Book 5: Chapter 38: King of the Hill

Book 5: Chapter 38: King of the Hill

Sadie ducked beneath a horizontal club strike, then kicked out, crumpling the yeti’s leg at the knee. It howled in pain, collapsing sideways and directly into the path of her oncoming blade. The silvery metal of its armor – now dented and scratched – screeched as the Sword of the Morning bit into it, cutting through flesh and erupting in a spurt of pale blood.

But the monster did not die.

Despite Sadie’s exceptional Strength – it was the secondary focus of her class, after all – she found cutting into the yetis similar to hacking at a block of wood. It was possible to cut through, but only with great effort and proper technique. After drilling with the sword every day for the past five years – and learning jianshu as a child – she had the second part covered.

And spending effort had never been a question for her.

She turned her latest attack into a shoulder tackle that sent the off-balance monster tumbling down the slope of their pyramid of gathered dirt. It hit one of its fellows, creating a domino effect that took another two temporarily out of the fight. But Sadie couldn’t afford to watch them fall. Instead, the whole of her attention was occupied by the horde of yetis howling for her – and her charges’ – blood.

It wasn’t like the fight against the wraiths. There was no convenient funnel to minimize the yetis’ advantage in numbers. Having the high ground helped, but with the monsters’ superior intelligence – to the wraiths, at least – the groups’ previous tactics simply would not work. If they created a funnel, the yetis would simply go around or over. The wraiths, bestial as they were, hadn’t been capable of even that level of adjustment.

So, different enemies required different tactics, but no matter how they’d adapted their plans, Sadie knew that the yetis were a different level of threat altogether. Making that clear was that her companions – specifically Dat – had been forced to step up to the front lines and protect the others. He was a capable melee fighter, having spent some time training in vovinam before being sent to boarding school as a child, but he only had a couple of appropriate skills to back him up.

Seeing that her friend was on the verge of being overwhelmed, Sadie used Consecrated Shield.

Consecrated Shield

Create a barrier of faith to shield an ally from damage. When it is broken, the ally’s Constitution attribute will be increased by forty (40) points. Duration based on caster’s Ethera attribute. Current duration of shield: 48.3 seconds. Current duration of enhancement: 68.1 seconds.

It was the first spell she’d attained after gaining her Ardent Crusader class, and it had saved the lives of friends, family, and allies on multiple occasions. However, given their ballooning attributes, the forty-point increase in Constitution was beginning to become outdated. Perhaps if she could once again upgrade her Core – or evolve the spell – it would solve the issue.

But for now, that wasn’t a possibility, so, as she had since the very beginning of the apocalypse, she used the tools she had at her disposal. The shield she’d conjured around Dat manifested in a flash of golden light, blocking a club-strike a moment later. Ripples of ethera spread from the point of impact, but Consecrated Shield held, absorbing the momentum of the blow. Stunned by the ineffectiveness of its attack, the yeti was completely caught off-guard when Dat returned the blow with a lightning-fast series of strikes at the ends of his twin shortswords. Sadie knew a skill was at play, but she didn’t know the name. In any case, the results were immediate. Where Sadie’s attacks were met with plenty of resistance, Dat’s swift sword strikes sliced through the yeti’s armor with ease, eviscerating the creature’s armor as well as its flesh, spilling its intestines along the way.

The Witch Hunter ducked beneath a blow from another yeti attacker, but he couldn’t avoid the next one. It was a solid hit, and the club shattered Consecrated Shield, proving just how strong the creatures were. However, by that point, Sadie had reached Dat’s position, and she parried the next blow intended for her friend.

Still another came only a moment later, and this time, Sadie could only interpose herself between the Dat and the Yeti. The club hit her in the shoulder, flaring Bulwark of the Faithful.

Bulwark of the Faithful

Create a barrier of faith to shield yourself from damage. When it is broken, it empowers the Crusader, increasing physical attributes by a significant amount. Damage absorbed dependent on Ethera attribute.

Her personal shield held, but she knew it wouldn’t be long before it shattered as well. She almost welcomed it, looking forward to the increase in attributes that would hopefully put her on equal footing with the yetis. For now, though, her only recourse was to protect her companions at all costs. Her most recent attacker took an arrow to the eye, courtesy of the dwarven Sapper, before being hit by a bolt of lightning. A second later, she felt raindrops – a curious sensation, considering they were underground – that sent jolts of rejuvenation through her body.

