Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Chapter 103: Siege of Neve Dorei (9)

Adam laughed loudly, once again unconsciously activating his [Barbarous Roar] in his joy. He had managed to create his skill, finally!

All this time he had tried to apply his Aura in different ways, and he had finally found how to rightfully circulate his Aura. As it turned out, it wasn't just his sword that needed to be involved, but his whole arm.

At first he thought changing the way he was circulating his Aura in his arm would cancel the effect of [Mighty Strike], but it didn't! Instead, it was recreating the effect of [Mighty Strike] with different pathways.

This opened a whole new set of possibilities to Adam for creating his skills, and this would serve him well in the future.

Adam activated [Wind Blade] and frantically slashed at Holdir from a distance. The flying slashes crashed into Holdir, who didn't have to put much effort to block them. However, everyone of them was still hurting him, and some of them also went past him to crash into the undeads behind him.

This wasn't just to kill undeads, but Adam was already working on the next part of his skill. For now, it was only an E Skill, the lowest rank in skills. As such, it's effects were pretty basic, and the damage done wasn't that big, only as big as a basic attack along with [Mighty Strike].

To make [Flying Slash] go from E Rank to D Rank, Adam had a good idea, and that was to multiply the amount of slashes sent with an attack. Like that, he could do multiply by two, three or even four his damage.

He already knew this was possible, because his [Lunar Smite] used this too. After losing a couple percents of his health to Adam's slashes, Holdir had enough and he jumped toward Adam to stop him. This opened his guard, allowing three slashes to hit him in his unprotected chest, but he also managed to make Adam stop.

The two began clashing once again, and Adam had changed his fighting style compared to earlier. Before, he was fighting slowly, but with great precision to redirect Holdir's blows.

However, this time Adam was striking as fast as he could, and was many times more aggressive than before, and even allowed himself to take a few hits.

At the same time, they both heard explosions above them, and with a quick look they understood the end of the war was nearing. Above them, Liara and an undead had began fighting. More importantly, both of them were flying, something only achievable by Gold Ranks.

Curious, Adam looked at the undead commander's status.

[Superior Wight] (Elder, Chosen, Level 80)

HP: 6,000,000/6,000,000

Another few minutes went by, and the fight between the two was coming to an end. Adam was all bloody, his armor was shredded in multiple places and the only thing that held it in place was thin threads under the armor. He was also missing an ear, and his HP was below ten percent.

As for Holdir, he was in a much better state. He had around 60% of his health left, and his armor was still in a fine state. However, he was missing three fingers on his left hand, which made his blows weaker than before.

Adam quickly applied a special pomade he had bought a few days ago on his missing ear, gritting his teeth at the pain, and then used his last healing charge from his Set armor, making his HP go back to above 25%.

Holdir pointed his sword towards Adam's throat, and said "You were definitely a powerful opponent, one of the strongest I ever fought. Unfortunately, in the end you weren't powerful enough, and couldn't deliver me from my state."

Adam readied his sword, and said "I think you are the one getting arrogant, you still haven't won. But you were definitely a powerful opponent, and I will never forget you But before we end this battle, tell me, what do you mean by delivering you?"

Holdir seemed to struggle for a moment before he sighed and said "I guess there is no need to hide this from you. I never wanted to become an Undead, I wanted to go to Roskhalla and feast with Enya. But as I reached the gates of the Great Hall, my soul was sent back to this rotting body."

Adam's grip on his sword tightened as he asked "How could you be freed? And why don't you do it yourself?"

Holdir shook his head and said "You can't free me, the only way for me to be freed would be for the one who rose me from the dead, and that would be the Chosen one who leads this great army. And the control he has over his minions, over us, is much bigger than you think. The weaker ones have become dumb to the point they can only follow orders. The only reason I was able to keep my mind is because I was stronger than him when I was alive?"

Adam raised an eyebrow and asked "Were you? Tell me, Holdir, how strong were you?" Holdir smiled as he replied "You arrogant brat, I was known as Holdir, the Merciful Paladin. I used to be a Hero, but that was a long time ago. Now, let's finish this fight. Send my regards to Roskhalla."

Adam grinned and prepared himself to finish this fight. Holdir did the same, and pointed his sword toward Adam's neck. As the two were about to pounce on each other though, a huge change took place.

Until now, the three battlefields were going fairly well for the living. The players were dominating the undeads below Level 50, Searing Light, as a Mage Sovereign, was even stronger against crowds than Adam.

For the battlefield above Level 70, both sides had suffered, but none of the leading Level 100 had died. As for Adam's battlefield, it was the most tense, and although Adam's side had the upper hand for now, if he were to be defeated by Holdir then they would most certainly lose.

As for the most important fight, the one taking place in the sky, both the Superior Wight and Governor Liara had taken damage, and their magic shield were in a bad state.

But it was at this moment that something unexpected. All the leaders of the noble families suddenly fired powerful spells at Liara's back, taking her by surprise. Fire, Wind, Lightning and Ice mixed into a catastrophic spell that hided Liara from everyone's sight.

This stunned the living army, who looked up in despair. They had been betrayed, and they would soon be forced to join the undead because of this.

The big ball of mixed elements in the sky disappeared, and everyone saw Liara. Surprisingly, she wasn't dead. But she had deep wounds all over her body, and after a moment she said with a weak voice "Flee"

Her voice was weak, but she seemingly used the last bit of mana she had to make it loud enough for everyone to hear. Then, when she had said what she had to say, she closed her eyes, and no one knew whether she was still alive or not.

The army was silent as she fell from the sky, and when she was about to crash into a spot that wasn't far from where Adam was, Tiarsus appeared near her and caught her. But as soon as he caught her he began speeding toward the city.

The soldiers panicked and also began retreating, while the undead and the traitors killed as many as they could. Adam could see Holdir clench his teeth in fury in front of him, he said "Damn them all, using such trickery."

Adam squinted his eyes and said "This is not over. NOT UNTIL I DIE!"

Adam tried his best to slow down the undead army, but there were too many of them. At the same time, the soldiers had their backs against the ramparts, but they couldn't get in the city, not all of them, the gates were not big enough.

And to make everything even worse, the Superior Wight flew over the army and used a spell against those who fled inside the city, instantly killing them. Right then, was the moment they knew they had lost.

What remained of the army looked at the approaching undead army, resigned, and they dropped their weapons. Even Tiarsus, who had placed Tiara against a wall, had dropped his weapon. Those were Elves and Foxkin, not Northmen. They had a different culture, and they would rather surrender than fight to the death.

Even the players were the same, they knew they had lost. And in this game, although they could revive, they could still feel pain, and death wasn't a pleasant feeling. It hurt, to be pierced through by a sword. A lot.

That's why, everything should have been over. The undead should have already won, and the first step of the Superior Wight's plans should have been achieved.

Well, that would have been the case, if it were not for a stubborn, and furious, Northman, who was the only one who still had his weapon in hand.