Chapter 172 Face Off : Orun / Caius I
Orun is incapable of flight, the stunt he pulled earlier that propelled him toward Caius had done its job. As he now had nothing to hold unto, he began to fall back to the ground.
To stop himself from further dropping, he sprouted out vines from the ground beneath, making the shape out in the form of a tree, and lengthening the height to be long enough to hold him in the sky, standing straight and taller than all the trees in the forest.
Orun dropped down on the vine, using it as a foothold to support himself in midair. From the vine, he sprouted out more vines and sent it all after Caius who was floating in midair with nothing to support himself with.
"ho. You do have some pretty tricks up your sleeves".
Caius evaded the incoming vines, and made his way downward where Orun was standing.
He also did not back away, as he steeped his legs on the vines, and launched himself at Caius.
Orun sprouted out the thorn from his palm like a chainsaw, or rather, an handsaw. When he got to where Caius was, he stretched it out, aiming to cut him down with it.
Caius in response to the thorn shaped vine coming at him, used his fire ability and created a sword made completely with fire. He thrust out the sword and collided it with the saw.
The both exchanged a few hits with the sword and saw aggressively making contact with each other.
Orun thrust his thorned free hand out at Caius, intending to attack his eyes, Caius however was quick to dodge as he slightly bent his head backward with Orun\'s hand passing above his face.
He wasn\'t at all flustered by Caius evading speed, and simply thrust down the fist that was once hovering in Caius\'s face, he abruptly thrusts it down on him, with Caius quick to raise his guard to defend against Orun\'s fist.
The fist made contact with his guard, but contrary to what Caius had expected, he wasn\'t able to fully tank Orun\'s punch and got sent flying downward.
The speed with which Caius was falling at, is far too fast for him to control his body so he could fly back to the sky instead of falling.
His back hit the ground hard, creating a mini sized earthquake in the form of sound, with waves blowing away all that is in the vicinity he fell into.
The ground that accepted Caius\'s body, slowly shattered itself with only cracks forming beneath it, and extending itself to sizeable distance before stopping.
"damn, it seems I have underestimated my opponent!".
Orun did not allow Caius to finish his speech, as he drops himself down, heavily on his body.
A wave much greater than when Caius had fallen, swept away all that is in the surroundings, with the forest that were nearby also bearing the grunts of the wave, the trees were completely uprooted from their roots, and a thunderous echo rang out like it was signifying the coming of a catastrophic storm.
The ground that already had cracks formed at its top, broke down completely like mud falling into pieces, and Caius that was on top, was being buried in.
Orun wasted no time at all, as he stands on Caius\'s body and uses it as a drilling object, ramming his body into the earth and shattering it further in.
Caius\'s body was being used by Orun to dig out a well in the ground, and showed no signs of stopping as he goes further into the floor beneath.
"damn you monster".
One would think that Caius\'s body being used to drill a well in the ground, will resort to his body getting damaged or getting bruised, but none of such happened.
Not even his Cardinal uniform had a dent on it despite being dragged all the way down, and getting rolled up in the dirt the earth has to offer.
He wasn\'t as affected as Orun thought Caius was going to be when having his body buried in the ground non-stop.
Orun changed tactics and jumped off of Caius\'s body. Even when he was no longer on top of Caius, the force with which he had used in burying his body was still at work, and Caius\'s body was still digging downward.
Orun from above, took a stern look at Caius, and he sprouted out vines from the walls surrounding him, attaching them to Caius\'s two hands and legs to incapacitate him.
He used the vines attached to Caius\'s limbs, to stop him from going any deeper into the ground, and halted his movements completely.
To support himself in midair, Orun sprouted vines from the walls surrounding him, and made a foothold with it.
Orun from above, looked down at the incapacitated Caius, wondering exactly what to be done with him. Initially, Orun would have killed Caius without hesitation, but this time, he couldn\'t.
His intuition was telling him that Caius coming into the forest and specifically attacking him when he was on the Wyvern leader\'s back, are not mere coincidence.
There were sixteen Wyverns flying in the sky then, and of those sixteen, it just so happens that Caius went after the one he was on. But, assuming even that was just an ordinary coincidence, what sort of explanation can be given for Caius paying no attention to the Wyverns and only coming after him.
He put himself in Caius\'s shoes, and wondered what he would have done
Orun in Caius\'s position will be capable of flight, the moment he senses sixteen Wyverns hovering above him, he would have flew up, and attacked all fifteen of them at once, using his speed advantage and skills.
With the slight exchange he had with Caius, Orun deemed him stronger than the Wyverns put together, and also capable of taking them all down, but he did no such thing as he only focused on him.
\'the problem is, I don\'t remember seeing his face ever before".
Orun thought, wondering from where Caius could have known him from to resort to coming after him. He has had less interactions with humans, and even less after what he did in Edevin.
He does not remember forming any sorts of memorable impression with any human that would require said humans to be targeting him.
What he is yet to realize, that what he did in Edevin had traces of him lingering in the dungeon, and those traces, are what Caius used in tracking him down to the forest.
Orun had no more time to think, as he noticed that Caius was about to open his mouth.
"okay, I admit, you are much more stronger than I give you credit for".
Caius\'s expression showed no traces of him being desperate despite being tied down and rendered immobile by vines controlled by Orun.
He openly expressed his admiration on Orun\'s strength and how he was able to overpower him so easily.
"you have done your best, I think it\'s high time i do mine".
He says, with flames coming out from his body, enveloping him whole like bubbles, bursting and instantly being replaced.
"monster, this is the end for you".