Chapter 268 Volume IV - Chapter 115: A More Violent Battle
The first few seconds after passing through the gate were peaceful and calm. It was as if the whiteness and silence that covered my entire vision was almost begging me to relax my body for a moment.
Nevertheless, I held my sword tightly in my hand. I did not let my guard down. So, after these few seconds of calm... the first thing that caught my attention was a very loud noise.
Something exploded right next to me. My world, which was just beginning to lose all its brightness, suddenly turned white again.
I formed a Mana Barrier as fast as I could, surrounding myself in two layers. The impact of the explosion was mostly absorbed thanks to it. The first layer broke, but the second one held. So, I took a quick look around behind the last remaining layer.
Sith was right. The battle was raging in all its fury and horror. The gate seemed to have opened right in the center of the battlefield. What had exploded next to me was a random rocket or something, but that didn't matter.
Soldiers were everywhere. It wasn't hard to tell who was fighting for the South and who was fighting for the North, thanks to the armor and the flags, but it didn't matter much who was attacking whom.
Screams filled my ears. War cries echoed and echoed across the battlefield. I saw one dwarf's chest pierced, another's arms blown off, another's head severed from his body, and another sliced straight in half.
It was chaotic. The battlefield was more chaotic than ever here. In no other area I had ever set foot in before had there been such... such savagery, such bloodshed.
That's how important it was for both sides to take control of this mountain and its surroundings.
'Sith, we do as we always do. Watch my back, attack with my mana if necessary.'
Sith gave me a quick nod, and I activated Spiritual Ascension. The crown of tree branches appeared on my head and the usual bracelets formed on my wrists. I took a deep breath amidst the dark teal particles that began to seep out of my body.
I feel stronger than before, it's a strange feeling that almost all my stats have ranked up and it happened so suddenly... but it's not something I need to focus on.
With the Spiritual Ascension, the vast mana reserves of Sith became available to me, and not only that, they became detectable by the dwarves, and all eyes in my vicinity instantly turned on me. The combatants stopped fighting, and the normal soldiers, whose armor offered little protection, just froze.
I calmly exhaled a deep breath, squinted my eyes, reached for a huge amount from the Sith's mana pool, and calmly pulled my hand to the side.
In an instant, a fierce current, reminiscent of hurricane winds, struck the huge space in front of me. With Sith's immense control, I used a force that was as gentle as possible on the soldiers of the North, but hellish on the soldiers of the South.
My side of the battlefield seemed to slow down for a moment. But I was not the only 'strong' one on the field.
'Coming from behind!'
Three layers of Mana Barrier instantly surrounded me, and I swung my sword behind me in that millisecond.
The first and second layers broke instantly, and the third layer slowed down the attack as much as possible. My sword made contact with the weapon of my opponent.
I found a dwarf in red armor in front of me. He had swung his spear at me, but when he made contact with my sword, he was unable to follow up his attack. My physical strength was superior to his.
I raised my free hand and aimed it at the dwarf's face.
A blue glow quickly enveloped my palm. Before the dwarf knew what was happening, the flames poured down on him like a waterfall.
The dwarf's screams lasted only a few seconds, his voice blending so quickly into the flames that I was perhaps the only one who could hear it.
Still, I didn't dwell on the dwarf, didn't even take a second look at his burnt corpse. I looked around as fast as I could, choosing my next 'strong' target.
Not far from me was a two-handed axe wielder who looked at me with wide eyes. When our eyes met, he quickly regained his composure, realized what I was going to do, shook off his confusion, and regained his fighting stance as fast as he could.
The weak soldiers, who wanted nothing to do with me, finally remembered that they were on the battlefield and went about their business. A few higher-ranking soldiers, who had caught sight of me, realized I was a threat and prepared to pounce on me.
I didn't wait for them to attack. I moved first and flew at the axe user I had my eye on.
The dwarf raised his axe and tried to defend himself. He was aware of my speed and knew he could not dodge. So he chose to block my attack and that was his last mistake.
My sword was about to make contact with his axe when it was suddenly clouded with the wild mana I had imbued it with. The dwarf was stunned, having lost sight of my weapon due to the first phase of the Ambiguous Flow, and I skillfully swung my sword around his axe, striking him in the neck.
The dwarf experienced a quick death as he tried to pick out my sword, his eyes blurred senselessly. I pulled my sword away from his neck, kicked his body away from me so that I could move more freely, and turned to the other dwarves who were about to attack me from behind.
I didn't care if I saw them or not, I didn't bother to defend myself because I trusted Sith. He could read every movement in my mind, like two minds fighting in one body.
A powerful spherical stream of wind, centered on my body, quickly left my body. It hit the dwarves that were charging at me, either knocking them off balance or slowing down their direct attacks. And that was enough for me.
I spotted the dwarf closest to me, holding what looked like a shotgun in his hand, pointing it at me, but his aim was off because of the wind. Still, he was dangerous because he was holding what looked like a shotgun and he was the closest dwarf to me. So I didn't even think twice before attacking him.
I swiftly swung my sword at his rifle, and the weapon, whose grip had been loosened by the wind, was both damaged by my attack and flung from the dwarf's hand. Not content with that, I drew my sword and thrust it straight through his heart.
When his heart was pierced, the dwarf gritted his teeth instead of standing still and accepting his death as before. He raised his hands, gripped the sword that had pierced his heart as tightly as he could, and tried to hold me in place. Meanwhile, his friends attacked me from both sides.
I kicked the dwarf holding my sword, and he could do nothing but drop it, unable to hold on for long because of the hole in his heart and the wild mana that covered the sword. I turned my free hand to my left side and swung my sword to my right, imbuing it with Sith's mana.
Huge, blue-colored flames rose meters from my left palm like an angry, raging dragon. The wave of wind from my sword grew and grew with the huge amount of mana I poured into it, reaching a tremendous sharpness.
The screams of the dwarves were the last thing I heard before I landed. They couldn't even put up a proper fight against me. It was clear to everyone present that the person who was supposed to face me had to be someone stronger.
I deactivated Spiritual Ascension, thinking that I had done enough intimidation. I chose not to waste any more mana and continued doing what I was doing.
And so... the battle continued. I kept picking new targets and fighting them, as I usually do.
I tried to turn at least my side of the battlefield in the North's favor as much as possible.
My efforts were soon noticed. Both by my allies and by the enemy. I was swarmed by even more powerful men, but there were also Northern soldiers who came to fight alongside me.
In this way, minute after minute passed. Dozens of dwarves died fighting with me or against me, and even more died before I realized what was happening.
Finally, someone who knew me and had direct orders about me managed to come to me.
"Corporal, please come with us!"
Considering that I had been missing for a long time, about a week, it made sense that they wanted to take me back to their base as soon as they saw me. So I didn't insist on fighting.
I just looked around the battlefield one last time, watching the dwarves being brutally killed. The fact that they looked like useless trash to be thrown away rather than lives that seemed to have any value... made me disgusted with war all over again.
*******
Outside the battlefield, in an armored vehicle, on my way to the North's base in this area, I didn't do much. I didn't feel like talking to anyone I knew, so I just looked out the window.
I watched the light from the explosions reflecting on the clouds, I thought about how many lives were being lost every second. I thought about the people who were forced to fight, who should not be here but were.
The war seemed even uglier to me. Yet I could only sigh, knowing that I could do nothing.
This war was a necessary one. The takeover of this mountain was of enormous importance to both sides.
So, if I want to end this war... I had to be fast.
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