The Inner Odyssey

'Dammit!'

Alden roared internally, his centre of balance extremely precarious. He felt his world tilt and knew he was in grave danger.

A desperate expression appeared on Alden's face.

Using all the experience he had from his childhood, the young man instinctively arched his back and placed his hands on the ground, forming a backbend bridge. The Dark Elf's gelid weapon flashed inches from his face. Alden shivered slightly, both from the close call and the chill emitted from the frozen weapon.

He quickly pushed down with his palms and flipped back. However, upon landing, another patch of ice greeted him.

Somewhat expecting something like this to happen, Alden didn't put all his body's weight on the balls of his feet. Instead, he opted to land softly. That helped minimise the degree of his next slip, his frame only tilting slightly unlike the one before. Unfortunately for Alden, the fact that he couldn't plant his feet properly meant he could only try to evade. Retaliating was out of the question.

…The tide of the battle had now shifted in favour of the Dark Elf.

He gritted his teeth, barely evading another attack from the corrupted creature. His mind spun, desperately trying to find a way out of his predicament.

Alden knew that keeping his distance only played to the Dark Elf's strengths.

Since it could manipulate ice with ease, there was no reason it couldn't send another large spear like it had previously. That was also without mentioning that if he kept using [Dark Tentacles] to continue catching more projectiles, he would use up the rest of his mana reserves. Then he would have no way of nullifying the creature's ice.

A hint of envy and jealousy pricked Alden's heart. How good would it be if he could also manipulate his decay as easily as the Dark Elf did with their ice?

That would be an incredible boon.

He would no longer need to get up close and personal for his decay to work - he could just create a shadowy projectile and kill his opponent from afar.

Alas…

That was probably never going to happen.

Alden sighed.

'Close-quarters it is then….'

The only problem with that was the Dark Elf was just as proficient as he was in hand-to-hand combat. The corrupted creature most likely even had the advantage, considering it could manifest ice at any moment and launch a sneak attack. Only [Shield] had prevented that from happening.

If his mana dried up though - which was going to happen very soon by the looks of it - and he could no longer use the magical barrier, he was all but guaranteed a gruesome death. Alden cursed. The left side of his face stung painfully. The biting-cold wound only served to make Alden's mood more foul.

As he continued to think of a way to emerge victorious, the Dark Elf pressed on, determined to seize its advantage. Within the roiling mist, a creature with strange markings attacked a cloaked young man, intent on finishing him off. The latter, however, stubbornly resisted and somehow kept himself alive by parrying, blocking, and doing everything necessary not to get hit.

Occasionally, a Defiled would lunge at the human, interrupting the deathly tango of the two combatants. Without fail, every single abomination met its end at the hands of the ice wielder after its attempted pounce missed the young man.

A short while later, Alden stared at the Dark Elf, hatred apparent in his gaze. His expression was also very dark.

Alden's chest heaved up and down as he struggled to catch his breath. The backlash of so much activity whilst being extremely fatigued had now made its presence known.

His limbs felt heavier than one who stepped through a quagmire. His body also became more sluggish with every passing second.

'Why can't that blasted thing just die!?'

He cursed and cursed, and cursed.

Consumed with that hatred, Alden finally snapped. Bloodlust now shrouded his whole figure. His eyes turned a deeper shade of crimson. Without any regard for how much mana he had left, four tentacles manifested around Alden.

The world around him slowed. Growling like a feral beast, he lunged at the Dark Elf. As if infected with his desire to shed blood, the creature responded in kind.

And so, just like that, the two combatants entered the final round.

Under Alden's guidance, the shadowy appendages shot towards the Dark Elf's limbs. A small yet sturdy barrier of ice blocked their path. Alden launched a swift jab. Without even waiting for the corrupted being to react, he immediately deployed a [Shield].

At the back of his mind, the young man noticed the speed at which the Dark Elf formed its frozen blade had decreased. His mind quickly discarded that detail, though, muddled by his desire for blood. He didn't care if his opponent was beginning to grow tired.

Soon, they would be dead all the same.

Snarling, Alden observed the Dark Elf dodge the blow, using his momentum against him to spin and attack from a different angle, much like he had done at the start of their fight. In response, he moved a few tentacles, forcing the Dark Elf to split its mind and focus on neutralizing the threat from the shadowy limbs.

As he blocked the frozen blade with [Shield], Alden enveloped his right hand with the last dregs of his mana. He quickly grasped the gelid weapon, feeling it crumble into nothingness under his touch. For the first time, the Dark Elf showed a hint of fear. Alden exulted under that. His bloodlust increased.

The dark tentacles lashed against the ice barriers repeatedly, until, eventually, they were no more. Alden instantly capitalised on the opportunity, tackling the Dark Elf to the ground. It, meanwhile, attempted to form another slate of ice but was too slow in manifesting it.

The shadowy appendages wrapped around each of the Dark Elf's limbs, and a moment later, the corrupted creature lost both its arms and legs. It let out an agonised shriek. The sound caused Alden no shortage of satisfaction. Alden crashed into the earth, pinning what remained of his opponent to the ground.

Then, he clutched the Dark Elf's face with all five of his fingers. It struggled futilely in his grasp, its skin already showing hints of beginning to decay.

…And with one final growl, Alden used the last drop of his mana to activate his [Magic Class], furthering increasing the potency of his abyssal power.

A tenebrous energy engulfed the Dark Elf.

Finally...

His blasted opponent was dead.