Chapter 33: Ka’z Vs Boi [1]
The silence between them lasted only a heartbeat. Even while catching his breath, Ka’z’s mind refused to stop working. Every exchange since the battle began replayed itself inside his head.
The Battle Shaman wasn’t invincible. Far from it.
Unlike the fluid nature of a magic beast’s spellcasting, runes were fixed. A rune carved to produce a Fire Ball could never suddenly become a Fire Spear. Every word of power represented a single predetermined function. Changing the spell required changing the runes themselves.
That meant versatility had limits.
Throughout the battle Ka’z had been carefully watching the staff with his Dragon Eyes instead of simply staring at Boi. Every rune carved along the steel shaft had its own distinct mana flow, and by now he had counted exactly five.
Five runes meaning Boi has only five spells. Those are Fire Ball, Earth Wall, Lightning Bolt and two other spells he was yet to reveal.
That realization sent a surge of confidence through him.
"I can do this..."
He screamed inwardly.
His muscles suddenly twitched violently.
Residual lightning still crawled beneath his scales, causing his limbs to spasm every few moments. Although the Dragon Scales had absorbed most of the damage, electricity wasn’t something that could simply be shrugged off. His movements felt sluggish and numb, almost as though invisible threads were pulling against every muscle in his body.
He needed more time to recover but unfortunately, Boi had no intention of granting him even a second.
Swoosh!
The Battle Shaman vanished. By the time Ka’z’s eyes found him again, the massive Hobgoblin already stood overhead.
The steel staff came crashing down and Ka’z gritted his teeth. He raised both forearms above his head, allowing the thickened Dragon Scales to take the impact.
Bang!
The blow exploded across his arms and the sheer force drove him backward. Before he could recover, another strike descended.
Bang!
Then another.
Bang!
Each impact felt like being struck by a massive sledgehammer. His feet dug trenches through the dirt as he was steadily forced backward one step at a time.
Oddly enough, the repeated impacts slowly awakened his numb muscles. Pain replaced the lingering paralysis. By the fourth strike his fingers had begun responding properly again.
The fifth came differently.
Instead of striking with the shaft Boi swung the skull mounted atop the staff directly toward Ka’z’s face. Instinctively he crossed both arms before his head.
Bang!
The skull smashed against his guard, then its crystal eyes ignited orange.
Ka’z’s pupils contracted.
He saw countless fire particles rushing toward the rune but it was too late.
Boom!
Flames erupted point blank. The explosion hurled him backward like a broken doll.
His body skipped across the ground several times before finally rolling to a stop. Without wasting momentum, Ka’z planted one hand against the earth and flipped back onto his feet.
He exhaled sharply and smoke escaped his mouth. The enlarged Dragon Scales covering his body immediately began shrinking back toward their normal proportions.
Above him Boi laughed loudly.
"I knew you couldn’t maintain that forever!"
Ka’z looked upward. The Battle Shaman descended from the sky, calmly spinning the heavy steel staff above his head. Without hesitation Ka’z slammed both palms into the ground.
Earth Magic: Earth Spikes!
The forest floor erupted.
Dozens of jagged stone spikes burst upward beneath the descending Hobgoblin, transforming the air itself into a deadly field of sharpened stone.
Boi remained completely composed. He simply rotated the staff once and another rune faced forward. This one glowed pale blue.
"Wind Magic: Shockwave!"
Boom!
An invisible blast erupted outward and the rising spikes shattered instantly. Thousands of stone fragments exploded apart before scattering across the battlefield like deadly shrapnel.
Ka’z instinctively shielded his eyes as dust and broken rock filled the air, visibility disappeared.
Then, he heard it. Something sliced through the wind itself. Without thinking, Ka’z threw himself backward.
Whoosh!
The steel staff narrowly swept across the space where his neck had been only a fraction of a second earlier. As his body continued falling the earth beneath him suddenly responded.
A pillar of stone burst upward against his back. Instead of striking him, it shoved him upward again. The instant his back touched the rising earth he launched forward.
Boi’s eyes widened. His swing had carried too much momentum, he couldn’t recover in time.
Meanwhile, Ka’z’s golden eyes blazed. The spaces between every scale across his body erupted with brilliant orange light. His veins felt as though molten lava flowed through them.
Flames exploded from every pore until his entire body became the center of a violent inferno. He struck with both fists simultaneously.
"Flame Magic: Flame Burst!"
BANG!
The night exploded into brilliant orange. Fire erupted outward in one concentrated burst powerful enough to distort the surrounding air.
Boi barely managed to cross his staff before his chest but even that wasn’t enough. The explosion struck him head on and his enormous body skidded violently backward across the burning ground, carving a long trench through the earth before finally coming to a stop dozens of meters away.
His abdomen had turned black from the scorching impact as he immediately doubled over and blood spilled from his mouth.
Ka’z remained frozen in place with both fists still extended. Sweat poured continuously down his body while every muscle trembled violently from the backlash.
This technique hadn’t existed before this battle.
Both Flame Burst and Ru’k’s Wind Burst had been born from witnessing Tud’or’s fight against the Blood Shaman. Watching the Chief Warrior ignite his own body had inspired them.
Rather than releasing elemental attacks externally, they forced their elements through their own bodies first before unleashing everything in a single instant.
The results were devastating but the cost was equally terrifying. The strain upon flesh and mana channels bordered on self destruction. Ka’z still couldn’t maintain the state for more than two seconds.
Any longer and his own body would begin breaking apart before the enemy could kill him. Still, a small smile appeared.
’Imagine If I could maintain this for much longer....’ He thought while breathing heavily.
Across the battlefield Boi slowly straightened himself. One hand remained pressed firmly against the burned wound across his abdomen.
Every breath hurt.
He looked toward the young kobold with completely different eyes.
"Magnificent."
His raspy voice carried genuine admiration.
"I knew your battle instincts were extraordinary."
Unlike Ka’z, whose strangely dense scales allowed him to tank blows repeatedly, Boi understood his own weakness perfectly. He wasn’t built to endure direct combat. Another strike like that would almost certainly kill him.
That was assuming Ka’z could produce another explosion of that magnitude.
"You can tell me all about that as my prisoner." Ka’z slowly withdrew his fists before settling into a proper fighting stance.
Boi burst into laughter.
"Bold words coming from a child who’s about to collapse from exhaustion."
Ka’z answered immediately.
"And equally bold coming from an adult who’s almost out of mana."
The Battle Shaman’s smile faltered almost immediately and Ka’z continued, his smile widening
"It must be difficult using magic without using aether to subsidize the cost and everyone knows goblins have never been famous for possessing deep mana reserves."
Silence....
For the first time since the battle began, both had openly acknowledged the other’s greatest weakness. Ka’z’s body was reaching its physical limit while Boi’s mana reserves were rapidly approaching empty.
The fire continued roaring around them while embers drifted silently through the night. Both warriors understood exactly what that silence meant.
The next exchange would almost certainly decide the battle.
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