"Who dares analyze me!?"
Athelei felt like time had slowed down as his own eyes met Lou'both's. The Ogre's roar shook him to his core, and he could feel his eardrums being rattled still.
A wave of nausea attacked him as he shut his eyes and pried himself from the brief yet psychologically-scarring eye contact.
He popped back into the crevice he had been hiding in.
"Did I make a mistake..?" A small doubt flitted past him as his pupils regained focus.
His human instincts had cried out in alarm. It made him realise how much of an ant he was in the face of absolute power.
Through his execution of Inspect, he made an enemy out of a Rank 3 entity.
'I assumed that Lou'both would ignore me,' Athelei let out a wry chuckle, 'Is this another characteristic of Ogre Magi?'
Comparing Hilvar's glare to Lou'both's raging shout was like comparing day and night. The former was more indifferent yet curious, while the other seemed to be pure hatred— as if he had been humiliated to no end.
'Nonetheless, what is done is done,' Athelei let out a devious sigh.
Gleaming before him was a multi-coloured screen full of intrigue.
Upon his execution of Inspect, his request was simple:
The Ogre Magus' most glaring weakness.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Lou'both
- Ogre Magus (Equivalent to a Rank 2 Artist of Circles)
- In a state of Mana Disarray.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Athelei couldn't help but purse his lips as he looked at the screen in front of him.
'...What is [Mana Disarray]?'
None of the memories he had stored inside his mental library had any records of such a condition. It was the first time he encountered the term, and at that very moment, frustration overpowered his curiosity.
Athelei spat out an Acivis curse as he calmed the sudden spike of human emotions in his mind. Resignation painted his face.
Although he did not know what Mana Disarray exactly was, it was easy to make relatively accurate assumptions. He even switched the language setting of his Cosmic Interface and saw what the words were like in his own tongue.
Together with the hint provided by the meaning behind the words 'mana' and 'disarray,' and his ongoing observations, he had a few ideas in mind.
"Exploiting Lou'both's seemingly problematic physique isn't impossible." Athelei muttered as he fully dispersed into a grey fog, "...Right?"
Meanwhile, Hilvar and Lou'both's battle continued with no regard for Athelei's schemes— save for that moment when Lou'both felt the Analysis Skill scan him.
In his moment of distraction, a few High Orcs managed to throw themselves onto his wounds, hacking and slashing without regard for their own lives.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Lifeless corpses were flung into the sky, freeing Lou'both from the assault of High Orc berserkers.
He then drew a Mystic Pattern in the air and made a throwing motion. With a glow of white, those corpses in the sky shot down like missiles, aiming for Hilvar who was just a few steps away from him.
BOOOM!
Lou'both felt the air get knocked out of his lungs as the explosion knocked him back too.
"F**k!"
He writhed in pain as his wounds were further aggravated. The [Mana] inside his body was churning wildly as it passed through the organs he had implanted inside himself.
Lou'both could feel the rejection phenomenon that his teacher once advised him to keep in mind.
Such a thought further enraged him as he imagined the indifferent, yet somehow smug look his teacher would give him later on during a lecture.
On top of all this, a splitting headache kept plaguing him as his emotions were poisoned by the instincts of a beast. The extra brain sewn onto his skull flickered dangerously with sparks of electricity and [Mana]. It was like the brain was trying to think for itself in these moments of hardship.
His rabid gaze once again landed on the bull-like Hilvar who was still charging at him despite his clear disadvantage. The damn High Orc refused to die.
"Braindead fool!"
With a roar, Lou'both sent another round of explosions in Hilvar's way.
But then, a short Mystic Pattern sequence flew into Hilvar's body at that moment.
Hunter - Haste - Tailwind.
The sequence boosted agility, with a multiplicative effect that didn't just add three effects on top of each other as it would have, had the patterns been drawn separately. With such a sequence, a burst of power would bless your body, a swift wind would become your friend, and everything within your immediate surroundings would somehow speed up.
Although weak, to onlookers, it would seem as if some temporal powers were at play.
Such a sequence was going to the many other High Orcs as well, like shooting stars. It was the work of Athelei, who was trying his best and doing whatever came to mind.
His plan was simple for now—
"I'll just see what works!"
In fact, although the buff wasn't very effective on Hilvar himself due to his already high attributes, it seemed to work a bit on the other High Orcs. With Athelei expending all the [Mana] he had recently regenerated, a portion of the army was being heightened as a whole.
His focus was on those High Orcs who were the closest to Lou'both.
The slight yet sudden shift in pace threw Lou'both's timing off by a second or two. It allowed a High Orc to successfully penetrate the Ogre's defence and slam their shield onto Lou'both's face.
Clang!
A dull sound came from the heavy iron shield, briefly making the deformed face look even worse. The damage wasn't much, but Lou'both's rage grew even further.
