Refining the Heavens (炼天)

Chapter 26: The unstoppable war chief

On the other side, even if they were too far away, Tommy and Jim battled their opponents vigorously.

They had unleashed all their strength in an instant, just like Edward and Alan, and their cultivation shot up from F rank to the very peak of E rank. But that was not all they gained. In return for the incredible burden, they cause their bodies to bear, each of them further upgraded certain aspects of their abilities to around mid D rank's level.

For Tommy, it was the ability to go toe to toe with these monsters. Before bringing out his life force to empower himself, Tommy had to depend on his keen Soul Perception to dodge every of the Orc Captain's blows. He knows that if he receives even one strike, the brutal force would be the end of him.

But now, purely with his raw, brute, strength, Tommy returned blow for blow with the Orc Captain. At twelve years old and standing slightly above a meter and half tall, he is already tall for his age, but compared to the three meters tall monster to the onlookers, it looks as though an adult is bullying a small child. Nevertheless, the two pummelled each other relentlessly with neither relenting and surprisingly, it is the Orc that is slowly beaten back.

But with strength being his only forte against the similarly tough Magic Beast, Tommy found it difficult to defeat quickly.

Although the gel coating on his studded gloves burns the Orc's mana with every hit, the D rank Orc Captain is coated with a thin layer of purple mana, and that barrier is somewhat protecting it from the gel's abrasive nature. It is only after multiple attacks that the Orc Captain facing Tommy was slowly weakened.

It was largely the same on Jim's side. After using the strange new technique, he could feel a great improvement in his speed. Windows of opportunity that he never had before started opening.

He danced between attacks, knowing that a single hit will end him. His upgrade did not strengthen his defence by much. However, it is still far too unlikely for a lumbering oaf like the Orc Captain to touch him.

He will lightly dance away from the slow, large swinging motion of the Orc's club, and retaliate with his bag of tricks, unleashing a thick cloud of tranquilising powder, splashing it with a kind of viscous liquid or spray it full of poisoned pins, darts and other hidden weapons.

In just a few moments, the Orc was turned into a pincushion, covered from head to toe by a terrible amount of gel-coated weaponry.

Unfortunately, those attacks are all skin deep. Both Jim and Tommy lacked the decisive firepower needed to take down their opponents, and they could only watch helplessly as the Orc War Chief charge towards Kairos.

Alucard and his team continued trying to buy some time, raining down more and more talisman's attacks on it.

When the guys saw that the attacks failed to slow it down by much, they climbed back to their feet disregarding their injuries and dragged themselves to bar the way of the giant Orc.

It stood before them like a great black wall. Its skin is darker than its kin, and the blood-coloured hair flowed down its back like a lion's mane.

The imposing, ominous, presence it has is enough to make any weak-hearted practitioner keel over with one look, but none of those practitioners is in their group.

They charged at it, as though not knowing what death is. Regardless how Kairos shouted at them to stop, none hesitated even a step.

The War Chief easily smacked away the guys in its path as though swatting annoying flies. He held his large jagged stone sword aloof, seemingly to say that these human children are not worth tainting its weapon. It continued walking forward, all the while ignoring their attacks.