunatic.
Too fast. I Zip dashed backwards. He crashed like a cannonball, shaking the ground. Dust spread, splashing debris from the crater he just created. Cracks emerged from the ground, spreading like roots.
From the dust fog, a loud sound erupted, and from it, the crazed Billabong propelled towards me. He dropped meters away like a gorilla with a thump, skidding, then ran, swinging his sword without a pattern, like a blender of pure chaos. My Heightened Awareness couldn't register the attack pattern, but being my handy radar, it produced a fan of red attack zones speeding up to me like a high-speed reaping machine. It warned: DO NOT TRY TO BLOCK THIS!
I tried to throw rocks in sheer desperation, but as you know, they just became rock powder. Oh man. RUUUUN! I pivoted and ran like a panicked hamster, both hands up, running for dear life while heroically screaming, "AAAAAHHHH!"
"Uwa a a a a a a," the Beholder laughed... I think, because it was rubbing its eye-belly and tapping its knee-tentacle. Yeah, it sounds dumb, but I really don't know how to describe it.
The battle became a comic cat-and-mouse chase, but the cat was a speeding hulk-blender, laughing its head off, steam rising from its mouth.
In my panic running around, I noticed that the crater he created was now a hole growing larger as he kept stomping, cracks slowly consuming the ground, leading to a dark abyss. A couple of meters away was the line of the circling floating eyes which are going to laser you in a cage like manner when you come too close. Wait, too close? Laser cage? A plan!
Even though I was at my max speed running around, skidding, pivoting, he was actually faster but I've come to realize that he was not just set out to kill me; he was enjoying chasing and toying with me, flailing it's sword with deranged glee.
Plan Commence! I ran back to the crater, now a hole about 3 meters in diameter and growing wider. Cracks on the ground kept emerging around it with his constant stomping. I jumped over the crater as far as I could and landed close to the floating eyes where they began to drop the cage of laser beams meters from me, closing rapidly. I stood up and I looked back and as expected, the Billa-beast already jumped to attack me, drawing in like a bullet train frog—get it? He's fast like a bullet train, but jumps like a frog? Forget it.
Before it could get to me, I Force Dashed to the left which he tried to follow but he can't because he still was airborne and yet to land. His attack followed my silhouette but realized he was not stepping on the ground which made him stumble and crash-roll towards the incoming laser. A sickening zap soon followed.