Chapter 90: Group Class Raid 6
"So, six or seven minutes will be good enough time to finish the raid, right?" Kael Vi-rel stated, his voice a steady anchor against the echoing tremors of the dungeon. His broad-shouldered frame barely shifted as he braced the formidable weight of his shield, his entire attention locked onto the hulking, rage-fueled creature before him.
"Six or seven minutes?" Selene Whitmore repeated, a faint, almost predatory smirk playing on her lips. She tilted her head, the movement causing the strands of hair that framed her face to momentarily obscure the intense gleam in her eyes. Shadows seemed to curdle and curl around her form, restless and eager, as if they were physical extensions of the twin blades she held.
"What is the tank the five-hundredth saying now?" Julie Wartin muttered from the tactical safety of the rear.
Kael’s lips curved into a confident, easy smile that was utterly incongruous with the danger they faced. "I have space control. As long as that skill is active, I can hold the line. If I truly wanted to, I could even end this in two minutes."
The ogre responded to the sound of Kael’s voice with a primitive, unthinking fury. It turned its massive body, the sheer displacement of weight shaking the cavern floor beneath their feet. With a guttural, earth-shaking roar, it swung down in a wide, crushing arc, a colossal fist intent on flattening Kael and the stone he stood upon.
The strike connected not with the flesh and bone of Kael Vi-rel, but with the gleaming, rune-etched surface of his shield.
BOOM!
The sound was a catastrophic explosion of force that tore through the air. A shower of sparks erupted from the impact point, momentarily illuminating the cavern in a blinding, fractured light. The reverberation of the blow echoed through the dungeon’s stone tunnels like a peal of thunder, a deafening declaration of brute strength meeting unbreakable defense.
"Uuuhhhhhh!" The ogre bellowed, the sound now laced with a raw, rising frustration. Veins the thickness of rope bulged across its grotesque neck and temples, turning a dark, mottled purple as its blood pressure spiked.
Kael pressed the heels of his boots deeper into the ground, a minor adjustment that immediately stabilized his stance. He was a statue of reinforced steel. "It’s getting angrier. None of its attacks are breaking through, and it hasn’t managed to land a proper hit. That rage will build, and when it does... it’ll lose all composure. It’ll stop thinking and start simply swinging."
Another strike immediately followed a wild, horizontal swipe meant to tear him in two. Kael executed a minimal, precise twist of his torso, dodging the attack by a hair’s breadth. The sheer force of the swing created a vacuum that whipped fiercely across his cheek, raising gooseflesh despite the heat of the battle.
"Good. Its attention is locked on me now. Tanking 101," Kael murmured to himself, his internal focus sharp as a shard of ice. "No delay, no hesitation. It sees nothing else but me. The rest of you are ghosts."
The ogre roared yet again, now closer to a frustrated, desperate scream. Saliva, thick and yellowish, dripped freely from its tusked, panting maw as it momentarily halted its rampage. It then lifted both of its monstrous, tree-trunk arms high above its head, collecting every ounce of its vast physical power. With a brutal, earth-shattering slam, it brought them down on Kael in a direct, dual-fisted strike.
The ground literally quaked beneath the concentrated force. Dust and pulverized stone billowed outward from the impact site, creating a temporary, blinding cloud.
Kael had managed to raise his shield in time, but the sheer, focused pressure of the strike rattled through his bones, causing his teeth to click together. He gritted out the words, his voice strained. "What the hell... that’s some real, concentrated physical strength."
His jaw clenched as he pushed back, his musculature straining against the immense pressure. "I still can’t believe Damon Reid once fought this thing barehanded. Madness. I’ve been trying not to use direct spatial collapse on it, holding back, but..."
The ogre pressed down harder, its guttural snarl a sound of pure, single-minded intent.
"...if I stay on the defense much longer, this shield will give."
With a decisive grunt, Kael shoved forward, not against the ogre, but against the very fabric of the space between them. A slight, invisible distortion pushed the creature back, creating a crucial gap. His mind sharpened, moving on from defense to offense. "Time to attack. I’ll wait for the right moment, then use space control to cripple it."
His eyes narrowed, focused on a specific point on the monster’s anatomy. "I’ll aim for the shoulder. That should disable its dominant arm without outright killing it. We still need this thing alive for a few more minutes."
He leaped back, using the created distance to better line up his attack. His boots scraped harshly against the stone floor. The ogre, seeing its target retreat, lunged after him with a desperate, heavy step. But Kael was faster. He raised his hand, his palm glowing faintly with the tell-tale, rippling distortion of warped air.
"Now."
The air shimmered around the ogre’s massive shoulder, and a section of muscle, bone, and flesh simply disintegrated, collapsing inward into nothing but fine, grey dust.
The creature didn’t roar in anger, but in searing agony. It stumbled violently, its huge, powerful arm dropping instantly limp and useless to its side.
Kael exhaled, a visible plume of air in the cool dungeon. Sweat beaded his brow from the concentration required. "Oh? You dodged just in time to avoid a fatal collapse. Impressive instincts for a brute."
He frowned slightly, lowering his hand. "It sensed my intention. I missed my mark just barely. But even so, that wound is more than enough to turn the tide."
He lifted his hand again, but this time it was not an attack, but a clear, silent signal to his team.
Octavia Blake stepped forward, her movements a study in efficient, focused grace. Her bow was already loosed, her arrow already in flight. The projectile whistled through the air, glowing faintly with powerful runic enchantment before burying itself deeply into the weakened shoulder, splitting flesh and widening the initial spatial break Kael had created.