Chapter 214-Merciless_Born of Wrath | A Skill Forge LITRPG

Dalen’s legs fell out from under him as the ground shook from a volley of golden bolts. He scrambled to his feet with absolutely no grace and ran across the open street as arrows, bolts, and lances of light arced through the air. Nearby Melisia was doing the same while Leo swung his blade in a high arc bringing fiery death down on top of a dozen black-clad soldiers.

Black-green power poured from the Uton soldiers and where flame and darkness clashed sparks flew to ignite a nearby house. Dalen took the opportunity and lobbed a Big Boy at the group's feet and without deflection from the distracted soldiers it detonated.

You have slain [Dangran Tilan | Spearman 54 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to killing a higher leveled entity.

You have slain [Alend Read | Hunter 57 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to killing a higher leveled entity.

You have slain [Opa Lon | Mage 55 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to killing a higher leveled entity.

Level up!

Dalen panted and glanced at his status as he felt the rush of leveling for the second time in under an hour. His health was fine but his stamina was shot even after he spent his free points on endurance.

The empire forces had quickly discovered their approach and the resistance to get to the tower had only escalated since. They were getting close now. There were only a few streets left to cross before they would be standing against the eastern wall of The Third Tower. Iladrian seemed to have bottom to his mana pool and Dalen was sure that if he hadn’t been present there was no way they would have made it this far. His archers also played their part to devastating perfection under the guidance of their war leader.

They were effective but severely outnumbered. A shout from Dalen’s left made him drop as mace shattered the wooden support beam of a house just inches from his head. Blood splattered across his cheek before he recovered thanks to a half dozen bolts of mana from Melisia.

“Gods Dalen keep it together. And bloody remember to add more points to agility!” Dalen muttered to himself as he drew two more bombs in each. Two Big Boys and Two Flash Bombs flew to the rear of their group as they advanced. Dalen was more than capable of dealing with the few stragglers that tried to sneak up behind them, especially when he combined those particular bombs. In the urban terrain and the chaos of the fighting around them very few people had the wherewithal to notice and then avoid looking at the Flash Bombs so they then inevitably got an eye full of retina-searing light they had no chance of avoiding the Big Boy that came after.

Dalen would have almost felt bad if they weren’t Dhinir and Uton worshiping scum but since they were he felt no remorse at all. Actually, he quite liked the chaos. The anger that had grown familiar with made itself known with every slain enemy. The feeling reminded him of the resonance he had experienced.

You have slain [Finigan Ula | Crossbow Expert 55 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to killing a higher leveled entity.

You have slain [Brendan Alwik | Rogue 54 | Human] experience awarded.

You have slain [Oolan Yuan | Acolyte of Uton 56 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to killing a higher leveled entity.

“Keep moving! We are almost there!” Iladrian’s voice boomed over the fighting as huge vines tore their way through the building Dalen had just been leaning against and moved onto a block of the side street as another unit of Empire soldiers came into view. Several of them were knocked to the ground and killed but most survived and immediately set about setting the vines alight.

The archers continued moving between alleys and buildings while many of the fighters they gathered along the way moved through the street itself and equipped themselves with the weapons of the fallen empire soldiers before forming a spearpoint to force their way closer to The Third Tower. As they drew closer a stench that Dalen only just now detected. The Third Tower smelt like dirty unwashed skin and death. But those things were hard to care about when simply looking in that direction made him shiver.

The rear wall of the tower was in sight and with Iladrian’s command and frankly insane display of battlefield control they made it the tower. They had fought their way to the tower faster than Dalen would have first believed possible and because of that, they were able to barely stay ahead of the closing enemy forces.

Leo continued to lead from the front and did more damage to the nearby building than the empire soldiers had the entire running battle as he brought down more fiery hate on any force in sight. Dalen hadn’t seen the man cut loose to this degree before. He knew he was strong but not killing twenty-odd men of similar level instantly strong. He didn’t seem to care about his mana expenditures at all and simply shouted out to Dalen to toss him a mana potion every chance he got.

Dalen had quite a few left thanks to his grinding but he would run out sooner or later if Leo kept up this kind of pace.

Iladrian’s path of thorns brought them to the tower wall before disintegrating in a flash of verdant light and the War Druid soared overhead in his owl form transforming back to his elf form mid-air to shout another command, “Inquisitor inbound, northern streets. Third Tower forces are occupied by an unknown element. Dhinir warriors, south. Druids, conjure barriers with kill slots. We must hold this point until the inquisitor is dealt with. We cannot have it at our backs!”

