Chapter 427

Much like Ajax expected it wasn’t going to be easy to land an attack on the ettin. His main objective right now was to conserve his own mana all while trying to draw blood and poison the boss. As he was running away Ajax fired two more arrows this time however he empowered one with Wind and one with Shadow mana. 

The Wind arrow was much quicker but it met the same fate as the Void arrow, this time however the barrier was put up further away from the ettin’s body costing more mana to keep it active, not only that but the power of the arrow was also much higher. The impact of the Shadow arrow even managed to crack the mana shield by striking in the same spot. 

“Good, come on.” Ajax smiled as he ran, he could feel it when the ettin changed from a bubble shield to a tower wall separating the two of them. “Keep following me.” 

It had been a long time since Ajax had last used his [Trapping] skill, none of his most recent fights were a good fit yet the skill was part of the foundation Ajax’s entire fighting style had been built upon during his first few years of combat training with Hatchet. 

Ajax knew that by continuing to fire arrows that had some mana infused into them at the ettin it would not only force the creature to keep up its shield so that he could use [Mana Syphon] on it but it would also make it less likely to look for any attacks that had no mana infused into them.

As they raced down the narrow mountain path Ajax was  forced further and further on the defensive as the mage started tossing one fireball after another, the attacks didn’t have all that much mana infused into them so Ajax could almost syphon them entirely before they even reached him. 

The chase ended when Ajax arrived at his prepared spot and the crude traps managed to stab two spears into the ettins legs. The traps had barely enough power to break the skin and draw blood but that was enough for them to poison the boss.

“GRRHHH” one of the heads growled as it dislodged the weapons with a swipe of its hand.

“Too late now, the poison’s already in your blood.” Ajax’s smile died on his face however when he focused his mana sense on the boss’s eye, specifically the eye he took out with his opening shot. “So you’ve got [Regeneration].” While the eye wasn’t yet fully restored he could feel the mana healing it slowly, it wasn’t the first time Ajax had come up against a creature with that skill but he hated dealing with them. 

There weren’t all that many differences between a healing spell and [Regeneration], both of them healed the user and both of them cost mana to use, the big difference was that while [Regeneration] was a bit slower the entire process was internal so Ajax’s [Mana Syphon] couldn’t weaken the effects.

“Let’s see what you can do.” Ajax stored his bow and pulled out his hammer and his axe as he suddenly dashed towards the ettin.

Engaging the monster in melee combat had been inevitable, Ajax knew he simply didn’t have the power to kill it from range, despite this Ajax was very much on the back foot, his only saving grace was that the size difference between him and the boss helped him in terms of speed as much as it helped the ettin in terms of raw strength. 

“Is it petty that I’m a little glad he’s getting a taste of his own medicine.” Despite Arianwyn’s scathing words her tone showed how worried she was about the danger her new friend found himself in every time the ettin’s club swept by inches away from connecting with Ajax’s body. 

Despite the joking element of Arianwyn’s comment the prince couldn’t help but agree with her that Ajax was very much getting a taste of his own medicine, the boss’s fighting style perfectly matched his own only it was pushed to a higher level. The only reason Ajax’s hadn’t yet been knocked off the edge or smashed into the cliff side was that the ettin was forced to adapt to how much weaker its spells were while under the effect of Ajax’s [Mana Syphon]. 

Ajax was not only also aware of this but he was milking it for everything he could. Despite the creature’s second head the ettin still had a humanoid body and Ajax was playing into that as much as he could by trying to keep himself dancing between the boss’s feet.

“Why doesn’t it just kick at him?” Elara asked, she could feel both Ajax and the ettin were fighting for mana control of their immediate surroundings, meaning that neither could use an earth spell to shape the ground underneath them.

“Too risky.” Aranor answered. “While Ajax might be a ways behind the beast in terms of raw strength, if it tried to kick him it would mean putting all of its weight on one leg, it's what Ajax is trying to bait it into doing so that he can knock it down.”

