PenguinKills
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Chapter 52 - Storm Clouds
🕑 Added 2024-06-11 19:31:13 +0000 UTCThe thirty minutes of rest weren't enough to recover completely but it was all the time I had available to me. Since the last wave came from the east and west, this one would come from the north and south.
We split into the same groups as last time with Jonathan and Austin to the south and me to the north. I had Hal for my ranged support this time and Rachel and Carrie were on the other side.
There were a few more people up on the wall prepared to help but it wasn't worth mentioning them. Alice would be the most helpful out of all of them and that was only because she could supply me with ice.
It felt bad to call them useless but that was what they were turning into. Hell, Granddad was only level 18 and the beasts of the wave would be higher level than him.
The class he evolved into though was helpful even with his low level. It was some kind of leadership class that boosted all of the warriors under him. Even though the boost was small, it was still worth it for most people. The difference in power between us made it not as effective on me.
Overall, the boost was small and my higher level only made it smaller. His class was a pleasant surprise and one I didn't even know was a possibility. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility, commander classes didn't seem that outlandish, but it was nice to have confirmation.
I readied my new weapon and I precast some hail before the wave started. Alice joined in and created a pile of ice for me to use. I didn't use [Hail] too much as I wished to start the battle at 100% mana, but enough to give me something to work with.
The majority of the pile came from Alice. Her mana regeneration was higher than mine and she could afford to use more of it now.
Sitting in front of the wall, most of the stress and nerves from previous waves were gone. I didn't shake like the first wave, nor did I have sweat building up. It was just another day in the office.
Having been through this 15 times gave me the needed experience to calm myself. I didn't have to worry about the wall and what happened in the 10th wave. In the back of my mind, I worried about the boss. They were showing increasing levels of intelligence. The last boss even started lobbing rocks at the wall.
With enough points for the upgrade, everyone stood on a thick stone garrison of a wall that I wouldn't be able to get through. The gates were reinforced wood with metal bracing to give them added strength.
It was starting to look more like a castle with every upgrade. First a wooden palisade, into a wooden wall, into stone. It even had parapets to use for cover. The wall matched the center building in that both were stone and had a sturdy feel to them.
I made sure to give my new weapon a once-over before the battle. It wouldn't do to not familiarize myself with the weapon I was about to use. Even though I had made it, it was when I wasn't in complete control.
I knew the weapon, I designed the weapon, but I hadn't used the weapon. Hammers and axes were two different weapons and they had to be used accordingly.
Hammers had no blade and slicing attacks were meaningless. The hammerhead also had to hit square for the blow to be effective. Glancing blows with an axe still damaged with the cut of the blade, but hammers wouldn't.
Also, I didn't know how [Sweeping Slash] would respond. It was a slashing attack that created a blade of mana. Would it still work without the blade to build off of?
Using the skill was... odd. It felt like the mana wanted to create a blade but something stopped it from completing. It instead created a rod that extended out from my hammer. It was like a less effective version of [Extended Strike].
That might be the first skill I would have to get rid of. It was sad and a waste of points that I bought the skill, but if it didn't work with my weapon it was useless. My spirit wasn't 'full' or whatever they call it when you can't take in any more skills so I wouldn't get rid of it immediately.
Maybe it would give me time to think about what to do with it. Think up an upgrade path to make it useful again. I wasn't sure if the time sink involved with that was worth it in the long run.
I didn't get much time to continue the thought because an odd phenomenon stole my attention.
The wave was starting and it seemed this one carried something different with it.
Storm clouds began to form to the north. The timer was still counting down to the wave's start but already things were starting.
My armor clinked as I made to stand and I hefted my new hammer, it was time for its debut.
The wave started as thunder echoed out and lightning crackled. The clouds were making it hard to see and I almost called out to Kyle out of force of habit. I stopped myself in time, but it still stung.
The sounds of thunder got closer and they were finally in range of [Identify].
