“Sorry, Thor. The next one will be for you.” Karl apologized as he made his choice.
20 Points [Sharpness] Slashing, Stabbing and Disintegration type abilities increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank. (40 percent at Commander)
[Sharpness learned.]
[Rend] and [Shred] were both slashing type skills, as was [Lacerate]. Unfortunately, [Chain Lightning] was not a disintegration ability, but he would take what he could get.
Once Haste and Terrorize were activated on everyone, and the Spider Golems were summoned, they were ready to face the Frost Giant charge.
“Back into the snow storm.” Karl ordered, intending to limit the enemy’s line of sight.
Lotus yelled back. “No, don’t. They’re using their magic to keep it active, and it will deal damage now that they know there are enemies here.”
So, they were trapped under the storm, unless they could march up out of the valley through hundreds of metres of Commander Rank [Blizzard] and blinding snow while under attack.
The Frost Giants were charging, so Karl strapped his large sword to his pack for the bonus energy steal, then sent out a flurry of arrows charged with [Chain Lightning] to slow them down.
With the benefits of [Sharpness] and [Terrorize] the arrows were punching holes clean through the Ascended Rank Giants when they hit bare flesh, and the lightning was doing its job, scorching flesh and slowing their movements to give the Spider Golems time to shine.
The two bone-white wooden constructs launched themselves into the Frost Giant ranks, and true to Rae’s name, a rain of blood and body parts was the result.
With nearly twice the damage compared to a regular Commander Rank Golem that had the [Durable Constructs] bonus, and forty percent increased speed, they were eight legged whirlwinds of death through the Ascended Rank targets.
The Mages unleashed their spells on the Commanders, quickly grasping what the Spider Golems were after. They were eliminating the overwhelming numbers, while leaving everyone else to deal with the stronger targets.
Karl led the group forward, away from the storm, so they weren’t ambushed from behind out of the snow, and turned his arrows on the larger Frost Giants.
Thor’s Circle of Protection flared around them as the ice shard attacks came back in return. Their lightning barriers were holding, and while the Lightning Cerro was at the front, he wasn’t actively fighting, he was just focusing on maintaining their defences while the Golems did all the close combat work.
“It’s a good thing that you don’t need arrows.” Tori panted as she created more Magic Missile orbs.
The refreshing abilities of Thor helped, but she was burning mana quickly to keep up her damage rate against the Giants one Rank higher than she was.
“Cut back the individual power of your spells, we’re going to be at this a while, and we can’t have you exhausted.” Karl reminded her.
Dana had already done that, and was relying on multiple hits to cause serious injuries, instead of putting extra effort into individual spells.
Hawk was on Thor’s back, using [Rend] in wide arcs to damage anything that got near them. It wasn’t Royal Rank, but it was the easiest spell on his energy, and he could keep these attacks up all day. They still cut deep into the Frost Giants, and for a moment, he envied Rae’s Lacerate ability.
If Rend made them bleed like that, it would be so much better.
Rae was staying close to the group, targeting Giants who made it past the first line of defenders, or who were giving Dana’s Stone Golems trouble, and the ground everywhere around them was becoming soaked in cold blue Frost Giant blood as Karl slowly pushed the group forward toward the massive crystal.
Rae’s [Spear] spell, gained from the Naga Swamp, wasn’t as devastating as some of her other abilities, but the small spikes peppered the Frost Giants and left dozens of heavily bleeding wounds. The combination with Lacerate was proving to be quite impressive.
Karl could see that there was a spell active at the base of the crystal, and the goal was to make it stop. It had to be the spell that was summoning more Frost Giants, and while it was slowly fading as their numbers decreased, they couldn’t afford to retreat until it was gone.
Ophelia pointed to a spot to their right, and Karl adjusted the group’s movement to go see what it was.
The Werebear berserker ducked down and pulled a book from the corpse of a Frost Giant woman that didn’t match the clones, before tossing the tome to Karl. It looked like a spellbook of some sort, not a skill book, but it might be useful to Remi if the dead Giant was a Shaman.
