Orst used his earthen gauntlet covered fists to shield his face, some of the arrows got through to the cracks in his armour, but he recovered as he rolled over evading more arrows that were targeted at him. He was not gravely injured just very annoyed.
He initially thought that he could pick off the knights leisurely as if he was hunting deer, he was never allowed to hunt, he was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d after all. Hunting was for n.o.bles but these insects were his prey. Currently, he was being humbled by a squadron of knights, however, even though he felt humiliated he endured.
Most thought of him, looking at his ma.s.sive build, a man of brutish tendencies yet no man of his strength would allow himself to be treated as he was without withstanding and suppressing his one"s emotions. He was not rash. He was just furious yes, but not reckless.
Ezra threw another stone such that his hand would slip as he got up but Orst notice and pounded away maintain balance.
"Of course, he wouldn"t fall for the same trick twice," Ezra thought.
But this was not his plan as the stone bounced, Ezra threw another stone such that it would ricochet from the other stone flicked by the stocky knight. Ezra threw another stone to rebound this new stone, and another and another.
Pretty soon stones were skidding all over. Orst didn"t notice and stepped on another one again, and lost his balance. Ezra already had the Blackfyre Guard and Demon Hunters near him such that they surrounded the brute.
"Try and choke him with your whip so that he can"t cast, a voiceless mage is a dead one!" Ezra shouted. Whips dove down on the falling Orst. He was prevented from casting anything and could only maintain defensive measures as he slipped using his arms for cover. The ice didn"t help for stabilizing one"s footing and without magic, one would easily slip.
Orst was on the defensive within minutes of Ezra"s appearance. He looked at the child, puzzled at how a mere toddler could change the tides of battle but as a viscount ranked combatant he still had some cards up his sleeves.
[Oh ground beneath men doth shake and shatter]
Orst activated a delayed spell which shook a 15-meter radius. Ezra didn"t expect this but he sensed that Orst was condensing his magic and antic.i.p.ated that something was about to happen. He could not voice his warning toward the others and just jumped.
Luckily all the knights were level-headed enough to be ready for such an event and were prepared to be on the defensive at an instant. Only Dynham was caught and was toppling over as the ground shook violently. The layer of ice that covered the area broke at the spell of Orst.
A crevice was forming where the ground shook Phobos let his whip coil around Dynham"s arm and whisked him away just in time as the crevice became a deep hole. With the strength of Phobos" tug, he collided with Dynham.
A ma.s.s flew over the knight"s heads and stone projectile shot toward the two men, as they scrambled to Dodge the attack but it was too late, Dynham"s frame was. .h.i.t squarely and crushed his armour as it caved in. He was thrown back 10 meters away and vomiting blood. He was in a dire situation.
Orst landed on the ground where the ice had cracked gaining his foothold once again. He cast [Stone Barrage] as an a.s.sailment of stones dashed furiously towards Ezra and the two knights beside him. They dodged the flurry of rocks.
Ezra glanced at Evan and nodded to signal him to be ready to attack. Ezra drew Orst"s attention by looking at Deimos. Orst looked back and saw Deimos ready his whip but as he was about to duck a [Stone Bullet] flew toward Orsts head and crashed to his helmet dizzying the brute.
Deimos" whip connected and coiled around Orst"s neck. Arrows flew toward the knight. He sidestepped most of them and a few hit his earthen shield but did not cause any damage. Oswyn rushed to Deimos" side to reel Orst in but he was too late.
Orst grabbed the whip and threw Deimos toward Phobos who was attempting to get up. The two men crashed into each other stumbling together in the cracked ice. Orst charged at a nearby allied soldier and he grabbed his leg to shield him from the arrows that kept raining down as he freed himself from the slight chocking of the whip. It was st.u.r.dy enough that his magic fueled body could not tear it at all.
Arrows kept shadow walkers at bay who were trying to engage Rycharde"s party. Galwell did a good job of commanding the bowmen. Without his support, some of them would have already been killed. Anticourt"s archers were inexperienced but with Galwell"s direction, they became a good support force.
Rycharde and Evered tried to flank Orst but he threw the arrow filled corpse at Evered while he shot a spell at Rycharde. Rycharde smashed the stone projectile with his hammer and Evered tried to duck but still got hit by the body.
A tiny stone shot from a distance toward Orst as he was flanked by the two knights, he was distracted enough not to notice the speeding stone. Ezra hit Orst on his right eye. The knight screamed furiously and charged at Ezra.
"Now!" Ezra commanded at the Anticourt knights.
A myriad of javelins flew toward Orst as the toddler ducked. Orst dove on the ground instinctively to dodge the hail of spears targeting him. However, Rycharde and Evan were ready. Evan poured the oil into the hole and Rycharde ignited it with his spell.
Orst"s roars echoed in the hole and he stayed in the ground for a while.
"Is he dead?" Evan asked.
"No he is still down there, I can sense his magic aura. Pour more oil inside. He"ll stew in there and he"ll suffocate if he insists on staying underground," Ezra replied.
"Get Dynham out of here," Rycharde commanded to Oswyn as he secured Dynham"s safety and beckoned to get him inside the building. The looming shadow walkers approached Dynham, but he cast his own spell at the shadow walkers, he was badly hurt but he still managed to cast his [Fireball].
"The child, he has the Emperor"s Eye," a shadow walker confided to his leader as he observed Ezra.
"It is called G.o.d"s Eye by the Whisperers," as the leader replied in their own language.
"He could be the Worldbringer, Elderheart of the prophecies, he is so young yet his precision and tactics are none like we have seen before."
"Nay, that can"t be, the child can"t even use spells like the Imperials, the Worldbringer of the prophecies is said to be able to control everything, shadow, light, earth, fire, wind, water and some magic we have not even seen or heard. He is supposed to be a force of nature, a G.o.d among men. Besides Empyreans of Vartan"s progeny can do the same. "
"But they awaken their powers at ten years of age." the shadow walker turned back his gaze at Ezra.
"He"s just probably a mutant, a genius of sorts. But his lack of spells tells us otherwise. Regardless we must fulfil the contract, we need those magic cores," replied the leader.
"Aye. For now, we observe."