perizou
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Chapter 501 - A chieftain's Way
🕑 Added 2022-08-13 12:18:01 +0000 UTC##### Author's Note #####
Hey everyone. I know you noticed how yesterday we didn't have a chapter. If you are on discord you could have seen my announcement, but I got sick. It was a stomach bug or something that made me feel very ill very suddenly and the only thing I managed to do was take some medicine and go to sleep. That happened in the middle of the night before friday's chapter was done and I only woke up at around 17pm on friday.
I could have tried to push me to finish friday chapter and then saturday but for once I was kind to myself and focused on resting and getting better lol.
Either way, I'm sorry for the lack of chapter and in the next two weeks I'll be making an extra chapter to make up for the one we lost.
Also, this chapter ended up almost double the size of the usual ones sooo. it's kind of a 2 in 1 lol.
Thank you for being understanding and I'll promise to eat less sketchy things. Even if they look delicious.
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Malva was barreling through several humans that were in her path. She was like a battering ram pushing through all of their defenses and ignoring any damage that was being dealt to her. It didn't matter if they were mages, warriors, controllers, or whatever. None was able to stop the chieftain from her carnage. One of her tattoos was now glowing, increasing her attributes even more. Suddenly she noticed a human with both hands pointing towards the sky again. It was Toxic Rain who somehow had survived the attack. With a cry of anger and grief, the chieftain sprinted at full speed heading towards the man, obliterating the trees in her path.
When she was getting close to her target. Toxic Rain jumped to the side and appeared far away, now taking a position as if he was about to cast a spell on her. She felt her body getting heavier and her vision starting to twist as if she were wearing a pair of glasses slightly off her prescription. Before reaching the human, she noticed that there was something wrong. Even in her frenzied state, she could tell when some trickery was afoot. Without stopping, Malva looked around, following the trail of mana her enhanced senses could see coming from Toxic Rain until she reached Spinner a few meters behind her. She raised her arm aiming at the human general, and sent off one of her tattoos. It had the shape of a twin-tailed giant centipede that quickly rushed through the bushes and reached its target. The tattoo wrapped around Spinner in just a few moments, making him drop to the ground as the dozens of legs were embedded into his armor. Luckily, the living tattoo could only hold him down and it's legs weren't strong enough to pierce his armor. The impact hurt, of course, and he was still feeling his body being constricted by the tattoo, but it didn't seem like he was in any danger at the moment. However, that would quickly change if another centaur noticed his current state.
One particular centaur did. Malva herself.
Angered by the illusion, the chieftain rushed towards Spinner, spinning her glaive to make a wide downward slash right in the middle of his body. He would have been instantly killed if it wasn't for Blade of Dawn appearing to block the attack. The mage let go of all the ideas of being stealthy and quickly activated her spell that made it seem like the sun was rising from her sword. The battlefield that was dark and only had small pockets of light here and there suddenly lit up. Malva stepped back and covered her eyes, the light being too intense for her to handle in the middle of the night. All that lasted for just a moment, but it was enough for everyone to get a sense of their surroundings. Unfortunately, this affected both sides. Blade of Dawn couldn't make her spell appear for only a single group, but the mage wasn't done. She jumped after Malva swinging her sword that left a light trail behind it. That trail wasn't just a pretty neon effect but part of her spell that would damage anyone who touched it, including Blade of Dawn herself.
It didn't take long for Malva to realize that as well. She grazed the light trail and noticed the searing pain in her arms. Still, it wasn't that difficult to deal with an attack like that. The chieftain's weapon had a longer reach, and she didn't have to be that close to actually damage the mage. Not to mention that Blade of Dawn did very wide swings to increase that trail's size, which left more openings for an attack. In just a couple of seconds, she was already familiar enough with those attacks to move as if they weren't even there. With a stab, she pushed Blade of Dawn into her own trail, burning her armor, and was about to follow up with another stab aimed at her neck when ice spikes came from the ground surrounding the centaur.
Out of nowhere, Frostbite interjected into the fight. The ice she created stopped Malva's attacks and removed some of the light trails created by Blade of Dawn. She wanted to clear up the arena so they could fight better. Malva growled and grabbed her glaive with both hands for the first time, doing a single swing strong enough to create a shockwave that flew all the way to the other side of the barrier, killing one of the mages and his bodyguards. Blade of Dawn and Frostbite were able to evade the attack, but if the sunlight created by the mage wasn't enough of a signal, everyone would know about their fight now. Frostbite didn't wait for the centaur to continue her assault and started creating large jagged spikes of ice from the ground. There was a large area under her control now that she had already covered the field with a layer of snow. Each time she missed and Malva managed to escape her attacks, the ice spikes would explode, and the shards flew towards the centaur. An attack like that dealt much less damage than she expected, but it was enough to do something, and the more ice covered Malva, the stronger Frostbite's aura effect would be. When enough ice was on the target, her movements would start to slow down.
