Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

Chapter 264: Hot Blood

""

Needless to say, the girls didn't answer a single question. Not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't. They were bunched together with the warriors shouting over each other all around them.

"By Innos, look!" someone shouted. "The Orcs are charging at him!"

And indeed, as dozens of pairs of eyes turned, they saw a group of about ten Orcs rushing at Gerald. The Goblins stood aside as they rushed with weapons drawn and saliva dripping from the large fang-filled mouths.

"He's going to die!" someone else shouted, this one sounding like a woman. "Help him!"

Many of the guys had the same idea and pulled back their bows and took aim at the Orcs. However, they knew such actions were futile. The beasts were too far away and too heavily armored. Anything they did now would be too slow to help the lone man fighting down there.

"Huff," Gerald breathed out loudly and turned towards his assailants with squinted eyes. He flipped the Toothpick around, changed his grip, and threw!

The spear blasted forward towards the Orc Elite that was leading the charge, penetrated his armor and his chest, and lifted him in the air momentarily, before crashing back down.

The defenders on the wall barely had the time to gasp, when his hand opened, revealing a cannon barrel inside.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Loud explosions rang out as his hand was spitting fire and metal like some sort of enraged juvenile dragon.

Armor plates caved in, limbs were torn off in an explosion of bloody mist, and skulls were cracked like an overripe watermelon. Each cannonball was like being hit with a small meteorite, and despite Orcs being vastly superior to humans in physical toughness, they broke apart just as easily.

Gerald roared a war cry and rushed forward like a mad dog.

The Orc Slayer found a gap in the Orc's armor and stabbed through his chest as Gerald proceeded to perform a somersault and shoot him in the back of the head. Brain matter exploded and blood mixed with fat rained down on the earth.

The few remaining Orcs warily stepped back as Gerald glared at them. He extended his hands, and the Toothpick and Orc Slayer landed back in his grasp with a metallic 'thump'.

He turned around without giving them a second thought and left.

Both humans and the Orcs were confused, and the latter roared and attacked after a moment of uncertainty.

That's when the earth cracked.

***

Gerald was exhausted. So much slashing and cutting, so much blood and gore. It was a bit much.

The battle was wild and ferocious, and although he was becoming much stronger all around, with almost 900MP his body now contained, the strain of using all that magic in such a short amount of time was painful nonetheless.

His body was on fire, and his heart was beating at least twice the upper limit for a human. He sweated buckets already and his mouth was dry. It was time to stop and cool down, no more fighting for at least a few hours.

As for the Orcs behind him, well, they were already dead.

The ground cracked at his command, and thorns like snakes rushed out, stabbing and tearing them to pieces. Then, with one final roar, he sent out an order, and a wall of Thorns was formed around the breach. The battlefield he painted with blood, was now safe.

He slowly walked back to the wall, appearing slow and exhausted, as he was.

"By Innos, Gerald, are you alright?" Elly asked as his group came to welcome him.

"Ouch, you are so hot!" Sera exclaimed after touching his hand in an attempt to help him get back on the wall. His skin was red and it felt like it was on fire.

"Thanks, I appreciate the compliment, but now it's not the time," Gerald joked and took a waterskin out of his Ring. He drank in big gulps and then took another and poured it over his head. Steam rose from his hair.

Those fellows around tried to talk to him, however, Gerald didn't feel like answering questions from dozens of loud and pushy men and women. He took over a few barrels of water and made himself an icy cocoon and threw out a Sound Barrier scroll.

'Finally some peace and quiet,' he mused and closed his eyes in meditation. The voices were back with full force, pounding on the walls of his mind. He had to get them under control quickly, or they would become rowdy hooligans.

As he calmly breathed in and out the icy air he slowly relaxed and entered a sleep-like state.