Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]

Chris

Lakeshore

For a time, all I heard was the clash of metal on metal or the loud explosions of magic. After experiencing the difficulty level of what the defenders could express, I was in no hurry to rush back and finish things.

My mana was tapped out, and my body was still throbbing from the burns.

I could have, with my Spirit and Law still kicking, but there wasn't much of a point. I could gain no more levels, and it would be taking essence away from those who needed it. Along with a valuable learning experience.

As much as I'd like to say urban battles would never occur, that wasn't how the world worked. One way or another, we would all find ourselves in the same situation once again, given enough time.

Instead, I sat in my field of snow and waited. Most of my time was spent in [Cold Meditation], but I occasionally popped out of it to check on things using [Aura Detection].

From what I could tell, the battle was going smoothly. Rachel and Abigail were commanding things from the battlements while raining down spells, while Hal and his order rained down death in the form of arrows.

Mages were spaced throughout while the Warriors went at it straight on. One man stood out to me, and that was Anders, Elliot's Vice Captain. In my rush to level up Runesmith, I hadn't spent a lot of time with the Orders as I would have liked, but I still spent some.

Anders performing as well as I was watching him perform was a surprise. His evolution must have been a great one, because he was not that domineering while he was E-rank.

There were a few other standouts that I noticed. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, but I really didn't know the Orders as well as I should have. Hugo and Valerie were both good, which explained their promotions to Lieutenants.

Sydney and Gavin, as well.

By far the most... interesting thing I felt through my aura was Zion. He was... slightly crazy, even to me. He took one look at the bison Austin came back with years ago and went all in. When he'd asked to ride Icebreaker, it was hard to say no to the man.

He and his compatriots were currently stomping through the Northern part of the city. I had been too busy with the fleeing fire mage to see them, but I felt swaths of bodies trampled into the earth with hundreds of hoof prints imprinted on them.

Buildings in their way weren't avoided; they were destroyed. The entire unit didn't understand the concept of going around. I had to assume they came in right after Elliot, Jon, and Anders came rushing in.

I didn't ponder on it long. I watched and knew that victory had already been secured, and that was enough.

I stared up into the darkening sky and waited for it to be over. The days being as short as they were in Winter, even though we attacked a few hours after midday, night was already fast approaching.

Based on what I saw, it would be finished before then.

My eyes turned to the notification I had received. Two, to be exact. One was long overdue while the other was... not exactly welcomed.

One was an upgrade for [Shattering Hammer]. The Epic skill finally getting the push it needed to Legendary. The second was a notification I had never received before.

*New Class Choice Available*

Anders

His axe fell one final time as the last defender around him fell still. Blood dripped off the weapon as he surveyed the now quieted battlefield. As he gazed over the carpet of bodies and blood, it wasn't happiness that filled him, but there was still a moderate amount of satisfaction.

Of a battle well fought and a victory well earned.

Some called him callous for it, but he brushed those comments off like the snow from his bloodied fur armor. He was not unfeeling or dismissive of such loss, but so too was he not empathetic. In these matters, he felt much like the Lord did.

They made their bed. Now they had to lie in it. There was no other discussion to be had on the subject in his mind. Being the hand to enforce such remedies wasn't exactly pleasurable, but there was its own meaning to take from it.

The notifications were dismissed, as he already saw Hugo and Valerie heading towards Elliot. A few of the other Lieutenants were making their way over as well, so Anders did the same.

The sharp pain in his back wasn't pleasant to walk with, but he made do. The sneaky fucker who put it there got the worst end of the deal, Anders was sure of that. The Rogue was his only challenging opponent and the only D-rank Anders went up against. Not that it was any grand battle. Anders got a knife in the back, and the Rogue got bisected by his axe.

The metal around the Captain rippled and reformed into a heavy breastplate, leaving his head and face free. He looked uninjured, which wasn't surprising. The only two enemies that could have caused the Captain trouble were taken out by the Lord. The Rogue Ander's faced wouldn't have been able to pierce Elliot's armor.

Hugo was cradling an arm, trying to keep it from moving, while Valerie looked to have cuts and scrapes. Cole and Avery both survived, so all was well there. Only one Lieutenant was missing, which made Anders frown.

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"Where's Zion?" Elliot asked, gazing around the battlefield. Hugo and Val shrugged while Cole just shook his head. Cole knew Zion best, but even he wasn't sure. No one thought for a moment that he was dead. He'd somehow survived the test in much worse circumstances.

Avery was the one to answer, "Last I saw, he was plowing through buildings to the South with his unit."

Elliot paused, his mouth starting and stopping, then starting again, "Can someone go get him. We don't need him breaking any more of the city."

Avery looked back and motioned for a member of her unit to run off following the glaringly obvious trail Zion had left. It wasn't long after that when thundering hooves could be heard, and Zion and a few dozen others came trotting back into view. The fur covered Barbarian had forged over a 60 man unit into something remarkable.

Thankfully, his path back was in the same line as he'd first forged, saving more buildings from being destroyed.

With all seven of them here, they could get down to things.

"Alright, you guys know the drill by now," Elliot said, "Send the wounded to the healers and let's get a head count. We need..." He continued giving orders to the others.

Ah, the not-so-fun part. Seeing how many of his friends would be sent off to the afterlife to fight on. This battle wasn't their worst, so he had high hopes that the number was low. He wasn't so hopeful to say it was zero, but he could hope for low.