[Thunder Tiger – Level 22]
Feelings of trepidation started blooming as I looked over the army of white and purple tigers charging toward me. Lightning sparked from tiger to tiger building up in intensity before being discharged into the ground.
These monsters leaned heavily into the elemental effects compared to all of the previous ones. The thought that their bodies would be weaker was comforting but not that much as I saw the electrical storm running toward me.
In the time before they arrived, I rushed to take off my armor. Wearing metal would only make it easier to electrocute me. I judged that wearing the armor would be more detrimental than beneficial.
Putting it on was what took longer, taking it off was easy. I threw it into a pile behind me and picked back up my hammer.
The boss was still hidden but I didn't rule it out from being on my side.
As the distance closed, I started picking up the ice I had prepared. [Ice Manipulation] and my law worked to empower it as it picked up speed. My snowflakes of death would be more powerful this time and less prone to shatter.
Not one to be outdone, I met their charge with a mighty swing of my hammer. Instantly, I was in love. Even though I spent a lot of mana and time making it, I still harbored fears that it would break. It was ice after all.
On my first swing, all of those fears faded away. It held firm after pulping a tiger's skull and showed zero signs of strain. It was even better than steel.
If it was classified as a weapon I think it would be in the common tier.
A smile bloomed and I began my dance of death. Any tiger that came near me was flattened by my hammer, and any tiger that tried to get by me was sliced open with my blizzard.
It was the best of both worlds.
Ice that wouldn't break was a godsend.
I settled in for a long battle and reveled in the feeling of a pitched battle. I noticed the feeling becoming more prominent the longer the tutorial went on. Something in me was coming alive after being dormant my whole life. It was like I was meant for battle.
Without armor, I had to be more defensive with my swings but I still had the time to obliterate my foes. They were quick and their lightning affinity only made them quicker, but a blow from my hammer was enough to kill them.
Lightning washed over my flesh and forced my muscles to contract but I powered through it. My strength was my strong suit and I wasn't going to let them take it away from me.
I debated activating [Barbarian's Rage] for the reduction in pain and boost in stats but thought better of it. I still didn't know where the boss was and activating it now would be premature.
Shouting and orders sang out from the wall but none of that concerned me. Granddad had skills that worked through the orders that he was using but they weren't directed at me.
It would be a waste of mana to give me the small boost his skills gave.
Bodies piled up and blood saturated the ground. The soil could only soak up so much of it and what was left splashed with every footfall. It didn't take long for it to soak into my boots.
Fuck, Sam's gonna have to make me another pair.
The number of boots I had destroyed was silly. If I used my strength wrong while wearing them, destroyed boots. Getting into a fight and having them sliced open, destroyed boots. Getting them soaked in blood that wouldn't come out, destroyed boots.
At this point, Sam had spares of my size ready for when I inevitably came back for more. Getting blood out of them was impossible. They stunk and were just nasty to walk in. Making them out of metal wasn't worth the trouble.
[Cleanse] could only do so much for the blood and I usually forgot about them after the battle. It wouldn't be until the next day that I got them cleaned and by then the blood had dried and set in.
Having stray thoughts like that was becoming increasingly common. The cannon fodder of the wave didn't get me worked up like it used to. After fighting the boss of the last wave, these things were nothing.
G-ranked beasts without a law to back them up fell quicker than the notifications could chime. Some turned off the chime mid-battle so it wouldn't distract them but it was music to my ears.
Every chime was a monster dead.
Grunting through yet another lightning attack my body started to seize up. Nothing could last forever and their numbers finally overpowered my body.
The frenzy the tigers went in when they thought they were about to win was comical. [Barbarian's Rage] activated and anger flushed through my body.
Dulling the pain and giving me control of my muscles back. It was annoying to have to use it so soon, but I would be in trouble if I let them keep electrocuting me.
A second wind took over and the status quo remained. A man standing strong and tigers dying in droves.
