It took an entire day of silent power walking through the snowy forest to get to the location he wanted. Ryan had taken detours and doubled back to check if any demon scouts had been following them but found nothing. It seemed like General Grivkas was as good as his word.

  They arrived at the Trial entrance where Ryan had first come from. The demonic General looked in awe at the standing arch of stones amongst the low lying rubble.

  “This is… a gateway?”

  Grivkas marveled at the faded carvings on the stone gateway. It seemed as if the trees refused to encroach upon the clearing.

  “Fitting place, don’t you think?”

  Ryan rolled his shoulders, a habit more than a necessity at his realm. The General took out a one handed sword that might as well have been the size of a longsword for Ryan. His other hand gripped around a large circular shield.

  Ryan tried to make some casual conversation before their deathmatch.

  “So, you should already know my abilities, why don’t you tell me yours?”

  Even if he did know about Grivkas, the skills weren’t always the same. The General could and would learn skills since the events of Ryan’s first Trial.

  General Grivkas laughed, he stood like a giant looking down at him.

  But not underestimating him.

  “My King has ordered me to kill you even if it means I have to be dishonorable. I will not tell you my abilities, you may figure them out in battle.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Ryan took out Avale’s shield in his left, the General’s eyes locking onto it. Soulsword in his right. The two fighters mirrored each other, ready, tense.

  He dashed forward.

  Ryan kept low to the ground, his shield angled slightly upwards. The General moved his shield forward to collide their shields.

  [Instant Dodge]

  Ryan’s body flung diagonally to the General’s shield arm side. The sudden movement gave a clear opening to the outstretched arm wielding the shield. Ryan sliced upwards. Grivkas twitched his wrist and tucked his arm away from him. The angle should have been horrible on the wrists of anyone blocking.

  But a General was no realm three [Warrior]. His strength made Ryan’s effort useless. A poor attempt… if that was the end.

  Ryan lifted his own shield at close melee, his lower angle meaning the large shield blocked most of the view of his body from the General.

  [Unrelenting Aura of Intimidation]

  Under the cover of his shield, he threw his soulbound sword at the foot of General Grivkas. His enchanted blade pierced right through the armored boot of like it wasn’t even there.

  The General’s sword came at him from the right, heedless of its owner’s injury. Ryan didn’t dare to lean back in case the demon used some sort of [Cleave] skill halfway through the swing.

  Instead he angled his shield so that the strike would be parried. Ryan pulled out a throwing knife ready to–

  [Power Blow]

  The General put the full weight of his body and skill into the strike. Putting all his weight on to foot with the soulbound sword sticking out. The General’s sword hit Ryan’s shield at a perfect right angle from the ground.

  The simple skill with the force of an upgraded [Warrior] sent Ryan flying away. He managed to stop his momentum with a twist in the air and a skid with his feet and arms. His whole shield arm had gone numb as he tried to figure out if anything was broken.

  “Okay, blocking was stupid.”

  The General pulled the soulsword out of his leg, the demon barely winced. Then nodded at Ryan approvingly.

  “That was well done, you have more skill than expected.”

  “Thanks, first point to me then.”

  “Indeed,” Grivkas nodded, “though you have given up a nice enchanted blade for it.”

  That confirmed it, the General was barely getting affected by his Epic at all. The demon had moved and made the correct decisions without flinching. It wasn’t that he expected his Epic to go unchallenged, but this was supposed to be the third Trial. Finding someone that could resist a level two epic was completely batshit.

  Ryan hooked the shield on his back and took out the emergency sword in his right and held a throwing knife in his left.

  The General frowned, wondering what Ryan’s plan was.

  “Neither of those will pierce my armor.”

  “Not if I go for your stupid face.”

  Ryan sprinted forward again. Keep the momentum and save the recall ability on his soulsword for a crucial moment.

  For now he’d push his advantage and see how long the General could fight on his wounded foot.

  Up close again Ryan tried his oldest trick, a false throw. The General didn’t even deign to react so Ryan threw it for real. Grivkas didn’t raise his shield but swayed to the side at the minimum to have the knife glance off his helmet.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  The General connected the movement with a swing with his blade. The telltale glow of a skill being activated as the extended reach cut through the air.

  [Cleave].

  Ryan threw himself backwards, barely dodging the extended reach by mere inches. The General’s [Cleave] skill was, funnily enough, about the same range as Zedart’s.

  Ryan threw another knife while running forward. Grivkas had leaned towards his uninjured right leg and had used that force to swing, it left a clear opening for Ryan to exploit as the skill carried the General’s blow.

  Again, Grivkas dodged the knife with the smallest movement. He raised his shield to block Ryan’s stab. Ryan didn’t dare to move backwards, he stuck close to Grivkas’ left side watching closely for any–the sword that had smashed into the ground came swinging back up in a diagonal upward slice.

  General Grivkas stomped on his bleeding foot like the injury didn’t exist.

  Ryan twisted and curled into a ball as the sword slammed into the shield on his back. He went flying towards the Trial portal.

  Even without a [Power Blow] the General’s swing was like getting hit by a truck. No, it was definitely worse. The hard handles on his shield dug into Ryan’s back as he spun in the air and stopped his momentum with a hand on the ground.

  Ryan could feel himself smiling. It was probably madness but he knew he could do it. The General’s foot basically poured blood as -

  Red droplets of precious potion dripped from behind the General’s shield. Ryan hadn’t seen it from his angle but the demon had been uncorking a bottle and was pouring a healing potion on the wound.

  “Wait, that’s cheating.”

