168 Fist against barrier

The ogre was big, but it was also fast and powerful, but it was more powerful than fast. While, on the other hand, both Mika and Atlas were faster than him and did not give him room to focus on either of them.

However, their attacks could barely do anything to the ogre's skin, and even if they managed to damage his skin, his large muscles were there to resist his attacks.

"Attack his feet!" Mika shouted from the other side of the ogre.

Atlas did not hesitate, so taking advantage of the fact that the ogre was currently looking at Mika, he stabbed the ogre's foot. This time, the ethereal edge of his spear managed to pierce the ogre's skin, only for it to turn around and lift his leg the next instant.

"Uh?"

Atlas only managed to raise his arms, covering himself from the ogre's kick that pushed him back again. Atlas felt the pain in his ribs again, suspecting that he already had some of them broken from the previous blow.

Fortunately, this attack was not that powerful, or Atlas would have been in trouble, but the real problem right now was rushing towards him.

Atlas could dodge again, but since the ogre had the momentum towards him, it would be more difficult than before.

'I just have to give her a chance'

Atlas smiled nervously, then he made the edges of the staff disappear and in their place created a blue ethereal barrier made up of dozens of hexagons.

'A god's own apostle was not able to break through, try if you can'

Atlas fully trusted true magic. A barrier strong enough to block the attacks of Prerial, who, although he was completely weakened by the time he spent in the church, was still an apostle.

The ogre's fist approached Atlas's barrier, who looked confused at the smile on the ogre's face.

'Why is he smiling?'

Atlas fully trusted true magic… but he shouldn't have underestimated the ogre.

A red aura surrounded the ogre's fist and slammed into Atlas's barrier, which was destroyed into hundreds of pieces. Atlas was unable to understand how the ogre had broken his true magic barrier, and could only watch as its first approached him.

'Ah… shit'

The ogre's fist hit Atlas head on, who simply flew back even worse than the first blow, rolling on the ground and then crashing again into the trunk of a tree.

This time Atlas barely maintained consciousness. His entire vision was stained red by the blood that soaked his face, his resistance to his pain no longer made sense since Atlas could barely feel his body.

He could only watch as the ogre smiled widely while he held Mika by her arm without her being able to resist.

'What damn place did we just enter?'

Atlas's vision was completely clouded, but not before seeing a greenish light spreading around, then his head fell to the side completely unconscious.

***

It was midsummer in the empire, so the sun shone brightly every day, but even so its rays of light could not penetrate the thickness of the forest. However, in the depths of the forest it was not the same, since the trees, although they were still gigantic, their leaves were less abundant and thinner, which allowed the light to illuminate the entire area.

And there, in the middle of the forest, in an old cabin, Atlas slowly opened his eyes.

'Where I am?'

His entire body was numb and he could barely move his limbs. The good point is that he didn't feel pain, so he didn't suffer while he processed his thoughts.

'No... What happened?'

Atlas remembered the fight against the red ogre, a fight that had ended terribly wrong.

'I'm alive, right?'

Atlas tried to get up, but his body refused to respond the way he wanted.

"I would recommend that you avoid moving too much"

Atlas was slightly startled when he heard the voice of a man in the same room where he was, then he looked towards the person and looked confused.

Several meters away from him, a man with white hair, wrinkles on his skin, green eyes and pointed ears looked at him while he held a cup of tea.

"Who?"

"Ahh… I told him not to go overboard more than usual"

The man put the teacup on the table, stood up and approached Atlas, who could only look at him without moving.

The man stood in front of Atlas's bed and his eyes shone slightly, as if he were studying him.

"Most of your internal injuries have already healed, but you still need rest for your spine to fully recover"

"M-my spine?"

Atlas had many questions, but when he discovered that his spine had been broken by the ogre's punch, those questions disappeared completely.

The man, understanding Atlas' concerns, did not hesitate to calm him down.

"Don't worry, the damage is not permanent as long as you don't overdo it for a couple of weeks"

Atlas gulped, trying to move the fingers of his hands without much success, achieving nothing more than a slight movement.

The man walked over to a shelf full of various plants and grabbed a few before turning back to Atlas.

"Put this leaf under your tongue, it will help with the pain"

Atlas hesitated for a moment, but then he opened his mouth and raised his tongue so the man could hold the leaf in his place. Atlas then closed his mouth feeling the leaf under his tongue and asked: "What pain?"

The man ignored his question and, uncovering Atlas's torso, put his cold hand on his chest and the next moment Atlas almost fell unconscious again when he felt his ribs pierce his organs.

The pain was completely horrible, so much so that Atlas didn't have the chance to ask what was happening, and it wasn't until a minute later that the man removed his hand from Atlas's chest and smiled.

"I just healed your ribs completely, now you should continue resting"

Atlas was drenched in sweat and his hands were shaking slightly, then he looked at the man with light tears on the sides of his eyes.

'Are you sure you didn't destroy them?'