Regaining Pride Part 1

Nick walked determinedly towards his goal, and this time he did not wanted to end up in a state as regrettable as the one he ended last time.

"We are a few meters away, get ready." Luna seriously remembered.

Nick unsheathed his sword, and he was on guard for any eventualities that might occur on his way to the nest.When the distance shortened enough to see the entrance to the cave, where the nest was located in, Nick drastically slowed down, and began to walk step by step toward his target.

Upon reaching the cave entrance, Nick cautiously scanned his surroundings looking for enemies, noting that there was no one nearby; he proceeded to enter the cave. Upon entering the cave Nick did not notice anything strange, but he cautiously proceeded to go deeper still stealthily.

When he reached the end of the cave, Nick could hear screams of anguish and despair coming from another cave that was branched out from the original path.

Listening to the screams, Nick went to see what was happening in there.

It was then, when Nick discovered the true essence of the world he was currently in. Since upon reaching the location of the sounds and witnessing what was happening inside; Nick almost lost consciousness due to the grotesque scene of 3 ogres beating up a poor human man with branches stuck in his eyes and his limbs torn off. It was almost as if 2 of the ogres grabbed one end of his legs and arms and pulled him to the point of ripping them off and to top it off, the room in if it was almost completely full of dismembered corpses not only of men but also of women and of course children.

Nick witnessing such a scene paled.

"Nick! Do not lose before the scene in front of you, as you can currently observe, that is the type of destiny that people without power or prestige face in this world, and of course in many others too, so see and confront reality with firm feet and determination." Luna cheer up.

Nick gulped before saying. "W-well, I was just a little surprised by the carnage I had never witnessed in my life before."

"If that's the case, think about the scene when we return to our cave, for the time being eradicate all these disgusting plagues." Luna exclaimed.

Nick nodded as he prepared for combat, after a moment of hesitation Nick no longer hesitated and leapt from his hiding place while attacking the nearest ogre.

Of course Nick's movements were not subtle enough to go unnoticed, so the 3 ogres noticed his presence from the start, but still two of the ogres only saw Nick for a moment as they returned to what they were doing earlier. While they didn't take him seriously, the third ogre was about to do the same, but was stopped by the sudden swing of Nick's sword.

The ogre noticing Nick's sudden actions turned on his own axis, while using the centrifugal force of his turn to swing his wooden stick with all his strength towards Nick's right side which was left unprotected after the swing of his sword.

Of course, Nick upon noticing his mistake backed away just a moment before the wooden stick hit him squarely; the centrifugal force generated by the ogre was so powerful that the blow previously aimed at Nick hit the wall and created a small crater of about 35 centimeters in diameter and an impressive 10 cm deep.

Nick witnessing the power of the ogre was dumbfounded and in turn relieved to be able to dodge just in time because if that had not been the case, he would have been left with many broken bones.

"Be careful, don't lose focus while in battle remember that a single second of distraction can symbolize life or death." Luna advised strictly upon noticing the stunned Nick.

"You're right." Nick replied

"On the other hand, boy, are you really lucky that the ogres didn't take you as a worthy enemy, which caused them to lower their guard against you and only send one of them to deal with you." Luna commented noting that the other two ogres were still tormenting the dying man without really caring about the safety of their member.

Nick was hurt by Luna's overly sincere words, but considering his current state he was really glad they didn't take him into consideration.

"You're right." Nick answered briefly as he prepared to make his next move.

Seeing Nick's lack of attack for a brief moment, the ogre did not hesitate to swing his wooden stick back toward Nick's head.

Nick noticing the movement of the ogre. He bent down while swinging his sword, and this time Nick pointed towards his belly. The ogre when perceiving Nick's intentions, changed the direction of his blow and pointed at one of Nick's legs, without really care about Nick's attack.

Nick noticing the strange action of the ogre was amazed, since his attack managed to impact his target, but unlike what Nick expected, nothing happened, the ogre had nothing more than a small scratch on his skin.

When noticing the result of his attack, Nick tried to dodge the ogre's blow that came from above directly to his head, in the end he managed to dodge it, but he was not totally unscathed as he expected. Since the ogre's blow landed squarely on his left shoulder, breaking it.

"Aaarrhhggg!" Nick screamed in pain.

"Nick focus on the battle, remember that the faster you finish the battle the faster you can recover from your injuries." Luna cheerfully encouraged, as she recalled the results of the previous battle.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Nick declared painfully, while suppressing the tears that wanted to fall from his eyes.

"Just hold on a little longer, you can do it." Luna cheered up again.

The ogre was pleased to see that he managed to land a blow on Nick.

Nick was enraged when noticing the cheerful expression of the ogre, totally forgetting his pain.

He attacked this time using battle strategies and aikido, in that way he began to use the strength of his opponent against them. In addition Nick concentrated on attacking his vital points and joints.

Seeing all his attacks fail, the ogre became enraged, so he began to make much more violent and powerful movements than before, but with more openings. This allowed Nick to more accurately attack his limbs, managing to cut the tendons of his left arm, disabling it.

"Hahaha, and now, what are you going to do damn monster?" Nick scoffed at the ogre.