  “You have two potions of your own, elf.”

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t going to use them mid fight.”

  General Grivkas laughed at the obvious lie.

  “We never set the rules of the duel, feel free to use a potion when you need to.”

  Ryan’s eye twitched. It was far more likely that if Ryan got hit once he’d be dead. Grivkas cracked his neck, loosening up. He put his sword over his shoulder in a more comfortable resting position.

  “I can tell you are young for an elf. So much talent and potential, what are you after?”

  Ryan laughed, he laughed without a care in the world.

  “None of this is talent, you just don’t have the Trial System.”

  He laughed again, a darker laugh this time as he reactivated his Epic in full. It wasn’t to scare the General, it was to give himself some more confidence. No backing out now.

  “You reminded me of a truly talented [Warrior] I killed. Now I know I’m going to win.”

  …

  It was a game of moments. They took turns in trying to find an opening with each other. The General’s foot started bleeding again, though Ryan didn’t dare take that as a sign he couldn’t put his full weight on it. That was Ryan’s biggest advantage.

  The people in the Trials didn’t tend to have access to decent healing potions. Even after decades of research and even a few [Alchemist] classes. The Realm had managed to barely make moderate healing potions themselves. It was likely that both of Ryan’s minor healing potions were better than what the General had used on his foot.

  And minor potions needed time to heal properly, time that Ryan refused to give.

  A [Quick Stab] flew forward and into the round shield as Ryan began to really get a feel for the next skill in the series.

  He could activate [Double Stab] in the middle of a [Quick Stab] to increase the force, not that he did. The other part of having a skill was that he could activate the skill and focus on something else for a second.

  Like watching the [Cleave] coming at his torso. Ryan ducked hard as the swing went wide. Ryan tried to slice up, his sword just clashing harmlessly against the General’s metallic gauntlets.

  Ryan backed off as the General shuffled in place, shield trying to knock him back.

  If he had then he would have taken that sword arm completely. It was still another advantage he was building up over time. Let the General drop his guard against his strikes then go for a crucial hit with a swap.

  If it was a classed up Zedart then he’d never have let Ryan do such a move. Actually, if it was a classed up Zedart, Ryan would have run for the hills.

  He couldn’t help but compare the two together. The moment Grivkas had mentioned talent it brought back the conversation with Zedart at the Guild.

  It brought back memories of his own past.

  It was odd, the longer the fight went, the easier it became. The question started to rear its ugly head again. A question that everyone would ask themselves in something they were passionate in. A pointless useless question.

  He threw the thought away. It didn’t matter, the next time the General threw another badly timed [Cleave] he’d cut through the arm with trickery, not talent.

  That was what he was good at.

  –

  Ten more minutes went by as the General refused to throw another skill, or he was waning. Blood pooled at Grivkas’ feet as it made the ground slipperier.

  Ryan grinned.

  “Stop turtling, show me more of that ugly face.”

  The truth was he was getting a little annoyed. What asshole turtled against someone three realms weaker than they were?

  “I am simply fighting as I must. I fear that if I wound you lightly, you’d simply run off.”

  That was… true.

  “Man, you really think I’m someone that will run from a duel like this?”

  The General chuckled darkly, something wrong in his tone.

  “I simply cannot risk it, and you are improving too fast. My King has ordered your death by any means necessary.”

  Something in the back of his spine tingled, it wasn’t [Lesser Dangersense] but just his own instincts as a plotter. Ryan stepped back but then looked away from the General to look at the trees behind them.

  They’d been fighting for fifteen minutes? Twenty?

  Enough time for someone from the demon army to catch up? Surely not.

  General Grivkas sighed.

  “You know, I expected you to take a break periodically to continually scout the area ahead. The fault of being so prodigious is that you can lose yourself to epiphanies in mid combat. If I had known you were so green I wouldn’t have taken this deal. I’d have just killed you from the very start.”

  . Ryan saw the shapes as they made themselves known, lightweight scouts. Not demons but humans.

  Ryan was flabbergasted.

  “You made a deal with the humans?”

  This kind of development was rare, even in the Fifth Trial. At least there’d be some warning, some clever hint given by one of the Kings.

  This was fucked. For perhaps the first time, Ryan’s condensed knowledge on the Trials had completely backfired. Grivkas was known to be honorable, he knew Demon King Arctus was a more frontline combative King. The reason he’d double backed was just good practice. The truth was he hadn’t expected the scheming at all

  The entire clearing was surrounded by human scouts. The demonic General nodded.

  “My King said to try to kill you by any means I could. Even if it meant being dishonorable.”

  A different voice called out from the treeline.

  “Well said.”

  The speaker revealed himself, opposite to the side where Ryan was. A figure in white robes appeared like he was a mini Witch Tyrant. Hands behind his back and his head held in the air.

  A human [Mage], probably a [Strategist].

  That could be the only explanation why his [Dangersense] hadn’t gone off. A superior class could suffuse his troops with his own presence. Warding off an alert skill.

  Ryan eyed General Grivkas.

  “Are you really going to trust your back to them?”

  “It seems you misunderstand the situation.”

  The General put his sword on his shoulder, he looked at Ryan with an impassive look. Of raw determination in his face, this was the reason why his Epic hadn’t worked on him.

  “I don’t expect to make it out of here alive.”

  This time General Grivkas charged.

  Note!

  Now's when the [BEGONE CLIFF] skill becomes important, cause we have some good moments coming up. Hopefully the cliff ends on a Friday and gets Guy_from_mars to use the skill... cause Roer121 is a patron and they've been pretty patient so far.