They felt an incredibly strong vibration behind them and instinctively dodged to the side. A beam of orange-tinged blue fire scoured and melted the stone where they had just stood, digging at least thirty into the ground.

They disabled the lights that they had sent into the air. Voran would need to save all the Mana they could.

The Orc that fired it was squat and gangly, but the staff in its hand, along with nearly being melted, gave away its Path. An Inferno Shaman.

The fire on their daggers went out, there was no point in keeping it up at this point. It was completely immune to fire.

They rushed at the shaman, sending bursts of wind behind them to increase their speed, and arrived in front of it within moments. Unfortunately, it seemed to be well versed in flame sorcery, as a large blindingly hot inferno appeared around it, stopping their advance.

The other Orcs took their short pause as an opportunity to strike, but Voran had a few tricks up his sleeve that Rowan and Vorn didn’t.

They dodged every attack by a slim margin, using their wind sorcery to subtly redirect attacks, while simultaneously sending spikes of earth into the monsters’ feet. Being in perfect sync had its perks.

Before they could finish off a few Orcs, a large plume of fire came at them. It was poorly aimed, so they attempted to just sidestep, but at the last second the Shaman roared. They could feel the Mana from the roar travel to its flame, and the plume became an avalanche of fire.

They couldn’t dodge.

But… who said they needed to?

With their thoughts combined, Voran had access to spells that Vorn simply didn’t have the knowledge to even think to perform.

A vacuum appeared around them, sucking the air out of their lungs and bursting numerous blood vessels, but the fire simply couldn't touch them.

The Shaman, who probably expected to see nothing but ash, was terrified to see them standing there, barely even singed.

The only noticeable difference was their eyes. The busted blood vessels colored their sclera red.

It attempted to send another large wall of fire at them, but what it didn’t expect was the adaptability Voran had. In the time it took for Shaman to get over its fear, Voran had improved the spell. A small air pocket was kept between them and the vacuum, leaving them short on oxygen and all but immune to fire and their own vacuum.

They ran through the blue inferno as if it wasn’t there, exploding through the wall of flame without a care. The Shaman, not nearly as brave as the warriors that surrounded it, was finally routed.

Voran was shocked. They had never heard of an Orc abandoning a fight.

Well, not like it mattered. Since it was running away, it decidedly wasn’t paying attention. A spike of earth pierced its foot, making it fall to the floor. After that, another spike pierced its brain, ending the Shaman for good.

Mana Capacity: 20%

Finally, the largest roar appeared once more. A baritone avalanche of sound slammed into them, knocking them to the ground.

A few hundred feet away, they could finally see it.

An Orc the size of a three-story building, easily thirty-five feet tall.

All the warriors surrounding them kneeled.

Mana Capacity: 23%

It walked through their camp, knocking down tents without a care. Finally, it arrived in front of them. They prepared to run or dodge, but it simply stood there. Taking their measure.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Mana Capacity: 25%

It looked in their eyes as if saying, “Go on, take the first shot.”

So they did.

Air condensed near their legs, and fire erupted at the edge of their blade, only to compress and become even more energized. A thin line of burning plasma that was absolutely bleeding mana.

They jumped at the Titan, the plasma burning a hole in their mana reserves, but it was the only thing that could hope to take this creature down.

They attacked its jugular and it barely even flinched. Blood poured down its neck, but the wound was already healing. Or… it was... before a beam hit the beast directly in the chest. Yellow lines of sickness spread from the impact site. When it reached its throat, its healing completely stopped.

It seemed… impressed. Not even angry.

With that, it began its assault.

It slammed its fist towards them like a hammer, it wasn’t very fast, so they could easily dodge it. However, they had thought that about every Chief they had fought so far, to be safe, they decided to jet vault into the air.

Good thing they did, as the blow that impacted the ground rocked the entire cavern, sending crystalline stalactites toward the Orcs on the ground. The Titan didn’t seem to care as its brethren were crushed. Funnily enough, the Orcs didn’t seem to care either. They had an enamored look on their faces as if they were watching a battle between divines.

Mana Capacity: 9%

As long as they could play keep away from the Titan, they could win this… but is that how they wanted to win?

