Unfortunately, changing his entire style was easier said than done, and he found himself stumbling or mistiming things. He got clobbered across the back, sent stumbling forward, and almost had his back sliced open by a beat-up greatsword, only barely dodging it by throwing himself into a roll.
It was frustrating to get outfought by monsters he knew he could beat without lifting a finger, but he kept with it. He recognized this was simply the first step toward addressing some of his deficiencies. He’d been putting it off for too long and probably should have done something about it long ago, but it was better late than never.
The buffs from Selene were coming in handy; they helped blunt some of the damage, and he could feel the bruises on his body already healing. He stepped back, avoiding the greatsword, slapping it to the side, then swung his fist into the orc’s overextended elbow.
While he didn’t have the same level of strength as usual and couldn’t shatter the limb outright, the angle and location of the strike made a difference. He heard a distinct crack of bone when he made contact, and the orc’s grip on the sword loosened ever so slightly.
Julius attempted to knock the sword from the monster's grasp, but one of its buddies swung a club at his back before he could. Normally, he would tank the attack to capitalize on the opportunity, but he was trying to do things differently, and so he reluctantly pulled back, letting the club fly over his head, spinning around and throwing an elbow into the orc.
The orcs were tall, around seven to eight feet of hulking muscle, and so his elbow crashed into its gut. The damage was negligible, but he used this momentum to swing the stick into the beast’s head.
That was more effective, and he felt something crack. However, he was quickly realizing that a stick wasn’t the best weapon for what he was trying to accomplish. A stick worked well with his old style of fighting, but he needed something else.
And so he leaped back, creating some distance between him and the orcs. Selene was doing a fantastic job at holding off the shamans, making sure they weren’t able to attack him freely, and she’d already protected him with barriers a few times.
He took out a sword he’d stolen from the Tier 5 crafter. It was a long time ago, but he hadn’t bothered to sell the sword, and it had been collecting dust inside his storage ring. The good news was that the sword was pretty decent. It wasn’t anything too special, but it was well-made and perfect for what Julius needed.
While he hadn’t kept up with his sword training in a while, he still knew how to use one. And a stick wasn’t cutting it anymore.
He dashed back into the fray, sword trailing behind his back, slipping underneath a wild swing and slashing the sword at the orc’s knee. The sword bit deeply, but even with his Sharpness Concept, it wasn’t able to cut all the way through. But he must have severed some important ligaments because the beast crashed to the ground, blood pouring out of its leg like a waterfall.
The orc let out a deadening roar and glared at him with rage. But Julius was already attacking its friend. He parried the sword of another orc and spun around the fist of another, but he didn’t attack; he simply ignored them for the time being. Instead, he leaped towards the backline where the shamans were having their hands full with Selene.
Her blasts of mana were strong in terms of construction and compression of mana. However, they had a nasty little effect, likely due to the life mana infused into them. Rather than heal them, these blasts of life mana seemed to cause their flesh to warp and eat away at itself.
This, of course, made them extremely wary of Selene and her constant flood of attacks. It also meant they weren’t paying attention when Julius butchered their ranks. His sword was covered in a thin layer of fire mana and his Sharpness Concept.
The first shaman didn’t even realize its head was gone until Julius was sliding past it and attacking the next one. The last two shamans reacted swiftly, raising their staffs, and a barrier appeared around their heads, but Julius grinned when he saw Selene send a disrupting pulse of mana at the barrier.
The barrier flickered slightly, but that was all Julius needed. He leveraged his aura to further weaken it and cut it in half. Once the barrier was gone, he started to pick the orc apart. He avoided its desperate blasts of mana and ducked underneath the wave of fire collapsing around him. It singed his clothes, but his fire resistance was high, and his recent advancements only increased it.
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He cut off the arm of the shaman holding the staff and stepped to the side when a black spear of mana almost took him in the back. However, he’d already angled himself so when he dodged, the black spear slammed into its brethren, cracking the second barrier it had already deployed to defend itself from Julius.
