Chapter 400 - A Whole Lot

Zach

Fort South

[Water Blade] after [Water Blade] launched from his hand, followed by a select few [Water Spears] where he targeted specific enemies to take down. The water was fighting him, threatening to freeze or ice over. His spells took more mana and effort to cast correctly and accurately.

In some cases, the freezing was actually better, but it threw off his aim when it happened unexpectedly. If it didn't freeze evenly, it would veer off and hit someone else or miss entirely.

God, I hope she sends someone to help.

Zach had been holding the Fort for nearly a week now, and the attacks never stopped. His mana channels were screaming every time he forced a spell through them, making him resort to more moderate attacks. Large [Tsunamis] or massive [Floods] were out of the question. He was holding the southern flank, and if he fell, they would sweep around him.

He wouldn't allow that to happen. Death would come before he failed.

He had the mana for stronger spells, barely, he just didn't have the strength to use them. His magical body wasn't used to the strain of constant warfare, and it was showing.

Zach turned away from the enemy to look over the men and women under his command.

They seemed to be in the same shape he was in. The Warriors were tired and wounded from repelling attack after attack. The Healers had long ago run dry and were rationing the last of their mana potions. If another shipment didn't come in, both the Healers and the Mages were going to start dropping.

What began as short four-hour shifts stretched further and further until every able-bodied person stood upon the wall until they could no longer. Casualties were mounting, and even though they took two or three with them, it wasn’t enough.

There were more bodies to fill in any they cut down, where they had none.

Requests for reinforcements were denied. They were either being sent elsewhere, or there weren't any. Zach wasn't sure which and didn't have the time to ask more questions.

I hope it's the former, because if it's the latter... this war will end quickly.

The only good news so far was the fact that they hadn't been ordered to retreat. The plan was to fall back to the second line once the first became untenable. The fact that it hadn't meant they were still strong.

For how much longer, though... he was less sure. If something didn't change soon, it didn't matter what Zach's wishes were. He was going to lose Fort South, and there would be nothing he could do to stop it.

His men were tired and on their last legs, while the enemy had scores of fresh bodies to send at them. The only victory was that they had to march over the dead to reach the walls. The morale hit wasn't enough to deter them, but it was a small victory nonetheless.

Maybe if the graveyard was large enough... Survival instincts would win out eventually, right?

Thank god it's winter. Another benefit of the cold. It kept the worst of the smell away, and there were no flies to attract. Birds were growing in number, though, and would swoop in for a meal during the rare respite.

Jillian, his long-time girlfriend, turned... more limped over to him with half her armor missing and bleeding cuts on more than half her body. She had been the main reason the wall wasn't overrun during their last assault. Ladders had been set, and they had nearly secured a foothold before she came and bashed them back down. It had cost her, though.

"We won't hold for much longer. Even if we get more healing and mana potions, they won't help without reinforcements. Has Vanessa sent word of anything?" She asked, exhausted.

Zach contemplated how to answer, "Yes, sort of..."

"What do you mean 'sort of'?" Jillian all but demanded, grabbing hold of any possibility of aid.

"I'm not sure myself," Zach explained, "I got a message the other day saying 'a man should be coming to help, his arrival is predicted three days from now.' But I’m not sure what that means exactly."

"'A man?' Just one? Who is it that's coming, Michael?" She asked. "Even he won't be able to stop all of them by himself."

"No, he got sent to East Fort," Zach said.

"Then who?"

Zach shook his head, "I don't know. Someone named Christopher, but I don't know anyone with that name. Supposedly, he's as strong as Vanessa, but I don't know how much of that is true or bullshit."

"I hope he–"

She cut off abruptly and turned to the west. Zach was about to say something when he felt it.

Oppressive force. A cold worse than the darkest winter night. A tsunami of pressure that was coming from behind their line.

Death.

"To arms! To arms!" Jillian rallied all she could, "Turn face to the west!"

Those who could swiveled and started running to the other side of the Fort. Luckily, the wave of force caused the enemy to pause as well, or the scrambling would have finished them. Their leaders didn't like this new development, as Zach heard orders to retreat echo out from beyond the fort.

As they ran across the field back to their camp, Jillian whipped their fighters around to face the opposite direction to face what was coming.

"Rangers fire when you can!" She called.

"At what! I can't see anything!" A Ranger yelled back.

"At whatever is going to kill us all!" Jillian screamed back.

The moment had taken Zach by surprise, but after getting his faculties under control, he recalled the wording of the message. 'I'm told he will be coming in hot, so be prepared and on the lookout for him. I don't have to tell you not to ruin this partnership we have, for without them... Good luck, Zach. - Vanessa, the First Flame.’

No way... It couldn't be... No one person can cause all this...

"Ji– Jillian!" He ran after his girlfriend as quickly as his stuttering feet could take him. "Jillian wait!"

"Not now, Zach," she continued, readying for battle and ordering people into place.

"No, you don't understand. This is the guy. The man who's coming!" He hurriedly explained. "This is his aura!"

Jillian spun on him in a flash, "There's no way this aura belongs to a person. This is a monster! A monster that's going to kill and eat all of us. I've faced the bears and mammoths in the North and they feel weak compared to this!"

"I'm telling you, it's not. I–" Zach was cut off before he could explain further.

"Sir! There's a man sprinting toward us! He's moving fast and looks prepared to attack." Marrissa yelled from atop the tallest fort tower. She had the best Perception of all the Rangers, with the skills for the job.

Zach calmed his shaking hands, "No one, I repeat, no one attack!"

He stared at Jillian to make sure she understood. Thankfully, she knew when to let him lead, "Hold fire!" she echoed his order.

"How far away, Marissa?" He yelled.

"1000 yards!"

