[You have died!]
Noir stood while holding his sword. This was his one thousand two hundred thirty-eighth death.
Death no longer felt frightening at all for Noir.
"This time, I almost memorized all of your movements."
Noir walked, moving forward. Without any fear left. The Avatar of the Demon King opened his eyes, and he immediately looked toward Noir.
In one second, he moved instantly. He swung toward Noir's center. He wanted to cut Noir's body into two.
However, before that happened, Noir had already anticipated it. He blocked the slash with his sword.
CLAAANG!!
Noir had positioned his sword correctly. He blocked the slash.
His body was still thrown hard, crashing into the stone wall until it cracked. But he was still alive. One of his legs broke. But he was still alive.
[HP: 570/1,400]
Noir jumped backward, then channeled Mana to his feet. The burst of energy from his soles pushed his body back into the air. He rolled, landed, and immediately dashed to the left side when a magic attack was fired by the Avatar of the Demon King.
BOOOM!!
The black explosion destroyed the place where Noir stood earlier. But Noir was no longer there.
He began running toward the Avatar of the Demon King. Jumping, spinning, and light slashes were done to distract him. His sword hit the Avatar's waist. Not fatal, but enough to divert his focus.
SWISH!
The Avatar of the Demon King turned around and slashed. Noir ducked. The slash cut through the air just inches above his head. Then Noir stabbed toward the enemy's leg. But the Avatar's armor was too strong. His sword only created small sparks.
Noir jumped back. Noir felt his mana decreasing quickly.
The fight continued for three minutes. Noir managed to slash the Avatar of the Demon King, even if none of them were meaningful attacks. But he kept doing it anyway.
Until finally Noir arrived at the moment where he died previously.
"Three more seconds until his new pattern..." Noir calculated everything. Every attack. Every step. Every moment. Even every second.
The Avatar of the Demon King raised his left hand. The sign of a large scale destructive magic was about to be released.
"A correct guess."
Noir instantly jumped to the right side. Running on the wall. When the attack exploded, he leaped with all his strength.
DUAAAKK!!
He managed to avoid the attack. He already knew everything, and thousands of previous deaths were very useful to him.
The Avatar of the Demon King raised his right hand. A black light formed like a highly condensed sphere of darkness.
"Tch... this was what killed me earlier," Noir muttered.
The attack was thrown upward. Noir clicked his tongue in annoyance. He did not know how wide the explosion of that attack would be because previously, he died before seeing everything.
Noir had faced this attack before, but his party could block it. That made Noir not think too much. They won by numbers.
"I will try jumping as far as possible," Noir said.
Noir kept jumping repeatedly. He wanted to reach the wall of the room, but the sphere of darkness became smaller and more condensed.
It exploded.
ZRAAAAAK!!!
The explosion was extremely powerful. The floor shattered. Noir had not reached the end of the room. But the explosion already reached him.
His body was split apart. The black explosion swept almost the entire room. His bones scattered. His sword broke. The purple light in his eyes vanished.
[You have died!]
[Number of Deaths in Cycle: 1,237]
[Attack Pattern Understanding Progress: 90.1 percent]
Then a white screen covered his vision. His body reformed and appeared again in front of the gate.
Slowly.
Noir sat still. Lowering his head.
"...90.1 percent. I am getting closer," he whispered softly.
He also finally understood how far the explosion of the dark sphere reached. If he pressed his body against the wall of the room, he would survive.
His hand gripped the handle of his sword again. Noir stood once more. He was ready to fight again. No matter how many times he died. Noir did not care anymore.
What mattered to him was the method to defeat the Avatar of the Demon King.
"Alright, let us start from the beginning again."
**
The battle began. As usual, the first movement of the Avatar was the middle slash. Noir anticipated it, and this time, he was not thrown away. He intentionally adjusted the angle of his parry so the enemy's strength was pushed aside.
His movements were becoming perfect. His reflexes blended with instinct. He did not only remember, he read and adapted.
The next attacks were also avoided more perfectly by Noir. Even his HP only decreased a little.
But... the Avatar of the Demon King was still too strong. His sword only created shallow scratches. That would not kill the Avatar of the Demon King.
Noir stepped back. His mana was thinning again. His HP decreased.
[HP: 411/1,400]
[MP: 39/130]
The Avatar of the Demon King used the previous attack. The black sphere was thrown, and Noir ran toward the wall as fast as possible.
BOOM!
The explosion was very fast. Noir's body was almost caught by it. Fortunately, he pushed his body forward with all his strength.
His body hit the wall and he immediately hugged the wall tightly while praying that his prediction was right.
"Is it over?" Noir turned around.
The room had turned into a crater. The explosion was extremely strong and deadly. Noir was still alive. He and the Avatar of the Demon King stared at each other, even though Noir had no eyes.
"What else can you use against me?" Noir challenged.
The Avatar of the Demon King released a very powerful aura. The pressure forced Noir to fall to his knees. At the same time, the Avatar appeared in front of him.
"Damn it. He has this ability too," Noir complained.
Slash!
Noir's head fell. His body was kicked. His head was crushed underfoot.
He was defeated again.
[You have died!]
**
Noir rubbed his chin. He looked at the screen in front of his face.
[Attack Pattern Understanding Progress: 98.4 percent]
This was almost perfect. Only one small attack pattern remained unseen by Noir. After that, he could memorize all attacks of the Avatar of the Demon King.
"So it turns out you only have one fourth of the Demon King's full power. Not as terrifying as I thought," Noir said.
Even though he had died 1,238 times. Noir did not count it, nor did he care. It was useless because what he thought about was how to defeat the Avatar of the Demon King.
"If it stays like this, I will not win," he complained.
A normal sword did not deal enough damage to the Avatar of the Demon King. He needed another way. Something that could bring out a strong attack.
Suddenly Noir had an idea. "Right. I have that."
He opened his Inventory. His eyes focused on one item which was [Luminblade of the Dragon Legendary Weapon]
A weapon with a light attribute. It was a very suitable weapon against demons, but it would also hurt him.
Noir hesitated at first, but he nodded. "There is no other choice."
He took out the Luminblade of the Dragon and held it. His HP kept decreasing the moment he held that sword.
[-30 HP]
[-30 HP]
It kept appearing. Noir did not have much time, he looked toward the Avatar of the Demon King. He nodded and sprinted.
"Die, you bastard!" he shouted.