50 Human Limit

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Char parried a few blows with his sword. He was able to redirect the attack, even though the orc was almost two times his weight.

"Luckily, this sword is stronger than a normal black steel sword. If it's normal black steel, then I would be more reluctant to use it to block a club," he thought as he parried another blow.

His arm grew numb from the shock it absorbed but it was manageable, he wanted to test the limit of his body before using his magic.

"Frontal confrontation is not good, I'm not physically as strong as an orc even after the modification, my only edge is speed and flexibility, with a better technique I should be able to win against one even without my magic," he analyzed.

There was a limit on how much he could modify his body. He had pushed the limit as far as possible, but it was impossible to beat a creature in pure strength.

Char only fought one orc while the skeleton was attracting another two's attention. Its movement also improved after the nonstop fighting. It got used to the orc's movement and pacing that it could do a hit-and-run tactic without any problem.

Char ducked and dodge a blow toward his head while delivering a horizontal strike at the orc's leg joint.

He could not cut off its leg, but he was strong enough to cut its ligament, causing it to fall on one knee.

He could sense danger coming as the orc's club became a blur. It used its club strike magic trying to finish Char.

Without any magic bones, he could not activate his haste magic, but he had a new trump card, mana covered his body as he activated his reconstruction magic.

He rolled to the side with a burst of speed while having full control of his body as he reached the orc's side.

The reconstruction allowed him to have greater control of his body, he could move faster and with more precision with the magic activated.

In exchange for straining his muscles, he forced them to work twice as hard in a split second, giving him a burst of speed.

He could feel his body becoming stiff but he was already working on a countermeasure, the mana started to repair the damage caused by the strain, his body got back to perfect condition in time for him to raise his sword high in the air.

Two types of mana condensed and concentrated on his arm as he activated both the physical boost and the reconstruction magic.

His eyes glinted as he struck down with his vertical strike. The black sword became a blur as it split the orc from head to toe without any hindrance.

The combination of his burst strength and the sharpened sword resulted in greater power than a simple one plus one.

"Ah..." A pricking pain came from his arm as the strain of such a move was greater as well, his hand contained too much mana even only for a split second.

Char moved back as the orc's split body fell to the floor. He knew that it was not the end, there would be more orcs coming.

"I can't use this move too much, not only it puts a strain on my body but the mana consumption is too much, using it once or twice is fine, but to use it on every strike is impossible," he analyzed as he healed his hand.

"With the reconstruction, I can fight without feeling tired as long as I have enough mana, but that leads to another problem. My mana is limited," he thought.

"If I cycle using mana and stamina, I should be able to last for hours, but that is if I don't use any other magic, or do the burst movement. Realistically, I can only fight for one to two hours, if the enemy is stronger, then the time I can last will be reduced."

"If only I can use the mana absorption," he lamented, but he did not entertain the idea of experimenting with the magic, it was way more dangerous than the reconstruction magic.

"At least, I will experiment it slowly in a safer location, not here where any error results in death," he planned ahead.

He told the skeleton to let two orcs come at him; he wanted to know if he could take more than one of them.

It took him half an hour to find an opening to kill one of them. Killing the other should be easier, but another orc already took the fallen orc's place.

"Skelly, go recover first, I will try fighting three of them," he commanded the skeleton.

"Damn! This is way harder than I thought," he lamented as he did not get any chance to deal a killing blow and the orcs would heal their physical wound given some time.

Char was able to hold his ground, but he could not kill them even after an hour. His mana was already at its limit, and he told the skeleton to take over.

"Char! you suddenly become so strong!" Anne looked at him in disbelief.

"I took some risk, and it was worth it, that's all. For now, we can hold on even if the skeleton dies. I will just replace it until I can summon it again," he told the girl.

He took a seat when the tiredness finally came to him, not physically but mentally, he had concentrated too much for too long.

"I'm not an undead, after all. I still need rest," he lamented.

"Anne, I will take a nap, wake me up if anything happens," he told the girl before he went to sleep.

He did not make a camp as there was not enough space to make one and he was not in a position to be picky.

The ground shook as earthquakes happened every hour or two, but Char did not let them disturb his rest. He needed as much rest as possible as he did not know how long they would be trapped there.

"Char! We have a problem!" Anne shook him awake. She did not even hold back as the situation was too bad.