Chapter 395 - Hammer and Anvil

Chris

Essence was the energy of advancement. It was what we built, augmented, and reconstructed our bodies with to get stronger. Nearly everything in this new world revolved around it, and I had a tsunami of it rushing into me once the fight ended.

Essence Transfer was still something we were studying and researching. The total amount of essence inside a being wasn't transferred at 100% efficiency for many reasons, most of which were still unknown.

We knew difficulty played a role, but we weren't sure why. In a fight with more on the line, you get more in the end. The risk and reward of it made sense, but not the why behind it.

Some were content to just call it 'System shenanigans', but others, mainly my sister Abigail, weren't happy with such an... incomplete answer.

I cared, but not enough to go digging through libraries for the answer. There were other things to spend my time on that I found more useful. Like gaining essence in the first place.

I wished dearly I had studied it more so I could know why so much of it was rushing through me. It was more than ever before, even though Rachel saw a river of the stuff following after me while fighting demons.

The chimes were entirely unnecessary to know I had gained a level. More than one level, if the surge of power coursing through me was anything to go by.

~~
You have slain [Human – Level 119]
You have slain [Human – Level 118]
You have slain [Human – Level 102]
You have slain [Windstrider Mare – 130]
You have slain [Windstrider Stallion – 130]
...
~~

I waved off most of the kill notifications for the riders and horses to focus on the last one on the list.

~~
You have slain in mortal combat [Human – 122]
~~

Not only was the notification different, but the level was above what I expected it to be. Scouts had put Tasunka's level at 117, a level ahead of me, but from what I was seeing here, they had been wrong.

A deception skill? To hide how strong he was? He didn't just hide his level completely, like I do, but changed it to be lower.

I didn't know why or how he did it, and based on the headless corpse in front of me, I wouldn't get an answer from him either. All the effort to hide a few levels, and it didn't even matter in the long run. They hadn't saved him.

The more important aspect of the notification was its change in wording. Every kill notification was the same. 'You have slain' followed by the species and level of what was killed.

Thousands upon thousands of the same words followed by the same truncated status, but this one was different.

Obviously, based on the 'mortal combat' part, it was referring to [Tyr's Judgement]. The fact that it was a duel to the death turned it into a different category and shifted what the system gave for kill notifications.

Logically, the wording wasn't the only thing to change. I hadn't killed nearly enough to get as much essence as I had.

Does the extra essence come from the fact that it was mortal combat, or from the skill itself?

I'd faced people in duels to the death before. One man even challenged me to a trial by combat, and while it hadn't lasted long, it could be defined as mortal combat, but it hadn't come with anything extra. Even the death notification hadn't been anything different.t

Is it because the skill enforces it?

I didn't know, and it wasn't the time to find out. I waved them away, and the other notifications from the battle appeared.

~~
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.

Skills Available
~~

I had started the battle at level 117, after gaining one before everything kicked off, and now I'd gained three more. An amount entirely unexpected, but extremely welcome.

I was still behind Austin, but that was a losing battle from the start. With my Legendary Class and two attribute skills, I would always level slower. The better part was that I had hit the level 120 threshold and could now choose my second Class skill.

Sadly, it also wasn't the time for that.

Checking my notifications gave me time to catch my breath and to staunch my blood loss, but there was a fight to get back to.

Tearing down the ice dome I had created, I looked back toward the chaos that had unfolded. Based on the fact that the wall had been raised, I guessed the plan had gone off well enough. A hitch or two was expected, but so far it seemed that the train was still on the rails.

The wall had been raised, and the enemy's forces had been cut in two. Split with half on one side, facing down our blade, and half on the other side, cut off from offering any aid.

I knew what was going to happen next. After the Orders mopped up the half facing them, the wall would be lowered. After that... well, the slaughter would continue. Divide and conquer. A tried and true strategy.

Our numbers' disadvantage didn't mean anything if they couldn't bring their full might to bear.

"Ha," I huffed, seeing the backs of thousands pounding at the walls. Some were climbing, others were going around, and traps were going off in every direction. "Since the anvil is set...

"It's time for the hammer."

[Weight of the Arctic] was still gaining power, and I used that increase to launch myself toward the enemy.

My taller stature due to my bloodline caused me to eat up the distance, and I came in like a crazed berserker, hammer swinging and blood coated.

___

Mo

Acting General for The Reservation.

Death. Slaughter. It was a complete rout. Tasunka had been drawn into a fight with the enemy Lord and hadn't been seen since. The fact that the Ice Lord was now crashing into their backs said enough about the result of that fight.

If that wasn't enough, the new line on his status was.

~~
Faction: The Reservation (Leader)
~~

The only way Mo had become the Leader was if Tasunka was dead.

It's over.

Any thought of rallying the troops was shattered completely in dramatic fashion. The wall cutting the army in two exploded into shards of ice. An aura unlike anything Mo had ever seen reached out to the length of the wall and tore it asunder.

Experience with fighting Ice Mages or Ice Warriors told Mo what the skill was, but he couldn't believe it. The skill was common enough that nearly all of them had it. [Shatter] wasn't used like that. It was a localized implosion to gain some damage from the fragments.

It was a way to use their ice in an unexpected way and throw a wrench into normal tactics. It was NOT supposed to be able to command hundreds of feet of ice over ten feet tall to explode into deadly spears of ice.