Unlike the 30 or so people Malva already killed, these humans felt stronger, better equipped, and more experienced. Because of that, she was starting to feel pressured, and this wasn't something she was willing to accept. Malva jumped back and bit down on her shoulder, ripping a small chunk of meat that she started eating. While chewing, her muscles grew even more, and her skin turned a more vivid shade of red. Despite being on the ground, Spinner noticed that as the centaur did that, one of her tattoos, a red one, was glowing.
The centaur jumped at the humans, slamming her hoof on the ground that cracks beneath her. Without stopping, she performed a horizontal swing that missed Blade of Dawn by a hair, but the strength of the attack was still enough to cut down some of the trees behind the mage. Frostbite covered her arms in ice and blocked the attack by going closer, but even the shaft of the glaive could cut the ice she created and crack her arms. Blade of Dawn was moving around Malva, leaving off a light trail to hinder her movements while trying to attack her, but all her advances were stopped by the chieftain. However, it was clear that even the small wounds the centaur received so far were starting to become a problem. She was bleeding from the multitude of cuts, and it seemed like her body couldn't keep up with how her muscles were now behaving.
An arrow cut through the sky and hit the chieftain in the back, causing her to roar. The humans smiled, thinking it was a gift from Archer, but, in reality, Halros sent the present for his chieftain. With his last breath, the centaur used his most potent healing spell on the arrow before shooting it. On impact, the projectile triggered not just an accelerated healing spell but also recovered most recent wounds. Seeing that her arm was getting better, Malva took another two bites, and with all the spells, her body could now move at full strength without worrying about breaking itself apart. Deciding to double down, she triggered another two tattoos. The first made her body sturdier, while the other created a double of herself. Her reflection was somewhat translucent and mirrored the chieftain's every move.
Blade of Dawn and Frostbite were caught off guard, and any advantage they had vanished. Despite moving at the same time as her reflection, Malva was able to fight both at the same time while using the same movements. Her glaive quickly became a problem; even evading the frontal attack wasn't enough. The chieftain was forcing them to be in the line of fire of her reflection and vice versa, which caused their dodges to work against them. As soon as Malva's reflection appeared, the tattoo centipede constraining Spinner vanished, but instead of being able to move normally, there was a paralyzing effect still lingering on the man. He used spell after spell to recover his condition, and when he finally got up, he could see Blade of Dawn and Frostbite being pushed back by two of the same centaur, "Dawn, Frost. I'll tell you where to dodge," Spinner said in a low voice through the communicator.
The strategist started giving orders telling them how to avoid the attacks, but he wasn't going to tell them when to strike. It was counterproductive to micromanage so much in a situation like this. With his help, things quickly changed. Frostbite and Blade of Dawn were able to go back to what seemed like a level playing field. Not just that, but Frostbite managed to deal a heavy blow to Malva's reflection, and to Spinner's surprise, Malva herself was also affected in the same way. That gave him a great idea that he passed along to the duo facing the chieftain. His plan was to use both attacks to guide one of the versions of the centaur to get hit by something that was going towards the other one, just like she was doing to them. They only nodded as a reply, not to give off their plans, but it was something easier said than done. Even with Spinner's guidance, they were struggling to be able to land a single hit while Malva wasn't having the same type of issues.
The chieftain spun her glaive and went for a wide slash, Frostbite was able to dodge one of them, but since she had just spun around to block an attack when Spinner told her to jump left, she ended up going right. Because of that, the slash landed, making a large gash on her back. Just as that happened, a loud yell came from the forest, and her wound healed instantly. Not entirely, but enough not to cause any problems with her mobility.
"Don't stop now, girls. We still have to take that one out!" Wildborn appeared, jumping into the fray and helping Blade of Dawn block an attack. He took the unofficial role of a tank that would be focusing on soaking up the damage since he could block some of the attacks himself.
