Frostbound

Chapter 277 - Threat Level

Austin

The small fry were slow enough that he didn't even have to pull on his anchor to kill them. They had strong muscles and their swings were powerful, but they meant nothing if they couldn't hit him.

A thrust of his spear with only a few skills was enough to drop them. Plus, none of the blood came back on him. A Win-Win way to slaughter!

The beginning of the wave was rather easy. Dance around and stab as many as he could. It reminded him of the early days of the mantis infestation at The Twins. Before it became a drag and he had to fight progressively harder bugs.

The Orcs were slower, dumber, and couldn't fly so he had an easy enough time.

At first.

The Hunters had arrows that bested even his speed and the Champions were much tougher to take down. The Archers at the Wall did their best, but the Champions were hardy. Austin felt every time one of Hal's arrows came screaming in and it usually ended up with a dead Champion in its wake.

The Champions were a miniature Chris, if Austin had to describe it.

They forced him to bring his eyes away from the surroundings, and boy was that hard to do. There was just so much happening. Nearly everything that caught his eye was new in some way. New and exciting!

There was an honest to god Necromancer for god's sake!

Even after gaining the ability to shoot beams of light from his hands, an actual Necromancer was something else. He watched as an Orc took an arrow to the chest, fell down dead, death magic flare -for what else could it be-, and the same Orc got back up and fought on for the other side. Austin nearly took an arrow because of the distraction.

It was fascinating!

The weather was another drag on his attention. If the fighting got any worse, he'd have to lock in and disregard his... sightseeing, but his abilities were enough to sneak a peek every once in a while.

But it was sooo hard to ignore.

The sun would poke through in a rare gap in the clouds for a brief moment before they shifted, covering the hole up while also opening a different one somewhere else. It felt like a spotlight getting turned off and on while pointing in random directions.

It would start to drizzle like it was the onset of a rainstorm, then it would freeze and turn to hail or snow, then suddenly stop altogether. Only to return in buckets so forceful they hurt his skin.

The Wind blew the horrid stench of the blood leaking out of the Orcs one second and then the next the only thing he could smell was the ozone of lightning.

There was even the beginning of a funnel cloud!

Austin had seen some monstrous storms since the Change. Storms that caused mana to go wonky and have the force of what used to be classified as a tropical storm or weak hurricane.

He'd also witnessed a few Law Storms, but those were exceedingly rare. The two he had the pleasure of viewing, a Blizzard and Tornado, were sights to behold, and whatever was happening above was on the verge of becoming his third.

Last, but not least, of the fascinating sights was everyone else fighting. He'd seen Marcus in action before along with the few other powerhouses in his City. Clarissa was the next most noticeable but she lost some of her flare because of Rachel.

It wasn't as novel.

But here, with everything going on, there was too much to see! He didn't have enough eyes to take it all in. he may have the eyes of a bird, but they were good at seeing far and clearly, not wide and panoramic.

Still, he could pick out a few key areas. They also coincided with the areas Chris pointed out where other suspected Barons fought. Those areas flared to his sight like pillars in the sky. It was like being in the vicinity of over a dozen Chris's.

Maybe I shouldn't use Chris's as a unit of measurement.

He saw one woman clad in Earth so thick and dense that it put Jonathan to shame. Her section of the wall was still untouched as she held it nearly single-handedly.

She wasn't killing as fast, but she held it firmly.

Her name was Jayla if Austin remembered correctly, and fighting next to her were two more that were fun to watch. On her left, a man with honest to god lavadripping off him weaved through the Orcs like a bull in a China shop and burned, crushed, or pulverized anything that came his way with his bare fists.

Gauntlets wrought from hardened lava coated his hands which still had glowing veins of cherry red underneath.

The man on her left was a one-man tornado with gusts that not only blew everything off their feet but simultaneously ripped them apart. He wasn't as notable as the two next to him, but he stood out.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Those three were the tip of the iceberg. It felt like every other second his eyes were pulled in a different direction. Lightning bolts thicker than he was rained down. Water Scythes spanning tens of feet wide that bisected dozens of Orcs.

Fires that burned so hot that it hurt to look at from even as far away as he was. Even standing next to Chris and his Winter Wonderland, his body imagined sweltering when he gazed upon it.

There was too much for him to take in and as the fight got rougher, he had to pour more and more of his attention into not dying. Not dying was his preferable state and no amount of fascination was going to cause his death.

That would just be stupid.

The Admiral

He stood and watched. The section of wall he gazed out from rattled slightly from the impact, but it stood none worse for wear after the Orc Champion died. It shouldn't have gotten through the line in the first place.

[Inspire Troops], [Tactical Command], [Empowering Command], [Division Leader], all of his army boosting skills were in play and it still wasn't enough. He had yet to take the field personally but the time was coming for him to have to.

If anything stronger than the Champions and Hunters came, his hand would be forced. His skills would weaken from not being able to see the full picture and so, so many people would die.

