Ex rank talent Awakening: 100\% Dodge rate-Chapter 194 - : DEMON WAVE VI

The already small number of players left became even smaller, their numbers dropping from hundreds to mere tens.

"Is this the great and mighty plan you thought of, Commander? Yes! I'm a traitor to the Empire. I helped two prisoners escape! I accept all of that. But the prisoners I helped—they're the ones defending the Empire right now. They're the ones fighting their hardest. You saw it, didn't you? They could easily leave this battle. It's not theirs to fight. And yet, they stayed—defending the wives, children, mothers, and fathers of the knights who locked themselves cowardly in a castle, allowing others to fight on their behalf because they're afraid of death, using tactics as an excuse to mask their cowardice!"

Elizabeth, unable to take it anymore, shouted at the war commander. Her words resonated with every knight. They all tensed up, guilt slowly creeping into their hearts.

The war commander frowned. He noticed the shift in the atmosphere—the knights were uncomfortable with the plan, their morale dropping ever so slightly.

"I accept it. It's selfish and dumb. But I'd rather choose selfish and dumb than watch my knights die when I could avoid it all by being cruel," he said, countering Elizabeth's words. He was salvaging the situation, trying to regain the knights' trust and ensure compliance with his orders.

Elizabeth, understanding the reason behind his words, simply shook her head and walked away, not intending to play the commander's games.

She watched the exhausted Stagnant Water from atop the castle wall, worried. Brian, for the most part, looked fine—still carrying the vigor he started with. His concentration had not yet weakened due to fatigue like the others.

[The fifth demon wave begins now!]

"Aren't they going to support us even now?" Stagnant Water asked with a frown. He was worried. Surviving the wave alone was unlikely—their numbers were too few.

In the fifth demon wave, elite demon knights appeared, their aura imposing.

The remaining players, left with no choice and no support, could only fight the demons by themselves. But their tenacity wasn't enough to bring victory. The demon knights were brutal, cutting down players like weeds.

Dual Blade gritted his teeth—the battle felt like a lost cause. He was the only one left from his short-range guild; all the others were dead.

He looked around, surprised to see only himself, Stagnant Water, and Brian alive. Every other player had either been killed or logged out. Meanwhile, the demons still numbered in the hundreds.

The war commander watched every moment, his heart aching. The foreigners were down to three—their chances of surviving against hundreds of elite knights were slim.

Dual Blade moved to the right, dodging a stab from a demon knight. With his two swords, he hacked at the demon, but the level gap wasn't small enough to kill it in a single strike. His follow-up attack was blocked by another demon knight backing up the first.

"Urgh!" Dual Blade groaned as a third demon knight slashed him from behind. His eyes were bloodshot—he knew victory was slipping away. His enemies were too many, too strong.

He felt overwhelmed. Now more than ever, he wished he had more than two hands to face his enemies. He struck at one demon, only to be blocked by another, then cut again by a third. It was just him against five elite demons, with more approaching.

With a crazed expression—one that screamed he wouldn't give up even with the odds stacked against him—Dual Blade did something insane. He retrieved a sword from his inventory and clenched it between his teeth. Though uncomfortable, he bore it. His attack power now had a multiplier of eight.

But he wasn't the only one struggling. Stagnant Water was in trouble as well. His teleportation no longer had the same effect—it would often place him behind one demon only to land him in front of another. With no opponents to keep them busy, the demons would immediately turn on him. Realizing the decreasing effectiveness of his talent, he chose to conserve the little stamina he had left.

He was on his last legs. The only reasons he was still alive, aside from his skills, were the timely assistance of Elizabeth from atop the castle wall, and Brian, who defended him from time to time.

"When will this end?" Stagnant Water groaned, locked in fierce combat with three elite demons as the pressure mounted.

Brian, despite having infinite stamina, exceptional swordsmanship, and the ability to read enemy attack patterns, was also feeling the strain. Knowing an enemy's attack was one thing—escaping it when your only route was already covered by another foe was another.

The coordinated strikes of the demon knights were a daunting challenge, but Brian, a genius in his own right, weaved through the danger. Unlike Dual Blade and Stagnant Water, the pressure on him was mild. To others, it seemed like he wasn't even trying hard.

Dual Blade, however, bore the heaviest burden. Unlike Stagnant Water, who stayed near Brian, Dual Blade was isolated—his ego the reason. He didn't want help from Brian. They weren't close, and he didn't want to owe a favor to someone he wasn't close to.

Fighting with an attack power multiplier of four, Dual Blade still struggled to defend himself. Desperate, he retrieved two more swords, wedging them under both arms, raising his multiplier to thirty-two.

Ideally, that was enough power to defeat the demons with ease. But his position became awkward—his freedom and flexibility to swing his blades were gone.

He fought his hardest, defending with everything he had. Still, he couldn't avoid the inevitable. One of the demon knights struck him down, his body breaking into pixels. But before he vanished completely, he drove his sword into the demon that had felled him, killing it in the process.

[Congratulations! You have met the requirement! Your talent has awakened a hidden ability!]

The system notification rang in his mind just as he disappeared, leaving only Brian and Stagnant Water as the last players standing on the battlefield. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com