Chương 37: R&R Ch. 37 — Surviving First Contact

Golar was irritated. First, he was in the position of dishonor being in the vanguard of their forces, and more than that the weaklings blocking him were winning. When he had detected that the wall was mostly defended by those weaker than him, he had been even more insulted. When just two of them had destroyed swathes of his men, he had been shocked. When the young one had spoken in the language of the thieves, nearly a hundred bolts of energy flew out of the sky, each one killing one of his men.

Then the lady clad in her own soul had used her blades to cut through them. When the battle had finally begun properly, they had then been blasted back by a coordinated attack. Now his men were screaming in terror as they entered the mini-wall the dart thrower had made to cut them off. And while going around was possible, it wasn't actually any better with the soul woman leading her forces at any dared to try and clamber over or around.

The loss of kin didn't actually bother Golar but that their resources were being taken away from the family was unacceptable, while the ones butchered outside the room had not been cleaned away by the betrayers any who fell within the building vanished the ground itself swallowing them.

It was a disgrace that his men were falling against a mixed battalion led by the weaker ones but that was the truth, and the question would be could he hold this battle and wait for them to wear themselves out the tiny stars burning through their own existence faster than they could recover to keep up with superior foes. Or was it for him to take the battlefield? Golar valued honor, but results were important. He would clash with each of the commanders to gauge what he would need to do to prepare.

"I will scout out the enemy. First, I will fight the valkyrie in the sky," Golar commanded as his power flowed to him. And then it flowed away until he was in the middle of the third stage, just like his forces, one who would not raise any eyes. The duo were worthy warriors, ones he would test the mettle of. It would not do to destroy them with his full force. And if he did, those higher than him could come for retribution. He had snuck through the blender because of his ability to disguise his strength.

Mist pooled in the crevices of his carapace as Golar propelled himself into the air, eye level with the soul-armored warrior. It was a strange gift to turn one's soul into weapons and armor, but she used it well, and he could see her assimilation was going well. She would likely keep her power even after they destroyed the defector. As if she could hear his focus, her head jerked towards him as a deeper power sang. A portal he recognized.

The power of damnation emanated from the portal even though it was tinged with the will of a protector. Something else was behind this girl, and it made sense. Of course someone touched by her would fight like a monster. Before whatever corrupted creation could come out, Golar blasted the fog towards his opponent. Physically, he had always been weak, but it was his mastery over his element that let him rise to this height.

As the mist boiled towards the soul super clones formed around him, flying off in different directions. His attack collided with the swords the girl wielded, and through that connection he learned her title. Retribution. More than that, he learned her character, while touched by the damned one she was far from her kin. In a flash of lightning, the fog was blown away from his opponent. Her swords each chased his clones while more still ravaged the ranks of his men, and in her hand was a spear.

She said something, but he did not understand her language, though from what he learned about her through the touch of her soul, the meaning was clear. She asked the impossible in that he turn back. In response, more fog billowed around Golar as he pulled on the limit of his power in the guise of being a rank three. That spear was more dangerous than it should be for someone of her skill, and he would not risk it. In the sky, fog and storm clashed as Golar tested the mettle of one who defended the betrayer.

Twister watched as her leader fought like a woman possessed. Well, watched was a strong word; most of her focus was still on the horde of endless monsters. But she could feel through the wind and from her new senses. Retribution was a goddess of the storm. She fought against the strongest monster Twister had ever landed her senses on. It was probably still equivalent to an E-rank, she thought, but still. Retribution fought him effortlessly.

The swords flashed through the night, sparking with electricity as she cleaved through the fog and Beyonders alike, setting them up for her and the rest of them on the wall to attack. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. And a spear she had never seen before practically pulsed with power and seemed to take the energy from the fog before releasing it back at the enemy with horrifying thrusts.

That was what being a hero was really like, not just working with a bunch of others. Retribution was rising to the occasion to fight someone who was better than her to make it so that everyone else was safe. It would have just been enough to fight the fog user, but Retribution wasn't quitting there still fighting the army. Something deep within Twister's chest shook as she watched as her soul resonated.

She wouldn't be able to help by attacking him, but certainly her wind power could clash with the fog while she was still attacking the army. If Retribution was juggling two things at once, then why couldn't Twister? She fought against the fog. She had to keep it away from Retribution. Her control wasn't that fine, but she could try her best to help on the edges of the fight.

"Twister I need you to blast through some of the fog even if it means letting up on the battlefield for a bit I need an opening," Retribution said her voice desperate even as the woman flashed through the sky in a litany of moves fighting a monster the rank above her all while still using most of her blades to cut through the battlefield for the rest of them.

