Aurelius locked eyes with the bloodthirsty Orc Chosen, his rage boiling over at the sight of the brutal deaths of the High Elves. Although his rage boiled within him, he forced himself to stay calm. This was no ordinary enemy; the Orc Chosen was a force of nature and rash actions would only lead to his death. Aurelius needed to be smart, to find a way to use the Orc's size and strength against him.
The Orc Chosen began to advance towards Aurelius, each step making the stones beneath his feet tremble. The battlements seemed narrow with the massive creature moving along them, and Aurelius knew he couldn't match the Orc in brute strength, but he could use magic to his advantage. For now, however, Aurelius decided to save his magic as a trump card, using it when the time was right. If Aurelius was lucky, he could use his teleportation during a pivotal moment, hopefully gaining a decisive upper hand.
Aurelius shifted his stance, readying himself for the oncoming assault. He glanced briefly to his left and right, taking in the positions of his fellow defenders. He could still see the mages and archers desperately retreating from the walls into the inner city. Aurelius gave a small sigh of relief seeing Valen among them.
In the archers' places, melee combatants rushed forward, attempting to stem the flow of the possessed army. They were holding their ground, but the fear in their eyes was palpable. Aurelius knew he had to act quickly, or the Orc Chosen would tear through their ranks and leave the city defenseless.
With a sudden burst of speed, the Orc Chosen charged at Aurelius, his great axe held high. Aurelius dodged to the side, feeling the rush of air as the massive weapon cleaved through the space where he had been standing. He countered with a swift slash of his own, his blade skimming the Orc's armor and drawing a thin line of blood.
The Orc roared in fury, swinging his axe in a wide arc. Aurelius ducked under the swing and darted to the Orc's side, slashing at his unprotected flank. The blow landed, but it was shallow; the Orc's skin was tough and Aurelius knew that the Orc Chosen probably had an insane constitution stat.
Aurelius sidestepped another brutal swing from the Orc, using his small frame to his advantage. He struck back with a series of precise thrusts, aiming for the gaps in the Orc's armor. The Orc, however, was not easily outmaneuvered. He blocked and countered with terrifying speed, forcing Aurelius on the defensive.
The battle around them intensified. High Elven warriors engaged the possessed soldiers who had managed to breach the walls, their swords flashing in the flickering light of the fires that raged below. Arrows continued to rain down from the archers who had repositioned within the city, providing crucial support to the defenders.
As they fought, Aurelius could sense the tide of battle shifting with the defenders barely holding their own against the sheer overwhelming numbers of the possessed. Aurelius could still hear the ram was battering at the gates, each strike weakening the ancient wood and iron.
Aurelius knew they couldn't afford to let the battle drag on much longer. With a burst of determination, Aurelius launched himself into a flurry of attacks, his sword dancing with deadly precision. He aimed for the joints in the Orc's armor, targeting vulnerable points with each strike. The Orc Chosen responded in kind, his massive axe swinging with bone-crushing force.
Aurelius ducked and weaved, narrowly avoiding each blow, but he knew he couldn't keep this up forever. He needed to find a weakness, a way to exploit the Orc's immense strength against him. He began imbuing his sword with more and more mana, hoping the extra power would allow him to deliver the decisive strike he needed.
Then, as if by divine inspiration, Aurelius saw his opening. With a swift feint, he drew the Orc's attention to his left side, leaving his right flank momentarily exposed. Seizing the opportunity, Aurelius struck with all his might, driving his sword deep into the joint of the Orc's armor. Unlike his previous strikes, this mana-driven strike cut deep into the Orc’s side. A river of blood started to flow out from the wound, staining the stone floor a red color.
The Orc froze up slightly and Aurelius used the moment to his advantage. Using his momentum, Aurelius swung his left fist, and given their close proximity, landed a full on punch to Orc’s left temple.
That was a mistake
Aurelius let out a hiss of pain. The punch seemed to do more damage to him than it did to the Orc Chosen. However, the punch did have the unexpected benefit of causing the Orc to loosen his grip on his weapon, causing it to tumble to the floor.
Thinking quickly, Aurelius attempted to kick the great axe off the floor of the battlements and into the inner city below. It was not easy. The axe was much heavier than Aurelius expected and even with his 30 points in strength the axe barely slid far enough to fall off the edge of the city wall. Aurelius really hoped that no High Elf was standing near the wall when the axe fell. His plan was to have some High Elf hopefully notice the great axe and retrieve it, permanently depriving the Orc of his weapon.
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With that done, Aurelius turned his full attention back to the Orc Chosen. Instead of the scream of pain Aurelius had been expecting from his sword strike and punch, Aurelius could hear the Orc Chosen let out a small laugh.
Shit…
Aurelius immediately knew something was wrong. He desperately tried to dislodge his blade from the Orc Chosen’s side, hoping to continue his attack with his weapon. To his surprise, the blade didn’t move. No matter how hard Aurelius tried to pull, the blade continued to stick in the Orc Chosen’s side. Changing his plans on the fly, Aurelius attempted to pump the sword full of mana, hoping the sword would explode while it was still puncturing the Orc Chosen’s side. Before he could do so, however, Aurelius felt a massive hand grip his right shoulder.