The wound on the Titan's artery had widened with its actions, and a veritable river of blood was pouring down its chest. The ground had blood up to their ankles.

The beast was already slowing down, and they would be damned if a beast like this went down like a bitch.

Again, they prepared to Jet Vault at the beast.

With only nine percent of their Mana remaining, this would have to be precisely timed.

A gargantuan fist careened towards them while they rocketed towards its face, but Voran dodged it by sending a jet of wind into their side. They had a clear shot.

They were a mere three feet away from the Titan’s eye. Voran’s reflection looked them in the eye… and ignited.

A burning white meteor dived into the beast’s skull, doing irreparable damage.

The Titan released one last roar, nearly knocking Voran unconscious just by the sheer volume, and then… it dropped. Face first into the ground. While they were in its face.

It was an unpleasant few minutes while they dug themselves out.

They waited to split until they were outside and breathing again, otherwise Vorn would have puked in their Soul, and neither of them wanted to know what that entailed.

Finally, they emerged from the Titan’s skull, victorious.

And surrounded by Orcs.

Mana Capacity: 1%

They prepared to fight once more, but they were exhausted. The Orcs, though, stayed kneeled.

They tentatively walked up to one and tapped it on the shoulder. Nothing.

From behind them, they heard.

“Human, you have defeated our Lord in honorable combat. Do what you wish with us, we will not stop you.” A warrior said, reverence lacing their tone.

Dungeon beasts were hard-wired to attack delvers, and they could see that the Orcs were all shaking with barely repressed violence… but the monsters were true to their word.

While Voran collected blood and brights from their brethren, they kept their heads kneeled.

Before they left, Voran said, “Your Lord was an extremely fun fight, I hope you take after him.”

“Our thanks, Delver. By your mercy and by your command, we shall.”

Time to check their gains.

Voran, Level 23 Twin Soul Spellblade

Age: 16 | Class 1: [Twin Soul: Mind Path] | Rowan: [Twin Soul: Body Path]

Attributes:

CON: 345

STR: 345

AGI: 345

DEX: 345

WIS: 690

INT: 690

CHA: 138

LUCK: 138

[Titles: One New Title]

[Perks:]

[Skills:]

Status: Dehydrated, Fatigued, Gorey, Mana Fatigued

New Title: Bloodstained Champion of Elenia (Legendary) (Blessing/Curse)

Rejoice, mortal! You have impressed the Goddess of the Wild, Elenia! By embracing your brutality and bloodlust, you have unintentionally followed the tenets of the most brutal of all Gods, and thus She has chosen you to be her champion. This cannot be undone.

Boons:

* When over 25% of your body is covered in blood, double your regeneration of Vitality and Mana.

* When over 75% of your body is covered in blood, double your Strength and Constitution.

Banes:

* When over 25% of your body is covered in blood, halves your ability to reason.

* When over 50% of your body is covered in blood, halve your Wisdom and Charisma.

Bloodstained Blessing:

When your body is fully covered in blood, enter a true Blood Rage, losing your ability to discriminate between friend and foe. Double all attributes. Beware, some do not recover their faculties.

“Oh.”

“Oh shit.”

“So, Vorn… This is bad, right?”

“Not necessarily. You just need to be aware of how much blood is covering… you… while in a fugue state… Okay, this might be bad.”

“Yeah, I thought so. I already have trouble maintaining my reason in battle, considering that my reason gets an active debuff from this… yeah, dangerous... So, I’m a champion of a goddess now? Does that come with any responsibilities?”

“Honestly, not really. It’ll change how some people interact with you, but a Champion Title is just a gift for achieving a legendary feat and impressing a god. It’s a reward, not a responsibility. Now, if you had become a 'True' Champion, that would be different, but that is substantially harder.”

“Do they usually come with such harsh downsides?”

“Depends. Elenia is a very violent Goddess, so She likely doesn’t see an issue or downside with any of the abilities you’ve gained.”

“Well, at least it’s your problem and not mine.”

"*sigh* Joy.”

“Oh hey, you sighed again. I still have no idea how you manage that while we’re talking in our thoughts.”