The wave was about half over and the boss had yet to show itself. It might be using the storm clouds to hide itself. If that were true, that displayed a level of intelligence I didn't like.
The tigers weren't entirely ineffective in their attacks. The lightning was building up again after being purged with rage and claws sank into skin.
Forgoing armor was the right decision but it left my skin to bear the brunt of attack. Their swipes were more swift than powerful but still drew bloody lines over my body.
Blood soaked my clothes and covered my skin from all the cuts. Fortitude worked to lessen the damage and [Fortified Body] added in that effort, but they were still level 22 beasts.
At the start, I protected myself with ice to try and reduce the damage, but they clawed through that quickly.
When it got too bad and my body threatened to seize up, [Ice Fortress] gave me the needed reprieve. It was thicker than [Ice Wall] and I could use it to surround me rather than just one side.
It gave me the needed breather to let all of the lightning discharge and ready to get back into it.
Throughout it all was my hammer. It was quickly becoming close to me and was covered in blood. Barely any of the blue glow it had could be seen from the thick layer of blood dripping off of it.
While I rested, the tigers tried to claw through my ice but found little success. My uncommon skill aided by my law made it hard to get through. Their claws chipped at it and shaved some off, but it wasn't nearly enough to get through the thick wall separating us.
Even encased in ice, I used [Ice Manipulation] to continue the slaughter. The battle fever was on its way down and the beasts were thinning and still, the boss had yet to appear.
I was beginning to think it was on the other side.
Arrows flew in from the wall and while I was protected in ice, the ranged attackers used that opportunity to use their area of effect skills. If the monsters of the wave couldn't get through my ice, neither could they.
[Ice Fortress] had a less strict activation shape and I could use it to cover every direction I could get attacked from.
While resting, I saw a bright light from the wall being launched in my direction. A ginormous fireball exploded on impact not 10 feet away from me burning and injuring everything nearby.
It only could have come from Rachel but she was supposed to be on the other side. Why was she over here?
The only reason they would come over to my side would be because their side was finished.
Where was the boss? It should be sh-
Crack... BOOM!
At that moment a thunderous boom rocked the earth and a lightning bolt shot through the air.
It originated from the clouds that had gathered during the wave and the thick bolt of lightning headed toward us.
The lightning bolt was nothing like the tigers of the wave produced and could only have come from the boss. Thicker than my arm and it carried the power of an uncommon skill, maybe more.
I started to build up some ice to defend myself but stopped.
The bolt wasn't headed for me.
It was headed toward the wall.
As soon as I realized that I wasn't the target, I tried to send ice into the bolt's path to block it. I was too slow. It tore through the air faster than I could send ice to block it.
Mana shields snapped into place from members on the wall but the bolt smashed through them. The shields did little to hinder the bolt and it continued on its journey.
Time seemed to slow as I saw the bolt inch closer toward its target. My breathing quickened and my heart pounded. No, this wasn't happening.
At the end of its trajectory stood its target. A man with a spear shouting orders at his family. An older man with grey hair covering his head. A gentle soul who loved his family and did everything he could to help them succeed.
The bolt hit and I couldn't look away.
Skin blackened. Smoke wafted into the air and the body spasmed.
A man of over 80 years tried to dodge but did little to get out of the way. The bolt found its target and fried him to the core.
A hole the size of my fist pierced through his chest and blood poured from the wound.
All I could do was watch as his body realized it was dying. Knees buckled and he fell to where I couldn't see him anymore. The wall blocked my view.
I knew deep down what happened. I knew there wasn't a way to survive that. The boss took out what it saw as the leader.
"NOOOO!!" It was futile. My screams were meaningless.
With [Barbarian's Rage] already active, I let the anger take over.
I left my fortress behind and charged toward where the bolt originated from.
It was going to die.
Comments
Baconwargod
Ah that’s gonna suck there isn’t really a clear successor that can take over the leadership position either. This may lead into some serious in fighting. That’s gonna double suck.
