Garden Of The Abyss

As he looked forward, he watched steam emit from the aftermath and receiver of the hit–the orc was embedded in the boulder as the steam exuded from his position, slowly pulling himself free from the rock as he landed back on his feet.

Bingo, he thought.

The cause for celebration came in the apparent bruising present on the gray chest of the Orc God, shifted to a damaged black-and-blue as smoke continued to emit from the wound, bleeding as its skin was peeled to reveal the flesh beneath.

Biding his time as the Orc God lumbered over with both of its weapons still in hand, he shook and wiggled his right arm, curling his fingers to make sure it was still functioning.

Good. My hypothesis was right: "Critical Impact" is capable of inflicting damage on him. It's the main attribute I've discovered of my nebulous lighting–it is imbued with a property that multiplies, amplifies, and sharpens my attacks. To put it simply, it's like a critical hit in an RPG, he thought, I'll just need to tone down the output a bit to a level I can handle…then I'll be able to wear him down.

Settling on this plan, he clenched his bruised fist before dashing forward, meeting the Orc God on the battlefield once more as he danced around the ferocious attacks he unleashed with his blades.

Even the wind pressure emitted from each swing was beginning to be felt on his body; small, superficial, but accumulating cuts laid on him as he dodged the orc's blades.

"Raijin: Critical Impact!"

Unleashed again as he stepped through both of the orc's incoming swings, he landed his fist against the giant's abdomen, unleashing the black lightning's amplified impact against its stomach with enough force to slide the tank of an opponent back a meter.

–He continued.

"Raijin: Critical Impact!"

A hit to the back of the orc after a successful shadow step behind the brutish, infant deity.

"...Raijin: Critical Impact–!"

This time, it came in the form of a kick after ducking below the massive club wielded by the orc, causing the Orc God to stagger briefly.

"Raijin: Critical Impact—!"

While it was staggered, he followed up with a forceful uppercut to its jaw, forcing the orcish fiend to have its feet lifted from the ground by the impact alone while stray bolts of black lightning flung around the summit.

Even as the blows managed to damage the nearly impervious orc, it was only minor damage, meant to accumulate.

But, with each hit, the Orc God seemed to come back stronger, now discarding his weaponry as he bore only his two fists.

"What…? What good is that going to do?" He mumbled.

He received his answer as he witnessed magic being woven in each hand of the Orc God, without any semblance of an incantation being uttered.

Waving its hands, the Orc God manifested from the rocky ground itself protrusions of rock that took the form of expanding, lengthy dragon heads, that used the form of umber stone to roar out towards him.

Three of the rock-formed dragon heads sprouted from the mountain summit, rearing back before they dashed their stone jaws towards the human.

First fire, then darkness, now gaia magic? He thought.

As he witnessed the colossal dragon heads drawn near, leering down at him with roars that echoed like rocks slamming together, he jumped up to avoid a slam of one of their heads.

"Hyup–!"

Jumping into the air, he avoided the initial slam only to find the two others closing in on him from both sides, with open, rock-formed jaws that could easily fit his entire body inside of their clasp a few times over.

"Dunkel: Slicer!"

Using his index fingers as the catalysts, he waved his armor-clad fingers swiftly in the direction of each stone dragon, unleashing dark slashes against their rocky hide.

What's taking them so long?! He thought.

As he began to worry about the timing of his comrades, he only briefly repelled the aggressive dragon heads, having to avoid their retaliation by using one of their heads as a launch pad, flipping onto the other as he sprinted down its boulder-formed, serpentine-like body.

Though he already had his answer: he was atop a mountain, several thousand meters high. Even so, he was unclear of how much time it was he needed to buy.

But, those thoughts were secondary–what he must focus on was right before him.

Simply repelling and chattering the stone dragon heads with dark slicers wasn't enough; by a wave of the Orc God's hands once more, a dozen began to burrow out from the bulk of the mountain.

"....More?" He muttered.

Extending forth, the corundum, serpentine dragons swarmed towards him with lengths that seemed only to grow as he took to the air, running along their bodies and hopping between them as they crashed into one another.

Of course, the colossal orc deity didn't sit still, sprinting up the towering body of one of the summoned draconic, stone golems as the dozen towers swayed, curled, and swung in the air.

Within moments, a clash of fists began between the two; though the raw physicality of the Orc God far surpassed his own, he made up for it, augmenting himself with 'critical impacts' each time they managed to meet amidst the trail of constantly moving dragon heads.

It became overwhelming; the numerous dragon heads continued to close in on him with their gargantuan, stone maws attempting to clasp down on him, or slamming against him as he was forced to constantly evade multiple angles whilst combating the Orc God himself.

Enough…! He thought.

After leaping back from one of the dragon heads crashing by him, he spread his arms out as wide as possible, maximizing his wingspan as black lightning coiled around his hands.

"Raijin: Critical Impact–!"

He yelled out as he slammed his palms together in a grandiose clap that momentarily condensed and swirled the space between his hands, releasing in a powerful sonic boom, generating a shock wave that propelled in the surrounding area.

For a moment, all he could hear was blaring ringing in his ears after the resulting, abrasive sonic boom, feeling his snowy tufts flutter in the release of wind.

Around him, the draconic stone golems were shattered into thousands of pebbles, while also succeeding in knocking the Orc God to the ground with a brutal plummet.

"Grngh…!"

He wasn't excluded from the force of it, either; feeling the shock wave of his own creation cascade against the marrow of his bones, rippling the muscles beneath his skin.

After falling back down to the ground on his feet, he watched as the orc didn't stay embedded in the rocky, gravel-laid surface of the large summit for very long.

With a leap, the orc resurfaced as sediment fell from his body, housing only light scratches on his immutable temple of flesh.

"Of course," he muttered wryly.