Any hope of expecting the fragments of shattered ice to be fragile was extinguished when the first few lines of men were torn apart in a bloody haze. The ice wasn't just mundane ice.

It was saturated in something, and based on the fact that Mo had trouble sensing it, that something was Spirit energy.

Who the fuck dumps that much spirit into a wall!

Everything about this battle had gone to shit from the start. Tasunka had gotten tangled when the man was the best horse rider on this side of the mountains. Pikes had traps had decimated what was supposed to be a linked [Devastating Charge]. The wall rising from the ground ruined what was left of the infantry's charge.

Then [Shatter] was turned into a weapon of mass destruction saturated with enough Spirit energy to stop a runaway train.

Nope! It's time to get the fuck out of here!

"Retreat! Retreat!" Mo screamed with not an insignificant amount of fear.

It felt like the reaper was at their back and a scythe of ice was ready to claim their lives. The fear was impossible to keep out of his voice.

Others were worse, as they screamed out, "Run for your life!"

Mo wasn't going to be caught and used every bit of his Agility to get as far away from the reaper as he could.

Whether it was luck or fortune shining down on him, Mo managed to get out without dying, but continued running until he felt comfortable enough to turn back.

What he saw was a sea of red and white that would stay with him forever. The bodies were crusted over with a growing frost, frozen in the place of their last moments.

Thousands of dead.

Fifteen hundred horses had charged into the pass, and five hundred limped back, fleeing as fast as they could. Three thousand men and women had charged in after them, and less than half of that limped out.

It was a slaughter.

Mo shivered and turned away. He was going home and never coming back to the North.

The only thing in the North for them was death.

___

Chris

"HURAH!"

"HURAH!"

"HURAH!"

The chant was infectious as it tore through the camp. We had battled and lived, and such an achievement deserved to be celebrated. Blood littered the snowy ground; there were dead to be buried, but we had lived, and that was enough.

More notifications annoyingly presented themselves, even another level, but I pushed them all to the side. Being level 120 or 121 didn't make that much of a difference right now.

The free points would, but I wasn't in the right headspace to go using them right this second. I was always hastily throwing them into Vitality after battles, to help heal up the wounds I'd taken.

While a bump of Vitality wouldn't be remiss, I wanted to take a deeper look later, when I could relax.

My mana was spent. My Bloodline was nearly spent as well. My Stamina was still strong, my Endurance holding up well enough, but the rest was fraying at the edges. My Spirit and mental energy from using my Law were better, but not much.

The week had been rough on both.

My mana was definitely the worst. Twisting and overcharging [Shatter] like I had come at a cost, and that cost was a truly enormous amount of mana.

Now that the battle was over, the next steps kicked in.

"Zion!" I yelled, "Where's Zion!"

I hadn't seen him since the beginning of the fight, and now that there wasn't anything to smash in front of me, I needed to find the man.

"Zion! Has anyone seen Zion!"

No one spoke up. Healers were rushing to the wounded, but the main battle had taken place hundreds of yards away from where the two cavalry units had met.

"Ashley, I need a group of healers to reach the cavalry!" My order was obeyed swiftly as a contingent of healers covered in mana potions lined up behind me.

"Wait! Take me with you!" A bloodied and weary Sarah came sprinting up to me with a nearly empty quiver.

There wasn't enough time to question it, so I didn't.

I took the group with me to search for the bodies. Healers broke off as wounded were found, but nowhere I looked could I find the man.

"Over here!" Sarah called out. I was there in a breeze, even with the backlash from the battle.

A massive bison was covering the prone, unmoving form of Zion. His chest plate was caved in, and his glaive was missing. The arm he used to swing it ended at the bicep, with the wound frosted over. The only thing keeping him from bleeding out.

A healer came running up a second after me and instantly launched into treating him.

I held my breath. Zion had become a fast friend as he'd taught me to ride and fight mounted. His candidness and bluntness had grown on me quickly.

"He's breathing, but barely. We need to get him moved to the tent. I won't be able to save him alone." The healer stated as his spells ended.

"What do you need?" I said quickly, and without preamble. If Zion could be saved, I'd do it.

"His legs are stuck under the bison, and I can't lift it." The healer said.

Easy enough. I reached down to lift when Sarah stopped me.

"Stop!" She screamed, "Titan is losing too much blood. If we move him, he could die."

"If we don't move him, Zion will die!" The healer yelled.

"Zion takes priority. Sorry, Sarah." I said sadly.

"Zion would want Titan to live." She pleaded. "It's his [Bond]. Titan's dying could cause backlash on Zion."

"Fuck!" I seethed.

Without allowing myself to regret this later, ice formed in my hand and came swinging down in a flash. The blade cut through Zion's legs, fixing the problem. I commanded the frost to cover the newly opened wounds and picked the diminished man up.

"Heal Titan, I'll take him to Ashley."

I was off before I heard an answer.

The tent was chaos incarnate, but as soon as I presented Zion in my arms, he was whisked away before I could blink, and I was pushed out with a statement that I would be looked at later.

The wound in my side was impossible to miss, but my Fortitude was high enough to be low on the triage list.

Before I could go back and look for more, my feet stopped dead.

Abigail's worried voice echoed in my head, and her words made my blood run cold.

"Chris! Zuri attacked with New Canada and Boston aiding her. I don't know how it's going, but Vanessa won't last long."