Chapter 268: Hamr of the Dwarves
The sky above the Arena of Gods scread. It was a sound of tearing tal and burning ozone, drowning out the shrieks of the gargoyles.
King Thorgar Stoneforge III fell from the heavens like a teor forged of anger. In his hand, the Divine Weapon [Mjölnir] pulsed with a light so intense it turned the purple atmosphere a violent, bleeding red.
"I AM THE ANVIL!"
Thorgar roared, swinging the hamr downward before his feet even touched the ground.
KRAKOOOOM.
There was no dust. The impact was too hot for dust. The center of the arena, where the demon horde was thickest, instantly liquified. A shockwave of red lightning expanded outward in a perfect ring, vaporizing three hundred demons in a microsecond. The adamantite floor rippled like water, turning into molten slag.
Thorgar stood in the center of the crater, steam rising from his rune-etched armor. His coal-black beard crackled with static electricity, and his molten amber eyes scanned the battlefield.
He didn’t look like a King. He looked like a natural disaster.
Opposite him, hovering ten feet off the ground, Demon General Lilith clapped slowly. Her black wings beat against the superheated air.
"Impressive," Lilith purred, though she drifted back slightly to avoid the arcing lightning. "For a creature made of dirt."
Thorgar tightened his grip on the hamr. Smoldering red cracks appeared in the handle.
"Dirt endures," Thorgar growled. "Dirt buries the dead. And today, witch, I am the gravedigger."
The VIP Royal Box
The protective wall was gone. The box was a ruin.
Queen Helmina Ironbloom was a whirlwind of steel and petals. Her legendary spear, [Bloomrend], moved faster than the eye could follow, skewering gargoyles that tried to flank the retreating families.
"Move! To the service elevator!" Helmina shouted, her voice cutting through the panic.
Crown Princess Freya Stoneforge was fighting beside her mother. Her mace, Frostbreaker, froze a demon solid before she shattered it with a brutal swing. But she kept looking back at the arena floor, searching for the white fla of Leon Lionheart.
"He’s still down there!" Freya cried, ducking under a claw swipe. "Mother! Leon is still fighting! I have to help him!"
"You cannot help him!" Helmina grabbed Freya’s arm, her erald eyes fierce. "Look at the King! That is a battle of Gods! If you step into that ring, you will be ash in seconds! Do not insult your father’s sacrifice by dying foolishly!"
Prince Dorian was cowering behind Grandmaster Durak. The young prince was clutching his wooden hamr, tears streaming down his face. "Father... Father is going to die..."
"The King does not die!" Durak roared, smashing a demon’s skull with his chanical golden arm. "He is the Stoneforge! Now move, boy!"
Near the exit, the other Patriarchs were being forced back.
King Elandor of Denmard was fighting with a desperate, frantic energy. He was trying to push toward the arena, not away from it.
"Selena!" Elandor scread, cutting down two Hell-Stalkers. "I see her! She is on the podium!"
"We cannot reach her, Elandor!" Deiman Frostheart shouted. The Lord of Ice had a wall of glacial spikes erected in front of him, but the demons were chipping it away. "The sheer pressure from Thorgar and Lilith... it will crush us if we get closer!"
"My daughter is down there too, you cold-hearted bastard!" Elandor turned on him. "How can you leave?!"
Deiman froze. He looked through the chaos, spotting the tiny, unmoving form of Maria on the podium far below. His face twisted in agony.
"Because," Deiman whispered, his voice cracking, "if we die here, there is no one left to burn the world for them."
Scark Stromfang grabbed both Kings by their collars. The massive werewolf didn’t care for protocol.
"The Dwarf King bought us a window!" Scark snarled, throwing them toward the exit. "Don’t waste it! The kids are fighters. Trust them to survive!"
The Arena Floor
The pressure was suffocating.
Every ti Thorgar swung his hamr, the air pressure dropped, popping eardrums. Every ti Lilith countered with a wave of cursed shadows, the temperature plunged to freezing.
The students caught in the middle were struggling just to stand.
"Don’t look at the King!" Arthur Pendragon commanded, shielding his eyes from a blinding flash of lightning. "Focus on the swarm! Hold the periter!"
But the periter was failing. The demons were avoiding the center where Thorgar fought, pushing outward toward the students like a tidal wave.
Michael Wilson was not holding the periter. He was cutting a path through it.
He moved with a terrifying silence. While Leon scread in rage and Arthur shouted orders, Michael breathed in a steady, rhythmic cycle.
[Skill: Quantum Analysis Mind]
[Objective: Retrieve Assets (Maria Frostheart, Selena Veylan)]
[Obstacles: 400 Low-Tier Demons]
[Solution: Frozen Edge]
Michael drew a second blade from his inventory—an ice-imbued dagger. He held Draken in his right hand (Void) and the dagger in his left (Ice).
He beca a blur.
