Dragon Sorcerer 2- Chapter 80 (Patreon)

Chapter 80- Hunter or Hunted?

“How are your stats possibly that high? I thought you could only gain fifteen stat points per level even for an epic class.” Even as I asked the question, though, I realized what I was missing. It was the little bits that she had chosen to keep hidden.

“That’s mostly gear, although my regen rate and the amount of mana I have are based upon skills that I have from my goddess. Skills, I might mention which would be available to you if you chose to pledge yourself to her. You have the necessary aptitudes to…”

I snorted, cutting her off. “Do I really need to reply to that?”

She got a sad look on her face, but then sighed. “I suppose not. Although, I wish you knew Miseria’s compassion like I do. But put that aside. I will help you develop yourself and I will show you more of my skills and my spells. All I ask is that you share with me, too. But, I think we should put that to rest for now. You need your sleep, and I’ll wake up Modessa and Cami so they can take the final watch.”

I grunted but didn’t say anything else as I went to lay down. My mind was racing. She was stronger than I had ever imagined. I doubted she’d had her epic class from the very beginning, but even if she had, that would still leave something close to 300 stat points coming directly from her gear.

This explained a great deal about the memories I had of adventurers attacking dragons and trying to steal from their lairs. Humans seemed so soft to me. Even with high stats, Lisella was still a tiny thing, As I had learned when storing my attacks, size and mass did matter.

I struggled to drift off to sleep but finally managed to, before I woke up with the sun. The light annoyed me, but there was something else. I couldn’t place it right way. Then it hit me. I was smelling something, a rancid odor. It was faint but still made the hairs inside my nose curl.

I almost laughed aloud at that thought. Hairs… inside my nose. What a peculiar thought. Humans really were overgrown monkeys, and I was in the form of one now.

Then the morning breeze brought the scent back to me and I remembered what that smell was. I was hit by an image from the dragon dream. My ancestor, Wasnera, had possessed a special hatred for all types of giantkin, whether that be fire giants, frost giants, the simple hill giants, or most despicably, ogres.

I wasn’t quite sure why she hated ogres so much. It seemed to be tied up with her feelings about Tra’vis, her rider. The orc had hated ogres with a passion. But there was also an element about ogres which Wasnera hated. It was their scent. They were unclean beasts, living in their own filth. The only thing worse was trolls.

Those thoughts surged through me, but then I leapt up. The others were making camp but didn’t seem any wiser to the fact that we were being stalked. Liam was standing near the fire and was roasting some fish, so his senses were likely muted by that. The others might not have an enhanced sense of smell.

The wind carried another whiff to me. There was no doubt. They were close. We were being stalked. By the ancestor’s scales, I hated being hunted. I was a hunter. I whispered loudly enough for the adventurers to hear me, but hopefully not the ogres. With some fortune, we could prepare ahead of time. Ogres were not a threat alone, but my nose was telling me there were quite a few of them.

“Ogres,”

It took a second for the word to sink in, but then the adventurers all froze.

“We’re surrounded, I think. Don’t do anything rash, but get ready.”

Liam made a few hand gestures. Lisella took his place by the fire. It made sense. Even with those stats, she wasn’t a frontline fighter. He motioned for me to take the south side of the camp while he and Modessa moved to be like the three corners of a triangle. Cami tried to move to stand by me, but Modessa hissed, “No. Not with ogres. You protect Lisella and cast as you can.” Then she glanced at me. “I hope you’re as strong as you act like you are. Transform if it looks like we’ll be overwhelmed.”

She must have made too much noise then, because the ogres stopped hiding and rushed forward. They had still been quite a ways out, likely not wanting to disturb us. Their screw up had been trying to encircle the camp, well that and not bathing. That allowed the wind to carry their scent to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Liam launching arrows. I couldn’t see what Modessa was doing, but then a flash of golden light from one of Lisella’s spells blasted into a group of ogres in front of me. There were six of them. Each was a good ten feet tall and thick.

I activated my partial transformation as I surged forward, but pushed it further than ever before. My hands turned to claws and the blue scales spread up my arms even as I slipped the brass knuckles on over my clawed hands. They kept spreading till my torso was covered in armor.

Bracer Armor Boost is reduced by 50% due to the presence of natural armor.

I ignored that as I threw myself into the first ogre. Even as I had crossed the intervening space, my mind had run through a half-dozen different strategies. My go to of dragon fear was out. Wasnera’s memories told me that ogres were immune to it. She had been steadfast in her opinion that they were too stupid to even be affected by it.

In the same way, I discarded the idea of casting Tripping Roots. The ogres were too strong and would probably just ignore the roots. So, as I ran, I quickly cast Call the Charge.

The little bit of electricity and damage resistance might not change the outcome of the battle, but every little bit would happen. The monk skill, Rapid Movement, allowed me to slam into the enemy before he could react. The electricity dancing along my skin, immediately damaged him, but not half so much as my fists.

Flurry of Blows

One punch after another landed. Each one chipping away at his health, but I didn’t aim for his torso. He was built like a tank, but his bony knee was an obvious target. Each of blow from my fists slammed into that knee causing him to stumble. He tried to reach out for me with his overly long arms, but I rolled under his legs and thrust a lick back into the back of his knee.

