 |
| Brog'lac the Arch- Orc Shaman |
so the courage actually comes from
his own confidence. Like the saying, I
feel so young even though I’m so old.
He stares straight at the
big-headed, narrow-minded orc and says loudly and clearly, ‘Wrong. If Rael
dies, I will be the cleverest man in Aurelia, and you must defeat a thousand,
no, a million more clever men to become the number one. Brog’lac, the King of
Fools: that suits you more.’
The orc grunts, saying, ‘Tchah! And
you, old man deserves that title for fooling yourself by acting high and
mighty. I’ll teach you the last lesson of your life: Don’t mess up with me, old
man, whatever your name is, ‘cause I’m way too clever for you!’
‘The name is Eidos Crydias, you
scantily informed scum! You might want to remember that on your way to fool’s
hell!’
Brog’lac points his bident at
Eidos, challenging, ‘Before that, I’ll see what you got besides a flying
chakram and a big mouth, Kudos.’
‘Eidos!’
‘Whatever. Now for the first lesson
– dodge this! An Voltar’me Shuryv!’
CRACKLLE! A Lightning Bolt travels in super speed towards the target, and Eidos
already prepares a defensive counterspell!
‘Chrono
Langst!’
The Time Slow spell actually works on other spells too! The bolt
travels much slower, slow enough for Eidos to dodge it fully, pump his aura and
cast!
‘Megalon
Zathr!’
FWOOM! FWOOM! Like rain comes the Meteor Shower, a threat so powerful even
for those with wings. Brog’lac runs here and there, trying to dodge the falling
fire-rocks and tries to block one. CLUUNK! The electrically reinforced bident
blocks the meteor, and the impact is so hard that the bident almost falls from
its master’s grip.
Brog’lac grits his teeth in pain.
His hands feel numb and shaky altogether. Still, he forcefully boosts his aura
to the max and...
‘Vare
Voltar’me Tyral!’
CRACKKLE!! CRACCCKLEE!!
Now comes an attack similar to Meteor Shower direction-wise wtih a
different element and intensity: Thunderstorm.
The lightning bolts are more numerous, faster and harder to dodge, though
each has a lesser force than a meteor.
The seasoned chronomage, of course,
casts a quick counterspell: ‘Chronoblitz!’
on himself and his movements become considerably faster.
SWISH! SWISH! Eidos dodges each and
every bolt gracefully like a dancing ballerina – well, not exactly, because it
will make him look silly – and his face stays calm and focus. One mistake, and
he’ll get the shock of the lifetime.
The orc’s eyes are bloodshot with
anger. With a roar, he adds some more force into his spell, ‘Amplifor!’
CRRACKKKLEEE!! CRAC-CRAC-CRACKLEE!!
The Thunderstorm bolts get thicker, faster, stronger than before. The
impact area gets wider and wider, hitting friend and foe alike, though they
have tried to stay far away from the dueling magicians.
ZAP! One thunder bolt hits Eidos’
chakram. The electric current spreads through the chakram on Eidos’ hand, so,
‘Eeowch!’ the chakram falls from his hand.
‘Haha, who’s the cleverer one now,
huh?’ Brog’lac’s smile widens with glee. ‘You are defenseless, and now you die!
HEAAHH!!’
The orc shaman withdraws the Thunderstorm by absorbing the excess
mana with his bident and points the weapon again at the old Parthenian!
‘An
Voltar’me Fyasch!’
Again, Brog’lac shots a Lightning Blast at his opponent. Without
his chakram, Eidos can’t block ant the blast is too quick for Eidos to evade,
even in a hastened state, and...
TCHWIPPP!! The old vanishes before
the lightning touches him! The orc’s face changes like, he can’t believe his
eyes.
‘H-how come?’ says Brog’lac to
himself.
‘Think fast!’ Suddenly, Eidos
reappears behind him, grabs the chakram on the ground next to the orc and spins
it horizontally to split the mean, green geezer’s torso in two!
CRRASSH!!
‘AGGHKKK!’ The orc shaman steps
back reactively, and the chakram grazes his robe and stomach! Brog’lac touches
his stomach to check. The wound is not deep, but blood keeps coming out.
Without a proper treatment, he will die from loss of blood. He has lost his
arm, his pride, and now all he got is his life – he can’t afford to lose it.
With a life, he has a chance to restore his honor with his one hand. He can’t
die here and now.
‘You’ll pay for this next time we
meet, Kudos Phidias!’ The orc runs away.
‘The name’s EIDOS CRYDIAS!’ The
chronomage protests and chases him, and abruptly stops in his tracks.
‘Whatever!’ Only Brog’lac’s voice
comes as he is lost fro Eidos’ sight in the heat of the battle.
