Ketovan cast his most powerful incantations one after the other, each enhancing at least one of his attributes. His long blue great sword was burning bright will all the boosts and buffs it was given.
The orc casually tossed the man aside and looked down at the tiny human. Its eyes lined with innate hunger. Its hands gradually got covered in wood as it got ready for a spar. Its hands were now covered in shadowy black wood and grew claws like the dire wolves. The orc took a swing at Ketovan with its new claws.
Mirage domain
One of the most useful abilities in Ketovan's core arsenal. It allowed him to form mirages within the specific area that his mirage domain extended. At commander rank, its range equaled his core ability minority space at 700 meters.
The orc went mad as it found its claws plunged into the ground and not into its new prey. It pulled its hand out, and entire block of land lifted with it. The land mass was nearly 10 meters in length and width with a rough edge. The orc has practically made itself a Warhammer, where the ground was the head and its hand the handle. It took a huge swing at Ketovan, putting its entire weight into the swing.
Mist
The mirage burst into mist as the orc failed again. No one could tell where Ketovan was, the image of him appeared every time the orc swung and failed, but Ketovan was not Cleary identifiable.
Only seasoned and experienced warriors can overcome this ability; even divine rank vision abilities fall short Infront of this ability. But it's a common fact that any divine ranker on this planet had hundreds and thousands of years of battles experiences and were skillful enough to figure the trick out.
Ketovan was practically hiding. Where? Inside the shadow, the orc itself, another ability, shadow domain, could control shadows. This allowed him to hide in the shadows and cast his mirages from this safe spot. He only wanted to tire the orc down or at least stop it until Hakon or Franklin regain their strength. But inside his mind he knew they were going to lay there for another few hours and he have no ability that can withstand more than an hour.
Reina was looking after the unconscious noble rankers. Their wounds were covered with soft snow, which gradually healed their damage. Her soldier rank healing skill not so effective on the noble rankers who out rank the skill by two ranks. But it sped the process a little, and saving time is all the group wanted right now.
Occasionally Ketovan emerged out of the shadow of the orc from behind and landed a hit on its back. It was not much damage, but it gave the man some kind of satisfaction. The time was running out so did the patience of orc. It let out a shrill cry as its gauntlets of black shadow type wood grew out and covered its entire body. Ketovan found himself unable to hurt the orc. He still had 15 minutes left.
"Fuck! Let me give it my fullest. Hakon! Franklin! Wake up, you old bastards there still an orc left, and this one is probably stronger than the one you killed just now."
Ketovan was having an inner monolog to calm himself down as he decided to completely hide in the shadow of the orc. But this time the orc sensed Ketovan. Maybe because of his frequent nagging of it or because of the boost it got from its wood armor.
The orc reached into its shadow and pulled out Ketovan. Its hand moved around his body as its grip tightened. Ketovan's commander rank body was no match to withstand the royal rank strength that the orc was applying on him. He felt his ribs breaking and maybe
even a puncture in his heart.
For the first time in his life, Ketovan faced utter defeat and potential death. He did not show it out, but in his mind, he was practically crying and hating himself for not reaching noble rank fast enough. The orc lifted Ketovan to face it its head was alone as big as his torso. Its breath had a stink unknown to the elegant man till now. Ketovan closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Anger welled up in his head as his eyes turned crimson red.
Rage
His arms grew wider, and his legs swung longer as he pulled himself onto the ground, out of the grip of the orc. He held his long sword in one hand, which was impossible as it weighs more than he could ever lift in one hand at commander rank. His eyes were now dripping blood as all of his racial abilities activate at once.
He grabs the orc with his free hand and pulls it down, its face was a mix of anger, surprise and fear. All it saw was a human whose skin was turning black, and whose eyes became a fountain of blood. It tried to tear his body with its new claws but failed miserably as its claws broke the instant they touched his body. He looked like a devil dressed in priest uniform. Not demons, those resembled human sin a way, but the devil, completely unrelated to any race this world ever gave life to. A being far greater than any single race or ecosystem.
Ketovan took a swing at its open neck, his sword clashed with the wood, making a slight dent in the Armour.
Slash, slash, slash, slash...
Ketovan lost count of the times he swung his sword, after an uncounted number of swings, the orc was beheaded. Ketovan was already dripping in its blood from head to toe, his sword was still burning with some kind of light that prevent it from getting polluted with the lowly blood of the orc.
