*BOOOOOOOOM*
The monster's sword slashed down violently as if it intended to split the atmosphere itself. Luckily, the sword didn't possess that level of power unless the monster charged it up. Arthur didn't wait to see the difference in damage either way as he jumped to the side.
A cloud of dust exploded upon contact with the ground and the monster's sword sunk deep into it. Using that opportunity, Arthur dashed to the side before he sent three of his arrows toward the monster.
Since the monster was rather slow in its movement, the arrows didn't find problems hitting their target. However, as Arthur expected, they bounced off its body and vanished. Looking at the Ethereal's health bar, he saw a small tick off.
'Oh! That did some damage! Good!' Although his arrows weren't able to penetrate, the hit still did make the health bar go down. That gave Arthur some hope that he was going to actually have a chance against it.
'If I just don't get hit then I should be fine. It doesn't seem to be that fast.' He thought to himself as he immediately dashed toward the monster with his sword ready for battle.
"Grrr!!!!" The monster roared loudly as its aura exploded everywhere, sending Arthur back a few feet. Then, the monster pulled its sword out and rushed toward the boy like a maddened beast.
The sword slashed toward Arthur. In a split second, the boy decided to deflect the attack and counter it with one of his own.
*CLANG*
Putting his sword up, he waited for impact. However, the moment he felt it, he realized how mistaken he was for doing that. An insane amount of power assaulted his arms out of nowhere as if he had been hit by a truck. His muscles contracted extremely fast as it tried to take in the chock.
'... What… the fuck?!!' He cursed as he tried to stand his ground. But, he was far too weak to do that and the monster forced him back a few feet before it swung again when it saw that his posture was broken.
'You have got to be kidding me!' Arthur clenched his teeth as he sent the remaining arrows forward quickly and then extended his clawed arm forward.
*BANG*
The sword made contact with the claws and it instantly made the boy sink into the sand. His health bar took another considerably big hit.
Although his health was now almost 2.5 times what it was when he first started the game, it still could barely handle a few attacks from the Ethereal at most.
"AGH!!" Feeling his legs almost giving out under immense pressure, the boy forced himself to slide the sword to the side as he jumped back up. But, he didn't take a moment to catch his breath and slashed with his sword at the monster's neck.
His attack came suddenly so the Ethereal couldn't react, or perhaps it was too slow to react. A sharp sound of two metal objects colliding echoed in the empty desert. Arthur's arm started vibrating from the hit but he forced that discomfort away and quickly followed with a claw attack.
'Goddamit, he's hard like a piece of metal!' He mused as he felt his claws slashing through pure iron and no flesh. The monster's health bar ticked down twice, appearing more prominent now.
However, Arthur knew that this was only around 10% of its health bar down and he had to somehow kill it with 90% left. The monster wasn't going to stand still and watch either. Instead, Arthur found himself the target of a rain of sword attacks.
The outraged monster ignored its injuries and put everything into attacking Arthur. Each sword slash and each thrust he had to deflect felt like he was bearing the weight of an entire truck. His stamina bar depleted extremely quickly with each hit.
He tried to create distance between them to catch his breath, but the monster didn't let him as it rushed toward him quickly. The battle turned into a clash of swords at a very close distance. The sound of the two weapons hitting each other was the only sound that could be heard for several minutes.
Arthur couldn't even have a moment to think or plan as he was under a barrage of heavy attacks he had to deflect and dodge. His brain and body were completely focused on the battle to a degree where everything else became a blur.
He deflected and attacked, and then dodged and used his claw to do some damage. The monster's health bar was going down rather slowly but constantly. Both were running out of energy by the time the battle reached the 10-minute mark.
However, neither of them stopped the battle.
'I'm doing some damage. But, I can't really continue for long. I need to finish this off somehow!' With large beads of sweat rolling down his face and bloody injuries all over his body, Arthur knew that he was going to end up completely exhausted before he could even kill the monster.
Luckily, his sanguine blade was able to activate its ability and gained him some health across the long battle but his stamina and mana were still a massive problem. Both regenerate really slowly and aren't big enough for a prolonged battle.
Looking at the monster's health bar while still fighting, he noticed that it was about to reach the 25% mark. That was the result of the chip damage he continuously took off the monster's health bar.
'Dammit, this is tough. Way harder than that Fetus Orc. It's not as fast, but its crushing strength more than compensates for that. My arms feel like soup.' He thought to himself as he clenched his sword as tightly as he could and deflected another attack with whatever strength he had left in him.
"Hah… Hah… You look horrible. Hahaha!" Laughing slowly, Arthur lifted his sword up again. "I don't know what you are and why you are still alive, but I'm not going to let you do whatever you want. I'm going to send you to your little dead friends."
Looking at the monster's shiny red eyes, Arthur tried to instill fear in it. Seeing its human enemy not falling down after such a long battle would surely affect the monster in some way. That is based on the presumption that this Ethereal being has no mind or consciousness.
However, Arthur immediately noticed the light in the monster's eyes change when he uttered those words. It was as if it understood what he was saying and the result of that was something that made Arthur's entire body freeze in its place like a statue.
The monster suddenly stopped its relentless attacks and jumped back a good distance. Then, it dropped the sword to the ground. Along with it, the monster's aura shifted almost instantly.
'Huh?' Arthur felt a cold sensation run through his entire body.
The Ethereal then lifted its hand up to face level before it suddenly grabbed its helmet tightly. The sound of the metal contorting under the immense grip echoed in the vast desert. The monster's hand kept gripping it harder and harder till eventually… the head erupted.
A fountain of blood and flesh exploded everywhere around it, showering the world with a red liquid. The sight was so gruesome that Arthur's stomach churned almost instantly when he saw it.
Then, it churned even more when he read the notification that appeared.
[Ding!]
[Phase 2 has been triggered.]