The Hammer of War, Chapter 26

Time lost its meaning… our battle became something akin to that of a cat and mouse… sometimes between a man and a dragon… the tides shifted and crashed… but never for long… [Isha's Favor] kept me alive far beyond what anyone else would've possibly survived...

Until…

I stood over Thalessis, my breath coming in ragged gasps. The swirling haze of the dungeon sky flickered overhead, violet and pink storm clouds roiling in a slow dance. My body screamed at me, demanding that I collapse, that I give in and let the fatigue claim me. But I refused. I still had a task to finish.

A wicked sword jutted from my abdomen, buried so deep that the blade had emerged from my back. Each breath rattled through my chest, sending waves of white-hot pain lancing out from the wound. My blood pooled in thick rivulets around my waist, dripping onto the battered stone at my feet. Somehow, I managed to remain upright, legs trembling but locked. Thalessis sprawled below me, her monstrous form half-pinned under a fallen slab of broken rock. She hissed, a sound that vibrated in my skull, and her four arms twitched in tiny spasms.

I clenched my jaw, ignoring the agony in my gut. My vision blurred at the edges, but I glared down at her, gritting my teeth. She tried to push up, her lilac flesh writhing with partial regeneration, but her body was broken—her torso shredded by bullets, plasma, and a thousand other wounds my forces had inflicted. Her left arm had re-formed to the elbow, a stump of half-grown claws wriggling uselessly, while her other limbs spasmed with each stunted heartbeat.

The swirling sky overhead cast her in pulses of unnatural light, giving me glimpses of her hideous, half-reconstructed chest. Ropes of violet muscle crawled to close each rupture, but the damage we’d done ran deep. Her breath came in ragged, liquid snarls. She turned her head to stare at me, eyes gleaming with raw hatred. Her lips curled back, exposing twisted fangs.

A corner of my mind marveled that I was still alive. This demon had murdered nearly all my allies—Cadians, Nobz, Incubi, Tyranids. Yet here I stood, alone, a sword through my gut. My blood trickled off the hilt, splattering on her battered flank.

She let out a scraping chuckle, as if mocking my refusal to collapse. I drew in a steadying breath, feeling the blade twist inside me. Fresh pain shot through my midsection. My legs wobbled, but I locked my knees. With a raw roar, I bent down, seizing a hefty fragment of rock near my feet. It was slick with gore, heavier than I expected, but I forced my arms to lift it.

Thalessis tried to raise one of her arms, perhaps to hurl a final psychic blast or to claw my face open. She only managed to shift the stone that pinned her waist. Her lips peeled back in another hiss. She looked furious, or maybe it was desperation. I didn’t care. I clenched my teeth, ignoring the searing in my abdomen, and hefted the rock overhead.

For a split second, time seemed to hang. My gaze locked on her face, that elongated, sinuous visage twisted in rage and pain. Then I slammed the rock down. It collided with her head in a gruesome crunch, the impact sending a visceral vibration up my arms. Bones cracked, violet flesh rupturing in a gruesome spatter. A shriek escaped her, half-formed, before the sound gurgled into nothing.

I lifted the rock again, ignoring the agony in my gut, and brought it down once more. My arms felt like lead, but rage and adrenaline fueled me. A wet, sickening impact echoed across the ruined battleground. Her limbs jerked, seized. I hammered a third blow, letting out a ragged cry. Her skull caved in further, purple gore splashing across the shards of stone. The writhing tendons in her neck slacked, then went limp.

A subtle tremor rippled through the air, as if the entire dungeon recognized her death. Thalessis’s body began to collapse in on itself, dissolving into motes of lavender light and thick black dust. Her features warped, arms curling inward as if some internal pressure sucked her from within. Her jaw fell slack, jawbone splitting under the stress. She opened her mouth in a final, silent screech, or maybe her mind no longer lived to form a sound. Then she vanished, disintegrating like a nightmare wisping away in dawn’s first rays.

The stone I held clattered to the ground, almost slipping from my numb fingers. My shoulders sagged. My mouth gaped as I tried to breathe. The swirling sky overhead seemed calmer now, as though the dungeon had lost its vile heartbeat. My eyes darted down at the blade still skewering me—her parting gift. My blood ran down it, pooling on the rocky ground. That sword, too, began crumbling into dust, its demonic essence unbound by her passing. I felt it dissolving inside the wound, leaving behind a jagged gash in my abdomen, a flood of dark blood oozing freely.

I dropped to my knees, my strength giving out at last. Pain swamped my mind, muffling every other sense. I stared at the ground, trying not to keel over face-first into the dirt. A violent shudder tore through my body, and I fought to keep consciousness. My head whirled, the edges of my vision going black. My entire torso felt like it was on fire.

No, I refused to die here. I’d come too far. My battered mind focused, groping for the skill that had so often saved me. [Isha’s Favor]. My right hand pressed to my stomach. I forced a breath, reaching inside, summoning the tingle of healing magic. A warm glow blossomed beneath my palm. I clenched my jaw, controlling the urge to scream as flesh wriggled and knitted together. The energy ebbed and flowed, each pulse sealing blood vessels, reconnecting severed tissues. I felt the ragged edges of my internal organs reweaving themselves, slow at first, then faster as my mind stabilized the flow of magic.

It wasn’t instant. My muscles trembled, the raw pain sending jolts up my spine each time something deep mended. My heartbeat fluttered, skipping beats, but didn’t stop. Blood oozed around my fingers, mixing with the gentle greenish glow. I pressed down harder, ignoring the sting. Gradually, the flow of blood lessened, turning from a gush to a trickle, then to droplets. My shoulders sagged in relief. I coughed, spitting out metallic-tasting saliva. Slowly, the swirling shadows in my eyesight receded.

