SSS Awakening: I Can Create Skills By Will

Chapter 138: The Flow of Battle

For a second nothing happened.

Then..

Blood burst out like a fountain.

The massive creature staggered.

Then its body collapsed heavily onto the stone floor.

THUD.

The explorers stared for a moment.

It was over.

The long range ogre was dead.

And the timing had been perfect.

Arthur looked back toward the throne.

The boss monster was still watching.

But this time something changed.

Its eyes burned with clear anger.

The creature slowly raised its hand again.

Dark energy gathered faster this time.

The pulse spread across the battlefield.

The buff landed entirely on the lean ogre.

The creature roared.

Its muscles swelled.

Its strikes became even heavier than before.

CLANG!

Ryn barely managed to block another hit.

"Captain!" he shouted.

The captain stepped forward again, gripping his axe tightly.

Arthur watched the boss calmly.

Their eyes met again.

The boss’s rage settled quickly.

Its face returned to that same cold calm.

As if losing one guard didn’t matter much.

Arthur chuckled quietly.

"I guess that wasn’t enough to faze you."

The lean ogre roared again, pushing the explorers back with brute strength.

Arthur rolled his shoulders slowly.

Then he looked toward the throne once more.

A confident smirk appeared on his face.

"Alright then," he muttered.

"Let’s try again."

Arthur took his attention back to the fight.

The explorers were starting to struggle.

The lean ogre had changed.

After the long range one died, the boss shifted its support entirely. The strange pulse of energy that had been shared between the two was now stacked on a single target.

The lean ogre.

Arthur’s eyes followed every movement.

Its speed was still there. It moved like a giant animal that had grown too comfortable with killing. But now its skin had hardened even more.

Steel clashed against it again.

CLANG!

Ryn’s sword slid across the creature’s arm and barely left a mark.

"Damn it!" one explorer cursed as his spear bent away from the ogre’s ribs.

Arthur narrowed his eyes.

So it really stacked the buff.

From everything he had observed since the battle started, the boss didn’t use only one type of enhancement.

There were two.

One increased speed.

The other strengthened the body.

Earlier, the lean ogre moved fast while the long range one became harder to damage. Then for a brief moment it had changed. The stone attacks became faster while the lean ogre gained more strength.

Arthur clicked his tongue quietly.

"Flexible, huh..."

But it didn’t matter anymore.

The long range ogre was dead.

Now everything was focused on this one monster.

And the boss had clearly decided to push it to the limit.

Arthur watched carefully.

The buff waves were still there.

They came and faded in cycles.

He had already used that timing once.

But he wasn’t foolish enough to rely on it again.

The boss had noticed.

Sure enough, the pattern shifted.

When the speed buff faded, the defense buff remained active.

Arthur’s lips curved slightly.

"So you adapted."

The window they had earlier was gone.

Now if they wanted to kill the creature, they needed something else.

But there wasn’t time to sit and calculate everything.

The battle was getting worse.

The explorers were slowly being pushed back.

Ryn had changed his role completely.

Instead of looking for openings in the monster, he focused on covering mistakes from the others.

Whenever someone slipped, his shield was there.

Whenever someone stumbled, his sword forced the ogre back.

"Left side!" he shouted.

An explorer barely avoided a crushing kick.

The captain was also forced to hold back.

His strikes were sharp, but he no longer had the freedom to wait for a perfect moment.

The ogre’s attacks were relentless.

BOOM!

Its fist slammed into the ground, sending dust and stone flying.

The explorers scattered.

But Arthur stepped in eventually.

The moment he appeared among them, the pressure changed.

Ryn noticed first.

"Arthur."

Just one word.

But the relief in his voice was obvious.

The captain also glanced over his shoulder.

"Good timing."

Arthur shrugged lightly.

"Looks like you guys missed me."

Even in the middle of battle, Ryn snorted.

"Just shut up and help."

Arthur grinned.

"Already on it."

The lean ogre roared and charged.

Its huge arm swung across the battlefield like a falling tree.

Arthur stepped forward.

Intent Step.

His body vanished from where he stood and appeared a short distance to the side. The movement was clean and fast, almost like the world itself shifted around him.

The ogre’s fist hit empty air.

BOOM!

Stone cracked beneath it.

Arthur’s hand moved calmly.

Threads of mana spread from his fingers.

Intent Weave.

Thin strands of energy stretched through the air like invisible wires. They brushed against the ogre’s arm, adjusting the path of its movement.

The next swing lost some of its direction.

The captain saw the opening.

His axe flashed.

SHRING!

The blade struck the ogre’s side, though the toughened skin still held.

Arthur didn’t stop moving.

The ogre turned toward him now.

Good.

Its attention shifted away from the others.

The monster lunged forward.

Its speed buff was still active, and the size of its body made every movement terrifying.

Arthur stepped again.

Intent Step.

This time he appeared behind it.

The ogre twisted faster than expected and swung backward with its elbow.

Arthur raised his dagger.

Execution Intent.

A sharp burst of force exploded outward as his dagger met the attack. The impact deflected the blow just enough to keep the massive limb from crushing him.

The shockwave pushed dust outward.

Several explorers stared.

"Did he just—"

"He blocked it?"

Arthur rolled his shoulder.

"That still stings."

The ogre roared again.

Flames flickered faintly around Arthur’s arm.

But this wasn’t the explosive fire he used earlier.

This one was layered.

The heat wrapped around his mana like thin sheets of burning air.

Manifest Intent.

The fire didn’t erupt.

Instead it followed the movement of his strikes.

Arthur moved again.

Intent Step.

His figure blurred through the battlefield.

He appeared near the ogre’s side and struck once with his fire coated dagger.

The layered flames slid across its skin.

They didn’t explode.

But they burned continuously, weakening the hardened surface.