Chapter 38: Injured
A furious roar shattered the stunned silence of the beast herd. The beastmen, filled with rage, raised their weapons and surrounded Eve Frostleaf, who had charged alone into their midst.
The first to surround her were the slender but agile nagas. After she struck down two or three of them, the nagas saw their chance and surged forward with spears, thrusting from all directions towards Eve Frostleaf.
This was not a performance; the spears stabbed one after another, hitting beast after beast.
Eve Frostleaf exhaled on her sword blade, and a wild wind spiraled around her, making her silver hair flutter. She swung her sword, and as the blade met the spears lunging at her, a shockwave burst forth, pushing back the surrounding beasts, with the wind carrying the broken spear tips into them.
The nagas, with almost no protection aside from a few scraps less than their fur, screamed as their throats, faces, and even chests were pierced by the spear tips and wooden spikes.
However, a spear from behind struck Eve Frostleaf in the back. No matter how light the elf was, she could not evade all attacks in such a confined space.
Eve Frostleaf hesitated; the ordinary spear did not pierce her armor. She angrily rubbed her dual swords together, the blades sparking as they clashed, and both swords suddenly ignited. She turned around.
The nagas instinctively took a step back, unsure if it was the fierce flames on her swords or the raging fire in her heart that scared them.
With a flick of the blazing swords, she unleashed two dazzling arcs of fire. The fire arcs detached from the blades and rushed towards the nagas, rapidly expanding and forming a small fire surge that engulfed dozens of them. The flames crackled as they burned their fur, and the nagas covered their faces in agony or rolled on the ground trying to extinguish the flames.
In an instant, a space opened up around Eve Frostleaf.
Never before had a killing spree been such a release of pressure.
The nagas archers drew their bows and shot arrows, but Eve Frostleaf swung her dual swords, creating gusts that effortlessly knocked the arrows to the ground.
A familiar voice cut through the chaos: “Frostleaf, retreat!”
George? He’s only just arrived; there must be a reason.
Eve Frostleaf turned her head and saw George in white armor, accompanied by more than seventy heavily armored ogres, whose figures moved around the space with the sound of barking war dogs.
It turned out that the beastmen wanted to keep them trapped, so they immediately organized the humanoid beasts and war dogs to form a wall on the perimeter, with the stocky, nearly two-meter-tall ogres forming another wall pushing towards Eve Frostleaf.
If they could not break through these two walls in a short time, over a thousand beasts would surround them, and the situation would undoubtedly become dire.
Meanwhile, George broke through the outer wall and swung his massive sword, cutting a gap in the ogres’ formation.
Eve Frostleaf’s mind calmed down. With a powerful push from her legs, she gracefully leaped into the air, using the wind to lift her nearly three meters towards George, ready to retreat.
At that moment, a massive ogre rudely knocked aside the nagas in her way, swinging an axe towards the airborne Eve Frostleaf. With muscles taut, he released explosive strength into the axe, which flew through the air with a whistling sound.
Eve Frostleaf reacted quickly, snapping her left wrist and creating a flurry of frost. Three arcs of solid ice appeared like a shield, protecting her body.
With a cracking sound, the layers of ice shattered, and the battle axe broke through, but it was now almost spent.
Eve Frostleaf lightly deflected the axe to the ground, but the distraction prevented her from taking flight, and she fell among the nagas. Pushing off, she kicked the nearest naga down, her long, graceful legs pressing on its chest.
The naga widened its eyes as the steel heel of her boot loomed larger in its vision, then slammed into its face, sending its head up by twenty centimeters with a snap as its neck elongated, breaking its vertebrae.
Eve Frostleaf looked up and found that between her and George, a short distance of just over ten meters was packed with beasts.
The nearby nagas quickly reacted, thrusting their spears at the descending elf maiden.
Eve Frostleaf employed a similar tactic, unleashing waves of fire to burn through a space.
“Whoa!”
A battle roar echoed from behind.
Eve Frostleaf realized it was the massive ogre. Just as she turned, a thrown naga shrieked as it crashed towards her head.
Eve Frostleaf nimbly dodged to the side. But before her feet landed, the ogre took the opportunity to swing down with its axe. The powerful force easily cleaved through her protective wind. Eve Frostleaf had no choice but to block it; she crossed her swords to deflect the axe, and with a twist of her wrist, the blades hummed lightly as they sped towards the unprotected throat of the ogre.
With the wind assisting her, this strike contained not only muscle power. However, the ogre did not try to defend, merely shifting its neck to let her attack pass while its other hand reached for the agile Eve Frostleaf.
