32.

My spear punched through the commander as it breached the door to the keep. Its wild eyes swirled around as it paused with the spear rammed through its chest. The whole world was awash in the sounds of fighting. The small inner room of the keep was crowded, people fighting shoulder to shoulder as the fishmen struggled to break in. From the holes in the wall, bright blasts of lighting lit the dark, the burnt smell of ozone wafting in. Exhaustion ate at me, bearing down on the edges of my sanity as I kicked the commander off my spear.

I watched as its body was launched backward, through the mass of fishmen warriors, sending heaps to the ground. The differences in everything were so apparent to me. I stood against the hoards like a great boulder. Our foes broke upon me, those who didn’t die to my spear or shield became easy prey to the mountain squad members who still lived. They fought with a desperate energy next to me, frantic in clinging to the life they still held, our recent brush with death invigorating and terrifying them. Miguel was out in the maelstrom outside, his speed and maneuverability would have been hindered by being inside the keep with me. Luke was out there too. Doing whatever he did.

The rest of our forces, though, were clustered in the keep. The elementals had driven the crossbowmen off of the top of the keep in minutes. Now, without any type of suppressing fire, our foes were making holes in stone and trying to drown us in their blood. Commander after commander had rushed in. Where before their speed and strength had been overwhelming, now they were just a hindrance. A few extra blows at most before they fell at my feet.

I assumed Luke was dealing with the majority of the crab monsters, otherwise their tentacles would, no doubt, have already wormed their way inside. The elementals far above us were left alone, none of our weapons powerful enough to reach them. I just had to hope that the summoners would be killed by the bugs at their fort before they had reduced our keep to rubble.

“We need to get out of here!” Hayden yelled as another flash of lighting sheared away chunks of masonry. The smell of burning stone was new and unique. Out there we would be screwed, no cover at all as the elementals rained down punishment on us. I was starting to understand what air superiority really meant. Agatha would have cut through the floating clouds without much trouble, her skill and mana levels making them easy prey to her. I was beginning to really regret leaving her with the elves.

“Hold!” I screamed back as I ducked under a wild trident thrust. The elite infantry were pushing, enraged by their commander's death. My spear was a blur, my shoulder burning as I slaughtered them one by one. It was rote and repetitive, these mobs posed no serious challenge, nothing to stir my blood or my newly created skill.

“I’ll take their attention. Hold the door!” I ordered, then plunged into the swirling mass of fishmen. They scattered like fish before a shark, the imagery making me chuckle as I cleared a ten foot circle around myself. They seemed hesitant, edging around me and trying to get toward the door of the keep. Was that the actual goal? Were they programmed to infiltrate keeps and forts? That would make a lot of sense actually. They weren’t hunter killers, but rather seemed designed to attack refuges for survivors. The only places where we could get our weapons and food.

That meant, if we wanted to, we could just flee into the distance and yield the keep to them. Something about retreating like that rankled though, to offer my back to things so much inferior to me. I would rather just bathe in their blood, regardless of how long it took. Maybe my blood was up, the bloodthirst was rising as I dashed into the crowds.

I tanked a blow, trident breaking on my breastplate while I speared the fish through its eye. It went limp, and in a moment of surprise, my spear was tugged out of my hand. The gentle rain, hot blood, and my own perspiration betrayed me, leaving me unarmed amongst the horde. I struck without hesitation, shield rim crushing bone and sending another armored elite backward with its head deformed. Blows were falling on me without end, none of them strong enough to pierce my toughened hide.

Each one of my counterattacks left dead fishmen. I used the edge of my shield like a hammer, battering through them in a whirlwind of death. Frustration was bubbling in me, trapped in my chest and desperate to get out. Where was my challenge!? Why couldn’t they offer me anything!? They just died.

I caught sight of Luke. He was fighting one of the tough crabs with his bare hands. He bobbed and weaved like a boxer, the crab’s long legs spearing dirt all around him as it flailed around with little effect. He punched a leg that was wedged in the dirt. I watched in awe as the long sharp leg was cracked in half, bending backward in an explosive shower of chitin and secretions. I dropped my shield and started punching outward.

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It was satisfying. There was still no challenge, feeling the rubbery flesh underneath my knuckles, the hot blood bubbling around my wrists as I pulled my fists out of their chests. A laugh started to bubble out of me as I danced among them. A bolt of lightning crashed next to me. Dirt exploded all around as I was momentarily blinded and tossed into the air like a ragdoll. I landed outside of the circle of fishmen, near the periphery of the fight, back on my feet almost instantly.