With the structural integrity of the barrier already compromised, a powerful thrust was more than enough to break it, and the blade slid straight through the orc’s throat. Julius yanked it out while detonating the sharpened mana, engorging the wound. Blood went everywhere, and the shaman grasped its throat as it fell to the ground. The sword didn't like how he was using it, though. It shook, barely withstanding the amount of Pure Severance he was channeling into it.
Julius spotted the remaining orcs all heading straight for him, but thankfully, Selene was already acting. Several barriers interfered with them, and blasts of life mana kept them off balance long enough for him to readjust.
He went after the nearest one; this was the one with the greatsword and the strongest aura among the orcs. He exchanged several swings and found himself getting overwhelmed by the sheer strength of the orc. Its movements were pretty skilled, too; it moved much better than its size would indicate.
Julius was forced to take a step back, otherwise risking being swarmed by the rest of the orcs. And for the first time, created a construct out of fire mana. Much like how he handicapped his physical abilities, he did something similar with his mana.
A combination of his aura and his Authority allowed him to stifle his mana, making it harder to move and to keep it under control.
But even with those restrictions, he began to pull on his fire mana, letting it compress into an orb. While he did this, he used his sword to fend off the orcs, giving himself more time to condense the mana even further.
He made sure to add his Balance Concept into the mix, allowing himself to be less careful about how he mixed the mana. The Concept did much of the work, ensuring they were all in equilibrium.
The end product was a swirling glass-like orb of red and blue fire mana. It wasn’t much larger than a golf ball. It was red on the edges and had a bright blue core at the center. The ruinous flames inside flickered dangerously, and the orcs must have realized the threat of this tiny orb because they were already backing away.
But he didn’t allow them to, and neither did Selene. She created a barrier behind them, already anticipating this. When they realized they weren’t able to get away, they acted swiftly and rushed him. However, it was already too late. His orb flew towards them and detonated.
The orc with the greatsword was ruthless and pulled one of his men in front, using him as a shield, protecting himself from the resulting explosion. The others towards the back were fine. But the ones in the front had their flesh melted and their bones exposed.
It would seem that, even holding back, given enough time and preparation, an orb of fire mana was enough to take them out.
Julius didn’t let this opening go to waste and closed the distance, already shoving his sword through the mouth of an injured orc. He took out the other stragglers, too, until it was just him and the one with the greatsword left.
He stepped forward. It wanted to run away, but Selene’s barrier was still in place. And so, without little other choice, it dashed towards him with a burst of speed.
The pitted sword and its body glowed with the overflowing mana from its body reinforcement skill.
Unlike usual, he didn’t meet the monster head-to-head. Rather, he danced around it, letting it recklessly swing at his face while he dodged and parried its blows. It was so fast and strong that it was hard to find openings, but when he did, he made sure to go for them.
The orc slowly accumulated wounds all over its body. He swayed past another errant swing and slammed his sword into its wrist, almost severing the hand completely. He then kicked it in its chest, sending it sprawling. The orc tried to attack him again, roaring as it did. But he was already too close and stabbed his sword straight into its open mouth, up into its brain.
He could feel life slowly drain out of the monster as it struggled one last time.
When it was finally dead, he picked himself up and stretched out his limbs. He then turned to Selene, who had come over to him, and grinned, giving her a thumbs-up. “Nicely done!” he said to her.
She grimaced, though.
“What?” he asked, confusedly.
She pointed at his body and felt her use some kind of technique on him. He reflexively smacked it away before it could work, and he got a deeper glare in return.
“I’m trying to clean you,” she said with a disgusted grunt.
It was only then that he realized that he was completely soaked in orc blood and other nasty things. He stank like shit. He laughed sheepishly and finally allowed her technique to work on him. He felt the life mana flow over his body as if it was exfoliating him, and in a matter of a few seconds, the gore was scrubbed off, and he was clean as a whistle.
He grinned at her. “Thanks! I really appreciate it,” he said with genuine gratitude.
“Hmmph. I did it more for me, not for you,” she said flatly, though he felt her aura flicker slightly as if pleased by his gratitude.
He held back his quip and instead bowed to her. He looked over at the dead orcs and his clean body, scrunching up his nose when he realized he was going to have to get dirty again.
