The fog lifted, and once again Orion found himself in front of the enemy who had slain him last time.
This time, his only advantage in life was that he had the luxury to die. He had the joy of a retry.
This time, he had a plan. Determination was boiling inside him.
And then… Trevor spoke.
"YOU AGAIN!"
'Huh…!'
"Wait, you remember me!" Orion asked, baffled.
"DO I REMEMBER YOU, DUDE WHAT WRONG WITH YOU, YOU WERE HERE JUST 10 MINUTES AGO. HOW THE FUCK YOU EVEN SURVIVE? YOUR BODY GO ALL PUFF, INTO ASHES.
YOU INTO SOME WOODOO SHIT OR SOMETHING!"
Trevor spoke, making Orion's heart drop.
'So the enemies remember me… or it was just this MF…'
'Damn, doesn't that mean they too can remember my moves and fighting style…'
A dark expression cast onto his face. All of his planning seemed like it was gonna drain down a sink.
"No… ultimately he's just a level 1 boss. Nothing I can't handle. Just follow the plan." He reminded himself, tightening his grip onto his new weapon, which he had switched out for his earlier bastard sword and shield.
Now he had a single blade in his hand. A katana.
But this wasn't any ordinary katana.
This was the famous Uchigatana from Elden Ring.
"If you remember, then there is no need for further talking. Let's begin." Orion grinned as he charged at Trevor, taking the lead this time.
No hesitation. No banter. No room to breathe.
He planned to play aggressively this time.
Trevor laughed, wild and delighted, hopping sideways, ducking, weaving, moving like a feral thing that had learned violence as a second language. He swung wide, then low, then stopped mid-motion just to jerk backward and yell something incoherent.
The old Orion would've flinched.
This one didn't.
Because he wasn't worried about taking damage anymore. The mentality to preserve health is good for a long drawn-out fight; however, he intended to end this phase in one go.
Just like his opponent, he was ready to trade blows this time. Just as the saying goes, in Rome, do what Romans do.
He watched. Not with his eyes alone, but with the memory of pain still fresh in his bones. The twitch before a feint. The way Trevor's shoulders dipped when he overcommitted. The manic bursts followed by half-beats of exhaustion.
"Careful," Orion murmured under his breath, circling. "You running out of breath, old man."
Trevor charged again, faster than he looked, crowbar crashing down where Orion's head had been a heartbeat earlier. Orion dodge-stepped past him, blade flashing out but stopping short.
No greed. Not yet.
Trevor snarled, breathing heavier now. Sweat ran down his face, grin twitching at the edges.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE PROPERLY!?"
Orion didn't answer.
He waited.
Trevor lunged again—too hard, too fast, anger overriding sense. His swing missed, crowbar scraping stone. His momentum carried him forward just a fraction too long.
And that was it.
'This was it…' Orion's eyes shone.
His hand moved to the hilt.
The world narrowed, slowed down.
Before coming here, he practiced it a few times, and he knew he could do it. For the first time, he was planning to use one of the Elden Ring weapon arts.
Ashes of War…
A special skill imbued in the weapon itself. They are special skills that cost a certain amount of magic to activate.
The Uchigatana he had also came with a very powerful Ashes of War. Unsheathe.
This was the entire reason he used this weapon in the first place.
The skill was simple: drawing the katana while it was sheathed in a quick-draw style which is quite popular in Japan.
It did a ton of damage. And that was exactly what he wished for.
As soon as his hand gripped the blade's handle, and he took the position necessary to use this technique, something magical happened. He felt like he had used a katana for centuries. His mind sharpened, and his unsteady hand on an unknown and mostly unused weapon solidified.
And the next second, with a flash of metal and blood-light, the blade was out of its sheath.
The strike was clean. Precise. A single, perfect motion born from desperation sharpened into clarity. The blade flashed once, cutting through air, flesh, and madness alike.
Trevor froze.
The crowbar slipped from his fingers.
A line of red traced itself across his chest, then deepened.
Orion, for the first time, saw blood really erupting out of a person like a fountain. It splattered on his face, but he didn't give it much thought.
The next second, Trevor collapsed without another word.
Orion stood there, chest heaving, blade still extended, then slowly exhaled and lowered it.
The boss room fell silent.
Trevor's bloodshot eyes looked at him like he had stolen his last pack of condoms before the man turned into mist.
…ENEMY FELLED
"I did it… it really worked." Orion honestly was taken aback by how easily he did it. Seems like enemies not having a health bar worked out for him this time. "Huh…!" Orion chuckled to himself.
For some reason, he found the entire situation funny, recalling how serious he was before entering to fight Trevor again.
Soon, Trevor's body, which had turned into ashes and dust, started to evaporate, and from it emerged an object which caught his attention.
"A handgun…" Orion blinked, taking the gun. He opened its magazine to see it had 10 bullets inside.
