Chương 17: Chapter 15

The first charge was a deadly success. Hakon headed toward the largest ants first, Crusher raised above his head right before it rocketed to the ground. The ants stood no chance. They were slower and not even their tough exoskeleton protected from the impacting force. Their bodies were mashed and even the ground started to shake. No message popped up, but Hakon felt a pull from [Blunt Weapon Mastery]. Yet, rather than leaning into the Skill's augmentation, he pushed forward and struck down again.

His mind was filled with a sense of wrongness as [Blunt Weapon Mastery] tried to guide him. Hakon ignored it and tried something else. He forced his mind to adjust, to think of the weapon in his hand as something unique instead of a regular blunt weapon. His thinking shifted as he crushed the fifth ant, and his mind – or was it his Ancient Power? – adapted after the tenth collapsed.

He escaped several globs of acid and stomped on an Acidic Beetle's head with a burst of [Circulation] before the message he'd been waiting for appeared among others. [Skill [Poleaxe Mastery] has been learned.] Hakon snorted. It was not recognized as an existing Skill. Nonetheless, he pushed further, his mind zoning in on [Poleaxe Mastery] with Enhanced Comprehension. His stance improved almost instantly, transforming him into a monstrosity on the battlefield.

Alas, he could not escape the masses of enemies surrounding him for long. [Poleaxe Mastery] improved by two Levels in quick succession, the encroaching danger pushing body and mind to new heights. Then came the first injury. A Giant Ant's mandibles snapped shut around his leg. It only cut him as he pulled away in the last moment, but the distraction was enough. Two globs of acid splashed on his chest and thigh. Hakon avoided grievous injuries but that was the limit of his capabilities.

Too many ants attacked from all directions to escape the downpour of acid shot. Then there was Crusher. It was cumbersome and restricted his movement almost as much as the masses of Giant Ants did. Hakon repaid every injury he sustained in kind. Crusher shifted in his hand as he spun around his axis, cleaving several enemies in two. It required a push of [Circulation] to repel the monsters around him, which was followed by a barrage of strikes, shattering exoskeleton, and [Dash].

He escaped the encirclement, his eyes growing wide as he realized just how many monsters flooded the Crawling Expanse. Ants and beetles alike materialized out of thin air – out of the blue mist that seemed to be everywhere. Even the carnage he left behind was overflowing with the same mist. Some of which dispersed into the ground, while another portion seeped into Hakon, but the rest remained and appeared to form new monsters. They're smaller. His eyes narrowed. The monsters that appeared out of nowhere were small.

Smaller than the Giant Ants and Acidic Beetles outside the Fracture. He groaned and grit his teeth as something wet struck his back. It burned at first and went numb in the next moment. A burst of [Circulation], and two circles through the body were all he needed to remove the worst of the numbness at this point, but it accumulated nonetheless. The more acid shots hit him, the worse his condition was. Even worse, removing the numbness was more like replacing one evil with another.

Instead of feeling nothing, Hakon had to feel how the acid burned through his skin and flesh. [Proficiency gained. [Poison Resistance Lv. 3] improved to [Poison Resistance Lv. 4]] [Proficiency gained. [Pain Tolerance Lv. 6] improved to [Pain Tolerance Lv. 7]] The messages were pleasant, but their cause wasn't. They only told him what he had to go through to improve them further. The best? He knew that it wouldn't be the last time those Skills improved. It was only the beginning.

His hair stood up to end one moment, and he shot to the side in the next. Several acid shots splattered on the ground where he stood a moment ago, and two more messages popped up. [Proficiency gained. [Combat Awareness Lv. 7] improved to [Combat Awareness Lv. 8]] [Proficiency gained. [Evasion Lv. 6] improved to [Lv. 7]]"That's more like it!" Hakon rumbled right before Crusher descended once more, mashing yet another Giant Ant. Carnage continued, yet no matter how many monsters he killed, the flood never ended.

It was like the Fracture had countless of monsters for him to offer. And that was not a problem. Or… it wouldn't have been if he wasn't forced to use [Circulation] more often than he wanted. The Skill's empowerment was powerful. It was useful and allowed him to kill more enemies in quick succession. But the price was a heavy one to pay. It cost a considerable amount of mana to maintain [Circulation]. Activating it in bursts alongside [Mana Sense] was fine.

It worked decently enough to improve the Skills but Hakon still recovered less mana than he had to use. Still, every use felt less like a waste. That, however, left him with yet another issue: He had too many projects to work on. First and foremost, he had to make sure he didn't sustain any bad injuries. That was already challenging enough, but he had to defeat his enemies at the same time. In the same instance, it was obvious that he was simply too weak to fight the entire Fracture alone.

He would never say so openly, yet everyone with healthy eyes and a somewhat intact head could tell that much. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. He was crushing it. By now, he'd already killed dozens of ants and beetles, the Level of several Skills improved, yet he had so much more to do. His mana mass was nowhere near full, his reserves were being drained rapidly, and he had no way to refill them.

Yet, he could not preserve his mana too much because more Giant Ants and Acidic Beetles came rushing at him. They surrounded him and attacked him from all sides, until he was forced to break out using the few Skills that drained his mana drastically. [Mana Sense] improved rapidly as his attention shifted to the one plan that came to his mind, but he couldn't commit to it. The battle did not allow him to move his mana into Crusher. He felt like he was getting closer, yet there was something that stopped him.

