Chapter 17: Chapter 17 - Carnage
The three men holding shields advanced around the elegant man and approached me. The man with the pike had gotten in range of me to my left and shot his polearm forward in a thrust. I smashed It to the right with the flat of the blade of my glaive and rushed forward, swinging my glaive down diagonally at the pikeman. He jumped back and only received a shallow cut on his chest. The Hatchet wielder dashed to my left and the burned woman approached my back. The two men with matching weapons approached my right side as the shield-bearer began casting a spell. The man with the longsword hung back behind the burned woman. I cast [Light Discharge] behind me and swung my glaive at the hatchet wielder. He tried to cease his momentum and jump back but I stepped forward mid-swing and cut deep into his side, he didn't die, but he would soon. At this moment, the burned woman recovered from the flashbang and slashed at my back with impressive speed, but I was faster. I Conjured a shadow dagger in my left hand and blocked the attack without looking at it.
I then turned to the right and moved away from the approaching swordsmen. The shield-bearer had finished his spell and a transparent silver barrier descended upon all my attackers, beginning to heal the wound the pikeman had received. The man with the long sword had circled behind me and attacked me simultaneously with the burned woman and matching men. I dashed forward and to the right. I swung at the left swordsman with the glaive held only in my left hand and grabbed the sword of the right swordsman with my right hand. It broke through my ice armor but just barely cut into my reinforced skin. The left swordsman raised his targe to block my glaive and was smashed to his knees, the silver barrier shattering in the process. I yanked the sword held in my right hand and its wielder let go. I tossed it away and conjured a shadow dagger in its place. Before the right swordsman could escape, my dagger had sunk to its hilt in his neck. I spun to my left and held up the shaft of my glaive with two hands to block the downward swing from the burned woman. At almost the same time I back kicked an attempted shield bash.
I then Jumped straight up the avoid a thrust from the long sword wielder. I cast [Light Discharge] where I had just been standing as I hover in the air with [Sky Step]. The shield-bearer raised his shield and the burned girl closed her eyes, but the longswords-man didn't react quickly enough and was blinded. I launched a few [Wind Bolts] at him as I sped towards the sword and shield wielder who had just stood up. He screamed in rage and charged to meet my approach. His anger dulled his senses and I easily skewed him with my glaive.
I turned around leaned back to dodge a horizontal slash from the burned woman. The longswords-man had now recovered his eyesight and was reorienting himself, his barrier broken by my spells. The pikeman had fully recovered and was approaching my back. The shield-bearer was exhausted after casting two powerful spells and was approaching me slowly. I stabbed forwards at the burned woman, who moved slightly to her right and dodged before casting some kind of speed-boosting spell and rushing forward. She slashed diagonally at my left shoulder. I moved forward at max speed and grabbed her thin wrists in my left hand. I pulled her close as I coked up on my glaive with my right hand. She tried to struggle out of my grasp, but I was much stronger than her. My right hand was now holding my glave in a reverse grip right below the blade. I stabbed her in the back, shattering the barrier, and impaling her. I then quickly removed my weapon, turned around, and raised the dying woman's body to block the pike that was aimed at the back of my head. The pike finished off the woman, so I tossed her body aside and resumed a normal grip on my glaive.
The longswords-man cried out in anguish as the corpse crashed to the ground and charged at me. The pikeman was in shock as he realized he had killed his own companion. The shield-bearer increased his speed and charged with the longswords-man. I pushed aside a downward cleave from the three-foot-long blade with my glaive and rushed at the shield-bearer. I planted the base of my glaive in the ground to my right and used it as a pivot point to dropkick the tower shield of the shield-bearer. He was blasted backward by the impact and his shield was sent flying. I landed and crouched down to dodge a wide swing from the long sword wielder. I then spun around, jumped back to get into range, and brought by glaive down upon him. He hastily raised his sword above his head and braced it with his off-hand. My glaive crashed into his sword, bending it and breaking both of the man's locked arms. I pulled my glaive back and then lopped off the now defenseless man's head. The pikeman still hadn't moved so I cast a few wind bolts to break his barrier and finish him off. I then moved to the shield-bearer who was struggling to get up and sheared through the chainmail protecting his neck. My blade only cut about halfway through the thick muscles, but it was enough. As I killed the man, I heard clapping behind me. I turned around to face the elegant man who had stood still throughout the entire battle.
"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. First, you defeat the vice general, and now you kill nine highly trained rank 4 working as a group without getting more than a small scratch. Your skill and power are astounding. So how much to buy your service. 10,000 gold, 100,000? Maybe women? I could get you the most beautiful women in a thousand miles. Or is it status you want? I could make you directly into an earl, and with your abilities, it won't take you very long to climb higher than that"
I ignored the man's words.
"This is a war, draw your weapon"
With this, I rushed forwards and swung my glaive at his neck. But it was stopped in its tracks by a ward.
"No need to be so violent, I'm trying to strike a deal here"
I continued to swing my weapons as hard as I could at the man, but It was stopped in its tracks every time.
"As you can see, no matter how much you attack, you won't be able to damage even a hair on my head. So what do you say, will you join me?"
I responded by smashing my glaive into his ward, this time with [Assassinate] activated, to no avail. At this, he sighed.
"Looks you like plan to die with the rest of this pitiful country. Fine, suit yourself"
I could do nothing to stop him as he walked off into the distance after dropping his critic ending line.
'That ward is insane, what is he using to power it? He must be a royal'
I had learned a little about defensive wards during my time in the mountain base. They simply gathered essence, the type varied, into a solid barrier to stop any attacks aimed at the user. Most of them siphon a small amount of essence form their wearer constantly and store it it be used in case of an attack. Rich people were known to pay other ascenders to stockpile their wards, but enchanted items with large storage capacities were incredibly expensive. Most combat orientated ascenders didn't like to wear them, as you couldn't know whether or not an incoming attack could be blocked.
