Chương 11: Chiaroscuro

The silent dancers danced around Oscar's blows, and he did the same to theirs. It was a deadly dance where one misstep meant death. Dorian remained watching from above with complete infatuation at the spectacle. If he could just break away from these dancers, then he could maybe reach Dorian and end this. As it stood right now, Oscar was forced to use the blunt of his sword to incapacitate the townsfolk.

Which made the fight just so much more difficult, and at this rate, it was getting harder to hold himself back like this. He knew that the person he'd killed had been Dorian's fault, the blood wasn't on his hands, but that didn't mean he wanted to harm anyone else. The hard part was hitting them, but thankfully, it seemed that strong pain woke them up from the trance they'd been in. However Dorian had mesmerized these people, it wasn't enough to make them beings of power and destruction.

Deep down, the people they had been still remained. While they were adept at dodging, they weren't very graceful when it came to actually fighting. His [Lesser Dexterity] skill did a lot of heavy lifting, allowing him to capitalize on the moments after they failed an attack. A hand clawed at him from behind, its sharp nails raking the back of his neck. Wheeling around, Oscar kicked at their shin, knocking them over.

Feeling his instincts alert him to potential danger, he threw himself to the side and rolled away from another swipe. It was insane to think about what he was doing right now. Deftly dodging strikes, seizing moments of opportunity and actually having the skill to connect a blow… it was an addictive feeling. He hated to admit it, but he truly was enjoying this new side of him.

"Three more, Dorian. Three more and then you're next," Oscar said, as his sword's pommel crashed into a dancer's sternum.

"So be it," Dorian said.

"You know, I didn't expect you to be able to make yourself immune to my paint's influence. But I'm glad you did. You've provided to me something truly magnificent, dear Oscar. And because of that… I'd like to give you something in return." Dodging an incoming kick, Oscar grabbed their leg and flung them into one of the other remaining dancers. Once they had tumbled to the ground, he ran over and kicked them harshly in their side. Only one left now.

"Keep it to yourself, yeah? I think you're about to be running out of canvas for your so-called art," Oscar said as he launched into an aggressive offensive against the last standing dancer. Dorian snapped his fingers, causing the sole dancer to stop dead in his tracks. Without any more resistance, Oscar's blade crashed against his face. This time though, the person didn't get knocked down, nor did they cry out in pain. The dancer stood motionless, just staring straight ahead.

Afraid of the unknown, Oscar backed off, his thoughts swarmed with uncertainty.

"Oscar, the aspiring hero of Ascot, who was just one malady-stricken citizen away from undoing the curse which came from that foul [Painter]… has encountered an unforeseen obstacle right before the end," Dorian said as if he were reading a story.

"He doesn't know that a darkness festers within our villain, a darkness that was obtained just a mere hour away from this precious town… and now, as his imminent end looms overhead, he wishes to unleash that darkness. He just needs to see what happens once, for just once is all he needs to be inspired one final time…" Dorian leaped off the top of the fountain, landing behind the dancer. With his palm pressed against the back of the man's head, Dorian began to produce a strange light.

Oscar wasn't really following his edgy little story, but he knew that Dorian shouldn't be allowed to freely do… whatever it was that he wanted to do. And whatever it was that the [Painter] was emitting out of his palm, it gave off a similar dread that Calus had produced with his presence. A choice had to be made now, and unfortunately, he wasn't going to be afforded the moment he needed to make it.

He was fairly confident that whatever was going to happen if he chose to not intervene to be worse, so he acted without thinking about what he was doing. Oscar hurled his sword of shadows straight through the man's chest. The blade pierced through, but he was too slow as Dorian backed away, narrowly avoiding being pierced himself. The dancer drooled blood; his eyes widened in shock and pain. For a second, Oscar thought he'd been duped into killing another innocent.

But that fear was erased as the man's eyes rolled back into his skull, and the crimson that he'd been spewing out morphed into a strange black bile. As if being mangled by a child that was being too rough with their toy, his arms snapped back into an unnatural angle, breaking the bones. His legs began to bulge with an increased mass of muscle being suddenly packed on. Strange small spikes of some crystalline substance shot out of his skin, with an increased amount on his legs and feet.