Ajax was getting frustrated as he danced around the creature’s legs trying to bait it into a kick, this led to his first mistake. While Ajax knew the creature was decently skilled he had still fallen for his own prejudice in assuming the ettin was a dumb creature based on its representation in games back on Earth.

“He messed up.” Aranor called it when he felt the ettin empower the club much more than he did during any of the previous swing.

Ajax felt to increase in mana and managed to perfectly dodge the swing, what he didn’t account for was the air blast released that close to him from the impact of the club against the ground. The blast was enough to send him airborne for an instant. That instant where his legs were no longer touching the ground was all the ettin needed to safely and accurately line up a kick. 

“Not yet.” the prince said as he saw Ajax swap his hammer for a shield in time to tank the kick. 

Ajax’s body was sent skidding across the ground like a ragdoll bouncing three times before the skidded to a stop thirty feet from the ettin on one knee with his shield raised in the direction of the spells that were now raining towards him.

Ajax was back on his feet in an instant, his eyes locked onto the body of the ettin. He could feel his body protesting the intense movement so close to the massive impact he suffered, his Light and Life mana were already hard at work repairing the internal bleeding yet as he paused to spit a mouthful of blood off to the side Ajax grinned a bloody smile. 

Despite the initial wounds closing, Ajax could see a black roadmap forming across the skin of the ettin from the initial wounds as the poison started to spread through the creature’s system.

As Ajax dashed towards the ettin once more the creature had finally stopped throwing spells at him, it had finally realized how worthless the numerous weak spells were and it instead focused on augmenting the physical attacks with magic or going for much fewer but stronger spells that [Mana Syphon] wouldn’t be able to disperse.

“The poison is working.” Arianwyn smiled as she noticed the black veins that were popping out on the boss’s legs from the initial trap.

Ajax knew he wouldn’t be able to get a large enough dose of poison into the boss that any quick acting poison would be effective. Instead he had decided to go for a paralyzing poison that got stronger over time if left untreated looking to capitalize on his speed advantage, with the ettin’s legs being sluggish Ajax was finally able to get into position and land a solid blow with his axe to the boss’s knee.

The [Mana Skin] the boss had returned to using following the trap had shattered like glass as the Magma infused swing embedded the axe into the back of the knee. The strike carried so much force that it even sent the behemoth stumbling forward on one knee.

Despite the creature’s crumbling form Ajax had overextended himself by throwing his entire weight behind his axe. The club swing was horrible to begin with, aiming for a low spot behind the wielder, falling forward had sent the swing low but it had still managed to get a glancing blow onto Ajax as the end of the club smashed into the ground beside him and it sent him flying into the side of the cliff.

Both Ajax and the boss took a moment to recover, Ajax exited the small outline his body had dented into the side of the cliff and the ettin climbed back to his feet as the squared off once again. For once the ettin didn’t roar of charge towards him.

Ajax didn’t hesitate as he felt the large amount of mana the boss was channeling and he charged. The boss tried the same trick a second time as it empowered a powerful blow aimed at sending Ajax airborne, instead of fighting it however Ajax played into it and used the blow to launch himself into the air and towards one of the boss’s heads.

The boss quickly leaned out of the way but it wasn’t far enough, Ajax may left his axe stuck in the boss’s leg but he was quick to pull out his one handed spear. As he flew by the boss’s head he faked going for the eye causing the boss to toss its head backwards trying to take the blow on the chin and instead stuck his spear into the freshly exposed neck. The strike was infused with Lightning mana and the shock was powerful enough that the ettin lost control of its muscles causing its arm to miss swatting Ajax out of the air. 

With that Ajax went over the edge of the cliff, aiming for the small tree branch he knew was waiting for him before he slowly dropped down to the valley below. 

“Time for round two.” Ajax said as he pulled out his boosting potion and focused on healing his body as much as he could while he waited for the boss to limp after him.