The ongoing attacks and taunts of the shadow ghouls and familiars and accompanied by the tackles and confession that Calaminus made, allowed Kyros to sneak in and join the battlefield.
Just as he did before, Kyros attacked the area directly opposite to where the shadow ghouls and familiar were. Calaminus's strange activities were also happening there.
?
Kyros impaled an unwary mage and dragged him out of sight to continue his blood-absorbing abilities. His darkness also appeared and devoured more.
"The vitality in his blood is too weak to heal my wounds. But his magic restored a small portion of my mana." Kyros then turned and sought those who were stronger.
He could see an orc who was injured from the explosion. Kyros sneaked in closer and then made a sprint to attack.
The wounded orc noticed Kyros. He reacted in time and took a step back as he saw Kyros slash his sword.
The sword slashed out, barely missing the nape of the orc by a few inches.
But even though the sword didn't connect, blood gushed out of the neck of the orc.
The wound had damaged his vocal cords. The orc couldn't even scream and warn the rest who was busy helping the wounded or shooting at the shadow ghouls and familiar.
Kyros drove the sword stabbed towards his neck and dug down to his heart.
Several Force attacks occurred inside his body as small knives were slashing.
The orc died immediately.
[Force Blade skill acquired.]
Harnessing his Force Energy, Kyros had created an extended blade that slashed the neck of the orc. And through careful manipulation, Kyros made the force energy spin and slashed inside the orc.
"Still too pitiful. I probably can't do Piercing Slash yet." Kyros sighed as he dragged the orc to the side and hid from the battle.
The wounds that Kyros felt were so terrible that it was only through his experienced will that he managed even to move. It was only now that his fighting capabilities were slowly returning.
"The most dangerous ones are those peak captains," Kyros observed.
Boom!
An explosion occurred, and it caused one of the shadow ghouls to be extinguished.
Kyros cursed and knew that it was Balefire. An evil form of fire that had the ability to fight even darkness.
"So an expert is here!" Kyros turned his attention to the source of the Bale Fire.
It was the same orc leader that was giving the orders earlier. His two axes were burning with green flames.
"I have to act fast!" Kyros moved and plotted his actions in synch with his summons.
With the Micro-management skill, he could see the entire battle in a birds-eye-view perspective. Kyros moved and ambushed an opponent.
Calaminus turned his attention and noticed that Kyros had added a new feature where Kyros could see the line-of-sight of the orcs as he moved.
"Bruh. When did you do that?" Calaminus was impressed.
The first shadow familiar was also defeated.
The archer responsible for finally shooting it down stumbled down and began to drink mana.
"Holy bow. How can such a rare ability appear here? Was it Fate or Destiny trying to limit me before grandpa conquered it? It seems these orcs are not ordinary." Kyros pondered as he completely devoured all the blood of another slain warrior.
"Time to go for another Captain." Kyros turned his attention to one of the orcs that were similar to a knight. The orc had a large sword and a huge shield. One of the Shadow Ghouls was harassing it.
"A Shield Orc ought to have the vitality I need to recover." Kyros estimated.
Kyros controlled his remaining summons to focus their attention on the dual-wielding orc, which caused the various orc warriors to focus and assist him. The shadow ghoul that was clawing the Shield Orc moved in haste and raced towards the orc leader.
Similar scenes played out and made the orcs realize the intention and chased after the shadows that changed target.
Calaminus made a mighty shriek which caused everyone to turn towards their leader and chased after them.
As the Shield Orc gave chase, Kyros made a blurring sprint as his Force energy exploded at each step.
The Shield Orc noticed it and turned and raised his shield.
He caught sight of Kyros's dark form and readied his shield. His shield was now full of Force energy.
Kyros ran and jumped up high with his sword made ready. But suddenly...
A large boulder nearly four times the size of the Shield orc appeared directly above him!
His stance was set to defend the impact, and the orc couldn't quickly jump out to avoid the large falling rock.
SMASH!
The shield orc chose to use all of his force and slammed his shield towards the rock.
His bones were breaking, but the shield orc managed to bear the weight of the rock.
"HAAAAA!" The orc shouted as he repelled the rock.
SLASH!
Kyros was already behind him and slashed at the gaps of the armor and severed the neck.
Losing the power to resist the rock, the orc gave in and was crushed by the rock. However, because the Shield Orc caught the rock, the sound of the rock crushing down was muffled, and no one noticed it.
The head of the orc went rolling to the side.
