Chapter 27: Chrysalis

Zack

The head flew off the first monster, though it was not easy. Despite Zack being tall, he was dwarfed by these creatures' staggering height. They were even more freakish up close. Their skin had a rubbery texture, they lacked any sort of genitals, and seemed to have underdeveloped, sparse wings sprouting from their back.

“That’s two down now men! Keep it steady and stick to the plan!” Shouted the captain. Zack followed his orders. This man was something else. He moved with his spear like an expert…no, beyond that. He spun and pirouetted with the lance, using it to aid his mobility and outmaneuver the superhuman speed of these creatures, though, that couldn't be said for the regular spearman in the swuad. They were spearmen…nothing more and were there to provide support but one wrong move and Zack - along with the captain - would be surrounded by the beasts. Eight remained. Another one came charging to Zack’s left, though he couldn't see it due to his mask, he did hear it coming. The beast charged at him on all four of its thin, lanky limbs that were much stronger than they looked. Zack quickly turned and threw his hand left hand next to his right shoulder, charing mana through to his palm rabidly. His hand buzzed with faint purple electricity, Zack took to one knee and threw his free hand down onto to the soil. Sending a current of purple lighting through the surface of the ground in the shape of an arc that grew from where he laid his hand. The beast approached in an animalistic way, hungry for blood. It ran over the electricity and the current began to travel through its thin body, however, it didn't stop. The beast continued to charge and it remained unfazed by the Levin in its bones. Zack hadn’t anticipated this and panicked. He rose quickly and tried to take a defensive stance with his sword but he was too late. The beast had pounced on Zack and pinned him down with his weight. Zack growled as he tried to break free of its weight but the beast would not yield. It groaned and shrieked in his face. This close, Zack could see how truly horrifying they were. Their skull-like heads with no eyeballs and flat noses. No teeth either thankfully but it didn't try to bite Zack. Like the rest of the spearmen, they would try and pulverize Zack. Smashing and crushing him with the strength of their strikes. The beast clenched its pale, bony fists together and slammed them down with a loud shriek. Zack’s naraly weaved his head out the way just enough, but the soil below him was dug out and left a fist-sized crater from the creature struck. The beast shrieked again in his face, the fury of the beast was unrelenting. As it readied for another strike, Zack pulled out an arm free and in a moment of panic, reached for The Frozen Blade. He gripped the ice of the handle, it hurt, but in its weakest state, it was doable for Zack. The ice and condensation quickly spread to the palm of his gauntlet as he pulled the blade from where it was held from his back. As the alien-like creature reached the apex of its arc, ready to smash its fists into Zack’s skull, Zack thrust The Frozen Blade into the eye socket of the beast. Though the weapon had no magic coursing through it, it was still a blade and pierced through the back of the skull. The beast screamed and writhed like a banshee. Fuck! That wasn’t enough, it’s still alive! The beast flayed its arms around as well as its legs as it tried to free itself. Before the beast could overpower Zack, as he still lay on the ground clutching the icey blade in his hand, he shot Maya’s mana through the blade. Unlike his magic, the blade reacted instantly and the sword became far more potent in how it projected ice magic. It immediately froze the beat's head like an ice cube with sounds of cracking ice radiating from the blade as it grew in strength, with a large pool of vapor streaming off the blade quickly with a loud hiss. However, this only lasted for a moment as Zack could only hold the blade for that amount of time before his pain told him to release the sword. The beast stopped immediately, its brain, or…whatever was in its skull was frozen over and the nerves were all killed. The beast’s body fell on top of Zack’s. He quickly pulled himself out from under its weight and dislodged The Frozen Blade once he reached his feet, breathing heavily as he regained his posture. The head of the beast chattered with a loud crack as the sword was removed. The body lay on the ground, decapitated cleanly.

“You alright son!?” Shouted the guard captain in his gruff voice as he noticed Zack had fallen behind.

“Yeah…yeah fine!” Zack shouted back as he picked up his steel sword from the ground.