"Cool…" he smirked, which turned into a full-blown smile. They were only 10 bullets, but that was enough. If he used them sparingly, he could get great use out of them—especially when sneak-attacking enemies or ambushing them.
[That was a fine showing of thine Ashes of War—well struck, indeed. Yet pray tell, what dost thou intend to do with the strange weapon thou hast taken from that madman? If it trouble thee not, I would fain study it myself. 'Tis most fascinating, how so small an object may wield such dreadful power.]
Marika's eyes were glued to the gun Trevor dropped, making Orion immediately hide the gun in his inventory.
"Don't joke around, it only got 10 bullets. I'll be needing it in the future," Orion replied defensively.
[My, my… how miserly thou art. Who would have thought my newly risen lord to be so stingy of spirit? Hmph—thou guardest thy treasures as fiercely as any dragon.]
Marika pouted, seeing her new toy gone, and lost all her interest.
Orion didn't care. He was indeed frugal in his last life; titles like these didn't even faze him anymore. However, he couldn't let this sultry goddess waste those 10 bullets. Right now, the gun was his lifeline.
Orion soon saw the gates leading to the next floor, which had been covered in grayish boss fog and was now visible.
Beside the gate was another Site of Grace, which would be the second floor entrance grace, if he wasn't mistaken.
He had all of his flasks left, and his health was full with no injuries, so he decided to not waste any more time and delve deeper.
Eina did kind of tell him not to, but meh… she wouldn't know.
The moment Orion stepped onto the second floor, he knew things had escalated.
The area was pretty much the same, just slightly more spacious, but the monster he first encountered was different.
Gone were the familiar small green gremlins. What he saw was bigger and more dangerous-looking.
It was like a failed experiment to create a werewolf or something, since he saw a monster with a dog's head and a human body, with fur all around it.
It almost reminded him of Lupin from Harry Potter; however, he was far more impressive in his transformed state.
"Great," Orion muttered. "I know I wish to meet a dog girl or something, but this wasn't what I had in mind. The only thing dog-ish I need in them is ears, tails, and that friendly approach dogs have. Not this much fur…"
He then paused, suddenly recalling as he mentally checked his facts whether he wished for something else too and…
'Oh yes… I asked for girls…'
The kobold snarled and rushed him.
Orion didn't even think about switching back to sword and shield. The Uchigatana rested comfortably in his hands now, familiar as an old habit. He sidestepped the charge, blade flashing once—
—and the kobold collapsed in two neat pieces.
Orion blinked.
"…Huh. That was easier than expected."
Unsheathe is broken… dude.
Experience was a dangerous thing. Not because it made him reckless, but because it made him confident. He moved on, dispatching another kobold with a clean thrust, then another with a quick dodge and slash. Their movements were aggressive but sloppy, driven by numbers rather than skill.
Goblin or kobold, it didn't matter much anymore.
He recognized their patterns and movement habits enough to know when to avoid them and when to attack. His movements had long become more like a Souls-like player—no fear of attacks, but rather not matching the iframe on time.
Something he was doing rather impressively so far.
Dodge steps were his butter and jam by now. Improving dodge rolls was still a priority, though.
"Left, right—nope—bad idea," Orion muttered as he dodge-stepped past a club swing, countering with a cut to the back. "You guys really should consider training."
The dungeon answered by throwing more enemies at him.
Yeah, that was one thing he didn't like. Numbers, no matter whether they were made out of the weakest fodder, could overwhelm if they were high enough.
Two kobolds. Three goblins. A mixed group that clearly hadn't agreed on a strategy beforehand. Orion wove through them, rolling, stepping, cutting, occasionally getting clipped when he grew overconfident—but nothing serious.
He drank from his flask once, mostly out of spite.
By the time the corridor opened up again, the floor behind him was littered with bodies and questionable life choices.
Unlike in the anime, they don't evaporate instantly; it takes time. However, the fact that it happens at all raises enough curiosity to put a dedicated team of scientists on it to figure out why.
He stopped.
Ahead of him, mist churned slowly, thick and ominous.
The boss fog.
'Again.'
Orion sighed, resting the blade on his shoulder.
'Seems like every floor got a boss fight stored for me.'
He could only give up to his fate.
"…You know," he said to no one in particular, "at some point, this stops being dramatic and just becomes rude."
The fog pulsed invitingly.
Orion cracked his neck, adjusted his grip, and stepped forward—already bracing himself for whatever fresh nonsense waited on the other side.
xXx
A/N : How was the chapter, should I have made more comedy with Trevor, I could have but decided to end it since he was just suppose to be a gag character after all.
On another note, I got this fix on my patreon now. Got one extra chapter for the time being. Hope you guys check it out.
You can check out advanced chapter from Webnovel on My Patreon
Check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond