The Rising of the Scythe Hero

"What… the hell is that?" I muttered in shock, staring at the zombie.

And how the hell is he that strong? Wasn't the ogre supposed to be the boss? I mean, I followed all the rules: took down the guards, slaughtered a bunch of small fry, then showed up to face the boss. Textbook. And now it turns out there's some hidden boss after all?

It's all so much like a game… yet at the same time, so damn annoyingly unlike one.

"Night, take care of the small ones. Kill as many as you can, as fast as you can, but don't risk your life. You're way more important to me than they are."

"…Understood." She nodded and shot off toward the center of the village. Good.

"So… what do I do with you?"

[Plagued Undead]

A nameplate popped into my head. I usually didn't pay much attention to those, but every monster had a name. Though most of the time it was boring as hell, like "Necro-Wolf."

But this guy was different. His name wasn't that plain. Come to think of it, after absorbing the ogre I got the "Necro-Ogre Scythe"… so was this guy just another stat-filler?

The Undead, for now, just stood there, staring blankly into space. But the moment I stepped forward…

Crack.

His head snapped toward me so fast and suddenly I clearly heard the bones in his neck crack. And those empty, lifeless eyes of his…

When the hell did this turn into a horror movie?

The Undead slooowly tilted his head to the side. Stared at me for a few seconds. Then just as slowly, began crouching toward the ground – like a beast preparing to pounce.

I shifted my scythe into combat form. This wasn't going to be easy. The only thing that could really help me right now… was Withering. But could I even land enough hits to weaken him from "Impossible" to at least "Insane"?

Enough. No more useless thoughts.

Even when I fought the ogre, I wasn't this focused. Now, there was only one thing in front of me. Everything else faded away.

The Undead lunged. His speed was just shy of "blurring out of sight." I could still track his movements, but reacting was… tough. And in that instant, I finally understood what I'd been lacking to advance my Scythe Mastery.

I had no real experience fighting humans.

People, as weird as it sounds, have completely different body structure, completely different attack patterns. All this time, I'd mostly fought monsters moving on all fours. Only occasionally, very rarely, did I come across upright ones. Nowhere near enough to build real experience or understanding.

Not to mention that in actual human fights, I'd barely had any. The city guards during the first Wave? Motoyasu? Let's be real – those weren't fights. That was more like playing around than real combat.

And now, I felt it in full force.

The Undead unleashed lightning-fast strikes with his hands, the nails on them crooked, cracked, and sharp as hell. Their uneven shape made them – pun intended – a real pain. Sometimes, instead of scratching, they tore jagged wounds. Luckily, for now, they were nothing more than an annoying discomfort.

At least Elhart's custom armor came in handy. With reinforced inserts along the forearms, I could block attacks not just with my scythe, but with my arms too. Otherwise, those wounds would've gone way past "annoying."

I wasn't even going to try for serious damage yet. His flesh clearly wasn't as tough as the ogre's, but his speed made proper swings almost impossible. So I leaned heavily on the Reaper's Scythe passive.

"Illusionary Double."

Blocking another strike, I split into two copies, dodging right and left, confusing the monster for a brief moment.

"Phantom Slash."

My double and I launched twin crescent blades at him, then darted diagonally toward him.

Predictably, the enemy dodged with a quick leap back. Just what I was waiting for. In perfect sync, we unleashed another skill.

"Phantom Grip."

Illusion-based skills don't do real damage – but the enemy doesn't know that, right?

Phantom Grip normally leaves enough gaps in the blade-cage for a fast enemy like this to slip through. But with a double? I could layer the skills, increasing the blade count – and density.

The enemy might look human, but his instincts were pure monster. So he didn't hesitate – he jumped to avoid the attack.

And that was exactly what I wanted. I leapt into the air a moment before him, spinning like a damn top mid-flight. God, I hope no one's watching this…

[Special effect activated: Withering

Enemy stats reduced by 2%]

[Special effect activated: Withering

Enemy stats reduced by 2%]

[Special effect activated…]

Six hits. That's how many times I managed to graze him. Good thing the Reaper's Scythe is sharpened on both edges. Makes sense, given its passive.

Regular scythes only had the inside edge sharpened, while the outside was dull.

So now the Undead's stats were down 12%. The real question – how much weaker would that make him in practice? I probably wouldn't get another chance to pull the same trick twice…

The Undead stared blankly at the fading illusion of my double, then looked down at himself, seemed to listen to something… and then, unless I imagined it, he even slightly frowned… before launching another attack.

