Chapter 165: Bullet Time

With the assistance of the system sprite, Duke managed to achieve something quite unbelievable—Bullet Time.

Time around him suddenly slowed down by a hundredfold. The almost supersonic object finally came into Duke's view amidst the nearly frozen time.

It was an unusual giant single-bladed axe with a blade that looked a bit like a large hook, or perhaps more like an elephant's trunk.

In the whole world of Azeroth, there wouldn't be too many axes with such a design, but they were certainly not rare either.

Considering that the person who threw the axe was at least a hundred meters away from Duke, and the axe was thrown with a horrifying screech that shook one's soul and an earth-shattering power, there could only be one name for this axe—Gorehowl!

An ordinary axe wouldn't have surprised Duke so much, but Gorehowl was an essential part of its owner's supreme reputation.

Grom Hellscream—Even though Duke was a human, destined to join the Alliance faction in the future, he couldn't help but pay his respects to this Horde hero.

Following the direction of the thrown axe, a burly figure was outlined with a red border thanks to the system's help.

As a veteran player, Duke recognized Grom at a glance. Among the orcs, he had a rare onion-like braid on his head, a middle part with black hair falling to his chest, and a ferocious, trapezoidal face. He also had a single shoulder armor on his right shoulder, and a belt with a skull pattern diagonally crossing his chest. The brown body was full of explosive muscles beyond imagination.

Grom even maintained the gesture of throwing the axe.

Grom Hellscream was famous primarily because he was the first orc to be deceived by Gul'dan and drink the blood of the high-ranking demon—Abyssal Lord Mannoroth, which turned the orcs' deep brown skin green and granted them the power to invade Azeroth.

As the chieftain of the Warsong clan, one of the most powerful clans among the orcs, Grom's strength was undoubtedly top-notch.

In the two historical Dark Portal battles, Grom, who guarded the Dark Portal, had his axe covered in the blood of human warriors. He killed as many as 48 powerful knights with names and titles. His greatest achievement in 'history' was sacrificing himself and helping Warchief Thrall slay Mannoroth, the Abyssal Lord who had once deceived the orcs.

Duke never expected that Grom Hellscream, who hadn't participated in the first Dark Portal battle, would actually come to ambush him.

History took another turning point!

In that frozen moment, Duke felt as if his mind had been frozen as well.

Seeing something doesn't mean one can accomplish it.

Duke's scalp tingled as he watched the axe's starting point and endpoint—his own back—in the slowed-down Bullet Time. But he couldn't dodge the fatal strike.

Accelerate, decelerate, dodge left, dodge right, block... In that instant, the system sprite helped Duke simulate thousands of possible outcomes in his mind, but not once could Duke escape unscathed.

It had nothing to do with skill.

This was a strike that transcended martial arts, physics, and scientific principles.

It seemed like an attack that was bound to hit, automatically completing the process of hitting, and completely defying causality.

Like Lothar's sword that gathered the will and belief of humans for over a thousand years, Grom's axe throw also gathered the essence and spirit of this 'Blademaster' from the Fireblade clan, as well as the wild and unrivaled will of the entire clan's hundred thousand warriors.

"Orcs will never to be slaves!" Grom Hellscream's iconic roar seemed to echo in Duke's ears.

Upon the cleaving axe, Duke saw visions of the orcs' struggles and efforts throughout countless years on the land of Draenor.

Survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle.

With their wildness and unyielding spirit, the orcs became the rulers of the land of Draenor.

Now, with Draenor on the brink of destruction, the orcs, following the collusion of Gul'dan and Sargeras, saw Azeroth as the next destination for their survival and continuation.

No compromise, no luck.

At this moment, Duke finally realized that even as a mage, there were times when he had to engage in a real battle.

"Roar!" Duke shouted. At this point, Daniel, who had been helping to control the gryphon in front, was horrified to discover a massive axe cleaving through the stagnant air just twenty meters behind him, slashing through the sky towards them.

Suddenly, twelve magical circles and thirty-six mage hands appeared not far from the gryphon's left front side.

Daniel's mouth gaped open in shock, not even noticing the strong wind of the high-speed flight filling his mouth and puffing up his face, making him look quite ridiculous.

The advanced mage skills of "Multiple Casting" and "Mobile Casting" were specializations that many mages couldn't master in their entire lifetime. Not everyone could calm their mind while moving at high speed, allowing each spell to enter their mind without error, and use magic power to activate them in the correct order.

And that's not to mention "Multiple Casting" within "Mobile Casting."

Even though Duke could silently cast magic, it was still an incredible feat for a mortal.

This was like asking someone to sprint at the speed of a hundred-meter race, reciting 48 different poems with over 100 words each in their mind simultaneously, without slowing down.

Was this something a human could do?

But with the help of the system spirit, Duke accomplished it.

Not only Daniel, but also Orgrim, Kilrogg, and Saurfang below, who were nervously watching Grom Hellscream's strike, as well as Warchief Blackhand not far away, and thousands of orcs witnessed this miracle.

The magnificent array that suddenly appeared in the sky was like a divine sign depicted in epic tales.

Arcane Barrages rained down.

It was not a chaotic downpour like a heavy rain, but a precise attack with a certain rhythm and pattern.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…" In a very short time, dozens of Arcane Barrages landed on the constantly spinning axe blade. Each hit was less than one-fiftieth of a second apart, but each one struck the same spot on the left side of the ever-rotating axe blade, which was constantly changing its position in the sky.

From left to right, the twelve magical circles released Arcane Barrages, and thirty-six mage hands launched Arcane Missiles as well.

Unknowingly, the mighty Gorehowl was led astray. (To be continued.)