“Don’t fall behind pal! That’s an order!” commanded the old man. Zack nodded and quickly rejoined the front defense force. The creatures slowly skulked in front of their arc formation, like predators ready to pounce at any moment. Zack swiftly returned to the side of the captain and followed his lead.

“Any casualties?” Asked Zack as he held his sword in a close defensive stance.

“None so far, also, your lady friend’s here. I've stuck her in the back, rather have one of my men upfront than a woman.” Zack turned back to see Maya with the small crowd of Spearman. Her sabre drawn and she had taken an offensive tall stance.

“Fair enough, probably for the better, keeps her safe…how many more are left?” Zack asked.

“Six, we keep this up we should be in th-” A horrifying hollow screech interrupted the captain. Zack and the old man turned to their right where they heard the sound. In the dark sky, the two saw what could only be described as an alien’s silhouette. It began to approach them from the sky as it flapped its webby wings that protruded from its shoulders. Without warning, the beast dived down towards the herd of spearmen.

“MAYA!” Zack shouted as he reached his arm out, too far to help her. The beast landed and shook the ground, causing Zack and the captain to waver. Zack quickly looked back up as the dust settled to find Maya. She was okay, she lay on the ground with a group of spearmen, but only a few. Most had been crushed by the creature which Zack could now get a better look at it. It resembled the previous creatures but was far taller, about eighteen to twenty feet tall. Its features were less skull like but its face was obscured by a skin-like shroud that formed from its back. Only the mouth of the creature was visible which seemed to look feminine. The rest of the creature had humanoid features, however. It shared the same lanky limbs but were slightly more developed, the monster’s torso was covered in a rubbery shroud that seemed to grow from the skin of the creature. Is this an evolved form of what we were fighting? The creature seemed to lose its killer instinct and stared off blindly at its eye level. Maya and the spearman quickly joined Zack and the captain.

“Maya, are you okay?” Zack asked, slightly panicked. She nodded. The spearmen all stood in shock and fear at what they were looking at. Unable to comprehend it. The captain did not waver.

“Men! That thing can not be allowed to enter Toren! Form the arc formation again and dispatch the smaller ones! We shall regroup for the larger one!” The men did not listen and instead stood scared like a petrified statue. “That is an ORDER me-”

“Wait!” Zack said holding his hand out to the captain.

“What is it son?” asked the captain curtly.

“Form the arc formation but only for the small ones…I’ll fight the larger one alone,” The large alien shrieked uncontrollably all of a sudden and charged toward their group in a staggered sprint. The group split up and dove to the side, narrowly avoiding being trampled. Zack recovered and saw the beast come to a stop next to the smaller creatures. Once again, transfixed on nothing as it stared out in a dazed lifeless way.

“Are you mad son!? The beast is as tall as a tower!” Shouted the captain from the opposite side of where Zack dove.

“We need to protect Toren, getting that thing away from the village is the best maneuver,” explained Zack.

“Yet you will most likely lose your life son,” he said as he fended off a smaller creature that had pounced at him.

“He’s right Zack,” Shouted Maya “Please…don’t do that” she pleaded.

“I have to do this!” he shouted at the pair. “With The Frozen Blade, I can do this, I can save the village, please…trust me.” He pleaded to Maya. The captain thrust his spear into the head of the creature and wrangled him away from himself.

“On you go, I trust your word...You’d better come back alive son,” he said in a displeasing way. Zack nodded and broke off into a sprint to get outside of the battle.

