Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 240 - Up for a Challenge

Chris

Oops, a bit too much.

Sending the same amount of mana into [Permafrost] and [Desolate Blizzard] as before caused the two skills to blossom out much further than anticipated. While it encompassed more enemies inside its radius, it also neared too closely to the wall.

My new Heart made funneling mana into the skills much easier. Before, it felt like I was forcing mana into the skills, while now it was like it wanted to be used.

I'd practiced with the meld to ensure everything was up to par, but this would be the first real stress test.

Austin, the bastard, was already off and had turned himself into a lightshow deeper in the wave, flitting about like nothing could touch him.

I should've known from how confident he proposed the bet something was up, but I didn't think anything of it. He always had pure speed over me, but I would always win in a battle of endurance.

With the cheeky bastard's new Anchor, he was killing things a lot faster than he usually could, racking up the numbers at an astounding rate.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was going all out from the gate to get an early lead I couldn't catch up to.

We'll see about that.

Thunderous booms fell as giant chunks of rock impacted the earth, spraying the area with loose dirt and sod, but I ignored them and marched on. I'd asked Brayden and Vincent nicely not to hit me, but they couldn't make any promises.

The teams on siege weapon duty were mostly a part of the construction crew. It didn't take any weapons skills or magic skills to work them and it was a good opportunity to get them some essence.

Even if they had a basic Warrior Class, killing things from afar with the trebuchet would net them some levels.

That being said, with the two dozen or so weapons launching their payloads throughout the ring of enemies, the same ring of enemies I was currently positioned in, they were slamming down a bit too close to home.

I was sure I could take one. My new levels and defensive Skill would keep me from being instantly pulverized, but I wasn't sure how bad off I would be. A broken arm or a few bones wouldn't be that bad, but I was not letting myself lose an arm again any time soon.

It was an annoyance I wasn't keen to put up with again.

Now that I was in the thick of things, [Avalanche] started to get rolling and [Glacial Presence] ticked up its boost. My Mana felt endless and the extra oomph that went into creating my Wintery Domain made everything flow that much easier.

I kept the big guns sealed. [Frozen Rift] and [Shattering Hammer] were still mana hogs, even with my new capacity, but they would see their time to shine. The Boss, or whatever constituted this Wave as a challenge, would get to see the culmination of my efforts.

It felt good to get back into the battlefield like this. My trip North was filled with a bunch of little battles, one-on-one or a small group, but this, me versus an army, was where I thrived.

It was the challenge. One-on-one versus a worthy foe would always be fun, but there was something about weathering a storm of thousands and coming out on top that felt right.

The beasts sent against us were something I couldn't recognize. Furred bodies and four legs were the only similarities to anything I knew. Teeth and claws were their go-to attack, like most things I'd fought, but they had some magical skills in their arsenal.

Not that it mattered.

All of their attacks either washed off [Frost Armor] or couldn't penetrate my skin. The times when a larger attack came, and I felt the build-up of mana, [Jotun's Resistance] would flare and that was that.

The beasts started in the low hundreds, the beginning of D-rank, and were subtly rising as time passed. Rising past 105 to 110, to 115.

As they grew stronger, [Avalanche] was more than capable of letting my stats rise with the challenge. It was enough for me to take a peek back at the wall, but what I saw there made me question why I was worried in the first place.

The long stone bulwark remained unbreeched and was far from being threatened. Skills poured down from atop it like a deluge of water, killing anything that neared.

A particularly nasty storm of raging water made sure the main gate was kept unmolested. Abigail, with her new staff, and two others made sure that the gate wasn't threatened.

Like any Castle, the gates were the weakest link. The enchantment, Wards, and treatment done to the wood made it as sturdy as possible, but it was a design flaw even magic couldn't fix.

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I wasn't as worried about the other two gates as they were on either side, but they had their own protections put in place.

"If you don't start burning your Bloodline soon, you're going to loooose..." A sing-songy voice came and went before I could pinpoint its source.

The wake of smoldering remains was my only clue, as that was certainly not a result of anything I did.

While Austin made a good point, I wasn't sure if I wanted to open that door yet. I felt like the Wave was sufficiently handled, and I doubted anything would go wrong, but it paid to be prepared.

The advancements I achieved with my Bloodline made it last longer than before, but it wasn't something that was endless.

Ah, fuck it.

Activating it let me feel the familiar rush I'd gotten used to. It was much more powerful than at the start, but the feeling of Ice Cold power was the same.

The temperature of my body plummeted, and if I weren't already covered in Ice, it would've begun to form naturally. I wasn't sure how far below zero my body became, but I knew touching it was a bad idea. Similar to how my hammer caused Austin frostbite, my skin could do the same.

Finding that out had been a surprise.

When I first gained my Bloodline, burning it had limited changes. After spending the Winter months purifying it and strengthening it, those changes were further exaggerated.

My skin turned a shade paler than normal, nearing sheet white by this point. Standing next to Austin's sun-kissed tan made it even worse. It was hard to tell, but my hair further transitioned from sandy blonde to pure white. It used to be limited to the tips, but that transformation was getting larger and spread closer to the roots.

