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Chapter 45 - 15th Wave
🕑 Added 2024-06-05 20:24:14 +0000 UTCMy 'Blizzard' was less effective than I wanted it to be. The ice still easily broke if it hit wrong, and the number of projectiles could use some work. I was spinning them as fast as I could while keeping them under control and that led to less-than-stellar results.
If it hit a weak spot, it would cut deep and leave a bleeding wound, but if it hit heavily defended spots the ice would shatter. I tried to pick them up and reform them when I could but that was something I couldn't afford to split my attention on very often.
My melee skills were suffering to compensate for the ice show and against anything stronger, it would be detrimental.
It was my first time using the skill so there were still kinks to iron out.
Seeing how the technique wasn't as effective as I wanted it to be, I dropped it. No use in splitting my attention on something that wasn't as good as me fighting normally.
I went back to my tried and true method, wholesale slaughter. It was the main reason I liked my axe so much. With the augmentation from [Sweeping Slash] extending the blade, I had a large radius around me where things spontaneously died.
My new steel axe held up a lot better to the strain but I could tell it would fail after repeated stress. It would last this wave and maybe the next wave, but probably not the third.
Thinking about it made me sigh. Yes, in the middle of battle surrounded by beasts, I was sighing about the futility of my axe.
With the upgrade to village, we got an increased assortment of profession materials and better metals were available to use. It would just take a long time to learn what they were and how best to forge with them.
[Metallurgy] would help and I was close to getting another professional skill. It was just an effort I didn't want to make. I could feel my drive diminishing after the days of pushing myself as hard as I could.
It had been weeks of spending every waking hour doing everything I could to improve. It was starting to feel hopeless.
Every time we got a handle on something, it changed. I was staying ahead of the waves and could fight them off, but then they changed to double in difficulty, outpacing me.
These last two waves I only leveled once and the monsters gained on me.
I didn't know much else I could do.
Was I doomed to fight against higher-level enemies no matter what I did?
It felt like this whole thing was orchestrated to slowly wear you down before you gave up.
I had to do it though. If I didn't, the consequences were death. And not just my death, the death of my family.
The fighting had gone on for over half an hour by now and the numbers were thinning. I was getting better at fighting for extended periods of time with all the practice. I felt sorry for anything that tried to force me into a battle of attrition.
With the bodies clearing I started to look for the boss. It was around this time that it would make its appearance. The beasts would throw themselves at us for almost an hour depending on how many there were and how fast they died, then the boss would show up.
As I surveyed the land a feeling bubbled within me, I couldn't place its origin but it was something like pride. I was in a battlefield rent with destruction and I was the one left standing. It felt good.
Bodies were strewn about in various states of destruction and blood coated the ground. Leftover ice from my opening move was scattered about tinted red from the blood.
I didn't spot the boss so it must have spawned on the other side. The bosses were easy to spot and I wouldn't overlook its oversized frame. Austin and Jonathan knew what they were doing, they could handle it.
I knew it was evolved and in a higher rank, but they could always retreat if they had to.
After I finished up here, I'd head over there.
I didn't want to deplete all of my mana but seeing as the boss wasn't here, I could afford to be less frugal.
It felt good fighting in the arctic conditions and I couldn't help but resonate with my class name. I channeled up a bigger-than-average [Hail] and got to work.
Fighting in the ice storm was all around better than fighting without. I felt more invigorated, better aware of my surroundings, and more at home. It was like home-field advantage during sports games.
This was my turf and they were encroaching on it.
I wondered how fighting in the actual Arctic would feel.
I didn't bother to pick up anything with [Ice Manipulation] but I did spare a few [Ice Bolt]s at the annoying lizards shooting earth spikes at me. My ranged support did a good job of targeting those lizards but there were still a few left.
My [Ice Bolt]'s packed enough punch to kill in one lucky strike or two if I was unlucky.
Their bodies were weaker than normal beasts since they focused more on magical empowerment, but I would be screwed once they started putting up magical shields.
Just one more thing I didn't want to think about.
The gates were far enough away from each other that I wouldn't be able to hear anything and I couldn't help but start to worry. It was an evolved beast they were facing and it was unknown how strong it would be.
Even though I had faith in them, I picked up the pace a bit and rushed from beast to beast to finish them off.
I wouldn't have to kill every single one, just enough so they wouldn't pose a threat to the wall.