His task came last: "Anders, go check on Chris, if you would. I'm told that the area is devastated by Ice and Snow, leaving those without high resistance to it barred from going in." Elliot finished up.

"What do you mean?" Anders asked, "I know the Lord's Ice is a hindrance, but it's never barred the little wolves before?"

"This time is different, and don't ask why because I don't know." Elliot held up a hand, "And you know he doesn't like to be called that."

"His feelings do not change what he is." Anders rebutted simply, even though it was an argument they had had before. Many times.

"Besides the point, Anders. Just go check on him. You're the only one with high enough resistance." Elliot waved him away, but as Anders turned to leave, he spoke up, "And get the knife out of your back!"

A trip to the Healers was in order, but it wasn't urgent like some others were. Anders could wait. The poison wasn't fun, but it also wasn't fatal. He hadn't felt that particular treat until after he dropped his [Rage]. Not only had the sneaky fucker stabbed him in the back, but he'd also coated his dagger in poison.

It almost brought a smile to his face at how badly the Rogue had chosen his opponent. Of everyone he could have tried to attack, Anders was possibly the worst choice.

His first Refining made him extremely resistant to poison. What it didn't fight off, [Icy Blood] took care of. The skill made it feel like his veins had grown sharp crystals of ice, but it was worth it for what it did.

Anders mainly used it to stave off blood loss, but it also worked pretty well against poison.

He didn't need any directions on where to go, as there were many signs to follow that would lead him to the man he sought. He could follow the aura saturating the area back to its source, for one. He could follow the path of destruction for two. Or he could go towards where it felt the coldest.

Anders chose to follow the path of destruction to get a feel for what had transpired. The streets were lightly damaged with a line of small divots that had come from someone powerful sprinting down them hard enough to break the earth.

The air, which was already chilly, only got more so the closer he got.

The first major sign Anders found was the absolute destruction of an entire building. It was placed at the center of the city, and he could feel the entrance to the dungeon somewhere below the rubble, but that wasn't even close to the most notable thing.

All around the area was a thick coating of snow and ice. It was wind-blown up the sides of buildings and stuck to the sides of walls. The wood and stone visible looked frozen solid, and shards of ice stuck out of buildings everywhere.

Worst of all was the dangerous feeling Anders couldn't help but feel. All of it gave him an instinctual feeling of fear, even though Ice was his element.

At times, like during the Solstice or regular meetings, it was easy to forget how much of a monster the Lord was, but it was scenes like this that made it impossible to forget.

Someone who was able to turn Anders' own affinity into a source of fear couldn't be anything but. Someone who Anders now outleveled, but was still outmatched.

Now I see why the scouts couldn't get close.

There were a few that had Ice or other cold-aligned affinities, like Anders, but none of them had the Fortitude Anders had. It now made sense why he was given the job to wade through such... desolation.

And desolation was the only thing it could be called.

Feet of snow covered the area, and just wading through it was a challenge for him. It treated his boots and thick pants like they weren't even there, the chill seeping in and up his legs instantly.

I need to spend some time here before we leave, Anders thought. Now that he was D-rank, he could look into expanding his Law, and whatever concept this snow had was one he wanted.

There was a subtle sting in his feet as he waded through the snow banks, but Anders forged ahead. Building after building was both burned and then frozen, which didn't make a whole lot of sense.

It looked like it was burned first and then frozen, which would mean the enemy mage was burning his own city down. Anders didn't give it much more thought, as it didn't matter much at this point. The man was already dead. They'd all felt it.

Their foe had noticed it first as they all reacted simultaneously, before Anders could realize what had happened. The entire group of enemy survivors reacted at the exact same time, That was only one of the odd occurrences during the battle, too. There were a few other instances that were just... off.

The air felt dead as he walked. Devoid of any heat or life he could feel, leaving only cold. Otherworldly cold.

Street after street, Anders walked down and saw the destruction. He could nearly picture the fight as one combatant ran from the other.

Eventually, he came upon another spot that gave off such fear and chill that caused him to halt his steps. At the center of it were two people.

One, a headless body with large sprays of blood shooting out of it, and the other was his Lord. Seated upon a chair of ice, bloodied, blackened, and burned but otherwise well. It seemed his armor had taken the brunt of it, as it seemed most of the burns were superficial. The Lord stared up into the darkening sky with his hammer lying next to him in the snow.

There was something in the air. A feeling that seemed familiar, but was drowned out by the Cold.

The snow crunched under his feet, and the Lord drew his eyes away from the sky and brought them over to Anders. His helmet was off in the snow behind him, and the layer of Ice was gone, leaving his face clear to see.

Snow and crystals of ice filled his hair, but his eyes were slowly losing their glow as the Bloodline Essence left him. Going from their piercing blue to their more natural green.

He saw Anders and sighed, "Do we have a count yet?"

Anders smiled internally. He could always count on that being the first question asked post-battle. It was nice to know he cared. To know that, should Anders fall, his body would be preserved and brought back. That his Lord would personally attend his funeral.

For that, he would always be his Lord.

"No, not yet. They're working on it, but the estimates are low. It was not as difficult as other battles." Anders reported, leaving out the fact that most of the ease came from following behind the man in front of him.

Charging an already opened hole and a fully fortified wall were two very different things.

Christopher nodded, accepting the answer.

"You know you have a knife sticking out of you, right?"

Anders laughed, "Yes, and you're covered in burns."

Christopher looked down over him, noticing the blackened, semi-melted armor and the burned skin. "I guess I am. We make for two sorry sights, eh?"