Kapitel 278: Brain VS Brawn

"I will crush you like a worm!" the Ogre bellowed back in rage and dropped into a charge.

Gerald grinned and waved his giant hands. About ten spells scrolls flew at the assaulting beast and emitted a bright light upon contact.

Babababam!

A chain explosion shook the hearts of people, and without missing a beat, Gerald jumped forward with fists at the ready.

"Why, you little slimy-!"

Bam!

Before the Ogre could recover from the pain and ringing in its ears, Gerald already came and punched it in the face. He struck with such force that his fist almost exploded, and the stones were strewn across the battlefield.

Bam!

He struck with his other hand, this one similarly exploding into a shower of gravel, and doing little damage.

Left, right, left, right…

He continued punching as his armor continued moving up and regrowing his broken fists. From afar it looked like an earth monster, constantly siphoning the rock and stone from the ground, and using the strikes to turn them into small pebbles and sand.

"Wooo! Enough of this!"

His advantage was diminishing as all his strikes felt like landing on a tank with armor of hardened steel. And the Ogre wouldn't just stand there motionless for long.

It roared and smashed him with the club once more, this time with such force that the wooden shaft exploded into splinters, and Gerald flew like a cannonball once more, collapsing a building behind him in the process.

Roar!

The ogre pounded its chest like a gorilla and then dropped on all fours, running and kicking up rocks as it blitzed across the ground.

Gerald barely had enough time to stand up when a ball of muscle and fat crushed into him, collapsing another building as they rolled across the ground.

Many parts of his Stone Golem Armor were broken, but he quickly repaired them with all the stone bits laying around. As long as he had Mana he would be fine.

They both stood up and after a few seconds of staring, they began bashing each other. It was like a certain green fantasy monster fighting against an advanced metal suit specifically designed to defeat it. The monster was mostly fine after a dozen rounds of punches, however, the suit had to be constantly replaced and repaired as it was being torn apart piece by piece.

Gerald certainly felt the pressure. The strikes transferred through the stone, and his whole body was aching even with the Iron Body active at all times.

But the greatest discomfort was on the inside of his mind. He was having the spirits of the defeated monsters try and attack him at the same time as he had to concentrate the most. If he had at least an hour of respite, the fight would have been much easier, that's for sure.

"Keep hiding in your little shell cowardly human, I'll break it open sooner or later, hahaha!" the Ogre roared amidst laughter and continued to pound on the stone.

'Laugh while you can, you stupid beast, we'll see who remains standing in the end!' Gerald thought, and a few dozen empty Earth Crystals dropped from his grasp.

The Ogre was too preoccupied having fun while he carefully monitored his Mana reserves. Stone Golem Armor was quite expensive, but with the help of Earth Crystals, his Mana never dipped below 95%.

Unbeknownst to the Ogre, Gerald was increasing the size of his armor little by little. He kept creating thick shield plates on his hands to defend from the strikes, and when they were getting broken apart instantly, he would use them to build up defenses.

The beast happily kept punching, thinking it was wearing him down while having a bit of an exercise when in reality it was quite the opposite.

Gerald was using it to train the endurance of his mind under extreme pressure while also slowly growing his stone body. He was constantly being supplied with stone from the ground, and his torso was becoming thicker as time went on.

His height was also slowly increasing as he got more comfortable controlling all that rock, but due to the gradual change, as well as his defensive position, the Ogre was none the wiser.

The classic boxing strategy of tiring out your opponent was greatly effective here. Of course, it wasn't about physically exhausting the Ogre. The damn beast could probably continue with this tempo for days. However magic was a whole nother thing entirely.

In their dance of blows, Gerald threw a jab here and there, just making sure it didn't get too suspicious. Still, his strength of above five tones, as well as magic amplification, made his strikes pack quite a punch.

Every time his hits landed on the Ogre's face, the latter recoiled with displeasure. That was especially so when he struck the broken nose. It was a great motivator for the Ogre to fight even harder and burn through its Mana reserves like crazy.

Through Magic Eyes, Gerald was watching the world around him, and the glow of Mana on the Ogre was quickly dimming.

It gave him confidence in his plan, and so he gradually transitioned from a mostly defensive position to a more aggressive attacking stance.

They were soon stuck in a deadlock.

'Why do I feel like I experienced this before,' Gerald frowned inside his shell. 'I really need to get my hands on some trump cards or something… Anything that can speed this up would be great.'

Something like lasers would probably still be useful against this fatty giant, and a burst of 200MP should do the trick, but…

He wasn't exactly willing to sacrifice a finger to do so, because that's what would most certainly happen. He would burn up like a tiny lightbulb powered by lightning.