Book 2: Chapter 27: Distraction

Book 2: Chapter 27: Distraction

The floor of the cell shook with titanic battle as the two ogres clashed with the freed troll. Warbling screams filled the air, suggesting that things were not going well for the jailers. That was as expected; the troll wasn’t just larger, but it had looked far sturdier, as well. Still, even if the winner had been assured – which was no certain thing – Elijah had no intentions of letting it play out.

Not without having his say.

So, wedged in the shaft, he shifted his way up until only his head poked above the floor. When he did, he saw precisely what he had expected. The massive troll had everything it could handle as it fended off the other two creatures, but it was clearly in control of the fight. The ogres were powerful enough to hold their own, though, and it looked like it was going to be a long, drawn-out fight.

Elijah aimed to change that.

So, without further hesitation, he gripped the Staff of Natural Harmony and channeled Ethera into Swarm.

Spell:

Swarm

Conjure a swarm of pests that infect your enemies with appropriate afflictions.

The spell wasn’t as devastating as Calamity. However, it had the benefit of being far more subtle, which was precisely what he needed at the moment. He released the spell, and a few seconds later, a few biting flies manifested before landing on the broad, naked back of one of the ogre jailers. A second or two later, it was joined by a veritable horde – or, appropriately, a swarm – of flies.

The bulk of the little insects attacked the same ogre, but the nature of a swarm meant that there were plenty of others for the other jailer as well as the troll. Now that the troll had been freed, and he’d gotten the appropriate credit, he thought nothing of using it for his ends. Certainly, he didn’t want to watch it suffer, but that didn’t mean he would spare the aggressive creature out of some misguided sense of friendship.

If it lived, that was fine. But if it ended up dying, Elijah wanted his afflictions to ensure that he got at least some kill energy from its passing. Besides, he needed it angry and raging, or it wouldn’t be much of a distraction.

The flies didn’t last long, and by the time they dissipated into motes of Ethera, Elijah had already retreated into the shaft where he hoped to avoid notice long enough that he could exit combat.

Meanwhile, the battle continued, and through the use of One with Nature, he kept track of the three combatants’ conditions. The ogres had clearly gotten the worst of it, and the one who’d shouldered the brunt of the impact looked like it was only a hair’s breadth from passing out. Wet, clammy skin, splotchy cheeks, and unsteady legs were only the most apparent of its symptoms, and Elijah knew that it certainly wasn’t fighting at full strength.

The same could be said for the other ogre jailer as well as the troll, but there was enough of a difference that it was only a matter of time before the most affected ogre fell. It ended up coming sooner rather than later when the troll hammered the ogre with a giant, meaty fist that sent it splattering against the wall. Even as the masonry crumbled, the troll pounced, hammering the unfortunate ogre with all its might.

Elijah only caught glimpses here and there – all via One with Nature – but he got the impression that the pummeling was similar to what one might see from a silverback gorilla. In any case, the ogre was done for, and though it continued to fend the troll off with everything it could muster, its fellow could read the writing on the wall.

And when it did, the remaining ogre jailer didn’t swoop in to save its comrade. Instead, he turned tail and ran, dashing through the door as quickly as its meaty proportions would allow. At first, the troll paid it no mind, but the moment it finally finished with its gruesome and single-minded task, it whirled around to look for another victim. When it didn’t find one, the formerly imprisoned troll let out a frustrated roar, then squeezed through the cell door – no small feat, given its larger size – and took off down the hall.

Elijah waited a few moments before he climbed out of the shaft, and the moment he saw the devastation that had been wrought on the cell, his reticence to engage the ogres or the troll in battle was reaffirmed. The walls were cracked, with one of them covered in blood, and large chunks of brick had been torn away. But that was nothing compared to the state of the ogre the troll had killed.

Striking out like an ambushing crocodile, he used Predator Strike before slashing his claws across the back of the ogre’s ankle. Then, even as it wailed in anger and pain, he dashed away, slipping through the door before the thing could wheel around. There, he waited until, thirty seconds later, he heard the sound of crunching metal before Essence of the Wolf kicked back in.

Now that he was out of combat, Elijah once again embraced Guise of the Unseen before creeping back into the chamber. True to his expectations, the troll had overcome the wounded guard, and the ogre now lay in a crumpled and motionless heap only a few feet from the other dead guard.

There were only two remaining, and the troll seemed more than capable of overcoming those odds.

Still, Elijah wasn’t going to leave that up to chance. So, he once again set himself up for another strategic attack, and when it presented itself, he launched himself forward and sliced through the ogre’s hamstrings. However, it was only when he whipped around to dart back into the safety of the hallway that he realized that he’d pushed his luck a little too far.

The elf, its dull, black iron armor glowing with Ethera, leveled its silver sword in his direction. It started to say something, but Elijah had no interest in hearing some villain’s monologue.

So, mid-stride, he shifted back into his human form and preemptively cast Healing Rain. The spell was wide enough to encompass half the room, and even as the storm clouds gathered, Elijah embraced Form of the Guardian.

The call for stealth had faded.

Now was the time for unmitigated strength.

As he felt his body shifting, Elijah slammed into the wide-eyed elf, but by the time he’d completed his transformation, the creature had recovered his wits enough to once again attempt to speak. And Elijah responded appropriately by harnessing every point of his inflated Strength and ramming his open palm into the elf’s chest.

A sound like a gong announced contact, and a moment later, the slight creature rocketed backward, hitting the wall with bone-crunching force. Elijah wasted no time before bounding forward, grabbing the stunned elf around the waist, and spinning in place like an Olympic hammer thrower before launching him down the hall.

Elijah didn’t wait for his opponent to land before he raced back into the room and threw himself at the injured ogre. His shoulder hit the monster in the hip, eliciting a howl of anger and pain. It hammered a fist against Elijah’s back, knocking the breath from his lungs, but he was too close for the ogre to bring its massive weapon to bear. So, he bunched his legs and drove himself as well as the ogre into the wall.

More bones broke, but more importantly, the guard was stunned by the sudden impact. That gave Elijah the chance he’d been looking for, so he reared back, and brought his clasped hands down on the monster with every ounce of power he could summon. Other than extending the ogre’s dazed state, the blow did little good. However, Elijah persisted, repeating the attack.

When that didn’t finish the guard off, he did it again.

And again after that.

Over and over, he smashed his scaly fists into the ogre’s exposed head. And after the sixth such attack, he was finally rewarded with the feel of a shattering skull beneath his claws. Stil, he gave it one more blow for good measure. That one cracked the ogre’s skull open like an overripe melon, splattering brain, blood, and bone across the wall.

Still, he seethed with a need to keep going. To rip that corpse to pieces with every ounce of his power. Yet, he pushed that aside and forced himself to disengage.

He was just in time to see the elf’s snarling face as it drove its silver sword into his chest.