If not, he would just hold on to it for their Berserker Bear.
Rae hissed in pleasure as she summoned a fresh group of Spider Golems, which appeared larger than Karl remembered them.
“Did she just upgrade her Golems?” Lotus asked.
“I think so. The same skill that allowed Hawk to improve Fire Body is active on everyone.” Karl called back as he continued to fire arrows. His arms were getting sore, even with the refreshing effect, and he was mentally exhausted from the [Chain Lightning] which he was only using now when there was a cluster of targets.
An arrow caught an unfortunate Ascended Rank Frost Giant in the face, then hit the inside of his helmet, throwing the body backward into a Commander, who glared at Karl with pure murder in its eyes.
Tessa was laughing, and glowing with red light as she cast some sort of area buff on everyone. This was the sort of War that her patron deity craved. Pure controlled violence, crushing an enemy position with absolute, overwhelming power.
Every Dragon Priestess knew the ways of the dragon species. Might makes right.
They all had their own ways of doing things, though the Dragons made at least some effort to work together and keep society functioning. But when it came down to conflict, the strongest were the only ones with the right to speak.
Tessa’s spell completed, and the Golems, as well as Karl’s arrows, were coated in a layer of red energy that caused the Frost Giants to boil and explode after being injured. Karl had no idea what to call that Divine Blessing, but it was the most wonderful thing he could think of at this moment, as the entire valley of Frost Giants was headed their way.
Karl switched to simply coating his arrows with fire from [Flaming Body] and letting them loose into the charging Giants. With Tessa’s Blessing active, the wounds began to boil, and even a hit to the leg would be fatal.
They were getting closer to the spell on the ground, and the ring of Frost Giants, who were focusing all their attention on it.
[There’s a weird little crystal in the middle of the circle.] Remi noticed once they were ten metres away, with a wall of Commander Rank Giants between them and the spell.
[How lucky are you feeling?] Karl asked the Spirit Snake.
[Pretty lucky. You’re totally going to get me that big stone after we finish.] She replied.
[Then grab this next Giant by the ankle, and I will send you to the circle to recover the little crystal. Once you have it, return directly to your space before they mince you into sushi rolls.] Karl instructed.
Karl switched to his maul, and Remi moved to his leg, prepared to strike when he got close.
Karl leapt into melee combat and kicked his leg forward, tossing Remi onto his target giant, who raised a shield to block the strike of the oversized hammer, but was blown backward by five layers of [Flaming Body] on the blunt weapon.
He flew right over the spell circle, even over the casters, who ducked to avoid a collision. As she passed over, Remi dropped from his body and swallowed the strange object whole before returning to her space and spitting it out.
The storm overhead instantly stopped, leaving the battlefield in an eerie silence.
“I don’t think we should have done that.” Ophelia muttered as the huge blue stone in the middle of the valley began to pulse more violently, making the ground shake.
“I think you’re right. Everyone, get on a ride, we’re leaving.” Karl ordered, grabbing Dana as he ran past the mage. Lotus climbed on Rae, while the Stone Golems grabbed Tori and Tessa.
Thor tried not to laugh as he chased everyone out of the valley. This was a great game. They ran in, slapped the Frost Giants in the face, and now they ran away before they got slapped back.
Hawk fired back into the Giants chasing them, while the Spider Golems did their best to stop the tide and keep them in the valley. Now that the storm was gone, the bird took to the air, bombarding the enemy with a combination of Rend and fireballs.
[Run faster, that stone is starting to crack.] He warned, when the group was only two thirds of the way up the valley ridge.
The Giants had fallen well behind them, thanks to the defensive efforts of the Spider Golems, but Hawk was right, that glowing stone was making the snow glow bright blue with the intensity of the mana surges it was experiencing.
Remi did her best to hide her despair. That was supposed to be her prize, but now it was going to blow up, and she was left with just a cute little crystal statue of a fat lady. At least it had strong Shaman Magic on it, so she could keep it in her swamp and bask in the power.
