Chương 38: Charged Orc

Uh oh. The orc stares at me with its arms crossed, a stern expression written on its face. Like I'd just been caught bullying someone at recess, I give a nervous smile and step to the side. After a few seconds, the larger orc yells while sweeping its arms in a 'hurry up' gesture. All the orcs start moving. Panic spikes, before being wiped away by the command. I pull my fists up, but lower them right after. None of the orcs pulls out their weapons or rushes at me.

Slowly, they curve around, surrounding both the larger orc and me. It's only when they make a perfect circle that it clicks in my head. A 1v1, huh? The large orc smiles as it sees the understanding in my eyes. With not much of a choice, I bring my fists up once again. The orc gives a hearty laugh before closing its eyes and standing still. My eyebrow raises in confusion as the entire makeshift arena stands in silence.

I look at the orcs, but none of them tear their eyes away from the scene or hold the glee they had before. Alright, what's going on? A few moments go by before realization flashes across my face. [Highest stat: Intelligence] Shit, it's a mage! I burst into a sprint as the mage's eyes open. With a wicked grin, the orc slams its fists together. Lightning bursts from the impact, coiling around its arms and burning my eye with light. My arm comes up and blocks the light as I stumble to a stop.

Large, meaty slaps sound through the area, the mage rushing at me full speed. The orc reaches out to grab me. My waist bends, sending my back arching. The hand misses, but a thick arc of electricity climbs off its arm. The blinding light of energy travels across the air and lands on my nose. My mind goes blank. Spasms rocket through my body, causing me to collapse backwards. When my mind straightens, the orc's fists are balled up and falling.

The command forces movement, but my muscles ignore it as they twitch uncontrollably. Fists slam into my chest and force the wind from my lungs. A new wave of electricity ravages my body, blinding my thoughts once again. When my eye starts processing information again, the only thing I see is fists slamming into my chest. When my vision returns from another blast of electricity, I see the orc with its eyes closed. The constant arcing on its arms slowly starts to wither.

Knowing that it's trying to recast whatever it did, I try to move. The electricity continues hijacking my body. My teeth clench in anger. It freely channels magic through its body because it knows I can't do anything but watch. I strain to move my muscles, but they remain out of my control. Why the hell hasn't it dispersed yet!? My eye closes, and I dive into my body. The perfect swirl of mana has improved further, the veins that looked engineered before now look sculpted.

Besides that, hundreds of worms dash erratically through the sea of mana. They zip to one area before flicking to another. My mana stops its normal current with alacrity, swarming to smother the worms out under my order. Every time the mana compresses around one, it slips out just a little weaker. I try to grab and smother it multiple times, and it grows weaker several times before petering out. With that, only ninety-nine percent of them are left. Realizing the tactic is pointless, I try a different tactic.

I grab a group of mana around one worm and push it to the edge of my body. It tries to squeeze through the gaps, but I compress as much as possible. The instant it touches the edge, it's yanked out completely. I repeat the maneuver, but it still takes too long. With time running out, I grab mana around every worm in my body. Compressing the mana around each one and guiding them out carefully is beyond my ability. Instead, I slam every clump of mana with a worm inside to the edge of my body.

When my eye opens, numerous thick arcs of energy are burning their way out of my body. At the same time, the orc's fists slam together, and another burst of lightning coils around its arms The command forces my body into motion, listening perfectly this time. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. My waist snaps forward, weaving a hook into the orc's knee. It stumbles down, roaring in pain. A crackling fist comes down alongside it.

My knees bend and spring me out from under its blow. Scrambling away, I pull myself to my feet a couple dozen feet away from the mage. With a grunt, it picks itself up and tests the leg that I punched. Annoyance on its face, it picks up, rushing towards me. Thoughts churn at a million miles an hour, looking for any way to win. Even if I dodge, loose electricity will invade my body. I can't remove them without focusing, which will let the orc pummel me freely. A lightbulb shines in my head.

One Mind/Two Bodies At the thought, the skill slams into my body. Clarity. Unbelievable clarity. The world around me slows noticeably. Every single bone, organ, and muscle makes itself known with incredible transparency. Instantly, moving becomes smoother and incredibly precise. If moving before was strumming cords on a guitar, then that same guitar has become a harp. Every single string represents a different muscle or tendon. It invites me, beckoning me closer. I can't do it. It's too complicated.

