Kapitel 21: The Protagonist's Plot Armor
There were about 70 adventurers left when they started running away from the 'battlefield', leaving only Verhund and Beatrice to face each other.
Verhund would have faked surprise at the mini drama skit that just happened before him were he not still grinning from the fight just now, Beatrice was trying to act with nonchalance.
"Get ready." The woman in front of him said, aiming the tip of her spear at his heart as she prepared to lunge. "I'll kick your ass."
Actually, she really didn't seem to mind the embarrassment.
"The spear will probably get in the way." He commented.
"No worries, I know some pole dance moves that work wonders." Was the response, her breathing suddenly steadying.
Verhund looked at the spear in her hands, feeling pity, that thing was probably feeling really awkward right now.
It was time to salvage things.
A glint flashed past his eyes, a tiny fraction of mana hooked around his right foot while dragging The Dungeon's magic power along.
With that foot, he kicked a piece of concrete beside him towards Beatrice, the magic power passing from his mana to the stone increased its durability and speed, making it a deadly projectile even for adventurers.
Of course, this was no more than a petty trinket in front of his opponent.
Beatrice swatted the flying object with ease, arcs of lightning snaking through the weapon's length.
Verhund narrowed his eyes, it seemed the other was the type to make a prolonged fight. That was very much alright, two could play that game.
Verhund stepped to the side and his figure flickered subtly before vanishing like smoke, Beatrice showed no reaction.
Suddenly, her spear was sent hurling to one side, actually hitting something.
She was somewhat surprised, however, when Verhund was barely pushed back instead of getting sent flying.
She didn't think a level 3 could have such strength.
Beatrice almost asked how the other got his cheat, though she had to keep her mouth shut during combat if she wanted the effect of her breathing to count on later.
Perhaps they could have one of those cheap moments where they stop fighting to talk about life for a moment. Then she could make sure her breathing didn't get disordered.
Back to the fight, Beatrice's hands slid closer to the tip of her spear, she brought the weapon back and stabbed forward.
The attack was parried by a careless swing, but the elemental energy stored within lashed out, leaving an almost imperceptible injury.
It was all a matter of stacking.
Although her attack was stopped, it was just the first poke of many.
Once again, her spear returned and flew forward, rinse-and-repeat.
Her every strike was blocked every time, and Verhund was injured every time. Still, he slowly approached, closing in bit by bit.
Finally, he got far too close for comfort, literally. Her handling of the spear became awkward and clunky, and it wasn't possible to control her enemy anymore.
Not that there was much success in that regard either.
The spear was supposed to have the advantage, how was this guy about to mop the floor with her while playing around with a sword? She was also supposed to have the higher level here!
Before Beatrice could get totally suppressed, she used one of her skills, Dash, backwards. It was kind of ironic, truly.
"How do you feel?" She asked, seeing Verhund's acting like nothing happened despite the harmful exchange. "I was hoping it would scratch an itch."
Verhund rolled his right shoulder, apparently accessing the damage. "Yeah, it tickles."
"Need to go at it harder, then."
Anyways, with distance regained, Beatrice refused to stick to simple attacks anymore. So, using Rolling Thunder, the mana residing inside of her body gathered at her arms and legs while changing to the attribute of lightning.
Sparking off, Beatrice flew right at Verhund, who had flickered out of the way before she even stated advancing.
The skill was not over with a single rush, however, and Beatrice turned for another try.
It was almost a repetition of the earlier bout, just that now she was the spear and he couldn't block anymore.
Very much like lightning, Beatrice came and went, while Verhund slid away like a shadow, his form seemingly morphing irregularly like smoke.
Seeing as her attempt was a waste of mana, Beatrice was forced to stop once again, hoping that her opponent was emptying his reserves faster than her.
"How are you so disgusting?' She couldn't hold herself back anymore. "I'm getting crazy envious here."
"Meh, you know, the usual. Just grind it up like you mean it."
Verhund shrugged before stepping forward once again, this time with mana wrapped around his sword.
He didn't flicker anymore, just jogged forward as the pale blue shine of energy slowly turned dark, his balance somewhat swaying from one side to another as if ready to evade an attack.
At the same time, the breathing exercise Beatrice practiced since the beginning finally bore fruits.
A small dark cloud flew out of her mouth, it released a meager amount of lightning before fading away like it never existed.
