Chris
I pushed my Law to go further. Both in the strength of my Ice and the cold it produced. So of the constant growth I had felt from the tutorial was missing and I wanted to make up for that.
It was obvious that I wouldn't grow as fast now that we were out of the tutorial, but it still felt weird to be the sa level for weeks on end. Even though each level took longer and I didn't have ample opportunity to get essence, it still felt like I wasn't doing anything.
At this point, the tutorial had been over for longer than we were in it. I knew that would be the case, I knew that it would pick up again when we finally settled down and I could run dungeons on a regular basis, but it was still disappointing.
The wolves tried to stop from approaching the pack leader but they weren't able to hold up. It wasn't even necessary to wait for [Avalanche] to build.
The bodies accumulated as I carved my way toward the leader and I finally laid eyes on him after almost half an hour of fighting. It dwarfed the other wolves by a head and a half in both bulk and height.
Plus, it had a different feel to it, like it was above the rest. It watched approach with a deep snarl in its throat and rage in its eyes, well beyond the emotions the wave monsters would show.
It did not like what I was doing to its pack and it spent no ti sizing up before charging toward . It pushed its pack mates out of the way and charged directly at .
I pushed on [Sweeping Snow] and dumped more of my mana into it, trying to speed up the rate at which I killed the lesser pack. Sothing about the leader told to finish the ones around quickly so more of my attention would be free to deal with it. It had a feeling about it that reminded of the bosses from the waves. A quality to it that signaled a wellspring of power.
Keeping track of its charge was difficult with all of the bodies around but I managed to do so just in ti to brace myself for its attack.
The wolf ca in with jaws wide and teeth glistening with mana ready to chomp down on . It took every bit of my reaction ti to snap my hamr around to defend against it, knocking its head out of the way with my swing.
If it was the average monster, almost every monster, it would have died to that kind of swing with their head caved in, but the leader brushed it off without a scratch. After my hit knocked the wolf of course, it charged past with its excess montum.
Its body was fine and it only needed to right itself in the correct direction and charge again. It didn't show any sign of injury or of being hurt from what I did.
As it recovered, I pushed [Sweeping Snow] to cut it, to rip and tear at the leader while it was staggered but nothing happened. The snowflakes bounced off its fur like they were rubber balls rather than the sharp blades they were. After cutting it failed, I pushed on the cold to penetrate into the beast but that too failed.
My snow was too weak to cut it and the cold couldn't penetrate past its fur. Where the pack mbers were cut and pulverized, the leader brushed it off like it was nothing.
It gave hope of a challenge.
Mana mixed with sothing else ford back onto the wolf's snout and it ca in for another attack. A Law of so kind was mixed into its skills but I wasn't sure what type it was. It wasn't elental, as I was familiar with those by now and it intrigued . The power coming off of it was similar in strength to my own Law.
It was a Lesser Law.
The first beast I had seen with an upgraded law.
By this point all the other wolves had either died or backed off to give us room to duke it out creating a circle around us to fight in and the leader wasted no ti restarting the bout.
The weight and speed it charged with forced to brace myself against the ground less I be pushed back. Similar to the Vine Bears so long ago, it tried to use its size and mass against . Where that once surprised , it failed to do so this ti.
The ground was covered in snow and standing atop it made my footing more secure than ever. It was a paltry effort of will to freeze the ice covering my boots to what was blanketing the earth. The connection webbed out giving the secured base to take any charge. It was with a sa flex of will that let pick up my foot again without being stuck to the ground. There was a fine line between bracing myself by securing my feet to the ground and rooting myself in place detrintally and I had trained to keep that from happening.
No matter how hard the wolf charged or pushed, I wouldn't be moved. It bit chunks out of my armor and I returned with heavy blows rained down upon it. For every bite landed, I smashed one of my own.
Hit for hit.
It nearly caused to smile when I saw blood leaking down my armor. Streaks of red originating from the rents of ice missing and teeth marks.
The wolf wasn't much better, blood leaked out of its mouth and one of its front legs was smashed beyond recognition, but it still held a stout growling in its throat. It wasn't giving up and neither was I.
The resilience it showed caused to pull harder, dig deeper. Dragging out every scrap of strength my stats gave and then so. Fighting the lesser wolves took more controlled hamr swings to make as efficient as possible, the leader took a different approach. Fighting sothing strong like the pack leader took swings of all the strength I could put behind it.
There were tis I missed, and great chunks of earth exploded in my face as my hamr hit the ground instead of my target, but those were necessary to land a hit of any significant effectiveness.
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[Mighty Blow] and [Pervading Cold] lit up my hamr while similar skills flowed out of the wolf to match. The lesser ones circled around, only attacking when they sensed an opportunity. Flying in to bite at my feet of lower legs while I was focused on my swings.
At the rate it was going, we were both landing hits and I wasn't sure who would last longer without sothing changing. The state we were in reminded of how I ford my Anchor in the first place. A brutal fight which took everything in to power one more swing. The incessant urge to take just one more down.
It made smile to have that feeling co back and I unleashed it inside of . My Anchor was what kept going through longer fights and from flagging during intense ones like this. I couldn't hold it back any longer nor did I want to.
[Frozen Patchwork] was already struggling to keep up with so of the more serious wounds it had managed to get on . I managed to land a few good hits on it to match, but it had an entire pack to help it, I did not.
