Vindicators of the jailed god

The fight was about to start. The cultists marched towards the delegation, their heavy steps sounding extremely foreboding. But just as both sides were about to clash, the players were suddenly hit with a change.

Their quest updated and in their field of view an additional HP bar was displayed. It belonged to Scholar Feng.

Melodious Edelweiss glanced towards Liam, asking:

"You said earlier that we have to be careful if the quest shows the scholar's HP, didn't you?"

Liam's eye twitched in annoyance. This was once again a change to his past life. He reluctantly agreed:

"Yes. Please keep an eye on his HP. Healing Feng takes priority."

"Ok."

While the group was dealing with the changed situation, their enemies had already arrived, facing the soldiers. With eager grins they both raised their staffs and initiated the fight with a wide sweeping attack.

It took three soldiers to block the blow, and they were still pushed back. The orcs revealed frightening power. Liam's group understood with a single exchange that they couldn't let the soldiers bear all the pressure.

Lenn looked at the two orcs. Facing such powerful bosses he didn't dare to use his decoy as the recoil might be enough to kill him in one hit. Thus, he changed strategies. With a thought he attempted to summon his mount, but the quest prevented him from doing so.

Lenn cursed inwardly as he continued wasting time. He hastily moved on. He held his shield close to his body, tensing all the muscles in his arm. His [Shield Rush] skill activated. Steam burst out of his armor as he suddenly shot out in a straight line, crashing heavily into Serreck.

The dwarf, not even half the height of his enemy, was like a cannonball as he collided with Serreck. Yet the orc only groaned and took a few steps back while Lenn tumbled backwards with a dizzy head.

Angry eyes focused on the dwarf. Serreck was focused on him since the skill also secured aggro. But its main effect was actually to stun the enemy. Yet Serreck appeared perfectly fine, showing a terrifying resistance to stun effects.

As Lenn recovered he immediately noticed the orc walking towards him, the towering creature's shadow looming over the dwarf. Lenn gulped, shouting loudly:

"What are you all waiting for? Attack him!"

Instantly movement came into his friends. Braag and Fortune were the first to deliver their attacks. The air smelled of gunpowder as three smaller bombs exploded against Serreck's chest, their splash damage also reaching Krach. Fortune's small sphere of magic was barely visible in the explosion.

However, what looked like a grand explosion barely made a scratch in Serreck's defence. Braag couldn't overcome the vast difference of six whole levels. Even his strongest bomb only caused a pitiful damage of 24 points. Fortune was somewhat better off, her damage reaching 96 points.

Suddenly a shout came from next to the mage:

"Punish!"

Scholar Feng waved his free hand, and the word formed in mid-air shooting towards Serreck. The orc couldn't escape. A heavy blow was delivered to his chest, causing him to spit blood.

[-500!]

Fortune was amazed by the damage, but the scholar grumbled unhappily:

"If it weren't for me holding back the high priestess how could that weakling survive my attack so easily…"

Fortune was speechless and decided not to listen to the man. She began to cast [Arcane Bolt] while focusing on the enemy. She was surprised to see that a dark shadow had appeared at some point, clinging to Serreck's back.

"What's that? The orc's skill?", asked Fortune warily.

"Sorry, that's my new skill. Just ignore it!"

Liam explained hastily while he reached the enemy. He could see a Dark Mark floating above the orc's head, caused by his new skill. Unfortunately, he didn't have many means to interact with it yet. Thus, he opted for his trusty regular combo. In no time at all five Holy Marks were stacked and triggered.

The veteran's combo dealt more than two thousand points of damage, whereas more than half of it came from the five Holy Marks.

However, he wasn't done yet. It was time to show the power of his new weapons. Reychnalyn's holy sword cut towards Serreck's waist, and its effect triggered. It allowed him to explode the Dark Marks and replace them with Holy Marks.

An eerie laughter sounded out as the two marks floating above Serreck's head turned into a small sphere of dark magic and exploded violently.