That was the final blow, causing his kneecap to blow out. The bones were already cracked, and the cartilage torn, but now it wouldn’t hold up his weight. The idiot face planted without even sufficient thought to use his hands to catch himself. If it had just been him, it would have been easy to shift and pounce on his back. Severing his spine would immobilize an ogre no matter how strong he was.

Sadly, I had to focus on the other five ogres rushing at me. They were so clumsy that a pair of them stumbled into each other. Another managed to put his hand on me, but I was already reacting. Monk instincts came into play and I went with him momentum, using his strength against him.

I might not be as strong as the ogres were, but I was close enough to make it so I wouldn’t be immediately overwhelmed. I flipped him in a circle till he landed. His own massive weight served to drive the air from his lungs, but once again I was prevented from capitalizing on the opening and had to duck as the broad head of a warhammer came flying through where I’d been standing just an instant before that. The force of his swing carried him past me and I laughed as he tripped over his prone comrade.

That left one more ogre in front of me. I pushed off with all my strength till I leapt over his head. The combination of a small human body with even partial draconic strength was enough to allow this body to do things that I’d never have been able to do as a dragon.

I also benefitted from a sense of space, which was partially the dragon in me, which was an aerial creature, and partially the monk class which had such an acute awareness of the body. It was like I knew exactly how to move my body as I danced amongst my enemies.

As I flew over his head, I landed a kick square into his broad nose. The bone he had piercing it likely didn’t do him any favors as he yowled in pain. I landed behind him and drove all of my weight into a sidekick while rotating my hips to maximize my speed and power. The blow drove his tree-trunk of a leg forward till he was on both knees howling.

Then I threw myself at him. Both hands drove forward and my sharp claws ripped into the base of his skull. His skin was tougher than leather armor, but between the claws and my strength it parted.

You have scored a crippling blow to target’s spinal cord.

Hit points only measured your durability in general. They were a rough estimate of the amount of damage that someone could take. This ogre had nearly 2000 HP, but he still needed a functioning spinal cord. His body fell forward limply, as he could no longer control his muscles. Signals from his brain weren’t going anywhere as the cord was severed. He couldn’t breathe. His heart couldn’t beat. In all likelihood if I left him alone there was a 50/50 chance that he’d regenerate from the injury before his HP had completely drained away, but I had no intention of leaving him be.

Flurry of Blows

Five quick strikes in quick succession cracked, then crushed, then split open his skull till the final blow splattered his limited amount of gray matter all over my fist. I chuckled, “Heal from that.”

A troll might have been able to, but ogres didn’t possess that level of regeneration, not at least from what I remembered. I would have loved to savor the moment of victory, but a blow struck me in the chest. There’d been a risk when I stopped long enough to finish off one of the ogres.

Now a warm hammer hit my chest. My damage resistance shaved off a few points and my dragon scales along with the bracers further limited the force which got through to me, but I was still sent flying backwards. Red was flashing before my eyes, telling me I’d suffered a critical blow. Half of my life had been taken in that single blow. How I longed to be in my dragon form where the size advantage would have been mine.

As I rolled along the ground, allowing the force of the blow to give me some space, I triggered Make Me Whole. Instantly 40% of my health was restored, and I felt much better at 90% than 50%. I rose up just in time to dodge another swing of the warhammer.

Stunning Fist

My hand made contact, I felt the power of the skill trigger, but then:

Target is immune to being stunned.

I should have remembered that from Wasnera’s experiences, but I was too caught up in the moment. It cost me to because he grabbed me in his massive arms, squeezing me against him with the haft of his warhammer pressed against my back. I felt like I was being broken. My scales were the only thing keeping me from being crushed instantly. That and I suppose the electrical charge gathered around my body kept making him wince.

I gritted my teeth and tried to work myself up higher. He bellowed out in laughter as he celebrated his victory. Opening his mouth ended up being his big mistake. I struggled to suck in what air I could and then gathered the magic in my mouth before exhaling a bolt of lightning directly into him.

Once again, it was about applying the force in the right way. If the lightning breath had struck him on the outside, it would have met all of his resistance. His insides were still tougher than normal, but the sudden charge of electricity cooked his throat and overloaded his heart.

His arms when lax and I fell down. Fortunately, it took the other ogres a few seconds to realize what was going on. Thank the ancestor’s scales that they were so stupid, because I needed a moment to suck air in and regain my composure. I then moved forward and picked up the creature’s own war hammer before slamming it down into his immobilized head.

I pushed the notifications away. The gray matter all over the end of the hammer was all that I needed to see to tell me how devastating the blow had been. Then I flipped the hammer up and flung the blood and tissue on it straight into the face of another of the ogres while throwing the hammer at another.

I took the time that bought me and cast Thunder Clap. The area of effect was pretty small, but I was far enough from the humans and the remaining four ogres were all close enough to me to be affected.

They shrieked in their impersonation of the most annoying sound and grasped their ears. Now I just had to make the most of it.