I put the thought aside and turned my attention to my surroundings. The army of Palence had been completely routed. Soldiers were running away in every direction. Warren soldiers were gathering at the fortifications. I scanned the battlefield with my enhanced vision as I walked towards the rest of the special forces. The aftermath of the battle was a gruesome sight. Tens of thousands of corpses lay scattered in every direction. Many people lay crying out to gods, or to their mothers, or to their enemies as they slowly died. I found Sophia after ten minutes of brisk walking. She smiled when I approached and spoke up.
"You certainly tore up hell. I give it a month until your a widespread rumor in both counties, three until your a scary children's story"
"That will certainly be a slight inconvenience, but isn't it a bit of an exaggeration?"
"An exaggeration? Magnus, you tore through hundreds of soldiers like they were paper and then flawlessly obliterated Palence's elite hit squad"
"Flawlessly?"
I then explained to Sophia how the elegant man had blocked all of my attacks with a ward.
"What? Your attacks carry as much power as a rank 5. The power needed to stop dozens of rank 5 attacks... An enchanted item with that much storage only exists in the storybooks. There is something strange going on here, I need to talk to Lord James. You should go get some rest"
After Sophia left, I jumped over the fortifications and went to find the blacksmiths. Which wasn't a very difficult task, as I only had to follow the smell of smoke and the clanging of metal on metal. My glaive was well crafted, but it was still a normal weapon. My use of it had dented and chipped the blade in many places. After handing my weapon to the blacksmiths, I left to see if I could find a book to read until we left the battlefield.
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I was awoken that night by the sounds of screams, explosions, and inhuman roars. I had fallen asleep on an earth chair I had formed on the edge of the war camp. I focused my enhanced eyesight on the source of the majority of the noise and was met with a strange sight.
Massive, red, human-shaped giants had appeared on the edge of the fortifications. Each one was at least 20 feet(6m) tall. I identified the beasts as I ran to the fortifications.
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[Blood Golem]
Rank 5 - Mortal
Essence - 5000
Essence type - Blood
[Strength] - 850
[Agility] - 850
[Dexterity] - 850
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Active skills:
Passive skills:
[B] - [Blood Absortion]
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'Blood golem, so their not beasts. Someone created them. I see what that royal meant now, with so many rank 5s, it doesn't matter if they can't wield essence, Warren kingdom would be demolished'
All of these thoughts left my head when I reached the top of the fortifications and observed the battlefield. Half a mile to my right, I spotted Sophia in the grasp of golem covered in lacerations, her sword thrown to the side. I knew I couldn't do anything, even [Sacrifice] wouldn't let me travel that distance in an instant. I could faintly hear Lord James yelling somewhere nearby. As I rushed forward and watched Sophia get torn in half, many things fell into place, I finally understood. Sophia had been my first real friend, in either world. I've had acquaintances and so-called "friends" before, but most of them avoided me. But Sophia hadn't avoided me. She had found my actions and interactions somehow enjoyable and had accepted me at face value. She was the first person I had ever had any real connection to. I also noticed that I had subconsciously wanted to deepen that connection. I finally reach Sophia and knelt in front of her dead body, discarded by the golem. For the first time, I felt sadness. But then something else replaced every emotion and thought I had.
I was mad.
I was angry.
I was furious.
I wanted to tear whoever had done this to shreds.
I stood up slowly and turned to the blood golem that had killed Sophia. It wasn't paying any attention to me, just advancing on the fortifications. I didn't know if it had any vitals, or if it could even die. But I didn't care.
I summoned shadow daggers in each hand and charged. I jumped at its back and lodged both of my daggers into its red flesh. I then let gravity carry me and carved viscous gashes all the way down the creature's large back, spilling vast amounts of blood. As I dropped to the ground, it roared and turned around. I jumped and rocketed at its face, using my daggers to destroy its soulless eyes. I then repeatedly stabbed my daggers into its oversized head. It tried to use its large hands to pull me down, but my daggers were faster, slicing the limbs to ribbons as they approached. After turning the creatures head to a bloody pulp, I used [Sky Step] to circle it and repeatedly cut deep wounds into its torso. I only stopped when the golem crashed to the ground in a heap of blood and gore. I stood next to the fallen giant, covered in blood. I then turned and found the next one, and sprinted towards it with all my power.
As I ran, I didn't notice that a myriad of colors were gathering around my body. I reached the next giant and tore into it. As I did, the streaks of color were growing stronger. Parts of the golem started to burn, others started to corrode. Cuts appeared all over its body, and in other places, chunks of flesh simply disappeared. I didn't notice, I just keep ripping the creature to shreds. As I moved onto the third golem, the colors strengthen, becoming tangible.
Every golem fell faster than the last. Their bodies sliced, mangled, burned, twisted, frozen, shattered. It was a vicious scene of carnage. But I didn't stop. My body was moving faster every second. I tore the golems apart with ease, one after another. I began to tire, but I forced myself to continue.
A storm of color had formed around me. Any giant that entered it was dead in seconds. I continued moving until every single golem was nothing more than mincemeat. The sun was rising as the last one fell to the ground. I finally stood still, the storm dispersed as I fell to my knees. I was overcome with extreme exhaustion. I could faintly hear cheering in the distance behind me, but it didn't register.
Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the thick layer of blood that covered every inch of my body, I was lost.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Drake41
Drake41 Apologies for not uploading yesterday, had some family issues. Enjoy this long chapter.
I would also like to thank the people who have been commenting on my grammar and spelling errors, I will fix them as soon as I can.
*NOTE issue occurred with the chapter and bits of it got deleted. this has been fixed
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