BOOK 4: CHAPTER 23: BLOODY REUNION

The Dwarven Sanctuary had changed a lot. That was far from surprising, since David had not been in the Sanctuary for months—though it felt like years had passed since Nihilum’s tendrils had pulled him into the Naughtrealm.

He was sure the Sanctuary had expanded, and its defense had grown in his absence. It was also not too far-fetched to expect the Dwarven Sanctuary’s size and population to have doubled in the last few months.

However, what David did not expect was to see the Sanctuary in this state.

The Dwarven Sanctuary had changed, but he had never thought it would be attacked by Giants by the time he returned. Fortress’ massive walls had been razed to the ground, and the defense structures had been demolished. David even noticed a gargantuan giant lifting a house and hurling it through the air.

It didn’t take a genius to tell how dire the situation was for the dwarves, Protectors, and natives living in the Dwarven Sanctuary.

David stood on Electra’s back, [True Sight] unleashed, as they circled what was left of the settlement.

“What the fuck,” he cursed as the life signals of thousands flared up. Hundreds of people were on the verge of dying as he analyzed the battlefield down below, but he didn’t leap into the chaos immediately.

His attention locked onto dozens of powerful life signals, as well as the Giants that were clearly a lot more powerful than most enemies in Kamia had been.

He considered his options but discarded the plans forming in his mind as he pinpointed several familiar life signals—dying life signals.

Electra pressed her mighty wings against her long, sinuous body and dove to the ground, releasing arcs of dark-violet lightning. David leaped from the Sacred Beast’s back and condensed the space beneath him with Might to slow his fall.

Words of Power escaped his lips as he willed the golden lines etched onto the Source to life. His lifeforce ignited and flared as it expanded explosively. Raw life surged out of him, and he unleashed Pillar of Life. The Intent triggered at once and anchored into the ground the moment David landed.

The pillar erupted around David and burst high into the air, replacing the late afternoon sunlight with the dazzling light of raw, condensed life.

As raw life oozed out of his pores, David uttered a few more Words of Power. He accessed one of his Class Skills and linked it into the life infused into the Pillar of Life. He lowered his knee and pressed his palms deep into the ground, unleashing [Weave of Life] and [Vital Weaving] at full power—overclocked and connected to the Pillar of Life.

Lifelines erupted from the ground all around him, and they expanded rapidly, forming a massive network of lifelines that encompassed the entire Sanctuary within seconds—or what was left of it.

It drained the raw life within the Pillar of Life and strained his Source, but it preserved the lives of those desperately clinging to it.

Once the network had been established, David’s tune changed. His voice gained depth and ominousness as his lips parted. Words of Power, different from the ones he had just uttered, rolled from his tongue. Instead of unleashing more raw life into the surroundings, David tapped into the power stored within the Corrupted Divine Heart and unraveled the Domain of Vitae.

The vast majority of Vitae Nihilum had accumulated in his heart and now coursed through his body and poured into the ground through his feet. He left behind a few units of Vitae but let the rest of it loose, allowing it to devour everything—be it Fortress’ walls, buildings, or corpses.

The latter was not to his liking, but the life signals of his enemies were strong, and he was certain he’d need as much Vitae as possible to get as many people through this as possible.

Looking over to the right, where the life signals of a dozen familiar Champions were located, David could only frown. One particularly powerful life signal wreaked havoc over there, and David failed to determine if it was an Ascendant, a Champion, or…something else.

Bloodthrone Dominion combined with [True Sight] hardly ever failed to analyze his enemies’ prowess, and that was a problem. Or it could be one if he did not prepare thoroughly.

But that one life signal was only one of many problems. The Giants—David remembered them clearly—were powerful. They were stronger than the Stone Giant, Berserk Giant, and Giant Shaman of Destructo he’d fought and killed before. It didn’t take much to conclude where the Giants were coming from. Somehow, the Dwarven Sanctuary must have failed to regulate the Rifts connected to the prehistoric valley.