Worst of all was what happened to his face. A gnarled spike erupted out of the side of his head, resembling a horn, and curled itself into a short spiral, ending with its point outwards towards Oscar. More of the black bile oozed itself out from around the base of the horn, staining that left side of his face. Oscar, being a horror buff in all forms of media, had seen worse. But there was something about seeing this in person that made it all the most haunting.

What he'd seen had been CGI, prosthetics, and pixels in a game. However, this was a real person, and now he'd been transformed into something so vile and so inhuman.

"What the fuck are you?" Oscar asked in horror. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"I'm unsure myself," Dorian replied.

"Someone far smarter and braver than me will have to be the one to go deeper to discover the answer to that." Oscar wanted to ask what he meant, but the newly warped dancer charged him. Its enhanced legs sent it barreling his way, forcing him to do a dodge roll to get out of the way. Its arms never changed or healed, so they both hung limp as it charged. Resummoning his shadow sword, Oscar entered a defensive stance. He knew the script for boss fights already.

Play passive and observe and learn its attack patterns and find the moments of opportunity to counterattack, but don't get greedy. The dancer charged again with the same speed, but this time when it got close, it jumped up high, lifting its leg up and aiming to slam it down onto Oscar's head. Immediately breaking his plan of being passive upon seeing a potential opening, Oscar raised his sword just below his hip and swung it upwards.

What made his [Malleable Shadow] skill so valuable was just how light his creations were. And the blade was no less sharp for it either. And so, when he swung upwards, the sword easily sliced through the dancer's leg, causing the dancer to fall face down upon hitting the ground.

"That was… far easier than expected," Oscar muttered.

"Shit, wait… I just jinxed it, didn't I?" The universe answered him by having the dancer stand back up again… on both legs. The severed limb grew whole, with new bones and tissue creating a replacement leg. The process was quick and disgusting to witness. Oscar cursed himself for the jinx and reentered his defensive stance. He noted that one of the spikes that had formed in its chest had been pushed in due to its fall. A small gaping hole was now visible, showing him the faint glow of something inside.

"Huh? A video game boss's obvious weak spot?" Oscar said quietly to himself.

"They're real? Holy shit… maybe Josiah was right about this world." With his target revealed, he went on the actual defensive this time, waiting for the right moment to strike its weak spot. This time the dancer was attacking like a ballet dancer, incorporating twirling kicks and rapid-fire foot jabs. Once again, that addictive feeling of adrenaline filled his body, making him regrettably find fun in the fight.

He blocked kick after kick with his sword, as well as doing time-perfect physical dodges, until finally, his moment arrived. A high kick to his chest caused Oscar to do a full-body pivot. Then the dancer spun its body, increasing its momentum to launch its leg crashing towards his head. Sensing the incoming strike, he ducked down at the last possible second. The sound of air being disturbed at such speed caused a loud swoosh sound as the leg passed overhead, tearing through the air.

Oscar popped up once the danger had passed and went for its gnarled horn. Upon grabbing the horn, he then yanked down hard, intending to bring it's head down into his knee. What happened instead was the horn snapped, causing the dancer to roar out in agony and anger. Panic swarmed within him; he was unsure of what to do next, so he stabbed the horn into where he believed the source of the glowing to be from.

The horn pierced through skin and sunk deep inside the dancer's body, but the tip shattered upon making contact with something hard from inside. Dragging the horn out, Oscar ripped the flesh back, exposing what was inside. The dancer let out an inhuman screech and fell onto its back, spasming on the floor, its legs flailing around wildly. As it fell, one violent spasm had resulted in slinging around one of its broken arms, smacking Oscar across the face, knocking him down as well.

As Oscar peeled himself off the cobbled ground, he spat a mouthful of blood out. The impact had left his head ringing, but he knew this was the moment to finish the fight. Any more stalling and the dancer would likely recover… and [Lesser Dexterity] or not, he was getting exhausted fast. Looming over the dancer, he cut off both of its feet first before aiming for its center. There seemed to be an extent to how much it could regenerate, as the limbs didn't instantly heal.