Shit, so close? How is it we just saw him now?!

"700 yards!" The second call only came moments later. A few heartbeats, at most.

How fast is he moving?

"500–"

He had just enough time to scramble up to where she was so he could get a better angle. "I've got it, Marissa," he said, not needing her shouts of alarm anymore.

Jillian heaved herself up after him and sucked in a breath at the sight.

One man in an empty field was sprinting at them. No, not at them, around them. He was directed toward where the enemy encampment was.

The first thing Zach noticed was that he carried a massive hammer covered in frost. His entire body was covered in frost, now that Zach could see better. From head to toe. It looked like an ice golem was sprinting at them.

That wasn't even the oddest part. That was the man's height. Pushing eight feet, it looked like. Zach couldn't get the best judgment, but the man was a giant compared to his own 5'10".

As Zach stood watching, the man had already closed the distance and was passing by the Fort. His steps thundered into the ground and left small craters in the land. He looked even faster now that he wasn't headed straight at them. Watching someone that tall and that large, move that fast didn't seem possible. That amount of mass shouldn’t have that capability.

"Did you get an [Identify] off, Marissa?" Zach asked, just now remembering that he hadn't even thought to use the skill. She had a Rare Inspect skill and had the Perception to back it up. She would get more than he would anyway.

"Yes. [Christopher Zalenski. (Warrior) – Level 120; (Runesmith) – Level 102]." The woman answered.

"He's lower level than I am," Jillian couldn't help but say.

"Is he just going to charge at them?" Zach asked to no one in particular.

"Seems like it," Marissa said, so taken aback she didn't use any sir or lady nonsense.

"Prepare yourselves," a voice thundered all around him, and Zach couldn't pinpoint the direction it was coming from. It felt like it was from everywhere.

"'Prepare yourselves'? Is he talking to us?" Jillian questioned.

"No..." Zach answered, unsure, "I think he's talking to them."

The enemy encampment was a flurry of activity now that Zach looked at it. He could barely make it out from how far away they were. They had to stay out of range of the siege weapons and Sharpshooters the Fort had, which pushed back where they could camp at a safe distance.

As it stood, their wooden ramshackle encampment was just inside his eyesight at over a thousand yards away.

Wooden gates snapped shut, and the bar assumedly locked into place. People ran along the half wood, half earthen walls, settling into place to receive an attack they thought would never come.

That attack was coming now, and it was in the form of a lone man's charge.

Spells and arrows launched out haphazardly as people got whatever shot off they could.

Not like it would have mattered if everyone were in place or not.

The man did nothing other than continue his charge. Arrows bounced off his form like they were fired from toy bows rather than war bows. Spells washed over him like they were but a summer's breeze, rather than the tightly packed balls of destruction they were.

"Who in the fuc–"

Jillian didn't get to finish as the man reached the wooden walls.

He didn't slow. He didn't stop at all. He continued at the same pace he had been for the brief time they had been aware of his presence. He didn't even rear back with his hammer to swing.

He just stepped forward and into the gate.

The gate exploded.

Splinters and fragments of wood blasted out as it was ripped apart. The next step had him within the camp, and that was when he swung. The mighty hammer came around at incredulous speed and slammed into the person unlucky enough to be nearest.

They died violently, and they weren't alone. Something washed out from the hit and reaped the lives of everyone near the gate.

In less than a second, the gate had been breached and the courtyard beyond cleared of all resistance.

Zach's first thought was to rally the Fort to lend the man aid, but he scuttled the budding idea before he could issue it.

By the time we get there, everyone will be dead.

Zach lost sight of the man as he stepped away from the gate and deeper into the camp. Explosions could be heard, and the ground shook under their feet. Snow swirled in the air above the encampment, and spells flashed to presumably the same effect as the first time.

The three of them stood in the tower in silence, not sure what to do or say.

That silence was broken by a blood-curdling scream from above them.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH–"

Splat.

Zach cringed as a body exploded upon the ground in the courtyard below. The scream was cut short by a bloody end. How? What... It's over a thousand yards away! His mind wasn't sure what to question first about the situation. That a body had been launched over a thousand yards, or how it had survived the initial force to launch it that far in the first place.

He looked away from the body to see ice exploding over the camp's walls. Jagged spears of it jutted into the air, forcing down more of the walls. Bodies were impaled on some, with some having more than one along the spear’s length.

The clangs and screams grew softer.

In moments, silence once again descended on everyone present. All sounds of battle were gone, and everyone on the Fort's walls stood silent in the face of... whatever that was.

The ice-covered man walked out of the camp through the same gate he had entered. The only difference this time was that he was covered in blood. His steps were slow compared to the Olympic sprint previously, and he was headed toward the Fort.

Moments. Bare moments were all it took.

"Who..." Zach couldn't even finish the question, he was so rattled.

"Christopher Zalenski, you said?" Jillian asked Marissa, gaining her voice back.

The lookout nodded hesitantly.

"I think that's the name of Frostheim's Leader. They call him the Lord of Frost, and I see why now." Jillian said, "Supposedly, he killed an Orc War Leader in single-combat and decimated the city of Lakeshore.”

Zach had heard of Frostheim's leader before, but wasn't familiar with his name. "Wasn't he supposed to be fighting in the west?" He'd heard rumors that The Heartlands and Reservation had allied to fight Gemini. Frostheim was supposed to be helping Lord Shieldwell.

"Apparently not," Jillian said.

Marissa was shaken, understandably, but it suddenly got worse. "Ho- How many people did he just kill?"

Zach wasn't sure, but Marissa continued.

"He gained two levels..."

Oh...

His mind began to calculate how many people it would take for him to gain two levels, but stopped when the number rose higher than he was comfortable thinking about.

Lots.

A whole fucking lot.