Frostbound

Chapter 279 - Fury of the Naiad

Abigail

Lightning flashed and thunder boomed with the force of a thousand cannons. The rain danced around her and leapt to her touch. It whipped down, shot out in jets, and cut through the earth in large scythes. She cut down every Orc in sight but it still wasn't enough. [Water Manipulation] was pushed to the limit.

Her brain strained to keep up with what she was ordering of it. It had to keep up.

The wall shook and parts of stone rained down. It shook again before the Orc Chieftain was defeated. After the Hunters and Champions came the Chieftains. They were larger, stronger, and all around more deadly than before. It took longer for her Water to cut through them.

They towered over the normal Orcs that were sent to soften them up at the beginning. Those Orcs were already slaughtered and driven into the muddy ground where thousands fought upon their dead bodies.

Thousands of dead. Human dead. Hours of people dying.

The field was filled with the bodies of the fallen but the rest fought on through the hours regardless. The rain had long since turned the ground harrowing. If it hadn't, the ocean of blood would have.

Instead, it was a murky red sea that was half water, half blood, and half whatever else dragged into the mess.

Her hair glowed in an array of spirited blues and fluttered out behind her. The one good thing about calling on her bloodline, getting her hair out of her face. It defied both gravity and physics, as it should be sticking to her skin and matted down by the rain, but it flowed through the air in streams.

She didn't like using it too often as she wasn't accustomed to the side effects yet. She'd reached too far. She'd thought herself stronger and it was still difficult to not be affected by emotions and thoughts that weren't hers, but she needed it now.

"Rachel! Focus on the right flank!" Abigail called out. Two Chieftains were heading in that direction. "Hal, focus on the left!"

Her Core strained at the amount of mana she was pulling from the air and using. She split attention to both gather it and use it at the same time. The Water Mana was abundant from both the River at her back the rain falling from the sky.

It pleased her Bloodline to have ready access to such lively sources of Water. Freshwater as well. An emotion she didn't mind having, but it still wasn't hers.

Arrows packed with force outdoing even the Orc Hunters rifled through the air splitting the rain around it slammed home on their left flank and fires raged on their right.

Just as she was strained, Rachel and Hal were both strained and they didn't have the option to rip the mana from the air. Fire Mana wasn't abundant. Not on their side at least. The thick columns of smoke were raging across the battlefield, but not here. Water snuffed any flame out.

As it should.

The Orcs had spilled out of the obelisk for hours and there was only so much longer they could fight. There had already been those who fell after running out of mana or stamina.

Warriors driven long past where their bodies could handle. Mages passing out from depleting too much mana. All to last that much longer.

It was endless.

How Jon was still out there fighting was a constant worry and it was one she couldn't focus on for long. Chris was an even bigger problem.

They hadn't seen him in over an hour. The last sighting had him holding his ground out in front but the smoke, haze, darkness, and worsening conditions made visibility impossible.

The regular and consistent blasts of Cold and Arctic Mana were comforting, but even that had disappeared. Either drowned out by everything else, or something much worse, but she couldn't focus on that.

Even the bodies had stopped. His hammer had the side effect of launching whatever he hit flying when his full strength was behind it. Which was always when he fought for long enough.

With all his boosts, bodies rained down broken and disfigured when he hit them just right. Although it was gruesome, it was reassuring to know he was still alive.

But that had stopped and no more bodies rained.

"Mayor! Marcus is being driven back! His Southern flank is wavering!" Those who were out of mana fought through the exhaustion and headaches to act as runners.

They ran all over to bring her information and all of it was bad. Not one good thing came out of this test. Not one.

"I'll go. Stay here," A gust of Wind tore through the wall and before Abigail could raise abjections, her Mother was off. She'd been a literal whirlwind. Helping wherever she was needed.

Her Mother was skilled and had the levels and power to back her up, but she didn't have the upfront stopping power of other members of her family. Instead of staying in one spot and holding it against all odds, she traveled around and helped where she was needed.

Her Winds helped facilitate that.

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It also made Abigail's job just that much easier, but it was still a big enough job that her mind was on fire.

A flash of light Heralded another family member she hadn't seen in too long.

"Austin, what's the situation!" She yelled.

He huffed and bent over, trying to catch his breath and speak at the same time, "I can't... I- I can't any longer." Water and blood poured off him and if it hadn't been raining, he'd be soaked in sweat instead.

His body held a simmering glow from extensive power use or from his Bloodline. Probably both. Steam wafted up from the residual heat from his head. His helmet long lost to the fight.

His face was scarred and blood trickled down a few newer wounds but she couldn't waste her mana on healing right now.

"Austin!" she screamed, "What's going on!"

She couldn't allow time for him to recover. She needed to know what he knew now.

"They're still coming -huff- with no end in sight. I saw them still pouring out -huff- but nothing bigger than the Chieftains." Austin used to be out front picking off the elites but he'd long ago run out of steam.

His Anchor was dry and his mana was petering. His skin was an angry red and flaking off. Almost peeling, in an extreme sunburn kind of way. He drew too long on his boosting skills.

"I need you with Rachel on the right!" Hopefully, their synergy would help them conserve what little they had left in the tank.

