A few minutes before Kashi emerged victorious from the Pride Floor, an equally pivotal battle reached its peak within the forest.
Bam! Bam! Bam! "Ack!" Styrke coughed up blood as he repeatedly blocked the Lich's thunderous sword strikes. The tora's desperate mana-reinforced shield was all that stopped the eight-foot bastard sword from ripping him in half!
"BREAK!" Nearby, Hogosha roared as it frantically attempted to escape from a bone prison suspended in the sky. The circular bone prison repeatedly shot out spikes to skewer the Nespian Tiger but repeatedly bounced off a layer of yellow-colored mana. Hogosha, in retaliation smashed its claws and body against the bone prison, but it could not extricate itself in the short time.
If Hogosha was connected to the ground, he could have summoned the earth to crush the prison, but he lost his connection to the earth due to the suspended prison. As a result, the desperate tiger could only watch with fear as the Lich finally shattered Stryke's shield.
"SRYKE!" Stryke's bloody figure caused something to shatter in Hogosha's mind. Like a dam smashed open, knowledge rapidly poured into the tiger, followed by torrents of mana and ki that seeped into its muscles and bones.
Buoyed by the sudden outburst, a giant mandala appeared beneath Hogosha's feet. Boom! A giant rock spire shot out of the mandala and crashed against the bone prison. The prison shattered on impact, and Hogosha charged out, its gray fur burning yellow with immense mana and ki.
Unfortunately, Hogosha released itself too late. By the time it charged out, the Lich's blade was only inches from Stryke's exposed face. The Nespian Tiger growled with frightened rage as it stomped against the ground. A thirty-meters-wide mandala spread out with it at the center, just about reaching underneath the Lich and Stryke. "[Earthquake]!"
A terrible groan accompanied Hogosha's shout as the ground heavily shuddered.
The rumbling took the Lich by surprise, causing its stab to slightly waver at the last second. Stryke, meanwhile, took advantage of the quakes to push his head to the right. Bang! The sword smashed the ground a few centimeters from Stryke's head. Rocks and dirt blasted into the air as the impact gouged out a ten-meter-long gully.
The immense winds meanwhile, sent Stryke tumbling across the ground. In any other situation, he might have gained sufficient distance to recover. Unfortunately, they were battling in a forest!
Bam!
Stryke had barely rolled two meters before his back struck a tree trunk. Stryke coughed up blood as the steel-like bark rebounded all the force into his sternum.
To further compound his predicament, the Lich abandoned its sword and stabbed its shield toward Stryke to finish him off. Although it sounds like a lot had happened, barely had passed from Hogosha bursting out its bone prison, casting [Earthquake] to the Lich stabbing the sharp end of its tower shield at the fallen Stryke.
Stryke needed more than a second to recover from the harsh rebound, and Hogosha needed a second before it could channel mana to cast another spell. Neither could make it in time before the shield would reach the Raid Leader.
"No!" Hogosha let out a mournful cry, but it could only watch as the Lich delivered the finishing blow.
BANG!
Powerful winds suddenly exploded outward as a flying axe smashed into the charging shield. The Lich roared in anger as it pushed its shield arm forward, blasting the ax into the tree above Stryke. Shockingly, the ax only managed to stick two to three centimeters deep, revealing the tree's outrageous durability.
Fortunately, the impact forced the Lich's shield arm back for a second. Beneath the Lich, Stryke took advantage of the lull to start rolling to the side.
Common sense dictated that the Lich required at least a moment to fight the rebounding force, stop, and then launch another attack toward Stryke.
Yes, common sense dictated that.
Unfortunately, this was Destia.
Common sense often gave way to the overpowered nature of magic!
It was unknown when an extra skeletal arm grew out from the Lich's back. The hand clenched into a fist and punched the retreating shield. Bam! The shield burst forward with even more speed than before, stunning Stryke who was yet to clear the zone.
BAM! Stryke's eyes went wide with fright and shock when the shield suddenly froze millimeters away from his eyes. The tora did not waste any time in wonder. He quickly rolled away and then backed off. Only when he was about ten meters away did he look at his savior with wide eyes.
"You!?" Stryke and Hogosha exclaimed in shock when they saw the hulking figure that gripped the shield from the side. Red squiggly veins bulged on the great orc's powerful muscles, giving him a terrible visage like a demon from hell.
"Hng!" Renark grunted as he pushed against the Lich's shield.
Unfortunately, the Lich's superior strength won out it in the end. With a loud grunt, the Lich sent Renark stumbling a few steps backward.