An obstacle he had yet to cross. Was it his mind? His Skill Levels? Then a new message popped up above all the others. A new Skill! [Skill [Acid Resistance] has been learned.] The moment the Ancestors rewarded him, the accruing numbness diminished. [Proficiency gained. [Acid Resistance Lv. 1] improved to [Acid Resistance Lv. 2]] Huh?! That's not– Even if it wasn't what Hakon expected, or even wanted, he accepted it with an open heart. Then he returned to the battle, with one less worry on his mind.

There was no longer a rush to remove the numbness as soon as an acid shot hit him. The burns were no longer as bad either, the Acidic Beetles' only advantage taken away. The new Skill was a great boon, even more so as it improved again… and again as he tore through his enemies. His muscles burned and his mind shrieked from all the Skills that required his attention. He eyed [Poleaxe Mastery]'s Level impatiently while the rest of his mind locked in on the sensation he'd been waiting for.

Something in the back of his mind clicked. There was no message, but he didn't need as much as mana flowed through his fingers and out of the pathways. It was almost like his weapon reached out to him. Its pathways connected to his as his fingers coiled around Crusher with an iron-tight grip, but it was not supposed to be. Crusher tore through a group of Giant Ants, cracking exoskeletons open. But something was different. Hakon felt resistance as soon as he tried to raise Crusher.

His fingers, covered in grime, blood, and acid lost grip. His eyes widened for a moment, and he could have sworn smoke was coming from his mind as the aggressive snapping mandibles and obtrusive clattering echoed in his ears. Several Giant Ants were upon him. A pair lunged at his arms just as he felt a trace of mana seep into Crusher.

"No!" He cursed, releasing Crusher before the ants could sever his hands.

"So close." Hakon growled in-between two ragged breaths. He wiped his hands at his pants and reached for his handaxes before striking again. [Proficiency gained. [Combat Awareness Lv. 8] improved to [Combat Awareness Lv. 9]] [Proficiency gained. [Circulation Lv. 2] improved to [Circulation Lv. 3]] [Proficiency gained. [Evasion Lv. 8] improved to [Evasion Lv. 9]] [Proficiency gained. [Weakness Detection Lv. 8] improved to [Weakness Detection Lv. 9]] Killing the Giant Ants required less effort with Crusher.

Raw power was all it took to kill those troublesome creatures with a large weapon. Yet, as soon as he released the warhammer, Hakon regained more freedom. He moved nimbler, escaped the Giant Ants' mandibles with more ease, and pinpointed the ant's weakness in a moment or two. Once their weak points were located, it took no more than a moment and a mighty strike to kill them. Adjusting his rhythm once again, he didn't feel all too bad. More acid shots hit him, but his priority was no longer to avoid them.

The Giant Ants were a higher priority now, so he gave them the attention they deserved. As his rhythm improved, the numerical disadvantage no longer felt as troublesome. Occasionally using [Circulation] helped him keep the monsters at bay, whereas [Dash] came in handy whenever the Giant Ants tried to shift the scale. But the battlefield was under his control. He was in charge and exploited every little thing to his advantage. Hence, he tried to replicate the sensation from earlier.

To move mana through the pathways in his fingers and force it beyond to pour into his handaxes. But instead of gaining the Skill he expected to receive with Enhanced Comprehension's guidance, the Ancestors rewarded him with something else. [Skill [Split Focus] has been learned.] [Skill [Two Weapon Fighting] has been learned.] The latter ought to be a recognized Skill rather than a new one. He often fought with two weapons, be it two handaxes, a sword with an axe, or a sword and dagger.

His father taught him to learn that Skill long before the Rite, though he also told him it was hard to earn. Something about pressure and spending moons adjusting to the rhythm of two-weapon combat. It came in handy, and improved his fighting capacity enough to keep the growing masses of monsters at bay. [Split Focus] was a little different. The Skill helped him focus on several things at the same time, which was exactly what he needed if he wanted to come out of this fight alive. He needed more – to be better.

His mana was almost entirely drained at this point. Bursts of [Circulation] recovered a fraction of mana at this point, but he couldn't maintain the Skill. Maintaining [Circulation] meant he'd have to use a lot more mana than he could recover in a short while. More messages popped up, which Hakon discarded as he focused on combat and a combination of [Circulation] and [Mana Sense] once more.

Three ants collapsed before him, their heads thudding to the ground before the rest of their bodies followed, but the cost was a heavy one. He had to use [Dash] to escape the encirclement, lowering his reserves even more. He maintained [Circulation] as ants clung to his legs, their mandibles digging into his calf, and he killed them before they could reach the bone, but the damage was done.

"It's not over yet." He growled as several events happened simultaneously. Hundreds of monsters were still waiting to be killed, the cacophony of their legs clattering across the ground ringing in his ears. A defiant screech reverberated throughout the Crawling Expanse. A flood of mana tore through him as his handaxes cleaved through yet another monster's neck. The 200th of 500 monsters he had to eliminate to restore balance.

"That was about time." Hakon grimaced as mana spread through his dried up channels, and the pain of his fleshly wounds all forgotten as one of the messages he had been waiting for materialized. [Experience threshold met. Level Up!] Now he only needed to perform a feat worthy of the Ancestors' attention, and he'd ascend for the first of many times. All he needed was to slay the Colossal Terror.