David had no idea how it happened, but the Giants of the Tari, Stryxth, and Truho tribes managed to barge into the prehistoric valley. Either they conquered the prehistoric valley, or they pushed through the prehistoric Rift and appeared amidst the Dwarven Sanctuary, where Fortress’s towering walls and massive defensive structures proved useless.

It was problematic, yet none of it would have been as troublesome if the Giants hadn’t been this powerful. Every single one of them was either at the peak of the Gold Rank with the power of a recently advanced Platinum or possessed abilities that elevated their prowess to a similar level.

Interestingly enough, they were all Sworn, granting them access to the Weave. It was hard to perceive at first, and David was certain nobody with at least 100,000 bonds at the third level would have sensed it. He had even more bonds and could sense the Giants’ access to the Weave. It was barely worth mentioning and only came from a trace of power granted by their Ascendant, but it was enough to give them an edge over the Dwarven Sanctuary’s combatants. Ṙà₦óβЁṥ

It was all they needed to squash their enemies.

It was a good thing the Giants weren’t delicate creatures. Quite the contrary, actually. They hurled Protectors through the air, shattering their bones as they crashed into the broken structures around them. The Giants tore their enemies in two halves or squashed their bodies with brute force. Sometimes, they smashed their victims’ upper bodies or heads, but David quickly realized that this didn’t happen often.

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Most of the time, dwarves were the victims of a quick death. They were torn into shreds, their heads squashed with enough hatred to surprise David. Regardless, more than enough people survived the Giants’ fury. Sure, they had been pushed to the brink of death and would have died if not for the Pillar of Life and the Sanctuary’s network of lifelines, yet they were still alive. And in pain, but that wasn’t something David could change.

He cast multiple instances of [Blood Burst], [Healing Sphere], [Bloodbound Bastion], and [Herald’s Blessing]. [Blood Burst] was used to distract a Giant clad in heavy plated armor. The bloody projectiles struck the Giant hard enough to push him aside. A moment later, David arrived with Serpent Fang in hand.

He appeared out of nowhere, courtesy of [Phantom Rush], and beheaded the Giant with some support from [Lacerate] and Vitae.

David unleashed Lightning Rend at a Giant Shaman, killing it, and muttered Words of Power to access the Law of Blood and create blood tendrils to siphon the Giants’ lifeforce from their corpses.

He unleashed hell upon the surrounding area with a quick series of attacks and a barrage of more than 100 blood projectiles that exploded upon impact and protected hundreds of allies while simultaneously healing and augmenting them. He relied heavily on [Two of a Mind] and used [Aether Breath] to jumpstart the production of as much pure Blood as possible.

His Energy Pathways were filled to the brim with natural Aether, and he’d stored more than enough Origin Essence in his Source to create more than 100 pure Blood droplets, but that was not going to be enough. Not if he had to protect everyone while dealing with 200 or more Giants. Holding back was not even an option at this point.

As for Electra, she went all out as well. She split her body into 20 sinuous, winged Echoes. One was massive and retained most of its power. In contrast, the remaining Echoes contained a trace of her consciousness and 20 pure Blood droplets, which were all the Echoes needed to maintain their form and rescue as many survivors as possible.

The Giants were spread throughout the Sanctuary, but Electra pinpointed three locations where the heavily wounded could be carried to recuperate within the range of the Pillar of Life and the network of lifelines. As for the hundreds of [Healing Sphere]s filling the air around the pillar, they moved through the Sanctuary and connected to the wounded, healing them.

Electra acted like a hive mind and orchestrated a large-scale rescue. Her Echoes used a considerable amount of pure Blood to cast [Vital Weaving] to heal the wounded rather than worsen their injuries as the Sacred Beast carried them through the air.

In the meantime, David moved to the first familiar life signal. She was already being patched up by half a dozen [Healing Sphere]s and was also benefiting from the effects of the nearby Pillar of Life, but that was barely enough to preserve Maja’s life.