Renark grunted as he reached out and pulled his ax from the tree, all the while glaring at the Lich with narrowed, reddened eyes. He then glanced at Stryke and Hogosha who had run over to the tora's side and helped him to his feet. "You are excellent warriors to have held it off for so long." His grip tightened as he added, "But you must muster a bit more courage, I fear. This monster will not go down easily, even with my help."
"Hmph!" Stryke snorted as he wiped his blood from his lips. He appreciated the orc chieftain for saving his life, but did not mean he would idly accept such insults. "Courage is the one thing we Maggots do not lack."
"Heh. You sound like an orc." Renark revealed an amused smirk. "Apologies then. My wording was wrong."
"No need. I got what you mean. Courage is not enough. We are too weak like this." Stryke's gaze hardened. He was more aware of his shortcoming than most. Unlike Kashi, and the rest of the top brass, Stryke carried the lives of the raid members on his back every day.
In a bid to familiarize himself with, and train as many promising members as possible, Stryke's raid parties could range anywhere from experienced veterans to the noobest of noobs. Due to the large disparity, and the consequences of semi-permanent death, Stryke took it upon himself to ensure the survival of every member.
To achieve this, Stryke forced himself onto the path of ultimate defense. Every skill he acquired or mastered either protected his raid members, or boosted their stats. Due to this extreme focus, his base attack suffered.
Stryke could not defeat most bosses on his own due to this limitation.
Of course, no one in the guild, excluding perhaps Kashi, could survive an onslaught longer than Stryke could. However, not even Kashi came close to protecting masses the way Stryke could.
Due to these limitations, Hogosha became Stryke's best partner. Just like Stryke specced into full defense, Hogosha focused on pure attack. The tora's size, strength and claws allowed it to deal immense damage to any fools that got their attention seized by Stryke.
Unfortunately, Hogosha's biggest limitation was its quadrupedal nature. Its range of movement and flexibility were severely limited in a fight. This was not a problem when fighting smaller or physically weaker foes as it could just overpower them in a frontal charge before tearing them to pieces.
The same could not be said for larger and stronger foes – especially bipedal monsters like the Lich. The Lich could easily dodge Hogosha's charges. Furthermore, even if it chose not to dodge, Hogosha lacked enough power to push it over.
Furthermore, although Hogosha's claws did pose some danger, the Lich's sword and various magic spells gave it a massive range that allowed it to damage the Nespian Tiger before it could even get close.
Stryke and Hogosha were well aware of their limitations. The Lich constantly took advantage of these limitations to beat them into passive situations. Even with Renark, they did not think they had what it took to beat the Lich—not in their current state at least.
That's right.
Stryke and Hogosha were no longer satisfied with just holding off the Lich.
Stryke had no doubt that Kashi and the others were currently racking up crazy achievements in their respective battlefields. The raid division needed something similar. Something that would leave the world shocked.
Such an achievement would tell the world that it wasn't only the monsters of the guild that could achieve something great. Even the regular members could work hard enough to breach that gap in time!
All these thoughts ran through Stryke's mind in less than a second. He glanced at Hogosha, and then let out a smile when he saw the Nespian Tiger's determined gaze. "Alright, already. Let's do it."
"Hey, Ragelock, was it? Help us hold him off for five minutes!" Stryke shouted to Renark as he bit his thumb, causing it to explode in a burst of blood and gore. By his side, Hogosha raised its claw and resolutely cut a deep gash on its forehead, just between its eyes.
Both Renark and the Lich's gaze were drawn as explosive mana currents poured towards Stryke and Hogosha as the former stabbed his bloody thumb into the latter's forehead.
Boom!
Stryke and Hogosha's furs stood on end as mana poured into Hogosha's thumb. Almost instantaneously, billions of minute runic characters streamed out of Hogosha's forehead, and began suffusing both parties' furs.
The Lich's knowledge banks surpassed every being present, except perhaps the Seven Broken Swords watching from above. It instantly recognized Stryke and Hogosha's strange state. The Lich's aura exploded in retaliation to a perceived threat!
Three more arms broke out of the Lich's back, each wielding a different elemental spell. The Lich prepared to launch its spells, but there was a party who would not have any of that!
"I am your opponent!" Renark roared as he charged forward and slammed against the Lich's shield. The orc channeled his entire berserk energy into the charge. As a result, he successfully bumped the Lich off the ground.
Without wasting an extra second, Renark blasted off, pushing the Lich several dozen meters away in an instant. The two monsters smashed several trees, but not even the steel-like foliage could slow down their advancement.
