Alex rushed towards the grey orc with fury in his eyes. The creature descended his sword against a resolute Tina, who kept defending but found fewer opportunities to counterattack. She tried to hit, but the orc dodged and immediately hit again, making her lose half of her balance repeatedly.
He would tire her eventually, and she would lose, but Alex was there to help. The fact that she had stood her ground against a bigger and stronger enemy said a lot about the girl's character. She had no fighting experience nor a system to help her overcome the challenge, but Alex had, and he would use it.
The young man sprinted and jumped on the orc, his dagger up and ready to strike, but the orc was fast enough to dodge and shove Tina on the way of the jump. Alex crashed against Tina's body, and they rolled to the ground for a couple of seconds before they were up again,
"Good fight," she hissed beneath her teeth,
"You two," Alex mumbled between labored breaths. "Let's take him together. Press the attack, and I'll find a breach," she nodded, and they sprinted. The gray orc had only half of the confidence from before after spotting his friend lying dead on the ground.
Alex was faster and stronger now, the Devil's Hand somehow helping in the fight. For all Alex could tell, he received a buff from the system every time he entered combat. The mist encapsulated him and made him stronger. But this time, he had not been healed after killing the black orc.
Tina swung her blade, and the orc deflected the blow, but the movement had been enough to make an opening. Quickly, Alex stabbed the creature beneath the armpit and got a few steps back to dodge the following attack of the humanoid. They kept doing that for a whole minute. Each strike from Tina was an opening, and in little time, the orc was bleeding all over, his sword becoming heavy in hand, and Alex feeling more and more confident about the outcome.
When he delivered a blow to the base of the creature's neck, the orc kneeled on the ground, and Alex considered it the end. Tina smiled happily, her hands shaking with the adrenaline, but nonetheless happy, not for taking a life but for being alive. Alex was about to return her smile when he noticed the eyes of the orc getting red.
The black pupil dilated as if blood was injected inside it by an invisible needle. The creature thrashed on the ground as his eyes got even redder, and the lumps on his body became more prominent. He was somehow transforming,
"It's a bloodlust!" Tina exclaimed, striking down the blade against the enemy, but the creature dodged in his mad dance on the floor. Alex went for a stab on the creature's head to stop the thrashing, but as soon as his dagger downed, the monster jumped on him with tremendous speed as if he were a demon.
The grey orc tackled Alex, and then he saw the tusks of the creature had grown exponentially, almost reaching and passing his flat nose,
"BLOOOOOD!" The creature snapped as he descended his tusks against Alex. The young man held the humanoid's head and stabbed the orc one, two, ten times, and the monster kept trying to bite him with his immense fangs.
"Die, pig!" Alex shouted and stabbed the monster's neck. Blood flowed from the wound and hit Alex's mouth, making him shiver on the spot. Power ran through him, and he felt his teeth increasing. He felt the orc's rage, his strength growing, and his arms overcoming the challenge.
Soon, Alex wasn't fighting to hold the orc's head in place. He was pushing it to his back, inverting positions. Alex gripped the monster's head and threw him to the ground. Biting the orc's neck with his newfound powerful jaw. He realized he now had tusks on his mouth. Reality hit the young man, and he removed his jaw from the orc's neck and downed his dagger against it, slicing it from one ear to the other.
The monster was dead on the spot. Alex glanced to the side and saw that Rel'Tir was still unconscious on the ground. This time, Alex saw the mist leaving the creature's body and entering his.
He halted over the orc's body, avoiding eye contact with Tina and concentrating on having his regular teeth again. He stood there and focused, but nothing happened. He felt control over the small transformation when he breathed deeply and counted from 5 to 0. He was feeling exponentially better, totally healed, with a renewed disposition. When he stood, he had nothing to hide anymore,
"That was intense!" Tina exclaimed with a big smile, "You're all covered in blood,"
"Am I?" Alex asked and looked at her. She was in shock but still happy
"I've never seen an orc on bloodlust. I had only read about it. It was scary. He was basically dead but didn't stop fighting." she said in a rush,
"He was going to kill us and then drop dead after?" Alex asked,
"I don't know. Some people say orcs in bloodlust can heal with the victims' blood, but I thought this was all legend."
"It was pretty real," Alex said, sitting on the ground and breathing deeply. He looked to the sky and was confronted by the system message,
…
Processing information.
…
Analyzing
…
Results:
Strength: Lacking
Endurance: Lacking
Speed: Enhanced
Intelligence: Enhanced
Magic Power: Lacking
Physical Power: Lacking
Faction Power: Maximized
…
Checking Changes
…
Requirements achieved.
Initializing changes to:
Divine Endowment General Ranking
Strength
Intelligence
…
Changes complete.
Divine Endowment Rank upgraded from F3 to F4
Strength upgraded from F2 to F3
Physical Power upgraded from F2 to F3
Magic Power upgraded from F1 to F2
Then, his attributes opened for him,
Hostname: Alex Smith
Divine Endowment: The Devil's Hand.
Class: Absorber, Melee.
Faction: Elazael's Army.
Rank: F4
…
Host attributes:
-Strength: F3
-Endurance: F3
-Speed: F4
-Intelligence: F4
…
Endowment Attributes:
-Physical Power: F3
-Magical Power: F2
-Faction Power: SSS
Alex thought he was starting to understand how the system worked. Somehow, the blood and the transformations were all related to the devil's hand, the invisible thing that encapsulated his body with a strange red and green mist from time to time. When he changed his body, he used the magic directly. That was a good point for experimenting in the future.
The host's attributes were related to everything he could do without relying entirely upon the magic behind the Devil's Hand, so if he trained by himself like he was doing before the orcs appeared, Alex would eventually ascend to the ranks of the system. Still, it was inevitably true that if he killed or entered direct combat, the rewards were more significant.
Alex wanted to spend more time thinking about it, but he was surprised by screams on the other side of the hills. He had almost forgotten about Ravi, and all he could hear in the distance were cries for help.