Orc. Level 9.

Warg. Level 7.

Well, at least they weren't higher level than me. Still, there were two of them. I drew Veritas, and then they were upon me.

The warg lunged at me, and I frantically sliced at its face. It flipped its head to the side and dodged my blow. I felt relieved that it hadn't gotten its teeth on me until I felt the orc’s mace crunch against my breastplate.

Orc hits you for 24 damage.

I jumped backwards, which barely saved me from being savaged as the warg lunged again in an attempt to bite my arm. Thanks to my Boots of Alacrity, I was able to keep just out of reach, and its teeth closed upon air. Then the orc’s mace was hammering down again, and I flipped my blade up with both hands to ward myself from the blow.

With a shout, I whipped Veritas back after deflecting the mace to sweep across the warg’s face, digging a deep furrow in its jaw. The creature yelped and flinched backwards from the pain, giving me a moment to catch my breath as its retreat carried the mace out of reach.

You hit warg for 35 damage.

As the evil green rider slammed his heels into the warg’s sides, urging it back into the fight, I took a deep breath and centered myself.

“Yonhon-me,” I whispered in my mind.

Once again the orc swept his mace down at me, and once again I defended myself with a two-handed grip on Veritas. Blood from the mace’s head sprinkled over my face as the impact of our weapons vibrated the liquid off the orc’s weapon. I knew that the warg would once again strive to bite me, so I disengaged from the orc’s weapon and immediately swept Veritas aside and across.

Critical hit! You slice warg’s artery. You hit warg for 42 damage. Warg suffers heavy bleeding of 20 damage/5 seconds.

Blood spurted from the warg’s throat, and the huge beast collapsed, forcing its rider to leap off. The ugly beast coughed and fell over onto its side as its lifeblood spilled in a rush onto the ground. The creature was no longer a danger.

Its rider bellowed in fury and charged me.

Belatedly, I remembered Flashpoint, and suddenly the orc seemed to be jogging leisurely in my direction. I marveled at the change, and a quick glance at my status showed me that Flashpoint enabled me to move 75% faster during battle. When the orc finally swung his mace at me, I slapped his weapon away with ease and immediately counterattacked with a thrust into his side.

You hit orc for 39 damage.

How was I doing so much damage? Was it just from my higher Swords skill? Or was it Veritas?

The green monster edged away from me, wary now of my speed and skill. It growled and didn’t attack immediately. As it shuffled to the side, I moved to keep it in front of me. I still held Veritas in a two-handed grip, and she was angled straight out from me as if I was pointing at my opponent with the tip of my sword.

With a roar it attacked again, but this time instead of swinging its mace it ran directly at me with its mace upraised and ready to block my sword as it attempted to body check me and fling me to the ground.

The effort was laughable. I slid to one side, dodging it with ease, and slashed it across the back, causing it to stumble forward and almost fall.

You strike orc for 31 damage.

Somewhere to my right I heard the warg cough and from the corner of my vision I saw that it was no longer moving.

The orc spun faster than I expected in an effort to crush my side with his mace. It glanced off my arm, ripping open the skin.

Orc hits you for 16 damage.

I immediately countered with a full sweep of my sword. The creature dodged to the left and attacked me again. I easily spun Veritas to block my opponent’s swing and then sliced him with an attack of my own.

You hit orc for 36 damage.

The sound of other metal weapons colliding rang through the air as the fighting on the battlefield intensified. I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off my opponent, so I didn’t know who was winning.

The orc edged backwards from me. His right arm hung loose. My last strike must have disabled him. He held the mace with his left hand, but it swung weakly at his side. His face was in a grimace of pain, and he clearly wanted to flee. I took a step forward, and he stumbled as he tried to increase the distance between us. A sudden fierce energy filled my veins. A feeling of fierce exultation overwhelmed me, and Veritas felt light as a feather in my hands.

Warg takes 20 bleeding damage. Warg dies. Warg has been defeated! You gain 2500 experience!

One enemy down. One to go.

Adrenaline flooded my body, and I strode forward, eager for blood. This...thing...had tried to kill me. It had tried to take my life, but it was clear to me now that I was faster...stronger. Killing this filth would be easy.

The orc growled at me in defiance, but I could see the fear in its eyes. I raised my blade in triumph.

Orc has been defeated! You gain 3200 experience!

A fever pulsed within me. I whipped the orc’s disgusting blood off of my blade and sought another foe. Finding more orcs to kill was easy, and they were so slow!

Orc has been defeated...orc has been defeated...orc has been defeated…orc has been defeated...orc...

Abruptly, an axe clanged against Veritas to block my latest deathblow, and suddenly a new enemy bodychecked me and threw me several feet. Shocked, I scrambled to my feet and analyzed the orc to take his measure.

Orc Leader. Level 19.

Level 19. How would I do against a creature that must be much stronger than me? This monster was enormous, at least twice the size of the other orcs I had downed, and it was FAST. His huge axe swung at me. I dodged, but it just kept coming faster and faster.

Dodge. Parry. Dodge. Attack and then parry again.

He swung at me again, and I leaned backwards to make him miss but neglected to realize that his blow was a deliberate feint. When I leaned forward again, the flat of the axe was already coming back towards my head. It smashed into me, and only my helmet kept my brains from spilling out onto the ground. Fortunately, the feint had taken a lot of the power from his attack, and the strength behind his blow was lacking the same force as his other swings.

I staggered backwards, ears ringing.

Orc Leader hits you for 41 damage.

Forty-one damage? This was bad. Very, very bad. I was barely holding my own just defending against this creature. It gave me no quarter, roaring at me and swinging again and again. The damned creature was enormous. It had at least a foot or more on me in height and must have weighed at least 300 lbs. Even Flashpoint wasn’t helping me like it had against the other orcs. My edge in speed was gone. If anything, the reverse was true.

Orc Leader hits you for 45 damage.

Over half my life was gone! The orc attacked me again, smashing his axe into Veritas to get her out of the way and then thrusting the axe at me. The tip of the axe ended in a sharp point which dug into my shoulder.

Orc Leader pierces you for 31 damage.

I just barely parried his next blow, but the axe bounced away and collided with my helmet again. Suddenly, I was seeing stars.

Orc Leader hits you for 24 damage. You have been stunned. Movement and speed decreased by 30% for two minutes.

I shook my head to clear it and fell on my butt. That damnable axe came down for another sweep, and my dodge was only partly successful. The axehead glanced off my helmet and then I was on my back with darkness threatening my sight.

Well, I thought, I guess I’ll get to find out where my respawn spot is.

Everything around me dimmed, and my arm felt too weighty to move. Veritas was so very heavy, and thinking became difficult. As darkness rose to claim me, I saw the axe rise and rise and rise before beginning its descent.

I knew nothing more.