Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [47]
The giant was already swinging at him again. Abdel easily redirected the path of the giant's awkward attack and carved out the eye of his foe in a series of fluid sword strokes learned through years of practice and training. Yaga Shura screamed in pain and stumbled back, bringing one massive hand up to clutch at the blinded, mangled orb in his head.
As one, his troops cried out in surprise and dismay. But when Yaga Shura dropped his hand, now covered in blood and ocular fluid, Abdel was only mildly surprised to see the eye had been fully restored. In the pit of his stomach, Abdel felt a heavy, sinking feeling. He realized this must be the same hopelessness many of his past enemies had felt when they understood the ineffectiveness of their weapons against Abdel himself.
The giant's amused laugh was drowned out by the cheers of his followers, and he engaged Abdel once more.
The battle quickly fell into the pattern established in the first two exchanges. Yaga Shura attacked without technique or style, as he knew only brute force and sheer strength. Abdel, with the expertise of a trained swordsman, was easily able to evade or parry every blow and deliver a savage counterstrike each time. Abdel didn't know the scope of his own regenerative abilities, but he was determined to push Yaga Shura's healing powers to the absolute limits.
He carved the giant's throat, he impaled vital organs on the point of his sword, he inflicted dozens of wounds, each one fatal. Again and again he mutilated the unskilled foe opposing him, but the injuries he inflicted were transitory, the damage temporary and ultimately ineffectual.
The battle had raged for only ten minutes, a brief time for the cheering spectators but an eternity for the combatants. Abdel's breath came in gasps, his massive chest heaving like a bellows to try and bring fuel in to his oxygen-starved limbs. The muscles in his legs screamed each time he crouched to duck under one of Yaga Shura's swings, and they threatened to cramp up every time he leaped clear of a descending chop. His shoulders burned with fatigue, his hands and fingers were numb from the ceaseless vibrations as Abdel parried blow after blow from the mighty giant's great axe.
Only then, as his body threatened to collapse in a trembling exhausted heap, did it dawn on Abdel. Yaga Shura had never learned technique or style because the giant had never needed them. Abdel could strike his enemy virtually at will, but no matter how overmatched Yaga Shura was in skill and ability the giant's physical invulnerability gave him an insurmountable advantage.
With each swing of his axe, Yaga Shura's advantage grew. Each time Abdel spun, or ducked, or dodged he felt the deadly blade miss by a smaller fraction. The big man was wearing down; his quickness and mobility ebbed as his stamina faded. Still the giant pressed him, relentless and irresistible as a force of nature.
Abdel tried to summon the rage of his immortal father. He reached down into the depths of his soul and stoked the flames of Bhaal's fury to give him strength, but there was nothing there. The knowledge that all the bloodshed and violence he was inflicting was meaningless against this foe had cooled the Lord of Murder's savage heat.
Abdel Adrian, drained and weapon-weary, knew he was going to die.
His feet betrayed him first, now far too heavy to perform the rapid backpedaling Abdel demanded in his latest effort to avoid the giant's latest brutally simple assault. The axe whistled through the air, its keen edge slicing a long, superficial wound across Abdel's chest as the big man fell backward, tripping over his own heel.
The sword fell from Abdel's grasp as he threw his hands back to cushion his fall. Even so, he struck the ground hard enough to momentarily see stars. When his vision cleared he saw Yaga Shura straddling him, his rune covered axe already arcing down to end Abdel's life.
Abdel wanted to surrender. His exhausted body begged to lie back and welcome the grisly end, but his warrior's