Slash. Step. Pierce. Step.
He didn’t waste movent on parrying. He dodged by milliters. A claw would swipe at his throat, and he would tilt his head just enough for it to miss, simultaneously driving Draken into the demon’s eye.
He wasn’t fighting a battle. He was solving an equation.
He reached the podium.
It was an island in a sea of monsters. Varkas was kneeling, holding his tower shield up with both hands, creating a do over the unconscious girls. Eric William was standing on top of the shield, firing desperate beams of light to keep the flyers away.
"I’m out of mana!" Eric scread, his voice hoarse. "Varkas! My barrier is failing!"
"Hold it!" Varkas roared, blood leaking from his nose. "If you drop it, they die!"
A massive Hulk raised a stone pillar, preparing to crush Varkas’s shield.
SHING.
A black line appeared on the Hulk’s waist. The top half of the demon slid off.
Michael stepped onto the podium. He kicked the Hulk’s corpse away.
"Status," Michael said calmly.
Eric looked down, eyes wide. "Michael! Thank god! We’re pinned! We can’t move them!"
"We are moving them now," Michael said. He sheathed the ice dagger and grabbed Maria by the back of her uniform. He hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
"Grab the Elf," Michael ordered Eric. "Varkas, you take point. Use your body as a battering ram."
"Where are we going?!" Eric cried, struggling to lift Selena. "The exits are blocked!"
Michael pointed to the South Tunnel.
"The train," Michael said. "The King is about to bring the roof down."
The Clash of Titans
As if on cue, the stadium groaned.
Thorgar had engaged Lilith in close quarters.
[Divine Art: World Breaker]
Thorgar slamd Mjolnir into Lilith’s shadow shield. The impact shattered the sound barrier. The shockwave blew the roof off the stadium. tal beams rained down like arrows.
Lilith was pushed back, her feet carving deep trenches in the magma. She laughed, wiping black blood from her lip.
"Strong," she admitted. "For a mortal. But look around you, King. Your city is burning. Your people are dying. You can’t save everyone."
Thorgar looked past her. Through the shattered roof, he could see the capital. Fires were burning in the residential districts. The invasion was total.
A deep, sorrowful rage filled the old dwarf’s heart. He knew. He knew he couldn’t win the war today.
"I don’t need to save everyone," Thorgar said softly. The red lightning on his hamr intensified, turning white hot. "I just need to save the seeds."
He raised his hamr to the sky.
"DURAK! SEAL THE TUNNELS!"
His voice was a magical command that echoed through the entire facility.
Grandmaster Durak, currently shoving the last of the Royals into the service elevator, froze. He looked at the monitor showing the King standing alone against the General.
"Thorgar..." Durak whispered, tears leaking from his eyes. "You stubborn old mule."
Durak slamd his fist onto the console.
[Lockdown Initiated]
[Blast Doors Closing in T-Minus 60 Seconds]
The Escape
"RUN!" Michael shouted.
The blast doors to the South Tunnel began to grind shut. They were massive slabs of steel, designed to seal the arena in case of a magical catastrophe.
"It’s closing!" Leon scread, sprinting alongside them. He was covered in black ichor, his white fla flickering.
They were fifty ters away. The demons were swarming behind them, sensing the prey escaping.
"We won’t make it!" Varkas yelled, panting under the weight of his shield.
Michael looked at the closing door. He looked at the horde behind them. He looked at Leon, who was running on fus.
"Leon," Michael said. "Do you trust ?"
Leon looked at him. "Always."
"Then throw ."
"What?"
"Throw !" Michael roared. "Use your [Lion’s Strength]! Throw at the door!"
Leon didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Michael by the waist. Michael held onto Maria tight.
"HUP!"
Leon launched Michael into the air. Michael flew over the heads of the demons blocking the path.
Mid-air, Michael drew Draken.
[Gravity Magic: Attraction]
He targeted the locking chanism of the blast door. He didn’t pull himself to it; he pulled the door toward him, jamming the gears with gravity pressure.
The massive door shuddered and stopped, leaving a five-foot gap.
Michael landed, rolled, and dumped Maria into the tunnel.
"Get in!" Michael scread at the others.
Varkas dove through. Eric dragged Selena through. Leon slid under the gap just as a gargoyle swiped at his boots.
Michael stood at the gap. He looked back at the arena.
King Thorgar was glowing like a dying star. He was drawing all the mana in the area into his hamr for a suicide strike.
The King looked back. Across the battlefield, his amber eyes t Michael’s blue ones.
Thorgar nodded. It was a single, imperceptible nod. Take them.
Michael gritted his teeth. He grabbed the manual override lever on the inside of the tunnel.
"Goodbye, Your Majesty," Michael whispered.
He pulled the lever.
The blast door slamd shut with a deafening CLANG, sealing them in darkness just as the world outside turned white with the King’s final attack.
(End of Chapter 268)
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