Bloodstained Blade-Chapter 54 - Primal Strength

On its hind legs, the manticore was even larger than the ogre had been. It was like fighting a large cottage, but that did not deter Var’gar in the least, as the orc charged the mammoth monster.

Each stride from the seven-foot-tall warrior covered half a dozen feet. However, before the orc could close the gap, the tall came out of nowhere, cracking like a bullwhip despite its size. The blade moved of its own accord and parried the blow, at least in part. Still, all that did was sheer off several of the spikes on the thing before it slammed into the side of the orc’s chest with the force of a minotaur’s charge.

-32 Life Force.

+9 Life Force.

The Ebon Blade had seen Var’gar take several hits, but none of them had so much as phased the orc. This one was different. This one managed to stop his thunderous momentum and even force him back a step as it scoured the skin from his left shoulder and broke several ribs from the force of the impact.

-17 Life Force.

The weapon couldn’t feel the burn of poison, but from the way it was losing so much Life Force in the fight, it was certain that it was present in the already healing wound. The blade wondered how long that would take to heal, even as it noticed that it scarcely seemed to be slowing its wielder down.

-19 Life Force.

The orc didn’t cry out in pain or even anger. He just grunted and pushed forward again, and by the time he reached the manticore, he was bringing the blade down in a two-handed overhead slash that had all the grace of an avalanche. The beast roared and batted at him with its claw, but it was too slow and suffered a shallow wound that glanced off the ribs of its chest.

+36 Life Force.

+11 Life Force.

Before the blade could correct and strike the internals with a second strike, the beast's paw landed, raking across the right side of the orc and sending him tumbling away like he was no more than a child’s toy. Var’gar went end over end. Before he could even get to his feet, though, the beast was pouncing. It used its massive wings to assist its jump and cleared the fifteen-foot gap in an instant, landing on the orc with both of its forepaws hard enough to do real damage.

-21 Life Force.

Bones snapped, organs ruptured, and Var’gar coughed up blood. It was a devastating blow, even before the thing raked its claws down the torso and exsanguinated the orc.

-43 Life Force.

-36 Life Force.

-29 Life Force.

+7 Life Force.

The beast's primitive mind had no doubt thought that would be the end of the fight, and it was, just not in the way it expected. It landed on the orc too fast for anyone to react. Well, for any creature of flesh and blood to react, but the Ebon Blade was not concerned about such things.

-18 Life Force.

+10 Life Force.

Even as the orc was rolling and the manticore had taken to the sky, it adjusted the way that its wielder fell to make sure that Var’gar landed on his back. At the same time, it forced the orc to raise his weapon and point it right at the manticore’s eyes throughout its very short flight.

Until the moment it landed, the blade was invisible to its eyes. Then, at the last second, it adjusted to point right between the beast’s own large ribs. The Ebon Blade was not a small weapon. It had grown significantly as its power had increased. Though it might look small in Var’gar’s giant hands, anything short of a claymore would do that.

+36 Life Force.

It was somewhere between a hand and a half bastard sword and a long sword now, and all four feet of blackened steel slid smoothly into the manticore as it landed, questing for its heart.

+30 Life Force.

In that first instant, the manticore didn’t even notice that it had been pierced to its very core. The Ebon Blade did, though. It felt the cartilage give way as it grazed the sternum and the left lung before striking the heart. It wasn’t a perfect blow, and it only sliced through the pericardium and grazed the vital organ, but that was enough for the blade to feel its warmth and life pouring into it.

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Unfortunately, the manticore was too busy raking down the front of Var’gar with its giant claws, exposing muscle and bone as it ripped away flesh. Even as its wielder’s body was mutilated, it started to regrow. As blood flowed, it was replaced almost immediately by a new layer of flesh as soon as it was wiped away.

+29 Life Force.

-52 Life Force.

-41 Life Force.

+8 Life Force.

The blade couldn’t keep up this level of healing forever, of course. Truthfully, it had never had a wielder take so much abuse before. Even as he lay there dying, though, Var’gar never wavered. Instead, he jammed the blade that much harder into the beast, which was what finally got its attention.

