66 Last Action Hero Part 2 (1/2)
Luca, the big idiot, had the worst timing. Well, it was probably for the best because his annoying jeer did jump-start my addled teenage brain just in time to avoid the spear that had been thrown at me.
I ducked. The spear missed my head. Then I rolled to the right as a war hammer—a massive rectangular stone head more than twice the size of my own head—slammed the ground where I'd been just a second ago.
”The hits just keep coming,” I whispered right before I got back on my feet. ”I'm going to need a little help here.”
You see, even with the power of Fool's Insight—the heightened vision that made every dangerous moment readable and therefore easily manageable—I still needed help whenever I faced something that was just a little beyond my current physical abilities. Case in point, the ugly-looking troll glaring down at me.
The brown-skinned, eight-footed troll with the long dreadlocks reraised its war hammer with both hands and readied it for another swing at my head.
”Aura, how many spells can you still use tonight?” I asked quickly.
From beside me, Aura gripped tightly on her Hearthwood staff with both of her delicate-looking hands.
”I've only used Flame Shield ... but I did waste two spell slots just to make it large enough for our unit,” she explained just as quickly. ”I have two left...”
”That's fine... stick to your Hearthwood staff's Firebolt skill... it doesn't cost you anything,” I reasoned. ”But... maybe you can use a spell to cast Fiery Blessing on me and Luca?”
”Evade, guys!” Luca yelled.
Both Aura and I pulled away just as the troll came charging in and slammed its hammer on the ground we'd just vacated. Unperturbed by our quick footedness, it sent its hammer swinging sideward in hopes of swatting one of us as we pulled back. But Luca raised his broadsword to deflect the attack. His shadowblade met with the war hammer's bronze pole, binding them in place while the troll and Luca pushed at each other's weapons.
”Oh, spirits of the sacred flame, I call on you to ignite the fire inside these warriors,” Aura began to chant while her staff was raised in front of her, the red orb at the top glowing a fierce orange. ”Lend them your will of fire and send them your Fiery Blessing !”
As soon as Aura finished her melodic chant, I felt my body grow incredibly hot. So hot, in fact, that I wondered if I hadn't suddenly been dropped into a hot spring or sauna. My face glistened with sweat. It poured down my back and arms too. Then my heart began beating at an alarmingly high pace that seemed to pump liquid fire down my veins.
I screamed. No. It was a roar, a lion's roar at the moment before the hunt began.
A second roar rang out. This one had come from Luca. Not the berserker's roar of his Foolish Strength but a more dignified one. More subtle but with just as much power as his old one.
”Stamina, strength, agility and constitution, all your physical abilities have been enhanced for five minutes, Dean,” Aura whispered from beside me. ”Go wild!”
I grinned at her. Then I pushed off the ground with my back foot and lept high. At the same time, Luca, combining his Foolish Strength with the boost of Aura's Fiery Blessing , now had enough power to push back a troll—and he did just that.
Luca gripped his broadsword's hilt tight and heaved, forcing the troll to take a step back and creating enough distance for Luca to swing his sword sideward.
Trolls, known for their very thick hides, often loathed wearing armor on their upper body. The troll we were fighting wasn't as stupid as his other brethren. He wore a brass splint vest that was too tight around the midriff. Unfortunately for the troll, Luca's broadsword was steel-tier.
A wide gash opened up in the troll's midriff that gushed out blood and guts along with a smell so rank it would have made someone who wasn't currently hopped up on flame-spirit-boosts hurl all their dinner out.
The troll didn't get to cry out in pain either as my own falchion, launched from my a swing of my sword-arm, silenced the creature with a deep cut through its throat. Yes, thanks to Fiery Blessing, I was able to reach the troll's head. In a word, I had jumped like Lebron.
In those seconds while I hang-timed in the air, I was able to get a good view of the front battlefield.
Despite having a force of around two thousand, the enemy command unit's front line was in complete disarray. Their initial force of five-hundred was simply no match for the momentum of my three-hundred-man unit. In fact, we'd nearly broken through to their inner layer where another group of five-hundred soldiers guarded the heavyset human visere sitting atop his gray swifthart.