PenguinKills
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Chapter 125 - End
🕑 Added 2024-09-02 20:00:07 +0000 UTCAustin
He could feel the Light Law the beasts had resonating with his own. His attacks were being bent by the monsters as they closed in, going where he hadn't intended for them to land.
It was frustrating not to have them go where he wanted them to. The deviation wasn't much, a few inches here and there but that changed a lot when the things he was aiming for required precision. His attacks were aimed with pinpoint accuracy at weak points and the deviation affected that.
In-between ribs to penetrate deep into the chest cavity, through the eye socket for easy access to the brain without having to punch through the skull. While a nudge here and there wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, it threw off his attacks mightily.
Also, it came at a time when he needed to be at his best.
The final wave was proving more difficult than any had anticipated and he wasn't like Chris. He couldn't solo waves and stay on his feet through brutal injuries.
Austin saw what Chris walked away from on a daily basis and still wondered how he managed to keep going. If Austin got even half as damaged as Chris, he would be down for the count needing a healer to put him back together.
While his Vitality was higher than the Icy Juggernaut's, his Fortitude wasn't. The point of all of his Agility was to not get hit in the first place. He could afford to have a lower fortitude if he dodged more attacks than what landed on him.
Austin's eyes sharpened as he pulled on his bloodline. He had been experimenting with its use and he realized that short bursts were best. Whenever he was about to get overwhelmed or he needed to kill the beasts around him quickly.
It conserved most of the energy and he could use it over a longer period of time.
His speed soared and his spear shot out, piercing through the monsters around him in quick succession.
The rest of the family was getting battered by the beasts but nothing too serious had occurred. The gate wasn't able to hold up and after getting precious minutes to attack with abandon, the time for full-on battle had come.
Austin's family showed their experience from previous waves and dealt with it in a calm and collected manner. The warriors were veterans by this point and took up their place at the front, placing their full trust in the backline to see them through the battle.
Austin didn't even want to think about how Tracy's sides were doing. They were wholly unprepared for what was about to happen. They placed their full trust in the walls and defenses they had built and now they were crumbling.
Falling apart under the might of nearly a thousand Least Laws the beasts carried.
He was surprised the gate lasted as long as it did honestly. Even with all of the explosions and elemental attacks launched from the top of the wall, monsters sprouted from nothing to continue the advance. Biting and clawing at the gate to get through.
Taking one down did little to stop the tide. Even with all the traps laid scattered in front of the wall, it wasn't enough. It was never going to be but Austin couldn't help but imagine the despondent faces of Tracy's members right now.
He knew they placed too much trust in their defenses. They didn't have the experience of fighting in the thick of it like his family. They weren't ready for the battle that had started inside the walls.
They were weak.
It was what he had been trying to push Chris for in the beginning. Austin wanted to push his family just as much as himself but he hadn't gone through with it.
Maybe if he had there would be more of them still here today. Or more of them would have died during the fight with the Mindbreaker.
There were no absolutes with what ifs but Austin couldn't help but regret his decision. He knew Chris did, even though he didn't like to talk about it.
Chris was bottling up everything that had happened and he wasn't in for a good time when that seal finally cracked. He kept trying to put one foot in front of the other and he would eventually falter because of it.
Going from pressing concern to pressing concern couldn't last forever.
Austin had tried to broach the subject with him all Chris would say was 'I will deal with it when I find the time.'
Austin couldn't help but pity the person that made him finally explode.
~~
Chris
"AHHHH!"
A primal roar escaped me as more and more blood leaked out of me. My fighting had become more savage as the wave continued and I couldn't help but shout in frustration. It wasn't even because of the beasts anymore.
It was me yelling at the world.
As the beams of light kept finding their way through my armor, more of my mana flowed through me to intensify my attacks.
[Sweeping Snow] revolved around me, nearly turning the sky white as I pumped rivers of mana through it. My Law and Spirit flowed liberally into all the ice and snow in the area. My hammer whizzed through the air trying to keep up with the last of the monsters.
The end of the wave was coming and I was gearing up to meet it.
The floodgates were opened and I could feel the mental strain building from using my Law like I was. When I said all the ice in the area, I meant all.
It flowed into every snowflake and spec of broken ice around me as I flooded the area in its might. My Spirit did the same and I could feel its power reservoir falling at a commensurate rate.
If I hadn't seen the end of the tide working its way through the gate this would have been suicide. Draining myself like this would leave me high and dry when the boss showed up.
But I could last long enough now that the end was in sight.
The increased brutality added to the drops of blood flying through the air. The beasts were fast and nimble but they were not very durable. A hammer blow was enough to end them if I hit the right spot.
A therapist would probably say that I was projecting but I couldn't give a rat's ass about their opinion right now.
My increase in brutality was perfectly justified.
These were the monsters sent to kill us every wave. These were the beasts that were there to challenge us and bar our return to Earth. The tutorial that was supposed to ease us into this whole process.
The System that uprooted our life and sequestered us into this hell. My life that had turned upside down on a random Saturday in March.
This wasn't how my life was supposed to go. I didn't plan to wade through the blood of thousands, smashing down monsters and snuffing out lives with my hammer. I wanted to be an engineer.