+31 Life Force.

-33 Life Force.

-26 Life Force.

It had obviously missed the initial jolt of pain as much as it had failed to see the weapon, but now that it felt it twist deep inside of it, it knew, at least on some level, how deep it had been wounded. It tried to pull back, but it couldn’t. The blade was lodged too deep inside of it, and the orc refused to surrender.

+26 Life Force.

First, the manticore tried to pull away as it roared in pain, but that only dragged its now half-healed victim along for the ride. Worse, Var’gar reached up with his other hand and grabbed the thing by its long, matted hair just to make sure it couldn’t get free.

“Tonight, we feast on your corpse!” he growled.

+35 Life Force.

-17 Life Force.

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The manticore ignored all of that and spread its wings, seeking to escape that way, but even as it took flight, Var’gar continued to hold, and the blade continued to drain. In desperation, it lashed out at its wielder again and again with its tail, mangling the fresh skin of his chest. The blade’s Life Force began to reach critically low levels, but it countered that by burning souls. It burned all of the lesser monster souls it had and a few of the greater ones to bring its reserves back to 400.

-16 Life Force.

Don’t let go, the blade urged its wielder. Finish this beast so that all will fear you!

“Var’gar one Eye is already a name to fear!” the orc growled loud enough to be heard over the wind and the wings. He acted offended that this was the deed that would cement his reputation. The blade could already see it happening, though. Before they’d taken off, it could see a few of the orcs that watched the battle stunned to see that their chieftain was still breathing.

-12 Life Force.

While Var’gar wasn’t the ideal wielder by any means, his heart was certainly in the right place, and the blade was not inclined to lose him too quickly. He had promised him immortality, and as long as he didn’t let go, that was what he would get, even with poison racing through his body.

+32 Life Force.

Still, as effective as the manticore’s attacks were, they were counterproductive in that they caused the blade to swing wildly inside of its body whenever it struck the orc. The first few times, this didn’t do anything but make it yowl in pain, but on its fourth strike to the badly injured orc, it swung him to the side hard enough that the blade severed some vital artery.

+26 Life Force.

The beast’s wings crumpled at that moment, and it fell gracelessly from the sky. It landed on its side, only narrowly avoiding crushing Var’gar with its two tons of bulk. Even after that, the orc didn’t stop, though. Splattered in red and green blood, he pulled the sword free and forced himself to his feet. The manticore twitched its tail but lacked the strength to strike him again, which was good because the blade was now running low on both Life Force and Souls.

+30 Life Force.

-34 Life Force.

The giant beast growled at Var’gar and swiped its paw at him, but he stepped around the clumsy blow and moved toward its neck. Then, when it was well inside the manticore’s guard, it started to hack away at it as if it were a log and not an enemy.

+36 Life Force.

+30 Life Force.

+31 Life Force.

+9 Life Force.

The Ebon Blade had been denied blood and combat for days, but now its patience was rewarded. It rose and fell in award savage strikes, and as its wielder continued to heal, each one got stronger and stronger. The monster roared in pain for the first three strikes and twisted, but that didn’t last. By the fourth, it was reduced to gurgles, and by the eighth, its spine had been parted, and it lay still.

+1 Greater Monster Soul.

Var’gar was covered in blood by this point, but he didn’t care. He obviously had no intentions of stopping until the thing’s head was entirely severed from the bulk of its carcass, and the blade made no move to stop him. It simply basked in the violence, and when the first orcs made their way to where the beast had crashed and began to watch and cheer, it began to drain them, too, to replenish its depleted stores.

In the aftermath of the attack, it was found that the manticore had killed a dozen young orcs, but no one seemed too concerned with that. Instead, they set camp, started a blazing fire, and roasted huge chunks of manticore meat in pits filled with hot coals and wet leaves while they celebrated their leader’s victory. Var’gar was not yet a chief of chiefs, but already they were chanting that beneath the sound of singing and the pounding of drums.