However, these clouds appeared whenever she exhaled and the energy it released gravitated around Beatrice, soundlessly distorting the air all around as if space itself was twisting.
A pity that these were all useless cool effects until the final phase of the breathing move set.
Still, now Beatrice's physical attributes were increased and she could ignore friction at will, allowing an even greater level of dinamic in the fight.
She spared a look at the flying debris surrounding them, these things weren't that useful before, but now she could work with them.
"Sliding my way to heaven~..." Murmuring a crappy song she made in the heat of the moment, Beatrice somersaulted to the side, dodging a sudden stab.
The darkness surrounding Verhund's sword seemed to expand beyond the weapon's actual reach, there was also the possibility that it could thicken, too.
As she returned to the ground, Beatrice impaled her spear in the earth, firmly blocking the cut that came after while giving her the chance to strike unarmed.
Her feet touched the ground for a mere instant before pushing off once again, her hands slid up effortlessly through the length of the spear as her body started spinning.
One of her legs stretched in a kick towards Verhund, which came too fast to dodge.
The kick sent him skidding a couple of meters back. Not nearly as much as it should have, but at least it did.
"See, told you I had some moves."
"That was actually a good hit. Are you sure you aren't in the wrong profession?"
"Who said I was only an adventurer?"
"So you actually work with that? To each their own, I guess."
"No!" She couldn't help but stomp on the ground, blowing yet another hole on the street and nearly resetting the progress on her move set. "I was trying to set up the ambience! You're totally throwing me off rhythm!"
With one hand holding onto her spear, Beatrice kicked it and spun, right before completing a 360, she used her weapon like a staff and hit a window floating above her.
The window then hurled at Verhund, who simply crouched under it before speeding forwards.
For whatever reason, Beatrice still treated her spear like a staff, she slowly spun it around her while constantly shifting stances.
The distance between them closed, and they started a game of tag.
Maintaining a distance wasn't possible anymore, though, as Verhund's constant flickering was too much of a threat to Beatrice.
The proximity between the two was astounding for a fight, with only an arm's length of space to separate them even as they ran all around the place.
Verhund started a drunken dance as he swayed here and there, whisking just one or two centimeters away from every swing, oftentimes it seemed that he would fall face first on the floor. He would often lash out with slashes of his sword at awkward angles, it was a wonder how he actually managed to put proper strength behind his moves.
Beatrice made complete use of her newly acquired mobility, swishing from one side to another while sending attacks at a constant rythmn, the other's counters were dangerous but she somehow muddled through.
Their moves flowed together in a hazardous current that more looked like a choreographed dance fight. The fact that dozens of attacks flew out in mere seconds and yet not a single one actually connected was just too strange to believe, the occasional house part sent flying only made things more bizarre.
Their flurry ended when Verhund used magic. The grin that showed no signs of getting stiff even after minutes of use was still present on his face when he formed the Aria, it released countless motes of light that flew towards the floating debris, a straight line trailing their path.
He was just next to Beatrice when these trails suddenly became taut... and then pulled.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Dozens and dozens of debris slammed in their position, creating a mini-hill while burying it in dirt and dust.
The massive cloud of dust dispersed slowly, obscuring those within.
Verhund didn't wait for things to clean, he could feel Beatrice stumbling a few meters ahead, more disoriented than actually hurt.
Beatrice's vision was clouded and her head ringing, the stone and wood didn't cause much damage thanks to her buffed attributes that allowed her to shrug off the damage and evade what she couldn't, but the countless hits she bore with took their toll through quantity, successfully rattling her insides even though she suffered mere scratches.
Her clothes were torn and she was all dirty, though her breathing was still somehow stable and releasing lightning filled clouds, she was dizzy and somewhat unresponsive.
That's why even when she realized that Verhund had disappeared, even when she caught a glimpse of his blade cutting down like a guillotine, she couldn't move.
Death seemed to approach patiently, knowing that it's looming scythe could not be avoided forever.
At least, Beatrice couldn't avoid it anymore.
...
"It's Hammer Time!"
*BOOOOM*
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
LostSoldier1
LostSoldier1 Have to say, I got quite stuck in this fight, the end of the fight was set but the path was quite foggy and curved, I made quite a few corrections and changes to the style and flow to try and do something good in this chapter, don't quite know if I did it.
Anyways, if everything goes right, next chapter we'll see what Verhund meant when he said he could make a prolonged fight! I hope it works...
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein