"Well shit." Before I could react the ogre punches me, I fly back with incredible speed and crash into the mountain creating a hole. It hurt, oh it hurt a lot, I struggled to breath as I kept gasping to hopefully get some air.
"Holy shit, this guy is stronger than the door," I said as I continue struggling to breathe, I slowly stand up and walk out of the hole I created while holding my stomach. This might not be as fun as I was hoping. I walked out of the cave to see Iris fighting both of them alone, roots were flying everywhere and more of the crocodiles were surrounding the Ogres, but were instantly getting destroyed.
"I see you're still alive," she said as I walked out of the hole injured.
"Haha, I am not that easy to kill," I said as I grunted in pain. Seconds later one of her roots whipped back and wrapped around my stomach, a green light surrounded the roots and then my stomach, instantly the pain went away and the bruise around my stomach was gone. I looked at her in surprise and I felt around my stomach to make sure all the pain went away.
"You can't fight well being injured, don't worry about getting hurt I'll keep a root around you." She said as her spells to fend off the Ogres kept failing, they slowly approached her only being slowed by her constant spam of spells. I ran in front of her ready to attack again, I had to go with a stronger punch, a much stronger punch. Like Iris said, I don't have to worry about being injured.
[Mana punch, 2,000 mana]
I ran towards the Ogre with the purple horns, his body was so big it would be hard to miss my punch, I just to make sure I could reach him. As I got closer his facial expression changed from an amused expression to one of slight fear, he quickly raised his hand in the air.
I leaned in quite far for the punch. "THIS IS FOR BE-," before I could finish yelling I instantly face planted into the ground with incredible force. I must have face planted because of the way I was leaning in for the punch, either the Ogre timed it perfectly, or I fucked up.
"HAHAHAH, I WAS WORRIED FOR A SECOND, THAT WAS SOME INCREDIBLE MAGIC COMING FROM A HUMAN, HAHAHA." He laughed maniacally again.
"WHAT KIND OF ARMOUR ARE YOU WEARING THERE HUMAN." He said as he laughed again.
The force was incredible, it felt like 3 elephants were standing on my back, I felt like my bones and organs were going to be squashed and soon I found it extremely difficult to breathe. I needed to think, I closed my eyes, the best way to escape a gravitational pull is to use some sort of incredible acceleration or speed to escape it, but how was I supposed to gain acceleration if it was impossible for me to move? Suddenly, I remembered the duel with Pulli, when I punched him I got pushed back slightly due to the force, I had an idea.
With all the strength I had left I yelled towards Iris, "IRIS, TIE YOUR ROOT AROUND MY WAIST AND PULL," she quickly responded and another root flew towards me and wrapped around my waist. The Ogre being intrigued stood and watched as I charged another mana punch.
[Mana punch, 4,000 mana]
Because the gravity would let me lift my arm, I had to touch the ground and hope it would shoot me towards Iris, using the combination of an extreme force while being pulled should be enough to escape the gravitational pull. I touched and instantly the ground below us shattered and cracked, almost simulating a catastrophic earthquake, the force was enough to pull me out of the gravity magic, but the state my body was left in was horrendous. The Ogres fell into the crack that was made from when I cracked the ground apart, I heard them yelling curses as I flew towards the mountain.
*CRASH* I flew into the mountain once again crashing creating another hole behind me, I was being bounced around like a ball as I kept going deeper into the mountain, the pain was so incredible I became numb. Finally I stopped, I lay on the rock below me, I was so far into the mountain that I couldn't see the sunlight. This pain was worse than when I lost my arm to the Terra Dragon. I tried to see the state of my arm but I had no strength.
Suddenly I saw a bright green light quickly heading in my direction, as they got closer I noticed different specs of light as they rushed towards me.
"HUMAN?!" I heard Iris yelling, I tried answering back but had no voice.
"He's lost an arm and his waist has completely dislocated, how long until you can fix him." Iris seemed to ask someone who had followed behind her.
"It would take days for him to fully regrow his arm, I can fix his waist, but I can't stop the bleeding." The old and disgusting sounding voice reminded me of the medic, they say I lost an arm, but I am in too much pain to be fully aware of it.
"We can use her, with her cursed healing we can heal him completely." Iris said to the medic. Horror quickly filled the medics face as he backed up a bit.
"If we use her magic, who knows what the side effects could be, and her magic requires lifeforce, it wouldn't work unless someone was willing to sacrifice most of their life." The medic said as he tried to convince Iris.
"I'll use my life."
"BUT IRIS, WHY WOULD YOU SACRIFICE YOURSELF TO SAVE THIS HUMAN?" The medic yelled in anger and confusion.
"THIS IS MY DECISION, THE OGRES WILL BE BACK IN A MATTER OF MOMENTS, HURRY."
As the medic quickly ran out of the hole to get Lutea, I questioned why Iris would sacrifice herself for me. I tried to ask, but all that came out were raspy breaths.
"Don't worry human, you will live," she said as she reached down and touched the charm on my chest. "Don't worry, it's not broken, it uses Hyad wood, almost nothing can break it."
"MOTHER?!" Lutea yelled as she and the medic ran towards us.
"Lutea, come quick, you must use your magic to heal this human." She quickly grabbed Lutea and brought her towards where I was, her pupils shrunk and she covered her mouth at the sight of my damaged body.
"But mother, I need lifeforce to use my magic." She said with a terrified look on her face, as though she was forcing herself to accept her mothers request. Iris smiled at her and hugged Lutea, "You will use me." As Iris whispered in Lutea's face a shocked expression appeared on her face.
"What?" She said calmly, as if this disbelief had killed her soul. "WHY CAN'T WE USE THE MEDIC'S LIFEFORCE, OR ANOTHER VILLAGER, PLEASE MOTHER!" Lutea yelled and screamed trying to convince Iris.
"We have to use me, you know you can't use your magic without the sacrifice being willing to sacrifice themselves" Iris said, still smiling and hugging Lutea.
"NO I WON'T, I WON'T DO IT, I REFUSE." Lutea tried running away, but was grabbed and brought back by Lutea's vines.
"YOU WILL USE ME LUTEA, YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME." Iris' expression changed as she angrily yelled at Lutea, her expression suddenly turned to one of sympathy as she whispered in Lutea's ear.
"There is someone I must meet, so please Lutea, do this for me."
Lutea, still shocked and horrified, finally reluctantly agreed. Iris quickly laid down next to me and Lutea's black roots with black flowers quickly wrapped around us.
Lutea started chanting trying her best to hold her screams and tears, "By the God of nature, allow me to sin just this once and use a darkness which shouldn't be touched, steal and snatch the life from the sacrifice, and bless the chosen with another life, LIFE TRANSFER."
The roots suddenly emitted a black and red magic, they squeezed tighter and tighter, Iris's body slowly started decaying, almost as if she was rapidly aging. I could feel my wounds slowly heal and my arm slowly coming back, though the pain increased, and kept increasing.
Suddenly Iris whispered to me.
"Say hello to Titania for me." She said as she smiled, moments later disintegrating. Becoming a pile of ash.