Chapter 156 - Fight for the River

"Now be careful. The muscles are still new and it will take a while to get used to again." Abigail lectured Gabriel.

The last healing session had just completed and she was giving him the final warnings about his regrown legs.

"We will have to do physical therapy for the next few weeks to get your range of motion and the muscles stimulated but it should be fine to walk on them now." She added.

The healers had worked for months to get his legs regrown and now it was finally done. I would have to do something nice for them because they worked tirelessly for countless days for this to happen.

They hadn't had a full mana pool in weeks, spending all of it trying to get Gabriel able to walk again. The mana headaches alone were worth a gift in return, let alone the completion of the job.

My brother was giddy with excitement about his two new appendages but Abigail successfully calmed him down enough so that he didn't go galivanting off from his chair. While he had his legs back, they would take some getting used to.

I got to watch as he took his first hesitant steps out of his chair and the smile on his face was a breath of fresh air. Even though the visual progress of watching them regrow was hopeful enough, it was different to see them actually working.

"Now maybe you'll think twice about charging a monster that's stronger than you." Abigail chastised.

Gabriel didn't even acknowledge the comment as he was too busy walking around for the first time in months. While it was slow going at first, he was quickly getting the hang of it.

His pace sped up quickly until he tripped and fell over an exposed root.

"Careful," Abigail reached out and caught him, "You still need to get used to it."

They spent a while working through the different steps, but just being able to see him up and walking again felt good.

~~

The air turned heavy and an electric undercurrent buzzed through it, ready to ignite. Tension among the caravan rose subconsciously to match the atmosphere we were entering and the horses started to get nervous, followed by the people driving them.

Something was happening.

"Chris, something's wrong," Gabriel said, walking up to the cart I was riding on.

The group of trees we were traveling under had a small break in them which unveiled the sky to us and what we saw did not spell good news.

Clouds so dark they were nearly black with flashes of bright purple jumping between them. The moisture felt heavy in the air and it seemed ready to unleash it.

"Set up camp, there's a storm coming and it looks nasty!" I shouted out.

Our group was experienced enough to set up the camp in minutes but I had us do a bit extra to make sure everything was secured.

Carts were staked down and shelters were thrown up. The horse barns came first and our tents followed after.

As the storm blew in and the winds began to whip the tents back and forth, we were putting the final checks on everything to make sure nothing would blow away.

Thunder rolled and lightning flashed a few times and the first drops of the storm started to fall as I was heading back to my tent to get out of it.

The weather was an odd thing since we had returned. Sometimes, it was just normal sunny skies or rain clouds like everyone had experienced before, but other times, it was almost on the scale of a natural disaster.

The mana in the air spun and combined just right to give rise to some truly disastrous storms and weather.

Sudden and fierce Winds, thick heavy rain that came down with such force it stung to get hit with the raindrops. Lightning so charged it exploded deep craters in the earth, scorching trees and the like.

Everything came together just right that the mana altered and changed in the perfect way to create the ideal atmosphere for a storm.

We had been through a few during our journey but this one seemed to be the worst. It seemed like Mother Nature still didn't want to give its top spot as the strongest thing in the world.

Even with magical powers and monstrous beasts roaming the Earth, she found a way to get even more dangerous.

If normal storms could cumulate as something close to a hurricane, what would an actual hurricane look like? Or any of the other Natural disasters in the world.

It was a scary thought to ponder and as the storm blew through, we hunkered down to wait it out. Even I had to be wary of some of the lightning bolts that struck the Earth.

They were sometimes bigger than I was in thickness, let alone the power they carried.

~~

Marcus

His glaive sliced through the air and bisected another of the insects assaulting him. Before the momentum of his swing ended, he pushed on into another sweep around him cutting through two more of the monsters.

His swings were graceful and kept the blade ever moving through the air. [Glaive Mastery] was one of his most important skills and he made sure to always train it when he could.

A shout from behind made him turn to find another of the menaces trying to sneak up on him. Less intentional and more the fact there were too many around him and they were bound to attack his back.

The bugs weren't smart enough for that.

A powerful jet of water was enough to slice through its exoskeleton almost as easily as his glaive would have.

As the last of the insects fell around him, he took the chance to survey the battlefield farther away.

His men were struggling to contain the swarm and they were slowly getting pushed back. Casualties weren't common and he could see men getting pulled away before a serious injury landed, but this wouldn't last.

These weren't even the strongest of the swarm and they were getting pushed back.

A few of his men around him also finished their fight and looked at him for direction. Ever since their return, he had taken leadership of what was left of his city. Of the people who were left among the ruins, forced to fight off the monsters that inhabited it while they were away.

Seeing how this battle would go, he had no choice but to sound the retreat, "Fall back to the pylon! Carry the wounded first before following with a fighting retreat!"

His voice carried over the battlefield and he saw the first groups shuffling off toward his walled city.

The repurposed bricks and stone blocks were hastily put together when it was first built, but they were quickly becoming a series of vast fortifications. The Builders worked tirelessly to make sure everything was as strong as possible and the Masons did the same.

They didn't have nearly enough of the professions for his liking but there was nothing Marcus could do about it.

He watched the wounded get carried off before more men followed with the barrels they had come with. That was the reason the fight had started in the first place.

