City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Orok Uram

“Die, little orc!” said the man and came at me with the shining green sword.

The man is Ronal Jarus, a Lv. 32 warrior.

I didn’t stay in my place, so I moved toward him as the Rhythm of Wild sang in my heart.

I looked at him, but focused on the ice mage at a distance. Lasom Bask; Ice Mage. He is the real enemy. If I finish him, the battle will be as good as won.

Our eyes met, and I saw the Frost Spears materialise in front of him before shooting towards me.

Seeing it, I activated Wild Dash on top of Officer’s Run, increasing my speed further.

A surprise appeared in their eyes.

When running from them, I hadn’t used the Wild Dash. It is a short to medium-range skill. For running from enemies, Officer’s Run was the best.

I reached halfway when the Frost Spears reached me, and I swung my ax toward them with Wild Swing and activated Keen.

Clang Clang Clang!

My axe clashed against the frost spears, breaking them one after another.

The shards clashed against me, most of which were deflected by my armor. The rest were dealt with through the Survivor’s Protection.

Some still penetrated through my skin; it is a Grade IV spell after all, but not deeply enough to be a big problem.

I destroyed the last of the Frost Spear and appeared before the man.

“You are good little orc, but it ends now!” he replied and swung his green sword at me, which began to shine even brighter, making my eyes burn.

I didn’t look away and concentrated on it, activating the Predator’s Eyes.

When someone wants to stop you from looking at something, it means you should look at it.

I also activated Lion’s Strength and pushed Wild Swing harder as I swung my ax at him.

He is a Lv. 30; I need to use everything I have against him.

His shining green blade and my ax moved closer, till only an inch remained between them, when the Rhythm spiked and I saw his sword flickering away from its place.

An alarm flashed in my eyes.

If he avoids my axe, I am dead meat. His attack is fast enough that I won’t be able to dodge it.

So, I pushed my axe and skills to the limit with everything I had.

Clang!

My axe stopped his sword, and I could feel the Parry activating immediately.

I activated Officer’s Parry to counter; it is weaker, but it gave me a precious moment to readjust my weapon to stop his sword from approaching me.

Hun!

He glared and nearly pulled his sword back for another attack, but stopped.

I stopped, and the familiar feeling enveloped me. I had only sensed it once, but I knew it well enough, given how it had suppressed me to my core, like it is doing right now.

“Aura,” whispered the man, with awe and envy.

It originated from the city, which confused me, since there was no fighting inside, but it was clear from the city that something must have happened there.

It couldn’t help but raise questions, but it also made me worried.

‘I hope it’s not an enemy,’ I thought. Aura is extremely powerful; it would be terrible if it were the enemy.

The aura receded a moment later, releasing the suppressive grip. With everything I had, I didn’t waste any time and swung my ax toward him.

Now, with someone awakening aura, it had become even more important that I finish this battle as soon as possible.

He reacted immediately and swung his sword in response. Activating a skill that made his attack even more powerful than before.

The rhythm was warning me to be careful. However, the mage is still the most significant threat.

Clang!

My axe clashed against his sword, and I shook before stepping back, while the man moved and the Mage attacked, releasing the long ice beam.

Rhythm spiked in warning; it didn’t have to tell me that. I know the beam was dangerous, and their coordination has made it even more dangerous.

The bastard is moving behind me, and the beam is coming from the front.

I only have a fraction of a second, so I leaped forward. It’s not easy because I still haven’t dealt with the momentum of the attack earlier, as it is the only option I have.

If I try dodging to the sides, the warrior will attack, and I won’t be able to defend well, and might get hit by the beam.

That leaves me only one choice. Move straight toward the beam.

It’s not much of a better option; that’s Glacial Beam—a Grade IV spell.

If I get hit by it, it will end me. Even my inherited skill won’t be able to save me, before the warrior behind me finishes me off.

Still, it is a better choice.

The beam was very fast, and it appeared in front of me instantly, and I swung my ax at it. Aware that the blade was coming at me from behind.

My ax moved fast, before finally reaching the long pale blue beam.

Sup!

As it did, the ax’s blade lit up and crashed against the beam.

I could feel the deep resistance from the spell, but my ax began to tear through it, while the anti-magic enchantment nullified the spell’s power.

This enchantment is powerful, but very delicate and expensive.

More than half of the cost of this axe is this enchantment. It’s why I had not used it; I had to use it sparingly.

I do not want to spend my power quickly. I don’t know how long this battle will last or whether he will be my only mage opponent, but I will fight here.

For a moment, everything was well, before some of the power of the spell leaked toward me.

I could feel the cold and the frost appearing on my hand. Things will worsen because I have only dealt with half of the beam.

I want to push my ax away from the beam, but that’s not an option.

It would have been easier if I had defended from a standing position. Instead of moving forward, I tore through the beam, but I can do that, too.

If I stopped, I would die from the blade coming behind me.

So, all I could do was push forward and believe Survivor’s Protection would save me from it.

Like it has done a couple of times, from the breath of a Vroromos Tiger in the forest, but there is a difference in power and circumstances.

Every time I took a breath head-on in the forest, I killed the monster.

Here, I am only defending.

I could not rest after it; I will have to remain in the best shape to defend against the attacks that came later. It is why I pushed the survivor’s protection hard against my hands.

Finally, my axe destroyed through the beam, with frost covering my hands.

I was looking at that while running toward the mage when I felt the blade on my back.

