Martial Online.

Ignite finished wrapping his throat with a bandage and gulped down a small health potion. His bleeding stopped, and his health rose slightly.

He then lunged at the tall, stone figure and repeatedly delivered dagger strikes.

The stone Ambrose parried all the dagger strikes with a single slash, but then his ears perked up, and as he turned around, he came across a shortsword belonging to Anthon.

Anthon waited for a good opportunity to deliver an ambushing attack.

The stone Ambrose nimbly dodged the shortsword with a surprising flexibility that shouldn't be possible with this stone body. His body was leaning down towards the ground.

"Rgh…" Anthon shifted the direction of his sword strike and stabbed down, aiming for the stone Ambrose's throat.

"…" The stone Ambrose stayed silent, and he flew backwards near the ground, looking like he was floating.

Anthon's shortsword stabbed through the ground.

'This kind of movement is not possible by the player.' He thought, and he pulled his sword out of the ground. 'The stone statue must be overestimating this guy's abilities. This is ridiculous.'

"Aaargh!" Cauldron dragged his longsword behind him as he rushed after the stone figure and swung it towards him with raging power.

The stone Ambrose crossed his swords in front of him and blocked the powerful blow. It looked scarily effortless.

"W-what the hell is this physical strength?!" Cauldron was proud of his physical strength, but he couldn't even budge the stone figure.

'This cannot be the player's strength. This test is a scam!'

The stone Ambrose narrowed his eyes and sensed an attack coming from his left.

Ignite threw a few sharp-looking daggers across the air.

The stone Ambrose used his left-handed sword to knock off the daggers from the air. The daggers bounced off the floor and landed beside a pile of some old-looking rubble.

Ignite rolled down the ground, picked up the fallen daggers from the ground, and lunged after the stone figure.

"Rah!" Cauldron pushed away one of the stone Ambrose's swords and stabbed towards his face.

Anthon jumped after the stone figure and rained sword stabs at him.

The stone Ambrose silently glanced at them briefly. He was attacked from every possible angle.

At that moment, he flew upward and smashed against the ceiling. He then stabbed his swords through the ceiling and hung in there.

Anthon, Ignite, and Cauldron lifted their gazes at the stone figure with shocked expressions. They never expected him to be capable of flying.

It was an ability that was a foreign concept to other players.

"Flying?" Ignite's eyes shrunk in shock.

"Fuck…" Cauldron grimaced.

"…" Anthon narrowed his eyes. "No player has such ability. I feel like this test is fake."

"Fake?" Ignite looked at him in surprise.

Anthon nodded. "There isn't a player with abilities like this. So, either this karma test is a fake one, or the stone statue is greatly overestimating the abilities."

"Well, for now, it doesn't matter." Cauldron breathed heavily. "We have to defeat this stone bastard somehow."

The stone Ambrose smirked slightly after hearing their conversation and pulled out his swords from the ceiling. He dropped down on the ground, right in the middle of the trio.

Without a single hesitation, Anthon, Cauldron, and Ignite swung their weapons with mighty fury. They all aimed at the stone head.

The stone Ambrose raised his two swords and blocked their attacks. He then showed a stony smile and pushed the trio away from him with an incredible show of physical strength.

"Urgh!"

Anthon staggered backwards and slashed diagonally across the air, but it was again blocked by the stone figure's sword.

However, at that moment, the sword vanished from Anthon's hand and appeared on the other hand. It even took the stone figure off guard.

Anthon then swung his sword and smashed it across the stone figure's face.

Half of the stone figure's face shattered, crumbling apart like a sand castle.

The stone Ambrose's had a look of shock while his face crumbled away slowly.

"So, emotions are this guy's weakness." Anthon said coldly and stabbed through the stone Ambrose's heart, which was also made of stone.

"Argh!" Cauldron hacked the sword into the stone Ambrose's neck and left behind a deep gash.

Ignite placed two daggers between his fingers and hurled them towards the stone figure. They accurately stabbed through the stone head.

The stone Ambrose fell down on his knees in a defeated manner. His face was already mostly gone, only one of his stone-grayish eyes staring at the void in front of him.

"T-that wasn't too hard!" Ignite laughed and juggled the daggers in his hand.

"Revenge my ass!" Cauldron kicked down the stone figure.

"Now that this is done…" Anthon looked around the room. "What is the reward?"

"No one else has arrived here yet." Ignite said. "Did everyone else die?"

"Maybe they are waiting outside." Cauldron glanced towards the door. "One group at the time in the slaughterhouse, y'know."

On the ground, the stone figure's fingers twitched slightly.

"Hmm…" Anthon glanced at the strange engravings that were carved on the walls.

The stone figure slowly rose from the ground, almost headless, and he stood in a rather lazy manner. His arms, which were carrying two swords, were dangling as if they were boneless.

Ignite heard some rattling from behind, and as he turned around, he saw that the stone figure had again stood up.

"Hey, guys!"

Anthon and Cauldron turned around, and their eyes widened in surprise.

"Does he also have increased durability and regeneration?"

"He must be blind," Anthon said. "The face is already crumbled apart, and his eyes are gone."

"Yeah, he is basically a headless chicken fighting for that small flicker of life left." Cauldron said, and he pointed his longsword at the headless stone figure.

Ignite picked up the daggers from the ground and hurled them at the stone figure. They landed on the stone chest, stabbing through the stone.

The stone Ambrose staggered forward, and now it was clear that he was indeed in a very defenseless state. He couldn't see anything.

At that moment, he clumsily swung his swords in front of him, as if he were just hoping to hit anything, but since it was such a lazy slash, Anthon and Cauldron easily dodged it.

Ignite lifted his leg and swept the stone Ambrose off his feet.

The stone Ambrose crashed on the ground and lay there lifelessly.

Then, Ignite pulled out his daggers from his chest and slashed through his throat.

From neck-up, the stone Ambrose's head was now completely gone. There were only his torso, arms, and legs left on his body.

As Ignite, Anthon, and Cauldron believed that he was finally dead, the stone Ambrose suddenly rose up as if he were a zombie.

"Huh?" Cauldron frowned. "Can he even die?"

"…" Anthon narrowed his eyes.

They didn't see it, but there was a message hovering in front of the stone Ambrose. It was gray in color, and the words looked like they were written in chalk.

[Immortality Activated!]

"…" The stone Ambrose stepped forward and slashed his swords wide across the air.

Ignite, Anthon, and Cauldron quickly dodged the attack.

At that moment, a transparent figure appeared above the stone Ambrose, acting as his eyes.

The stone Ambrose turned his body towards Ignite, as if he could see him, and sprinted after him.

"Shit!" Ignite leaped backwards and hurled his daggers towards him.

However, the transparent figure communicated with the stone Ambrose telepathically.

The stone Ambrose heard his soul's voice, placed one of his swords in front of him, and felt the daggers clash against his blade.

He then took a long stride forward, closing the gap between him and Ignite.

Ignite reached out to his belt but realized that he had just thrown his daggers and was therefore weaponless!

'Doesn't matter!' Ignite put his hands forth, grabbed the stone Ambrose by his wrist, and tried to throw him down to the ground.

However, the stone Ambrose's feet stayed firmly on the ground, and Ignite couldn't even make him budge.

"?!" Ignite's eyes widened in surprise, as he had never seen anyone combat his judo techniques with pure physical strength.

'T-this cannot be a real player's strength. I refuse to believe so!'