Chapter 54 Rage

I paid for my lack of attention with an arrow against me. It was enhanced somehow, some ability I didn’t know of, because my vision started to blur. Debuffed. I quickly glanced to the tooltip. No time to read it all, but enough to know it lasted three seconds.

Three seconds. Shit.

Ironclad closed the gap. The club was gone, and instead there was a spear in his hand. Three seconds passed, and he was on me. His spear met mine, crashing together with the force of a landslide. This time, there was no mistaking it. He backed away, and I saw something I’d never seen before in his eyes. Fear.

‘Midnight,’ he said, ‘you…you completed the Fallen Comet quest?’

Of all the things he could’ve said, this was the last thing I expected. A notification appeared, party chat. Miggy.

[I’m coming. Don’t kill him before I get there.]

[Five minutes remaining.]

‘Yeah,’ I said. I seriously didn’t know what he was talking about or why, but if he wanted to burn time discussing the quest, I was all for it. ‘So what? You must’ve as well, to get to level ten.’

He faltered. His lips pursed, but he said nothing. And I stared at him in amazement, as understanding flooded me.

‘You never completed the quest,’ I said. His lack of response was answer enough. ‘You could never do it.’

‘And now I don’t need to,’ he spat, thrusting his spear at me. ‘I’ll take Midnight from your corpse.’

So he wasn’t invincible. Here was proof. I had done something he couldn’t. My mind went into overdrive, thoughts filling it. What had he seen in the quest? What was it he had not been able to overcome. I looked at him, and with the briefest moment of hesitation, I wondered just what had this man been through.

And that moment of hesitation. Cost me everything.

He closed the gap, the opening in my defence, and even with Midnight, even with ten levels to my name, Ironclad was unstoppable. Focused once more, and I knew why. All thoughts of Kaleo were gone. To him I was just another mob. A mob that dropped loot. Realising that had galvanised him. Stoked his will.

Nothing would throw him off-balance now. I fought valiantly, harder than anyone could’ve in the Stone Epoch. My mind focused, my will and weapon one. Parry, thrust, riposte. My spear proficiency as high as it could’ve possibly been.

And still. It wasn’t enough.

I speared him twice, thrusting through. I was winning, or so I thought, until a split second, a single mistake, and he had thrust his spear through. The pain searing, the strength behind his arms, unfathomable. I screamed and closed the gap, pulling him in for a bear hug.

We locked eyes, as I began to slip from his arms. He stared at me in bemusement, as I slipped to the ground. And I remembered. Oily. My perk granted by my Vambrace of the Warrens.

Finally, this useless ability triggered. I would’ve laughed, if I wasn’t currently being crushed. Midnight was knocked from my hands and Ironclad threw down his own spear. He grabbed me, thrusting me against a tree with such force I heard it crack.

‘You really thought you could fight me?’ He slammed me against the tree, my hit points falling. ‘You thought you could face the greatest warrior that ever lived in the Stone Epoch?’ Slam. ‘You really thought you had a chance? Against me?’ Slam. Slam. Slam.

He let go, and I slipped to the ground. I could barely move, couldn’t even defend myself as he kicked me hard in the face. My mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood. My eye was bruised. I could hardly see.

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The red began to pulse. My hit points were below a hundred now. I was breathing hard, but Ironclad wasn’t finished. He gripped me in one hand. He wanted an answer. He wanted it to hurt.

‘You could never defeat me,’ he whispered. And I knew, these words were not for me. ‘You should’ve believed in me. I did everything for you, and you cast me aside.’

‘I know,’ I croaked. His eyes narrowed.

‘What?’

‘I know…I could…never beat you. But…’