Maybe... it doesn't hurt that much.
Zeke's health bar dropped from 21 to 13. The Runtherd's full-power strike dealt 8 points of damage.
The damage was lower than Zeke had imagined. The iron armor was doing its job.
He had thought this move would be like a Vindicator's axe strike, crippling him instantly.
Zeke quickly compared the stats of both sides in his mind.
Runtherd: 50 HP, 12 Defense (equivalent to Chainmail armor), 8 damage per hit, slow attack speed.
Zeke: 21 HP, 15 Defense, weapon switched to Iron Axe (sacrificing some attack speed for 9 damage).
Except for the relatively large gap in health, everything else was manageable.
And for health, he happened to have a way to make up for it.
Zeke took out the Grox Sandwich, feeling a twinge of heartache at the cost, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Regeneration II, 30s.
The red heart icons began to throb rhythmically. Every beat was accompanied by a small recovery of his health bar.
Combined with the saturation recovery provided by the sandwich itself, within a few breaths, Zeke's health climbed back from 13 to 21.
As the dust settled, the surrounding Ork Boyz stared wide-eyed at the unharmed Zeke.
They spontaneously stepped back, leaving enough space in the center for the Runtherd and Zeke.
Then, they cheered deafeningly. "Krump 'im! Krump 'im good!"
To Zeke's surprise, this group of Greenskins didn't choose to mob him; they simply cut off his escape route.
Zeke saw a Strength I buff appear in the Runtherd's status bar. Looking at himself, he saw he had the same buff.
The cheers of the Ork Boyz showed no bias. This was the way of the Orks.
In their minds, race, stance, and grudges didn't matter at this moment. What mattered was the fight itself.
"You're innerestin'. Daring to barge into our cave alone and stealin' our stuff. First time I seen a humie like you."
The Runtherd pointed his hammer at Zeke, changing his address from "runt" to "humie."
"Name."
"...Zeke." As Zeke answered, he took out a Crafting Table and started fiddling with it.
"Grug," the Runtherd announced his name, revealing a mouthful of jagged teeth. "Da Greenskin who's gonna be Warboss!"
The Runtherd disdained a sneak attack and waited quietly for Zeke to finish his preparations.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
Two figures exploded into motion simultaneously, charging at each other.
Grug displayed agility disproportionate to his size. The warhammer, light as a feather in his hands, swept toward Zeke.
Zeke didn't retreat. Same tactic, different time: he chose to block with his shield.
Grug grunted, forced to stumble back a step by the recoil of his own strength. His posture broke.
An opening. Zeke jumped, his poised Iron Axe moving into action.
He used the Iron Axe because high-damage, slow-attack-speed weapons were perfect for battles with few attack opportunities.
Borrowing the inertia of his fall, the iron axe slashed down viciously at Grug.
-10.5.
The Iron Axe's high base damage of 9, plus the extra 50% from the critical hit, and after accounting for the armor's damage reduction, finally dealt a high damage of 10.5.
Blood slowly trickled down Grug's rough green skin.
Grug winced in pain but didn't retreat. He wiped the blood from his face with his other hand, a cunning look in his eyes.
"Same trick won't work on Grug twice. Dat shield of yers is weird, but ya can't use it in a row, right?"
Whoosh. A chill came from below. Grug's mechanical leg kicked straight up at Zeke's solar plexus.
Zeke didn't dodge. With Regeneration II, any health trade was in his favor.
The mechanical leg smashed into Zeke. His health bar shook but quickly recovered.
A flash of surprise crossed Grug's eyes. He obviously hadn't expected his opponent to be so ferocious.
As the mechanical leg retracted, Zeke stepped forward again, delivering another slash.
-7.
Grug retreated hastily, trying to open the distance. Zeke pursued relentlessly, jumping up for another jump-crit.
Grug was a battle-hardened Runtherd, after all; his combat intelligence wasn't low.
He soon figured out the pattern: this human loved to jump when attacking.
Did he not know that in the air, with no leverage to change direction, one is a sitting duck?
When Zeke jumped high again to repeat the trick, Grug's eyes shone fiercely. His body exploded with astonishing strength as he swung his warhammer in a vicious uppercut, aiming at the airborne Zeke who couldn't change course.
Zeke looked at the shield in his inventory, which had finished cooling down, but chose not to block.
Everything is going according to plan.
From the first time Grug attacked him, Zeke had noticed that the knockback from this hammer was incredibly powerful, often sending him flying.
So throughout the fight, he had been intentionally or unintentionally jump-attacking. Partly to deal critical damage, but partly to bait Grug into knocking him upwards.
What he wanted was the knockback from this hammer!
The surrounding scenery plummeted, and wind roared in his ears. Zeke flew toward the high vaulted ceiling of the cave.
Zeke reached the highest point of his trajectory, just close enough to touch the rock ceiling above.
In the split second before he started to fall, Zeke waved his arm. Aiming at the block directly above Grug's head, and the surrounding area, he placed several [Anvils] in quick succession.
Under the ruthless summons of gravity, the anvils detached from the ceiling.
Turning into black meteors of death, they fell straight toward the crown of Grug's head, who had just swung his hammer and was in a brief state of exhaustion.
"Watch yer head!" the watching Ork Boyz roared.
Grug just looked up and saw only a rapidly expanding shadow.
Must run! Grug's instincts screamed alarms. He summoned all his strength to lunge to the side.
Zeke landed before the anvils, performing a perfect MLG Water Bucket clutch to return safely to the ground.
Want to run? No way. Zeke waved his arm, and a Wooden Boat appeared out of thin air.
"Wot kind of trick is dis!" Grug roared in anger, smashing his sandbag-sized fist onto the boat.
The wooden boat shook and shattered instantly.
As expected, for a creature with some intelligence like Grug, the boat's trapping effect was very limited.
But that moment of delay was enough.
CLANG!
The sound of an anvil colliding with a skull echoed throughout the entire cave.
The Ork Boyz gaped, watching their incredibly tough Runtherd get smashed square on the forehead by a weird block falling from the sky.
Grug's massive body stiffened for a moment, his beady eyes squeezed out of shape.
A vague gurgle came from his throat. His massive frame swayed, then with a crash, he collapsed face-first onto the ground.
He turned into a scatter of experience orbs and a weapon drop.
[Grug's Warhammer: Attack Damage 8, Attack Speed Very Slow]
[Special Ability: Can be charged. Damage increases during charging, reaching a maximum of 13 after 3 seconds, and deals immense Knockback.]
Zeke scooped up Grug's Warhammer from the ground. While the cave full of Greenskins was still immersed in the shock of their Runtherd being killed, he turned and ran without a shred of hesitation.
He wasn't going to bet on the Orks' sense of honor. Running away first was the respectful thing to do.
He rushed toward the cave wall. A stone pillar rose beneath his feet, lifting him high.
Before the Orks could react, he used both hands and feet to continuously place blocks on the protrusions of the rock wall. In a few leaps, agile as a mountain goat, he vaulted out of the encirclement and dove headfirst into a mining tunnel.
On the way, reflecting on his battle plan, he could only say his luck was pretty good this time; nothing went wrong.
If the knockback from Grug's hammer had been a little weaker and hadn't sent him high enough, or if he hadn't adjusted in time mid-air to place the anvils precisely...
The plan would have failed.
But so what? Even without the anvils, Zeke felt that by fighting steadily, he could have defeated Grug eventually—it just wouldn't have been this easy.
Just a pity about those anvils. Didn't have time to mine them back. That was all iron blocks... Zeke thought regretfully, looking at his backpack full of iron ore.
--
100 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter. (Only 30 Left, lets complete the goal tonight)