When the fog engulfed him, he immediately tried to catch sight of the nearest person, who turned out to be his friend Asan.
But, seeing surprise and, importantly, fear in the boy's gaze, Laszlo himself looked in the direction the boy was looking. On the fort wall, just a meter away from them, sat a monster with pale skin and a mass of holes instead of a normal human face. Before he could say anything, Laszlo only saw the monster bend and rush at his friend, dragging him into the mist. His mind reacted instantly, and he already formed fire in his hand, but his senses screamed at him not to follow his friend.
To turn around.
Laszlo immediately bent down and sat on the ground, seeing a shadow of a blade that should have severed his head fly over him. The creature, similar to the one that had dragged Asan into the mist, had two long blades resembling scythes on its hands.
The guy instantly reached for his knife, which had recently been replaced, and tried to stab the creature from behind, but it reacted too quickly. The blade of the short knife got stuck in the monster's long braids, making a clashing sound.
"Ugh!" Laszlo groaned, feeling a strong recoil in his hand.
Not slowing down and despite the pain, the guy held out his hand in front of him and directed all the energy inside him into his palm. Immediately, the monster was engulfed in orange flames that burst out of Laszlo's hand. If this had been Ronnie, he wouldn't have even moved a finger, but Laszlo noticed that this creature seemed to have some self-preservation instincts, causing it to quickly vanish into the mist.
Getting a couple of seconds to catch his breath, Laszlo immediately got back on his feet, but remained slightly hunched over, in case he needed to make a quick move.
He quickly started swinging his head around, looking for anyone nearby, but... He couldn't find anyone. The sounds of battle surrounded him: screams of people and the clashing of steel against steel. Fear slowly rose up his back, gripping his spine with a steel grip, making the boy involuntarily shudder. He had always been afraid of being alone, and right now he definitely could not call for help. But he knew he couldn't panic, not now.
As soon as he refocused, he heard a faint squeak, just like when he slashed his knife through the air. Jerking his head up, he felt an unpleasant burning sensation on his chin, and in his eyes saw the silhouette of the same creature.
Another second of hesitation and his face would have been split in two.
Grinding his teeth, Laszlo made a quick backward lunge, trying not to lose his grip on the knife.
He immediately thrust the knife forward again, once more stopping the creature's quick attack. His bones in his hand painfully cracked, and an unpleasant groan escaped his mouth, one that was unpleasant to his own ears. He didn't like showing his weaknesses or fears to others, especially those in the camp, so he was glad that he was now hidden in the fog, even if it sounded idiotic. The creature continued its relentless hacking and sweeping blows with its scythes, trying to chop off his arm or hit him in the chest. Fortunately, Laszlo had put more effort into perception than the others and could somewhat predict each incoming strike.
However, there were no injuries to be avoided. When the creature re-entered the fog, apparently thinking it would be difficult to break through head-on, Laszlo, covered with a dozen small cuts on his body, panted heavily and stood hunched over.
He greedily gulped down air, analyzed the situation, and tried to understand the creature's style. Alice often said that every creature, even the dumb ones on her account Ronnie, had its own style. She also called it an attack pattern, whatever that meant. If one could figure out this very pattern, it was easy to dodge attacks or parry them.
This was the problem, because Laszlo could barely keep up with the creature's movements and couldn't figure out how it would attack next. Perhaps if he had sparred with his friends, he might have had some experience, but they didn't do that, although Crane suggested it.
"K-ha-ha…. H-u-u-u… What should I do?" Laszlo asked himself, trying to come up with a way to beat the creature, which he felt was trying to flank him.
Laszlo fought on the fort's wall, and even though the wall wasn't very wide, the creature could easily bypass him while hidden in the mist.
Various thoughts came to mind, and one of them stuck firmly in Laszlo's head—to find someone else. If he joined forces with someone, he would surely be able to defeat this monster, since then he wouldn't have to worry about his back. That was what he decided to do, abruptly running in the opposite direction from the monster. Immediately, the creature vanished from his perception, making the boy slightly nervous and speed up. The nearest sounds of battle and screams were coming from somewhere ahead, right on the wall. Considering that Asan and Alice were on his side, the boy quickly figured out who he might see there.
After running forward a few meters, Laszlo felt that he had stepped on something soft and looked down in horror.
But fortunately, he saw not what he thought; it was the severed hand of the creature, apparently cut off by a knife.
"Come here, you brats! I'll slice all of you into pieces!" He heard the familiar, mad shout of the girl ahead.
Immediately, the guy started approaching the voice, but suddenly felt an attack. At the last moment, Laszlo managed to turn his neck aside somewhat, dodging the blade of the knife that the girl in front of him was holding.
