As the face of my hamr connected with the wolf, the cracks on the hamr's face spread out from the impact site following unseen lines in a pattern only known to it. In the milliseconds since impact the wolf showed visible effects of what was done to it. Its body shuddered and swayed as it was torn asunder as it tried and failed to wail, its throat incapable of even that.
The appearance of the cracks faded from my hamr as the energies left the hamr and transferred into the body of the wolf, showing themselves along its skin as they spread outward.
The transfer wasn't entirely perfect and so of it diverted down into the ground but most was on target enough to land where I was aiming.
Where I had missed and the skill got diverted into the ground showed the effects more noticeably than on the wolf. Great rents were carved upon the frozen earth and thick and thin gouges radiated outward from the impact site, turning the once even and pristine ground into separated chunks all at different heights. Even [Permafrost] hardening the ground and freezing it solid, it failed to hold up against the might of my new skill.
What showed upon the ground was also happening inside the wolf's body and it wasn't long before the wolf, once glowing and mighty, staggered and fell on its side. Blood pooled along the various rents in its form and leaked out of various cuts upon its form.
I looked on, briefly swaying from the strain, while the wolf lay prone, hacking and wheezing as blood filled its lungs, trying to excavate the liquid out only for more to fill them back up.
It was dead even if it didn't know it.
This was the reason I didn't like to use the skill very often. It introduced a delayed death that only caused pain and suffering. It was not very pleasant to watch and I could only imagine how the wolf felt as it lay there struggling as its body ripped apart from the swirling energies inside it.
Observing the skill work its way through my foes was unpleasant. While we were fighting to the death, it was a level of cruelty I didn't enjoy basking in.
Anything of lesser strength would have exploded in a shower of gore from the energies tearing it apart which was why using it on the weak was a waste. Doing so only created a ss and strained unnecessarily.
It went to show the wolf's strength, being able to last this long, fighting with everything it had to stand back up. Its claws reached out raking the snow and dirt attempting to get its feet under it many tis only for it to fall back down in failure.
The rest of the pack could only look on in fear as they watched their leader scramble and fail to stand. There was a vitality working inside of it trying to stitch its body back together but it wouldn't be enough. The silver glow from the moon continually dimd and its fight to stand slowed. The vigor it showed in trying to fight on was honorable and it didn't feel good to watch on as it suffered.
Righting myself after the backlash washed over , I stood to give it a good end.
It tried to flinch away at my approach but it wasn't able to get very far, falling down not two steps away from where it started. There was a fear in its eyes that replaced the rage it once held there.
Fear of Death.
It knew it was going to die yet it fought on anyway.
I stood next to it with my hamr in the ground and gave it as honorable a send-off as I could, "You fought well and you should be honored. I wish you well on your journeys to co."
Raising my hamr above my head one final ti, its descent caused the wolf to still and brought its motion to an end.
After bringing my hamr down to end it, my body fell to a knee as my legs failed . The other wolves took this as their chance to escape and they all booked it as fast as possible away from were I knelt.
[Shattering Hamr] was the skill I had picked up after reaching level 60 and from my initial tests of it, it was a fantastic skill.
The three options I was offered at the ti all had their perks, but this was the one I felt fit best for right now. One was a more defensive option which I felt I had covered and the other branched out in a different direction I didn't wish to take right away, leaving [Shattering Hamr] the best choice.
It fixed one of my biggest weaknesses right now but the skill did co at a cost. The weakness it fixed was if I found sothing I could not cut or pierce with ice, while also being tough enough that my hamr blows were ineffectual.
[Mighty Blow] and [Pervading Cold] could be added to my swings to make them more powerful, but other than that, I was out of options for what to do. If I still couldn't kill sothing when [Avalanche] peaked and [Righteous Fury] was active, I was shit out of luck. The first ti I ran into the problem was when I was fighting the tal ants of the tutorial.
Their hard tal exoskeletons made most of my Ice skills ineffective and they could brush off my swings with little more than a dent. I took heavy wounds fighting them just because of how long it took to kill one of them.
They were able to hold up longer than anything else in the tutorial and the waves of them were too much for to handle effectively. I still won, but at a great cost of effort and mana while also receiving devastating wounds.
I doubted I would run into many foes that had that combination of protections, but I wished to have sothing more to use. A strong finisher or sothing I could pull out when my max just wasn't good enough.
The skill took a lot out of and I couldn't use it a lot, but it worked to fill that role spectacularly. The reason I couldn't use it frivolously, other than being unnecessary, was because of the cost it took to activate.
The mana cost was high but that was to be expected from such a skill. It was the physical toll on my body that hindered its use. Where [Mighty Blow] took stamina and my Law caused ntal strain, [Shattering Hamr] wore on my body worse than anything else. After using it, my body felt like going 10 rounds with the Vine Bear from the tutorial hitting all at once.
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The skill was only Epic, but I doubted my body or hamr could handle it if it was Legendary.
As my stats grew and my Body Refinent level improved, I would be able to use the skill more frequently, but for now, once or twice in a short period was all I could muster.
A second use wasn't going to be required this ti.
Looking over the corpse made grit my teeth. My Vine Bear pelt was coming to an end for its usefulness and the wolf's pelt would have made a great replacent but there wasn't much of it that was left intact.
The fangs and claws made it out mostly unscathed but the at and hide were all but ruined. The rest of the wolves could fill the need for food but I wanted the leader's pelt and it was unfortunate I couldn't have it.
Sam might be able to do sothing with it but I doubted it. Unless her skills got much better in a short ti to be able to stitch the damage I caused back together.
