But, it was all meaningless.
Ruminas died shortly afterwards.
And so it went. Ruminas would always be killed by the most brutal means from Answosa.
Every time Ruminas revives, Answosa has a different way of killing her.
Once, he just stood still, but as soon as she lifted her axe, a sharp magical tornado from him tore her body into pieces.
Another time, he lifted her up and threw her straight into the wall, the impact was so strong that she was flattened like a picture.
One time he didn't even bother to use a weapon, just gently poked a finger into her chest, but the power contained within it caused her entire body to explode immediately.
The twentieth round...
Ruminas gasped and sat down on the ground.
"Impossible… this guy is too strong…"
"What? Already discouraged?" Answosa smirked. "There are 80 lives left, I have plenty of tricks to try."
Ruminas gripped the axe handle tightly, trying to stand up.
"Or should I taste you?" Answosa said with another evil smile.
His words made Ruminas shiver, even the most cruel death she did not want to experience.
Ruminas' face showed extreme indignation.
"Okay, I will destroy your spirit and then enjoy it slowly."
He said and shot a magic towards Ruminas, her body immediately twisted and died in excruciating pain.
[You are dead]
[The twenty-first round begins]
As Ruminas revived, a sword immediately flew over and cut off her right arm.
"Aaa…"
Blood spurted out.
But before she could adjust to the wound, another slash came and this time her head was severed from her body.
[You are dead]
[The twenty-second round begins]
Upon reviving, Ruminas immediately moved, holding the axe firmly in her hand and charging forward without hesitation.
Ruminas charged, she couldn't keep dying. At least there had to be a fight so she could learn more about this guy. This time she decided to try hitting Answosa's legs to slow his movement. She swung her axe at his knees with all her might.
CLANG!
The sound of metal clashing rang out.
"…?"
Ruminas blinked in confusion. Her axe blade had just collided with Answosa's leg armor, but instead of piercing through, it bounced off as if it had hit a thick steel wall.
Answosa tilted his head slightly, his eyes flashing with contempt.
"Is that all your power?"
Immediately after that—
POP!
A spinning kick flew straight into Ruminas' stomach.
"—Ugh!!"
All the air in her lungs was forced out. Her body flew backwards like a bullet, slamming into the stone wall behind her.
CRACK!
She felt her spine shatter upon impact.
Before he could do anything, the familiar notification screen appeared again.
[You are dead]
[The twenty-third round begins]
"Cough… cough…"
Ruminas, who had just revived, was clutching her stomach and coughing. The pain of her previous death was still fresh in her memory.
"This time… have to try something else…"
She didn't rush in immediately but changed tactics, moving sideways to try and find an opening.
Answosa watched her slowly. He took his time attacking, as if waiting to see what she would do.
Ruminas finally found a blind spot with him and attacked, but at that moment, Answosa turned around and slashed his sword down, but Ruminas was nowhere to be seen below.
"Slash!"
Ruminas sneaked up from behind, aiming for his ribs, which were not protected by armor.
"Children's play!"
Answosa's voice rang out and then at the spot where Ruminas was about to attack , his skin suddenly turned silver and when she attacked, only the sound of metal clashing appeared but he was not injured at all.
Ruminas stood stunned.
"…What?"
Answosa sighed, as if he were fed up.
He swung his sword lightly.
SIDELONG!!
A black sword energy tore through space, cutting Ruminas' body in half in an instant.
[You are dead]
[The twenty-fourth round begins]
"Damn it…!"
Ruminas clenched his fists, trying not to let his anger get the better of him.
This time, she decided to try using her speed as a distraction.
She rushed towards Answosa, but as soon as he raised his sword, she suddenly flipped backwards, jumping high to avoid the sword's path.
"Dodged it!—"
Just then, an arm reached out and grabbed her neck in mid-air.
"…Huh?"
Answosa grabbed Ruminas by the neck, lifting her up like a rag doll.
"You think I don't see?"
He clenched his fist.
CRACK!
Ruminas's neck bones were shattered.
[You are dead]
[The twenty-fifth round begins]
Ruminas revived, but this time she still felt the numbness in her neck.
She stood up, staring at Answosa.
He crossed his arms, his eyes still cold as ever.
"Are you starting to feel helpless yet?"
Ruminas gritted her teeth.
"…No way"
She tightened her grip on her weapon.
No matter how many times she died, she never gave up.
Ruminas charged forward, she approached Answosa but did not attack, instead she wanted to learn how to dodge and adapt to his attacks.
Answosa also took quite a while with this trick of Ruminas but anyway the result still did not change much compared to before.
Ruminas died again.
She was cut in half. She was crushed. She was burned. Her skull was crushed.
