A Soulsborne's Traveler System

Chapter 26: Hundred Man Slayer.

Chapter 26: Hundred Man Slayer.

To say this was bad would probably be an understatement, wouldn't it?

I have barely any stamina or focus left. And now I have to face Baldur knights which if I remember(I don't have confidence in my memory) correctly are leagues above the average hollow in terms of difficulty with proper armor and technique.

Fighting enemies with actual skill is my biggest weakness. This fact was pointed out to me by Gerald while we trained.

(Flashback)

*Thump*

''Ah, fuck! How the hell do you manage to parry me every damn time!?'

I was lying on the ground after the nth time I lost to Gerald while sparring. To me, the man seemed like a master swordsman or something. Being able to easily parry dodge and block most of my attacks with ease. Even though my attacks shouldn't be too different I was still getting suppressed heavily.

Helping me up, he shed light on my situation.

''It's quite simple really, you are just too predictable in your swordplay, unlike yourself.''

''What do you mean predictable?''

''You see, you attack me like I am a mindless hollow. You don't expect me to respond to your attacks intelligently. You only expect the expected but never the unexpected. All it takes is one feint to catch you off guard. To be honest you fight quite like a hollow.''

...

So the reasonable choice would be to back off here.

But when was I ever reasonable?

If I was I wouldn't have tried challenging the asylum demon.

And I didn't get here from cowering from a challenge did I?

< You have received the quest { Surrounded } ! >

----------------

< Surrounded >

Description: You have caught the attention of the hollows dwelling in the Undead Parish. Now you are exhausted and surrounded yet you don't bow your head faced with the insurmountable. Prove your resolve.

Defeat all of the Hollows dwelling in the parish without resting at a bonfire.

Reward:

{Title: 100 man slayer}

{5 Humanity}

---------------------

Now you're speaking my language.

I took a few gulps of my estus and stood myself up. Then roared loudly to announce my presence and the fact that I refuse to run away.

''I'm here and I'm weak! Come and get me, you hollow bastards.''

My unique martial art mad hollow combat behaves quite uniquely I'd say. Instead of like other martial arts which rely on forms, diligence, and patience. While mad hollow combat relies on letting your body completely loose. Running on instinct unhindered.

And now with the stage set as the actors draw upon the scene, over a dozen Baldur knights and a few dozen hollow soldiers and hollows. There stood in front of them one man, injured and exhausted but standing tall nonetheless, the grin on his face unwavering.

Slowly but surely a tale was being written.

I summoned a mace in one hand and a shortsword in the other.

It was time to let loose the beast I had been holding for a month in Firelink.

Several knights charged at me with shields raised and swords poised. I sprinted toward the first one with a rapier and buckler and threw my shortsword at its face which it blocked with his buckler. I used that opening to slam my morningstar into its unguarded waist, making a disgusting squelch and sending the knight back.

Relying on my instincts I jumped up using D'man's leap to narrowly avoid a slash aimed at my legs by another Baldur knight. I used my current height of jump to deliver a spinning kick to its head sending it tumbling down the stairs.

As I landed a sword pierced my abdomen but I just grabbed the wrist holding the sword and crushed it using more power than reasonable and ripped the sword out of my abdomen which I used to skewer the enemy that inflicted the wound.

I ducked under another slash but didn't manage to dodge the stab toward my calf as I was surrounded. I twisted my body and shattered the knees of the one who slashed at me using my mace and gave a horse kick to the one who stabbed my calf.

I was dodging left and right while doing whatever damage I could but being surrounded wasn't doing me any favors. And before I could rationalize it, a plan formed in my head and got executed. I summoned a black firebomb and threw it at the feet of the Baldur knight in front of me.

Yes, I did just throw a fire grenade at an enemy a meter in front of me. It was a plan all right, just not a good one.

I was hit by the blast but they were hit harder. I sprinted out of the encirclement and charged the closest hollow to me then jumped, delivering a flying knee to the poor soldier, crushing its helmeted head. Not allowing my moment to subside I re-summoned the chain I used on the boar and lassoed it to the Baldur knight behind the soldier I murked and pulled hard.

We were both pulled toward each other. Before the knight could snap out of the shock I grabbed its neck and flipped over it. My feet touched the ground as his feet left it then I used the airborne knight as a projectile, thanks to my throwing it had an even better result than I expected. Completely throwing the encirclement into disarray.

I used the chaos to chug and estus then stabbed a spare sword into a soldier that was too close for liking. But as I did that a knight nearly stabbed my eye, thankfully I grabbed his hand and slammed my knee into its abdomen.

Now the horde was looking much more manageable. The chaos I sewed was working in my favor but it seemed whatever sent me to the world really didn't like my current odds.