I remained there, kneeling in the rubble-strewn wasteland, healing magic working overtime. The silence pressed in. No more roars, no screams, no daemonic howls. Just me, the cracking of small rocks shifting as I breathed, and the hush of a realm that had lost its master. My mind drifted back to the last glimpse of Thalessis dissolving into dust. She was gone. Her final curses died on her lips.

Then the System chimed, text flickering across my vision:

Dungeon Boss Defeated!
Rewards Calculated: Base Reward – 35,000 War Points.
Due to extreme level disparity, additional bonus multipliers apply.
Enemy boss forcibly severed prior encounter, but was slain in final confrontation. Adjusting final reward upward for difficulty….

The numbers shot up:

War Points: 43,000

A wave of reassurance washed over me. With 38,000 War Points, I could buy an entire army or a battery of new weapons if I wanted. But the System had more in store. Another prompt materialized:

Choice of Reward: Units, Weapons, or Powers. Selection guaranteed to be potent for your level.

Nice. 

My eyes lingered on that text, my mind racing. Summoning more units or advanced weapons would help me in the future. But I'd seen how easily they died in battle with something like Thalessis. And raising my own personal stats was always too expensive if done purely with War Points. The best path was clear.

I spoke, voice raspy, “Powers.”

A hum reverberated through my thoughts, the System acknowledging my choice. The text flickered:

Powers Chosen. Evaluating…
Due to prior constraints, awarding direct stat augmentation.
Vitality (VIT) stat has been upgraded from 37 to 148.

Holy shit. 

My eyes widened. Or they would have, if I had the energy to convey surprise. Quintupling or quadrupling my base VIT was insane. For a moment, a surge of warmth spread through every cell in my body, a tingling sensation that made the hair on my arms stand on end. My muscles tightened, bone and sinew reinforcing. My heartbeat thundered, blood rushing with renewed vigor. My entire frame felt heavier and denser, yet also far more robust, as though my skeleton had thickened, my organs reworking themselves to handle the sudden boost.

Stat Milestone Achieved!
New Passive Skill Unlocked: Lesser Regeneration.

The words scrolled across my vision. A trembling grin tugged at my lips. My battered body glowed faintly, a gentle healing aura enveloping me. Already, I felt the difference. My wounds sealed faster under [Isha’s Favor], but also something deeper—my cells responded to injuries with a vigor that transcended normal healing. Even if [Isha’s Favor] were off, my body would still knit closed lesser wounds on its own, albeit slower.

The System pulsed once more:

All injuries have been healed. Returning to the real world in 10… 9… 8…

I inhaled, a wave of dizziness washing over me as the numbness receded. My shredded clothing hung in tatters, no sign of the monstrous sword that had impaled me. Instead, smooth flesh stretched across my abdomen, courtesy of the System’s final wave of healing. The ache in my muscles eased, replaced by a strength that felt unbound - or something close to it, since it was the VIT stat that got boosted to heaven and not the STR stat. My arms no longer trembled. My bones no longer groaned.

…3…2…1…

The dungeon shimmered, swirling about me like a melting painting. The sense of oppressive gloom lifted. Violet-pink clouds bled into a whirl of color, spinning faster until they dissolved into white nothingness.

With a final jolt, I found myself standing on solid ground. Real ground. My battered boots rested on the cracked pavement of a familiar street. Cool night air brushed against my face, free of that sickly, acrid stench. Stars winked overhead, the moon half-hidden by lazy clouds. The distant hum of city life echoed.

I staggered a step, reorienting to the sudden shift. My vision swam, but then cleared. No sign of the carnage from the dungeon. No sign of Thalessis. I patted my torso, finding no wound, just the faint scars leftover from countless smaller injuries that the System’s final pass of healing decided not to erase entirely. My gear felt intact, though my clothing was in desperate need of repair. Bloodstains marred the fabric, but my new superhuman vitality let me shrug off the exhaustion that once threatened to overwhelm me.

I closed my eyes, exhaling softly. My War Points soared at 43,000. My Vitality soared at 148, far surpassing what I'd ever imagined possible. My body pulsed with that new skill, [Lesser Regeneration], an undercurrent of potential swirling under my skin, ready to seal wounds or mend fractures. The 148 VIT made me feel like I could survive falling from the upper atmosphere. The fight with Thalessis, savage and catastrophic as it was, had led me here.

I brushed dust from my jacket and took a careful step forward. The sidewalk felt almost too mundane after the swirling madness of the dungeon.I let out a shaky breath, glancing at the quiet suburban roads. Lamps flickered in the distance. Homes lined the streets, shutters closed, unsuspecting of my recent brush with death. The crickets chirped, cars occasionally rumbled by in the far background. It all felt so… normal. I nearly laughed at the absurdity. I stood here, clothes in tatters, caked in blood, having just slaughtered a greater daemon in a twisted realm of horrors.

Right behind me was the home that I’d be leaving behind forever.

Helena Stolas… wherever she was hiding, licking her wounds… I would find her. And I would kill her for what she did to my mother. And, unfortunately for her, I was a lot stronger now than I ever was. It must’ve only been a few hours ago for the devil, as opposed to the days it has been for me. 

I smiled as I began walking down the street. 43,000 War Points was the most amount of War Points I’ve ever gotten. And, in a world that was ruled by magic-users and magical races, I knew exactly what I wanted to spend these points on.