Chapter 306 The Limits of a King

"Well," said Kellar. "It seems he is too far above us. Aldric, it seems it will be just us. I want to test my skills."

Aldric nodded and tucked his helm under his arm.

"I am not so strong," said the old man. "But I will do the best I can."

He drew the lance from the ground and held it in both hands, apart, the shaft against his flank.

"My specialty is the lance in a cavalry charge," said Aldric. "But I am also experienced at close quarters, for when they knock us down for some reason."

"Close quarters first," said Kellar.

"Give me a second."

Kellar stretched his hand and let it all go.

[Poison Curse]

[Slowness Curse]

[Pain Curse]

[Blindness Curse]

The air around Aldric went turbid. The old man’s shoulders sagged, as though a sack had been loaded onto him.

"Those are quite good," said Aldric. "If you take him by surprise, you could use them at the same time as your white familiar strikes. But you should not use them so easily. Their effect does not last long."

And he shouted.

"[Valor!]"

The shout came out of his chest and the curses scattered at once, like smoke in a slammed door.

"You see? Nearly every knight carries a skill like that," said Aldric. "And clerics can strip them without trouble. Except for the surprise, I would advise you not to use them in single combat."

Kellar nodded slowly.

"I felt they were a little weak too, frankly," said Kellar. "But they have been useful in large fights. And against beasts."

"That they have," said Aldric.

"Can they be cast continuously? Or is there a limit?," said the old man.

Kellar began casting them one after another.

He did not miss. Not once. Aldric began moving all over the field, changing direction, ducking, opening out, and could not get out of Kellar’s domain, who also took the chance to run him down.

"Then let us begin, Aldric," said Kellar.

[Fire Blast]

[Aqua Ball]

[Wind Slash]

[Earthshock]

The old man dodged with insulting ease. Blinded as he was, and annoying as the blindness was, the air reached him along the side of his body and told him where things were.

Grok launched.

He leapt and came down with the axe overhead. Aldric raised the lance and took it flat, held the weight, and used the impact to step out of close range, turning on his heel and sweeping with the shaft.

Grok had to jump back or be cut in half.

Kellar tried the lightning. It bought him barely a fraction of a second before the old man tore free.

He could do nothing to him.

Kellar pulled the mace off his shoulder.

"I have never used this," said Kellar. "Do not blame me."

He ran and leapt like Grok, the Overlord mace swinging through the air.

"[Overlord Strike!]"

The mace lit. Kellar’s four hundred became eight hundred at a stroke.

Aldric took it on his thousand strength and held it, but the old man was an expert. He let the lance slide along the shaft like a serpent, climbed it, and drove it into Kellar’s shoulder.

It went through.

"Great Shaman!"

Grok’s body lit red.

[Bear’s Fury]

He came at him, axe high, burning, with a howl that was not entirely human. His strength rose to seven hundred fifty and his dexterity to nine hundred.

Aldric fell back.

The old man still had the strength and the experience. But he had five hundred dexterity, and five hundred was not enough to make up for what was coming down on him.

The rain of axes fell like a typhoon.

Again and again, from above, from the side, from the backhand. Aldric turned some aside and answered with the lance, and the steel rang across the field like a cracked bell.

"You will pay with your life!"

Grok did not ease off.

Aldric took the barrage as best he could. He turned two axes aside with the shaft, swallowed the third on his shoulder, and answered the lance at the chest. Grok took it across the edge and kept coming, and on the third exchange the old man opened his forearm from side to side.

Grok did not even look at it.

He changed the axe to his other hand and threw himself in.

The next blow landed clean and Aldric went up and back, lance still in hand, feet first.

Grok leapt after him. He raised the axe in both hands and went for the head.

Julian appeared between them.

He turned the blow with the edge of his sword, a flat sideways knock that wrenched the axe in Grok’s hands.

Grok spun for a second and Julian put the pommel into his abdomen.

It was no cut. It was the pommel, with the shoulder behind it. Grok folded in two and all his air went out in one sound.

"Good, Julian," said Kellar. "Good work."

Grok coughed into the mud, one hand on his stomach and the other still locked on the axe.

"Training is over," said Kellar. "Grok, this is training. It is fine to fight with passion, but do not exaggerate. You do not need to kill in training."

"But my lord," said Grok, and half straightened, "he wounded you. He could have simply stopped you, and his cut was malicious. He was after your life."

"Easy," said Kellar. "If he had wanted to kill me, he would have. I dropped my guard and walked into a basic attack. That was my fault."

He touched his shoulder, where there was nothing now but a dry smear.

"And I am already healed. Do not forget the blessing of the Bear God is upon me."

Grok let the axe go and dropped flat on his back in the mud.

Aldric was a few meters off, still on his knees, the lance stuck in the ground and his chest rising and falling badly. The armor hung open along his flank. His ribs showed.

Kellar came over and stretched out his hand.

[Healing]

The old man shut his eyes and let his breath go in a rush as the bones set themselves.

"That was good training," said Kellar. "Make peace. I do not want you exaggerating what happened today."