"So, are you going to show me how to do your secret technique or what?" Said the skeleton in an annoying voice.
"C'mon, I was a good person. I let you escape and try out your plans, and I didn't attack you when you were exploring the first floor. I think I deserve to be compensated for my generosity"
During all this time, he could've just easily killed me.
"I'll even keep my part of the deal to give you a painless death"
All I could do was take some steps back, completely frozen by fear.
"I'll even raise my part of the deal by promising to make you a high-ranking member of my undead army. I see a lot of potential in you"
He started approaching me. And every step he took towards me, I took one away from him until my back hit the wall.
"You won't find better deals elsewhere"
As soon as he got too close to me, my body instinctively remembered all my training with Karla, making me assume a defensive stance.
"We'll... I do need you to do your spells. But since we haven't agreed to anything, I guess that means that I can attack you as much as I want"
I jumped and kicked the wall to launch myself at him with both of my daggers in front.
All he needed to counter my move was to simply just slap me away as if I were a fly.
"I'm not interested in your physical capabilities. Show me what you can do with magic"
I landed on my feet and began running at him.
Once I got close enough, I started throwing a flurry of attacks with my daggers.
But all my attacks were easily blocked by him.
He even managed to get a kick through my attacks that connected on my chest, causing all the air I had to leave my body.
"Maybe I forgot to say please" he said in an annoyed tone as he watched me get on my knees and breathe heavily.
"Please, just use magic!"
The lich kicked me on the side of my head, causing me to fall to the ground.
"Oh, sorry. I seem to have used a bit too much force on you" he laughed after saying that.
I slowly stood up feeling dizzy, everything was spinning around and I saw two liches when I looked at the skeletal boss.
I fell back down to the ground.
"C'mon lil' man, I know you can stand up"
He started saying things like "You can do it" or "Fight".
I don't really care about him making fun of me. What I do care about is that he put his cold, dirty, and hard boney foot on my back.
I slashes upwards to cut his leg bones.
He did pull his leg off of me, which gave me enough space to create some distance between us.
"You're irritating me, kid" while his skull remained expressionless, his voice was another story.
The next thing I knew was that he appeared in front of me.
He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt before I could even attempt to escape and lifted me in the air.
He started beating me up, punching my face with his fist.
A punch, then another one, and another one, and another one, and another one, and another one...
At some point, I lost count of the number of times he punched me in the face.
His white, boney fingers turned red with my blood. Even his own face got tainted red with my blood.
"Tch, now you're almost useless"
He threw me to the ground, far away from him.
...
...
Is this my end?
Is this as far as I go?
Only to the second week of the game?
Now that I think about it, it isn't that surprising.
[Dragon's Roar] is a game that has a perma-death mechanic, meaning that your characters can die and you can't revive them without resetting to a previous save file.
And with me being one of the worst characters stat-wise, it's no wonder I die to this boss that's way above what Alen could deal with.
It's a miracle that Alen made it this far without dying, honestly.
If I was still on my other world, on my other body, I'd say something like... "It was interesting to see a hidden side to a character I knew nothing about"
Or I might say something like "Why was Alen so important? He only appears at the mid-poimt of the game, has no actual dialog with anyone, and is a trash tier character. Why would a character like him be friends with Franchesca Von Themys, Cecil Treyaro, or Theo Der Botcam? Why was he in the S class now when he appeared at the bottom of the F class on every other playthrough?"
Or I would mention "What was the point of Alen being related to the [Crescent Moon]?"
If I was still on my other body...
But I stopped being who I was... I merged with Alen long ago...
Now his thoughts, his feelings, they're also mine.
The love I have for my family.
The love I have for my friends.
My desire to save them.
They're no longer just Alen's feelings...
I am Alen just as much as Alen is me.
Whoever I was before transmigrating has no meaning to me when I can't even remember anything from my previous life besides playing [Dragon's Roar].
And what Alen's feeling right now... what we're both feeling... what I am feeling right now.
"I don't want to die" I, Alen, said with a sob.
I want to be there to reunite with my family, the [Crescent Moon].
I want to be there to save Fran from becoming a monster.
I want to be there to be Fran's friend, to be Cecil's friend, to get to a point where I can be friends with Theo.
