Arthur gets a dagger he found nearby but holds it with no conviction and he starts to shake.
The ogre goes out of frenzy and says in aranic "Have fun" as he smiles and watches the goblins rush towards the porters.
He starts to laugh and it's like a howl that echoes through everyone's ears. The magician releases the barrier and they come flooding in. The scared individuals get taken out quickly but some fight back and start cutting down the goblins.
The ogre speaks again and the goblins change tactics. They attack from both sides and one by one they drop like flies. A goblin rushes towards Arthur and he puts his sword in a cowardly way and it gets knocked out of his hands.
The goblin then swings his blade and cuts him on the shoulder and before it goes any further, the goblin gets stabbed in the back by another porter.
Arthur gets attacked again while injured and cowers while falling backwards. Arthur opens his eyes and sees someone Infront of him.
Arthur grabs his shoulder and sees the blood. The instinctive fear kicks in and he starts to run away dodging and getting out of the there. "Coward" is whispered into his ear and "Weakling".
He gets out but not far enough away and the other porters actually open up a way for themselves escape and they start to run away. A faint smile appears on some of them but then a loud scream entrenches the dungeon. They lose the ability to move and the goblins stop attacking and create a path. The ogre's rage is felt throughout all of the people and monsters there.
The ogre swings it's claymore once and it kills all of the porters and monsters within range except Arthur and he just gets pushed away due the force he released and cut on his back.
"Pathetic" says the Ogre but somehow Arthur understood it.
As he sits there and the ogre is coming towards him. His mind goes blank but the whispers stop. He tilts his head to look behind him at the escape and voices start again. He looks at the ogre and they go away again. In that instinct he remembered something his mother told him "My lovely boy, please come back home safely." and then another person whose face he couldn't see but he saw her mouth move as she bumped into him and she says "Survive because that is your greatest skill."
Arthur didn't understand anything. All of his emotions just clashing with each other and then there's the small part of himself that has already forfeited his life. But those words his mother told him uplifts him and picks up the blade.
Arthur remembers all the times he was stepped on. Trampled and beat. The words people would call him and it keeps echoing. "SHUT UP!" shouts Arthur.
but the ogre is already there above him about to swing. Arthur at the last second gets out of the way and he feels this overwhelming pressure from the ogre as it turns to face him. Arthur takes a deep breath and says "10 years of preparing".
Arthur remembers a video he watched of an ogre encampment tutorial.
"Monsters don't have a set pattern. This isn't a game. It is life or death when you step into a rift. Ogre's are domineering creatures that enjoy the pleasure of watching you struggle." He says as he grabs the club with one hand from an ogre attack. "The best way to win against an ogre if you're weaker then them is to struggle."
"That's only if you come across a normal ogre. if it's a warrior ogre then your life is forfeit."
"Ogre's have a weight distribution problem and so their ankles are a weak point."
Arthur runs towards the ogre prepares a frontal attack and the ogre responds in kind but he dodges and fakes it out. Targeting it's left ankle instead and hitting it with full force but barely leaving a dent and with the blade breaking. He gets another sword from nearby and swings the blade as hard as he can and it finally goes into his ankle.
"AHHHHHHH" a scream in pain is heard from the ogre. The ogre falls down on knee and drops it's claymore. Arthur ready to attack again feels something from his hand.
He stands there looking down at it but starts to feel something all over his body. As the ogre rises back up he swings his claymore that he picks up but misses and continues to swing at Arthur.
The ogre misses but the shockwave sends Arthur flying towards the crossroads. As he crawls on the ground and coughs blood. His injury to his shoulder and back get exacerbated and his pain intensifies. He gets up again and sees the sword he just picked up is broken.
He sees the rookies sword but the ogre is charging towards him while dragging one leg. The closer he gets to the blade, the closer he will be to the ogre. Arthur's agonizing in pain but gets up and just starts to shout as he rushes to the blade. He gets there before the ogre and somehow dodges his attack going through his legs to deliver one powerful strike to his right ankle bringing down the ogre. From the damage he has received he starts to tumble and falls on the ground himself. With the sword in his hand he tries to get up. He continues to bleed and his wound starts bleeding more profusely, but he stands up with the blade as support.
The ogre tries to stand but falls down himself facing Arthur. "I will tear you limb from limb" says the ogre in an aggressive tone and Arthur in that moment remembered a Lucifer interview. Little Arthur sitting infront of the TV, eyes wide open.
"Now for the thing everyone has been waiting for" "Can you tell us what that last attack was?" asks the reporter. "I don't know really." Lucifer briefly pauses, while looking down in shame he says "In that moment, I felt like I had nothing left and my mind went blank". "It was a feeling like death was waiting behind me and the monsters were Infront." "All I thought was, that I want to live". "Then a system notification popped up and it gave me the ability Last Stand" "Without thinking I just lifted arm and I just did it".
Arthur starts to do the same. He couldn't see that the ogre threw his claymore at him but he put 100% trust into this technique. Arthur felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into an endless void and a voice asks him "What do you want?". "I want to win" says Arthur while maintaining the same stance continuously.
The claymore draw closer and closer to him until it was in his strike distance. Arthur swings his blade down softly like it was graceful motion and that strike cut everything in it's path. It sliced through the claymore and moved onto the ogre itself but it kept going after that.
Arthur drops the blade and coughs blood and bleeds from every orifice on his face and drops down to his knees. Arthur looks forward and sees everything he has done.
[Congratulations!]
[You have awakened]
System notification appears.
Arthur's vision starts to get blurry and he completely collapses on the ground but his drive to live is what is keeping him awake. His status window appears.
Name: Arthur Aldridge
Age: 24
Unique ability: Perseverance.
Strength: XX
His information page gets cut half way and it comes up with a warning screen telling him he is dying.
Calculating rewards screen appears
Rewards cannot be calculated pops up in a red box.
Arthur barely able to stay awake slowly closes his eyes, but right before he does. Another box appears and says reward calculated.