She instinctively dodged, letting her silver sword slip from her grasp, the tip grazing the edge of the plate armor and sparking before piercing the thick flesh of the ogre’s neck. His body remained resilient, refusing to fall instantly; rather, he became even more enraged.
Another axe swing aimed at Eve Frostleaf, who barely sidestepped it. Her free hand grasped, conjuring a brilliant fire that enveloped the ogre’s head. The ogre howled in mad fury, wildly swinging its axe and fatally cleaving the nearby naga.
Seizing her chance, Eve Frostleaf pushed off with her legs, forcefully stabbing the silver sword embedded in the ogre’s neck and slicing it to the left, half severing the crest of the ogre’s head, sending its body crashing down.
Though Eve Frostleaf was unharmed, she had been caught; she was strong, but the large ogre’s stature and armor could absorb several of her strikes. Had the ogre not worn armor, she could have aimed straight for its heart instead of the higher neck.
The ground trembled with roars that made her ears ring. A creature taller and larger than the other ogres, about two and a half meters high, surged towards Eve Frostleaf amidst a crowd of exuberant ogres.
Eve Frostleaf stirred her wrists, creating two flurries of sword flowers. Frost spiraled around her; her two silver swords radiated cold as they clashed. A frost star expanded around her, freezing the ground in a layer of ice, trapping many of the beastmen who had not jumped away in time.
The towering ogre swung two enormous axe heads, roaring as they whipped around, its four-leaf clover necklace swaying but quickly becoming frozen in place.
Looking down, he noticed ice had formed on his hooves. Infuriated, he stomped down, shattering the ice, but it only took him a second, slowing him and his accompanying guards.
That was enough time for Eve Frostleaf to call on the wind, gently launching herself into the air.
But a strong hand grasped her ankle, yanking her down, tainting her silver hair with filthy blood.
Looking down, Eve Frostleaf saw it was the still-breathing ogre. Although its neck was only half left, its vertebrae had not broken.
Eve Frostleaf gritted her teeth, hacking at its wrist, but the entire hand held tightly onto her leg. Surrounding nagas closed in, their spears thrusting in from all sides just as she tried to react.
The enormous ogre and its herd surged forward like a landslide, engulfing the silver-haired, agile elf. Without hesitation, they swung their axes and greatswords down together, and amidst the beast horde, the first sound emerged from Frostleaf entering battle.
It was a cry of agony.
“Frostleaf!“
George was just five meters away, tightly embraced from behind by a strong ogre, like a vengeful woman desperate to hold onto a callous ex-lover. His massive sword was powerful, but difficult to wield up close.
George seized the middle of the sword, using it as a spear to jab backwards. The sword tip grazed the ogre’s vertebrae, momentarily slowing, then quickly pierced through. He pulled the sword out, and the ogre crumpled to the ground.
For a brief moment, no beast approached George for the embrace of love. Seizing this chance, George transformed into a burst of light, charging towards the towering ogre. However, upon reappearing, there wasn’t enough space, causing him to stagger and temporarily black out.
While the charge of light could pass through countless obstacles, in a room filled with acid in Sand Forest City, he had used it to pierce through a narrow observation hole and strike a sorcerer. But if there wasn’t enough space when appearing, George himself would suffer damage and experience a bout of dizziness.
“Thud!”
A tremendous force slammed into his helmet, denting it and shaking his skull, enveloping him in an imbalance that threatened to pull him to the ground.
But George pushed through. Perhaps he should thank the ogre behind him.
His dizziness faded; he swiftly expressed his gratitude to the ogre, which, despite its “good intentions,” fell lifeless.
Peering through his helmet’s observation port, he had taken a hit from the very ogre that had assaulted him, which was the towering one.
Before him, Eve Frostleaf stood with a gash in her scale armor, yet still on her feet.
Well, at least it helped defend her a bit.
George’s sword blazed with light as he shouted, “Holy Slash!”
With a powerful swing, a cry erupted from the massive ogre as it staggered back.
“Close your eyes!”
Eve Frostleaf heard this and immediately lowered her head, shielding her eyes.
Suddenly, a brilliant light burst from George’s helmet, blinding the surrounding beastmen who instinctively covered their tear-filled eyes.
When their vision returned, they saw only George carrying Eve Frostleaf on his back, leaping through the air, reminiscent of lovesick maidens as tears streamed from their eyes.
Eve Frostleaf clung tightly to George’s waist as they fought together, creating a bloody path as they mounted the divine warhorse that had come to their aid, galloping away.
Behind them trailed a group of roaring ogres and a pack of barking war dogs, their figures becoming increasingly distant in the ogres’ tear-filled eyes…