She had been cleaved in two right below her rib cage, which had also been crushed at some point. Splintered ribs jutted out from her chest, and blood pooled in grotesque amounts. Her exposed organs were either crushed or entirely missing. Not even her head was unscathed. It was covered in blood, and it did not take long to conclude that skull fragments had sunk into gray matter. It was no surprise that the life in her eyes faded quickly—faster than David would have liked.

He arrived before Maja and offered her a consoling smile, while his mind was rattling, hoping she could be salvaged.

“D-David…”

“Shut up and wait a second,” he snapped, his stomach tightening.

Maja smiled weakly at him, tears dripping down the corners of her eyes. Seeing her like this, David couldn’t help but curse himself for being so slow.

Anger and frustration boiled deep within his chest and threatened to overwhelm him—to consume him—but he cast his emotions aside to cast and overclock [True Restoration] alongside [Vital Weaving].

He cast both abilities a dozen times in quick succession before he added [Unyielding Vitality] by transferring traces of his highly potent lifeforce into her worn-out, half-dead body.

A low hum resonated with the surroundings, and the wreck of a human body twitched before his eyes. The crushed rib cage shuddered and wiggled as bones realigned with audible cracks and wet snaps. The skull fragments in Maja’s head pulled themselves together like a magnet. Gray matter regenerated, and the brain reconnected to damaged synapses and nerves with a bright crimson glow. Her facial structure realigned.

Her heart, beatless at first, started to pump again, circulating new blood through her body. Each rib squirmed as it extended and locked back into place, encasing the rapidly regrowing organs, which threatened to pour out from the severed waist if not for the muscles and tendons snaking outward, weaving a new pelvis.

Bones grew from the severed body like chains, supporting the torso. It was not long before flesh and skin regrew as well, sealing the exposed tissue as it stretched downward.

David watched her body recuperate, and her eyes regain their life. He smiled grimly at Maja as her eyes widened and nodded in satisfaction at the progress unfurling before him.

Maja’s legs began to grow at some point. The bones formed first, followed by dense muscles, nerves, and rapidly expanding flesh and skin.

As grotesque as the sight was, David could only smile vibrantly. A surge of life coursed through the regenerating body, resulting in violent twitches and a pained, yet vibrant groan. Her eyes snapped open with life, and she drew in heavy breaths.

“Good,” he muttered as steam oozed from her wide-open pores and her blood clots evaporated, leaving a fully intact, though perhaps exhausted, Maja behind.

It was draining, but the result was more than worth it. He would have invested a lot more pure Blood if that was what it would have taken to rescue Maja. Fortunately, that was no longer necessary. She’d survive this mess.

David studied her for a moment and turned to a nearby Giant who’d noticed him. He stared at the Giant, who locked eyes with him, and used Cycle’s Embrace. He linked the main component of his Arcana to Maja and attached death’s presence to the Giant, siphoning the Giant’s lifeforce to feed her strength.

The healing applied to Maja reacted instantaneously with Cycle’s Embrace and triggered the Arcana’s effect, siphoning more of the target’s lifeforce than expected. And that was exactly what Maja needed to cast aside the exhaustion that threatened to consume her.

Satisfied with the effect, David applied Cycle’s Embrace a dozen more times on her. He left the loose threads that connected death’s presence to the enemies untouched and watched them cling automatically onto the Giants heading his way.

“Save as many as you can,” he said before she could reply. “We can talk later. For now, we have to rescue as many as we can. Electra will help you.”

He ran his hand through her bloody hair and turned to the Giants, overclocking [Herald’s Blessing] on himself and Serpent Fang before applying [Origin Lightning], [Lacerate], [Bleeding], and Vitae to empower the claymore.

Next, he empowered [Phantom Rush]’s Skill Rune with [Herald’s Blessing] and overclocked the Skill.

David became a flash of motion. He closed the distance to the closest Giant in the blink of an eye, exhaled deeply, and slashed through heavy plate armor, thick hide, and flesh like it was tofu.