The party were too focused on fighting the dungeon boss that they didn’t even notice Riven, who stood there watching the stalemate until the orc suddenly turned to look at him.
Riven immediately knew that he was fucked. The orc threw its blade at him with so much speed that it whistled through the air.
He moved as fast as his legs could carry him. He jumped out of the way and rolled on the ground. The blade hit the wall and exploded a small crater in the wall.
The orc immediately pulled back its blade and started spinning it around.
[New skill unlocked, Dodge lv1]
Riven saw a notification come up. He had gotten a new skill entirely from dodging that one attack; he could barely believe it.
He got up to his feet and pulled his sword immediately.
The party members glanced at Riven. They were shocked because they didn’t know when someone came, but his being here was a slight relief, because they needed more hands to fight this boss—even if it was just a kid.
"Hey, you guys heal up and make a new formation. Let me hold the big guy off," Riven spoke, his words stunning them. He wanted to hold off the orc himself? Who would want to put himself in such danger for people he didn’t know?
Riven could already tell what they were thinking—why would he do this? But he had his reason. This group was his best chance of getting out of here if they fought well, so he needed to buy them some time.
And unlike them, he knew the weakness of an orc—the only place that wouldn’t instantly regenerate and would cause the orc an immense amount of pain: its tusk.
Orcs were built with intense regeneration. They could come back from even the most crazy of wounds. The only way to kill them would be to blast their heads to bits or cut their head off.
But that was harder than it seemed. But the tusk was a whole different ballgame. He could get that; it was easier than trying to get through several thick layers of skin.
Without waiting for the response of the party, he charged in, his eyes locked on the blade of the orc. He knew that it would be the first attack, and as he expected, it was.
The blade flew through the air at a shocking speed, but he was ready for it. He planted his feet and parried the attack. The force from the attack almost threw him down, but he managed to stay standing.
He gritted his teeth and pushed forward again, running as fast as he could. The orc pulled the blade back. It traveled through the air, headed for Riven’s head as it returned, but Riven reacted fast. He turned around as fast as he could while still moving forward and used his sword to parry it again.
The explosive force pushed him forward. He spun around and planted his feet into the ground again before charging again.
The party stood with their eyes wide, watching as Riven charged. They had thought this kid would die to the two attacks, but he managed to get through both of them.
The man with the longsword saw this as a challenge. He bit into his lip and clenched his fist. He turned to face his team.
"Maya, keep healing Rowan. Tera, you and I will back up that kid. We won’t be outdone by a solo adventurer," he spoke with a serious tone.
Riven, on the other hand, kept pushing to the orc, but the orc was not relenting. It attacked again, the blade headed right for Riven’s head. He managed to parry it again, but this time he wasn’t lucky. The force sent him to the ground.
The orc took that as its chance to finish off Riven. It raised its mace into the air and swung down. Riven saw the mace coming—he couldn’t move fast enough to dodge it. Would this be the end?
Suddenly, a greatsword intercepted the mace. Tera stood there, her arms shaking under the weight of the attack she was blocking.
"Get up, kid," she yelled. Riven immediately rolled away and got on his feet. He wanted to rush in and help her, but the leader charged past him, his sword at his side, ready to land an attack.
The orc saw the man coming. He immediately threw his blade to slam Tera and get her out of the way, but out of nowhere, Riven’s blade parried the attack again.
His skill upgraded after that attack. He flashed a smile at the orc. The man leaped into the air and slashed down; his blade dug into the orc’s arm, slashing deep into the arm.
The orc roared in pain. It lifted its mace and struck harder, sending Tera flying. Then he swung at the man. He tried to block the mace, but the attack sent him flying immediately.
The orc turned to attack Riven, but Riven had already retreated several steps back and gotten out of range.
Riven pointed his hand at the orc and immediately used Flame Blast. The orc had not been expecting the attack, and so the blast slammed into it and the explosion followed. The orc was pushed back and slammed into a wall, with a massive, disgusting burn on its chest.
Riven took a deep breath to calm down, but he knew that the orc was far from dead, as it immediately started healing up after taking that level of damage.
Riven’s initial plan was to cut off the tusk, but it didn’t seem like that would work, as this orc was stronger than what he expected.
He used Flame Blast a second time, landing his attack again, causing an even bigger wound on the orc. The orc was barely conscious at this state, but the wound had already begun healing.
Riven knew that he needed to end this before the orc would heal up. He charged at the orc with his sword, ready to take the head.