Chapter 65: Axi’s Inner Thoughts
But the ninth strike didn’t go as smoothly as planned.
Sko used his long axe to block it.
With a loud “boom,” the enormous force transmitted through the axe into his body, and then into the ground.
The earth shuddered, and dust billowed into the air.
When the dust settled, cracks were visible on the ground beneath them.
Although he had a tough time blocking it, and it didn’t look pleasant at all, he managed to hold his ground successfully.
Axi’s explosive attack had once again ended in failure.
Axi stared in disbelief at the scene unfolding before him.
Sko grinned at Axi.
At this moment, he had regained his composure.
Axi’s barrage of attacks had pulled him out of his frenzy.
“Human, you’re strong; no wonder that guy Sam fell to you. But I’m not Sam, so I won’t fall by your hand.”
With that, Sko thrust his axe forward with force and kicked out, sending Axi stumbling backward with his combined push and kick.
In the end, Axi crashed straight to the ground.
However, Sko stumbled a bit himself.
He swayed, almost tipping over.
Clearly, Axi’s earlier attacks hadn’t been without effect.
Though he appeared fine on the surface, something was definitely amiss inside.
But in the end, he steadied himself.
Once he regained his balance, he looked at the fallen Axi and continued, “Since I’m still alive, I’ll kill you.”
He didn’t care whether Axi understood the orc language, babbling away regardless.
Axi, shaken, propped himself up with his sword to stand.
He couldn’t comprehend what Sko was saying.
Yet he could read some meaning from Sko’s expression.
To that, he didn’t back down one bit.
He fixed his gaze on Sko, clearly intent on continuing the fight.
However, Airael had no intention of letting them keep fighting.
The battle had reached a point where it was time to stop.
Both of them were already in a mutually assured destruction situation; continuing would lead to their end.
And right now, the human side had the chance to turn the tables.
Thus, there was no need to let Axi sacrifice himself.
At that moment, Airael didn’t think twice.
She simply felt that since they were allies now, there was no need for Axi to make pointless sacrifices.
“Baron, the orcs are at their limit; it’s time to drive them away for good.”
Hearing Airael’s words, Powell looked at the temporarily paused Axi and Sko, clenched his teeth, and decided to follow Airael’s lead.
He led the human soldiers to charge at the orcs.
Faced with the surging human soldiers, the already disadvantaged orcs found themselves in an even tougher situation.
Axi and Sko both watched the chaos around them.
Sko gritted his teeth and exclaimed, “Despicable humans!”
Axi closed his eyes and bowed his head in silence.
The next fight proceeded smoothly.
Though Sko had just thrown out some tough words to Axi, he was already at the end of his rope.
He simply couldn’t turn the tide anymore and ultimately had to flee with his remaining men.
The human side may have achieved victory, but the price paid was high.
Take, for instance, the soldiers who had died initially guarding the city and the knights leading them.
After dealing with some post-battle matters, Airael made her way to Axi’s room.
Following her were Celia and Aurora.
Now that they had joined the fray, there was no need to stay hidden any longer; they could reveal themselves and acknowledge Airael.
Upon confirming it was indeed them, Airael didn’t say much more and just let them follow her.
Moreover, even if she wanted to send them back, she couldn’t!
Once inside Axi’s room, Celia and Aurora stayed at the door, keeping watch.
After entering, Airael removed her hood and looked at Axi, who was sitting on the bed, lost in thought, and asked, “Are you hurt?”
Axi snapped back to reality and gently shook his head at Airael: “I’m fine, just some minor injuries, and I’ve already taken care of them.”
“Since you’re alright, can I ask what you were thinking about just now?”
“Nothing at all.”
Axi shook his head again, then chuckled softly, “I was just letting my mind wander.”
“Really just wandering?”
Airael was skeptical.
Earlier, she had seen Axi’s serious expression.
“Really!”
Axi replied with certainty.
Seeing Axi’s demeanor, Airael sighed, “Anyway, I owe you an apology for what happened earlier; I hope you won’t hold it against me.”
Axi looked at Airael, puzzled, and asked, “Hold it against you for what?”
Witnessing Axi’s cluelessness, Airael couldn’t help but feel a bit exasperated, “For interrupting your duel with that orc! Don’t you hold a grudge against me?”
His nonchalant attitude made it seem like she was the only one worrying unnecessarily.
Hearing Airael bring it up, Axi nodded, “What you did was a bit inappropriate, but you don’t need to apologize to me because it wasn’t a major error or anything.”
Looking at Axi, Airael smiled, “Thank you for your understanding; that really puts my mind at ease.”
With that, Airael casually sat down next to Axi and continued, “I was really worried you might be one of those stubborn types about such matters.”
“Then you can relax now.”
Axi looked at Airael and said that.
“Hmm!” Airael nodded vigorously.
But then she looked at Axi and said, “However, I think there’s still something bothering you about the fight earlier.”
Axi’s expression subtly changed.
Airael caught this and smiled.
She added, “I don’t think you need to hide it from me; you can tell me. Who knows? I might be able to help you sort it out.”
“You can help me defeat Sko?”
Seeing Airael’s confident expression, Axi casually asked.
“If you want, of course I can.”
Airael replied earnestly.
For a moment, they both fell silent, staring at each other.
In the end, Axi broke the deadlock and looked away, saying, “No thanks, I’ll handle this myself.”
“Thank you for your trust. If you ever truly need my help with this, just feel free to ask, and I’ll help you as I said.”
Watching Axi, Airael said with a smile.