Because as soon as I got breathing room suddenly the hollows were enveloped by a bluish aura and went into a frenzy.

''Fuckkkkiiiiiinnnngggg Channnelerrrrrrr!!!!!''

Now the hollows were attacking with a frenzy I had never seen before and to add to that the fucking channeler piss baby brought over his gaggle of a few dozen beef jerky children.

With every movement of mine, I was getting scratched at the least. I had several holes poke in me but I continued fighting with fervor, fight fire with fire, fight crazy with crazier.

At some point, I had only resorted to dodging attacks that were either fatal or debilitating. I swung around my Great demon's machete like I was a goddam farmer and my scythe was the machete and the hollows were the weeds.

Running on fumes was an understatement. The engine was on fire, the car was on fire. the whole damn world was on fire. The only thing keeping the fuxking engine together was some shitty duck tape placed there months ago.

The hollows were dwindling and so was my strength.

Fuck it I didn't even know if I ran out of estus or not. I had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins that it should be physically impossible.

I was running on complete instinct and estus.

But what I didn't notice was the faint blue aura covering me that got more and more visible the more I was damaged.

My souls were increasing more than they should have considering my enemies.

My body was moving in ways I couldn't comprehend.

I felt the excitement run through my body like a million amps of current as I danced around death while dealing it.

Euphoria.

My hand went into the stomach of a Baldur knight and ripped out his intestines before using that to lasso a soldier to use him as a flail.

Axe, sword, brick, table, chair, organs, people anything and everything I could use I used.

/Right now, I just needed to kill everything in front of me./

/No matter what./

And at last, I stood in front of the channeler. My body broken beyond belief, and estus ran out long ago. But just as I was about to finish the job I heard footsteps.

_Heavy_ footsteps.

The moment I sensed the danger I jumped sideways as a giant mace smashed the ground I stood on seconds prior to rubble.

The Berenike knight showed itself.

Roughly 1.8 times my size and fully clad in heavy metal armor, the behemoth in front of me was certainly an intimidating sight.

Not for me though, this big lug wasn't fast enough to pose enough of a threat to me thanks to his armor that probably weighed more than me. But it was that very same armor that is making my job harder. I couldn't pierce his defense effectively due to his heavy armor.

I rushed at him as he swung down his heavy mace at me which I quickly sidestepped. And just as I was swinging my black knight sword at this hand to sever it at the wrist I suddenly felt a feeling of danger but I didn't manage to evade in time and as a result, I was hit in the side by a blue bolt.

Feeling a wave of searing pain and impact on my side I was sent flying a few meters away. /Fucking channeler/, I forgot his ability to use soul whatchamacallit. Man, if there wasn't a 9ft steel-clad warrior gunning for me right now I would shove my foot so far up the channeler's ass my toes would tickle his brain.

I have no idea how I am alive or that I have the blue tearstone aura around me. I saw a few pieces of what I hopefully assume were nonessential miscellaneous organs get ejected out of my body when the spell hit. That put me on a timer, either finish the fight and reach a bonfire or crumple like a loser baby by succumbing to mere blood loss.

{Deadman's Blow: Dash}!

I released an explosive burst of speed with all my power to the Berenike knight approaching me. And just as he swung his mace to intercept me I jumped up and summoned a table under me as a foothold to gain slightly more air time and momentum.

*Slam*

My knee made contact with the Berenike knight's exposed face and released a disgusting crunching sound from both parties. I didn't let go of momentum though as I grabbed his shoulders and threw myself forward giving him a headbutt. And just as the mace was about to make contact with my ribs and reverse their orientation I summoned a shortsword and stabbed it through the heavy knight's unguarded throat.

I didn't even let his corpse hit the ground before pocketing it into my inventory.

Now all that was left was the trident-wielding coward shitstain.

He let out another bolt of blue light but I was prepared this time, I knew of their homing capabilities so I brought out a hollow corpse and threw it at the spell, intercepting it.

Before the bastard could even think to even cast another spell I darted toward him and clocked his face with such ferocity he flew back a solid few meters even though he was 1.5 times my size. I chased his flying body and when he hit the ground I stomped on his head so hard my tibia ripped through my kneecap but my foot also went through his head so it was worth it.

But now I am surrounded by the corpses of around a hundred or so hollows, and my body looks more like a bloodied rag with holes poked in it than a humanoid. The only thing letting me keep my shape was the blue aura somehow surrounding me.

With every step taking tremendous effort and willpower to not go to sleep(I couldn't even feel most of the pain at this point with how abused my nerves were during the battle.) and somehow in a blur, I had managed to get to the abandoned church and ragdoll myself down the stairs.

The last thing I saw in my vision before I passed out was...

[BONFIRE LIT]