[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 199 - Hope and Despair

Up and all along the wall were countless defenders, anxiously waiting for whatever they were invited here for. It was a tense scene, especially knowing many of them had been taken away from defending other sides of the city, which were by no means free of assault. 

With only a few people left to defend the other sides, there was no doubt that whyever they were here had to be of extreme importance. Coupled with the recent news of many of the mercenaries deserting the defense force, the situation painted a rather bleak picture.

By the time the people had gathered, the two hour mark already passed. And off in the distance, they spotted the infamous Freddy Cliff.

For many, this was the first time they were seeing him in person. While he’d been too preoccupied with everything to notice, his reputation had grown even more unwieldy, with tales of his accomplishments out in the wild spreading like a plague, with many believing it was nothing but propaganda.

From how long he spent fighting, to the number of things he killed, to the shambling giant he’d taken out with a single javelin thrown from miles away—it was simply too fantastical to be true, and yet, the rumors were too loud and flashy to be ignored. 

Regardless of what they might think, even the greatest of skeptics kept their mouths shut at the sight of him. 

Walking slowly across the plains in his half-white, half-black armor, carrying his massive executioner sword slung over his shoulder, he was followed by the black-clad Emily Umbra, another figure that might as well be a legend to the average defender. 

She skipped along beside him, her well-honed vision revealing the looks on many of the crowd members' faces. It wasn’t new for others to direct awe-stricken looks at her. 

But this was different. 

Her irritation was starting to reach a boiling point. 

She had followed him to see what exactly he would do, which he welcomed, and rather than explaining anything, Freddy simply ignored her as he proceeded to chase down anything that can bleed and killing it with the kind of speed and brutality that even she had to surrender was quite impressive—even if a bit crude.

And now, he seemed to be using her as little more than a tool to aid his inflated image before the crowd. If it wasn’t for the gnawing curiosity at what he’d do, she would have strung him up and hung him upside down before the crowd. 

But there had to be a reason for why he was doing all this. 

And really, why did he provoke that giant drake? That thing was nasty enough that it would take some serious effort to take it down, even if they fought together.

The drake, which was now tailing them, released a furious roar that was distant and yet approaching rapidly, the pain of its wounded tail adding quite a bit of intensity to its bellow.

The numerous defenders shuffled anxiously at the sound, their reaction bordering on panic. 

It was at that moment that Freddy turned to face her with his golden mask, and then coughed. “Hey, uh… Do you have any tips for how to do a rousing speech?”

She stared at him for a long moment before bursting into a sudden bout of laughter. “What!? Are you joking?” At his utter stillness, her jovial expression turned into one of utter bafflement. “You’re serious.”

“I’m dead serious. I suck at this kind of stuff.”

“You know, you really should have thought about this sooner…”

He sighed. “I thought I’d be able to do it given the situation, but I’m feeling kind of nervous now. I mean… look at the size of that crowd. Sheesh.”

She lightly slapped him on the back of the shoulder. “Hey, if you aren’t feeling up to the task, I can take over.”

He shook his head. “No. It has to be me. I’m the face of the defense force and the leader of the city. Which is exactly why this is so nerve-racking…”

“Just give it a shot. What’s the worst that can happen, anyway?”

“Let me think—I fumble the speech and come across as incompetent, which plunges the morale of the city, allowing the ether virus to take hold and snowball out of control until everyone is dead?”

Emily’s expression suddenly turned serious. “You’re overthinking things. Besides, there’s a massive drake running our way, so if you don’t hurry up, I’m guessing whatever plan you have will be thrown into question anyway.”

“Shit. You’re right.” He paused for a long moment, then released a tired breath. “I’m just gonna say what’s on my mind. If it works, it works, if it doesn’t, well… at least I tried.”

Freddy reached for his golden mask, took it off, pulled his head cover off and then took a few steps forward, before stopping as he looked up at the wall. From above, he felt the tides of insanity churning like a tsunami rising into the sky. It was an oppressive feeling—he felt like he’d never truly be used to this sixth sense. 

But as he listened and observed, he started to notice. The ways the insanity was spreading. The things fueling it. The way he could extinguish it. As he followed the trail of madness to its source, words, all on their own, started coming to him. 