It alarmed me, and I knew that if I didn’t increase my speed at the very instant. It will cut through my bones, but I’m already pushing myself hard.

Still, I gritted my teeth and pushed Wild Dash and Officer’s Run harder than ever.

Increasing my speed, going faster than I had ever done with my skills.

Rip!

The blade still cut through my back, but the only difference is that it is a shallow cut. Not the deep one, that would have ended me.

It relieved me, but only for a moment. The next second, the Rhythm spiked again, warning me of the danger.

As it did, I saw the ground under my feet turning cold before icy crystals began to spread on it, and those crystals, before turning into the thorns.

Frost Thorn Ground.

I didn’t think and jumped forward with everything I had, because the moment I stepped on them. Those will spurt up, piercing through me.

It is a very dangerous spell. If I got caught, it wouldn’t take long for me to turn into the ice porcupine.

I jumped, while he had jumped behind me and launched another, but I had a slight advantage this time. I immediately activated Air-Adjustment and adjusted myself in the air.

Though once more, this relief lasted only for a moment as I saw the Frost Spears approaching me.

I am the best target in the air; there is no way he will let this opportunity go.

The spears appeared before me, and I once more adjusted myself with the aerial adjustment before swinging my ax with Keen and Wild Swing.

I could feel the strain from my frost-covered frozen muscles.

Survivors’ healing had stopped the injuries, but it wasn’t able to stop the freeze, but now I have to move them, or those spears will tear me apart.

So, once more, I gritted my teeth and forced my hands to move.

They did, and my ax swung toward the Frost Spears coming toward me.

Clang Clang Rip!

My ax tore through spears after spears, but as it did, I gave the enemy a chance to injure me again.

It wasn’t serious, but it wasn’t a minor injury either.

Thud!

I finally landed, and the man landed behind me and attacked. I pushed myself and my skills even more.

Our speed is nearly matched, but I am pushing myself to the limit. If he did the same, he would catch me, which would be terrible.

I wouldn’t have feared his advantage if I were only fighting him.

I had dealt with people like that, but the mages changed things, especially the versatile ones like the frost mage, who could cast various spells.

I am moving toward him, with every step taking me closer to him.

He remained in his place, without a hint of fear in his eyes. He didn’t think I was a threat, even after I dealt with his spells.

Another spell came, but it didn’t attack me. Instead, it covered the enemy following behind me.

Hun!

A layer of icy mist formed around him, and I was thinking about the kind of spell it was when another spell came, just as strange as the first one.

But this one made me shudder because I knew the spell, and at that moment, I understood why she had covered him with the icy mist.

A rain of large, icy blue drops descended on me from above, while I pushed the survivor’s protection like never before.

I had read about this spell and what it could do.

Pat Pat Pat!

It took a second for the rain to hit me, and it was cold. Colder than ice, which it turned into a moment after it touched me.

Within seconds, my body is covered in frost, and an icy mist emanates from it, attacking my skin and trying to freeze me.

The worst thing it is doing is slipping inside my armor through the gaps, into my clothes and my armor, making things worse for me every moment.

It is so cold that my body’s heat through motion and friction is powerless against it.

I pushed myself through it, but the frost-cold rain slowed me down; the enemy took advantage of that.

Rip!

The rhythm spiked loudly in warning, and I pushed myself harder, but icy frost had slowed me down and allowed the enemy to land the attack.

I felt the cut across my shoulder, and it is bone deep.

Immediately, I decided to stop and turn toward him. It wouldn’t be wise to have my back against him in a condition like this.

Clang!

I did it on time and was able to defend against the sword.

“You should just die, little orc!” he said, and attacked again. This time, the attack was faster and stronger than before, and he was able to avoid my ax.

Rip!

The sword cut through my icy stomach, and the thing is, it bled.

The bastard has skills that made me bleed. A normal bleeding type skill isn’t enough; there are two skills he has used.

Usually, Survivor’s Healing is powerful enough to stop the bleeding, but it is fighting to stop me from freezing. It barely has any power to stop the bleeding.

“Hehe!”

He laughed through the mist and attacked again. His blade moved, even faster than easily.

Rip Rip!

Another cut appeared, this time on my leg and then on my arm.

I tried to dodge it, but it was hard.

The freezing rain is continuously assaulting me, while the man attacking me uses stronger and stronger attacks. His attacks are taking everything out of me, to avoid getting cut into two.

Rip Rip Rip!

He attacked again and again, and every one of them hit me, bleeding me from every part of my body.

I want to dodge and defend against them, but this continued rain slows me down. I can’t even get away from it.

‘Orok!’

Another attack came, and I was moving to dodge it when a painful cry of Azika rang out in my mind.

I turned, and what I saw put a horror in my face.

I saw my men, who were fighting against the undead and pillars, getting slaughtered by the ice mage.

They had Ice Daggers buried in them, their bodies skewered in Ice Spikes, and shredded in frost shards; it is a scene worse than my nightmares.

The Ice Mage had turned away from me. He is attacking my people while continuing Freezing Rain on me.

My mages are trying to defend against his spell, but the enemy has mages as well, and with High-Mage entering the battle, they stand no chance.

Rip!

The deep cut appeared on my hand, bringing me out of my horror.

I didn’t even glance at the man and moved to save my men, but the man flashed before me as I did.

“Do you think we didn’t capture you earlier because you ran fast?” he asked and laughed.

“If we wished to, we would have killed you, but we wanted you and the so-called elite battalion away from others, where you could get no help. So, we could finish you all off together,”

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