Blacksmith vs. the System 221

My position from the ruined ambush onward had not been ideal, and I realized things were about to get even worse once I noticed the other ascended warrior was also approaching us. Luckily, he wasn’t as fast as the first ascended, which meant I had some time before I had to deal with the both of them simultaneously just yet. 

It was truly a messy situation. 

For a moment, I considered opening a gate and leaving, but I still didn’t know what those mages could do with an unattended gate — even if I closed it — so it wasn’t as appealing as I had first thought. 

Then, there were the strategic implications. Disguised or not, the Radiant Flame attacks were too distinct for anyone to miss who I was. Running away immediately would impact morale, giving the enemy a boost while ruining ours. 

The last thing I needed was for the enemy soldiers to have a reminder. Their broken morale was the thing that was proving decisive on the battlefield, and if they decided to fight rather than run in panic, the battle could change immediately. I didn’t need to be a student of history to understand the risks I was facing. 

Instead, I decided to break their morale … in a way I hated. I raised my blade and released a dozen attacks, using the limited time I had before the arrival of their commander. Each slash massacred the panicking soldiers in droves. 

It would have been easier if I felt a sense of visceral disgust, that I was using violence to kill dozens of people who likely had little more say in their place here than we did, if any. But, the only emotion I felt was a jubilant satisfaction of a job well done. 

And, intellectually, that scared me even more. I wanted someone to tell me that it was for the best, that breaking the morale of the enemy kept the number of deaths lower than usual, but it was hard to be convinced of that when every attack cut through several soldiers, just like they did against the monsters, and it was far more difficult to think that. 

The ascended and rushed toward me, his whole body radiating anger. “I’ll kill you, bastard!” he shouted even as his blade landed against mine, showing the full might of his swing by sending me a few steps back even with the deflecting parry. For a moment, I respected him, and the anger he showed at the loss of his men. Enemies we might be, but that didn’t change the tragedy of the moment. “How dare a mere blacksmith humiliate me like this. You ruined my life,” he lashed out as he continued to swing his blade. 

Just like that, all the respect I had toward him had evaporated, replaced by disdain. He had just watched me slaughter his men, and all he cared about was how the failure would impact him. Worse, Wisdom helped me to read him enough to know that he was being completely honest. 

He cared about nothing but his own pride. 

I snarled in anger even as I attacked him again, my blade glowing brighter with each swing. My anger flared. The instincts that were forcibly cultivated by the System — or maybe my own fault for spending my time massacring monsters and men alike — were treating the battle as a thrill ride where I had everything on the line, contrasting greatly with my intellectual realization of said anger. 

Not the healthiest state of mind … perhaps that state of mind was exactly why it had been easier to allow my anger to take over. For once, I didn’t want to think, and just deal with the situation instead. Maybe I would feel better if I could take him down. 

“Pathetic,” I spat out as I began to push him back, attacking more and more, letting his blows land on my armor whenever it allowed me to get a good blow. 

A dangerous trade-off, but not an ineffective one. 

I had lacked the ability to hurt him during our last duel. None of my blows penetrated through the shell of Vitality around his armor, and the only reason he retreated was the destruction of his army’s fighting capabilities. 

But now, things were different. For one, I had gained seven levels, which represented a neat nine percent increase in every state, which was nothing to scoff at. Not at the level I was in. I hit harder, moved faster, and resisted the pain of his blows easier. 

However, that was the smallest of the improvements I had gone through. 

The most important change was my equipment. I had reforged all of them based on my wildly improved Shaper skill and other supplementary lessons; far better than the crude weapons I had created based on a skill that I had just received. 

All of this meant that, not only could I tank his attacks without worrying too much — his attacks capable of bending my armor but unable to breach it — but I was also not as helpless against his cover of energy. My own attacks landed on him with much greater power, each hit noticeably depleting his cover significantly. 

“Impossible,” he growled in panic as he realized the upper hand he held during the earlier fight was no more. In a duel, he wouldn’t be the victor, not anymore. It wouldn’t be an easy or quick fight, but there would be no doubt regarding the eventual winner. 

Too bad it was not a duel. At the distance, I could already see the second ascended getting closer to us, and I was far less confident about a group battle. 

Especially since it would mean their mages would be free to attack my army as they wished. 

“It’s time for a gambit,” I said with a snarl on my face, and started running. He tried to stick closer, but it wasn’t as easy as he imagined, despite his speed advantage, because this time I had the tools to punish his mistakes, whether by parrying his attacks to unbalance him, or letting him deliver his hits to deliver far stronger ones. 

The worst hits he delivered came when the mages attacked once again, forcing me to split my attention to counter those attacks. Those resulted in punishing hits, but I let them land. 

As for harassing his army, I didn’t bother with it. The only thing that was keeping Harrison from destroying them through sheer tactical advantage was the risk of being caught by the ascended warriors, and with both of them chasing me out of the battlefield, the rest of the army was lambs to the slaughter, destined to shatter and rout. 

With that, I turned my attention to the next part. My destination … directly toward the shimmering dome of mana, where mages had been using as a center to attack. 

It was not a difficult path. “No,” my enemy gasped as he shifted his direction, doing his best to cut my path. Since he was still faster than me, he was able to partially do so. 

“Really, you’re working hard to protect your allies of convenience more than your own loyal soldiers,” I asked as I pushed the battle toward him, and we ended up in a weird dance, where he used his better movement, speed, and pure might to block me, only to be foiled by my greater weapon skills and Dexterity. 

A weird battle where I held the momentary advantage, forcing my way closer to the direction of the magical defenses, still finding time to block their magical attacks. Then, I was close enough to challenge their protective mana dome. 

I suddenly reversed my direction to put some distance from my enemy, only to lash out with several full-power attacks, all empowered fully by the penetrative effect of the Radiant Flame. 

The shield was far better than the previous one I had dealt with, easily absorbing the first few attacks. But, when the number of hits reached two digits, the shield was showing signs of shattering. “Huh, it’s weaker than I expected,” I said, more to bait a reaction than anything else. 

“You’re lucky that this pathetic dungeon is in a mana-dead zone,” my enemy growled in frustration as he closed the distance once again to prevent my attacks … which I responded by pushing forward. “Stay in place and fight, you coward!” he shouted in anger. 

“I’m a pathetic little blacksmith. It’s acceptable for me to run away,” I mocked him, hoping that he would get even angrier. The second ascended wasn’t too far away, and I needed to shatter the shield before he arrived. 

Facing two ascended would be difficult enough without trying to shatter the defenses of the mages. I needed to achieve that, and trust Rosie to handle the rest. 

“You’re a pest,” he growled. 

“And, how does it feel to fail against a pest, even after going so far as to make a deal with the heretics,” I tested him. 

“What nonsense are you speaking!” he growled, but the panic that flashed in his gaze was unmistakable. 

“Oh, they jumped the gun, and we captured them. They are already talking,” I responded even as I glanced at the other ascended, only seconds away. “I wonder if your lords will be happy about your disgusting heresy —” 

That was all I was able to say before his blade glowed with an even more intense brightness, enough to put a deep dent into my armor despite landing on my shoulder pad. That would have been far more troubling for a joint or a weak point. 

Yet, an angry enemy was a stupid one. As he overcommitted to his attacks, he gave me the time to send several more attacks to the mana dome, finally shattering it completely. 

I had to hope it would be enough for Rosie, because the second ascended was in range.