The Amber Sword

The male wolf understood his order as he majestically howled, with the illuminating moon serving as backdrop.

Brendel lifted his head once again and stared right at Korfa, on the cliff that she had taken her place, at this point more or less only a kilometer away from Brendel himself. Even from a distance, he could see the confounded expression on Korfa’s face.

Murdering her own kin had placed her in a precarious position, especially having to witness it with her own eyes. To watch the baffled look on her face meant there were too many problems she no longer had answers to.

A grunt and off they went, the rider and the regal wolf.

They once again returned to the arrowhead formation, this time more effective than ever, with Brendel at the helm. The Frost Giants’ formation tore through like snow in spring, crumbling in the heat of battle.

Korfa, witnessing the scene was furious, long gone was her tinge of sympathy for the mortal man, what replaced it now was her seething rage as she commanded the Frost Giants to regroup and take down her sole enemy, Brendel.

Flanking the wolf pack were two Frost Giants, each on one side, at which Brendel could sense that Korfa’s attention was now fixated upon himself. He jostled his staff ahead, next came a mild glow from the half-circle radius before the wolf pack.

Long-range attack, the ability gained after a member of the Warrior lineage gains elemental activation.

The attack was far more powerful than the White Raven Sword Art, but it also burns significantly more energy. The light swept through the Frost Giants’ frontline like a crescent moon, leaving a blood bath in its waste.

Several Frost Giants, upon collapsing on the ground, saw their hair fade rapidly from its original cyan color to ashen, gray. Their faces quickly crinkled up like salt on the tongue as they withered and shrivelled, eventually leaving behind a hollow corpse.

It was a typical passive effect of the Time element, Elapse, one that naturally was also witnessed by Korfa, leaving her face grimmer than ever.

Brendel attack was hardly the end of the Frost Giants’ bane, for with Resonance of the Earth between the staff and ground, an earth shattering rumble was heard, and a row of pikes erupted from the ground, tearing the unfortunate Frost Giants within its range into parts.

The attack took up almost all the energy he had to offer, as Brendel was seen burnt out from casting the spell, but was evidently worth it, given the visible thirty-meter wedge between the Frost Giants’ formation.

He reactively took a breath of relief that the Frost Giants were far less powerful than he had imagined. Given that they were an imitation law by Korfa, they only retained mid to lower level powers of the Gold clan. With Brendel’s current ability, that would hardly pose too much of a problem.

His experience shot through the roof in what little time he had. Well aware however that he was still some distance from the next level, he did not bother to check his stats, blending immaculately with his newfound mount as he clenched onto the brains of the closest Frost Giant, with Bahamut’s blessing watched as they burst into flames.

As the alpha wolf leaped and pounced, Brendel sliced and diced, literally cutting a path out of an entire legion of Frost Giants several times his size.

Nevertheless, casualties especially began to take a toll on his side, as the wolf pack began noticeably narrowing down, while the Frost Giants seemed to spawn endlessly.

Watching around his surroundings. He was decisively outnumbered. There was no way out.

The last male wolf collapsed onto the ground, dead.

His last, and only chance had come then.

Brendel knew what he had to do. He patted the wolf on his neck, in sitting position the alpha wolf at this point was bruised and battered, “Let’s go on one last ride, buddy,” He mumbled to the wolf, in which the wolf responsively grunted.

Crossing eyes with Brendel, his ashen gaze cold and stiff.

The wolf then turned back, led out a dull growl, and the next thing Brendel could see was his surroundings clearing up, feeling himself much lighter than just a moment ago, both emotionally and physically.

He knew then, that the alpha wolf had already taken its leap.

Just three hundred meters between Korfa and himself.

Brendel could feel that the alpha wolf had already brought him to the peak of its leap.

Down below him were the skulls of the Frost Giants, paving the path for his eventual faithful landing.

The wolf then let out an uplifting howl, seemingly offering a signal of sorts, Brendel nodded in acknowledgement.

He then raised the Staff of Earth to his front, with all his might propelling himself into the air.

Under the luminescent full moon, a mere mortal carved a route for himself through the towering legion.

All of a sudden, blood and innards went flying.

What came next was an elongated rock spike emerging from the ground, stabbing into the legion of Frost giants, single handedly creating a mile long walkway with the corpses of the Frost Giants.

Brendel, with his elemental powers severely restricted by Milos’ law, can no longer fly, but with the mild elevation on the rock spike pathway, he could sufficiently hurl himself from the back of the alpha wolf onto the path.

A quick glance behind his back saw the male wolf completely outnumbered by Frost giants, left for dead.

Brendel could hardly stop to gasp as he quickly made his way towards the cliff where Korfa was located.

Two hundred meters more.

Korfa never once considered that Brendel could slaughter his way out, being a mortal who had just achieved elemental activation. But he was persistent, and strong-willed, far surpassing any expectations.

As he closed in upon her, Korfa no longer cared about keeping her composure as she screamed at the top of her lungs, “Milos’ Giant dragon, stop him!”

A screech was heard from within the clouds.

Brendel could feel his scalp numbing from just the echoing sounds of these sentient beasts. His head lifted high, there he watched as two dragons, one ahead of another came swooping towards him.

As to the whereabouts of the dragons prior to this, it was simple, in Milos’ kingdom, his imagination was the limit.

Korfa at that point had lost all conscience. There was a cap on the power she could draw from the kingdom, and just for the extermination of this one person she had taken too much, way too much more than she should.

But Brendel’s was clear of the immense animosity on himself, especially for a woman who was drenched in hatred at this point.

The air seemed to vibrate from the massive dragon wings every time it flapped, Brendel finally understood how it must have felt for the Halfling cavalry in the face of Aloz. He could feel a sharp jolt across his entire body, radiating into his spine, his mind went blank. If he could look himself in a mirror he would see pupils dilate, his face pale as a sheet. It was harrowing. So tense in fact that he ultimately could not take this anxiety anymore that he exploded into a fit of rage.

In the most crucial of moments he activated the Dash skill.

And with his sudden dash of acceleration he managed to brush past the first Giant Dragon.

Brendel let out a much-needed sigh of relief. Now with knowledge from experience, his imbued fear has markedly resolved. Yet at that point, the second Giant dragon was already encircling him in the sky above, hovering and eyeing its prey. Brendel knew the Giant dragons were highly intelligent creatures, seeing what its companion had experienced, it would not allow itself to be fooled the same way.

Besides, Brendel had run out of CD for a second Dash skill.

The dragon flailed its wings, gradually lowering its altitude, and before long was within range of Brendel’s range of vision. It was a red dragon, beating on its wings as flame followed behind. Every inch of air the flame touched, rain and mist evaporated in an instant. As it roared, the scorching air radiated around its radius.

Brendel could not help but initiate the Tree Strengthen skill, but even then, the flame swept through where he stood, and in an instant, the young knight was burnt to crisp.

Dim Korfa witnessed the scene and could not control her excitement and relief, which nevertheless was short-lived.

For in the next second, Brendel once again appeared in sight, right behind the red dragon.

It was a Dreamcast, her dragon was deceived.

Dim Korfa clenched her fists with rage.