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Dalen was impressed with the amount of information the War Druid had gathered while also guiding their growing force through the streets. With their backs to the black tower wall, several druids appeared from the ranks of archers who had left the cover of the nearby buildings. The druids formed groups of four to five and soon the cobbled streets were shifting to their command and huge boulders and earthwork simply tore themselves free of the ground forming huge walls of earth.

Then the walls shifted further and small structures large enough for a squad of archers formed in the walls with gaps no larger than a hand wide to allow for free shooting with maximum cover. The walls curved to form a choke point on the northern side in the direction of the inquisitor. Which at first confused Dalen but then again if Iladrian mentioned the inquisitor specifically it probably meant he was powerful.

Kal’s aura was undeniable at this range and Dalen could tell everyone was feeling now as well. Dread was clear on many of the nearby faces though he was sure most of them believed it was the battle going on around them and perhaps it was for the most part.

“They come! Prepare yourselves!” Iladrian’s voice roared from overhead and an instant later the sky filled with deadly golden light. Hundreds of mana bolts rained down from overhead and druids abandoned additional fortification of their walls to raise shields of green mana. Their shields were effective but even so over a dozen fighters fell dead as bolts seared through their flesh and upraised shields.

Iladrian darted between bolts as they fell, owl form just small enough to avoid the strikes. In between bursts of evasive speed, the owl's eyes blazed verdant green, and more vines large enough to be visible over the walls rose up and slammed down on the unseen forces.

*Boom…*

Dalen’s chest thrummed and his gaze turned to the wall of The Third Tower even as the first lines of enemy soldiers came into view and Sceleti archers loosed their first volley.

“Kal?”

Warning: Your Core-[ERROR] [ERROR] is enraged.

Warning: Umbral Entity present.

ERROR: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kal’s will warped the air around him as it coalesced into an edge and tore through the array binding him. Two runes remained unknown to him and learning their functions was impossible with the obfuscation array in place so Kal focused on other properties he could see with Eyes of the Slayer.

One required far more mana to activate than the other so Kal made his choice and his will blade carved through the intricate arrays in the curving path as it carved through specific connections and constructs to prevent the fail safes. Avoid activating the alarm array was impossible and as the room exploded into pearlescent light from sundered threads, he saw the rune activate before going dark.

The will blade continued into the final construct and as it made contact the construct exploded, filling the room with a barrage of light and fire. The explosion was far weaker than it would have been if it activated normally and its focus was completely off as it scoured the walls of his cell more than it did his body. As expected, the final construct he couldn’t sunder activated with a flash of gold and white light.

Faster than Kal could react the cell warped and he felt himself pulled to the cell floor as his bindings seemed to move across the stone wall. The chains moved like snakes and wrapped themselves around his body, constricting his entire body. Kal growled as his bones creaked and several of his wounds tore open again under the pressure. But that wasn’t all, next the chains began to hum with power and Kal felt something reach toward his mind.

“No! Not again!” Kal roared as his will tore the feeble attempt to control him apart before it even got close. Kal’s anger rose as the chain continued to tighten against his resistance and his sight flickered across the spectrum of mana before his killing sight overwhelmed them all. Outside his cell betrayer-touched ran toward him.

The urge to kill sored in his chest and mind and his body contorted to fight against chains. His strength had returned and the chains screamed as they grinded against each other. His cell door burst open and six soldiers charged in and at their head was the binder.

[Alistair Belen | Binder 76 | Human]

[Edmund Hawke | Swordsman 65 | Human]

[Arthur Redford | Axeman 67 | Human]

[Alice Fairchild | Shield Bearer 62 | Human]

[Beatrice Hartwell | Knight 68 | Human]

[Geoffrey Greenwood | Spearman 64 | Human]

Alistair’s eyes widened and fear was clear on his face, “Gods! He activated the failsafe! Why isn’t he down?! Quickly, restrain him!”

Kal’s face twisted into a sneer and the soldiers hesitated as his aura slammed down onto them. Several staggered backward and they were the lucky ones. Kal roared and wrenched his arms away from his body as he activated Flesh of Iron. Screams of tearing metal filled the room as the chain snapped and swung through the room. Those who hadn’t backed away didn’t see the chain coming as it hit them. Breastplates caved and blood sprayed from crushed chests and the stumps of severed limbs.

You have slain [Edmund Hawke | Swordsman 65 | Human]