Chapter 427 - First to Bleed

Anders

Ottawa

Anders strained in an effort to give his all in pushing the tower forward. Being opposite his Lord, the tower threatened to veer to the left under his vastly greater strength. Anders couldn't have countered on his own, but the work of dozens of people barely kept their path straight.

They could have asked Chris to slow down, to tone down how hard he was pushing, but none of them were willing to do so. They knew how he was, and he wouldn't for a second consider not being first into the breach.

That just wasn't how the man was built.

Instead, Anders felt the familiar power of [Northern Rage] coursing through him, making him that much better at keeping up. The others to his right were doing the same, with some even going so far as to call on their Bloodline for strength.

And furthest to his right, Lord Christopher stood at his normal stature and pushed with the force of over a dozen men while also controlling the ice in front of them to make their path smooth.

Anders could feel his deft hand manipulating the Ice. Ice was his own affinity, and he was proud of his ability with it, but people like Christopher accomplished such feats effortlessly, as if they had been born with such power.

The ice arranged itself at his call like every crystal was sworn to him, leaping to do his bidding like every Oathbound would. Like Anders himself would.

Under the intoxicating feeling of [Northern Rage] and other boosting Skills from the Mages, he felt the underlying power of frost. The power he'd gotten ever since his Lord picked the skill.

It had been a shock, at first. A boost was applied when he had done nothing to activate it. Like a lesser version of [Rage], applied to him by outside forces.

It gave him strength, it gave him speed, it gave him toughness, and, most importantly of all, it gave him courage. Not physically, that wasn't how the skill worked, but the knowledge, and the feeling inside him, knowing his Lord was there...

It gave him courage to look at the approaching spells and arrows, boulders and ballistae, and remain unflinching. Even when his skin tore, and spells exploded at his feet, he pushed onward.

His steps never faltered, nor did anyone else's.

Closer and closer they marched, their tower rumbling forward. Screams came from the unlucky behind him, but no one turned back. Spells ravaged the area around them. Arrows charged with mana exploded on impact. Thousands stood upon the walls, aiming to stop them.

Anders looked over at Christopher and saw a man resolute. No hesitation. No fear. Unflinching.

His armor of ice shed attacks as fast as they came in. What his ice didn't stop, his skin did. Full-powered arrows that cut into Anders and drew blood bounced off him like they were toothpicks.

Awe swelled within him. Awe and pride.

It helped him push through the pain. When an arrow embedded itself in his arm, he pushed on, just as his Lord would have done. As Anders had seen him do. When a fireball impacted his back, burning his skin and hair, he pushed on.

The wooden tower creaked under the assault, but the Mages inside did their job. Mana shields sprang up to block the worst of the assault, and the towers themselves weren't so fragile.

Spells of fire and stone hit shields of mana. Lightning splashed against those same shields, and so did every other element. Arrows thudded into wood, coating the front armor of the tower like a pincushion.

He lowered his head and pushed. What happened around him was of no consequence. His job, his duty, was to get the tower in place, and that is what he would do.

It came as a surprise when the tower lurched to an abrupt halt. The sudden and unexpected stop of running into the wall sent a jarring force through his body, but he didn't have time to recover. Anders knew he wouldn't be the first up the stairs, but he was certainly going to be the second.

Already, he saw Christopher taking the steps two, three at a time. Anders ripped the axe from his back and ran up after him.

As he did, the man's back only seemed to grow. His six-foot stature expanded to seven, then eight, then finally settled at over nine. The wood groaned under his additional weight, and the whole tower started to sway as the steps bore his weight.

Anders called on his own, humble Bloodline. It wasn't the Frost Giant lineage of his Lord, or the lineage of great Dragons. It was a simpler animal, but matched his nature perfectly, and that, sometimes, made up all the difference.

Ever since he'd first seen them roaming the far North, Anders knew the Bloodline was right for him.

Thick hair began to cover his arms and legs, not unsimilar to those with Ursine Bloodlines, but where they differed was the thundering steps and increasing charge speed he ran with. An ethereal horn overlayed upon the blade of his axe, and he held it in front of him to lead his charge.

Wholly Rhinos weren't the flashiest, but they fit his nature. To charge headlong and through, unrelenting.

The top of the tower came fast with the power coursing through him. The external boosting skills, [Frostguard Oathbound], [Northern Rage], and his Bloodline kept him only a few steps behind Christopher, which was a feat in and of itself.

What happened next would be something Anders would always admire.

The front wall of the tower was still raised and was the only thing keeping them sheltered from attack. To reach the wall, it needed to be pushed down and turned into a bridge.

Christopher never hesitated. He knew what awaited him, being the first out of the tower. He knew what stood on the other side. The primed and ready attacks that would assail him.

