Free Hell's Glitch (LitRPG): Into a Dark Adventure by Belart Wright Page B

the third continued to press forward
towards him.  He’d lost track of which one this was, but counted his blessings
that it was closer than the others.  Sam ran in close before it started its
attack and simply waited, like he had with the original Hardass.
    This Hardass clone did not disappoint.  It went for the same
close range strike as its predecessor and was met with the same response.  Sam
successfully threw its whip-like arm aside and plunged his dagger deep within
its heart.  This Hardass clone lost over half of its total health too.  And
just like with the backstab, the opening blow also had invincible frames for the
duration of the attack.
    “Oh no!  Got to move!”
    He was still only invincible while attacking and kicking the
enemy from his blade.  The short recovery afterwards where he was forced to
back away a little was where he was still most vulnerable.  This time the
piercing attack from the other Hardass caught him right in the chest and he
lost half his health instantly.  He was unfortunately also poisoned.
    He quickly rolled to the side and behind another tree before
the other one could follow up with an attack.  The poison was coursing through
him again, making him feel nauseated, and putting that hissing sound in his ear
again.  He let the health and poison duration bar drop a little before he healed
himself with another swig of his Soul Fire.  He only had one drink left and the
poison assured he’d need it for that.  He couldn’t get hit again or he would be
seeing his first game over screen.
    He had again forgotten which Hardass clones were which.  Two
of them were near death and the third still had all its health.  All he needed
was a good parry then opening blow or a backstab.  He danced around the trees
and considered his options.  His enemies were still attacking, but there were
only two of them together.
    “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!  Where are you?”
    Sam’s stomach nearly dropped down to his feet.  The missing
creature was right in front of him and out the corner of his eye, he could see
the other two running to other positions around him.  They were trying to box
him in.
    “Shit!”
    The one in front of him looked to be going for a new
attack.  Sam froze.  He didn’t know what to expect.  All he knew was that he
couldn’t parry too early.  He had to be reactionary.  He had to perfectly
predict his foe.  He had to see the moment and origin of the strike.  He saw
it!  It came right from the creature’s shoulders.  The blow was fast and came
from a new direction, but Sam was ready.  The sideways slice was deflected
upwards, leaving Sam with the perfect view of the creature’s pulsating blue
heart.  He quickly thrust his Dagger into it and watched it wilt away as its
health ticked down to nothing.
    The other two were approaching from his sides, both too far
to attack, leaving Sam nervously ticking down the seconds of the opening blow’s
animation.  He saw his soul count increase but didn’t have time to see the
amount.  He rolled away backwards in a nick of time.  Both Hardass assholes had
launched twin piercing attacks.  No doubt it would have killed him if both had
hit at the same time.  His health was ticking towards seventy percent.
    So far, Sam had used some surprising skill and good tactics
to take down one of the foes—well, two counting the original.  Now, however, he
needed luck.  One of the Hardass clones was already half dead.  He’d need to
take that one out next if he had any hope to survive this.  Fighting the last
one, one-on-one, would be infinitely easier than his current dilemma.
    He backed up a little, then circled around to the clone on
his left.  He heard the one on his right start to run, so he sprinted, burning
through half his stamina to quickly get near the other one.  Now behind a tree,
he heard both Hardass clones attacking him with long range attacks.  He
couldn’t see which ones they were using.  One