บท 69: Suppressive Fire

Dynham was placed inside the administrative building. After a few seconds of waiting, Orst popped up above ground again. He did not risk jumping in the air because he would be targeted by snipers. As he went above ground. He shot a boulder at Ezra and party.

Rycharde dodged it by a mere 5 cm. The boulder crashed at some soldiers killing six of them. The Knights of Anticourt successfully dodged the rock. Orst aimed his earthen gauntlet at Rycharde and launched as Rycharde dodged the boulder. It hit him squarely in the stomach and he flew 12 meters from Ezra and Evan.

Orst set up an [Earth Wall] as this happened. A towering barrier of rock rose dwarfing the spell of Evered. Evered knew what was going to happen next as he rushed toward the direction of Ezra and the knights, he cast his own [Earth Wall] and Oswyn and a few other Anticourt Knights rushed to their location.

Orst cast [Stone Barrage] and a volley of fist-sized stones rained toward Evered's [Earth Wall], but with the support of the Oswyn and Anticourt knights, the barrier protected the party. But Rycharde had blasted away, he predicted the next move and he used two shields that were discarded to protect him as he attempted to run out of the range of onslaught of stone.

The earthen wall was weathered and Rycharde ran but he was not able to fully escape his legs were heavily wounded as he jumped out of the way. Orst appeared behind Evered's [Earth Wall] he had gone underground again, with Evan and Rycharde preoccupied they could not use the burning oil strategy.

With a roar, he aimed his fist at the nearest knight which was Deimos. He flew to the right as the hook connected, the force was so powerful that it smashed his chain mail breaking three ribs. Orst smashed another Anticourt Guard with his two fists clasped together. The forceful downward blow made the knight's head smash to the ground breaking his head into pieces killing him instantly.

Evered prepared for an incoming blow from Orst. He was in a dire state his whole body was sapped of magic and he could not cast any more spells, thankfully he did not tax his muscles too much. He could still move but since the last spell drained him of magic to amplify his body, he was sluggish.

The archers could not fire their volley lest they hurt their comrades in the process. Galwell wanted to snipe Orst but he was not confident that he would hit him with such minimal lighting, besides he would not hit Orst anywhere critical because he had his [Earth Armor] up.

As Orst's punch was about to connect. Evan activated his [Flood Cannon] Ezra already had Evan cast beforehand as the barricades went up. He knew that Orst already planned to dive to sneak up on them. Orst was hit and the momentum of the spell threw him away. Orst was surprised to see the attack. Evan targeted his mouth so that he would be unable to cast his spell.

Oswyn made use of the distraction to hack the brute's legs, they did not damage him but it did make him stumble. The water from the spell engulfed him.

"Again, freeze the water now!" Ezra commanded the water mages among the Anticourt knights. Orst struggled to get up, but Evan's flood cannon seemed to be waning but the mages struggled to freeze the water, they needed more time.

It seemed that Orst was about to stand up but at the last moment the water froze. Ezra sighed in relief.

"Whew, that was close, quickly behead him Oswyn," Ezra thundered.

Oswyn used his halberd like an executioner chopping the necked of the trapped man. He raised his halberd. The next moment Orst's armour burst from him flying in all directions. It looked like an explosion of rock. The frozen water that trapped him shattered. The explosion of stone threw Oswyn off balance as he stumbled on ice. Some of the rocks hit the knights but Ezra evaded.

Ezra caught a flying stone. The towering man recovered as he flipped on the frozen floor. He chanted something inaudible. Orst expected everyone in the immediate area of the blast to scramble and take position against him. This distraction was supposed to buy him time to cast yet another spell.

However, Ezra was not distracted, he was expecting Orst to have another trump card in a dire situation. His eyes observed the hefty figure. He threw two stones amidst the jostling knights. Orst was confident that no one would interrupt his spell.

The two stones whizzed in the air. The first stone sped into his mouth as he opened it. Orst choked on the stone, he inadvertently grasped for air as he pounded his stomach to expel the object. The second stone flew to his feet as it skidded on the ice as he was flailing around he stepped on it and slipped once again.

Spears and arrows flew to the torso of the struggling knight. The party recovered and all of them were standing. Deimos stood with his whip ignoring the pain from the broken ribs. His whip clapped through the air. He wanted his weapon to coil around the choking Orst.

The resilient knight grabbed the frozen ground and smashed as he flew in the air to dodge. He, still could not breathe but the consequences of not dodging both the incoming arrows and the javelins were grim. He kept on gagging trying to dislodge the stone from his larynx.

The Anticourt knights were now fixated there were no cheers at this temporary victory, they just wanted Orst to be disposed of. Most of them cast [Stone Bullet] on Orst. He could not focus. He could not dive into the ground as well as Evan's [Flood Cannon] fixed the cracked ice. He was given no rest, the assortment of attacks kept coming and yet he was still gasping for air.

He stepped on another stone thrown by the toddler, slipping yet again. He spun to avoid getting hit by the projectiles. He was running out of breath.

He saw a larger stone flying at him. He didn't dodge he propelled his feet down to jump, he met the stone stomach first. It crumpled his plate armour but the force of the stone compelled the air in his stomach to lurch, this freed his throat of the object that was firmly wedged inside.

He tried gasping for air, but there was no room for relief. Since he was out of breath his moves were lethargic. His moves could easily be read now. He was staggering trying as much as possible to get air in his lungs but it seemed that he was exhaling more than he was inhaling.

Phobos and the other knights tried to surround Orst, but it proved to be difficult even with his slowed down movement.

"No don't go all out at once. You are spreading yourselves too thin," Ezra commented. "Try to maintain cohesion. Deimos also tried to flank him with some other knights."

Rycharde endured his injury and used his hands to slide on ice as he chanted. Ezra noticed his charge. It was brilliant, he did not need to move at all and he was sliding. Ezra observed that he was preparing a considerable spell due to the concentration of his magic.

Ezra threw three more stones, Orst was now warry at the objects the toddler was throwing at him, it made him lose his balance and his momentum. He dodged but it was never Ezra's intention to let him slip or injure him. He just distracted him from Rycharde who was speedily sliding toward him.

Orst looked at the toddler, he felt helpless but as he planned on his next move. Rycharde's [Flame Blaze] activated his liquid like flames spraying like a flamethrower at the sturdy brute.