His steps never once faltered.

To be first. The vanguard. The most dangerous and the first to bleed. It was why Christopher would always have his respect and his loyalty.

He slammed into the wood, and it flew down, biting into the wall in front. Magic exploded, and Anders couldn't see anything besides the flash of spell fire and the silhouette of Chris standing in front of him, taking it all so those sworn to him didn't have to.

It sparked something in him. The image, the idea, the belief resonated with something deep inside him. Like an idea was just starting to solidify and form. Anders knew what it was, but didn't have the time to focus on it. Chris had already pushed out onto the wall, and Anders needed to be behind him.

His charge took him one step behind Chris and out onto the wooden bridge connecting the tower and the wall. Anders finally got a clear view of what awaited them without the large Chris-shaped wall blocking most of his vision.

The walls were a dozen feet thick, and on them in both directions stood line after line of defenders. Line after line of shields set and linked to receive their charge. Behind them and in raised towers, bows and mage staves aimed down, drawn and ready to blow them away. Large ballistae swiveled away from the charging mass behind them and focused their aim at where Anders and Christopher stood now.

Fear gripped him, and Anders smiled. He grinned large and wide, ready to face what may. Fear was good. Fear meant he was still alive, and he aimed to keep it that way.

Chris stepped forward into the line of shields and swung his hammer in a devastating arc. Mana radiated from the weapon in such quantities that it prickled his skin, even underneath his armor. The hammer was alight with dancing lights of violet and green in a way Anders knew what followed.

His expectations, if anything, didn't do the results justice.

The line of shields didn't just falter, but crumple completely. The man on the receiving end of the swing ceased to exist, and his life was reduced to coloring the men and women around him, along with the stone he once stood upon.

That's what nearly 7,000 points of strength does.

The wave of force that followed killed or heavily maimed the rest of those who were first or second in line. The third line fared better, but even they had gaps from those who were hit worse or couldn't withstand the mountain of force slammed atop them.

With the line broken, Anders grasped his axe and used [Relentless Charge]. His Bloodline sang inside him. It saw the softened enemies and rejoiced in the perfect target.

One step, two, and he was upon them. His axe reached back and came swinging around in a cruel arc, leaving motes of frost in its wake. [Cleave] layered atop [Sever] layered atop [Penetrating Slash] layered atop [Unyielding Swing]. The practice of layering skills that had come from Austin, rather than his Lord, but he needed everything at his disposal to keep up.

With [Relentless Charge], [Northern Rage], and [Ice Armor] already active, it was the most he could do at once. Seven active skills were his limit.

His axe met raised shields and cleaved through them with little resistance. The blade bit into metal for only a second before the skills powering it forced it through and into flesh, before parting that as well.

His charge took him forward and into his next enemy before his swing could, and the same fate befell them, as did the next.

"Fire!" Anders heard, but couldn't do anything about it. He wielded no shield, and his axe was in motion. He could only brace for the pain, and pain it was.

Spells burned through [Ice Armor] like it wasn't even there. His Law doing little against the Laws of so many others. His armor held out better, made by Christopher himself, but even that wasn't perfect against facing so many attacks.

His skin broke and tore, burned and shocked.

Arrows embedded, painfully, into him, and spells tried to rip him asunder. The same happened to Chris beside him, only with his size and increased threat level drawing more of the fire.

Anders turned to see a six foot ballistae bold sticking out of his shoulder, and blood running dripping to the stone. Other arrows stuck out of him at odd angles, mainly from his arms, which he'd managed to raise. Spells had a harder time chewing through his layer of ice, but managed it thet did. Without his Spirit, it wasn't as strong.

His skin fared better than Anders, much better, but even it flagged under such concentrated fire.

A roar came from behind them, as the rest of the warriors thundered up and out of the tower. The small foothold Christopher and he had managed to create wasn't large enough for those coming behind them, and they both knew it.

Standing open on the wooden bridge was a death sentence, open to fire in wide angles up and down the wall. They needed more space, and they needed it now.

Nothing Anders could do would accomplish it, so he turned to Chris, but he was already in motion once more.

His hammer drew back, and mana filled the weapon once more, but the skills were different this time. It didn't have the same light as before, and Anders grew curious about what he was doing.

Chris drew the hammer back, stepped forward, and threw. The hammer came swinging around horizontally, but instead of continuing on a normal arc, it shot off parallel to the wall they stood upon.

It shot off like a cannon fired point-blank, mowing down every shield, person, or spell attempting to halt it. End over end it spun, taking out a wide swath and leaving those in its wake scrambling to get out of the way.

In one throw, dozens of enemies were either thrown off the wall or killed outright, leaving a seven-foot line completely empty leading off into the left.

"AHHHH!!"

And they had just the men and women to fill it.