I never stood still and kept moving. A warrior couldn’t stay rooted in one place, you had to keep moving.

I kept weaving around, dodging and slipping between attacks coming from all sides, the six skeletons pressing in while the archers launched arrows whenever they had a shot.

It was an unfair fight, and yet I wasn’t being overwhelmed. Just pressured.

Which made it far more interesting.

I wasn’t only fighting to hold them back. I was studying them, so the next night I would have a much easier time.

But damn, these skeletons fought dirty.

Not only did they aim for my vital points, but some of them also tried to kick me in the groin, which caught me completely off guard.

Not a bad move at all, actually. Getting hit in the balls was probably one of the five worst types of pain in existence.

And judging by how freely they went for it, I was willing to bet they had been doing that when they were alive, too. Could I judge them for it?

Clearly not.

In a world where victory meant surviving, you did whatever it took, even a cheap shot to the groin. At the end of the day, the one left standing was the winner, no matter how shameless the method.

So I filed it away. Useful information for the future.

Honestly I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it myself, but then again, the only person I had fought before this was Ezio.

Either way, I knew it would come in handy someday.

A skeleton thrust its spear at me and, just like in Sekiro, I timed the parry and stepped on the shaft, pinning the head of the spear to the ground.

That gave me enough time to infuse my katana with mana and perform a quick draw that cut clean through the skeleton’s shield and sliced diagonally through its chest, splitting the core.

[You have slain a Low Greater Monster, Undead Skeleton.]

The skeleton turned to dust, leaving the spear to clatter on the ground.

...

I kept fighting for hours until the last of the skeletons crumbled to dust.

My breathing was heavy and my mana reserves were low. I couldn’t absorb mana from the slain skeletons since they dissolved completely and their mana was toxic anyway.

I checked my pocket watch. Only 4 hours had passed. It wasn’t even close to morning.

And then the skeletons sent another group of ten.

In the state I was in, I couldn’t fight them. Those bastards never got tired.

One of them raised its shield and struck the back of it with its sword, producing a hollow sound, then made some kind of noise with its mouth.

I had no idea what that meant, but it felt like a cue.

I raised a huge wall of darkness between us to buy time and ran.

I sprinted back the way I had come and leapt over Ezio, who was still sleeping soundly in his futon.

I didn’t need to wake him. Not long after, he sank into my shadow as I made for the tunnels.

I picked one and ducked inside, putting enough distance between me and the entrance.

The group of ten caught up and stopped just outside, staring at me with those hollow eye sockets. Or at least it felt like they were staring. Hard to tell.

Just as I had suspected, they did not enter. It was as if an invisible wall stood at the threshold.

I expected them to leave. Instead the damned things just kept standing there, looking at me while I looked back at them.

Was this a staring contest?

I was not going to be the one to look away.

After a few moments, the skeletons turned and walked off.

Bunch of losers.

Even with them gone, I could still sense their presence nearby, so I stayed put and moved further into the tunnel just to be safe. I would not be going anywhere near that entrance until sunrise.

I sat down.

My breathing was ragged and my heart was hammering against my ribs.

Not from fear. The curse was eating through my stamina.

"You got cursed, huh?" Ezio said as he stepped out of my shadow and stretched, bones popping.

"Huff, yeah, but the good news is it will fade on its own by morning. That’s exactly why I kept avoiding getting hit as much as possible. Every extra hit would have stacked the curse and it could’ve taken a full day to clear." I said.

I opened my spatial ring, pulled out a water bottle, and drank.

It felt incredibly good after that long fight.

The wound on my cheek had already healed, but the curse wouldn’t clear that easily. I had a potion specifically for curses, but using it now would be a waste.

"You did well." Ezio said as he sat down and pulled roasted meat out of his spatial ring.

I had to wonder sometimes how much that man ate.

The thought of food made my stomach growl immediately. I was absolutely starving.

I opened my spatial ring and pulled out a piece of fried chicken the maids had cooked before I left. Still warm, because spatial rings preserved heat for a good while.

"Give me a piece." Ezio stretched out his left hand.

I frowned, chewing. "You already have that." The words came out muffled.

"Just give me some." He insisted.

This bastard ate constantly and never put on weight. High metabolism, probably.

Since he wasn’t going to drop it, I grabbed another piece and tossed it to him.

He caught it and shot me a look. "Don’t throw food, you could waste it."

"Whatever, you caught it." I said and took another bite.

"What if I hadn’t?"

"...There is no scenario where you wouldn’t have caught it."

"What if I was disabled and only had one hand, which was already holding something?"

"What does being disabled have anything to do with this?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Just answer the question."

I shook my head. "You are not disabled, so your question is pointless."

"But what if I were?"

I said nothing and looked at him.

It was dark in the tunnel, but I could see the smirk on his face clear as day.

He was trying to bait a reaction out of me. So I didn’t give him one and went back to my chicken.

Damned gluttonous, ugly bastard.