(From the point of view of Roberto Carmichael)

***

I swiftly bent my body backward as I watched the gigantic metal slab-like weapon fly over my head, almost hitting my forehead. While still holding my breath, I gazed upon the surface of the sword as it flew a few centimeters above my nose, seeing the world move in slow motion around me.

Suddenly, the world started to move in its usual pace again, and with a confused blink, the gray giant before me screamed, making the entire throne room shake. As he did so, he took the leg of a corpse underneath his feet and rushed towards. He then swung the poor man's body like a blunt weapon towards my torso, which I took graciously with a light wince. If it weren't for my magically fortified robe, that strike would have destroyed my ribs. Instead, I could only feel one broken bone around my chest. Not bad at all. The only shitty thing is that the person who made this enhancement is one of my drinking buddies, another alcoholic. Since his insides are full of god damn whiskey and beer, the color of his mana also turned into orange... See, I am not responsible for why I am wearing orange, okay!? I did not consciously go around town walking with an orange robe because I like it! I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS TOO!

I then pulled a string on the side of my giant bag, and when I did so, smoke fumed out of my back, and I could feel my feet raise a few inches above the ground while my bag carried me towards the direction of my now fallen king.

"So long, King Vortigern," I mumbled beneath my breath as I took King Vortigern's sword, famed to be the sharpest sword in the whole world that could cut even the toughest steel and deteriorate the finest walls.

I then saw the gray giant turning his head towards me again with a scowl. This time, he didn't move from his position at all and just stared at me, observing what I would do first before making his move. I see. He's not at all just a brute monster with nothing but bile on his head. No. This thing is a being that is capable of thinking for its own. I looked at my robe and saw that its orange tint had finally disappeared, signaling that the strike this giant had done to me singlehandedly destroyed the protective spell on my outfit. That protective spell can withstand an entire army of a thousand soldiers, and this gray giant just... took it all away with one fell swoop!

The giant then tiptoed slowly, circling around me before I could make my move. He must have been wary of me now because of the sword in my hand. I see, so not only does he have a brain, but he also knows how to use it.

"My king!" Someone then barged into the throne room with a squeaky voice that does not sound human at all.

Both the gray giant and I looked at who that new character was, and I saw that it was a skinny giant that would have been as big as the gray giant before me if it weren't for his arched back. The scrawny giant was wielding two staves on both of his hands with an intricate red robe embedded with magical scriptures and runes that I have never seen before. He was also donning the skull of a giant animal on his head like a helmet... which is a very, very bad design decision because I mean, come on! That animal is already dead, so its skull would do nothing at all as a protection for him, so that thing only functions as an aesthetic accessory. Unless, of course, there's some sort of sorcery out there involving the use of bones, which I have never heard before.

"Get out of here! Leave this one to me!" The gray giant said to the scrawny and pale hunchback giant.

"But, my king the tower is—"

While they were all distracted, I took a potion bottle on my bag and threw it on the ground. Immediately, the room was enveloped with a thick fog of white smoke that made all of the giants to cough loudly.

"EXPULSIVE GANGBANG EXPLOSIVE MARTIAL ARTS!" I screamed the first few words that came into my mind to announce my triumph over these 10-feet-looking-ass motherfuckers as I heard them repeatedly coughing within the thickening smoke. Got that idea from an old gosh darn pal of mine. He was the best damn god damn archer I've ever seen but had to retire because of an injury he had on his arm after an unfortunate accident. However, even after all that, he returned as a great archer and became one of the top generals in the empire—best move I've ever seen!

Anyway, I really probably should stop leaving now!

I pulled a string on the side of my bag again while my other hand busily took a mask inside of my open bag. I placed the mask on my mouth and immediately allowed my bag to carry the weight of my body towards the large window behind the king's throne. With a hiss, my bag slowly lifted my body from the floor before swiftly moving onto the direction of the glass window.

"YOU FOOOOOOLS! IZRECAELEAN ALCHEMY IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD!" I screamed as I heard the glass window behind me break and shatter into thousands of different shards of glass.

I then raised my hands and pointed my hands in front of me. The metallic pole above my gloves—that I have not yet talked about, by the way—suddenly hissed and let out a cloud of thick black smoke. It released more black smoke sparingly as I saw the pole itself open up like a pair of scissors and turned into an arc shape. With more smoke escaping the pole, it was then loaded with gas through a metal pipe on my arm that I kept hidden underneath my robe. After a while, the arc-shaped pipe turned into a crossbow-like weapon on my arms and started shooting shards of solidified acid all over the place!

KWAK-KWAK-KWAK-KWAK-KWAK-KWAK! The small crossbows on my hands roared like raging ducks, shooting acid arrows all over the place! "FFFFFFFFFUCK YEAH!"

"Don't let that man escape!" I heard the familiar voice of the gray giant in the distance. It seems that he's moving since I could hear the loud thudding noise of his feet. From the looks of it, he must be moving towards where his sword is.

