Chapter 272 Volume IV - 119: Seconds Before the Victory

Chapter 272 Volume IV - Chapter 119: Seconds Before the Victory

It was much worse.

It was a hell of a lot worse than I thought it would be.

When the call to battle came last night, when I was with Gurdas, I knew that we would hardly be able to defend, I knew that many people would die, but... I didn't expect this.

The defense started before the sun had risen and continued until noon of the next day. And it was still going on.

Robots, soldiers, rockets, spells, bullets, and all sorts of things were coming from all sides. The screams echoed in my ears more clearly than ever.

With each passing second we were being pushed back more and more, with each passing second the enemy was coming at us more and more.

Of course, as in every battle... there were some who targeted me specifically. Some of the Southern soldiers would occasionally pounce on me, either trying to kill me outright or to damage me without killing me. If they had some kind of prioritized target list, I was sure I was high up on it.

Still, the battle was going well so far.

There seemed to be more casualties than we had planned, but other than that, everything was as it should be. At the point where we were pushed back, a huge rune was waiting to engulf the entire enemy, and countless troops were hiding somewhere above the clouds or on the ground, ready to attack at any moment.

I was doing what I had to do in this battle where I saw more blood and heard more screams than I had ever seen in my life.

Every minute I was retreating backward, letting the enemy come at me, but trying to keep their numbers within a certain range.

I didn't worry too much about running out of mana. Because normally dwarf soldiers don't worry about that, the North Holar also didn't, but when they realized that when I ran out of mana I had to leave the battle whether I wanted to or not, they prepared some special mana potions for me.

So, as long as I wasn't injured, I could fight non-stop in short breaks, and I did.

Today alone I had used Spiritual Ascension perhaps more than I had used it since I had it, and my ability named Phoenix's Regeneration could quickly deal with minor injuries.

It was actually the first time I saw this ability active today and it was quite... strange.

As soon as any wound appeared on my body, tiny blue flames would shoot out of the same wound, and then the flames would get smaller and smaller, healing the wound. Finally, when there was nothing left, the blue flames would go back into my body.

It was a strange feeling, but perhaps one of the best abilities I had.

"Aiden, we're starting slowly."

With that voice echoing in my skull, I took a deep breath and looked around the battlefield again for a brief moment, this time focusing on where we were rather than on things like enemies or spells being thrown at me.

The base of the North Holar was visible in the distance. It wasn't a gigantic structure, of course, just something carved into a hill, but it was still clearly a base.

The time had indeed come. The whole area was littered with corpses and rubble, from the original battlefield all the way here, but it would come to an end...

"All right."

The southern soldiers became even more aggressive when they realized that we were starting to retreat slightly toward the base. I saw smiles on some of their faces, relief on others as they realized that this battle was coming to an end.

They didn't know anything.

A notification appeared in front of me, visible only to the Northern soldiers thanks to their helmets.

<<------------------------------

Last 30 seconds until the rune is activated.

------------------------------>>

Immediately after the notification, a voice echoed in my ears again.

"Get ready fer a counterattack! Reinforcements'll be joinin' the battlefield as soon as that rune in the field lights up! Most of the Southern soldiers are right on that rune, make sure ye carve 'em up good! Let's win this battle!"

It was Dorhud, I recognized his voice. I couldn't think too much about it though, because suddenly I noticed someone charging at me.

I was in the shadow of a dwarf who was obviously holding a spear.

I created a barrier just in case, then threw myself to the side, activated Spiritual Ascension as fast as I could, and looked at my opponent.

In front of me was a well-built dwarf with red-colored armor. He was still shorter than me, even though he was taller than dwarves in general, but I was sure that he was ahead of me in physical strength with the help of his armor.

The dwarf spun his spear as if he had noticed my barrier. Instead of reducing its force by slamming it into the barrier, he maintained his momentum and attempted something no one had ever tried to do before.

He stepped on my barrier, bounced off it, tried to get behind me, and... succeeded.

My eyes widened when I saw what the dwarf had done, I had never imagined that something like this could happen. I was unprepared and in a bad position as Spiritual Ascension was not yet fully activated.

The spear swung at me again, this time behind my back, out of my sight.

I tried to escape by throwing myself forward, but in vain. The dwarf had taken advantage of this as quickly as possible.

I felt intense pain in my back, followed by warmth. I gritted my teeth and transferred mana to the Absolute Mind to bear the pain, but the wound was so deep that even my organs could have been damaged.

The dwarf did not want to be satisfied with a single swing. After the first swing he attacked a second time, maintaining his momentum, but this time I was able to react.

I quickly formed a wall of blue flames between us, using the winds to lift myself upward as my crown finally formed above my head and dark teal particles began to spread from my body into the atmosphere.

A comforting warmth enveloped the wound on my back, the Phoenix's Regeneration had kicked in but I wasn't sure how fast it could heal the wound.

The dwarf in red armor looked at me over the wall of blue flames. He could see me because I was levitating, and so our eyes met.

I clicked my tongue, the wound on my back still healing, and looked at the notification in front of me.

Ten seconds... only ten seconds until the activation of the rune. nOVe.LB-1n

The armored dwarf stretched, pointing his spear at me again. That's how I realized he also had the ability to fly because no one in their right mind would give an advantage to someone who could hover.

The dwarf jumped over the wall of flames and flew toward me. At that moment a pair of teal wings appeared on his back. They resembled the wings of a fly.

The dwarf's attack with his wings was even faster than before. He literally shot out of the ground like a bullet. Yet there was something else that was different from before.

Spiritual Ascension was active, and Sith was with me.

I didn't even think to react. Sith used most of his mana, knowing what he had to do. He focused our 'ultimate move', which we had practiced several times, on the spot where the dwarf would be in a moment, right in front of me.

As the pressure points in the atmosphere suddenly shifted, the dwarf tried to pause for a moment, as if realizing this, but he was so fast that he could not control himself. Finally realizing that he was going to take damage no matter what, he gripped his spear tighter.

There was a split-second flash on his armor, and then several layers of barriers instantly surrounded him.

With only a meter between me and his spear, the atmosphere in the space he was in suddenly collapsed on him. Everything around him pressed down on him, trying to squeeze him, as if he were at the center of a vacuum.

The first barrier broke instantly, and the second and third suffered the same fate. Though, I wasn't sure if the fourth barrier would also break. That's why I decided not to take any chances.