"I'm actually an ally!" Laszlo growled不满地说道,看着那个女孩的眼睛,她一开始用略带疯狂的眼神看着他,但很快眼神变了,变得对他更熟悉了.
"Oh! You're still alive? Great, where are the others?!" The girl said in her usual welcoming manner, with a rather innocent look, as if she hadn't done anything wrong.
Laszlo merely clicked his tongue and tried to concentrate in order to avoid a sudden attack from the creature that seemed to be chasing him. But, finding no one nearby except for parts of several monsters' bodies, as well as the girl, he responded.
"I have no idea. Aasa was attacked and dragged into the fog somewhere deeper inside the fort. I didn't see or hear Paul, maybe he ran to help Aasa or something else. I tried to follow Aasa, but some unknown crap blocked my way, which almost made me lose my mind, but thankfully, I survived" Laszlo briefly recounted the latest events in his life.
"Fuck, you could have said it in two words... Whatever, we need to find the others and our people, then get out of here safely, otherwise they'll slaughter us to hell and back" the girl said, looking around and ready for an unexpected attack.
So that's what they did. Laszlo and Alice moved towards their previous location at an accelerated pace. On the way, to their surprise, they did not encounter the monster that had attacked him. Perhaps it had found a more interesting target, who knew. However, their path was constantly blocked by drones, whose name Laszlo learned by killing one with his fist, simply pressing him into the ground. If he had been leveling up in perception, he still believed that strength was one of the main qualities that needed to be improved.
In the battle with the drones, they moved quite unpredictably, but thanks to Alice's agility and her quick knife, as well as Laszlo's sense of which side they would attack from, the two quickly dealt with the attackers. Soon, on their path, they began encountering the bodies of people, not creatures, specifically soldiers.
Two bodies lay lifelessly on the ground, with crushed chests and blood dripping from their mouths. The two corpses had medieval weapons that had so intrigued Crane and Alice when they first saw them. Laszlo took a two-handed sword for himself, which Alice had nicknamed Flamberge. Its long blade immediately caught the boy's attention, and he already imagined hacking apart both Ronnie and those drones. The sword was light and sharp, perhaps due to the soldier who had taken care of it; it felt pleasant in his hands, instantly making him realize that he was now the owner of the sword.
Alice received a smaller gift from the soldiers' corpses. She took a short sword with a scabbard, which the soldier hadn't even had time to draw, possibly encountering a sudden attack.
As soon as the two finished inspecting their weapons, they immediately heard scraping ahead, signaling the approach of drones. Tightening his grip on the flamberge in his hands, Laszlo placed the long blade on his shoulder, holding the hilt with both hands, ready to deliver a slashing blow. The girl, on the other hand, stepped forward with one leg, slightly bent her knees, and held her sword in reverse grip so that the blade pressed against her forearm. A rather strange stance, but who was Laszlo to teach someone who had invested all their points in combat skills?
When the first drone appeared, Laszlo instantly lowered his sword, cleaving the creature in half, which sprayed Laszlo with black intestines, as if dousing him in oil.
This was a pleasant discovery for the boy, as well as the reason for a slight smile that appeared on his face. With such a weapon, he was not afraid to once again engage in battle with that creature whose head resembled a hammer.
As they say—be afraid of your desires, for after a couple of drones that were chasing two people, there were immediately two such creatures hiding behind them. Alice immediately ran forward, stunning Laszlo with her sudden movement, and attacked the nearest drone with a rectangular head. Laszlo saw sparks fly and the two drones almost instantly vanish into the mist, leaving the boy alone facing another such creature. With his sword held out in front of him, Laszlo could think of nothing better than swinging it above his head, trying to prevent the monster's approach and somehow draw its attention to the sword as it came closer to him.
He managed to do this successfully, as the creature either stood still or moved away from him. Seizing the moment, Laszlo abruptly stopped the blade, feeling a slight pain in his hands, but then made a lunge, thrusting the blade forward.
Unfortunately, such an attack was easily read by the monster, which calmly dodged it and attempted a counterattack, lowering its blades on the forearms of Laszlo within a second. But the guy had anticipated this attack.
He sharply swung his sword to the right. The blade, of course, didn't reach the creature, but with the wide guard Laszlo, he managed to strike the monster's side, slightly pushing it away from himself and stopping its attack on his arms. Thanks to the fact that he pushed it to the perfect distance for a sword strike, Laszlo immediately delivered a horizontal left-to-right blow and managed to split the monster in half.
Feeling a surge of adrenaline and joy from defeating the terrifying offspring, the guy couldn't help but smile. However... The notification still hadn't come to him. As soon as the guy realized this, he felt something fast approaching from the right.
Only as he turned his head to the right, pain pierced through his entire body, and his legs left the stone walls of the fort.
Laszlo was flying off the wall... Over the fort's walls downward.