To bring out the full potential of my magic, I needed to be physically touching the target. My hand gripped tightly onto the orc's arm before he could free the rest of his body from [Restrain].

“Thunderbolt.”

[170 damage]

There it was, the full brunt of the recoil went directly into the orc's health bar. The orc got knocked back onto the ground by the force of the recoil, shaking its head in an effort to get rid of his dazed state.

I shot a ranged thunderbolt at him as he tried to get back up, stumbling him, then kneeled on his massive torso and grabbed his head with my palm like a giant basketball.

The orc stirred in its dazed state, grabbing my shoulder and squeezing.

Fuck it hurt so much. Just by squeezing with one hand, he was exerting a bone crushing amount of force on my shoulder. 

I needed it to come off cooldown, right now.

2.

1.

This was the longest four second cooldown of my life. The pressure on my shoulder made it felt like my bones were about to snap, but I continued to grip the orc's face.

0.

The second the cooldown to thunderbolt wore off, a loud explosion erupted from the orc's head. My arm trembled from the recoil.

You have slain an orc.

You have gained experience.

You have earned 80 silver.

I felt shivers from the adrenaline, fighting something that could kill me in just two hits, that required perfect execution to take down. This must be what it felt like to fight in a souls-like game in real life. Brutally unforgiving combat.

My hp continued to rise consistently, and the half hp chunk of damage that I received from the orc was nearly gone. Having healer support was amazing. Eric charged forward with his greatsword and connected with the broad side of his sword onto the orc’s leg. I was glad to have Eric on my side for this battle.

“Volley!”

One of the players fighting at ground level near us was an archer, who was letting loose a flurry of arrows in point blank range of an orc. The orc shrugged off the damage and thrusted with his halberd, killing the archer in one blow. Of the six players from earlier, only three players were left standing. They were a healer, an archer, and a mage. Their frontline was completely wiped out by orcs.

I quickly discovered that my love whip could only bind an orc for around three seconds before they broke through the entanglement. Fortunately, I was free to spam thunderbolts without worrying about the recoil because I had a healer on me, as long as I was conscious about the cooldown.

Mana was an issue though. I wanted to be mana efficient and use melee thunderbolts for the explosion damage, but getting close to orcs with my frail physical resistance was difficult.

Players and guards were falling left and right to the orc and goblin onslaught. The city’s elite guards, dressed in full knight armor, were holding their own a bit better but were still getting pushed back. Eric was fighting his third orc, and his health was at half even with healer support. His armor was getting dented from all the blows it was sustaining.

I ran through the inner gate and grabbed a priest.

“I’ll buy as many mana potions as possible. Hurry!”

I opened my inventory and dumped a pile of silver on the ground.

“O-okay. Here you go.”

A few of the priests handed me [Medium Mana Potions] and [Small Mana Potions]. I downed a medium mana potion and returned to the fight. The cooldown on the potions were long enough that I had to still be cost efficient with my mana usage.

Arrows shot towards me from the rooftops. I blocked two with one sweep of dimension ripper, but the third sank into my torso.

[-13 health]

“Archers, target the goblin archers on the rooftop!”

The city’s archers let loose a volley towards the goblins on the roof. A goblin was struck down by arrows.

Eric was engaged with two orcs at once. I grabbed love whip and lashed at one of the orcs. As soon as the whip connected and dealt damage, I casted restrain.

“Restrain!”

The whip immediately began to coil around the orc, restricting its movement for a few crucial seconds. I lept closer and slammed my palm into its stomach.

“Thunderbolt!”

BOOM.

[190 damage].

I ordered the whip to return to my hand, and lashed at it again before it could recover.

Thwack.

[63 damage].

You have slain an orc.

You have gained experience.

You have earned 81 silver.

“Paladin slash!”

Eric cut down the orc he was fighting. His breathing was laborious, and his health was below 30%. He fell to one knee, panting.

“You’re one hell of a mage, huh Spoon?”

“Yeah, I can hold my own.”

On the rooftop nearby, I saw Meat Shield solo an archer goblin. Meat Shield didn’t do much damage, but her dimensional evasion skills meant she was untouchable by normal goblins. She dismantled the goblins at her own pace.

“Earth lance.”

“Rally.”

“Fireworks!”

A new group of players were fighting off to the right, in front of the blacksmithy. One of the mages just horizontally launched a large firework at a goblin, which exploded in spectacular fashion on impact. It was one of the unique spells from the Eclipse system.

“Haha, that never gets old.”

I scanned the battle. Of the six players and two guards from earlier, only two of the players, a mage and a healer, remained. They were facing three injured orcs with less than 75% hp. I ran towards them and attacked. Eric was still catching his breath and healing.

I performed the same combo from before, lashing with my whip.

[62 damage]

As soon as the whip connected…

“Restrain!”

The other orc swung at me with its halberd. I dodged under the slow sweep dexterously and grabbed the restrained orc.

“Thunderbolt.”

CRACK.

[194 damage]

The orc’s hp fell to under 10%.

“I got him! Fireball!”

The mage’s fireball connected with the restrained orc’s body, but it seemed to just splash off.

[27 damage]

The orc barely survived. The level 15 mage and level 13 healer were no real match for orcs.

*Grunt*

The third orc slammed the mage with his mace and killed her instantly. I retracted love whip and finished the badly injured orc off.

You have slain an orc.

You have leveled up.

The orc has dropped a [Half Axe].

You have earned 87 silver.

“Iyaaa!”

The healer was finished off by a halberd strike.

Watching the healer get gruesomely cleaved in half made me nervous. I was going to be next, wasn't I.... 

My left hand felt a strange, hot sensation. [Dimension Ripper] was glowing, and a black mist surrounded the glove as if it were a visible aura. 

A new notification popped up.

The bloodshed of a massive battle has awakened a hidden feature of [Dimension Ripper].

[Dimension Ripper]

Mythical unique item.

An unassuming black glove for the left hand. Allows the wearer to briefly open a dimensional rift. Previous owner is currently unknown. 

Cooldown: 2 seconds

Mana cost: Dependent on displacement

Soul bound.

Level restriction: Level 3 or above.

Hidden Feature

[Heart Ripper]: Ripper of hearts, stealer of souls.

Effect: Unknown

What kind of ability was this? Effect unknown? Bullshit!

I didn’t have much time to think, as the halberd wielding orc grazed me with a jab.

[-110 health]

Jesus christ, if a graze could deal 40% of my health, a direct hit was guaranteed to instakill me.

“Heart ripper.”

I threw my left hand into the orc’s chest.