"Yeah," Twister said as she released her signature attack, blowing across the battlefield and throwing an entire line of enemies away. As her left hand continued to bombard the enemies assaulting the ground, Twister raised her right hand to fire blades of wind up at the fog monster. She couldn't tell which one was real and which ones were fake, but she trusted Retribution's request. As the blade of wind flew towards one figure on another part of the wall, an arrow of pure energy soared through the sky.

The attack of Pierce, the other member of the assault team on shift at the moment. And a hair's breadth later other attacks came from the people on the wall, all aiding Retribution's fight and giving her the opening she needed. Or so they thought. None of their attacks landed; all of them were caught by an invisible force as Retribution twirled her spear through the air, their attacks flowing into it.

Energy crackled around their leader as it was consumed by the spear, but the glow didn't fade as it seemed as if Retribution herself was emitting light from cracks in her skin where more power flowed through her.

"I am not your peer and I definitely have no need to fight fair!" Retribution bellowed before throwing her spear at a seeming random mist clone. A spear that roared with the power of their entire forces behind it. The mist monster reacted almost instantly, mist billowing out of them as they tried to fly away. Retribution's lightning blades lit up with power, forming an almost flower-like design as a prison of lightning sprung around the monster, trapping it in the direct path of the spear.

The spear blew through the monster, forming a perfect hole as it continued its journey, destroying all things that got in its way. In a flash of light the spear was in Retribution's hands once more as she leveled it at the opposing forces in the same breath her swords formed wings behind her as she took on the likeness of an angel one who always stood against the darkness with holy lightning crackling around her.

"Who's next?"

Nicholas was struggling to breathe as he forced his power to respond to him properly, but it was a near thing and he was beginning to his limit. Not his about to pass out and fall apart limit but his need to scale back limit. Currently, he was manipulating the full battlefield to keep his allies safe while maximizing their abilities. Making the enemy as hindered as possible. And bury the corpses so that their power can't be reclaimed by the enemy.

Oh, right, and he had to make sure all the attacks he was slinging were kill-shots, and doing that against something his greater in nearly every way was a pain. His only saving grace was most Beyonders didn't have unique abilities at this tier so he wasn't fighting a horde of monsters that were superhuman in physicality and all had unique abilities. Though that physical portion wasn't actually that much to manage here since all of his allies at the moment were either stronger, faster, or both.

General boosts couldn't compare to specific powers. Nicholas froze in the air as he realized there was an element in his playroom he couldn't control. Fog. And it was growing rapidly. A Beyonder clad in flog was flying into the room, all other monsters giving them a wide berth.

"Everyone prepare to fall back. I will give you all the time you need," Nicholas said as he got ready to square up with the monster. Fog billowed like the heads of a hydra, each attack going for each of them. He could save them and let the attack hit him, or he could put his effort into saving himself. The decision was easy. All of his allies were buried in the ground where the fog wouldn't hit them as he moved them around and the attack hit him with the force of a meteor.

The rings on his left hand burned hot as Jasmine's defensive charms burned for all they were worth, blunting the attack to the best of their ability. Even blunted, he was still hurled halfway across the room, slamming into the wall back first before crumpling to the ground, barely conscious from the pain. Nicholas forced himself to breathe. He could handle this; he had a good amount of power still, so a big working could be done.

"Fuck you," Nicholas said, pulling himself to his feet as he leveled his gaze against the fog-wielding Beyonder.

"Try that again." This time he had his will ready for his next working and all of his people were safely buried right now so he didn't need to worry about them. The fog monster grinned at him as it released another blast of fog, this one even stronger than the last. His rings were burned out; he had no cards left to play if this didn't work. He considered the odds low, but it was better to gamble on a word that he had done some work with, even if it wasn't perfected, instead of forging a new one.

As the attack raced towards him in his mind's eye, he could see it. The card in his hand as it was heading towards the playing board. The timing would need to be perfect. The positioning had no room for error. Nicholas's throat glowed as cracks appeared on his skin, the power too much to be contained by his mortal flesh as he poured more power as he waited for his moment." Warp" As the word spoke, energy flickered across the form of Nicholas power racing through his existence as he reached beyond his own ability.

The air shattered like glass, distorting the view. The concentrated attack broke into the distortion before rebounding out at the owner of the attack.

"Got you," Nicholas snarled as his opponent was blown away from his own attack. Blown away with enough force that his nicely made defenses were all destroyed. Which shouldn't be possible if he had been fighting a rank three.

"Was that the fog guy I turned into a kebab?" Jasmine asked him.

"No clue he didn't seem that kebabed when I fought him," Nicholas replied." Playroom" At least it was a simple fix.