'Another chance at the last second. Just how many chances are you willing to give me, fate?' Ash thought, a smile arching wide on across his face.
Without a sword, getting slashed by the Fangbanes like a powerless weakling, Ash was on the brink of losing hope in surviving. Now, with a double-edged sword held, everything changes.
It was surprising for him to stand up despite the deadly slashes he got and still getting from the small carnivore rabbits.
It was instinct. A power only those who have put all of their hope in will get to see its true potential.
'Whoever throwed that weapon to me, you have my gratitude. Just wait until I vanish them from existence.'
Straightening his spine, Ash stood like an unmoving statue. His crimson hair fell on his forehead, shadowing his eyes as if they were hiding behind a curtain. His smile... not even a smile, its a grin, curling more upward.
A menace, standing among harrowing slashes unfazed. In fact, he wanted to scream because of pain.
His sight fell at the stunned Fangbane. The LV.6 Fangbane who Ash delivered a blow directly at its eyes. The small beast was still stunned, unable to move or even stand on its tiny legs.
'Its their weakness anyway-- Weakness... stunned... unable to move--' Ash widened by the revelation. The plan he was looking for finally formed as a whole picture in his mind.
'It was in front of my damn eyes all of this time!' His grin returned. He found the answer he was looking for.
Ash simply... waited! Waited under dozens and dozens of slashes, each one damaging him more and more. His body was already full of slash marks. Why the hell would he wait? It's a dying wish!
Raising his sword, holding it with both of his hands. Ash rotated the sword, making its double edges facing the right and the left side.
The plan was simple. If their weakness is by getting them stunned, then...
'Make them stun themselves. Hehe.' The Fangbanes were living creatures just like him and that only means that they had stamina, and no stamina should last forever.
'They are bound to get down sooner or later.'
Ash just had to endure the harrowing slashes until that time comes and who knows when. But he was sure that they are close to their limits.
The other thing is the placement of his sword in that specific way. Ash wasn't a helpless case trying to depend on luck for the sake of surviving.
He had a plan after all.
That placement of his sword could catch one of them while they attacked in a random pattern. And it did.
An unfortunate one of them passed Ash from the front, not aware of the blade that awaited it. The poor Fangbane was slashed in half amidst his super rolling chainsaw form.
[You have slain a LV.7...]
[55 EXP gained!]
'Open...'
[EXP: 125/400]
"Hehe, thanks, little freak." Ash laughed and proceed to just wait. To his luck, he didn't have to wait any longer.
Upon seeing one of their own cut down by a motionless blade, the Fangbanes recoiled in fear, shrinking back into their small, natural forms.
That's what Ash waited for. He felt it like an eternity had passed. In reality, it was just a matter of seconds.
The Fangbanes breathed hoarsely, they made such magnificent effort after all. They became just as stunned as the first one.
Only seven remains and all of them are stunned.
Ash was nearly stunned like them. The difference is they were exhausted and he was... mangled?
'No, This isn't a state I can call mangled.' taking a few steps slow and steady, Ash stood in front of them.
'Their intent wasn't torture,' Ash looked down at them, literally. 'They wanted me dead. And that can never be called torture. Torture and being mangled are intertwined.'
The last torture experience with Reive made him realize the true manners of a torturer.
"Let me teach you a short lesson about torture, Fangbanes."
Instantly without hesitation, Ash grabbed one of them by the face and cut all of its limbs just like the first Fangbane he had killed.
"A torture is... having fun! Making your prey suffer in pain and agony."
He then stabbed its corpse, penetrating its body from both sides.
"Making them scream from the inside."
Positioning the sword on its neck...
"And the most important thing," Ash paused, his sword on the verge of splitting the Fangbane's head from its corpse.
"Is to keep them alive... until you're done." Ash muttered, severing its head with a final slash. The corpse dropped to the ground, lifeless and still.
[45 EXP gained!]
Ash then proceeded to kill the rest, leaving the first one he had stunned for the last elixir of fun.
Ash killed 2 LV.7 and 3 LV.6 more, accumulating 245 EXP in one go.
'Open...'
[EXP: 370/400]
'Only one Fangbane to level up. Hehe, good.'
The last Fangbane lied on the ground, it seemed that it was unconscious. Ash closed the distance between them and killed it in its embrace.
[Congrats! You have leveled up!]
[Level 3 achieved!]
[Inventory panel: Unsealed!]
"Inventory! That's... um, good. I think."
Ash was severely damaged. He shouldn't be able to even stand on his feet. That was the case before, though he had no other option but to fight.
Ash gained so much EXP from that fight and leveled up. Feeling his body soaring with power, his body became lighter and his pain faded a little bit.
All he had to do was to reach the river and meet with Aeris.
"Time to go to that damned river. Hope Smiley isn't damaged badly. Huh? He is a healer! He should be fine."
Ash took his first steps, discovering the forest further to know where is his location and how far the river is.
Until, he heard foot steps behind.
Ash rotated his body... and he shouldn't have.
His body collapsed from blood loss which he didn't put that fact in mind.
Feeling someone grabbing him before falling, Ash couldn't fight the defects of blood loss and his consciousness was fading away.
"You have done well, Traveler." The anonymous person said while holding Ash.
Ash caught a glimpse of that person before he fell unconscious.
That traveler wasn't Aeris.