Ketovan fell on his face on the ground as his body shrank down and returned to its original size. Reina rushed to his side, holding him up with all of her strength.
"Wake up, you heavy bastard! Don't leave me alone, it will take a few hours before Hakon and Franklin regain their strength. Don't leave me even when they wake up." She said as she created a bed made of ice and laid Ketovan on it.
The bed acted instantly, clinging to his body and covering all of his wounds with soft snow, and his eyes were covered with a blue crystal-like ice that was gradually healing his eyes, which took the major strain.
Ketovan felt the warmth of Reina and the cold of the bed in a matter of seconds, but he did not lose his conscious until he felt his ribs recover. He looked at Reina one last time before he closed his eyes to rest, not forever but only until he regains his strength to rejoin his team.
************
When Ketovan opened his eyes again, he saw Hakon and Franklin sitting on a sofa. He was in a luxurious room; it was entirely made of white marble with occasional gold flowing in them. He remembered what this place was. This is the room of the adventure society director of the Daro branch. Garahath Helmswell was sitting in his designated chair. Every one of them was looking at him, their eyes lined with worry. As they saw him wake up, the worry turned into relief or happiness.
"Got a sound mind, boy, very stubborn like your blood. Surviving a royal rank ambush is one thing but killing the royal ranking individual while still being commander rank is an exception, you proved that you folk are gods among men once again," the director said in his beaming voice.
"What?" Ketovan asked the director.
"You killed an orc that is two ranks higher than you, that's practically destroying a skyscraper with a water gun," Hakon said, his calm demeanor cutting the silence
"You were a complete asshole for letting your rage take control of you," Reina said, her voice lined with both mock anger and concern.
"If not for the man that visited director, you would have been bedridden for the rest of your life," Franklin said.
"Who was it?" Ketovan asked, sitting up.
"Later, now rest. I know you had enough rest, but it's for your mind, not for your body." Hakon pushed Ketovan on to the couch he was now laying on.
"Fine." Ketovan resigned to his earlier position.
"By the way, congrats on reaching the Threshold level of the commander rank." Franklin said, shaking his hand.
"I am already at level 59?" Ketovan asked.
"63 to be accurate." Hakon said.
"Your eyes were practically lumps of blood when we arrived at the adventure society campus. If not for the guest the director was hosting, your eyes would have been lost entirely. Even now, they are not completely healed. He said There will be scars around your eyes for the rest of your life, as permanent damage had been made on your soul," Reina said.
The director stood up and sat beside the couch Ketovan was sleeping on. He pulled out a mirror and held it towards his face, letting him see his reflection.
His eyes were back to their normal dark brown color, but all around his eyes were cracks as if his skin broke to give way to blood. Luckily, they were just marks, more tattoo than scars.
"I look like an animal." Ketovan said as he touched the red lines on his face, afraid that he might feel blood.
"Killing a royal ranker at commander rank is no small feat. The duke wants to award you and meet you personally," the director said, pocketing the mirror back into his huge pockets.
"That can wait. His soul needs some time to adjust to his unaccustomed eyes, and it already took enough strain by partially increasing his strength to royal rank. Last time when rage was used on such magnitude, the user lost his ability to sense anything. Even emotions." Hakon said.
Director nodded and moved across back to his desk.
"What about the orcs?" Ketovan asked.
"Fled, with no royal rankers and most of the noble rankers dead, there was no one to command them, so they ran back to their little rat hole," Franklin said.
"We going to do nothing.?" Ketovan asked
"We lost all of our noble rankers except for Hakon, Franklin and four others. 494 noble rankers dead in less than 5 hours. It was a total massacre." the director said.
"But yes, we will extinguish the warped space. We got conformation from Victoria and Skyfall. We can kill every one of those motherless bastards. A complete annihilation. Derrus branch released a group of powerful noble rankers and a well-known royal ranker for this quest," the director said.
"And that royal ranker is?" Ketovan asked.
"Vincent Motsari, the sanguine sword," the director said.
"So, they took it personally this time." Hakon said, listening to the information.
"I am pretty sure your brother will be the most delighted to hear your achievement, Ketovan," Franklin said, patting Ketovan on his back.
"I am not sure, Lord Grahan," Ketovan said
"Franklin is fine. We are a team after all." Franklin said with a soft smile, a rare sight on the moody man.
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