On his way here, Kyros began to search for large, strong rocks which he could use and transported them into the Temple. Since he was out of usable caravans, Kyros decided to use large rocks which were found randomly on the mountains of Airom Logat.
Kyros stabbed the sword inside the orc and waited for the blood to absorb it. Kyros took the large shield and wore it.
"Impressive. It faced that boulder and only suffered minor damages." Kyros praised. The shield was nearly as huge as Kyros's small body. But even then, Kyros took a liking to this shield. As a Force Paladin, he was even trained to carry shields that were taller than him.
The shadow ghouls and familiars were all destroyed, and Kyros could feel their souls returning to his cloak and sword.
Calaminus began to move away as the souls perished and continued his screeches to draw attention away from Kyros.
Kyros kept drinking the blood through his sword and was recovering the last remaining wounds caused.
"That stupid Sword God really made things complicated here." Kyros sighed as he stood up and sent the boulder back to the Temple.
"Who are you?!" An archer turned around and finally noticed.
"No! Captain!" One of the soldiers cried out.
"He's dead! How?" Another exclaimed.
"There's no scent of his blood!" One of the orcs realized it.
"He drank it all." The orc leader stepped forward.
"We orcs prided ourselves with our scents that we can tell when one of our dies. But this creature... has drunk the blood of our men. I thought it was being masked by the stench of fire and the burnt corpses of our allies... But it seems he drank it all." The leader approached.
"You must be at the peak of level thirty. Quite impressive. You've slain my minions. It's been a while since I had to take action. My cloak would normally be enough." Kyros laughed.
"You seemed weaker. I was right. That knight did do a number on you! The fire attacks were also effective. You're out of mana, aren't you?" The orc leader taunted.
"Please, taunts of that level won't work against me." Kyros sneered.
"If you want to taunt me properly, you should learn to be at more personal. Let's say use family as a means to make someone angry. Like when I killed that captain on the east wall. His blood seemed similar to yours. Your brother, perhaps? I drove my sword to his neck. He couldn't even scream. I dug my sword deep and absorbed his blood. You might recognize his blood, though. I still have a few drops remaining." Kyros laughed as he caused a few drops to drop out of the tip of his sword.
The orc leader froze when he saw it.
"Ca-captain!" An orc cried as he found the dead body of the orc that Kyros killed.
The orc leader turned back to Kyros as a powerful reddish force energy covered his entire body.
"An Orc Berserker! Quite a rare class." Kyros smiled.
"You were right about one thing. I am out of mana. That's why I had to drink the blood of your kinsmen to fuel me. But it's not like I need it. Anyway, they taste disgusting."
[Taunt activated.]
"DIE!" An archer serving under the orc shot an arrow. But right when he shot, Calaminus used tackle.
FWIP!
The arrow flew towards the orc leader.
CLANG!
Without even turning his back, the Orc leader swung his ax and blocked the arrow.
"I will fight him! Mages and archers, hold your fire. Dereri didn't accidentally shoot his powerful spell on us. It's his power!" The orc explained.
"Correct! I have psychokinetic powers." Kyros laughed.
Calaminus made a tackle and pushed one the same archer and caused him to be shocked.
"That was you! All those accidents?!" Another orc shouted.
"Yes! That was me!" Kyros laughed evilly.
"And those weird things our soldiers said, it was you?!" Another orc challenged.
"No. Of course not! Even I was shocked at the sudden confessions. At first, I found it uncomfortable. Not that I'm against such a union. I mean... who am I to judge who you orcs live? You do you, guys. Whatever makes you happy. But doing it right in the middle of my attack? That was just disrespectful." Kyros complained.
"Enough!" The orc leader shouted.
"Orcs. I fight alone. If others join me, we might kill each other at critical moments."
"No!" One of the orcs rejected their leader's wish.
"Obey my commands! The knight died and used a powerful holy attack. How could this being resist such power! That knight was an expert! He is on his last legs! He has no mana, no summons, and not even the dark form he had earlier!" The orc leader took out his ax, and a green flame lit it once more.
"Prepare to die, dark one!" The peak captain charged at Kyros.
Unlike his previous battles, Kyros was worn out and out of magic.
"True. I may not be at my peak. But even now, I still have the power to kill you. I think I know your name... You don't happen to be the Balefire Butcher, Dryklash?"
"The dark one knows me?" The orc raised his eyebrows.
"From the memories of my prey." Kyros lied. He had slain this butcher on a previous life. The sins of this orc were plenty.
"My revenge for the orcs sins in that life... begins today." Kyros drew his sword and the large shield and prepared for combat.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m