[You are dead]
[The thirtieth round begins]
Ruminas had clearly felt the overwhelming difference between her and Answosa but giving up now would mean death.
Not only was he physically stronger, he also possessed superior combat experience. He never wasted a single move in his attacks.
She tried to take advantage of the moments of revival to observe more closely how he moved, how he attacked.
She realized one thing—
Although Answosa has almost no weaknesses, every time he attacks there is an extremely small moment where he needs to readjust his posture.
This was something that any creature would encounter. Unless they could ignore inertia and instantly change their posture, but according to Ruminas' observation, this guy didn't have that ability.
"Even if it's just a fraction of a second, if we can make use of it…"
Ruminas continued his tactic of charging and dodging.
This time Answosa was very decisive, he smashed her, cut her into hundreds of pieces, burned her body and each time Ruminas had to remind herself to keep standing up.
…
[You are dead]
[The thirty-sixth round begins]
Ruminas still did not abandon his strategy, but Answowa seemed to have realized this and started to use more force. However, Ruminas still dodged a few times before being attacked to death.
[You are dead]
[The thirty-seventh round begins]
"It worked!"
Ruminas felt herself getting used to him, even though he increased his speed and strength, once she dodged, her body would react automatically.
Even though this reaction is still very small and only appears a few times rarely, it is better than nothing at all.
…
[You are dead]
[The fortieth round begins]
Ruminas continued to dodge, but instead of simply dodging, she began to choose the right moment to counterattack.
In the split second after Answosa finished swinging her sword, she spun around, using all her strength to deliver a slash to his flank.
CLANG!
She couldn't do much damage, but for the first time, she made him take a step back.
"…OH?"
Answosa looked down at his armor. A small scratch had appeared.
Ruminas gasped, feeling like he had just reached a milestone.
…
[You are dead]
[The forty-third round begins]
Answosa stopped using physical attacks and started using magic. Magic was a different story as it was fast, powerful, and had a great impact.
And one special thing is that Answosa can cast spells by just standing still without having to move, so there is no downtime when switching moves.
"Damn! He realized it?"
Ruminas was killed while trying to dodge a wide-area magic attack.
…
[You are dead]
[The forty-sixth round begins]
Ruminas immediately jumped back, just in time to avoid a stream of fire that swept across her former position.
The terrible heat made her skin feel like it was being burned, even though she hadn't been directly hit.
He didn't make any unnecessary movements, but continued to attack...
She had to find a way out of this situation.
Answosa raised his hand.
A series of wind blades formed in the air, swirling like a storm about to crush everything.
One second before they are launched...
Ruminas immediately dashed to the side—
WHOOSH!
A whirlwind of blades tore through the stone floor where she had been standing, sending debris flying across the room.
But before she could land—
A giant fireball appeared right in front of me!
"…!!!"
There is no escape.
[You are dead]
[The forty-seventh round begins]
As soon as he appeared, Ruminas ran straight in another direction, not giving Answosa time to aim.
She tried varying her movements—sometimes zigzagging, sometimes jumping and rolling to avoid being locked onto her target.
But Answosa seemed to have anticipated it.
He threw his sword straight at her.
WHAT?!
Such a large weapon could be thrown so fast that she didn't have time to react!
She only had time to hear a sharp screech—
[You are dead]
[Fiftieth round begins]
Ruminas sighed.
She died too many times.
But anyway, this is an opportunity.
Every time she died, she learned something new.
Answosa is not only strong in close combat, but can also use magic very effectively.
He was experimenting with different ways to kill her.
It seemed like even he wanted to find the fastest way to end the match.
That's fine.
Which means, if she makes things difficult for him, he'll reveal more information.
Ruminas tightened her grip on the axe.
She couldn't keep dying in vain.
[The fifty-second round begins]
This time, instead of running around to avoid the attack, she focused on reading Answosa's movements.
He raised his hand again, preparing to cast a spell.
One second...
Two seconds...
Three seconds!
The moment the spell was almost complete, Ruminas stomped her foot down, charging straight towards him!
Answosa raised an eyebrow.
"OH?"
She knew he would react immediately.
And as expected—
He stopped chanting to raise his hand to stop her.
But that very moment—
CUP!
It's an opportunity!
Ruminas changed direction, not charging straight at him but jumping to the side, swinging her axe across his waist!
CLANG!
A metallic sound rang out.
She couldn't do any serious damage, but this time, she did more than just scratch.
A small piece of the armor broke off and fell to the ground.
She immediately jumped back before Answosa could counterattack.
Answosa looked down at the broken armor, then back at her.
"…I'm starting to find this interesting."
Ruminas gasped, but there was a hint of excitement in her heart.
She did it.
Even just a little.
But she did real damage to him.