Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Wrik met the spear of the man with his sword as they made a sound in their clash. The physical strength of the giant man reminded Wrik of the ghoul they had to deal with in the trial. He did not lose any bit in the physical strength of the ghoul, might even be far better with the mana armament in play.

Wrik and the giant man met with their weapons dozens of times. None of them gained the upper hand.

"Arjhamith Adam De'Bourge," the giant man said, taking a few steps backwards.

Wrik guessed it was that giant's name as the man remained standing, waiting for him to do the same. But Wrik was already messed up state. The fever went into his head as he yelled, "Your bane," his legs moved towards the giant man. "You dirty, ugly ogre."

Wrik swung his sword manically. He needed to finish it as soon as possible, as he did not know when he would fall from over-exhaustion and the fever. 

The orge met his sword with cruelty in his face; the insult hit him right at the spot. Wrik's sword almost bounced off his palm as he met the spear. He held onto it his last bit of strength, as the mana raged in his maha point.

"Is that all you got, you bastard of an orge?" his mouth did not stop in the vulgarities as he blocked the spear stronger than before. Insulting the giant man only made Wrik work harder, but it would exhaust this ogre soon, too.

With the help of [Eye of Insights], Wrik managed to keep his clarity of mind in the damning fever. He exchanged moves with the tall man, as exhaustive fatigue assaulted his nerve and body. Looked like he could not hold on to the [Eye of Insights] for more. 

In all the exchange, Wrik's sword almost bounces off his hand from the impact. Practically the giant man was way stronger in physical strength, but Wrik was faster, agiler. He only needs a fault in the giant man's posture to deal another blow.

"Aye Orge, can't you see I'm here," he taunted the giant man in hope of a blunder from him.

Wrik raised his agility by a little as the giant man did so as well with the spear. Wrik dealt a move while stepped back from the swinging area of the spear, while the giant man advances towards him in frenzies. 

Meanwhile, Byul was doing her best to keep the other guys busy. Even though they could not see clearly in the mist, the gang of mobs were quite time consuming. Strength consuming as well. While Tanya was behind Wrik preparing a spell with her entire concentration.

After testing a little more, Wrik found the opportunity he was looking for. He dodged the spear by ducking, swinging at his head, as his eyes shone brighter. With a slash of the sword, he cut the right thigh of the giant man. Armament reinforcement with the leg guard restricted him, but his swing was enough to break the armament. Wrik followed with a return slash at the same spot with a reverse grip. This time his sword cut through the armour, reaching the flesh of the giant. Wrik brought all his strength to reach the bones.

As Sophia taught him, when you break armament in one place, it's a lot harder to erect another layer of it. He used the first slash to break the mana coating first, then followed it with a slash with all his strength.

Wrik sucked in a hard breath. His heart was running like a frenzied wolf. The light diminished from his eyes as it regained its blackness. He could not use the [Eye of Insights] further, but the ability brought him quite far. He had not received any major physical injury from the giant man, while he dealt twice, one at the chest and the other at the thigh.

Fortunately, the giant man did not have the ghoul's recovery ability.

Arjamith gritted his teeth, taking him longer than he had expected. If only there was no mist restricting his senses, he would not be in this state. He saw his opponent move again, his legs moved again though slower than before. The sword and head of the spear meet in the air again. 

Arjamith felt the exhaustion of his opponent, which made him force out more strength. 'If I can not win with skills and tactics, then I will win with strength.' With that thought, Arjamith moved in full force like a mad dog. HIs opponent appeared to have guessed his intention, did not meet his spear dodged while lunging around.

"You can only jump around, Shrimp?" he roared. 

But his opponent did not care a penny for the taunt, ducked while a flying knife came in his way. The other girl of the three threw it at him after she dealt with his men.

The knife hit him at his chest, broke the mana coating, but that was it, it could not break the defence of his breastplate. He was about to move towards the swordsman again when the mist started to clear.

It appeared the mage could not hold it much longer, but that thought did not last long, as a sudden chill overwhelmed him. His mind raced as he was about to through his spear at the black-haired mage—where the chilly feeling was coming from.

But too late. Before even his spear left his palms, his armed froze, then his legs, thighs, chest to the entire body. It looked like a sculpture of a warrior throwing a spear at his enemy. He was not the only one that turned into an ice sculpture. The other men were also the same, though their posture was not as majestic. 

Never let a mage time to prepare.

Tanya sighed in relief as she sat on the grass. 

"Could not you do that earlier?" Wrik was barely able to say that. His face was red with exhaustion and fever, his eyes were sunken, looked like the fighting flared up the poison he was restraining. His eyes only turned darker, noticing Tanya was not answering. "Tanya? Hey, Tanya?"

The slender body of Tanya fell on the grass softly. She went unconscious. The last ice spell she has cast to freeze the dozen fellow caused a quite toll on her mental and physical power.

"Shit!" cursed Wrik. His eyes moved to the other girl, who was in fairly better shape. He did not know how long the ice spell would last, nor he knew how bad his or Tanya's health was. "We need  to move." He said to Byul, before moving to the unconscious body of Tanya.

He picked her up on his shoulder before dashing towards the mountain in the north.

Byul picked up her speed as well. She was exhausted as well, but she was in fairly better shape. 

"What is wrong with you?" She asked Wrik, noticing the abnormality.

"I'm poisoned," he said. "I think I will drop unconscious at any moment.

"Don't you have antivenom?" Byul asked.

"Yes," He said. "I'm not in mortal danger. . ."

He did not need to say further. Byul understood. If two of her allies lost all their strength, what would happen to them? She could only hope the group they dealt with just now would not be able to chase after them after the spell, and there's a very much possibility of that, The last spell Tanya cast was not any paltry tricks, it's the real deal. But who could tell if there was another group like that?