Get a cushy job somewhere and retire early. Maybe start a family in a few years while watching my niece and nephew grow up. Teach them cuss words and buy them beer after they turned 18.
Not... this.
My hammer caved in the skull of another monster, showering me in brain matter and blood. Little chunks of skull rained down around me and it was hard not to be frustrated at what I was made to do.
The killing would never end. It wasn't the way the world worked now that there were levels and essence. I would never be free of it, never get the chance to live a peaceful life.
It made me angry. Angry about the choice that had been taken from me. The option that was removed from my future.
And what made me the angriest? What made me seethe with rage?
I liked it.
Maybe some of my frustrations were at myself. At the person that I had become now that I had a hammer in my hands. At the person that had died and been reborn 88 days ago.
At the person my father would barely recognize.
So much anger was bottled up inside me there was enough of it to go around. All of my regrets flashed through my mind and it was hard not to be angry at myself. At the stupid choices made along the way.
If I had started slaughtering beasts at the start, would more of my family still be alive? If I went and massacred every human in the tutorial would my family be intact?
Maybe the Chilling Death of Helheim was who I was. Maybe it was through the blood of thousands that I would rise.
Maybe it was just my grief.
"GAHHHHH"
I chose not to contain it anymore. To stop repressing the emotions inside of me. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to deal with what was in there. I wanted it to go away.
It wasn't the anger at myself that I drew on, it was my fury at the circumstance I was forced into. I couldn't fight the System, or the tutorial grounds I was in.
But I could kill the beasts.
Unfiltered rage flowed through me and I swung.
And swung, and swung, and swung.
At some point I started screaming as I brought my hammer down, bringing death to another being.
Smashing the thing that blocked our exit out of here.
Even as the last of the lesser monsters were ground into the dirt, I didn't stop swinging.
I charged the four bosses who tried to impose their aura on me. Charged at them with abandon and swung.
The beast didn't go down with the first blow so I did it again. And again. It finally died making me move on to the next one. There was no grace in my swings, only destruction.
My body wasn't handling the punishment I was making it go through but that didn't matter to me right now. Maybe it was the tiny part of me that wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. The part that wanted to take them down with me.
I wasn't sure of the reason, but I was sure of the outcome. They would meet my hammer and they would die.
My mind went blank and I let go of everything else. Of everything except for one thing.
My desire to kill the things that had ruined my life.
With single-minded purpose, I swung.
And I swung.
And I swung.
And I SWUNG.
The boss showed up but I didn't change in my approach.
My hammer came alight with the powers flowing through it and almost matched the preceding beast's luminescence in intensity.
The boss felt different, like it was stronger than it should have been but that flowed through my head like water on a duck's back. In one ear and out the other. It didn't change anything.
The only sounds that rang out from inside the camp were my guttural screaming and the squelch of flesh being pounded in.
Booming thuds upon flesh as liquids splattered outward. Of repeated pounding almost incessant in pace.
Thud
Thud
Thud
Thud
The thuds lessened until they became dull, then changed further before finally turning into squelches.
It wasn't until I couldn't physically lift my hammer that I stopped. The failure to lift it was the only indicator that I shouldn't continue.
My mind came back to me slowly and I took in the scenery around me.
Bodies littered the area in various states with the biggest one lying in front of me. My body was screaming at me in protest to rest and there were more holes in me than Swiss cheese.
The four mini-bosses were easy to spot because of their size difference, they too were smashed beyond recognition.
But the one that was by far the worst, was the boss.
It was little more than a mangled lump of flesh at this point, smashed beyond all recognition.
I couldn't even point out the different parts of the body it was so disfigured.
It was easy to see that I snapped. The level of destruction was unnecessary even against monsters. The entire boss was unusable after the treatment I put it through.
Blood saturated my armor and the frozen blood looked purposeful in its intensity. The crimson layer evenly distributed throughout my form.
I just stood and stared at what I had done. The realization that the tutorial was over didn't hit until a few moments later.
With everything that I had been through, of the trial that my family had been put through, it wasn't relief I was feeling at the end of it.
Without a better way to process, I sat and cried.
Cried for the people who weren't here and the things that I had done. Of the people I had killed and the blood that I had reaped. Of the empty feeling inside me.
I cried.
Comments
Alexander C Hyde
It flowed into every snowflake and spec(k) of broken ice around me as I flooded the area in its might.
Alexander C Hyde
Austin had tried to broach the subject with him (but) all Chris would say was 'I will deal with it when I find the time.'
Thomas Hendrix
The fight was, the emotional climax was quite well done however
IgnisPrimus
The last wave was a bit anticlimactic. I really like that. It's not often you see something like that on RoyalRoad.
Somerito
The bold words tend to have significance so I wonder with swung being emphasized so much he somehow unlocked the next stage of his spiritual cultivation. Maybe something like I'll never stop swinging.
James Faulkner
Fantastic chapter, Tftc!
Oladipupo Oluwasile
Thanks for the chapter. I hope the tears will help relieve some of the pressure and pain.
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 I hope none of his family members dies in this last battle... He would be even more unhinged as in this battle
Aaron Weingrad
Nice. Hope the other bastion manages to survive