A giant hand grabbed at the High Orc's head.
"You... you... you prick!"
Veins were popping on Lou'both's forehead, and his eyes glowed with a feral gleam.
Boom!
Lou'both swiftly sent the High Orc to its death in a barbarous manner that made Athelei smile.
'It feels like he is losing his mind. Did he mistakenly plant a [Seed of Emotion] on himself as well?' He thought with genuine curiosity.
Now, although his attempt at helping Hilvar out had resulted in somewhat of a failure, aiding the High Orc army as they arrived in front of Lou'both brought him some returns. It wasn't much, but he had created a small effect on the battlefield.
It proved to him that small things still mattered, as long as the big picture was placed within his gaze.
It was just that...
'I don't enough [Mana] to supplement this expenditure...'
Athelei could not give every single member of the High Orc army a similar buff. It was even more wasteful considering the fact that those High Orcs he would help would still run straight to their deaths in the next moments.
His low [Mana] reserves caused by the damage he had incurred earlier in the battle were now even more apparent.
'My options have been limited even further,' He thought to himself as he tried out another idea.
This time, all he was going to use was one Mystic Pattern— Sway.
After a short moment of artistry, the pattern landed on himself as the fog of his body formed a ring around Lou'both. He lingered by the ears of any charging High Orc that passed by.
'This distance should be safe,' He thought as he eyed the hate-filled faces that numbered in the hundreds, 'If Lou'both can make use of the High Orcs' emotions, why can't I?'
He then allowed his voice to shake the eardrums of the High Orcs who were passing by his ring of fog.
"Hear me!" Athelei roared in Acivis, allowing his oppressed battle lust to leak out, "The Ogre Magus is dying! Victory is at hand! Hurl your weapons out with all that you have left! Complete your vengeance!"
"LET. IT. RAIN. IRON!"
Following such a command, hundreds of footsteps stopped dead in their tracks.
A short silence enveloped the battlefield, as Lou'both and Hilvar both sensed the sudden change and paused as well. Even Athelei was somewhat stunned at the far-fetched sight before him.
But then, the sound of hundreds of tearing muscles descended without any warning. A maelstrom of [Energy] caused the temperature in the area to rise like crazy.
"VENGEANCE!"
"DEATH!"
"VICTORY."
The High Orcs roared out as one.
And with bloodshot eyes and their [Seeds of Emotion] at full bloom, the High Orcs all launched their weapons into the sky.
"What in the world...?" Hilvar couldn't help but mutter as a spear whizzed past his face from behind him.
The sound of a hundred sonic booms drummed throughout the battlefield.
Hundreds of High Orcs collapsed after exhausting all their strength in but one suicidal yet threatening action.
And the Ogre Magus, Lou'both, who was standing at the very centre of a 360-degree volley of blades, swords, spears, arrows, axes, and more, witnessed his life flashed before his very eyes.
He watched as the High Orcs that stood just within his arm's reach were torn apart by the weapons of their own comrades.
Flowers of blood and bone bloomed from their corpses.
He watched as the sky was practically sliced apart by the mass destruction of the sound barrier.
It looked like a volley of modern missiles with their trails of blurred air.
He watched as hundreds of weapons emerged from a curtain of blood, and appeared just inches away from his skin, flesh, and bones.
Lou'both felt a chill shoot up his spine.
And so at the very last moment, when he was most desperate, he yelled out for his life and urgently poured [Mana] out of his body. Several Mystic Pattern circles appeared in the air as Lou'both did his best to supply them with energy all at the same time.
"B-BONE DETONATION!"
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
But when Athelei heard such a yell and felt the sudden outburst of Mystical Energy from Lou'both's body, he was enlightened of the Ogre's admirable quick-wittedness.
BOOOOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Several explosions were born from the slain High Orcs that had been torn apart by the horizontal rain of weapons.
'To think that explosive force could be used for both offence and defence,' Awe flashed in the depths of Athelei's eyes. 'How grand. I'm keeping note of that.'
A literal wall of exploding energy now separated the Ogre Magus from the weapons that threatened his life.
At that moment, Athelei thought that his idea failed, and he would once more have to think of something else.
It was not until the shockwaves died down that Athelei felt the urge to tilt his head, 'An irregularity...?'
The wall of explosions had disappeared just as swiftly as it came, leaving behind a circle of destruction. Weapons had been flung all across the sky like shrapnel, killing many and injuring a large chunk of the High Orcs army. Those who had not exhausted themselves of their everything met fates perhaps more gruesome than their martyred counterparts.
And as Lou'both's figure reappeared from within his last-second attempt to stay alive, the imperfections of his attempt was clear for Athelei to see.
'Interesting,' Athelei smiled in pleasant surprise. 'Ah, Lou'both... How unfortunate~'