You know, this would have been a lot more fun with that modern music. It was like the most exhilarating part of the trumpets calling one to battle, extended across an entire song, and there seemed to be a near-infinite number of songs out there.
Though chances were the emperor would ban it from the fortress in a few days. For now, it was interesting, but in due time, it would get on his nerves, as it made it hard to hear anything else. Which meant he’d make the most out of everything while he still could, once this was all done. Later. For now, the name of the game was extermination.
The door Tristan must have returned through was finally in sight and Ogier squeezed himself out onto the natural outcropping, relieved to finally be clear of its confines.
Ogier had always been a big man, towering over most of his fellows, and instead of learning to project authority, he’d had to learn how to not scare the living daylights out of any stranger he interacted with. At the same time, most doorways were too small for him, and plenty of rooms even left him in danger of gaining lumps on his head. There was a reason he preferred to keep a helmet on at all times.
That damn staircase … if he didn’t know better, he’d have assumed that it had been made specifically to torture him. Now he was free though, free in more than one way.
He glanced down briefly, spotting the corpse of the eagle Tristan had fought, its head cleanly split in two, but that was just about the only part of this that was clean. Everything else … it looked like he’d smacked it with the flat of his blade twice and that almost certainly hadn’t been an accident, but a mistake on his part.
That boy really needed to either learn to wield his sword properly, or give up and become a member of the support staff. Because as much as warriors, even Ogier himself liked to think otherwise, support staff were ridiculously valuable.
Cortain slid free of its sheath with nary a whisper, the very air parting before the impossibly sharp blade. Combined with the buckler already strapped to his other arm, he was now fully ready for combat. The Paladin of Europe’s greatest emperor, the [Titan Knight], was about to go to war!
The general menace that he naturally exuded increased a hundredfold as [Titanic Presence] activated, the first of many Skills.
“Come on!” Ogier roared, his voice echoing off the nearby mountains as he raised Cortain and brought its edge down onto his shield, the resulting “clang” echoing out at a volume that was even louder than his shout had been.
“Here I am!”
Once again, Cortain slammed into the shield, which started to bend now.
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“You want people like me, so come get me!”
This time, the shield cracked right down the middle and he retrieved a second just like it from his [Mobile Amory]. His other gear might have been strengthened by [Titan’s Armor] and Cortain didn’t bend or break unless he wanted to, like that time he’d shortened it, but he tended to be rough on shields.
Between the shouting, the attraction, and the Skill, he should be neck-deep in monsters by now. Ogier sighed and turned around to eye the rock wall behind him, evaluating how easy it would have been to climb up there. In hindsight, doing this somewhere more creatures could approach him would have probably been a better idea.
So he did just that, sheathing Cortain and grabbing a hold of any protruding chunks of rock and pulling himself up when possible, punching a handhold into the sheer cliff when not.
He was making slow and steady progress up the mountainside until eventually, just as he reached the halfway point, he heard the furious screech of a giant bird of prey. Of course it would happen at the absolute most inconvenient time possible. Swearing internally, Ogier craned his neck around, spotted the creature in question, pulled his legs up, knees pressing against his chest, feet resting against the rock, and waited.
It only took a couple of seconds for the bird to be on its final approach, shooting straight at him.
That was when Ogier extended his legs, literally reducing the rock he was holding onto to powder in the process, launching himself into the open air as though he’d been hurled by a catapult. Cortain stayed in its sheath, he didn’t need it for this.
The monster’s nameplate floated in his vision for a split second before they collided, making a startled squawk that made Ogier grin.
Steel Eagle Lv. 14 (evolved stone eagle) Field Boss
He slammed into its chest, wrapped his arm around it, and squeezed even as they began to fall, the impact having destabilized its flight. One hand closed around a piece of ribcage he could feel under his fingers and squeezed tight, ripping through flesh in the process until he was certain that he could keep a hold of it even if he released his other hand.
Dangling from the monster by one hand freed up the other to punch into the base of its wing, utterly ruining its ability to stabilize its flight.
Together, they fell, and Ogier craned his neck to spot the incoming ground until he finally managed to catch sight of it, trying to gauge how long it would be before they hit it.
Five seconds, four, three, two, one … [Shockwave Impact].
All his downward momentum was instantly transformed into an immensely powerful shockwave that tore out of him in a wave of force the likes of which he’d never before seen.
As for the beast, well … it was between him and his shockwave, and the ground.
It burst like an overfilled wineskin, though one that was rather … feathery.
Ogier spat, blood and something fluffy splattering across the ground. He looked down at himself. Come on, [Titan’s Armor], clean the mess, you’re supposed to restore my armor … did this not fall under the scope of its authority?
He supposed he’d always had to clean his armor when he went off on his own before, no reason to expect that to have changed now.
Retrieving his shield and drawing Cortain again, he began to make some noise while walking back towards the mountain. There had to be more of these things around here, didn’t there? It’d be damn waste if all he got out of his efforts was a single fight.