"Hmph!" The Lich snorted when it realized Renark successfully pushed him out of sight of the little threats. It did not panic, however. Time had eroded its capability to experience most extreme emotions. The Lich, instead, planted its feet in the ground, successfully stopping Renark's push, and then launched several fireballs, ice bombs, wind blades and sparks at the orc.
Perhaps due to madness resulting from his Berserk state, Renark did not bother dodging, but instead smashed his ax down towards the Lich's skull. It appeared that Renark intend to stake his life to destroy the Lich in one fell swoop.
The Lich snorted at the tomfoolery. Did Renark think his cheap life was worth exchanging with a Lord of the Night? The Lich confidently raised its shield to block the telegraphed blow. Grrr!
However, something shocking occurred!
The Lich found it could not raise its shield. Only then did it realize that Renark was wielding the ax with his left hand. Then what was the right hand doing? The Lich looked at the shield, and was stunned to find Renark firmly gripping the top with his right hand.
What life exchange? Renark still had a lot to accomplish! There was no way he would trade his life for a stupid bone monster! The orc's eyes burned with madness and rage, but upon closer inspection, one would realize it still harbored cold, calculating, reason. That calculated madness exploded in full force as the ax bore down at the Lich's skull!
The Lich had no choice but to abandon its tower shield and rapidly retreat to avoid the blow! However, despite retreating, the Lich's additional arms did not stop their spells, and it appeared Renark would soon lose his life for his audacity.
Renark, however, snorted as he ducked behind the tower shield, using it to bear the brunt of the elemental attacks. BOOM! The elements exploded in a tempestuous maelstrom once they struck the shield, sending the orc chieftain sliding backward.
Renark roared with excitement as he threw the shield aside and then charged at the Lich, who had blocked the explosion with a well-timed mana shield. The Lich's eyes burned with rage at the intrepid orc! It instantly launched several projectiles to destroy the incoming pest before it even reached him.
Renark did not have the shield to protect himself, but now that he was on the move, did he even need it? The orc's parted in rapturous laughter as he dodged between trees and foliage, while tearing apart any elemental attacks that happened to reach him with his ki-infused ax.
It took a few seconds, but a bloody Renark soon reached the Lich's side. He promptly swung for its ribs, but the Lich parried the blow, and then punched him in the chest with its free hand.
Renark coughed up blood, feeling like his lungs were about to explode! The Lich's punch was not as simple as immense physical strength. Deathly energy from its fists assaulted the orc's innards, attempting to decay them. Renark rapidly channeled his ki to fight off the deathly energy, but the effort rapidly drained his ki and stamina. At this rate, he would not be able to hold on to the berserk state for more than a few minutes.
Faced with the dire situation, retreat did not near the orc chieftain's mind. He had promised to hold the fort for five minutes. An orc's honor was everything. Renark would not soil his honor by fleeing now.
Renark only took a moment to recognize the possible dangers before once again charging at the Lich.
A bitter fight ensued!
As an orc, Renark had decent resistance to most elemental attacks. However, not even he could ignore getting repeatedly electrocuted, burned, frozen and slashed. Renark poured everything he had into harassing the Lich. He constantly circled around the slightly taller figure, slashing at its exposed back whenever an opening arrived, while dodging or tanking its attacks.
Unfortunately, as the fight wore on, Renark suffered more and more death-infused attacks. Soon, his roiling ki could no longer fight off the deathly energy. It soon began to corrode his heart and lungs.
Renark's berserk state was the first thing to go. To begin with, Renark had definitely overdrafted his ki to maintain his berserk state for so long. Compounded with the ki needed to fight off the corrosion, it was no surprise that it ended.
The red veins and aura rapidly receded, leaving Renark weakened and tired. In this state, his reflexes, strength and vision rapidly declined by over sixty percent. For an orc, this drawback was normally nothing more than an inconvenience. In a regular bout, he could have bought some time for his excellent recovery genes to heal.
Unfortunately, the Lich was anything but an ordinary foe.
It only took a moment for the Lich to smack away Renark's ax and kick him to the ground, before resolutely driving its sword through Renark's chest.
Renark coughed up several mouthfuls of blood as he gripped the blade with angry, determined eyes.
THe Lich's flames pulsed at it pushed the blade deeper through the orc's chest. At this moment, a deep, aged voice questioned, "Do you regret your choice?"