[-191!]

The towering orc though remained unfazed by anything happening around him. Be it the attacks of Liam, Quickstep, or the two soldiers striking at him from behind, he easily shrugged it off and swung his heavy staff at Lenn.

The dwarf struggled bitterly against Serreck. He was specialized in tanking magical damage, but the orc kept attacking physically, putting him in great difficulties. His stance was running low at a frightening pace.

[Stance -29]

Liam also noticed that his group was struggling. If it weren't for the NPCs, they would not be a match for the two orcs. Right now, ten soldiers were holding back Krach and two were attacking Serreck from behind, dealing one hundred points of damage with each stab of their spears.

Even Fortune's arcane bolts only dealt 155 points of damage, and she couldn't guarantee to hit all of them. Quickstep's damage was at a similar level. She was extremely nimble but lacked methods to boost her damage. Only her skills dealing wind damage packed a punch as Serreck had a surprisingly low resistance against the elemental damage.

The delegation worked hard for a while to take away a few thousand HP from Serreck until the orc finally revealed a frown.

"Heretics, your resistance is futile! Feel the might of our god!"

With those words Serreck suddenly retreated.

"Don't stop attacking!"

Liam quickly urged his friends. As his [Grip of the dark] skill was about to run out, he didn't hesitate to trigger its additional effect. The black shadow clinging to Serreck's back laughed eerily as it dissipated and Liam suddenly appeared in its position.

Quickstep, having repeatedly increased her movement speed, was actually not much slower than Liam. The two stuck close to Serreck and continued attacking.

The orc seemingly didn't even notice them. With a strong thrust he pierced his staff into the floor and folded his hands in prayer. As he mumbled some incomprehensible words, the ocean suddenly began to churn.

The water came together and formed a figure on the surface. It was the upper body of a giant overshadowing the entire harbour. It didn't have any distinct features except for its massive fists, which were immediately put to use.

The world quaked and waves shot in all directions. The giant aimed its massive fist towards the cult's enemies. The wind arrived first accompanied by a drizzle, announcing the terror that was to come.

Fortune looked upwards in horror.

"Leave! Quick!"

The others didn't need her warning. Scholar Feng, Braag, and Melodious Edelweiss were within the attack range, escaping instantly.

A moment before the fist arrived Fortune also vanished in a flash of sparks, leaving the area. Her flash step was constantly improving. And as she didn't cast a skill right now, she succeeded easily and with confidence.

Liam perceived everything happening. He wanted to praise his friends for the quick reaction but right then the giant's attack arrived. The roar of the water drowned out any other sound.

When the massive fist crashed into the ground, the entire town trembled. The ships were at risk of being swapped away. The cobblestone was crushed to dust. It was a devastating scene when the giant pulled his fist back.

Just as everyone felt relieved the giant wasn't done yet. Liam looked up with a frown and watched as the fist came directly for him.

Liam and Quickstep had continued to attack Serreck, who was immobilized, only focused on his prayer. But now they couldn't stay and let the attack hit them.

"Let's go!"

The two warriors appeared unhurried, but they actually escaped extremely quickly. Quickstep ran at a sharp pace while Liam used a flash step. They even had the leisure to switch targets and attack Krach while the attack landed behind their backs.

The giant's fist completely drowned Serreck. Inwardly the group hoped that the orc might be crushed to death, but they were not surprised when the fist retreated and Serreck was unscathed.

Once more the sky darkened, and the water giant struck. However, this time Liam had a worried expression. The fist again targeted him and Quickstep. The two players could escape easily but around them were now ten soldiers. They wore heavy armor and moved slowly.

"Damn!"

Quickstep also realized the problem, cursing angrily while she ran away.

"Should I use my ultimate skill?"

Liam frowned but shook his head at Lenn's question.

"They shouldn't die from one hit. But Melodious Edelweiss can use hers. The damage should be quite substantial!"