With Spinner still giving them commands, the chieftain started to be pushed back again, and little by little, she got more desperate. After four of her attacks were easily dodged and blocked, Malva decided to go for a different objective. She still wanted to break the barrier and let her people run away. Jumping back, she deactivated her duplicate and dashed towards the edge of the barrier. The centaur moved too fast for anyone to follow along, but the rest of the group was still trying to catch up.
Malva managed to kill two of the barrier groups without any issues, but when she went to the third, a massive wall of ice appeared in front of her blocking her path. She tried to break through, but as she was carving a passage, someone suddenly punched her face so hard that she fell to the side. Looking up, the chieftain couldn't see anyone around, but after a few seconds, a flash of yellow appeared, and another punch to the face dislodged her jaw.
Wildborn also saw Yellow Flash moving around and buffed the group so they could rush to join the battle. Frostbite had to stay behind. The wall she created wasn't only in front of the chieftain but a circular spell that forced her to stay in a small area while her surroundings were covered in ice. This was the spell that she used to protect the city and the spell that gave her her name.
Blade of Dawn saw Yellow Flash hitting the centaur again and said in the communicator, "Hit my sword," that wasn't the first time the two worked together, and the fighter understood what she meant by that. He ran around and kicked Malva's back legs to stop her from getting up before going towards Blade of Dawn and slamming his fist on the wide side of her blade. Discharging a large amount of the energy he was accumulating to move faster. Because the attack also created light, Blade of Dawn used a spell to supercharge the trail she would create. With that boost of power, she dashed towards the chieftain and started spinning around her, covering the area in light trails that would obliterate anything touching them. Following it up, she jumped and came crashing down in the centaur that was now back up and ready for the blow. However, as her longsword clashed with the glaive, all the trails she created flew towards Malva, cutting her body several times and instantly cauterizing her wounds, causing her to feel an unimaginable pain.
Yet, Malva was still standing. She pushed through the attacks, green-blue energy started to leak from her weapon, and one of her tattoos began to glow. With a swift motion, she stabbed Blade of Dawn. However, just before the glaive hit, a mirror appeared in front of it, causing the attack to be reflected back to the chieftain. Mirror Match arrived at the fight and used his spell after asking Wildborn for a buff. Unfortunately, the attack was too strong for him to reflect it all, and even being far away from it, he was sent flying towards a tree. But he wasn't the only one. The impact also caught Malva off-guard, and she flew towards the ice wall. Parts of the jagged frozen water pierced her body. Not wanting to give her a chance to recover, Blade of Dawn spun around and came with her sword aiming at the chieftain's neck. Her weapon couldn't cut through, but the trail was still there. Using another spell, she pulled the path of light back to her sword, and the light managed to slit the throat of the centaur to the point of cauterizing her throat shut. Malva bared her teeth and tried to pull air to her lungs but to no avail. Yellow Flash punched her gut to force any air still inside her body to go away, and Blade of Dawn continued swinging. Spinner was finally getting close, while Wildborn went to help Mirror Match again. The commander got very close to the chieftain and stabbed her with a blood-red dagger that vanished from his hand and went inside her body. This spell wouldn't do any damage, but it would harm both the natural regeneration of her body and any healing effects that could be affecting her.
With that, he stepped back and let the rest of the team continue their attacks. He wasn't in the mood to be hit by some random attack. Malva was still stuck to the wall, and the ice kept growing over her as if it was trying to consume her whole. The impact of her own attack was also causing problems, the tattoo she used wasn't simply a buff, but an attack that, when the target was hit, would stop their body from moving. To make things worse, each attack she received would increase the time she would be stuck. Of course, that had diminishing returns, and eventually, the effect would run out. The question was, would she survive long enough for that to happen?
Blade of Dawn jumped back and spun around one more time, making a large number of trails of light around the area again. Yellow Flash, who was near the centaur, continued his attacks until she was ready. He gave up most of his power to continue hitting with lightning-fast punches, but each strike was covered in lighting mana that would damage the chieftain's entire body. This time, the mage continued dancing, giving a small space for everyone to move back while painting the forest with that orange light of a sunrise. That dance lasted almost a minute, and by the time the image was done, Malva could only see a wall of light with a small corridor being the opening where people would run from.
