A few Orcs that managed to stay alive through sheer luck quickly crawled away among the debris.
Boom!
There was another explosion, this one coming from Gerald's silver cannon.
A few attempted to act dead in the hope they would be overlooked, but it quickly became clear that their enemy had no intention of leaving their corpses whole.
Whenever Gerald would see traces of life, an ear-piercing blast would follow, and the beasts, at that time, truly wished they were dead. Bleeding and with broken limbs, the few Orcs ran away, deeper underground, screaming in panic and fear.
Gerald was not concerned.
Even though his mind was currently a mess, a part of him still remained rational as he slowly followed after them. No matter where they ran, he followed every single one of them through his Magic Eyes, slowly extinguishing the life of the monsters, one by one.
***
Among the sounds of faraway explosions, a frail man, barefoot and covered in rags, slowly crept forward in almost complete darkness.
The broken sword was sitting tightly in his palm as he moved with caution, each of his movements extremely slow, and his eyes wide open to gather as much light as possible.
Then suddenly, there was movement! Warren froze for a moment and then quickly hid in a crack in the wall, holding his breath.
An Orc soon came limping by while releasing quiet whimpers and growls like a wounded animal. Many small wounds all over its body were also bleeding, a result of the shrapnel from the explosion. Although both explosion magic and Fireballs exploded, there was a clear difference between them.
Similar to the gasoline explosion, the Fireball created a lot of fire while also being on the slow side among the explosives. Meanwhile explosion magic was similar to dynamite, or perhaps C4. Simply a flash of light, and a 'Boom'.
In any case, the Orc was lucky to survive, and although terrified, Warren strengthened his resolve… and pounced!
Stab!
Roar!
The broken sword caught the Orc unprepared and lacerated his lower back. The beast roared and turned around with such speed that Warren couldn't even react.
The small eyes full of hate pierced through the darkness, making Warren's blood turn cold. His heart was beating madly, and cold sweat washed over him.
The wound was quite shallow, but that was to be expected. He was just an average guy, and after days of beatings and malnourishment, his strength declined further.
And then there was the Orc. Even if they didn't defend, a sword in the hands of a weak man could barely pose a threat. Still, the laceration that went about a centimeter deep and was quite painful.
The Orc slapped Warren's hand and knocked the sword out of his grasp. He then pounced on the poor human and swiped at him with his claws.
Warren was tossed like a doll by the force of impact and collided heavily with a wall. His vision went black for a moment, and when he regained consciousness a few seconds later, he could feel his chest as if it was on fire, and warm blood was flowing from it.
"Ugh…" He tried to stand up, however, his hands felt like noodles, weak and unresponsive. The pain overwhelmed him, and he could only lay on his side waiting for it all to end.
The Orc came closer, he could smell the stench and hear the beast's breath on him. The white fangs moved closer and glinted momentarily in the light of a lantern as Warren closed his eyes, waiting for his death.
Bang!
A sudden loud explosion woke him up, however, and he could hear the Orc howl in pain. The beast collapsed beside him a moment later with a 'thud'.
Opening his eyes, he could still barely see anything. Only now a dark figure was slowly coming closer from where the Orc came from.
The Orc turned to face the figure with difficulty while growling, whining, and crying. It was quite clear the beast was afraid of... whatever that thing was. The figure then lifted its hand holding a sword and…
Slice!
Blood sprayed all around as the Orc's head rolled across the cold stone floor. Warren watched it all with wide-open eyes, it all happened right beside him!
But then suddenly, the sword disappeared, and in its place was a small bottle.
The dark figure opened the bottle slowly… and poured the liquid all over Warren.
"???"
Warren freaked out. Some of the liquid sprayed in his eyes, and some even entered his nose and mouth! He immediately started coughing to get it out. However, almost like magic (because it was), the pain from his chest started to diminish, and his bleeding slowed down significantly.
He touched his chest in disbelief. The open wound was still there, however everywhere the liquid touched, his body started to recover. It was incredibly fast!
"Health Potion?!" Recovering from his stupor, he glanced at his benefactor. However, what he saw was anything but good.
Cough, cough!
The man that has so mercilessly slain the Orc was now coughing blood! He even went so far as to collapse on his knee.
"Shit… That's as far as it goes it seems…"
Resisting clearly painful wounds, the man turned his palm towards the ceiling.
Crack!
"What…?" Warren turned his gaze upward to where the cracking sounds were coming from. The ceiling was breaking apart, and the rays of sunshine were finally allowed to illuminate the gloomy darkness.
Then the rocks started falling down.
"Aah!" Warren instinctually shouted, and covered his head. However, instead of getting buried underneath the falling rubble, it all landed just out of reach, leaving him and the mysterious fighter completely unharmed.
Well, they weren't unharmed, but you get the point. No extra wounds.
Just when he thought it was over, Warren heard the sounds of running. Soon a few people came into view and because of the light, he was finally able to see properly once more!
"Gerald, wait!" one of them shouted, and that's when Warren finally had a good look at his savior.
He was a man, quite a tall one, covered from head to toe in blood. If it was his or the blood of his enemies, that was unclear. However his exposed skin showed clear signs of damage, and steam was rising from his trembling body.
But neither he nor any of the new warriors spoke a word before the man they all watched, suddenly jumped and flew away.
"He flew…" Warren gasped quietly and then his eyes moistened up. The warriors noticed him and ran towards him, calling and shouting, but he didn't hear them anymore. He had just realized what had happened.
"I… I'm free…" Tears formed in his eyes as he fell forward, dead.