"Haha." Renark shockingly laughed through bloodied teeth, even as he almost choked on blood that began seeping into his windpipe. "I-I will never regret my choice." Despite his tone, his gaze wavered for a moment with indecision and worry. However, the emotion called fear did not exist anywhere in his eyes. "Damn it. I guess I have to—" Renark began to speak, but then froze and his lips spread in euphoric laughter. "Took you long enough! He's all yours. I've done my part!"
The Lich sensed the new presence before even Renark did. It made to retrieve its sword, but to its surprise, the stubborn orc hugged the blade. Try as it might, the Lich could not pull out the sword in time!
Sensing the new presence's mind-numbing speed, the Lich resolutely relinquished the blade and jumped back to create some distance while its arms independently prepped various attack spells.
BOOM! BOOM!
Ten fireballs shot out from an arm, causing a massive explosion just over thirty meters ahead. Shockingly, a lithe figure burst through the flames covered in pale yellow light. Brief glimpses revealed a brown colored tiger-like patterned fur fluttering beneath the yellow light.
The Lich did not care about the intruder's identity. Its other arms rapidly shot out various spells, but then earthen walls shot out in quick succession, blocking the spells from hitting their caster.
"Heh, [Earth Corridor]." A playful voice called out amidst the explosion as a furred paw tapped the ground. Grrrr! The earth happily responded to the beings call.
Two massive walls about three-meters high, and stretching over 100 meters-long shot out of the ground. The walls, which were roughly two meters apart, curved at their apex, and then joined together, forming an arched tunnel.
The Lich, which happened to get trapped within the tunnel roared as it quickly bombarded the walls with several attacks.
Ksh... Sand poured out from several cracks, but the wall ultimately held. However, this proved that the wall would come down within a few seconds.
Unfortunately for the Lich, it did not have a few seconds. It sensed the strange figure charging straight down the tunnel towards it.
The Lich turned its attention to the distant figure. It bombarded the intruder with explosive spells and retreated until it reached the end of the tunnel, where it was stopped by a wall.
"Buckler!" The intruder chuckled and called out as it charged into the attacks.
BOOM! BOOM!
Several explosions rang out, their light illuminating a spinning shield suspended in the air. Several ki-images superimposed on the shield, blocked the impact from the individual running behind them.
Clack! The shields suddenly parted shortly after the first salvo ended, and the figure hidden behind exploded forward with blinding speed.
The Lich did not have time to channel another spell. Furthermore, without its shield and sword, its options were severely limited. Caught with its pants down, the Lich activated its emergency spell.
The Lich's bones suddenly shone with bright, demonic energy as they absorbed the surrounding death mana to harden. Unfortunately, the corridor blocked off the massive death mana roiling outside, so it could only settle for the remaining left within the little left in the tunnel. Fortunately, while the effects were less than satisfactory, the Lich only needed to overcome this attack before it could escape and recover to its peak condition in the endless death mana outside.
However, would it get that chance?
The elusive figure closed the gap in the blink of an eye.
The Lich's shining bones illuminated the figure in the dark.
Beautiful brown fur, with white stripes billowed under the airflow. A pair of beautiful, but playful purple eyes gazed out from a young, but ferocious, tiger-like face with long, partly braided, shoulder-length white hair. The slim figure grinned as it drew a thin 'sword,' that looked more like a long, carved nail.
Sparks danced as the tora's sword struck the ground and then climbed upward. Shockingly, however a gigantic black-colored spike shot out of the ground, following behind the blade.
The Lich, with no way to go, could only cross its arms as the blade sliced it from bottom to top.
From the outside, a massive ki-blade suddenly tore out of the newly-constructed tunnel. BOOOM! However, a gigantic black spire exploded out of the tunnel sending rubble flying before anyone could react to the ki-blade.
The moon's light happily danced on a lithe, smiling tora clad in a red robe who languidly stood amidst the falling dust and stone. The tora smiled at the Lich that stood before it with several thousands of fractures and cracks on its numerous bones.
It had to be known that the Lich's bones were akin to titanium after the hardening. It was inconceivable that it had suffered many such cracks.
"Hehe. We've closed the gap a little, wouldn't you say?" The tora chuckled as it turned its back to the Lich. He then said as he slowly returned the sword to its hilt. "[Earth God's Judgment!]"
Clack!
BOOM!
The rock spire and the Lich exploded into fine dust that the wind promptly swept away.
Amidst the swirling sand, the fusion of Stryke and Hogosha glanced at the distant moon as an enormous, mournful shriek pierced through the entire Drakase. A thin smile spread across his lips as he clenched his fists... "I can still be of use."