But he was confident that they would still regenerate, so best to end this now. The core—which was what he had decided to call it—was a strange long stone-like object that was oddly shaped. It was a wildly unnatural-looking stone, with a strong purple hue emitting out from deep within. Oscar prayed that his shadow sword would be enough to pierce through the core as he stabbed down. He felt the sword meet resistance, but as he pushed down harder, he felt the tip sink in ever so slightly.

Once he made the initial insertion, the remainder of his sword flowed through with ease. Yanking out his weapon from the punctured core, a series of cracks began to sprawl out for the wound. As the core crumbled away, Oscar watched as the poor man that had been forced to undergo such misery was finally granted peace." Incredible! Oh, how I wish my end wasn't imminent! If only I could transcribe what I just witnessed into a delectable painting for the whole world to see…"

Dorian said as he got down on both knees, prostrating in front of Oscar.

"Alas, I'm not much of a fighter, even after undergoing my transformation."

"You're not going to put up a fight? After all of that… you just give up?" Oscar asked.

"I've exhausted all of my options, and once I embarked on this journey to create my masterpiece, I knew that someone like you would end me," Dorian said.

"Once I stumbled upon that peculiar dungeon and became capable of true sight… it was only a matter of time. Although, I thought I'd have more time before someone showed up. I should have been more prepared, but when you three arrived… I panicked and sent you to the diner to eat, forgetting the scene that I'd already painted for her."

"Where is this dungeon at? And what exactly did happen to you?" Oscar asked. Dorian snorted and looked away towards town hall.

"I'm a [Painter], Oscar. You wish to know my story? Then seek my art; it shall tell you a better tale than any feeble words. Now, kill me already." Oscar looked down at Dorian, contemplating whether or not he could really execute him. He'd already killed two people, but they'd been under Dorian's control. It wasn't pleasant, but neither did it horrify him. Self-defense was self-defense, and he'd be damned if he'd let this man's actions stain his conscience. But this was an execution.

On Earth, Dorian would need to be arrested and brought in for justice. This was a step too far surely, because who was he to decide this man's fate? No matter how twisted and insane he was. It was also clear something had messed with his mind and influenced him, but also a part of him seemed to be normal and aware of what he was doing.

"There is no choice to be made, Oscar," Dorian said.

"If I don't die, then your friends will remain encased in crystal, and the remaining citizens will stay in the loop I place them in. Get on with—""[Malleable Shadow: Essence of Dagger]," Oscar said, morphing his sword into a dagger with a long and serrated edge and slashed it across Dorian's throat. There wasn't any real reason for changing his weapon's form; he was just curious if he could quickly swap weapons like that while having one already formed.

Once Dorian had said Bruno and Gita would remain crystallized, he had made up his mind. They weren't his favorite traveling companions, but they were all he had. Solitude is cool and all, but not so much when dealing with a dangerous new world. Dorian collapsed onto the cobbled ground, his neck spewing blood all over Oscar's shoes. In the end, his death hadn't evoked anything inside him. He hadn't enjoyed it, but neither did he think it'd keep him up at night either.

Three bodies to his name should make him feel something, but as he marched back towards town hall, all Oscar thought about was if there'd be a cool and shiny reward for saving the town. Assuming there were other survivors, of course. Any reward would be fine with him, as it'd be more symbolic than anything for celebrating his first quest-like mission being completed. He thought about a vast number of potential rewards ranging from common and boring, to legendary and unique.

His mind could conjure up an infinite number of ideas, and he would've done so all the way up until he finally left this cursed town. However, upon entering town hall, Oscar immediately passed out, ceasing any further thoughts about what sort of reward he was to obtain. Level Increase! [Abyssal Acolyte - Level 3] New Skill Obtained! Skill: [Black Out] Obtained! Level Increase! [Abyssal Acolyte - Level 4] New Skill Obtained! Skill: [Skill Divest] Obtained!

[Skill Divest] has found (1) nearby candidate: Dorian Cedric, [Painter - Level 11]