Chapter 157: Debuff And The Caster [GOLDEN TICKET BONUS]

The more he fought, the more experience he would gain with Mana Bullet Spell and Mana Sense Spell, and that experience could eventually help him evolve them. If he could make himself stronger before reaching the leader of the Wild Orcs, his chances of winning that battle would increase significantly, so Alex would not hide.

The ground began trembling beneath them as several heavy footsteps approached from different directions. Since they had already been discovered, there was no reason to continue hiding Mana Sense Spell, so Alex activated it immediately and detected five Wild Orcs approaching their location.

They had most likely been hiding nearby, waiting for the signal. However, Alex could not detect the Wild Orc responsible for the powerful ’debuff’ freezing his body, which meant the attacker was either concealed extremely well or was using some method that prevented him from being detected.

’Debuff.’

Alex repeated the word in his mind as he analyzed the situation. All Wild Orcs were capable of freezing people in their range. It could be called a debuff, but the one affecting him was clearly different from the ordinary ones because this Wild Orc was capable of casting a powerful debuff unlike others.

The approaching Wild Orcs had almost reached them. Alex and Roan were still frozen. Alex’s mana roared inside his body, but it could barely push back against the Origin Energy that was piercing through him, so he poured more and more mana into his three Soul Gates and reinforced his soul.

His Will became stronger. Alex immediately used it to create a coating around his body, and the dense layer of Will filtered a large portion of the Origin Energy, finally allowing him to move.

It was not enough.

Alex clenched his fists and quickly judged his current physical condition. His body was moving at roughly the level provided by Advanced Body Reinforcement Spell Level 1, even though the spell itself was already at Level 7, which showed just how powerful the ’debuff’ was.

Roan also managed to move beside him, although his movements were clearly restricted.

"Are you using Aura?" Alex asked.

"Yes. My normal method isn’t enough to stop this Origin Energy, so I’m using Aura to reinforce myself. However, my Aura stat is low, and I can’t maintain this method for long, so we need to finish this quickly," Roan replied.

"Then let’s find the Wild Orc freezing us. It must be the controller-type Wild Orc we talked about. It must be hiding nearby," Alex said.

The caster of the debuff was probably smaller than the other Wild Orcs, and it was hiding in the buildings, or Alex would have found it by now.

Before they could search further, one of the Wild Orcs appeared at the far end of the street. Alex’s eyes narrowed when he saw it because the creature was larger and faster than any Wild Orc he had encountered so far. It was as tall as a six-floor building.

Its speed suddenly exploded as if something had strengthened—buffed—its body. A giant shadow fell over Alex and Roan as the Wild Orc’s foot descended toward them, having crossed the distance far too quickly.

Alex and Roan both rolled to the side, although the movement was much harder than it should have been because the debuff had slowed them considerably. The foot barely missed them, but the resulting shockwave still threw both of them away.

Alex quickly spun on his heel as he recovered his balance. One hand held a Mana Sword while the other held his Fire Wand, and as he bounced back onto his feet, he immediately formed a Fire Bullet and fired.

The Wild Orc was already crouching down, preparing to punch. The bullet struck its head before it could attack. The giant creature stopped in the middle of its movement and collapsed onto the road with its body going limp.

Before the Wild Orc even hit the ground, Advanced Battle Instinct Spell issued a series of warnings that immediately filled Alex’s mind. He turned his head and saw a car flying toward him, thrown by the second Wild Orc that had just appeared. This Wild Orc was also as tall as a six floor building, and judging by its strength, it seemed that it and every other Wild Orc approaching them was at least Level 18.

’Not again,’ Alex thought as Roan suddenly appeared between him and the car.

Roan roared and punched toward the incoming car, and Alex would have liked to say that he had stopped it, but his fist simply punched through the metal body while the vehicle continued forward.

Since Roan’s arm was already inside the car, Alex could not pull him away in time, and the entire vehicle had slammed into Roan anyway. Alex immediately reacted by flooding Lightning-element mana through his neurons and trying to increase his movement speed to dodge, but the debuff was slowing his body far too much for the lightning mana to have its usual effect. The car clipped him at the last moment and threw him away, while Roan disappeared behind the wrecked vehicle.

Alex rolled and came back onto his feet almost instantly. However, before he could even look toward Roan, a giant foot from a third Wild Orc swung toward him with enough force to send him flying like a football.

The Wild Orcs were not giving him any time to recover, and they were working together to attack him from different directions. The foot was too wide for him to dodge normally, and if it landed cleanly, Alex knew he would die immediately.

Alex moved toward it instead. He flooded his brain with mana and pushed his focus to the absolute limit, using the increased mana control to reinforce his body as much as possible before allowing the attack to hit him.

He deliberately let the foot strike him before the Wild Orc could complete its swing and generate its maximum power. Even with the reduced force, the impact sent Alex flying diagonally into the sky like a football, and he smashed through the wall of a building before continuing through the ceiling of each floor above him.

The impacts came too quickly for him to react to each one. Alex desperately moved mana through his body, reinforcing his skull and vital organs while trying to protect them from the continuous thunderous impacts, and he continued doing so until his body finally stopped after smashing into the ceiling somewhere above the twenty-fifth floor.

He dropped immediately afterward and crashed into a group of office cubicles below. His entire body felt broken, as if his bones had been turned into jelly, while his vision swam and he vomited blood and pieces of damaged organs onto the floor.

Alex remained calm.

He methodically poured mana into his brain and organs, using hardened mana to close damaged blood vessels and stabilize the worst injuries. He coated his bones with another layer of hardened mana, giving them enough support to keep his body functioning.

The emergency treatment had barely finished when Alex’s center of gravity suddenly shifted. The entire office began sliding backward, carrying cubicles, chairs, coffee mugs, potted plants, computers, and everything else that was not fixed to the floor along with it.

..

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