Getting ready to block it with my armor, I noticed that the monster had indeed gotten a little slower. Still fast, but now keeping up with him was much easier.

But apparently, I'd left myself too open. After I blocked the attack, the Undead grabbed my extended arm and, with monstrous strength, hurled me backwards.

Crashing through a not-too-thick but still solid stone wall of one of the houses, I groaned, trying to get up. And he's doing this while weakened by one-tenth? What the hell is this creature?

My whole body ached unpleasantly, but it didn't affect my combat ability.

Good thing I sent Night away. Her debuffs might've helped, but she could've gotten killed applying them. That thing's too fast for her. I wouldn't be able to protect her—and I might've gotten myself killed trying.

The creature, still staring at me with those empty eyes, suddenly crouched slightly and charged at me like he was planning to just bulldoze right through. I braced my scythe for the impact, but… it never came.

Defying all laws of physics, the monster came to an abrupt halt and…

"Kie-e-e-eh!!!" he howled so violently, he tore his own mouth open.

"Ghh!"

I reflexively grabbed my ears. The screech was so loud it felt like my eardrums would burst. My head buzzed, and my vision blurred and doubled.

While I was disoriented, the monster dashed at me again, swinging his clawed hand and smacking me hard, sending me flying once more. This time I smashed through the side wall of the house…

"Damn it…" I barely managed to stand back up…

And almost collapsed again.

A deep, though not fatal, gash ran across my chest, pouring blood like a faucet. My vision darkened for a moment.

On what little strength I had left, I activated Camouflage. Not sure it'd help, but I pinned my hopes on the skill being level six and the dust still hanging in the air from the broken wall. With any luck, the monster would lose track of me for a while.

Hiding in one of the rooms, I pulled out a healing potion and poured it down my throat. Then poured another one straight onto the wound. I felt a little better, but the effect wasn't instant. Full recovery would take time. Time I hoped I'd bought myself.

I could hear the creature prowling outside, its footsteps crunching bits of brick beneath its feet. It really couldn't see me. But the way it kept sniffing the air, twitching its face toward me every so often… yeah, I really didn't like that.

What now? To fully weaken him, I needed to hit him 18 more times. I'd managed one more strike before my last flight through the wall.

None of the magic I knew would help. Ice field would slow both of us down. Everything else lacked speed or power. I really needed to hurry up and learn something at least on Dritt's level…

But what option did that leave me?

Oh… wait a sec…

A thought struck me.

Yeah… I wouldn't gain the upper hand this way, but I had a chance to at least stop this from being a one-sided slaughter.

He was going to find me soon anyway, so I had to hurry. But I couldn't lose focus…

Qi. Right now, it was the only thing that could give me a shot at victory. I'd only been learning to sense it for a few days, and now, in a matter of minutes, I had to learn to control it…

Come on, damn skill… work.

If I hadn't been so deeply focused, I probably would've felt the cold sweat streaming down my face. I was desperately trying to activate Life Absorption – to sense that very life energy.

Hard. Damn hard. Trying to stir up my own Qi felt like trying to peel off a chunk of tar. But I was making some progress.

I glanced down at my scythe.

Withering… if you think about it, there's something curious there…

Every time its special effect triggered, I felt something strange. As if the weapon was drawing something out, sucking a piece of the enemy's strength away. Strength comes from the body. The body is life. Life is Qi, and Qi is life. Could it be… that the Reaper's Scythe slowly drains the Qi from my enemies?

Creeeak.

I literally felt something inside me shift with a rusty creak. Like opening a door that hasn't been touched in years…

Yeah… so that's how it is… Could this be Qi?

It was a bit cliché, but life energy really did feel… "warm." While Mana was more "cold." And Spirit… Spirit had a kind of "fresh" note to it, like a pleasant breeze. It felt foreign, different from both Mana and Qi. Which made sense – Spirit was unique to Heroes and, in a way, alien to this world.

"Kkhhhhaaa…"

The monster groaned nearby. Seemed like he'd picked up my trail and was slowly making his way toward me.

Almost there… I already understood the basics. I just needed to lock it in…

"KIEEE!!"

But the bastard clearly wasn't planning to give me the time I needed. He screamed again, charging straight at me. I managed to dodge at the last second, earning another cut in the process.

"What the hell's your problem?!" I spat angrily.

The Undead swung at me, but this time I wasn't going to repeat my mistakes.

Using the shaft of my scythe like a staff, I grabbed the joint between the blade and the pole, shoved the weapon forward, and struck his arm upward, throwing him off balance. Without losing a moment, I twisted the blade around…

[Special effect activated: Withering

Enemy stats reduced by 2%]

16%.