"Now!" Blade of Dawn yelled. Yellow Flash ran out of that area while Blade of Dawn came in, dancing and covering the exit with a trail. Malva could feel herself regaining control of her body. She needed just a few more moments. While watching the human mage getting closer and closer, getting ready to deliver what looked like a killing blow. The chieftain's body was now back in her control, and she was waiting for the human to get in range of her glaive. She could kill her with a single swing, considering the opening in the stance of the mage. As soon as Blade of Dawn got close enough, Malva pulled her glaive to attack, but the ice was stronger than she expected, and she couldn't move her arm. Before she could understand why her attack failed, Blade of Dawn performed a downward slash, and all the light trails came crashing down on the centaur's body. At that time, the mage leveled up, and the tattoos in the centaur appeared around her body, the legacy being transferred to its new owner.
With the chieftain dead, and the buff she was providing the rest of the tribe gone, the humans took the upper hand and started to kill all the tribesmen. It took about twenty minutes or so for the main battle to be over, and now the humans were just making sure no centaurs were hiding somewhere. Frostbite had gathered with Spinner and the rest, who were still walking together when Blade of Dawn suddenly turned pale.
"What? What do you mean?" the mage gasped while looking to her right towards nothing, "No, no, no, no, no. I don't want this. Take this out! Take this out!" she removed part of her armor and started clawing out one of her new tattoos, one that was completely red and it showed the fangs of a creature.
"Dawn, Dawn! What's wrong?" Wildborn gasped.
"Take this out of me. I don't want it. I don't want it! I'm not a Wendigo!"
"What happened? Talk to us!" Frostbite grabbed Blade of Dawn by her shoulders to stop her from hurting herself.
"A Wendigo had this. This legacy. They are a part of it. That's why she was biting herself. She can eat others to get stronger. I can't, please, take it. Please! I'm not a Wendigo!" Blade of Dawn looked deep into Frostbite's eyes as a notification appeared in front of the controller.
"Is that ok?" Frostbite asked Spinner.
"We had agreed that any loot would be on a contribution base situation. Dawn and you were the ones who fought against the chieftain the most. I think you two deserve the legacy. And I don't want it, not now that we know…." Spinner looked away. He didn't like the idea of having a legacy that a Wendigo had at some point. He also understood why Blade of Dawn was reacting like that. She watched as the Wendigos devoured her loved ones a few days after the wall came down.
"Ok, ok. I'll take it," Frostbite accepted the legacy, and the tattoos vanished from Blade of Dawn and appeared in Frostbite. Everyone waited for a moment, and the controller turned to Spinner, "Look, I can't pass to anyone else for a week. After that, if I give it away, I'll lose about half a level worth of attributes at least. I understand if I have to give it to someone else, but after that week, I will need some compensation."
"You can't pass it to anyone else for a week?" Mirror Match asked.
"That's what the legacy is telling me. Because it was passed on, the legacy needs time before it can be passed on again. I don't know if that's how it's supposed to work, but it's what it is telling me," Frostbite explained.
"Ok, that's weird. We can see how everything is going to go down later. For now, continue going through the area and see if any centaur is still alive," Spinner turned around, only to see a commotion in the middle of the forest.
"What's going on over there?" Yellow Flash rushed over, "Shit! Wildborn!"
Wildborn rushed over and saw why such a large group of people was gathered. Ten healers were doing their best to heal Insomniac. The problem wasn't simply his wounds, but something was pushing back all the spells. Sculptor explained what happened as Wildborn joined in and started healing, but as it stood, it was a losing battle. At most, the group of healers could just maintain Insomniac's current state.
"We need to clear the area fast and get him to an actual hospital. I don't know what happened with him, but this is not something I understand, and I don't know how long he has left," Wildborn looked back with a worried expression, the same expression that all other healers.
"What if I use my legacy?" Sculptor asked.
"What? I thought you couldn't do that thing with people," Spinner frowned.
"Long story, I kind of can," Sculptor replied.
"Will he get worse?" Wildborn turned to the former smuggler.
"I… don't know," Sculptor sighed. He was covered in blood from the first aid he tried to apply to the fighter.
"We'll keep that as a last resort. If we think we are going to lose him, you can step in," Wildborn turned back to Spinner, "We need to get out of here."
"Everyone, clear out the remaining centaur! We have people who need medical support that we don't have here," Spinner told everyone through their communicator. The fight might be over, but they had to be sure they had won the war.
Comments
Perizou
It was. A greasy mess of a burger but damn it tasted good.
Gail Burke
Wow, such an intense chapter. I'm seriously going to have to re read though cause I totally forgot about the tattoos thing and with the wendigos.
Gail Burke
Lol, did the sketchy but delicious food taste good at least?