Shit shit
Aurelius had been so focused on the Orc’s great axe and his own weapon that, given their now close proximity, Aurelius had completely missed the Orc’s other arm reaching out to grab him. Immediately, the Orc lifted Aurelius in the air with one massive hand like a ragdoll, squeezing him all the while. Aurelius began to grimace as he started to feel the pressure of the Orc’s grip and Aurelius knew he had to teleport away before his shoulder bones cracked under the pressure.
Suddenly, the Orc did something Aurelius wasn’t expecting. He started to run towards the edge of the wall. Aurelius's heart pounded in his chest as he realized the Orc Chosen's intention. With a surge of panic, he struggled against the Orc's iron grip, but it was futile. The Orc's laughter echoed in Aurelius's ears, mocking his feeble attempts to break free.
It was then that Aurelius’ fears were realized. The Orc jumped off the wall, holding Aurelius’ body below him as if it were a cushion for his impact. Aurelius knew that it would only be a few seconds before he was flattened between the streets of the city and the massive Orc above him. Aurelius was absolutely certain there would be no way for him to survive such a force.
With no other options, Aurelius gathered the last reserves of his strength and focused his mind on one thing: teleportation. He knew it was his only chance to escape the impending disaster. With a desperate cry, he channeled his magic, feeling the familiar sensation of displacement as reality warped around him.
In the blink of an eye, Aurelius vanished from the Orc Chosen's grip, reappearing several yards away on the city streets below. He stumbled upon landing, his body still reeling from the sudden shift in location. But, there was no time to dwell on his disorientation.
He purposely teleported as far away as possible so that he wouldn’t be in the impact area of the Orc Chosen’s fall. He also started to quickly back away from where the Chosen would fall, hopefully giving himself some distance and time to recuperate.
Aurelius watched, as if in slow motion, as the Orc Chosen fell to the ground, the Orc Chosen’s eyes wide with slight shock and more than a hint of fury. A boom reverberated around the city as the Chosen landed, causing a crater to form at his impact, launching gray dust and stones everywhere. Aurelius looked around the inside of the city as he slowly gathered his wits and waited for the dust to settle.
While the dust settled, Aurelius looked around and could see the chaos that had erupted within the city. The possessed soldiers had breached the walls, and the defenders were engaged in fierce combat in the streets and alleys. Fires raged unchecked in some parts of the city, casting an eerie glow over the scene of destruction.
At this point, the gate had been destroyed by constant assault of the battering ram and legions of High Elven warriors attempted to hold the line against the overwhelming tide of the possessed army pouring through the breach. The sounds of battle echoed through the streets, mixing with the screams of the wounded and dying.
Aurelius took a moment to catch his breath, his mind racing with thoughts of what to do next. He knew that he couldn't stay on the sidelines while his city burned and his people fought for their lives. But at the same time, he knew he couldn’t let this Orc Chosen move throughout the city unchecked.
As the dust cleared, Aurelius could see the havoc wreaked by the Orc Chosen's fall. Buildings nearby were damaged, and the ground was cracked from the impact. But what caught Aurelius's attention the most was the figure of the Orc Chosen rising from the crater, seemingly unfazed by the fall.
In fact, the Orc Chosen seemed to be enjoying himself. Eyeing Aurelius with a hungry gaze, the Orc Chosen slowly dislodged Aurelius’ blade from his side with no effort. Then, Aurelius watched in horror as the wound began to regenerate itself, visible to the naked eye.
The Orc Chosen laughed once again when he saw the look of shock on Aurelius’ face. However, the Orc Chosen wasn’t done. The Orc Chosen lifted his hand into the sky and for a moment, which caused Aurelius to be utterly confused.
As the Orc Chosen’s hand raised into the sky, an object began to shake under the rubble of a nearby building. Soon, the object lifted itself from the ground and flew into the waiting hand of the Orc Chosen. It was the great axe, now restored to its master. The Orc Chosen twirled the weapon with ease, the air whistling from the sheer force of the motion.
Aurelius clenched his teeth in frustration. The regeneration, combined with the retrieval of the weapon, meant that Aurelius was facing a nearly invincible foe. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks – brute force alone would not be enough to bring down this monster. He had to think quickly, or his city and his people would be doomed.
Aurelius began to feel a sense of despair as he saw the Orc Chosen standing tall at the edge of the crater, his enormous frame casting a long shadow across the war-torn street. His skin, a mottled greenish-gray, glistened with a sheen of sweat and blood. Thick cords of muscle rippled under his skin with every movement, and his armor—scarred and battered—only seemed to accentuate his monstrous size. His eyes glowed with a malevolent light, locked onto Aurelius with a mix of fury and twisted amusement.
The situation seemed dire indeed.
But Aurelius refused to give in to despair. With a grimace, he took another one of his swords from his spatial storage, quickly imbuing it with mana. It was time for round two.