A shallow cut didn't slow him down, so he was still off-balance from my shove. I shifted my grip, kept the scythe spinning, and transitioned into a horizontal spin, managing to twist around twice.

[Special effect activated: Withering

Enemy stats reduced by 2%]

20%.

Couldn't push it further. So using my own momentum, on the third spin I launched a kick at the bastard, sending him flying.

"Phantom Slash."

A vertical crescent blade shot after him.

I still couldn't control Qi properly, but I could stir it up, make it flow stronger… and that was working.

The world pulsed, like a heartbeat. My reaction speed sharpened, the monster's movements started to seem just a little slower.

"Erst Phantom Scythe."

The slash wasn't aimed dead center – I deliberately sent it slightly to the right. Predictably, the monster dodged left, where the phantom scythe was already waiting.

The Undead had now lost a full fifth of his stats, and that last dodge was far too hasty, so…

"GYEEEK!"

He howled at the sky as his arm hit the ground with a wet splat. Shame I only managed to hit the arm… the bastard's instincts were insane. Somehow, he twisted his body mid-air, leaving only his arm exposed to the strike. But even that was a decent result.

Unlike the monster, I was already breathing heavily, my breath ragged. The dead, of course, didn't need to breathe. Must be nice…

I had to finish this as quickly as possible. I wouldn't last much longer. The wounds on my chest from his earlier hit were still bleeding, along with countless smaller cuts. I'd already lost a good amount of blood.

So, without much thought and completely disregarding the consequences (which I'd definitely regret later), I forcefully exploded the flow of Qi inside me and charged.

Turning my body mid-dash, I aimed to slash the monster diagonally, but he twisted at the last moment, dug his heels into the ground, and pushed off, leaping at me instead.

At least now we were somewhat evenly matched, and blocking his attacks with the scythe shaft became significantly easier – which I did.

What…?

The next moments unfolded so fast my brain barely kept up.

Instead of attacking, the bastard grabbed onto the scythe with both hands, and then, tossing his head back, puffed out his cheeks…

I immediately let go of the scythe and jumped backward, just in time to notice something flickering in the distance to the side.

The moment my fingers unclenched, the Undead exhaled a thick, poisonous green cloud. Through the haze, I could barely make him out.

The flickering object was closing in fast. And in the next instant, I recognized it.

Night.

I was flying backward, helplessly watching as Night, in her filolial form, soared on a gust of wind – straight toward the Undead, still shrouded in toxic gas.

She… wouldn't be able to stop.

And that's exactly what happened. The monster reacted in time, turning to face her, grabbing her paw with his remaining arm, practically stopping her mid-flight, and then slamming her into the ground, forcing her to take a sharp, involuntary breath…

And then… he tossed her aside.

"No…" the thought flashed through my mind in desperation.

I stared blankly at Night's motionless body.

My mind went completely empty.

And that's when I felt it – something inside me stirred, like it had been sleeping and suddenly woke up.

"Ghehehehe…"

A vile, disgusting, nauseating laugh echoed deep within me.

"Pathetic…"

A deformed, unnaturally wide, toothy grin full of razor-sharp fangs flashed before my eyes against a backdrop of endless darkness.

The Hallucination vanished as suddenly as it appeared, but…

It left behind a soul-freezing rage. Like someone had poured an entire bucket of gasoline onto an already raging fire.

Blop.

[#$!&@$?%]

[Access Denied]

Some random system messages flashed by, but I didn't even bother to register them. It didn't matter. I only wanted one thing…

To rip that bastard to shreds.

But I couldn't.

I was so lost in myself, in my emotions, that I completely lost track of time. By the time I snapped back to reality, the monster was already practically on top of me…

I'm dead?

The detached thought crossed my mind.

I saw his clawed hand reaching for my heart. I was already preparing for the inevitable when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a silhouette darting out from behind the corner of the nearly destroyed house we were fighting in…

Splurt.

Blood splashed across my face.

"Kha…ah…" gasped the girl who, at the last moment, threw herself between me and the monster. "Gra…ey…"

The monster froze. And the girl… she turned to me.

"P…please…"

I understood. I… understood everything.

Forcing myself to my feet, I stepped in front of the girl in one swift movement, spinning my scythe…

The Undead ripped his hand out of his victim and tried to jump back, but… it was already too late.

Slice. Thud.

The head separated from the body and hit the floor with a dull sound. At the same moment, I heard the sound of two bodies collapsing to the ground.

The fight… was over.