Stomp... Stomp...
The Orc slowly approached him and entered the —
Ding!
> Caution: Enemy's level is too high!
> Debuff: 'Monarch's Aegis: Resistance Effect' has failed to activate.
Yes, that's right, the dome was still active, just without its tangibility — the shield.
Stomp... Stomp...
Kaelen, with the light in his eyes flickering, glanced up at the large figure looming over him.
[Haha... What a joke, is this how it ends?]
He scoffed inwardly, but strangely enough, he still audibly wept externally.
[... I'm going to die protecting some NPCs?]
[Maybe I should've just abandoned them...]
Faced with death, Kaelen began to regret his act of courage and self-sacrifice.
However...
[No... I wouldn't have been able to live with myself after doing that.]
Ding!
>WARNING: You are about to die.
[You don't think I know that?]
The Orc wrapped its hand around him and dug him out of the boulder.
And it was not gentle at all...
"Aaargh!!!"
Kaelen screamed, and because he did so, his ribs skewered deeper into his lungs.
"Oink... Goodbye, food that talk too much."
The Orc opened its maw, the drool dripping from it almost acidic as it was mixed with gastric juices.
It raised Kaelen high and allowed his blood to drip into its mouth, stimulating its taste buds.
[...]
[...Food?]
[Is that all I am to you? Food?]
[After years and years of pouring my life into this...!!]
[Do you know how many sleepless nights I've had?!]
[The amount of relationships I've had to sacrifice, and you're telling me that I'm just mere food to you?!]
Kaelen began wriggling his body, the anger bubbling up inside of him causing adrenaline to pump through his veins, somewhat numbing him of the excruciating pain.
The Orc paid his squirming no mind, seeing it only as its prey's desperate efforts to preserve its life.
Then it slowly lowered Kaelen and...
Chomp!
Crunch! Squelch! Munch!
It bit off Kaelen's left leg and began chewing it vigorously, as though afraid that someone else would come steal him from it.
"Oink! Snort! Food very delicious!"
[Fuck that! I won't die like this, never!]
[Not when I'm finally living my dream! I won't accept it!]
Chomp!
Another one of his legs was lost to the abyss that was the Orc's throat.
[I refuse to die!!]
Where most would have died from shock, the fire in his heart and the fortress that was his mind refused to relent and...
Crackle!
He drew vast quantities of his Mana and covered his entire framed with it. He then reached for his spear and turned it into a pink bolt of plasma.
"..."
His efforts did nothing to deter the Orc and...
CRACK!
"Aaargh!!!"
... It squeezed him tightly, almost causing him to vomit his intestines and his eyes to pop out of their sockets.
"Aaah!!!"
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Kaelen roared with blood spraying out of his mouth and began thrusting his spear desperately at the Orc's arm, hoping to free himself from its deadly grip.
But his efforts were in vain and the Orc snapped his metal spear into two as though it were a mere toothpick.
[I won't die like this!!!]
He continued to draw Mana until his Mana Veins burned intensely, as though molten lava flowed through them.
But again, this did nothing to stop the —
Ding!
An azure-blue light of hope flickered in his fading vision:
───────────────────────────
Status Window.
>Warning: HP is approaching 0, you are about to die!
> Warning: Core Stat [%##%] is active!
- Will you use [%##%] to prevent your impending demise?
-[Y/N] — You have two seconds to decide.
───────────────────────────
"Yes!!! Do it!!!"
He did not allow even a split second to elapse and roared without hesitation.
UWOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!
[!!]
The Orc fliched and snorted in surprise as the air was suddenly dense with magicules that rapidly began colliding with one another, causing pink sparks to gradually engulf them as well as a large area of the mountain top.
"Oink! No! This bad, this very bad!"
Even a low intelligence creature like itself knew exactly what would come next:
FLAAAAAAAAAAAARE!!!
A pillar of pink plasma erupted like a vortex and ascended to the heavens, almost piercing through the clouds.
Boulders, trees and the hundreds of corpses were devoured by this tornado of Mana as they spun high in the air only to be incinerated and reduced to ash.
This continued for about five seconds and was visible for long distances, illuminating the forests below and the land beyond the hill.
"Huff..."
[That bug Core Skill saved me again...]
[But what exactly is it?]
[... A temporary power up?]
Kaelen dragged himself off the ground and stood to his newly regenerated feet.
His clothes were almost completely burnt to char, the only piece of fabric that stubbornly clung to his frame was the part that covered his privates.
"Pant... Pant..."
He surveyed his surroundings and saw nothing that was familiar, the once bumpy, uneven terrain had been completely leveled.
The rocks and boulders were no more, all that remained was scorched earth.
[I've been given yet another chance...]
Step... Step...
He wobbled to his broken spear which was a short distance away from him — all that remained of it wasn't even half the length of his arm, but he equipped it regardless.
He then turned his attention to the creature that was breathing heavily at the edge of the cliff and glared at it. Its once pinkish skin was now riddled with third degree burns.
"Twice now I've almost died to you 'Low-level monsters'... I guess I underestimated you."
"Which is crazy, considering that I am the one who made you... Maybe I overestimated myself?"
He smiled bitterly and looked to the stars, the slowly falling ash accumulating on his face and scalp.