After the insects learned it was fruitless to throw themselves at the stone wall, they had fallen back to their home and defended it fiercely.

Any access to the river was blocked and they had to go through this song and dance every time they needed water.

Which meant they had to fight through the swarm every week so they could restock.

Food was easier to come by, even if it was a bit... distasteful. It took a while for people to come around to eating insects, but with the sheer availability of them, it was impossible not to.

Every chance of finding Water elsewhere was met with failure. The stone was too tough to dig through and wells couldn't go deep enough. Lakes were too far away and things other than the swarm defended those big enough to draw from.

Sentiment in his city was low. Some wanted to leave. To abandon their home and search for somewhere else to live but he refused. He would not leave his home.

His family had lived here for generations, dating back to before the two cities were built next to each other. Back when this was just a small town next to an unassuming river that only had a few hundred citizens.

He would not leave it.

People who thought to leave only hesitated because the dangers of the wild were more deadly than what they were facing now. They had seen the beasts that roamed the woods and even the prey animals there would pose them harm.

They were stuck between a rock and a hard place and anywhere they turned was a fight they couldn't handle. Either leave and brave the wild, or stay, and fight the swarm every week to survive.

As he monitored the retreat, the insects came buzzing back for another round as the last of his men were still making their way back to the city, but they wouldn't make it in time.

He saw the distance close and knew they would be caught before they reached the city.

"Get Down!" He yelled out before powering his skills as his mana dipped even lower. His Law was already shot as pain lanced through his brain at the thought of using it.

He had to rely on just the power of his skills now.

[Water Scythe] after [Water Scythe] launched through the air, matching the swing of his glaive in a graceful dance.

The arcs of clear liquid passed over the heads of the ducking warriors by mere inches before they tore the charging swarm to pieces, dicing them into tiny chunks that squelched as they hit the ground.

"Clarissa, Barbeque them!" He ordered as the last man left the river.

Acknowledging his order, the strongest mage they had stepped up and launched out great plumes of fire and smoke.

It was one of his strongest assets but they couldn't use it unless they were already retreating. The swarm hated fire and any use of it would draw the ire of nearly all of them.

It was their finishing move to give them room to retreat and kill as many as they could before huddling in the city to do it all again next week.

While the constant fighting was rough, it worked wonders for their levels. Crafters constantly had work to do and so did the fighters.

Smiths pumped out weapons and repairs as fast as they could find the metal to make them. Scavengers picked through the rubble of the city for anything useful while the fighters held off the worst of the swarm.

"Sir, E-ranks approach from the river. We need to leave." An aide said next to him.

Marcus turned to look at the man and it still shocked him to see such savagery, even though he wore the same and had the same things covering him. Green blood covered him head to toe while bits of dirt and blood smeared in, covering his metal studded armor completely, only leaving the barest hints of leather visible.

His weapon dripped from the insect's lifeblood covering it almost as much as his armor did.

It was a testament to how many he was able to take down and Marcus knew he would look the same if there were a mirror.

"Go, I'll cover our retreat." He ordered.

He would be the last man in, as it always was. He was the strongest and he was unwilling to leave anyone behind.

As the last finally turned and ran, he fell in a step behind. Arcs of water shot out at any of the insects that came after them and his glaive took any that made it close.

As the swarm made to retaliate and a dense cloud of them closed in, his glaive once more came alive with mana and started to subtly glow from the charge.

The enchantment on the weapon came alight and he pulled what mana he could before it ran dry.

His pace was slow but steady, every step measured to make sure it wouldn't interrupt his swing. Momentum was his greatest ally and breaking it would spell disaster.

Water began to leak out the end of his blade and got caught up in the swings of his weapon. Drops built up into the air before they too, joined in the momentum.

He pulled on [Water Manipulation] to turn the droplets into a rising current around him. It danced in time with his weapon and he used it to beat back the wave of bugs coming to face him.

Left, right, above and below. His reach with his weapon was near omnidirectional and anything he couldn't cover with it, his water did. Streaks of it surrounded him, spinning in time with his swings.

It blocked or redirected any attack that got through his guard. It took him a while to master his fighting style but the weekly battles with endless opponents did more than just raise his level.

[Rising Tides] finished building and he channeled it into [Flash Flood] along with the last of his mana. He let out an explosion of force backed by the weight of several tons of water from his skills, pulverizing the closest bugs before sweeping the rest away.

The wave of water crested above 10 feet in the air and charged out in all directions, gradually becoming smaller and smaller the farther away it went.

His skill killed anything close and incapacitated the rest.

He staggered on his feet as the last dregs of mana left him, the pounding in his head only got worse from the mana deprivation but he stayed on his feet and trudged back into the walls of his city.

His men came to support him before he fell and they shut the gates with a loud thud. Men and women alike manned the wall ready for the swarm's retaliatory strike.

Every one held a bow or wand with crates of arrows interspaced between. Even the warriors held them, as they could aim at the ground and still hit one of the insects in the swarm.

Marcus had barely a few minutes to catch his breath before he had to be on his feet again to lead the defense.

His only solace was the chime of yet another level.

He knew this wouldn't last. They would have to fight into the heart of the swarm eventually and a lot of good men would die. Marcus knew they couldn't keep this up forever.