“Zack! No!” screamed Maya. Zack didn’t listen. This is going to be different. Thought Zack, I’m going to save them this time. He sprinted outside of the battle and around the gigantic beast, it still stood dazed but from its patterns so far it could go berserk at any moment again. Zack held his free hand to his shoulder and charged mana into his palm while he ran. He shot a bolt of purple lighting at the gigantic beast, it struck the monster in its narrow shoulder, leaving a scorch mark that quickly healed away. The beast turned its attention to Zack slowly. Each of its slow steps shook the ground it stood slightly, throwing up the soil as it strode. Zack stopped and looked up at the beast. He had drawn away its attention from the squad but now that he stood this close, the towering creature dwarfed him in size and strength. I need a plan to get to the head. The creature soon swung at Zack with a low swing of its arm. Using its long limbs almost like a spear to sweep with. Zack narrowly evaded the sweep by backstepping out of its range. Zack shielded his eyes as the sweep blew dust all around him. As he lowered his arm, the creature reversed its motion and swung the same arm back again with an emotionless expression on its lower face, steeping forward as it did so to close the distance. Zack had no time to move. His expression widened but he braced his sword to shield the impact, but it was no use. The force of the strike made him lose his grip on his weapon. Zack was sent flying back like a ragdoll across the grass, landing on his back and skidding across the ground several feet. Thankfully, his breastplate took most of the force, though he felt like his chest was bruised from the strike. Zack grunted as he rose to his feet, he didn’t let the pain deter him, however. Though he realized he only wielded The Frozen Blade now, his steel sword was lost amidst the grass and was most likely thrown further than he was. The tall alien set its eyes on Zack and began to scream and shriek loudly like before, entering an enraged state as it began to charge toward Zack in a staggered sprint and letting its arms dangle behind it.

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“Oh fuck,” Zack cursed as he quickly dove to his right. Avoiding being trampled by the beast as it ran across the ground, causing the earth to rumble as its pale feet impacted. As Zack recovered and got to his feet, he quickly made a dash towards the towering alien. The alien had recovered from its enraged state but was still hostile towards Zack as it kept engaged with him. As Zack approached the beast, it lowered itself to swing its long arm for another sweep. As the beast dragged its arm across the ground, Zack ran into the arc the long arm would take and prepared to embrace the impact. He grabbed ahold of the rubbery blue skin and held on as tight as he could as the beast returned its arm back to it’s side. Zack pulled out The Frozen Blade with his left hand and used it to climb the beast’s long arm, stabbing it deep into it’s otherworldy flesh and using it to hold his weight. With the sword not channeling any mana he could hold onto the sword tightly without much risk aside from his gauntlet accruing frost. The beast seemed to ignore him as he climbed up its limb, though, Zack expected the beast would soon go berserk at any moment and had to act fast. As he reached the top of the alien’s narrow shoulders, he pulled himself up to stand on top of his right shoulder, only just having enough room for his feet to stand. The beast continued to walk slowly which shook Zack, he kept himself low to avoid being staggered and falling off. Zack crawled to the beast's neck with his frozen sword in hand and as he reached it, he thrust the blade into the alien’s neck. The beast began to wail and scream. Zack completely lost his footing and grabbed onto The Frozen Blade as tight as he could with both hands. He couldn’t see anything from how violently he was being shaken, but he wouldn’t falter. Zack held on, and as he did he channeled Maya’s mana into the blade, as much as he possibly could. The blade extended out all the way to the end of the neck and ice almost instantly traveled up through the beast's head, covering its head and skin-like veil in a layer of ice. Zack immediately let go upon the pain of feeling the frozen sword at full power. The beast shook him off and sent him to the ground with a hard impact, his armor took some of the force but Zack felt as if he was winded and tried to catch his breath. The beast's head had become completely frozen down to its core and once Zack’s blade was withdrawn of mana, the ice quickly crumbled, the sounds of shattering audible from where Zack lay, causing the head to shatter and only leaving the body. The body fell flat on its stomach with a large crash to the ground. It threw up dust everywhere around it, Zack slowly began to gain his breath again and began to try and slow his breathing. He looked across to the slain beast. It lay motionless on the ground, its neck completely exposed with no bodily fluids flowing out. Zack stood up but his body was bruised despite the armor and he twinged in pain, however, it wasn’t unbearable and he could power through it. He spotted The Frozen Blade a short distance away, the frost and mist rising from it gently as the blade sat in the grass. Zack took the blade and returned it to his back. Maya! I need to make sure she’s ok Thought Zack. He turned back to where the group of spearmen fought the smaller aliens and broke into a sprint. The ground suddenly began to shake slightly and Zack came to a stop. He turned around and found the alien recovering and pulling itself back up. From its neck slowly grew out a bulge of rubbery flesh that burst and shed. It grew rapidly like a spore until it eventually formed the head of the monster again. The creature had completely recovered its head and began to stare out dazed, slowly walking towards Zack as it did before. Zack stood stunned, panicked even. It…it recovered its head?! Zack only watched speechless as the beast strode over to him emotionless. Zack gritted his teeth.

