A Dwarf Attempts to Kill the Strongest Warrior in the Astral Plane Phase 1

Going by her estimates, Trinity was north of the central mountain, opposite Fargo, and was due for a course change to head directly toward Dreams. 

The darkness was spreading nicely, painting the whole realm black. It dripped and spread like watercolor, corrupting the once green plains with sunless black, feeding the millions of demons within who were dying to make this realm their own. Lady Xim watched from her third eye and smiled. She would soon have another satisfied client.

But then the fortress dipped. She had grown so used to the smooth machinations of the spider that she noticed the hobbling immediately. A moment later, it grew worse. Then it felt like the whole place was about to topple over. The witch raised her staff, and the mighty fortress ground to a halt. 

“What is happening, my beloved bug?” Xim closed one of her eyes, and it opened elsewhere in the fortress’s depths as a bat. She followed the source of the cacophony. “Ah, I see. Akira? Planet Killer?”

“What is it?” The witch could hear him through her mind’s ear.

“We have a saboteur aboard. Can you kill him?”

“Do it yourself.”

“It’s the dwarf.”

“Okay.”

The room remained silent for a time. She could hear the hero going back to sleep.

“...What?”

“It’s my fault, really. Pretty please?”

She could hear him get out of bed. “Fine. Give me a minute.”

Her senses returned to her. What a silly old woman she was.

It wasn't hard to surmise what Akira was thinking as he departed his lodgings. It was as if he were asked to do chores. His steps came with mild weariness, which was not his demeanor up until this morning. Compared to the fake campaign against the Great Devil, this was not as exciting. He made a promise to himself that for the next world, he would make the challenge as insurmountable as possible, the least likely party to win, winning. That would make things more interesting, at least.

When he entered the western skeletal corridor, he could spy a bug flying above him, making a lot of noise. It was taking a dump on the joints, and its dropping blew out parts of the machinery. He just had to kill it, so he did. He pointed at the creature, cast Heavenly Light, and a beam the size of a pencil blasted the creature in its head. One and done.

The hero turned around to leave, but he stopped. He noticed certain key sounds didn't follow his attack. No experience points jingles, no thuds or death grunts. The bug had a certain flight pattern, as well as a cool wind behind it. 

An impact struck him. It barely missed, pricking his left hand and shooting it forward with the inertia. The attack hurt, confusing the hero. Akira’s internal HUD noted a decrease in health points, but nothing to cause alarm. That was, until he looked down. There was a hole that wasn’t there before, and a couple of fingers were missing. They were several meters ahead of him, scattered across the stone tile.

Akira hadn’t lost his fingers since early in his adventuring days, when he was still a bright-eyed, pitiful boy. To lose them again at this age. Akira turned to face his opponent again.

The bug still floated fine, dancing on a consistent flow of flames. The beam that went right between the eyes left only a minor scorch mark on the steel slitted helmet. The dwarf didn't like that at all.

“Akira Kasuga!” Dige roared, muffled by his helmet. “I'm going to kill you!”

The Planet Killer's face went wide with fury. That man!? That half-man wounded him!? 

0.01 seconds. Asahara activated Second Light mentally. 

0.11 seconds. Asahara completed the verbal requirements and unleashed the spell’s magical beam.

0.25 seconds. Asahara aimed the emitting beam toward Dige. The beam contacted the dwarf. Estimated damage: 2,004,294,649. 

A second shot lodged itself into his gut. He could detect the caliber, a cannon shot at least 30mm in size. It took every bit of concentration that Akira’s mind could conjure within a nanosecond to deny the shot its reality, and his enchanted mail succeeded. The piercing blow broke and scattered across his body, but the protagonist was pushed back, his beam disappearing over his broken concentration.

“His attacks,” Akira said to himself faster than the human brain could process. “They can be blocked to some extent, but still. What’s with this dwarf?”

The armor was blackened slightly but not burnt, and the bridge of Dige’s nose sported a nice sunburn.

“Is that all you got!?” Dige roared. “Take this!”

3.25 seconds. Asahara activated Flash Step. Asahara-.

Another shot ricocheted off the floor and scattered across his left leg. Again, Akira held strong, but he recognized the lethality of what Dige was offering. High velocity, armor-piercing. This was a weapon capable of felling a greater dragon. Akira could not risk remaining at this distance.

3.28 seconds. Flash step completed.

The Flash Step was Asahara's favorite move. It had a psychological effect to it, a strong sense of theming. In an instant, he could be in front of, behind, above, or anywhere around his opponent long before they noticed. It denied his opponent any chance of counterplay. No matter how powerful or impervious they thought they were, Akira could blindside them, and his opponents were completely powerless to stop him. The moment he appeared behind them, and they realized that they were already dead, was an irresistible pleasure. It told the universe that he was stronger.

However, this Flash Step was slow, only moving Akira at a paltry superhuman speed toward Dige. Everything threw Akira off his mojo. His sword unsheathing was sloppy. His awareness waned. He grimaced as he closed the distance. The dwarf saw him coming. Impossible.

He had to change his tactics, so rather than slashing, he kicked him with the full force of his body, and the dwarf tumbled through the sky like an exploding soda can, spraying fire and bullets in every direction. Akira pressed the advantage and used Flash Step again, this time materializing a hammer he received 12 worlds ago and ringing Dige like a bell. If he were a golfer, Akira would’ve had an excellent drive, because the dwarf flew cleanly into the enclosed hallway. Birdie.

However, that wasn’t what he wanted. Suppression fire blew out the hallway, grazing him, and then silence. Akira didn’t memorize the layout of Trinity, but he guessed the dwarf’s pattern and pursued. The legs were open space. The corridors were closed. There were a lot of demons around, but they would not last against Dige’s dragon killer and Akira’s magic. It was a game of cat and mouse.

“I thought you were going to kill me, dwarf,” Akira smiled, baiting him.

“Yes, I am, so come closer so I can shoot ye.”

Dige’s words betrayed him, and the corridor became an inferno of superheated blue flames. Inferno Push, the ability was called. Akira watched from afar as the dwarf scrambled amidst the turbulent wind and energy, but rather than run, the dwarf laid down more fire on the exposed hero. The projectiles burst through Akira’s torso, puncturing his stomach, intestines, and lungs, forcing the hero to Flash Step away into a safe corridor. He waited for the dwarf to pursue him, but instead, Dige flew away, perhaps bothered by the intense heat.

“This can’t be happening,” Akira gasped, clinging to the wall. “How am I losing this fight? Mend Wounds.”

From Akira’s HUD, he was down to 20% health and under a bleed condition. If he didn’t have the fortitude and sheer willpower to keep standing, he would’ve fallen dead by now, mowed down by anti-infantry firepower. However, once his spell took effect, the holes in his body sealed up, and all of the digits on his hand regrew. He took a deep sigh of relief. A clean green health bar.

It was like Vel had said before. He remembered her words over a late-night campfire. “His anti-magic is specific. He doesn’t recognize the more celestial magic functions as real. You have to use attacks rooted in the physical world.”

Therefore, Akira thought, he would have to overwhelm his opponent with sheer brute force. It all started to make sense. What was he so worried about? In fact, he should be excited. There was a new challenge that required him to use his noggin. He had hundreds of spells to try out, plenty of strategies to ponder over. The dwarf wasn't a god. He was just an enemy encounter with a condition he wasn’t familiar with. It was all to test his acumen as the Astral Plane's mightiest hero.

So why did it piss him off so much?