The old Parthenian takes out a
spirit potion, drinks the whole vial in one gulp and murmurs, ‘That’s the last
of it. What a troublesome orc, the reason why I hate to be in this war from the
start. Ooh, my poor old bones...’
It seems the effect of the Ring of
Courage has already been deactivated, and it must ‘self-recharge’ again before
it can come into any use.
 |
| Erydos Crydias (a.k.a. Eidos) is a Time Mage or Chronomage. |
‘Commander Rael, the reinforcements have arrived!’
An
Escudian soldier comes with this report when Rael’charon joins Robert and
Carolyn on the southeast wall. Carol quickly treats the Grand Marshal’s wounds
while Robert keeps the enemies away with his two swords.
The
elf replies, ‘Finish your report, soldier!’
‘Sir
Vincent has come with the third division, and he told me that Genilda Yemima,
Khan Dar’gum and the orcs are coming with him.’
Hearing
that, the elf clasps his two hands and prays, ‘Oh Vadis the Merciful, thank you
for your timely aid,’ and continues to talk to Carol. ‘But still, the enemies
are too many, and they have all the advantage and knowledge in this territory.
Their
strategy must be of Talbot’s, and I reckon that this is not their full force.
We need to break out and strike straight into Kraal’Thragon before the enemy
main force and top generals come.’
Carol’s
face turns tense with surprise, saying, ‘Y-you mean...?’
The
elf nods. ‘Yes. You and the other Paladins will board the Aurora, go straight towards Kraal’Thragon, infiltrate that place
and eliminate their top leader.’
‘...Vordac’s
Heir?’
‘Exactly.
I know this is an extremely daring plan and most likely, the enemy already know
of this move. The top generals must’ve been waiting in there for the primary
target: Vadis’ Heir to come. So I thought, why not? We’ll bring the primary
target they want and a hell to pay for it. We have no choice but to infiltrate
Kraal’Thragon or perish here anyway.
You and Robert, go and tell the
Paladins! I shall find Eidos to have him...’
‘I’m here, Rael. What do you want
me to do?’ says Eidos who just arrives from his duel with Brog’lac. Carolyn
dashes off to tell Rob about the plan and Rael’s orders.
Rael answers, ‘I want you to take
the Aurora and the Paladins and
strike directly to Kraal’Thragon.’
‘WHAT!?’ Eidos snaps, his eyes
widen in disbelief. ‘Are you mad? Taking my masterpiece behind enemy lines with
no chance of return? Over my dead body!’
Hearing that, Rael’charon snaps
back, his eyes blazing with anger, ‘Can’t you see, Eidos? If you stay here, you
will surely die and your so-called ‘masterpiece’ will be destroyed anyway!
Don’t fret! The griffin and pegasus riders will escort you all the way. the
Aurora will drop the Paladins in Kraal’Thragon and you and your precious
airship can go back to Parthenia and be dismissed from this Crusade.
Seriously, Eidos, don’t you care
about this world? That’s a conduct not worthy of a Paladin, you know.’
‘Yes, I know that. I never wanted
to be a Paladin and a hero from the start. All I want is to sell my inventions,
get rich from it, retire these old bones and enjoy the twilight years of my
life in peace.’
‘Is that so? If that’s the case,
let me ask you something. How can you live in peace in a chaotic world with no
one to buy your airship? A man with you level of intelligence must’ve
understood this simple logic. Now please, Eidos. Help us this one time, and the
world will remember you for ages to come as a true, great hero.’
Hearing this, Eidos falls silent.
He then pulls out a signal flare from his pocket, lifts it up high and
BLAAARSH! A pink flare shoots out and explodes in the air, bursting in colorful
little flares.
‘This is not a carnival, Eidos,’
says Rael, frowning again.
‘Hey, just trying to be different,
Commander. All of you up there, sorry!’ Eidos shouts upwards.
The signal is, of course, easily
recognized, and the result is quite instant.
The Aurora, a magic crystal-powered airship with a shape resembles a
dragon descends slowly, still repelling the flying enemies with arrows and
crystal-powered plasma cannons like a bull swatting pesky flies off from its
back with its tail.
Eidos sees the Aurora hovering closer to him, turns to Rael and says, ‘Thank you,
Rael for helping me see the errors of my way. I understand now that the true
purpose of life is to contribute to the world and other people, not to satisfy
my own ego. Now, I’ll go with no regrets.’
Rael responds with, ‘May Vadis be
with you,’ seeing the old chronomage climbs the rope ladder into the airship.
He turns around to face the enemies on the wall with thoughts in his head.
Robert,
Cristophe, Carolyn, Adler, Hernan, Kyflynn, Iris, Desmond, Tina, Eidos and
Dejan, the Eleven Paladins. May Vadis be with you all. Go forth, and fulfill
your destiny!
Picture Source:
Orc Shaman by Michele Frigo
Time Mage by AKK Studio
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