Hearing the commotion made by the squealing Orc, Kaelen returned his gaze to it and saw that it was absolutely furious.
"..."
It continued squealing and snorting, kicking the ground with its feet and blowing steam from its nostrils.
But his face was completely still as he calmly beheld the creature's tantrums.
Ding!
───────────────────────────
Status Window.
Ding!
>WARNING: MP is dangerously approaching 0, temporary immobilization will ensue!
Ding!
>Notice: Due to the effect of Core Stat[%##%] the debuff: : 'Monarch's Aegis: Resistance Effect' has been activated!
- The enemy has been afflicted with a 30% reduction in overall stats!
───────────────────────────
[This bug... I'm starting to understand what it does...]
[How fortunate, I was planning on somehow running away but...]
[It looks like I won't need to anymore.]
He smiled and discarded of the interface, his body trembling due to the echoes of the grueling pain he'd endured and his forcibly expanded Mana Veins.
[Thank goodness... I can fight.]
His soft smile turned into a vengeful grin, his eyes now without fear but burning with courage.
"Hurry up and come at me, I'm already embarrassed as is."
He taunted the Orc, poised his posture and held what remained of his spear by its base —which was essentially just a metal shard connected to a spearhead.
"OIINK!!! I kill you food!!"
The Orc charged with smoke still rising from its body and the azure-blue hues of its Mana crackling vibrantly around it.
"..."
■■ Creator's Eye: Foresight! ■■
Ding!
>Notice: Due to the effect of Core Stat[%##%] the subskill: 'Creator's Eye: Foresight has activated, negating the level restrictions.
- You can now foresee movements of beings with 20 levels greater than yours.
"..."
"For ten seconds..."
His eye formed a dendritic pattern and shone brighter than the first light of dawn, its spiral spinning like the wheel of fate.
"... Your entire existence lays bare before my eye."
In that moment, he saw every single action the Orc would take for the next ten seconds.
Ta! Ta!
He too charged with Mana encasing him.
1...
Fwish!
Kaelen threw his weapon high in the air and immediately performed a sidestep to his right, easily evading the Orc's right fist.
2...
Fwosh!
With a blank expression, he casually bent his legs to lower his posture, avoiding the Orc's left elbow.
Ta!
He took a large step forward to rob the Orc's advantage in reach, his fist aiming for the Orc's crotch.
4...3...
But the Orc quickly thrusted its bulky knee, however this did not bother Kaelen in the slightest and he performed yet another sidestep, albeit, adding more rotation to his movement this time.
5...
THUD!
Kaelen performed a violent spinning back elbow and planted it deep into the puncture wound on the Orc's abdomen.
"OIIIINK!!!"
The Orc squealed like a dying swine and rained down a flurry of fists that normally would have reduced Kaelen to mince.
But...
He foresaw every move the Orc would make, therefore he effortlessly evaded the onslaught in quick, nimble movements resembling a choreographed dance.
6...
[Here it comes...]
He quickly stole a glance above the Orc, to a spinning object that was rapidly descending.
Fwosh! Fwosh!
Kaelen continued his dance, whilst simultaneously filling his aching Mana Veins with every drop of Mana that remained in his Pool.
7...
He then, without even looking at the Orc, lowered his posture to dodge an attack whilst simultaneously coiling his legs.
Bang!
He stomped on the charred earth and leapt, stepping on the Orc's fist before running across its arm and jumping again as he reached its elbow.
CRACKLE!!!!
He rotated in mid-air, surrounded by plasma like a Phoenix reborn from the ashes.
[This... Is going to hurt.]
He smiled bitterly as he concentrated to time his attack perfectly, he couldn't afford to leave any room for error.
8...
He concentrated all of the Mana surrounding him into his right leg and leveraged the force he garnered from his rotation to perform a falling crescent kick.
The object that fell from the sky —what remained of his spear —entered the trajectory of his kick, the base of its metal shard perfectly aligned with the roof of his foot, and the spearhead precisely pointing at the gash on the side of Orc's temple.
■■ Mana Burst: Fuchsia Crescent! ■■
Like a hammer to a nail in mid-air, his kick struck the base of the spear, and...
CLAAANG! BOOOOOOOM!!
... The spearhead punctured the Orc's head and it was instantly devoured by a deep pink plasma, which caused its brain to implode and turn to a mush that dripped from its eyes before the entire head exploded!
[I... did it...]
His consciousness began to wane before he could even hit the ground as his body was now without even a single drop of Mana.
9...
But...
Thud...
Something caught him and he instantly knew that he was in someone's arms.
[What the...]
His head, lethargic as he was, felt cold, as though it rested against a steel wall.
Forcing himself to look up, he saw...
"You did well, kid..."
"... To think you would take down an Orc by yourself at such a young age."
A man with a brown beard who looked down at him with a warm expression, his armor covered in blood.
[A... Human?]
Had he not been so tired and stiff, his eyes would have widened.
"I'm sorry, I'm the one who let it go... I was hoping it could lead me to the others."
"You can rest now."
The man smiled at him, and for some reason, Kaelen felt safe in his arms.
And with that, he shut his eyes and his consciousness escaped him.
10...