The diversion of the threat of a monologue didn’t throw the adventurer off. As Hirrus charged, the man lunged forward in turn. But instead of meeting him with an attack, the man with the glowing blue greataxe went into a diving roll, dodging under the sweep of Hirrus' axe.

He came up behind Hirrus, and with unnatural alacrity the giant greataxe slammed against Hirrus' back. The strike blasted Hirrus for six thousand seven hundred and twenty-six damage, and was shortly followed by a tick of a double strike hit for another five thousand and forty-four damage.

The force of the blow sent Hirrus staggering forward.

He was well below half health now, but there was still a chance that the adventurer’s suite of Arcana buffs might be enough to finish the job if Hirrus didn’t take him seriously.

Rather than whirl and try to counterattack, Hirrus focused on his defense. Whatever combination of Arcana was lighting the adventurer up, it wouldn’t last forever. He just had to outlast it.

Hirrus could only take three or four more hits like what he’d just eaten. He didn’t want to bet his life - and his revenge - on impatience against such a well-prepared foe.

The glowing blue greataxe came around again, slicing diagonally downwards across Hirrus' front. Rather than lashing out with his axe, Hirrus raised his own weapon to meet the oncoming strike, redirecting the attack to the side. The adventurer didn’t miss a beat, the greataxe whirling in his hands to cut across in a horizontal slice that threatened to bisect Hirrus at the waist. He was forced to leap back to avoid the strike, as his own weapon was never going to be able to move fast enough to parry this blow.

Hirrus struggled to stay ahead of the adventurer’s moves. Before Hirrus' momentum had even settled from jumping back, the adventurer surged forward, and the axe came down in a vertical slice. Hirrus stepped back with one foot as fast as he could, turning his body to let it pass in front of him. He started to lunge in for a counterattack, but the icy two-handed axe whirled before he could even accomplish that much, warding off the attack even as the adventurer’s weapon repositioned for its own strike. Hirrus' raised axe barely managed to catch and turn aside that next blow, sparing him another hit for a moment longer.

“Come on,” the adventurer snarled. “Yield to me, bitch!”

Hirrus wanted to mock the adventurer’s frustration, but the greataxe tore through the air again.

He couldn’t afford even a moment’s breath, let alone a taunt, unless he wanted to let this man rip him to shreds.

The next strike was another diagonal slash, before the adventurer lunged forward, going into a diving roll again.

He abandoned the attack as soon as Hirrus committed to parrying it. Frustrating.

The adventurer came up behind Hirrus lightning-fast, but after the first such attempt, Hirrus was able to whirl and throw himself to the right, letting the adventurer’s attack cut only empty air.

“You think you’re hot shit, but you’re just a bump in the road for me.” The adventurer grinned, a malicious thing. “You know what I’ve killed? What I’ve accomplished? What I’ve fought? You’re nothing. You’ve only accomplished as much as you have because nobody was ready for you.”

He lunged back in at Hirrus, and his axe came up from below. Hirrus barely managed to step aside from the attack that would have taken him at the hip and cut up into his chest.

But the weapon whirled around again. Hirrus couldn’t react fast enough to avoid the strike, and it caught him on the shoulder, sending Hirrus to his knees. The attack was a critical strike, and dealt ten thousand one hundred and three damage, almost a match for the enormous fire blast he’d taken earlier.

“See?” the adventurer crowed, as if that strike alone had secured his victory. “You came into this fight thinking you were the new endgame. Now you’re nothing more than another notch in my belt. A vanity title I’ll carry for a week and discard when the next holiday event lets me call myself Oskar the Turkey Lord.”

The adventurer’s premature celebration was accompanied by the slight fading of the blue underglow his Arcana had given him. The red glow still suffused his skin, but he couldn’t worry about what that meant.

Hirrus knew he needed to put the adventurer on the defensive, and fast.

He swept his axe up as he stood, cutting along the leather lamellae of the man’s armor as he went. The strike was neither a critical or a double-strike, but four thousand nine hundred and twenty-five damage still drew a gasp from the man. It sent him staggering back, and he swiped his axe out in front of himself to stop Hirrus from following up with another strike before he could recover.

The swipe was slow.

His lost Arcana had been his speed boost.

That meant Hirrus had a chance.

“You’re a fool. Not for counting your victory before it’s already come, but for thinking your abilities justify your behavior. Do you know why I’m here? Do you even care? Do you think your capacity to batter down obstacles as they appear means that you were right to do so?” Hirrus lunged at the man, sweeping his axe around in a wide horizontal arc. “I am your own ignorant violence given form. And I refuse to be battered down!”