I want to see Kaida grow into that main character that'll save the world.
I want to live!
And the people that can overcome difficulties, the ones that rise beyond adversity.
Are the ones that innovate, the ones that risk everything to live.
Between a man that has nothing to live for and a man that wants to live.
The most dangerous of the two isn't the one that has nothing to love for.
It's the one that wants to live to see the day of tomorrow.
Because he'll try everything he can to live next to the ones he loves.
"[Wind Infusion]"
Both of my daggers' edges became coated with a razor-sharp wind edge that granted my weapons a chainsaw-like effect.
"So you finally want to cooperate?"
I used my left dagger to stab my thigh.
"Huh!?"
The blood on my thigh coated both my weapon, as well as the golden necklace that wrapped around my left arm.
"A-are you... killing yourself!?" The lich boss asked with noticeable surprise. If he had a face, he'd probably raise his eyebrows.
The chainsaw effect on my thigh kept the pain going so that I wouldn't faint.
But this process requires time, and i don't think he'll give me time to do stuff.
"No, you're no-"
The skeleton boss was interrupted when a spider shot its web at his feet, stopping him momentarily.
I looked around and saw that spider.
It was the same spider I failed to kill when my party first entered this dungeon.
"You pests!"
He tried to take another step, but the spider moved through the holes to a different spot with a fast and experienced knowledge of this entrance.
The spider shot a string of its web to the back of the lich's skull and pulled, making the lich stumble backward.
I don't know what that spider's plan is. But if it wants to help me, then I won't complain about extra help.
I focused back on what I had to do once I saw the necklace shine with a red light.
"Now it's the worst part" I braced myself for the pain that was about to be added to me.
The necklace began to rise in temperature, to the point that I felt as if I was dipping my hand right into a pool of lava.
"Aaaaaaah!"
Since I have no mana thanks to using the chainsaw-dagger-on-my-thigh strategy, the blood started to absorb my own blood to power itself.
But this isn't time to not do anything.
I began concentrating on my inner mana.
The place felt a lot more different than before. It was empty, and I felt as if I was floating on a void of nothingness.
"[Sandstorm]"
With that, now I had a better feel for my outer mana.
Outside of me, the feeling was a lot more different, a soft breeze of mana that was present everywhere.
I have no time to think of how my circles need to be modeled right now.
So I moved the outer mana, and with help from the sandstorm I cast before, I created two different circles behind me.
Two generic-looking rings that floated on my back.
My mana no longer regenerated, and I could see that my two circles manifested on my hand.
My first ring, the one for my family, manifested itself on my heart finger.
My second ring, the one for my first ever friend, manifested itself on my ring finger.
I feel like I'm about to pass out at any moment now, but the dagger buried deep in my thigh jeeps me awake.
I chanted the strong form of the wind infusion spell.
"[Wind Infusion]"
I have no mana inside me, but the mana that surrounds me moved to re-embue itself on my daggers.
"Northern winds, attack"
"Winds of the of the north, attack my opponents with a wind, akin to the weapons used by the warriors you blessed"
"Cold winds of the northern region that is covered by a red blood snow, manifest into one of the weapons wielded by those strong warriors you blessed"
I don't know how many times I chanted all versions of the northern wind weapon set, quick, neutral, or strong.
My mouth began to dry up with all the times I chanted those incantations.
But I felt the rings behind me reserve all the spells.
"Huh!? Wh-what's that?" The cocky and arrogant lich asked me as he ripped the spider web out of his skull.
"[Wind Scythe]"
Instead of simply using my hand to cast it, I did the slashing motion with my remaining dagger.
The slash manifested and traveled all the way to the lich.
The boss dodged my attack, although his coat did get hit by the spell.
"[Wind Scythe]"
"[Wind Scythe]"
"[Wind Scythe]"
I started slashing the air, and different versions of the spell flew through the air towards the boss.
"Haaaa!?"
Although he tried to dodge, the amount of spells overwhelmed him.
"Aaagh, you!"
"Dark gods that brou-"
His chanting got interrupted by the spider pulling its web that stuck to the boss' lower jaw.
Seeing that I'll be receiving help from that spider, I got ready to run at that boss.
_______