I looked up and saw the swirling monstrosities above me. Four of them, drifting thirty feet over the keep. The multi limbed bodies with dragon heads all peered down at me, looking down on me. Lightning gathered amongst their limbs and I finally felt the sense of danger radiating through me for the first time. All four of them hovered above me, the battle falling silent as they gathered their strength, even the wind stilling.

Heat and pain. White, blinding white, that washed out everything. The air was scoured from my lungs as flesh was charred, metal superheated and melted off of me, burning my skin. My hair caught on fire, my sodden clothes disintegrated as the energy of the four elementals poured through me.

As suddenly as it had appeared, it ended. My personal tribulation faded away to leave me standing naked with my hair smoldering as the light rain resumed. Crispy- that's how I felt. As if any sudden movement would cause me to crack and crumble. I looked up at the now much diminished storm elementals. They had each lost mass, arms disappearing as they swirled around sluggishly, greatly reduced.That was one way of defeating them. One I wasn’t going to do ever again.

I took a breath, the rush of superheated air filling my mouth with the smell of charred food and hot metal. A burnt pizza and getting into a hot car during the summer. That's what they had reduced me to in a burst of elemental rage. I blinked my stinging eyes until I felt a tad bit of moisture appear. I hadn’t even realized how dry my eyes had been with the overwhelming otherness of what had just happened to me.

I looked at my arms, blackened with sheafs of skin sloughing off like I was shedding. Pink and raw skin was revealed, moist and undamaged from my electrocution. My mind was scrambled, I stood there nude beneath the silent elementals as the fighting continued. I struggled to piece together coherent thoughts, a great wall of confusion and pain stopping me from forming anything resembling a plan.

“Owww.” I managed to get the sound out through charred lungs. I’m fairly certain I saw some charcoal emerge from my mouth. It was a quiet sound, nothing more than a murmured complaint, but it helped me gather myself. I took a shaky step, feeling something hot and sharp under foot, I looked and saw the remnants of my breastplate. It was semi fluid, still glowing slightly from the sudden increase in heat. I couldn’t believe they had managed to make it melt off of me. Then I was glad it managed to get all the way off of me before cooling. Also, that wasn’t how metal worked?

“You little shits. Just wait!” I shook a fist at the sky and continued to waddle away from the small crater that had been formed around me. My fist shaking had taken most of the last of my energy and I continued away from the fighting. I saw Luke watching with a full fledged smile as I retreated away from the keep. The dirty look I shot him caused him to laugh as he turned back to his crippled opponents. While I had been getting deep fried, he had managed to batter three of the crabs into submission.

Miguel zoomed up to me, a cool wind following a second later. He was drenched in a mix of liquids, his blade had hints of blood on it, though his quick rush had the blood smeared and mostly cleaned off.

“Are you ok?”

“Obviously,” I said, as I rolled my eyes as I continued my awkward shamble away from the fighting that had resumed behind me. The pain was making me a bit short tempered. The fact I had been frustrated by the weak opponents and I had then gotten a summary judgment of divine proportions wasn’t lost to me. The increases to intelligence had some drawbacks.

“Oh, good. Cause it looked like god smited you.”

“Smote. I think.”

“Sure. He smote you.”

“Do you think you could go get me some clothes and then we can continue this when my penis isn’t out?”

“I can do that. Give me a minute.” Miguel flew away, the sudden burst of speed leaving a swirl of gentle wind that felt soothing on my charred skin. I touched a piece of the flaking skin and realized I couldn’t feel anything since my hands were also well done.

I managed to make it to the edge of the field we had charged across just this morning. I looked across the field, trying to stand as still as possible to reduce the pain. It wasn’t working very well.

The keep was aswirl with fishmen, they were climbing up walls using blasted out holes in the stone as hand grips. Soon they would be on the roof and coming at the defenders from both above and below. They were running out of warriors though. With the elementals reduced and fading away, Luke having shattered the crabs, and Miguel doing whatever he had done, the back of the attack had been broken. Those inside just needed to hold on for a few more minutes and they would be victorious.

I slumped down to the ground, my feet in front of me as I tried to control my breathing. The pain pulsed in waves, a pounding symphony as I watched as the battle unfolded. It didn’t take long, maybe less than an hour before it ended. The last of the fishmen warriors falling into the mud around the keep as people started trickling out and the sun began to rise over the horizon. With the added light I got to see my fully cooked state.

A lot of the dead skin had fallen away, leaving me to stare at newborn pink skin, still dewy with blood and various other fluids. It was gross. If I still had my sense of smell, I was sure I would be gagging. Miguel showed up just a few minutes later with an armful of clothes that he threw on me, making sure not to look at my nakedness. I just let the clothes pile on top of me, preserving what remained of my dignity as I laid down to take a nap.