The man’s blue ice axe came up to parry Hirrus' attack, but the obvious swing had been a feint. Instead of hitting the Turkey Lord with his axe, Hirrus punched the adventurer in the jaw. The blow only did three thousand and sixty-five damage, but the damage wasn’t the point. Oskar staggered under the surprise of the unexpected punch. He flailed his weapon to try and ward off another attack, threatening to hack into Hirrus' arms if he tried such a move again.

Instead, Hirrus activated an Arcana of his own.

Opening his mouth, a cone of flames erupted out of him, washing over the adventurer, searing him for nine thousand three hundred and thirty-nine damage, and applying the Burn effect.

The man gasped and staggered. “You won’t… You can’t…”

But he was dead before he could say anything more. The damage over time effect of the burn finished the job.

Hirrus felt a flurry of power rushing through him as the man fell. The completion of combat flooded him with new awareness.

For one thing, he was now level four.

For another, he had acquired a number of new Arcana.

Flamesplash

+2 ATT, +30 Cast Speed Rating

Damage: 1xATT + 1.5xRES

Cast Time: 1 second

Cooldown: 8 seconds

Added effect: If this attack strikes an Undead, Elemental, or Angel, reduce the cooldown by 2 seconds.

RiesenFeuer

+5 RES, +50 Crit Rating

Damage: 2.5xATT + 2.5xRES

Cast time: 3 seconds

Cooldown: 90 seconds

Added Effect: Cooldown Reduction rating is twice as effective at reducing the cooldown of this Arcana.

Phrase of Luminosity

+3 RES, +70 Attack Speed Rating

Utility

Cast time: 1 second

Cooldown: 40 seconds

Effect: Apply healing over time to one target for 30 seconds. Healing is equal to 2.5xATT + 1.5x RES. The healing over time does not stack with itself or similar effects.

Pumped Kicks

+5 SUP, +50 Attack Speed Rating

Utility

Cast time: 0.5 seconds

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Effect: Gain 30% attack speed and 20% move speed for 15 seconds. Unarmed damage becomes 0.75xBUR + 0.75xSUP for the duration of this effect.

Electric Field

+4 ATT, +32 Attack Speed Rating

Utility

Cast time: Instant

Cooldown: 100 seconds

Effect: Gain 20% attack speed and 30% move speed for 30 seconds. While this effect is active, you take damage over its duration. The damage is equal to 3xATT damage if you are wearing any metal armor and 3x RES damage if you are holding a metal weapon.

Going Ape

+10 BUR, +29 Critical Damage Rating

Utility

Cast time: 0.5 seconds

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Effect: Gain 25% bonus BUR, but lose 25% GLE for 40 seconds.

Hirrus was stunned at the power of some of these spells. The last man’s Arcana were startlingly powerful, and he was glad for his decision to take the fight slow and steady rather than risking another few hits from him.

Reaching level four gave him something else, however. Something that caused Hirrus reason to pause in alarm.

His other ability, 4d657263790d0a Transform, suddenly lit up in his mind.

It was now available for use.

Hirrus froze for a moment, waiting to see if it would activate on its own.

It didn’t.

He took a cautious breath. And then another. It seemed he would be fine. No further examination provided any new information about it. He considered that it might serve him well as a panic button, but he hoped he wouldn’t need it.

Not without knowing exactly what it did.

He couldn’t be concerned by it for now, however. There were things he still needed to do before returning to Dahlia.

Hirrus took a moment to go over some of the adventurer’s gear.

The man with the axe was apparently limited by his Electric Field ability. All his armor was made of leather, and his axe appeared to be made of enspelled ice. Despite the limitations, the gear all looked like it was carefully curated.

Unlike what he’d encountered previously, every piece without exception had BUR on it. That explained his damage output. With all things counted, the man had that one stat at a level that dwarfed even Hirrus' inflated abilities, though the rest of his statistics would be left way behind, rendering many offensive Arcana ineffective.

He gathered the armor from some of the other adventurers, and while none of it was as focused as the man with the blue axe, it was all still at item level 60.

Hirrus decided he would sort through it later. He didn’t have the time or energy to try and determine how he wanted his attributes arranged, let alone the immense variety of secondary stats available across four sets of new gear. And the gear he was currently wearing from Juri was the same quality level. It would serve just fine in the meantime.

He did consider just swapping over to the last man’s gear on the spot for now. The increase in his BUR would amplify his attacks dramatically, and using the icy greataxe - called The Inarritu Axe - would allow him to use his new Electric Field Arcana without penalty.

But he was interrupted before he could make a move on that.

“Alright, now you’ve had your fun,” a familiar voice said behind him. “But you’re done now. Time to go away.”

Hirrus whirled to find himself looking into the dark eyes of GM Dave, standing right behind him amidst the carnage of the fight.