Using the moment of the explosion to propel himself forwards, Alexander dashed toward the chained skeleton.

His charred exposed buttocks clenched tight as he dodged a hail of Shadow Lances and Fire Orbs.

Dirt, rocks and debris rained down on him.

However, as Alexander arrived closer to Anlaf, it changed its pattern.

Its boney hands formed an O at its mouth. The skeleton showed an inhale motion before breathing out a stream of fire.

The blazing fire shot out like a flamethrower towards the charging Alexander. Already prepared for the worst, he evaded left. However, the skeleton controlled the stream to shadow his path.

Without mobility spells, Alexander doubted that he could outrun the stream. Quickly thinking on his feet, Alexander took out his Shortsword and hurled it towards the skeleton, aiming for its head. He hoped that it would disrupt the channelling.

Surprisingly his idea worked. As the Shortsword sliced through the air towards the creature’s head, Anlaf stopped its spell. Using that golden opportunity, Alexander dashed as fast as he could towards it.

However, as if his brother had designed his creature to toy with him, as the Shortsword was about to hit Anlaf, it turned into a shadow and scurried away, reappearing a dozen metres away.

Alexander arrived at its previous spot empty-handed. As he picked up his Shortsword, he stared at the skeleton a dozen metres away and sighed, signalling a new cat and mouse chase between the two of them.

_ _ _

_ _ _

[Name]: Anlaf the Defiant

[Level]: 2?(???)

[Stats]: 17(??) Strength, 19.9(??) Agility, 0(??) Charm, 16.3(??) Endurance, 17(??) Intelligence, 2?(??) Mana, 2(??) Mental

[Traits]: March of the Eternal Legion, ???, ???, …

[Affinity]: Death, Fire, Shadow

[Attainment]: Umbramancy, Pyromancy, ???, …

_ _ _

“Fuck! Fuck!” Alexander complained whilst chasing the slippery skeleton.

However, fortune favours the bold, and as the timer ticked 2:10, the chained halo on his head dissipated. Freed from his earthbound prison, Alexander’s felt that his body lightened up.

However, even with his new speed, Alexander knew he couldn’t keep this chase up forever. It’s [Stats] will eventually out scale him. Plus, he highly doubted he could catch the creature via conventional means.

Alexander needed a new strategy. Firstly, he needed to test its line of sight. Without the chained halo giving it true sight, it could be as blind as the headless skeleton.

***

The chase resumed once more. As Anlaf zoned Alexander with its Fire Stream, he responded by throwing his Shortsword at it.

However, unlike before, Alexander dashed towards one of the nearby craters created by their battle and dived in.

Losing sight of Alexander, Anlaf stopped halfway through its Shadow Escape. It turned back to where his sword was to look for him.

Seeing that his plan was effective, Alexander concluded that, like normal AI, the creature would stop fighting once they lost sight of him. He waited patiently inside the crater for the skeleton to return.

***

*YNAHHH*

Its howling shriek echoed the battlefield. Yet, Alexander was nowhere in sight.

Lost, it slowly strayed toward Alexander’s Shortsword.

Smirked, Alexander dashed out from the crater. Aiming his weapons toward its joints, he intended to disable it.

He slammed his sword into its vertebrae, staggering it downwards. With a precise upwards swing, Alexander cracked its shoulder joint.

As Alexander was about to use his downwards swing momentum to finish off the skeleton’s

shoulder, it shrieked and turned its arm 180 degrees around to smack Alexander away.

The force cracked some of his ribs and propelled him a dozen metres away. Alexander punctured the ground with his sword to stabilise his landing as crimson blood trickled from his nose and mouth.

To his horror, as he looked up whilst wiping the blood off his face, a Shadow Lance was already headed towards his head.

Alexander tried his best to stabilise the new battle rhythm. Anlaf, on the other hand, turned its body towards him and glared without caring about its semi-broken arm.

*YNAHHH*

Knowing that the situation was deteriorating rapidly, Alexander escaped.

Through Anlaf’s hail of attacks, the tar-like string caught up and formed another chained halo.

‘At least I got some damage in!’ Alexander comforted himself.

As the distance widened, Alexander glanced back at the creature.

Dismay overcame him as he scanned it. The skeleton was perfectly normal.

_ _ _

[Name]: Anlaf the Defiant

[Level]: 2?(???)

[Stats]: 17(??) Strength, 19.9(??) Agility, 0(??) Charm, 16.3(??) Endurance, 17(??) Intelligence, 2?(??) Mana, 2(??) Mental

[Traits]: March of the Eternal Legion, Regeneration, ???, …

[Affinity]: Death, Fire, Shadow

[Attainment]: Umbramancy, Pyromancy, ???, …

_ _ _

‘Of course, it has regeneration! Why don’t you give it immortality too, brother!’ Alexander complained whilst dodging another barrage of attacks.

He spat out some blood, ‘At least I managed to reduce the time, right?’ Alexander tried thinking about something positive.

_ _ _

_ _ _

‘Fuck! Did the quest lie? Or was it not about hitting the skeleton!?’

Regardless, Alexander needed to quickly strategise a new plan. His previous plan of ambushing the skeleton worked, but it required more refining.

‘I need to buy more time whilst chained helo is not active!’

As a stray Fire Orbs ignited around him, Alexander was no different from trekking across the battlefield naked. Thanks to the increasing intensity of the attacks, the onesie was barely keeping with the auto-repair.

Like when Prometheus brought fire to mankind, the fire ignited Alexander’s lightbulb.

“Eureka! I got it!”

‘But first, I need to survive the next 2 minutes,’ Alexander smiled.

***

Whilst the charred unicorn was fighting the evil skeleton. Someone was watching their fights.

“Hahaha!”

“This is so good.”

“I can’t believe I tricked that idiot into wearing it whilst fighting!”

“Hahaha!”

“Let me save this for Ellie!”

Of course, it was Chibi Cillian enjoying himself.

“Let me see if I could find anything worse for him!”

He snapped his finger, and a stadium-size clothing area appeared.