Chapter 65
Ryker
As the fight dragged on, I found myself encountering less and less resistance. Every time I arrived at a new location, I would dispatch ten or so beastmen, then the attacks would cease. After the third occurrence, I decided to return and assist my allies. Turning around, I started retreating back to the human lines and was shocked when I couldn't find them. Moving through the menagerie of enemies with a single-minded intensity, I slew all that stood before me. For more than an hour, I fought on until I finally saw a group of humans surrounded while attempting a fighting retreat. Concerned for my fellow humans, I lunged forward and snapped the neck of my nearest enemy, holding the lifeless woman out in front of me as I charged the back of their line. The red glow of sacrificial might flooded out of my pores as I barreled through them, pumping my legs as hard as I could, sending several forms flying to either side of me. The unlucky few that fell in my path met a gruesome end as I felt their bones break under my booted feet.
After forcing myself through the sea of foes, I stood in the midst of five people, staring slack-jawed at me. Tracking their eyes, I discovered they were fixated on no less than seven bladed weapons protruding from my body. I discarded the broken corpse and proceeded to pull out the weaponry one at a time. Looking down at my wounds visibly closing, I shuddered in ecstasy, then grabbed up a sword and said, “What are you guys doing this far behind the front line?”
A woman holding a spear plunged its head into the throng of bodies, glanced over at me, then said, “There is no front line! More than half the people that entered this fight were unawakened and were immediately overwhelmed.” She held up her hand, and a dim yellow glow enveloped it. Then she reached out and grabbed hold of an overextended arm, and electricity arced through the beastkin and spread to all the enemies within twenty feet of her. A mass of twitching bodies lay before her. She mechanically dispatched the paralyzed group one at a time with a swift thrust of her spear.
Focusing on the woman's words, realization struck me. The regular humans deciding to step up and help was a noble deed but a foolish one. As they fell, it inevitably opened up massive holes in our lines, causing our awakened to get isolated into nothing more than pockets of resistance. Deciding on a course of action, I placed the sword I was holding against my hip, and Ruby created a perfectly sized ring around it. I repeated the action with a dagger, two axes, and a hammer for good measure. After equipping myself, I began snatching up bodies and stacking them in the center of the group. A man nearly my size turned and said, “What are you doing? Get in here and help us!”
I ignored the man and continued stacking beastmen. Eventually, I ran out of bodies and dove into a group of enemies. I was rewarded with a sword through my gut. Grabbing onto the arm of the perpetrator with my left, I looked up and found the spitting image of a hyena snarling and laughing while trying to retrieve its sword arm. I stared at the beast unflinchingly as it pummeled me with its free arm, and as I saw it lean forward and part its jaws to bite me, I shot my right arm into its mouth and down its throat. The obnoxious laughing ceased, and the thing began to frantically try to escape the predicament it found itself in. I continued to push and push until I found myself up to my shoulder in my enemy. I felt the squishy inside of what I assumed was its stomach and dug my fingers into the flesh. After getting a firm grip, I put my free hand on its snout and with a mana-infused flex of my arm, I pulled it free. Turning back to the group of humans, I dragged the hyena behind me, still kicking, with its bloody stomach gripped in my hand, still attached to the body by several feet of small intestine.
Walking back to the group, the beastmen gave me a wide berth as I dragged the twitching form of the hyena. Dropping the pulsating mass of flesh, I grabbed the pitiful creature by its neck and tossed it atop my small mountain of gore. I decided the pile was high enough, and I climbed up and surveyed our surroundings, and saw what I was looking for. Roughly a half a mile to what I was referring to as east, I could see humanity standing shoulder to shoulder fighting for their lives.
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Jumping down, I shouted, “We have a ways to go but we need to get back to the front line! Follow me!”
I took off towards the rest of humanity, and all of the beastmen that had seen me fight stepped aside. After covering some distance, we faced new enemies that needed to be taught some respect. I didn't hesitate; as soon as the new challenger advanced one step in my direction, I flashed forward, rocketing my fist straight into its abdomen. I pushed deeper and deeper until I could feel its bony spine. All the while, I kept walking, with the beast howling in pain as its kin around it watched on in horror. Grabbing its spine, I twisted and pulled a fistful of blood-covered ivory out as its legs went limp. Tossing it aside like an abandoned hand puppet, I was given more breathing room once again.
The five awakened stuck close to my back, noticing the space that was created by my passing. Again, I found myself needing to teach someone else a lesson, so I decided this time I would make it count. With some convincing and four broken limbs, I walked the rest of the way to our lines, unharassed with the screaming body of my latest victim hanging off my shoulders, its broken arms tied around my neck, like a grotesque caricature of a living cape. It seemed these monsters only understand the language of brutality, of which I am fluent.
Once we reached the human lines, I silenced my prisoner and tossed its corpse into the crowd of onlooking enemies. Looking around, I found countless dead and dying humans with horrific injuries and little hope of survival. My anger towards the beasts was only a drop in the bucket compared to the self-loathing I felt in this moment. It was my choice to bring these poor people here. I would make this right no matter what!
Facing the enemy once again with a feral gleam, I ran down the line, dispatching every non-human I found. My entire existence became a tornado of pain and death. I kept up my breakneck pace for another ten minutes without tiring. Curious, I glanced up at my status bars and froze mid-swing. Taking a mace blow to the back for my trouble, I didn't even react. All three of my bars were completely full. I watched as my health, mana, and stamina started to drop as I allowed injuries to pile up. Then I re-engaged the enemy, and as they fell, my mana rose. I continued my onslaught, and before long, I was at full mana again. I stepped into the human lines and thought the words, “Silvar, what is going on?”
Appearing before me, he smiled triumphantly, then said, “Well, well, well, you finally noticed.”
“Yeah! Fighting nonstop for hours without tiring is hard to miss.”
Raising his stick to my chest and pointing at my heart, he said, “I told you long ago that normal awakened gather energy by drawing it in from their environment. What I didn't tell you is that with the changes we made to your body, specifically your artificial vital energy and mana channels, that anytime something dies near you, it will release the energies stored inside of it. Your channels are much wider than they should be which has created a negative pressure vacuum when it comes to energy absorption.”
Staring in disbelief, I dropped my weapon and placed my hands on my head, and said, “So you're saying when I kill one of these beasts it will dump its vital energy and mana into the air, and my body will just hoover it up?”
Silvar’s features shifted, and he more closely resembled his mutated Vren form in human shape. He clicked his mandibles together loudly, then said, “Exactly right, my boy. We have made you into the perfect war machine. As long as you are killing, you will have an unlimited mana supply. With your gifts, you will never tire and heal from all injuries, faster and faster. Go forth and bathe in the blood of your enemies. Their death will fuel your meteoric rise to power.”
Looking down at my hands, the ancient Vren’s words echoed through my consciousness. Numbly, I turned and looked across the sea of beastmen. Before, I saw a hopeless battle with no end in sight. Now, all I could see was a font of power waiting for me to claim it. I took one step towards the horde and heard Silvar's gravel voice shout, “RAGE!” Immediately, I was beset by a tsunami of fury, and my vision went crimson as I was consumed by the red glow of sacrificial might. Leaping through the air into the awaiting jaws of my foe I raged!