"Abigail... I can't." He faltered and nearly fell, "I've got nothing left."

She knew that. She saw that with her eyes, her mana, and her healing experience. She knew what state he was in but asked it of him anyway.

Even his equipment spoke of the state he was in. His armor was torn, punctured, and chipping apart from the vile blood. Hastily healed wounds visible through the holes. His spear, the spear Vinny and Chris were so proud of, chipped and cracked.

It was a miracle it wasn't broken completely. It was also why his mana was sucked dry. Extending every attack to preserve his spear would make every kill take that much more.

"Austin!" She grabbed his chest straps and lifted him up, "I don't care if you have to use a stick from the ground, we need you out there!"

If the Wall fell...

"We need to push!" A call rang out.

She shot out another jet of pressurized water at a charging Chieftain and looked down at the Wall. Every Warrior down below had either died or retreated. Every one but Chris and Jon.

Chris because he wouldn't and Jon because he couldn't. Jon was the only thing keeping the Wall from being overrun.

Without anyone to drive the fight away from the Wall, the bodies built up at the base. Enough of them created a ramp of sorts. A way for the Orcs to easily climb up and over their only fortification. The only thing saving them.

Which made clearing the bodies a priority.

"Water!" Her order rang and nearly every Water Mage stopped what they were doing.

She reached at the River behind them, the murky brown water from the muddy banks, and pulled. Her and every other Water mage pulled together.

A tidal wave rose up and over where they stood before crashing down on the other side of the Wall. The force of thousands of gallons of water violently pushed everything away.

The piles of dead, the ramp of bodies, even the charging Orcs. Everything was swept away by the weight of so much rushing water. The Wall was cleared for the moment.

Until it built up again and another tidal wave would be required.

A few mages dropped. The strain of pulling so much water their last straw. Healers ran up and down the wall pulling those away. The medical centers and tents were already overrun. The nature of the Blight made healing wounds that much harder.

The first who had fallen had made their way back into the fight already but those who returned became fewer and fewer. Healers were running out of... everything.

Mana for skills, healing herbs, bandages, potions, and salves. Everything they had packed or their Alchemists had made for the fight had been used. No one had anticipated fighting for so long. No one had anticipated the injuries to be so many.

Nearly every person had sustained a wound of some kind or had gotten blood on them. A cut, scrape, stab, anything. Healers ran triage as best they could but there were too many people hurt and not enough people to heal them.

Abigail wished for it to end. Prayed for it to end.

"The Great Druid Fell!" A runner shouted, "The North Wall is breached!"

She'd known the Faction to their North was in a rough shape but this threw a wrench into everything they had planned. A runner an hour ago came with news of them being pushed back, but this was so, so much worse.

The Roots from the Druid were the only thing keeping their Wall from falling and after he died...

"Change of plans, Austin," She yelled at the man who still hadn't moved, "Hold the North. The Trench will help but if they get behind us..."

"Abigail..." She expected him to say he couldn't. She expected- "I won't be able to do it alone." His hunched form straightened for a second. He pulled together the dregs he had left.

He was right. He wouldn't be able to do it alone. "Gabriel! Alice! Go with him!"

Her brother looked at her with concern. Their family was spread along the line with a few in each spot, but most were located far from the center. Chris was single-handedly lessening the impact for the middle of their line.

It allowed them to send people elsewhere to where they were needed. The flanks were getting hit the hardest, so the strong went there. Elliot, Hal, Jon, and Rachel held the flanks.

Although the Center was thinner than elsewhere, they had fewer Defenders to compensate. Gabriel and Alice were her only backup now that her Mother had left. Both Ice Mages were her only support near her level, and she was sending them away.

"Abigail, no," Gabriel started. He'd been slinging ice for as long as she had, his phantom tails waving behind him, "You won't be able to hold this alone."

"It won't matter if we get surrounded!" She yelled harshly, "Hold the North Gabe! I'll be fine!"

All three knew that probably wasn't true. Yet they left all the same. The threat of getting surrounded was too great.

With no end in sight, and thousands of Orcs still charging at them, she would have to hold the center for as long as she could. Her Bloodline and Mana against endless foes.

It was a good thing she still had a little left in the tank. Her dread at drawing too deeply on her Bloodline left just enough for her use now.

She threw her reservations to the wind and drew deeply on the energy deep inside her. The Well of Power that she had left as unperturbed as possible. A glowing orb of vibrant blue. It was thicker than Water, but its essence teemed with the feeling of rushing streams and raging rivers.

It was the essence of Flowing Water in an orb. Both the life-bringing qualities of moving water and the destructive qualities it could so easily turn into.

Her hair deepened in color and flowed more harshly as she leaned into the destruction. The rage. The rising waters of a river tearing everything away. The destruction from flash floods.

The death that something so lively could bring.

Naiads were usually depicted as childlike and joyful. Full of vibrant energy, but they could also be the bringers of destruction. Wroth with hate and anger that could so easily turn a once lovely stream into something so much worse.

That Essence, the Essence of the Naiad flowed through her and she pulled on the Water around her. The Water saturating the ground, the water falling from the air, the water at her back, and she wove it into something so terribly destructive.

With the Fury of a Naiad, Abigail drowned all that she could and prayed for it to end.