thud

The sound of a body hitting the floor resounds throughout the plains.

"This is getting... slightly difficult."

The beginning stages weren't very difficult to beat, but as the stages carried on they got harder and harder. In stage 1 there were 3 green creatures I had to kill, and in stage 2 I had to kill 6. They were rather easy to defeat because there was no intelligence behind their attacks, only a sort of... madness. Anyone that had any sort of martial art training or even just a calm mind would be able to beat them rather easily.  In stages 3 and 4 there was a variation in the enemies that I had to fight, with there being ranged creatures with slingshots. The slingshots weren't dangerous by themselves, but that combined with the melee creatures made it VERY difficult to not sustain any injuries. There was a long gash on my left arm that was left by the last melee creature that I killed, hindering my movement. All I could do was rip off a part of my shirt and tie it around the gash, hoping that it doesn't get infected.

The logical thing for me to do would be to stop right here and just claim my reward rn, but when I think of pressing option 1 lexis face flashes in my mind.

Phewwww

"No pain, no gain I guess. Fuck it."

Selecting option 2, a new screen pops up in front of me.

Named goblin? Without giving me a chance to think about what that means, my enemy appears before me. Similar to its predecessors, it was a short green creature but the similarities end there. It was wearing a black cloak that draped over its small body as if trying to appear harmless. The 2 daggers it wielded suggested otherwise as it held them with what seemed to be a practiced grip. The main difference that appeared to me was its eyes. Instead of that spark of madness I was used to, its eyes radiated a cold feeling along with a sense of craftiness. As we stood there staring each other down, we both start to pace around in a circle searching for an opening.

"Neveratikyu Manjaluty?"

The goblin started to speak in some language causing me to pause, allowing it to take the initiative. he launched forward at surprising speed. Retaining my cool judgment even though caught off guard, I step back as one dagger misses my neck and parry the other dagger that was aiming toward my stomach. Not fazed in the slightest, Khalzar lays down a relentless storm of attacks aimed at my vitals pushing me toward the defensive. Even though I had the reach advantage, Khalzar was skilled in dual-wielding preventing me from taking advantage of it while also keeping me from breaking away from it. After a slightly slow parry on my part, one of the daggers manages to nick me in the stomach causing me to stumble backward. While stumbling backward I kick at Khalzars legs to prevent it from taking advantage of me and allowing myself a slight breather as it backs up slightly.

"Hontunedi cantishini, hooman"

After speaking another sentence that I couldn't make out, Khalzar spits to the side and a bit of anger appears in his eyes. Even though there was no visual change in him, a sense of danger entered my mind.

RIGHT

I jump forward in response as my instincts kick in. It was a good thing I did too, as Khalzar moved so quickly that he may have even teleported as he swung both his daggers toward the side of my neck. While tumbling forward I manage to produce a wide swing at his torso which surprisingly caught him off guard and made him take a few steps back. While gathering my bearings, I keep my eyes trained on Khalzar who spotted a light wound across his torso. The rationale in his eyes was starting to disappear, replaced with intense anger as his gaze burned into my own. This time he attacked me at the regular speed he was using earlier instead of the insane burst that he just used. As we continued to cross blades my body fell into a rhythm as I parried and slashed at my enemy, as wounds continued to build upon both of our bodies a sense that something was wrong started to fill my mind as I held my sword.

"You are holding the sword. You are swinging it, and slashing with it but you are not wielding it."

A voice erupts in my head as the enemy in front of me is replaced by a single man. At first glance, the man seemed like nothing special, as he wore shabby clothes and was holding a wooden sword but as I looked closer an unexplainable sense of fear filled my body. This was different than the time with Lexi, the man wasn't directing any killing intent toward me but his very presence seemed to be akin to a sword.

"Watch. This is how you wield a sword." 

As he turned around I realized we were not alone in the world as on the other side of the man was a veritable army of monsters. For as far as my eyes can see, there was a sea of monsters getting ready to attack the man in front of me. Hell, it even looked like there were some dragons in the army. Every single one of those monsters seemed to emit an aura of peerless strength but oddly enough I felt less danger from them in comparison to the man in front of me by a lot. 

"The first step of wielding a sword is to destroy all that stands in your path, for a sword must be unyielding."

As he walked forward he held up the inconspicuous wooden sword and looked up toward the enemies in front of him.

"Slash"

After saying one word he lightly swung the sword in front of him at the army and for a split second it seemed that nothing happened... but then it hit.

BOOM

The pressure from the strike forced me to close my eyes, and when I reopened them I was met with a scary scene. Annihilated. He annihilated the entire army with one slash. The only thing left from his slash was a large sword imprint on the land that seemed to hold endless mysteries. The man never turned back, but there was a moment of silence before I felt myself being pulled back from the vision. Before I was entirely pulled back, I bowed in thanks and right at the last moment I could've sworn I heard the man sigh...

Even though it felt like a few minutes had passed, not even a second had passed in my fight with Khalzar, but as we continued to fight the feeling that something was wrong started to go away as my sword got faster and stronger. I didn't get physically stronger but the feeling that the sword had in my hand was different. Before this fight, I knew the basics of the sword and how to use it but I never really delved any deeper than that. After seeing the swordmaster I realized my sword didn't hold the conviction to destroy everything in my path. After a few more bouts, Khalzar seemed to be on his last legs. He started attacking more frenziedly but that only served to quicken his impending doom. As he finally made a mistake by making too open of a stab, and before he can escape I make a clean slash across his neck decapitating him, finally ending this fight. A series of notifications blared into existence in front of me, but before looking at them I close my eyes and think on that slash that the swordsman used.

"I wonder if I could do that too..."

A sense of longing fills my voice as a desire to grow stronger fills my body.