chapter 112: it’s all ogre pt. 3

    kaius’s heart caught in his throat as the siege ogre flew across the open space between them. there might have been a stone statue between them, but the guardian cared little, it may as well have been made of straw for all that it slowed it. stone shattered into dust.

    every quaking step may as well have taken it another league forward. something that large should not have been that fast.

    his legs burned, legs pumping with skill enhanced alacrity as he pushed off, sprinting to the side. dread shot down his spine, it was too fast.

    it was going to hit him.

    crying out in desperation, he threw himself away from the ogre’s thundering advance, clear of its stomping legs. it swung its iron banded club. airborne as he was, kaius could do little other than to hope and pray his dodge had been enough. it wasn’t, the club sailed towards him.

    bones shattered as the crudely shaped trunk clipped his hip, sending him into a chaotic spiral as he skittered across the ground in a flail of limbs. everything shrunk to a pinpoint, pain suppressed in the shock of the sudden wound. as if from a distance, he watched his sword fly free from his grasp, clattering against paved stone as it spun away.

    the world blurred as he tumbled, his head ringing as his helmet thwacked heavily into the ground.

    skidding to a stop by a jagged shard of stone the size of his leg, kaius groaned. his left leg was twisted, waves of mind bending agony rolling over him. it was just barely held in place by a surge of potent energy from lesser regeneration, forcing shards of bone to hold in place as his health roared free to infuse the site of his injury. distantly he felt a blare of panic and rage race across his bond.

    gritting his teeth, kaius pushed himself to his feet and bit back a howl as his forcibly held together hip barely withstood his weight. his health acted fast, remoulding pulped flesh and realigning bone as his skin rippled under his armour.

    unfortunately his cuisses had held up less well, one of the larger armour plates that encircled his hips half crumpled. it would recover, but it would take time, until then he would have to suffer it digging in uncomfortably. thankfully it wouldn''t hamper his movements too much, the ogre''s heavy blow had just barely clipped him, and had nearly torn the plate off laterally rather than crushing it inwards.

    porkchop’s howl of bloodlust tore through his pain-addled mind. without looking, he knew that porkchop was uninjured, only fury flowed through their bond. for now. trusting that his leg would hold up to the strain, he forced down the agony of his quickly healing hip and ran for his sword. resting against the base of a nearby statue of a dwarven warlord, it took him precious seconds to close the distance.

    as he ran, he checked his resources.

    resources:

    health - 334/510 (4.1/min +15/min)

    stamina - 367/410 (4.1/min +15/min)

    mana - 16/560 (5.6/min)

    free mana - 16/560

    reserved mana - 0

    he growled as he took in the damage that the ogre had done to him. dropping a hand to his waist, he quickly withdrew one of their precious healing draughts.

    ripping the cork free with his teeth, he barely managed to avoid spilling any of the precious liquor as he poured it down his throat. it tasted of old wounds, clean linen, and the respite of a healer''s care.

    **ding! you have imbibed a tonic: lesser blooming rejuvenation**

    mana pulsed in the ogres chest once more, flowing down its arm to settle in its hands and club. the shockwave skill, it had to be. kaius’s mind raced. with the reach of the club, both he and porkchop were in dire danger.

    doom flared. he made his choice.

    kaius lunged in, feinting another stab at its injured leg. so used to his focus on its wounds, the guardian reacted immediately, spinning its club around to shove it point first towards where he would have landed.

    he never arrived, digging his heels in and kicking off the hard stone to throw himself to the side.

    the club hit the ground. stone shattered. the blast expanded. a shard of a flagstone the size of his head spalled off the ground, screaming through the air to scythe through the edge of the guardians ankle with ease, just barely missing porkchop as it glanced off the bone and spun off to shatter against the barrier of the arena. it was almost instantaneous, but with true sight he just barely caught it. then the pressure wave hit him, sending him spinning back once more.

    it was only marginally better than getting kicked by a horse, rattling his bones and the soft organs in his chest. his ears whined, a stinging pitch that drilled into the brain.

    then it was gone, swept aside in a rapid burn of health.

    even as he tumbled through the air, his vision didn’t blur, giving him a nauseating spinning view of the entire top of the city as his mind struggled to process the rapid change in perspective. a dull thud echoed through the base of his skull.

    distantly, he heard the ogre scream.

    he hit the ground, tumbling once over his shoulder before he got his feet under him and dropped one hand to the ground. sliding back, he came to a slow stop, his sword held out to his left.

    a savage grin split his face, his eyes locked on the ongoing battle. shielded as he had been by the bulk of the ogre’s leg, porkchop had escaped the skill relatively unscathed. after the stone shard had torn through the guardians ankle, he had capitalised on the moment. kaius watched as his bond brother’s stride long claws burst into brilliant blue, extending them another half a stride, before he plunged them into the crippled ankle up to the base.

    the ogre howled, falling as its leg finally gave out. as tough as it was, it was simply too large to support its own weight with both its ankle and knee savaged.

    the moment was here.

    kaius raced in, feeling the steady stream of effervescent alchemical power that flooded out from his stomach, surging through his system to support key muscles as he moved faster than he ever had before. his foot touched the ground for a fraction of a moment, before he kicked off with the full power of his enhanced body to sail through the air at what should have been blinding speeds.

    he was there. flat on the ground as it was, the guardian tried to swat him. he simply raced around. skirting the edge of its reach. keeping it grounded was the only important thing.

    porkchop had switched to tearing into its knee. kaius knew that it was to stay safe from its flailing leg, the guardian kicking out in an ineffectual attempt to shake them off. kaius raced to its ankle, hopping over a blind kick. his sword swept up overhead as he moved into a high guard.

    a father’s gift came down, biting deep into an achilles that was thicker than his leg.

    the ogre didn’t like that. it flailed, strips of warty skin weeping greenish grey blood that smeared on the stone below, stinking of iron and unwashed skin. darting back from another blind kick, kaius slipped in behind the limb and brought his blade down on the ligament once more.

    cutting just a little bit deeper.

    soon he would be through, and the battle could start in earnest.