Clearly, the Druid had not remained idle.

Not wanting to be seen to slack, Sadie dipped into her own Core and activated her second most powerful ability.

Blade of the Avenger

A Consecrated Shield here. A shoulder charge there. A vicious rush, where she fought like a berserk barbarian. She varied her attacks, adopting different tactics to manipulate the battlefield to her whims.

And for a while, it worked. The yetis remained off-balance, stymied at every turn by Sadie’s efforts. What wounds they inflicted were quickly healed by the Druid, and through it all, they incurred heavy damage from Kurik’s and Dat’s attacks. They’d already been weakened by the traps – as well as Elijah’s conjured insect swarm – so, for a while, Sadie thought the battle would go their way without complications.

But that was never possible.

There were too many yetis, and they were far too strong.

Gradually, the group got pushed back until they were fighting shoulder to shoulder as the monsters closed in. Dat was the first to fall. Having been forced into a melee where he could only use a third of his skills, he was ill-equipped for protracted hand-to-hand fighting. When a club took him in the head, he crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

Sadie’s heart seized, but she couldn’t spare any attention for her friend. Whether he was alive or dead wouldn’t make any difference. She didn’t have the ethera to heal him, and even if she did, the line had been broken. As a result, Kurik fell only a second later, his leg snapped in two by a vicious club strike he couldn’t dodge. From the ground, he fought on, but it was useless.

Sadie was just about to use her Miracle when Elijah shouted, “Sadie – I know you can heal. Keep me alive.”

She didn’t have a chance to respond before she felt ethera stir, and the Druid shifted into that hulking lizard-ape monstrosity he seemed to favor. She knew it was a last-ditch effort, but still, she resented that he would so blatantly deviate from the plan. Even so, Sadie prided herself on her adaptability – something that, when she said as much, always drew a laugh from Dat – so she used another of her long-cooldown abilities.

Bell of Faith

Let your Faith echo across any battlefield, stunning enemies and empowering allies. Duration based on Ethera attribute. Current: 6 seconds.

An image of a bell – barely visible – appeared above Sadie’s head. A moment later, it rang, the sound carrying with it more meaning than she could fathom. It was as if the cry of the gods themselves – if they existed – had fallen upon the mortal world. Sadie felt a jolt of energy, but more importantly, the yetis fell backward as if struck. Six seconds. That was how long it would last. After that, the creatures would recover.

Sadie was about to use her Miracle – it would doubtless turn the tide – but before she could, she felt a giant hand wrap around her waist. Something lifted her from her feet, and just like that, she found herself sailing through the air. A second later, she realized that Elijah – in his huge form – had picked her up and bounded away.

Glancing to the side, she saw that Dat’s limp form had been thrown over the Druid’s shoulder, and Kurik was gripped in Elijah’s other hand.

They landed a moment later, but they didn’t stop there. Instead, Elijah raced across the fields, aiming for their fallback location. It was a cave Dat had found, unsuitable for any extended defense, but good enough for a last stand. They’d hoped not to be forced to use it, but in the end, they’d all known it was more than a possibility.

The trip took only a couple of minutes, and in that time, Elijah clearly pushed himself to the peak of his capabilities, racing across the fields faster than she thought possible. When they finally reached the last bastion of their defense, he gently set his burden down and said, “Hold the line. Heal them if you can. I’ve already got Soothe on Dat, so he’s out of the woods. I can’t fix Kurik’s leg until we have time to set the bone. So, they’re both out of the fight.”

“What? You’re supposed to be the Healer.”

“Not anymore,” he said. “I’m going back out there to try to thin the pack. If I don’t come back...well, it was good knowing you, Sadie Song.”

With that, he left the cave behind, already shifting into a completely different form. This one looked like someone had crossed a great hunting cat with a chameleon, with a little bit of dragon thrown in for good measure. To call it an intimidating creature would have been a vast understatement.

Then, Elijah was gone. She wondered if he intended to abandon them. Perhaps, but as irritating as the Druid was, she didn’t think he would do that. Regardless, it couldn’t change anything about what she needed to do. So, without further thought, she turned to her wounded companions and used Blessing of Light, healing them as much as she could.