Lastly, a change I couldn't see myself, but my eyes were altered.

The cosmetic changes weren't the only things to grow with the additional strength of the Bloodline. The boost it gave did as well. I felt closer to my Ice, my muscles felt like they could swing more powerfully, and my body felt more robust.

With the added purity, it was an all around boost to what had already been powerful.

Rising to the challenge Austin proposed, ice sculptures were left in my wake. It wasn't only my hammer reaping lives anymore as anything too close to me died frozen stiff as the heat was sucked out of them.

Even monsters 30 levels above me struggled to handle the Cold. The ones without a Tier 2 Law were the first to die, as they couldn't take it anymore. Reaching D-rank for beasts didn't require an upgraded Law and could be done purely with strength of Body or their Bloodline.

With my Bloodline overpowering theirs, there was nothing they could do to stop my Laws, Anchor, and Skills from freezing them solid.

My new Mana Heart was showing its worth as I never would've been able to keep up with the mana costs to do what I was doing without it.

"I take back what I said. You don't have to use it if you don't want to." Austin called out after nearly a half hour of me sustaining my new killing speed.

I smirked, this wasn't even everything yet. I still had [Fury] to use, and my mana was still half full.

Austin and I continued our slaughter while boulders rained down around us. The two of us weren't enough to stop them all, far from it, which left those back at the wall a challenge of their own.

One I was sure they would live up to.

Both Austin and I were singling out the stronger beasts before they could get by, making the people behind us have it a little easier.

Seeing that everything was going according to plan, I settled in and focused on swinging my Hammer. I'd grown accustomed to the fighting style a warhammer required, and it was one I'd come to enjoy.

There was a straightforwardness to it that I felt matched my personality well. Austin's spear was similar. He was flighty and sneaky, which matched his deceptively quick thrusts and stabbing feints well.

I used sheer force. Feinting with a hammer was... ill-advised.

The weight it held and the power it took to swing it made quick changes or reversals nearly impossible. The swing would start and end where it was aimed. I knew it, the person I was fighting knew it, and the people watching knew it.

That being the case, deception wasn't as useful.

Power was.

And if there was one thing I excelled at, it was power.

Style still played a role in how I fought. When and how I swung was just as important as how hard, but that was something I was still figuring out. Similar to forging, I wanted to create my own style of fighting.

[Heavy Weapon Proficiency] had stalled at Journeyman, and to push it further, it felt like I needed my own take on fighting.

Trying to zero in on that was exactly when I heard Austin call out, "Boss Incoming!"

I'd felt the pillar of power getting closer as the Wave continued, but I'd assumed there was more time before it arrived. The beast responsible was hard to miss as it broadcasted its strength to everyone around. Its aura wide and stifling, similar to how I imagined my own felt.

Its body was even more conspicuous as even the trees were dwarfed by it. Its size caused the ground to shake as it walked closer.

The boss was the replica of what power looked like for beasts. It was common for them to increase in size as they did power, and this was an example of that.

Looking around, I noticed the thinned ranks I stood within. Most had run past or around me to the wall. The rest were dead or dying strewn around the area. Only a few still stood, and they did everything they could to get out of the Boss's way.

Leaving me with nothing to fight.

Austin flashed next to me quicker than I could make out and stood to watch its approach. Giant wafts of steam billowed off his body as heat bled out of him.

"You know," he said conversationally like we weren't staring at a powerful D-ranked beast, "As nostalgic as it is fighting side by side again, I could do without this dreadful cold."

"I thought you would be used to it by now."

"I was, but then I was free of it for a while. Then you had to go and make it even stronger." He said, waving his bloody spear at the frozen sculptures.

I pointed at the steam and melting snow, "It seems like you did the same. You didn't use to be able to melt it so easily."

BOOM!

Stone exploded, and shards of rock rained down in the area, pelting anything close with the high-speed shrapnel. As we stood watching, a well-aimed boulder came flying in and impacted the Boss. As far away as we were, it was a wonderful shot to whoever managed it.

Except it didn't do anything.

The Boss didn't even look damaged, and where the boulder hit was unmarred.

"Fuck me. Guess this'll be a toughie." Austin cursed.

"Did you expect any less? That things gotta be in the 150s." I said.

"142."

I looked at him skeptically, "That's it?" It felt stronger than that to my senses.

"Yeah, I'm sure." he poked next to his eye, "Says so, at least."

I didn't even bother with my [Identify] as something that far above my level wouldn't even show up. "I've got to get a better one," I muttered.

"What level did you kill down South?" I asked.

"The Queen was the highest level but wasn't meant for fighting. What guarded it was in the 130s, but we had more than two people to fight it."

"You up for a challenge?" I asked with a smile.

Austin looked over and shook his head. It was hard to read his expression with his helmet, but I knew he was smiling as well, "As long as I can hide behind you like old times, milord."

Oh god, it's already starting.