Chapter 93 093: The Combating Of Titus Boris
Titus had already exposed and established himself as a mage, a real magic user with enough power and versatility to his spells. Never the less with his increase in size and bulk, he brought a physical aspect to the equation that frankly speaking was now giving Cole an extremely tough time as he was finding it hard to keep with his strength.
Cole stepped back, holding his sword across his body as Titus's rapier smashed into it, pushing him backwards a few more steps, a he sidestepped the next swing, letting it fall past his body while he smashed the pommel in the direction of Titus's sternum. The goblin used a knee to defend that pushed Cole back once again, throwing him a few feet back as he rolled on the ground this time.
He couldn't stay there for long however as he quickly rolled to the side, dodging away from the massive form of Titus that seemed to cover the shadow of the moon above him. Cole rolled on the ground, coming to a stop at the base of tree as he pointed his hand in the approaching Goblin… or was he now some jacked up version of a Hob-goblin's direction and fired of a [Chaos Blast]
He quickly put up a stronger version of the bubble barrier that has been keeping him safe so far, but that was still unable to fully stand up to the corrosive power of chaos as he was blasted a few steps back, his shield rippling a bit before fading away. Cole pressed his advantage, using [Shadow Dance] to pop up from behind Titus, directly out of his shadow and deliver a devastating cut to his back.
Titus let out a rictus snarl as he slashed into the air behind, but Cole was already gone, putting some distance between the both of them as he raised his hand into the air and said to Titus. "And that is one." The goblin look confused and had to ask back.
"What do you mean by that?" and in response he got. "Oh don't worry Mr. Titus, you will be finding out soon enough."
[Spectral Rover]
The world seemed to slow down as Cole rushed into Titus's space, activating use of a skill that he knew he had but had not put to use on a battlefield yet. [Vertigo] Titus felt the world tilt sideways as his stomach churned and all the contents in his stomach threatened to come right back up. Cole augmented this extremely debilitating skill by utilizing [Gravity] to turn the goblin head over heels.
He got a chest full of lightning for his troubles as he was blasted backwards, his body rolling on the ground and through dried and rotten berry bushes before smashing against a fruit tree that did not hesitate to drop its rotten contents on his body, which also included a snake of all things. Cole shuddered and flung the reptile as far as he could away from himself as he eyed a still wobbling Titus.
Then the moment was over as the effect of [Vertigo] wore off, but Cole could still see it in his eyes, Titus absolutely didn't know want to experience that again. Cole on the other hand felt he might just have found his next go to signature skill. He rushed forwards, and [Double Jumped] into the air, going directly over Titus as he came down in an arc towards his head.
There was no way the Goblin would let that happen so alighting blast followed by a fireball quickly moved up to intercept Cole. [Gravity] was a lot stronger now. With his upgrade to Iron rank attunement stat, the range now crossed into 10 meters in radius or diameter, and its power had quadrupled to eight times the normal gravity on earth.
And since it was a mastery skill it was extremely versatile. While Cole was not yet powerful enough to use it to fly, at least not for an extended period of time, he could use it in much the same manner Titus has been deflecting all of his strikes, as a cocoon of sorts to protect him from skills and attacks. He succeeded, but only partially as the lightning still went through while the fireball was intercepted.
Once again Cole was handed the shock of his life as his body was blasted higher into the air. Giving Titus enough of a distance to start casting another spell that frankly speaking Cole did not think he would love to see the end of. Rigged spell circles began to appear around his body, along with a pentagram on his feet. But Titus made a mistake, he felt that he had time and distance, but he was wrong.
[Shadow Dance]
Cole popped out of his own shadow, which ironically was directly over Titus's own head as he gave the goblin a nasty cut from left eye to collar bone. He screamed, lost his concentration and a back lash from the spell ensued that blasted the both of them back, creating a shockwave of red and black energy that fizzled in the air and let out the smell of ozone.
Cole grunted, he could feel his chest burning and it was extremely difficult to breathe. Whatever the fuck this backlash was… it absolutely didn't feel good. He groaned as he turned himself over and looked right at Titus just before he plunged his rapier into Cole's very own eye.
"Arghhhh! Shit! Fuck!"
Cole had reacted in time, grabbing the blade and holding it still while he prevented the goblin from pushing it any deeper. He stabbed Black Malakai into the Goblins thigh, in the same moment he activated [Vertigo] causing the goblin to swoon and falter as he took an involuntary step back, pulling his rapier out of Cole's eye with a wet squelching sound. Cole did not stand on ceremony as he fired off a [Chaos Blast] at point blank range at the Goblin, throwing him off his feet and back into a statue of himself and then through more shrubbery,
He held his hand to his left eye, or his eye socket stemming the flow of blood as his heart boiled in anger just as hard as his mind registered the pain. He walked over to Titus who was shakily getting back up to his feet, but was finding it impossible to do so, even as the effects of [Vertigo] seemed to wear off.
"What do you to me? What have you done to me you bastard!" he asked as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground kneeling, his head coming up to Cole's chest, just to show how tall he currently was.
"You spoke of a fight from one cursed blade to another…. I don't know what sort of course your blade has, short of the fact that you just poked my eye out with it. But my sword… Black Malakai has this nifty ability where after three cuts, it will curse w=you with rot. And I have never seen it in action before as most people or monsters are usually by the time second cut comes along. But if I should hazard a guess I would say your insides are currently rotting away, and I can't stop it.
However before you die, and believe me when I tell you, you are going to die. Let me show you heights of pain that is unlike anything you have ever felt before… after all I did promise you an extremely painful death."
[Sin Eater]
He screamed, one that was so keening and nerve wracking that the other people in the manor who had been paying attention to their fight felt their souls and bodies grow cold in fright. Titus Boris was a very powerful mage, and regardless of what kind he was… the goblin had an abundance of energy that even with the Rot curse was still available in his body…. And Cole took it, he took it all.
His absorption of energy also took in the rot curse, but as he and his bonded sword were the originator, there was effect on him, in fact it was almost as if the curse itself strengthened him, though Cole really couldn't out a hand on it. He left Titus with barely enough energy to survive as he got up and began to drag the severely desiccated and drained body of the now shrunken down goblin behind him.
Titus mumbled to himself, saliva frothing as his mouth as he made incoherent babblings and his body shook and shivered at intervals. Every time he looked at Cole, he would screech and try to move his weakened body in an attempt to get away from the demon that had brought him so low and right to the doors of death. But he would be dying soon enough, Cole just needed him like this as a deterrent.
"Now all you fucking horse thieves march out and let's get moving, the rest of you should probably find your way out of this valley before something else decides to eat you…. After all…. It belongs to me now."