“Even when the price dangles in your face…I still can’t read it,” Zack gripped The Frozen Blade once again, leaving it in a state where no mana was flowing through it. “Come on Zack, Finish this,” he said frustrated with himself as he looked down towards the ground. He suddenly made a mad dash for the beast before it could become enraged again, growling as he did so with his teeth grit. Aye, I may be ald but that dosnae mean I canae keep up with you sunshine. The words of Yami rang in his head subconsciously as he sprinted towards the beast's short leg, running The Frozen Blade through its thin but giant ankles. It felt like the blade was dragging through stone with how sluggish it felt without mana. Zack ran underneath and out from the alien as he cut at the ankle. The beast’s attention was turned back down to Zack as it slowly raised its foot to crush him. Zack dove and rolled away, the beast thrust its foot down, missing Zack and embedding itself in the soil from the weight. Zack quickly got up and took another strike at the beast's foot, roaring as the blade entered its rubbery flesh. It’s a shame you won't be sticking around, Yami was keen on you joining Said Thomas in the back of Zack’s head. The wound he inflicted on the alien’s leg closed up quickly and began to pull its foot out. Zack quickly ran out from underneath it. As it pulled it’s foot out, the beast took a swing at Zack with’s long arm. Zack faced the swing and used the sword’s good durability as a strength. He kept himself low and tried to parry the strike. As the arm connected with his blade, he was thrust back several meters, and brought down to his knee, but he still stood. Thank you once again, Zack, I’ll forever be in your debt. Zack pulled The Frozen Blade from the soil he used to embed the blade and keep himself stable. To his surprise the beast denied returning to a docile state and instead followed up with another swipe Zack was unprepared for. Like before, he was sent flying back and skidded across the ground as he landed on the grass. He felt like a rib was broken, but he couldn't be sure. Thank you, Zack, I don’t deserve a man as loyal as you, a memory of Matthew entered his subconscious. The beast once again, began to approach. Slowly wading its lanky arms as it did so. Zack pulled himself together and stood up, ignoring the pain he felt in his torso.

“Alright Zack,” he said quietly to himself as he reached for The Frozen Blade on his back. “It's time to pay the price, for the power you want,” Zack gripped the handle of the blade and imbued the sword with as much of Maya’s mana as he could and with a swift motion, pulled the sword and slashed the space in front of him, bringing the sword to his left side. The slash left a trail of thick, cold mist in the air. The blade held in his hand became far brighter as it shined with mana. Thick wisps of vapor trailed off the blade and blew past in the wind. The ice instantly spread all the way up Zack’s armored arm. Coating his arm in a layer of ice, though not thick enough he couldn't move it. The ice ran all the way up to his shoulder, to the point it formed small spiked pieces of ice out the back of his left shoulder. With one large spike of ice protruding out the center of the smaller spikes. Zack stood strong, his arm covered in ice as he wielded The Frozen Blade, brimming with mana. Anger with his formed weak self rang in his face, yet there was a determination to oppose the oncoming threat. Zack lifted the blade close to his face slowly. He felt the immense pain within his arm as he held the sword, the sharp spikes of ice protruding from his shoulder. Yet…he ignored it.

“I no longer fight as the man I once was…I know fight…as Zack,” said the man as he returned the sword to his side in a swift motion. Vapor and mist following the movements of the sword. The beast emitted a familiar enraged screech, a scream that ran through the valley. It ran towards Zack with its arms trailing behind it in a staggered sprint. Zack showed no fear as the thundering footsteps got closer. Zack flipped The Frozen blade in a reverse grip for his left hand. He then thrust the blade into the ground and ran toward the alien with his icy gauntlet still holding the blade as he dragged it along the ground, leaving a trail of ice behind in the ground. Zack growled which became a roar as he pulled the blade across the soil.