He waited for a moment for the crowds to quiet down. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Then, he shouted in a voice so loud it nearly deafened Emily. “You have been having nightmares,” he declared, “of square-eyed people telling you horrible things.”

Many of the crowd members’ eyes widened in surprise. “How did he know?” echoed through the crowd as he took another step forward.

Spreading his arms wide, he shouted, “The virus that’s infecting the monsters is the cause of this!”

Alarm lit up through the crowd. 

“The torment it puts you through in your sleep is designed to make you succumb. It pokes at your greatest weaknesses, pushing you to despair! And then, when you’re at your weakest, it will make you the offer to willingly allow it into the inviolable depths of your soul.” He paused for a long moment, leaving the crowd in a stunned silence. “That is exactly what happened to a few unfortunate workers. 

“And then, under the virus’s influence, they destroyed a section of the wall, losing their lives shortly afterwards. Do you want to end up like them!?”

Another roar came from behind him, and this time, the drake became visible as it crushed a small grove of trees and sprinted out into the empty plains. In less than a minute, it would be upon Freddy and Emily.

Yelps and shouts of surprise sounded through the crowd, only for Freddy to take another step forward. “In the midst of all this, you’ve heard some rather bad news. The mercenaries deserted the defense force! The elites who have come to help are choosing to take their people away! So who will maintain the walls if they crumble!? Who will fight back against the swarm!?”

The anxiety of the crowd became palpable.

Freddy took another step forward. “Tell me, then! Do you think we’re helpless!? Do you think we’re doomed!?” He paused. “Are you going to surrender!?”

“Dude…” Emily muttered, getting into a fighting stance. “The drake is almost heeeere!” she reminded him in a sarcastic sing-song voice. “You better hurry.”

Freddy raised his hand. “If you think you’ll have a better chance, then I advise you to leave and try your luck in the wilderness. But for those of you who want to stay—”

He raised an arm into the sky and whispered, “Blood Sacrifice.”

Immediately, uncountable streams of blood started flowing in from far out in the plains. Every monster he’d killed, every beast he’d felled in the last two hours. It hadn’t taken him long, but even in just that time, he had spilled enough blood to fill a small lake. Throughout his time fighting the monster hordes, the amount of bloodshed he’d created was difficult to describe. And his Blood Ring had bathed in enough crimson to grow to a truly awe-inspiring degree.

Blood Ring: -20% essence cost, +22% power for blood-affinity abilities. Can be used to release Bloodshed. Attacks inflict severe bleeding.

If this were just another regular cursed item, with effects like these, it would verge on being priceless. Any of its three effects was enough on its own to cause a serious bidding war between major blood factions. But Freddy would never sell the item. To him, it was likely the most important treasure he had, and this was in no small part due to the way it worked with Blood Sacrifice. 

With -20% essence cost, every drop of blood he used went much further. With +22% power, that blood displayed an explosive might. 

As the massive streams of blood flowed above its head, even the giant drake was forced to slow down and approach more carefully. But regardless, it was already too late.

The blood gathered into a spherical pool. And then, it morphed into a mass of pure blood essence, coiling together and growing into a giant mass of red, towering way above the walls. Then, it started to solidify. 

Freddy grinned. For the first time ever, he’d outdone that time he killed the leviathan. 

Clad in dripping brown robes appeared a skeletal giant, a deformed, uneven skull hiding beneath its hood. It had two arms on its left side, and one on the right, with its left leg splitting into two from the knee down. As it appeared, it turned to face the sky. And then, it screamed. 

Everyone and everything that heard the shout froze on the spot, including the massive drake. In a mere instant, the monster had gone from predator to prey, being only about as large as a small dog compared to the towering bloodshed. After a mere second of hesitation, its instincts finally took over, and it turned to run in the other direction. 

But Bloodshed had other plans. It bent down, reaching towards the drake and picking it up around its torso. The drake tried fighting back, but in the colossal grasp of the skeletal titan, it was completely helpless as it was raised towards the skull, and bloody teeth bit its head off its body. 

The crowd looked on in stunned terror, with many looking like they were on the verge of running away. 

