379 CCCLXXIX. The Prayer

"These are orders from Master Egill! Something's going to happen! Look up in the sky!" Freydis replied, after recovering from the fright.

The two Masters looked at each other and noticed the huge vortex, covered in lightning and thunder.

"What?! Dag! Where's my brother?! Daag!" Gridd shouted, panicking.

Turning outwards, she noticed that he was still there, standing in the same position.

Both of Dag's arms held up the Hammer of Magni, which slowly began to unleash white lightning bolts, which were fired upwards, while the earth around him trembled.

He knew that if he activated Call Of The Berserkr or any other skill to strengthen his physical strength, the energy needed to combine the electricity of his hammer with that coming from the sky would be dispersed and the skill would be interrupted.

Running until they lost their breath towards the barrier, Gridd, Kjell and Freydis managed to break through the gap, while two brave soldiers were killed in cold blood behind them, trying to slow the wolves advance.

Just after entering, a long hairy arm grabbed the neck of Gridd's armor, who distracted by watching Dag had lost a few seconds of advantage.

The Shieldmaiden was pulled backwards by a werewolf and lost her balance, but Kjell grabbed her arm, pulling it inwards.

"Help!" Gridd shouted again, at the mercy of Kjell's and the wolf forces, who were contending for her.

In an instinctive gesture, Freydis stole the sword from a soldier next to her and struck the enemy's arm, chocking it in half.

As soon as the wolf uttered a verse expressing the excruciating pain he was feeling, Reidar yelled: "Master Egill! Now! Close the gap!" 

After those words, the Master Of Healing put his hand back on the staff, trying with all his might to stand, while energies kept abandoning his body.

As the gap began to close, the wolf himself stretched out his other arm, grabbing Gridd again, whose advance was blocked.

"Fuck!" Kjell exclaimed, who clasped the top of her armor in his hands and pulled it toward him.

When the gap closed, the other arm of the werewolf was also cut in half and Gridd and Kjell fell to the ground safely, one on top of the other, happy to be saved inside the barrier.

After those moments of confusion, the wolves looked around, realizing that breaching the barrier took too long and that the only human being left outside it was Dag, who hundreds of yards away from them, seemed vulnerable.

With incredible synchronicity, the remaining wolves roared and began to run on all fours towards him, intent on stopping his attack.

Dag saw them coming and a shiver of terror ran through his body from head to toe.

"Aaaargh!" 

Knowing that he had to raise the hammer with his own physical strength, Dag placed a knee on the ground, increasing the thrust exerted by his arms.

As the ground trembled beneath his feet, both for the accumulated energy and for the advance of dozens and dozens of enemies, a huge lightning bolt was fired from the upper end of the hammer and penetrated the heart of the vortex into the sky.

The cloud stopped producing lightning for a few moments, and the sound of thunder became more severe and constant, gradually growing in intensity.

"Let's go! C'mon! Brave God Thor, I invoke your power to save my people! I beg you!" Dag yelled, desperate, looking at the vortex above his head and even the enemies who were about to reach him, thinking that unlike the more clumsy and heavy Jotunn, the attack he used at Runar to kill the entire enemy army would not be enough against the Claws Of Fenrir, much faster and more agile than the giants.

The sky continued to thunder, with a roar-like noise, as if it was preparing to manifest all its power.

Dag continued to push his knees upwards, trying in every way to stretch his hands and stand straight, but the weight of the hammer became so heavy that it exceeded hundreds of pounds and for this reason, he fell again with a knee to the ground, without losing his position.

"Grrr... I have to do it! I must do it! Everyone's life depends on it! Thooor! I swear I will continue to fight for you and the other Gods all my life long! Now help me, I need your strength! Give me the power of the Asgardian Thunder!" he yelled again, trying again to stand up, knowing that his strength was in short supply and that would be his last chance.

"He's not succeeding... Dag is failing to activate the skill! He's gonna die! Let me out, I have to go save him!" Gridd exclaimed, approaching Egill dangerously, without thinking about the consequences.

Reidar positioned himself in front of her, preventing her from going further, knowing that if she diverted Egill's attention, the barrier would fall apart and their end would come.

"Get out of the way, Reidar! I must reach my brother!" she said again, pushing the archer, who was unbalanced to the side, but remained with his feet firmly on the ground.

"Gridd, Dag is our last hope! If he dies, we will all die!" he yelled a few inches from Shieldmaiden's face, trying to make her reason with lucidity, despite the moment of extreme tension, during which she, all the other Masters and the soldiers under the dome, could only remain silent waiting for the verdict of that bloody battle to be carried out, which shortly after their arrival, had already decimated their troops.

Gridd turned back to Dag and placed a hand on her own chest, at the height of her heart, beating hard.

Tears began to pour down her cheeks as her warm breath became increasingly intermittent and heavy, hoping not to witness his brother's death.

Dag closed his eyes, focusing on every muscle in his body, feeling his hard nerves like a rock and his bones creaking slightly under the weight of the hammer, which had now almost reached the highest point.