Another detrint of using [Shattering Hamr].
The rest of the wolves had long made a run for it and I wasn't going to chase them. They wouldn't bother us anymore and it was unnecessary to hunt them down to the last.
Plus, it would wreck the local wildlife if I killed all the predators. Mana did miraculous things but it wouldn't bring the wolf population back from extinction.
Extinction was a finality even mana couldn't fix.
They would recover and they would do it faster than ever before as well. I wasn't sure of the specifics, but either they had more per litter or less were lost during their births so repopulation wouldn't be an issue.
It wouldn't be the sa mating rate as when the planet was being terraford, but they would be back to carrying capacity in no ti even with the amount I had killed.
It was honestly kind of scary to know how fast they could reproduce.
That was only for the normal wolves though, the leader took a special kind of grit and it would be a while until another could take its place. Their levels would also take longer to recover. They hadn't started out this strong and it would take a while for them to gain it back.
The pack would likely splinter under various leaders without the steady strength that had held it together.
That wasn't as important though, it would only really matter if we ended up staying here and that was yet to be known. We had only just gotten to our marker and we would explore the place tomorrow to scout it out.
It took a while for my body to recover and for to get well enough to stand, but I eventually did. Cleaning up the best I could, I trudged back into camp using my hamr as a crutch. Hal and others were in charge of dismantling the bodies for anything useful and the only thing I would do was get in the way.
What t when I returned was an audience larger than I rembered being up when I left but I thought nothing of it. I was too tired from the fight and hurting from using [Shattering Hamr] to care too much.
No one said a word as I limped by which made my walk slightly uncomfortable but I wasn't about to break the silence.
It wasn't until I got back to my tent that soone spoke and it was broken. Austin was leaning up against my tent waiting upon my arrival and he looked up and down slowly. His spear was planted in the ground at his feet and he used it to prop himself up. He seed to be relaxed despite the worried faces I passed before and the tense atmosphere elsewhere in the camp.
"Was that really necessary?" Austin asked and before I could say a word he continued, "You gave everyone a scare when you went out there alone. I even had to calm so of them down from doing sothing stupid like entering the fight."
I knew he wasn't really upset but he was peeved he had to step in. He didn't much like taking charge and I was sure he didn't appreciate having to do so.
"It will make our job easier for tomorrow." exhaustion forced to take a breath before finishing, "They would've played gas and people would've been on edge. This fixed both problems." Another deep breath sucked air in before I bent into my tent with Austin following behind .
My eyes roved left and right but didn't find another waiting to ambush . My tent being empty was good but all that ant was she would have words with tomorrow.
Well, sothing to look forward to.
The Ice covered my armor from most of the blood and gore but so of it made it through. Either seeping through cracks or from when chunks were torn out during the battle.
Austin was silent as I slogged the armor off and gave it a cursory wipe-down with a rag before doing the sa to my body. Blood had stopped leaking out of my wounds once the fight ended and they were now sealed in ice and would remain so throughout the night. With the temperatures slated to get dangerously low, [Cold ditation] would have bandaged up before the sun rose.
I would do a more detailed cleaning of my armor in the morning. I was too tired to do it now.
Austin watched on in silence as he waited for to finish before speaking up again, "And what if this isn't the place?"
"Then we march on," I said simply. It wasn't a doubt what we would do.
"We continue North? I know we laid out the different markers at the start but that was before living through it. The weather will only get worse and we already have to huddle for warmth and struggle out in the open. How much further are you willing to push on if it doesn't fit what you're looking for?"
"Until we find it."
He stayed quiet for a beat.
"Not everyone is so inclined to the cold. If it gets much worse, so may actually die from exposure. Not everyone has your fortitude" He didn't give a chance to respond before using his spear to open the tent flap and walk out.
I felt we were close. So close to finding the spot we would build upon.
Close to finding ho.
Night faded to the sun and the first rays of sunlight signaled the start of yet another day. My body protested against my movent but it was nothing like the pain last night. Spending the night in [ditation] had good enough to go about my day if a bit sore.
As people rose with the sun, the camp brushed off the frost built up over the night and exited their warm tents to a devastating cold.
The start was slow but people were used to such days and went on their way. Scouts road out surveying the area and I took a slow look around myself.
The area around the two dungeons was large and multiple eyes would make finding spots easier. Everyone was inford what to look for and to report back if they found anything interesting. Spots easily defensible or hard to attack were the priority but high grade materials wouldn't be left behind.
Cliffs with only one side needing to be defended or tall hills that were hard to scale quickly.
The terrain was our friend and one less direction to defend would make things all the more easy. It also needed to be close to water and fertile land to grow food. While defensible was the most important, it couldn't be too far for what it took to survive.
A City without food and water wouldn't last long.
Try as everyone did, the place couldn't support the vision I had. There were no cliffs or hills, nor mountains or valleys. It was generally flat with only a few rises in the area little more than a small hill to build upon.
A river flowed into the lake but that wouldn't help much with flat plains on either side.
It wasn't the spot and it didn't feel like the place we were ant to settle.
People moaned about it, but we moved on.
The weather continually worsened and Austin's prediction only got closer to the truth. It got so cold we needed to add more breaks to light fires and stop during certain tis because the wind was too bad.
There were a few days when a heavy snowstorm stopped travel completely until it let up and we could move again.
I was back in tip top shape after a day in the cold and I sat in the lead paving the way forward, clearing the ground for the wagons behind to follow. It wasn't even winter yet and things were already this bad.
The next marker also wasn't what we were looking for and we had to push on as well.
I didn't lose hope though.
I knew we were close. I could feel it.
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