Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich decided that he must get rid of the shieldman first. As long as the shieldman kept protecting and the swordsman got more chances to attack he would stand no chance at this rate.

Aldrich felt his blood flowing, yet he purposefully didn't look at his wound to keep his focus on the battle.

Aldrich exchanged blows with the swordsman from time to time, he managed to land some hits but they were too shallow. Most of the time his attacks were blocked by the shieldman.

This frustrated Aldrich to no end, if he attacked the swordsman the shieldman blocked him, if he attacked the shieldman he would leave an opening for the swordsman.

He was meeting the swordsman blow for blow but if the predicament continued he would tire out and lose.

Even if he wanted to use the same strategy again to kill one of them the staircase was blocked by the husks, he was trapped here.

Aldrich could feel himself thinking clearly even while he was exchanging deadly blows with the sword wielding husk. In fact he felt himself improving as time went on, he was learning the move-set of this monster.

The two husks coordinated well with each other, each covered for the other's lacking qualities and together they produced a force that Aldrich even suspected had a chance to defeat the armored husk back in the base.

The short stature of the shieldman allowed him to move freely and intercept Aldrich's attacks from almost any angle. This was in contrast to the swordsman's taller stature.

Aldrich sighed, he didn't like taking risks but often in times like these he had no choice but to take a risk otherwise his defeat and subsequent death were inevitable.

Aldrich backed away and launched his sword in the air like a javelin at the swordsman.

The swordsman, froze for a moment, and proving to be every bit the warrior Aldrich thought he was, he evaded by rolling into one of the rooms in the hallway.

Aldrich took this chance and began sprinting the moment he launched the sword in the air. The shieldman held its defensive stance.

Aldrich grabbed the shield with both hands and with great strength he suspended the husk in the air and walked towards one of the broken windows along the hallway.

The husk understood the danger it was in and tried to let go of the shield but his hand was strapped to the shield tightly with two belts. It's struggle was in vain.

Aldrich's superior strength was enough for him to throw it out of the broken window. Aldrich didn't stay to see the impact instead he rushed back to his sword but he did hear a satisfying thud.

He was just in time for the enraged husk's charge. Aldrich held his ground until just before the collision he sidestepped and the husk found himself charging at the staircase leading down.

Just now due to the earlier gambit the husks and Aldrich exchanged places. Aldrich exploited the rage of the husk to lure it into a trap.

The husk tumbled backwards. That fall would have been bad enough without the armor. The resulting crash was all the better for it.

He went downstairs and found the husk struggling to stand. That wasn't enough to kill it? Tough asshole. Aldrich took it upon himself to split it's skull in half.

Aldrich collected the orbs from both husks and decided to take a breather. The fight had drained him of even the space to breath.

Aldrich examined the battle and even he himself was impressed that his gamble worked. It was a desperate attempt. And yet the most impressive was his ability to think so clearly amidst the fight.

If this was a result of the intelligence attribute then it was definitely well spent essence orbs. Now he had twelve orbs total, a good haul.

But Aldrich wasn't done hunting just yet.

Aldrich cleaned out this house but only roughly, he made sure to get anything that looked valuable, that included four coin pouches, all of them were quite heavy.

He planned to do a through inspection of all the houses he cleared but that will come at a later time. When he managed to secure the area enough to allow himself some leisure.

Of course whether anything big will happen to the nightmare town as he expected will play a definite factor in his future activities.

Aldrich rested and transferred all of the battle spoils into the base safely without incident. He was going to clear one more house before returning to the real world.

Aldrich picked up his long sword and this time he equipped his newly acquired shield. Aldrich liked how sturdy it felt around his arm, it also offered a bigger protection range compared to his last shield.

As for the chain mail, he tried it but it felt too heavy and stuffy for him right now. It would slow him down considerably, so he decided to leave it until he needed.

Aldrich headed to the next house in order and repeated his window crushing strategy to great success.

Except on the last window of the second floor. When he broke it open an arrow was shot at him. Thankfully it missed.

Aldrich didn't expect to be attacked before he even entered the house. This unexpected encounter made took him by surprise and he was slow to react.

Aldrich then ducked and raised his shield over his head as he made a run for the house, ignoring the arrows that tried to skewer him in the process.

Aldrich entered the house and was greeted by another arrow aimed for his head. Aldrich deflected it but it landed in his right thigh.

'Shit!'

Aldrich knew the weaknesses of archers, close distance. The longer he remained in place the more likely he would die. Aldrich raised the shield to cover his face and charged at where he thought the archer was.

Aldrich finally made it to the archer who produced a long dagger to fight him at close range. But that in itself was enough to turn the tables to his advantage.

Aldrich slashed once and sent the dagger flying, the second slash broke its shoulder bone and the third finished it off for good.

Aldrich took out the arrow from his thigh and winced in pain. He was bleeding badly, but Aldrich didn't feel safe looking after his injuries here.

Aldrich advanced upstairs and found himself against two archers in the hallway. He guessed that it was one of them that messed with him when he was outside.

Aldrich raised his shield and blocked straight ahead, he was greeted with a hail of arrows. Two of them found marks in his waist. As he advanced they retreated, attempting to keep the distance wide enough.

But this was not an endless hallway, eventually their backs were to the wall in a very literal sense of the word. That was already enough time for Aldrich to make the distance between them unsuitable for long ranged combat.

Aldrich targeted the one on his right and it met his slash with the bow. The bow broke after taking three hits. Aldrich then stabbed it through its heart.

He turned to the last one only to find it missing. He was too focused on that husk and allowed the other one to slip through his fingers.

Aldrich looked around and found three rooms each with open doors. The husk was quite for once and didn't reveal its hiding spot.

Aldrich swallow and moved around with difficulty, he was battered and injured so badly if he was a normal human he would be on his deathbed.

But Aldrich wasn't a normal human any longer. His vitality was at three and his endurance at two. This granted Aldrich extraordinary resilience and stamina.