Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

1vs1vs1 (I)

Frightened and bruised, the noblemen moved away from him, while the mercenary was dealing with Eldi, and with the skeleton's attacks.

"Don't stay there! He has two skills, in addition to healing and that wall. He can't have anymore. Attack him, and if he does the same thing again, just fall back. It's easy for you, who have talent," Dikgo insisted, trying to inflame their pride to give them courage.

They feared him, they had never faced such a situation. Killing animals and monsters had been a game for them, a walk under the tutelage of their guardians, who were in charge of the dirty work. This was the first time they had to face something that weren't their parents yelling at them.

They approached hesitantly, their weapons trembling in their hands, undecided. And neither they nor Dikgo were able to dodge an unexpected Frozen Blast. Then, Eldi took the opportunity to step back in order to set up some Frozen Walls between him and the mercenary.

"But... Who are you!? No! Wait...!" Dikgo shouted.

But the supposed healer had already turned to the nobles, first using Abyss to push the three against themselves, causing them to fall and drop their weapons, and even injure each other. Then, he used Shred, while the mercenary decided to cross the ice, and found himself in a hole. He was lucky that his enemy hadn't had time to create Icicles, but he had lost valuable time.

When he climbed, Lakduon was dead, beheaded. Likthon was dying with his own spear stuck in his chest. And Aljhon, without an arm, was thrown through Propel to the floor boss, who didn't hesitate to accept the gift and trample him.

"Damn it... Why are you doing this?" Dikgo mumbled.

"Do you think you can do whatever you want, kill, torture, rape...?" he replied with contempt.

"Who do you think you are to judge us? Do you think you are Eldi Hnefa? They are noble, they can do it, they have that right," he spat.

"No longer."

The mercenary clenched his teeth. He had failed his mission, so they would claim his neck for it- He would have no choice but to flee once he left that place. But first, he had to kill the one who had ruined everything, someone who looked like a mage and a warrior at the same time, and who had drawn weapons from nowhere.

As for Eldi, he was worried. The difference in level was even reversed by the quality of his equipment and blessings, but he had no experience in fighting against other intelligent beings, something he had been force to acknowledge during the last minutes. Several of his attacks had been dodged or minimized by his opponent, and even Double Edge was already ineffective, since he had used it too many times.

Dikgo shouted, using a skill similar to Lion's Roar, which didn't affect the skeleton, as these are immune to such attacks. Eldi dropped the hammer, so the mercenary took advantage of this moment to attack him with a sword. However, actually, the skill hadn't affected the high human, who had Lion's Heart activated. Without his enemy expecting it, Eldi took out another spear and used Colander.

He caught the mercenary by surprise, so he was unable to repel the large number of spear's attacks, which didn't completely penetrate his armor, but they got to pierce it and cause several small wounds. The quality of the spear was superior to that of the armor, although it was a few levels below, and it was more difficult for it to repel the attack concentrated on a single point from the spear, than the broadest one from the axe.

Then, Eldi tried a Perforating Impact, an attack that could cause a much deeper wound, and that he hoped to succeed, as his opponent was unbalanced. However, Dikgo managed to deflect it with his shield, and counterattack with the sword. The attack went through the tunic but not the body, being deflected and causing a cut in the cheek.

"You're wearing an armor underneath," he mumbled.

Eldi didn't answer. He was somewhat worried about having consumed almost half of his mana, which was recovering somewhat slower than usual, and about what the cheek cut meant. His adversary was dangerous, experienced and didn't doubt. His biggest advantage was that he still had many skills available, and that he could heal easily, though the last advantage was diluted when the mercenary, who had taken a few steps away, quickly drank a potion that began to close his wounds.

Eldi did the same with a mana potion and an energy one, which he took out too fast for his rival to prevent. He bent down to pick up the hammer while storing the spear, and stepped back, while the floor boss had never stopped attacking them, mainly Dikgo, but sometimes also Eldi. They both dodged it easily, although it was more annoying when they were in the middle of the fight, at least for Dikgo. Eldi had Magic against me?

The mercenary approached to attack quickly. He knew that the hammer was a dangerous weapon, since the armor was effective against piercing or slashing weapons, but not against bludgeoning blows. However, he also knew that it was slow. What he didn't expect is that the floor was slippery, since, when picking up the hammer, Eldi had done something else.

The mercenary was unable to dodge Propel while slipping, or Earthquake while falling, but the impact didn't knock him out, because he had high resistance against it. Thus, he was able to dodge a dangerous Devastating Blow, counterattacking and injuring Eldi's arm. However, he was still stunned by the blow, so he wasn't able to make a more effective counterattack.

The cut on the arm was deep, but not enough to consume mana instead of letting Regenerate did its job, while Dikgo's wounds weren't only painful, but they had dented the armor on his chest, and embedded it against his body. He had no choice but to take it off, and so he did with the rest. If one part was exposed, it was better to give up protection and gain in agility.

Eldi switched to the axe, and wrapped it in fire, ready to attack immediately. He knew he had a few minutes before his adversary could use another potion, and that he was injured. Hopefully, he would have some broken bones. Eldi had to take advantage of it before Dikgo could heal again, since the high human didn't know how many potions the mercenary had.