375 CCCLXXV. The Celestial Dus

The Masters, for example, released more of it than the Clans warriors, but the substance was still almost imperceptible and Dag had to concentrate a lot to be able to visualize it.

"It can't be..." he said, watching the wolves heading into the distance towards them.

Around them, an enormous amount of that light celestial ethereal substance moved madly, following their movements and breaths, shifting with them.

"The Asgardian Thunder..." Dag whispered again, thinking aloud and realizing what was about to happen.

At those words, Egill, who with his staff was ready to unleash some powerful spell, turned to his colleague and pupil, looking at him in amazement.

"What did you say?" the Master Of Healing asked, to see if he had heard right.

At that moment, a glimmer of hope ignited in Dag's soul, which charged with positivity and began to give orders, like a true leader.

"Soldiers, shield wall! We Masters will stay in the front row while you try to resist the charge and counterattack with spears and swords, as in our training sessions. They are not Jotunns, but the tactic to defeat them is similar! Stick together!" he yelled, turning to his men, who had just seen him frightened, fearing that there was nothing left to do, but now looked at him proud to be at his service.

Runa, the apprentice Shieldmaiden of Master Dargeon, was the first to put herself in position, resting her huge tower shield on the ground and inviting her companions to do the same: within seconds, with incredible precision, all shielded warriors formed a row next to her, while those without shields positioned themselves behind, with their weapons ready to strike.

As proved during the training in Runar, all the soldiers gathered behind the shield wall, semi-circular in shape, which became a real armor, with the shields wedged next to each other that looked like huge metal scales.

"Masters! Ready to attack! We must use all of our energies, we absolutely have to resist the charge! Let's kill these rogue bastards from the first to the last!" Dag yelled, realizing that he had little time because the enemies had almost arrived.

Kjell and Sander positioned themselves at the forefront, inviting Egill to move back, suggesting with the gaze that his healing would be crucial in the post-impact phase. 

The Master Of Healing stopped next to Karl and Reidar, who with the Failnaught was ready to protect the two healers from enemies. 

Gridd and Freydis remained close to Dag.

When Kjell began to circle his chains in the air, they caught fire and together with the flames, under the watchful eye of Dag, released a large amount of that strange ethereal substance.

"First phase... storage..." Dag whispered, recapping in his head what he had learned from the ancient tome he had read greedily before departing from the shores of Runar.

Four arms took shape around him, with blades at their ends, moving sinuously like snakes.

Master Sander, who was standing next to Kjell, shoved his shield to the ground and with his axe in his hand stretched his arms downwards: at that moment, the few points of his body not protected by armor, were wrapped in rusty iron scales.

The scales also covered his neck and face and stopped around his eyes, which remained of their original color.

Even Master Kjell was astonished at the transformation of his colleague, who he had never seen with his own eyes. 

The blades of Gridd's two swords turned deep blue and slightly increased their length, skimming the ground, while two small celestial wings sprang from her back, ready to push her into the sky, allowing her to attack the enemies from above.

The last to put himself in position was Egill, who entrusted Karl with the task of healing his allies and stepped forward, slamming the lower end of his staff to the ground.

As the ravenous wolves ran overcoming the corpses lying in the snow, a huge orange barrier covered the two buildings in which all the soldiers were hidden, who preferred not to face those enemies so strong, decidedly out of their reach.

The huge shiny dome closed upwards, sealing the area around the mage and leaving out only the four Masters that had activated their strongest skills and were tasked with protecting the barrier and the rest of the troops.

Dag smiled, remembering with pleasure the last time Egill activated that skill to protect the Temple Of Orn library against the attacks of the Fangs Of Jormungandr reptilians. 

"Iron Alliance! Attack! For Okstorm!" Dag yelled, who moved Magni's hammer forward, signaling his comrades, who executed the order.

Gridd snapped forward, flapping the two wings that increased in size and raised a large amount of snow, pushing h body upwards.

Kjell instead began to run with his back low, continuing to twirl his flaming chains, ready to burn everything in their path.

Dag followed them to the second line, in order to take care of the enemies that escaped their gaze, under the watchful eyes of Sander, who stood still at the end of the barrier, as the last defensive bulwark.

Unleashing incredible energy and causing several magical explosions, Gridd and Kjell began to decimate their enemies, many of whom showed unusual resistance, rising to their feet after being hurled meters away.

A whole row of werewolves ran to Dag, who was ready to perform the first phase of the legendary technique, hoping that the ethereal substance he could see was the electricity the ancient book spoke of, useful to load his hammer and his body in order to draw on the Asgardian Thunder.

The first wolf lunged at him, trying to grab him clutching both of his arms, but Dag, unlike his usual fighting style, parried the blow crossing the axe and hammer and only when he was sure he had the space needed for the counterattack, he violently struck the wolf with a hammer on his face, smashing his jaw and part of his skull, using very little energy.