Some days, he hated his Class. Hated the fact he had to sit and watch as his men died, but it was the best choice of shitty choices. His late wife would curse his foul language but there was no other way to put it.

It was torture.

He rose up from a position not unsimilar to the men out laying their lives on the line now. From Seaman to Captain, and eventually, after years of service, Admiral. Yet the best he could do right now was stand and watch his men die.

His personal strength wasn't enough to outweigh the good he was doing. As sad as it was.

Not yet at least.

"Sir, section 4 is getting pushed back and needs reinforcements." A runner informed.

"Send the Eight and the Ninth." The Admiral responded after looking at the section with [Insightful Battlefield View]. The skill wasn't working at its best, but it was all he had.

He was running out of reserve troops. The few he'd kept back for occasions such as this were quickly getting deployed. The teams he'd spent the better part of two years piecing together were doing the best they could, and it wasn't enough.

If this was as bad a 'test' as they faced, they'd win. Being an Admiral, he didn't have extensive experience with land-based combat, but he had enough. He also had officers of the Army folded into his command that could make up the difference.

All of them were predicting a Close Victory. They'd lose many, but they wouldn't be defeated. That was all based on the enemies they knew about. The regular Orcs that came first and the Hunters and Campions that came next.

It didn't account for the unknown. Their Skills could do much, but they weren't omnipotent. Sure, there were plans drawn up for what could be anticipated, but those couldn't account for everything. It was impossible.

He also didn't know the capability of those around him. It wasn't like he could go up to the other Faction Leaders and demand to know their combat abilities. Planning for this test was like going into it with one eye blind.

Oh, he sure wanted to wring from them everything they could do and get the full picture, but he couldn't. He barely made it through the squabbling mess his previous meeting was without hitting anyone. He wanted to strangle some of them, let alone work with them.

Without knowledge of what they might face and incomplete knowledge of the abilities of their own side, planning was meaningless. Too many unknown variables made even the most generic of plans untenable.

That wasn't even taking into account the more esoteric powers. Some literally got stronger when faced with a disadvantaged position. A Class dedicated to being the Underdog or skills that got stronger when faced with a mounting challenge.

With only two years to discover, categorize, and research their new reality, there just wasn't enough time. Tactical Classes covered for that weakness, but they could only mend it so much.

His own Class did most of the heavy lifting, but it still wasn't enough.

"Sir, report on The Stormbringer." A runner handed him a sheet of paper.

They weren't wasteful enough to have messengers and runners transporting paper supplies around the battlefield. The sheet was conjured from a skill. The feel was different enough from real paper to tell but it looked identical. They'd even discovered that some conjured materials this way had anti-espionage qualities, somehow making it harder to read if you weren't the intended recipient.

~~

Nick Castillo. Designation: The Stormbringer

Large lightning bolts that can kill Champions and Hunters in one shot. Mana Levels: Unknown. Laws: Lightning - Tier 2. Water - Tier 2. Wind - Tier 1. Mana Cultivation at Stage 1. Body: Unknown. Spirit: Unknown. Skills can also chain to surrounding targets. Men behind him are above average with few standouts.

Level: 97 Profession: Unknown

Categorization: High-Damage Mage.

Threat level - High

~~

It wasn't the first of such messages to come in. Those close to where he stood were the first to be scouted. It took longer and longer for the information to come in as they had to travel further and further through the chaos the area had become.

It was surface-level information at best with more unknowns than he cared for, but it was better than nothing. An extensive skill list, pinpoint accuracy on stats, every Step they had taken whether it be Mind, Body, or Spirit. That was the kind of information he would kill for but no one would give up. Not willingly, at least.

He wasn't only gathering this for future use. Yes, this kind of information was essential to making any future plans, but it had a very real use now that outweighed anything it could be used for later.

Any Skill related to Tactics or Planning depended on knowing what those you commanded could do. The Stormbringer wasn't under his Command and didn't benefit from his Skills, but that didn't mean the information was worthless.

Any Battle Plan that was drawn up relied on accurate information and the closer it was to the truth, the more accurate it would become.

It helped decide where they would send troops. Where they would support or give ground. If other Factions showed the ability to withstand the Orcs, they could shift forces away and bring them to where they were needed.

Another runner came up and dropped off another paper.

~~

Christopher Zalenski. Designation: Iceman

Heavily armored warrior using a large Warhammer. Layer of Ice as well as plate underneath. Estimated strength well over 1000. Creates a domain of ice around him that debilitates anything close. Laws: Ice - Tier 2. Wind - Tier 2. Mana Cultivation at Stage 1. Body: Wood, at minimum. Spirit: Anchor Formation

Notables in Faction: Water Mage of high level. Fire Mage of High level. Stone Warrior of high level. Light or Solar Warrior of High level.

Level: 95 Profession: Unknown.

Categorization: High strength and High defense Warrior.

Threat Level - High.

~~