It didn't take long and soon, I was running toward the other battlefield. I trusted that the Western group could take care of the rest.
Large explosions and shouting tickled my ears as I approached and I couldn't help but run faster. It should be fine.
Getting closer I heard the shouting more clearly.
"Pull him up!"
"Focus on the leg!"
Granddad was shouting out orders for them to follow and the urgency in his voice concerned me.
Finally cresting the wall, I took in the battlefield.
It was a mess.
The earth was torn up in multiple spots and bodies were everywhere. It looked a lot like my side but with one major difference.
The 8-foot-tall lizard covered in rock armor lumbering around.
It was pulling up chunks of earth and launching them at the wall. Shouts of alarm would sound out and people would scramble out of the way of the missile trying not to get hit. Pieces of debris were scattered over the wall from previous attacks and people were bleeding from when they weren't quick enough.
I saw healers focusing on Carrie who was at the base of the wall. It looked like a rock hit her and pushed her backward off of the wall. The height wasn't as fatal as it once was with our increased durability, but it still wouldn't feel good.
I couldn't see her body clearly to tell the extent of the damage, but based on the healing being applied, it looked serious. She must have been unprepared and took the hit straight on.
Aunt Carrie wasn't my favorite person in the world but it still hurt seeing her like this. She wasn't the most pleasant woman to be around but she was still Austin's mother.
I wonder if he knows what happened. I couldn't tell if he knew what was transpiring up here and what state his Mom was in.
It was Austin who convinced her to focus on leveling up and being more active.
Seeing the disarray that my family was in, I searched for Austin. He should have been handling this side and things shouldn't have been this bad.
Finding him was easy as his body was glowing from his boosting skill.
He was charging toward the boss from quite the distance away, coming in hot with his spear leveled at his foe.
What was he doing all the way over there? There weren't any lesser monsters still alive so he shouldn't have been over there dealing with them. I couldn't come up with a reason for him being so far away from the fight.
That was until I saw what happened.
Austin charged in quick and launched a few spears empowered with sunlight, dancing around the boss trying to stay in its blind spot. Everything looked fine until the boss, the lumbering giant it was, swatted him with its tail so fast I could hardly track it.
As fast as Austin was, he couldn't dodge the tail and he was sent flying.
Now I knew why he was so far away, this wasn't the first time the boss had done this.
Seeing how ineffective Austin was, I searched for Jonathan. Unease was rising in my heart the longer it took to find him, and I feared the worst. He wasn't as strong as Austin and the boss could have killed him.
I scoured the battlefield with my eyes but I couldn't find the man. He was nowhere to be found and my dread kept rising. Abigail will be crushed. Wait a minute, where's Abigail?
She wasn't with the other healers attending to Carrie and I couldn't find her up on the wall. I couldn't waste time searching for them anymore so I got the attention of one of my cousins.
Bradley was just standing on the wall watching. He was a mage so he should have been firing off spells or doing something at least, but he was shaking in fear.
He was the youngest of my Uncle Mark's kids and was a very timid person. I was surprised he was up here at all. I didn't think I'd heard him speak since his Dad died.
Getting his attention was easy with a firm shake.
"Explain what happened," I demanded.
It took a moment for him to comprehend what I said before he started talking.
He was a stammering fit of nerves and I could barely understand a word he was saying.
"Take a deep breath and speak clearly." I tried not to yell at him but he was making it hard.
"Uh, a-after the b-boss got close. Jonathan a-and Austin went to attack it. I-Its first swing s-sent Jonathan flying over the wall a-and into c-camp. Abigail r-rushed off t-to go heal him while A-Austin st-stayed behind." He was calmer but still carried a stutter.
It explained where my sister was and why I couldn't find Jonathan.
Jonathan was tough and I knew he wouldn't die so easily so some of my unease settled. I didn't know if I could take seeing Anna and Josh find out their Dad was dead.
Shaking off those worries I focused on the lumbering beast. I didn't have any more time to get anything else out of Bradley, the boss was closing in.
I didn't want to find out how effective its earth powers were on the wall. I would have to get in there and I only had a few seconds to come up with a game plan.
It had a mouth full of teeth that could bite me along with earth-shaping abilities I would have to be wary of. Also, its tail was more dangerous than it let on and it was quicker than I gave it credit for.
Wonderful.
Well, here goes nothing.