The wizard then cast some sort of wind magic, which blew the smoke away into the corners of the throne room, giving him enough vision to point his staves at me. He then spoke some sort of random bullshit words, which I do not at all understand as I saw black bile on the floor, forming below my feet, as I flew into the glass window.

The mechanical mask on my face then hissed and released a fume of smoke, signaling that I can breathe properly using the potion bottle that's infused with oxygen. I left it sitting inside my bag for this very reason. My body then crashed into the window as I saw the black bile whirl into my direction swiftly, turning into what seemed like a gigantic black arm extending towards me.

"Shit!" I screamed as I felt that darkened arm grab my right leg. I then pulled my string once again, making it lift me into the air stronger than ever before. However, the bile-like hand is so persistent. No matter how much I tried, it wouldn't let go of me at all!

"Oh, no..." I saw the gray giant then walked towards me while dragging his giant sword on the floor, making it produce sparks as it scratches the surface of the stone floor.

The gray giant then readied himself to throw his gigantic black sword at me.

I WON'T LET YOU!

I swiftly unsheathed the fabled sword of King Vortigern, and without even thinking clearly, I pointed it on my leg and promptly sliced my thighs off to rid the bile hand's grip on me. With a bloodcurdling scream that stunned even the gray giant, I pulled the string on the side of my bag, lifting me further into the air.

"My king, that sword..."

"Let him be," The gray giant uttered as I flew far away from the throne room outside of the empire as he dropped his sword on the floor. "Continue destroying the towers!"

"About that..."

And I heard nothing more.

My blood continued to trickle from out of my thighs as I swiftly rummaged the insides of my bag to find that thing that could at least make my unlikely survival become plausible. That was when I felt that familiar warm potion bottle and immediately pulled it out of my bag. I heaved and panted as my bag swiftly lifted me away into the port of Izrecael. I could see my vision blurring as I looked at my now pale hand, holding a familiar red potion. While gritting my teeth as tight as I could, I lifted my leg and poured a drop of the potion on my now severed leg. After a few seconds of hissing, my leg then started to burn. I mean that literally—my severed feet began to be covered in fire, which slowly disappeared after a few seconds. I then swiftly floated into the air once more with my now palpitating feet and blurring eyesight. I was sure that Madame Belladonna would use her poison magic here, and I am also certain that it would have an effect on the environment, so I readied my gas mask, but shit... Her magic triggered some kind of natural response to the biodiversity of this jungle. The plant-life in the surroundings decided to counteract Madame Belladonna's magic; thus, the environment itself slowly started producing a natural poison that could definitely harm me, unlike Madame Belladonna's poison, which is made out of mana. Not even my gas mask can help me survive this.

"... Is that Sir Roberto?" I heard the familiar voice from below me.

I then looked down and saw the image of a woman and an armored man, ready to leave on a boat.

Shit... I feel like I'm about to drop... My hands then started feeling like it's made out of jelly, making me stop pulling the strings at the side of my bag.

My body then plunged deep into the sea as I saw my nephew, Damian, readying himself to dive into the water just to rescue me... Heh. Oh, how the tables have turned. I can still... I still remember how his father and I frantically tried to go all over the world just so we can make this boy live. I am so proud... so, so proud of him.

I closed my eyes momentarily as I saw the vast darkness beneath me while my body slowly descended into the ocean. As my vision slowly drifted away, I saw, below me, countless eyes coming from the beings living at the depths of the Cresca Sea. Perhaps they think that a foolish human is trying to intrude on the peace of their world. Maybe they smelt the scent of my blood and are now readying to make me their dinner. It doesn't matter now... I'm dying...

I closed my eyes again...

"... Bert..."

When I opened them again, I saw the vast gray skies and the faces of my nephew and the world's strongest poison caster.

Shit...

Yeah, that's right...

What have I been...

What have I been doing?

"I'm... sorry..." I'm sorry I'm so useless, I'm sorry that you now have to carry a crippled liability like me, and I am sorry... deeply sorry... that I haven't managed to save the king.

Oh, the image of his head getting... Gods... They were torn into many pieces; I can't even call it disgusting—it was all too sad...

As the alcohol started to leave my system, I finally realized the gravity of the situation I had just seen earlier.

"I'm... sorry..." I whispered as I felt my consciousness dwindle while Madame Belladonna was doing something on my body while using some of the potions she got on my bag. Ah... I am so weak now that I can't even see what it was. "The king..."

They then both directed their gaze at me while Damian said something to me with a troubled and puzzled expression. However, I couldn't hear him at all; I could only see his mouth move, but no voice entered through my ears. Is this the effect of the barrier, or is it because my life is finally ending?

"The king is dead..." I said as I tried my very hardest to grab Damian's arm.

And then, I just allowed my mind to drift away as I felt my consciousness fall into the deepest part of my mind's ether.

"... eheheh..."

THUD!