“PERFORTING SLASH!” As the alien got close to Zack within its full sprint, Zack lifted the blade from the ground in his reverse grip, using the friction built up, and swung the sword in a diagonal line towards his right pauldron. The sword emitted an immense amount of mana and grew out a gigantic wall of ice coated in spikes that formed from the ground almost instantly as he made the slash. Cracks of ice could be heard as the ice formed in under a second. The wall of sharp ice was large enough that it impaled the alien and put a stop to its sprint, reaching about halfway up his body. Cold, visible air blew out from Zack’s mouth as he flipped the sword swiftly back to a regular grip. The alien creature's lower body remained stuck within the wall of sharp ice. The creature however grew more enraged as it flayled around and broke apart the shimmering pieces of ice to break free. Zack acted quickly before the creature could free itself. He made a dash for the cliff of ice created. He leaped and hopped across the shards of ice until he reached the top of the spiked ice that impaled the alien's narrow stomach. Zack met his eye with the face of the creature that was obscured by the rubbery skin veil. He manipulated the mana in the sword to extend its range into a sword the length of two spears. Zack swung the blade towards the creature, slashing it three times with slow, impactful strikes on the face of the monster. The strikes dug into its flesh and froze into its rubbery skin, making regeneration more difficult.

“FRIGID TORRENT!” After the third swing, Zack pulled the blade back towards his left shoulder - still in its extended form- and began to deliver a flurry of thrusts toward the alien's head. Zack roared as he stabbed the beast's face tens of times within seconds. The impacts of the thrusts created sounds of ice cracking all over. As Zack finished his attack and returned The Frozen Blade to its regular size. The beast became staggered and keeled over. The armored man quickly used the elevation of the cliff of ice he stood on and flipped off back to the soil in a swift somersault. The alien fell into the small cliff of ice created and smashed it with its body weight. The loud sound of cracking and shattering ice spread as icy mist was thrown everywhere. Zack felt like his arm was going to fall off from how numb it felt, the ice spreading past the spikes on the back of his shoulder and up to his neck, creating a roadmap of light blue frost. He ignored it all, he continued to hold onto the sword in its empowered state of mana and ran towards the fallen alien, leaping onto its large head and climbing to its body. As the beast slowly began to regenerate and recover from it’s falling state. Zack thrust The Frozen Blade into the center of the creature's back. He roared and screamed as he increased the amount of mana put into the blade. The ice spread through the beasts body and slowly began to freeze it over. The beast wailed and screamed to stop Zack but he wouldn’t relent, his scream increasing in volume and intensity. His care for his own condition being thrown away during this moment. As Zack reached the apex of his roar, the ice had spread fully across the beast, it stopped wailing and became frozen on the ground, unable to move. Zack removed the blade from the beast, he could only find a hole full of ice from where he removed the embedded blade. Despite the torment he was putting under his body, he didn’t feel the need to let the blade go yet. Zack walked away from the beast, angry but content with the fact he wielded The Frozen Blade at its full power. Zack had walked roughly ten meters from the frozen alien, still clutching The Frozen Blade. He turned his head slightly to where the frozen figure lay. He looked at what was left of the creature…he was not content. He channeled mana into his free hand and it began to form purple jolts of lighting swiftly due to his heightened state of mana. With a quick motion, he pivoted on his greave to turn and raise his arm to the air. He swiftly brought his arm back down and in tandem a bolt of lightning crashed down into the frozen beast, shattering the large form of ice into thousands of small chunks. Leaving the beast beyond the point of return. Small, glistening pieces of ice rose into the sky as the ice slowly broke apart. Zack staggered and thrust The Frozen Blade into the soil to keep himself from falling. I’m one step closer, Matthew Thought Zack, as he slowly passed out and fell to the ground.