The skill compensates. Surroundings quicken as the world snaps back to normal speed. The two hands I pitifully extend to the harp expand and split into four, all reaching out to pluck different strings. The orc continues to charge, closing the distance. Awe transforms into panic as my hands hover around the ethereal harp in my mind. I know what every single string does, but I don't know how to do it properly. Which muscle do I activate first? Do I bend forward? Should I run?

A comforting hand gently rests on the shoulder of my mind. It's me. The part of me that doesn't hesitate or think, only acts according to my will while under a command.

"Kevin! Move perfectly!" Like the perfect instructor, the command forces my mental fingers forward. My body explodes into motion. The orc lunges towards me and strikes with a crackling fist. Tendons tighten and expand, sending me into the air with no buildup. The orc stumbles to a stop as I fly over its head. Muscles tense perfectly, cushioning my landing. I look at my hands in wonder, testing the movement of each finger.

"Holy shit," I whisper. Both the orc and I turn to face each other. It, with anger on its face. Me, with excitement and joy on mine. It bursts into motion, speeding at me once again. Running and jumping over it is fun and all, but I need to hit it. After a quick breath, I burst into a sprint. As we get closer, the orc doesn't throw any blows. Instead, it holds its arms back and watches my reaction. I stay close to the ground, aiming for its stomach.

When I get close enough to lose clearance to jump, the orc thrusts out both hands, trying to grab me. My body bends to the right in an impossible movement, curving around. Two of my ethereal arms playing the harp disappear. My mind splits, one half controlling the body and the other controlling my mana. Arcs of electricity leap off the green arms onto several places on my body. With incomparable skill, my mana collects the worms of foreign mana entering my body.

Smoothly, the command curves the worms back the way they came. This results in short spasms and heavy burning, but no paralyzation. My fist slams into the orc's stomach, causing it to stumble backwards and grunt. I follow up with another to the chin. The orc flails its arms out and forces me to back away. It looks at me with fury in its eyes and blood dripping from its mouth. A smirk pulls the edges of my mouth up.

"What's wrong, big man?"

"Lightning not workin' so well anymore?" Spitting out a bit of blood, the orc reaches over its shoulder and pulls the mace out. My smile fades. At five feet long, the mace strikes an imposing figure with a smooth, spherical head.

"Hey! What happened to honor!?"

"I still don't have a weapon!" I turn and look at the smaller orcs making up the arena, but they all stare impassively. The large orc grips the mace with both hands and rushes towards me. It lifts the massive weapon over its head and swings down. My body jerks to the side as the metal head breaks the cobblestone ground. I step with mechanical movement and slam into its chin in the same place. This time, it snaps with a chilling noise. The orc swings the mace around recklessly.

Every single time, I slip around and counter. When I get too close for it to use the mace, it tries to grab me once more. But with the command, one mind/two bodies and my new stats working together, there's nothing it can do. A few blows later, the orc falls to one knee, bruises covering its face and stomach. I slam my fist into its cheek, sending it stumbling. Another strike slams into the same spot, sending it to the ground. Quickly, I dash back and pick up the giant mace.

It wheezes and groans as I walk towards it. The weapon rises over my head, and I hold it there as I stare into the orc's eyes. Acceptance is written on its face, which dampens my anger. Still, I must continue growing. Without any resistance, the mace comes down and crushes its skull. Chime I huff a few times and look down. Burn wounds travel from the tips of my fingers up to my elbows. From there, the leather chestplate shows blackened and smoking marks all over it. Damn, I just got this thing. I turn.

All the smaller orcs roar, pulling out their smaller one-handed maces and sprinting at me. With a sigh, I pull the heavy mace back like a baseball bat. Seeing me, the orcs in front slow to a halt, standing awkwardly outside of my reach. The footsteps behind me continue. When they get close enough, I spin and burst ahead. The orc behind me panics and tries to dodge, but my arms follow. Its head explodes into gore upon receiving the full power of my strength and the mace's momentum.

Chime All of the orcs stop with widened eyes at the scene. Another dash forward, and a downward swing collapses another skull. Chime Hearing steps, I flip around and bring the head of the mace swinging around. The head crashes into an orc's chest, shattering the insides. Chime The familiar level-up flows through me, several stats increasing by quite a bit. The effects are far more powerful than usual, almost making me moan in ecstasy in the middle of battle. Damn! How many stats was that!?

Even though I want to close my eyes and enjoy it, I angle my vision to keep a constant eye on any orc with funny ideas. My head swivels, but none of the other orcs seem keen on attacking, even those behind me. A sigh leaks from my throat. Guess it's my turn to do the chasing.