60 Unending
"Char! Are you sure this is alright? Wouldn't it be better if I stop healing it and use my mana to heal you instead?" Aya asked him as he took a step back from the orc.
His condition was not good, his body was covered in blood as he could not dodge each attack from the orc.
It was too smart that his usual trick did not work against it, the only thing keeping him alive with all limbs attached was his skeleton kept distracting the orc with its sword.
The orc was wary of the skeleton's sword, as its astral blade could deal lasting damage to the orc.
Despite the astral blade's lack of power to shatter its soul in a single strike, the injuries to the soul were way harder to heal than flesh wounds.
"No! Keep healing the orc, I can heal my own wound. Don't stop healing it or our hard work will be wasted!" he quickly said before she could stop healing the orc.
They had been fighting the orc for half an hour, but the orc was still in its peak condition while they were starting to run out of mana.
"Skelly!" he called out to the skeleton while conveying his intention through their bond, as he believed the orc could understand his word and it would be bad to say what he wanted out loud.
The skeleton understood what he wanted and charged at the orc while he followed behind it.
The orc swung its ax at it, but instead of using its sword to block the attack like it usually did; the skeleton raised its off-hand instead.
That confused the orc, but it did not miss the chance to sever the skeleton's outstretched hand with its ax.
The slight confusion had allowed the skeleton to position itself so the ax would only cut its arm, it purposefully sacrificed its arm and rolled behind the orc.
It used the bone sword to cut at the orc behind its knee, severing a tendon while also damaging its soul further, it caused the orc to stagger, but that was not the end as the severed arm absorbed mana like a vortex and exploded in front of the orc's face.
Char had told the skeleton to obstruct the orc's vision and try to deal physical wounds to it.
He could not ask Aya or her creature to do it because they were too busy healing the orc to cast the smite at its face.
He did not miss the chance as he activated all of his magic to increase his physical strength and speed to the max. He reached the orc with his sword raised to the sky.
The orc assumed a defensive position even though he could not see what was coming, as it knew that it was a good chance to finish it off.
"Cut!" he thought as he did the vertical strike, but instead of aiming to kill the orc with it, he tried to sever the arm it used to hold its ax.
Char knew that he would certainly fail to kill the orc, so he went after its weapon arm instead of its life.
The orc took half a step back, just enough to avoid losing an arm, the sword only cut half of its arm instead of severing it completely.
"Don't stop!" Char shouted at Aya, who was about to stop healing the orc.
Dealing such a blow to the orc was not easy, she thought it would be better that she stop healing it so it injuries would take longer to heal, but Char already knew what she thought so he stopped her first!
"Heal it faster!" he commanded as he took a few steps back and put some distance with the orc.
The girl reluctantly followed his order and poured more mana into the magic. It closed the wounds in a split second.
The orc laughed as it jumped at Char, going in for the kill, or at least it tried. Instead of reaching him in a single jump, it fell short by a few inches; it tried to swing its ax, but it lagged behind and its movement was stiff.
"It's working!" Char grinned as he noticed some abnormal growth on the orc's leg and arm where its wound was. It caused the orc to make the blunder it usually would not make.
The orc's failed attempt to kill him made it vulnerable to counterattacks as he raised his sword once more.
Mana gathered on the sword and it fell like a lightning at the orc, but it did not take it willingly. It raised its free hand to block the attack.
His sword cut through the arm, but it caused it to miss the orc's head and landed on its shoulder instead.
It grinned with a creepy grin as blood flowed out of its mouth; the orc raised its ax once more to finish him, but its arm stopped moving as a bone protruding out of its neck.
The skeleton had pierced its neck from behind, and thorns grew on its stabbing it from inside, but that was not all as mana being absorbed to the sword at a rapid speed.
Char quickly moved back from the stunned orc. He did not want to get caught up in what to happen next.
The bone sword exploded, severing the orc's neck in a burst, causing blood and bones to fly everywhere.
After the explosion sound, he could hear a thudding sound as the orc's head landed on the ground. Its expression was full of horror and its eyes were wide open as its expression froze the moment it died.
"That was so close!" he let out a sigh of relief as he would have died if not for the skeleton taking the initiative to attack the orc from behind.
The fight was full of a gamble as he did not have any assurance that the healing problem would cause the orc to make such a mistake at that moment.
"If its body was as big as the orc berserker, then this fight would have ended differently," he thought as he imagined fighting a smart orc berserker.