My Anchor flowed into and did what it could to right what was broken. It held no healing properties, but it made it easier to work through what was wrong. Like dulling the pain of walking with broken ribs rather than setting them back into place. A resiliency to push through rather than fixing what was wrong.
It strengthened my form and pushed [Reinforced Body] past where the lesser wolves could injure. Making their attacks only annoying rather than harmful.
The leader nipped and chomped at the best it could but we were both evenly matched. Its size and bulk weren't enough to overpower my strength and mine wasn't enough to get through its fortitude.
Even with [Mighty Blow] and [Pervading Cold] to layer on my hamr, it wasn't enough to leave lasting damage. A mana type I wasn't familiar with purged any ice mana in its system with ruthless efficiency. Like it was offended at the thought of being impure. Whatever mana type it was, it was strong enough to eliminate the cold I was trying to press into it.
The wolf started glowing in a luminescence similar to Austin but not as bright. A stunning silver radiated out but that wasn't what I focused on. What I focused on was the glowing effect spread to all the wolves surrounding us as well and the beacon of light extending unnaturally high in the sky. It was trivial to sense it getting stronger, so I pulled on [Righteous Fury] to match it. If it was pulling on its pack for strength, I would pull on my rage. Even after all this ti, there was enough rage still in to go around.
We clashed again and again to the sa effect. Both pulling on everything but neither able to finish the other. If it were alone and not supported by the nurous wolves surrounding us, it would have died then. [Righteous Fury] provided a good enough boost I would've been able to overpower it, but with a boost of its own we remained matched.
It was now that I had two paths from here. The fight could take one of two turns and I had to choose which I preferred. I could start chipping away at the wolves surrounding us, eliminated the source of its strength. Or, push through and kill the boss regardless of how many wolves it wanted to pull strength from.
I knew which I preferred and the wolf made a move to facilitate doing that exact thing.
The wolf growled nacingly at not being able to defeat and jumped back, creating space between us. I wasn't sure what it was doing, but I wasn't about to let it have ti to attack freely and it gave ample chance to prepare my finisher. One final attack to end things and see who was left standing.
It was fitting in a primal way I enjoyed imnsely.
I knew any attempt to interrupt what it was doing would be t by the wolves surrounding us throwing themselves at . They had changed their formation to protect the leader and it was obvious what it was planning. It would use its pack to delay and buy ti for whatever attack it was trying to power.
With only one option before , I charged straight toward the leader. The lesser wolves were relentless in their assault to stop , but [Avalanche] was near full and my stats were nearing their peak. The fight had gone on for longer than anticipated and the bursting strength inside , I would not be denied. Just when I pushed past the last one separating from the stationary leader, I felt its power get a boost. It cocked its head back and howled at a moon I didn't even know was there.
Clouds parted the sky revealing a glistening beam of moonlight streaming down, spotlighting the wolf in front of .
The wolf was a Lunar Wolf.
It made sense now, the purging of my ice from its system and the unfamiliar Law I felt. I hadn't seen anyone with Lunar powers yet and this was a first.
It was similar to what Austin could do with the sun, except it could call upon the moon.
I hadn't expected to need a full [Avalanche] to deal with so wolves up here, but I was glad I had it now. I could feel the skill the pack leader was powering and it was making my hairs stand on end. Nothing else we had co across needed this kind of force to put down.
Instead of worrying about the area we were choosing to settle in, it gladdened to know there were still challenges out there.
It put a smile on my face to be pushed this far, to be required to pull out my newest addition that I only just recently received. I tried not to use it because it wasted the materials of whatever I killed but it was warranted this ti, without it, I wasn't sure I would win.
The skill I received for reaching level 60 and the second my Legendary class had offered. The skill itself wasn't legendary, but it felt powerful enough to be one to . The few tis I had used it were enough to understand the power it held, even if the backlash it caused would take a while to recover from.
Forcing mana into the skill for only the fifth ti, I felt it flow into my hamr. The rush of energy from the skill was a marvel to see even if I had done this before. I didn't think I would ever get over how it felt. If I still wielded my old hamr, it would have shattered to pieces at this point. I was grateful the class gave my hamr first, before I picked up my new skill.
Even still, as the skill flowed into the hamr, cracks and rifts began to form and groan along its length. The wood creaked and the ice frozen to it splintered and cracked. It sounded like standing upon a frozen lake that was just thick enough to hold your weight but not enough to bear it without struggle.
Not sharp pops that made you scared of breaking through, but low groans that made you cautious of what you were doing and proceed carefully.
The carved lines running the shaft of the weapon slightly glowed but only the barest portion of the runes did so. Most remained dark and void of power, but a single string of Runes running the length pulsed as the skill ran through it.
It flowed up the wooden shaft along the string of runes and once it reached the head of the weapon, it began to alter its shape. The flat hamr head began to crack and shatter but held together enough to show it was designed to do that, rather than buckling under the skill's strength.
It was like the hamr and skill were made to go together and it was taking on a different appearance to match. If the hamr was once one pristine block of ice, it was now a cobbled ss of chunks. But even as the hamr broke apart, it didn't appear weakened. It still held the power it once did, only in a different form.
As the last pops and groans of shifting ice sounded out, and the skill was ready, I brought my hamr down with every ounce of strength I could muster.
The wolf must have sensed sothing different with this blow but it couldn't get out of the way quick enough to escape its path.
As the hamr descended, I chanted the na of the skill in my head,
[Shattering Hamr]
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