It was at this moment that Bloodshed dropped the drake’s body, bent down, and picked Freddy up onto its other palm, raising him high above the crowd along the wall. “For those of you who want to stay”—he spread his arms out—”know that the monsters won’t step foot into this city! And to the wicked things haunting your dreams, let them know who is fighting on your side!”

He was sweaty and breathing heavily by the time he was finished. “That was good, right…?” he whispered to himself. 

The crowd gave him no standing ovation. His speech didn’t exactly have the rousing quality he expected. But it had worked, nonetheless. Even if most of the people down there looked scared shitless at the sight before them, he could smell their despair withering away. 

Whether they knew it or not, the idea of having Bloodshed fighting on their side was doing wonders for making them feel safer. 

And for Freddy, that was good enough. “That will be all!” he said. “Everyone, go back to your stations! And remember, if any serious threat shows its face, you just have to let me know! That being said, Bloodshed can’t go all the way around to the Southern side of the wall. If something appears there, I'll deal with it myself!”

Many of the people present quickly nodded and then virtually sprinted away, clearly eager to get as far from the massive skeleton as humanly possible.

Freddy looked down, only to spot Emily staring at him in total shock. Same could be said for Georgie, but she was also grinning at him maniacally and shaking her head.

And then there was the person he wasn’t looking forward to having to confront—the adjudicator. 

The man was staring at Freddy with a deeply disappointed, borderline hostile glare. And it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Sighing, Freddy commanded Bloodshed to put him down on the wall, where the adjudicator approached him as soon as he set foot. “My office. Now.”

***

“You have three spirit abilities," the adjudicator said as soon as they walked in. “And you haven’t told me.”

Now, if Freddy was dumb, he could have said something like “I didn’t know it was relevant.” But it was definitely relevant. For starters, it was “common knowledge”—or rather, a misconception—that spirit abilities stunted an archhuman’s growth, with 3 of them slowing it down by 99%. What most people didn’t know was that spirit abilities also compressed aura, amplifying its potency. 

And there was a good reason why nobody knew this. After all, as far as public knowledge went…

Nobody had ever ascended with 3 spirit abilities in their soul. Ever. 

The adjudicator sighed at Freddy’s silence. “Do you have any idea what kind of a nightmare you’ve just created for me?” He glared at Freddy. “Almost everything I was authorized to do for you was under the premise that you were a candidate for the position of a future Overlord. Almost. Everything.” He took an aggressive step in Freddy’s direction. “Do you have the slightest clue what this now means? I’m in deep shit, Freddy. Deep, deep shit.”

“Not if I go up a star,” Freddy said. 

“Hah! You’re an outstanding young man, but it seems you don’t know your mathematics. Do you have any idea what it means to have your growth handicapped to that degree? You have to be a HUNDRED”—he shouted, his veins bulging on his face—”times more impressive than a regular archhuman to make it to the third star. A hundred. And you’re not. I know you’re not. You’d have told me if you were ready to ascend, but you’re not, because you won’t be, not for a long, long time.”

Freddy suddenly tensed. He wanted to tell the man the truth behind spirit abilities, but without proof, he’d just sound like a madman. He had been, and still was, fully confident that he’d reach the third star one day. But he’d severely underestimated just what his third spirit ability meant to the adjudicator. “Am I in trouble?” he asked. 

“No. Yes.” The adjudicator groaned. “Maybe. I don’t know. I will have to stand trial before the high adjudicators for this. And the only way I could possibly justify my aid to you is if I can prove that you’re already a monstrously powerful individual.” The man’s eyes unwittingly went towards the window, in the direction of the giant skeleton. “Speaking of which, what the hell is that thing?”

“Bloodshed,” Freddy said. “The spirit ability that summons it grows in power depending on the amount of blood I sacrifice. And I’d spent about two hours killing monsters as quickly as I could.”

The adjudicator’s eyes widened. “That is a remarkable spirit ability. That will go a long way to presenting my case.”

“Will it be enough?”

“Not even close.”

Freddy hesitated. “What will I have to do, then?”

The adjudicator’s expression darkened. “Most likely? 

“You will have to defeat a Lord in a direct duel.”