Blow After Blow

"A lot of things." Ace hissed as he pressed the wound on his knee, hissing in pain as he tried to stop the bleeding.

"You did a good job," Cleo said, floating in front of his face. "Ten. Not bad for a first-timer."

"Ten down, ninety more to go." He scrunched his face in pain as he leaned against the tree's trunk, breathing heavily. "What happened to my plot armour?"

"This is outside of the story. It is not with you right now."

"That sucks," he said, breathing heavily. "How many minutes have passed? Is it almost dawn?"

Cleo promised Ace that if he survived until dawn, whether he got the three hundred kills or not, he will give him another cheat.

"You know that it has only been thirty minutes right? Dawn is still a good six hours away." Cleo laughed as Ace groaned in frustration.

"Why did I even listen to you? You weren't even helpful." He hit the back of his head against the trunk.

"I told you their weak spots, didn't I?" It asked, laughing. "The rest is entirely up to you, Ace."

"I hate you so much."

"Please try not to die. Another ten are coming your way." Cleo said, turning into a screen to show the forest in an ariel view and showing ten blinking red dots coming to his spot.

There were several other red dots around his area and it is only a matter of time before they also start coming to him.

"They love the smell of royal blood." It laughed. "You know that you are the second one to agree to this? The rest of them refused."

"What happened to the first one?" He asked, tearing his shirt and wrapping it around his open wound.

"I will give you one guess." It said, eyes glistening in the moonlight.

Ace rolled his eyes as a sound came from behind him and he shot up to his feet, pain running through his leg.

It took everything in him not to fall to the ground once again because getting up will be harder and the noises were growing closer to him.

Opening his palm, he thought of a spear as it came out of a portal that opened as the mark on his hand began to glow.

Holding the spear, he used that as a crutch to help him stand up straight, well, as straight as he could, and braced himself for another battle.

"Hey, on the bright side, you can do that summoning of magic like it is nothing," Cleo said, happily.

"Shut it." Ace couldn't help but hiss out as he looked at the pairs of bloodthirsty eyes slowly surrounding him. "How did I even kill ten of them before? What kind of luck is this that I never had before?"

"It is because I am able to help you so much." The fox landed on his shoulder, grinning.

"If you say so." he sighed, looking down at his leg and hands.

He may be in the body of the Male Lead that has a ton of plot armour but not when the story is not going on.

I guess that is how most of them died. The story would not really let him get killed unless the player goes into a bad ending for this character.

Even then, does a bad ending lead to them dying or are they just to reset from the beginning again?

"Look out!" Cleo shouted as his body jumped to the left, narrowly missing a bite to his jugular. "Pay attention! You don't want to die here!"

"I know." he huffed, feeling the wound on his leg open again, slightly.

"What are you thinking of?"

"Something," he said, jumping from another creature again.

"Attack. You can only dodge for so long." Cleo said, voice strained as it attempted to look anywhere else except at him. "That body has skills, not as much as other characters have but it does. So make use of it."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" He mumbled again before jumping away from another claw almost at his face.

Shaking his head, he forced himself to concentrate. Let's just get this over with first. I will deal with it later.

Jumping, he tried to slash at one of the creatures but his hands refused to move according to his will. Before he could get hurt again, he moved quickly away.

But these creatures as losing the weariness of him and, instead are now trying to attack him full on.

This happened before also. He remembered how he was able to attack them properly at first, but as it kept going, his body began to stop listening to him.

His arms felt too heavy to move and his own legs did not listen to him except to dodge against the incoming attacks.

What am I doing wrong?

A couple more minutes and more injuries later, he collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.

He was only able to get rid of two more but it seems as though there is more than ten right now, but with his hazy vision, he really couldn't tell anymore.

"You can't give up now!" Cleo said, frantic. "You can't!"

"Why not? I should be able to do whatever I want." He hissed back at it. "My patience is really being tested right now and I can see my life flashing before my eyes. There is no way for me to survive right now."

"Is this how you wish to die?" It asked, flying in front of his face.

"Does it look like I care?"

"What if all the heroes in your games quit right at the beginning?" The fox asked, blazing a little bit redder. "You have potential and you know how to keep getting back up. Remember how you were the first time you played this game?"

Ace sighed, frowning at it, "I got the bad ending immediately."

"Yes." The fox nodded. "But you didn't give up then, right? So don't give up now. If you want to give up and die, shouldn't it be at least in a cooler way?"

"Fine!" he said, pushing himself off the ground. "I will try then."

"Good." The fox's red simmered down and he noticed that something like a veil was pulled away from above them and the forest of creatures was in his view once again.

"In that time, couldn't you have healed me, or given me some kind of advice?" He frowned at the fox as another creature charged at him once again.

"Concentrate!" Cleo shouted as he got a scratch on his chest from its sharp claws.

Focus. Come on. You can focus.

Wait, what was Ace's weapon again?

He thought back to the promotional video and remembered that he always had some kind of sword in his hands. Spears were for training and bow and arrows were more for long-range.

But he used more of the sword.

Do I have a sword?

Three more creatures rushed at him as he breathed out and made the spear in his hands disappear as he ducked behind a tree and

The only weapons he had were a wooden bow with some makeshift arrows and a wooden spear, that too looked like it was handmade.

Though they are unlimited, they broke easily and really did not do too much damage.

As he continued to run, he tried to summon the sword in his inventory. But his hands shook with worry. If it is a weak sword, will we even be able to make it?

It seems his inventory is very limited right now. He has collected nothing yet and … he wonders if that will be enough.

Better something than nothing. He stretched his hands out and the mark glowed to reveal a standard sword. Mostly used by the soldiers when they are training.

Kind of blunt and very, very easy to break.

Gripping the handle of the sword, he finally turned to face them.

Blood oozed out of his open wounds but the adrenaline was too high for him to stop right now.

"I either live or I die." He said, staring at all the creatures running at him. "I really hope it is the former but … Well, beggars can't be choosers."

"You talk to yourself a lot don't you?" Cleo said into his ear. "Why don't you just … let go?"

"You told me to try what I can to survive." He said, swinging his sword at a creature just for it to snap in half. "S***."

He dodged the creatures once again, summoning another sword and swinging it just for it to break again.

He had to resummon the sword another three times before the creature finally died. But he was gasping for air and his body is nearing its limit.

Why is this so damn hard? They make it seem so easy in the games and comics.

He collapsed to his knees once again, looking at the numerous creatures charging at him with his swollen and broken eyelid.

I don't want to die here. Not again. Please.

"Stop!"