My Second Life Is A Heroic Power Fantasy - Chapter 194

The adventurers finally reached the cave entrance to the gnoll camp perhaps twenty minutes later. It looked exactly as Jack had seen it in his visions, complete with a litany of skulls of all kinds framing the entrance, and more still hung on spears and spikes outside the entrance.

Both inside and outside of the entrance, several rows of gnolls stood ready, and when Jack and the others finally came into view, they sent out whistles and yelps as they fell into defensive positions. These couple dozen were substantially better armored than the rest of the gnolls they’d seen previously, and were significantly larger. Each stood easily as tall as the gnoll berserkers Jack had fought, but each wore a full set of immaculately crafted matching plate armor and carried matching broad-bladed glaives. The lot of them snapped into well-coordinated formation, not a single limb out of place, as they waited for Jack and the others to approach.

Jack pulled Harrowbloom from its scabbard, and spoke the spellwords to boost his Prowess as the adventurer’s line collided with the armored gnoll defenders.

Jack immediately found himself beset by two of the creatures, each of them coordinating their attacks in rhythm with the other so that the second would strike in a place left defenseless by the parry of the first one’s attack. The only thing that kept him from catching a glaive blade was the magic coursing through his veins as he fought to keep himself on tempo with the two attackers.

The pressure was relieved a few moments later when Dawson the Daring stepped in and engaged on of the pair, his greatsword spinning and whirling in great flashing arcs as he pummeled at the dogman’s defenses.

Finding the odds now more firmly in his favor, Jack went on the offense against his other opponent, driving him back several steps as Harrowbloom flicked and darted at the creature’s body, trying to find some soft purchase in the gaps of the creature’s armor. The dogman finally overcompensated in an overhead parry. Seizing the opportunity, Jack softened his grip on his blade, letting it slide gently down the gnoll’s guard before tightening again and biting the blade deep into the side of the creature’s neck. The gnoll stumbled, instinctively pulling a hand up to stop the bleeding, and with a roar Jack thrust his blade into the soft leather of the creature’s armpit. Harrowbloom slid effortlessly through joint and sinew before punching out the other side and burying several inches deep into the soft flesh under the creature’s jaw. The gnoll’s eyes widened before glazing over in death. With a flourish Jack jerked the blade free, sending a spray of red through the air. As soon as he did so, he felt his senses and awareness suddenly heighten again, and everything seem to slow ever so slightly.

Apparently, even if the time of Harrowbloom’s enchantment had ended for a day, he could still get the couple of minutes of re-enchantment by killing an evil creature. Good to know.

Jack turned his attention to the other gnoll, only to find Dawson stomping its face into a bloody mess with the heel of his metal boot.

“Dawson!” Jack called out to the metal man.

Dawson the Daring turned his attention towards Jack as he continued to stomp on the ever more unrecognizable lump of soggy flesh under his boot.

“Yes, Lord?” He replied cheerily.

“He’s dead now. You can stop and help me with the rest of these.” Jack said, rubbing his eyes.

“Of course, Lord!” Dawson said, giving the splattered mess beneath his boot one final enthusiastic stomp before saluting and turning to find a new opponent.