Chapter 608 Cut In Half
"What the hell are we even doing here? Shouldn't we raid the Tribe of the 12 Apostles right now?!?" Ben shouted out loud, complaining to his comrades.
Unfortunately, he didn't receive an answer from his comrades. It was Dilan who answered instead, his voice ringing in the ear of the Berserker, who flinched subconsciously.
"Shut up, and kill the Orc to your right!"
Dilan ran through the Crimsonwood Forest, his Mystic eyes activated. He was at an elevated position, jumping from one tree to another, observing everything with his near-perfect vision.
"What OrcCCC?" Ben asked, just to end up getting startled as a Blood Orc Champion emerged from right above him. The Blood Orc Champion had appeared out of thin air, and he swung his arms holding a heavy battle-axe downward.
There was no hesitation in the monster's movement, and it was almost as if it had expected to appear above the Berserker, Ben.
Ben swung his heavy Greatsword around and he activated [Bulk Up], [Gigantification], and [Blood Aura] at the same time, increasing his strength tremendously while his body enlarged. He deflected the Blood Orc Champion's Cleave and accepted bits of the impact as he adjusted the angle of the heavy Greatsword.
The [Unbreakable] ability of Ben's weapon was activated and he made use of it to change the trajectory of the Blood Orc Champion's attack and the remnants of impact. The Blood Orc Champion's attack ended up cutting deep into the trunk of a Crimsonwood tree, where the heavy battle-axe ended up stuck.
Ben was just about to make use of the opening he created when the Blood Orc Champion began to grin widely. His foul breath caused Ben to feel like vomiting, but he didn't allow it to influence him.
'Steel your mind! Steel your mind!!!' Ben shouted in his mind while gritting his teeth as he tried to merge the Blood Aura of his ability with the mana that shrouded his heavy Greatsword.
He had seen how Dilan had manifested an Aura far more potent than the Blood Aura, just to enhance it by reinforcing its prowess and lethality with Mana. The enhancement was not extraordinary because hadn't used much mana at that time, but it was more than enough to execute the opponents that dared to get to close to him.
'How the hell is he doing that? I cannot exceed the potency of my ability no matter how much mana I want to fuse into the Blood Aura?!' Ben cursed in his mind, trying to understand how Dilan was doing it.
He was pretty sure that Dilan's Aura was also a manifestation of an ability. That was the only logical reason for a human to be able to summon a powerful Aura such as the one Dilan could manifest in an instant.
But in that case, it shouldn't be possible for Dilan to supply his ability-generated Aura with more Mana, after all, the ability created already the strongest Aura one could manifest at the grade it was.
Ben's mind was full of questions related to the monster Dilan. However, that didn't mean he was too distracted to fight against the Blood Orc Champion, who was smiling brightly as he let go of the heavy battle-axe to avoid Ben's slash.
Ben had executed a simple attack, but the power behind his ordinary slash was more than enough to inflict severe injuries to the Blood Orc Champion…if he were to hit his target, that is!
The Blood Orc Champion disappeared from Ben's sight, and the rays of sunlight from behind him disappeared at the same time.
'Behind me? Ability?'
Ben reacted quickly. He twisted his body, and forcefully changed the trajectory of his heavy greatsword. He knew that the Blood Orc Champion had given up on its weapon and that it had appeared behind him.
Even without a weapon, it was quite obvious that the Blood Orc Champion was not to be underestimated. That was what Ben had learned from his first encounter with the Blood Orc Champion; to never underestimate them!
He strained his arm and groaned out loud, but Ben still endured the pain caused by the sudden change of trajectory in his attack. The heavy greatsword found its target in the large shadow behind him and the sound of metal cutting through metal, flesh, and bones rang through his ears.
However, it was no sooner that a familiar voice echoed through his head.
"I know that it's good to rely on your instincts and I would say that it was very good of you to react that quickly…but next time please try to figure out what…or who you're attacking before actually cutting through them, okay?"
Turning his head, Ben's eyes began to quiver and his mouth opened and closed, without a word leaving his lips.
Instead of cutting through the flesh of the Blood Orc Champion, Ben had just halved Dilan in two!! The Blood Orc Champion had actually emerged behind Ben, but he had Katja in his grasp.
'How? What?....' Ben didn't understand what was going on and neither was Katja. One moment she had been standing at one of the highest branches of an old Crimsonwood tree and the next minute she appeared behind Ben. Not even a quarter of a second later, the Blood Orc Champion, who had been right behind Katja grasped her to use the Archer as his human shield.
However, what neither Katja nor the Blood Orc Champion had expected was to see that Ben didn't even realize that his own comrade was getting used as a human shield. Ben reacted fluently by smoothly changing the motion of his attack.
He created a new flow in his attack pattern by twisting his body and with the efficient use of his momentum.
Katja was already about to scream out and witness death approaching her at a shocking pace when a cannonball, or something…someone, crushed the Blood Orc Champion's hand holding Katja…merely a quarter of a second before Ben's slash cut through metal, flesh and bones.
'At least his attack is nothing to scoff at…though I should have expected that from a Berserker!'