Robert Vlaho
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[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 120 - Unholy Blessing
🕑 Added 2024-09-17 11:42:58 +0000 UTCFreddy stared at the leader of the wave. The fact that the general was a deviant didn’t even sink in, and he received another shock.
A three-star!?
The leader of this wave was more powerful than Freddy. It was early, very early into the third star, but that was an incredible jump in power compared to the wave that came before it.
No wonder this wave was effectively the final wave for all intents and purposes.
The leaders of the waves had so far simply stayed behind the lines while pushing their soldiers forward, and there was no reason to believe that this one would break the established rule. But then it immediately broke the established rule.
To the surprise of everyone, even the powerful delvers, the general suddenly charged, its horse leaping over the front lines as he rushed forward at immense speed.
Nobody could stop him.
With a mass of thick, oozing miasma coiled around his halberd, the general roared and slammed into the fortress gates. The wood was impossibly tough. The entire wall shook, yet the gate seemed to only suffer minor damage from the blow. But that did not last long.
As the green miasma seeped into the wood, it rapidly began to rot. The horse the general was riding propped itself up on its back feet and kicked, breaking the gate and leaving the fortress wide open.
Everyone present paled.
Given their reactions, this definitely wasn’t something that usually happened.
“Men!” the general shouted as he raised his halberd. “Run down the enemy! Charge!”
Oh, this is fucking bad, Freddy thought as he saw the mass of soldiers charging forward.
The general rushed straight into the bailey, where he was intercepted by Travis, Thor, and a minor figure from the Lapis Clan.
“Everyone!” Thor shouted. “We’ll take the boss down! Keep the tides back so they don’t flood the fortress!”
Freddy gritted his teeth. This was really bad. His gaze drifted to the group that was with him on the tower. They all looked deathly pale. Even though there were only twenty minutes left until the end, that was more than enough for the fortress to get flooded and for everyone below the second star to die.
Although the army was coming from all around the fortress, most of the forces had to focus on the general and the broken gate. The others would have to fight tooth and nail to stop the other gates from breaking down.
“Shit!” Freddy yelled as he leaped off the tower and down to the battlements. He rushed toward the section where the gate was broken and was quickly joined by a number of others.
He leaped down onto the fields and instantly conjured his Gore Knuckles. Besides being short on blood, he was in top condition.
Shawn Gem appeared beside him soon after, followed by the main force of the Lapis clan. That made seven people total. The other handful of two-stars stayed behind to protect the rest of the fortress.
Freddy’s gut twisted as he realized that there was no way the one-stars could survive this. Twenty minutes was just too long for them to hold out on all sides. Hell, if the fortress was broken into too early, there was a good chance that everyone there would die! No matter how powerful someone like Thor might be, his essence reserves were still limited.
But what could he do? He gritted his teeth as the answer came to him all on its own.
He had to summon Bloodshed. But he really, really didn’t want to do that. Still, he might not have a choice. Keeping his secrets was worthless when his life was in danger.
He suddenly turned to the Lapis folk and shouted, “You people! Go protect the rest of the fortress! Leave this side to me and the shadow guy!”
Their eyes widened briefly before they scowled at the command. But as Freddy released his full-powered aura, they paled and reluctantly nodded as they turned around and rushed to help the others.
“I’m sorry to say it, but I can’t handle this, hahaha…” Shawn suddenly said as he awkwardly retreated a step. “I’ll support you from behind. Do you want an unholy blessing?”
Freddy paused once he heard the offer. Unholy blessings were a group of unholy-affinity abilities that acted similarly to their holy equivalent. There was a catch, though—they were more powerful than ordinary blessings, but this power came at a cost—in return, he had to offer a part of his body that he wouldn’t be able to use during the boost. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the benefit.
“Yes,” he agreed. It turned out that he might not need Bloodshed after all.
“What do you want a boost to?”
“Strength!”
The man nodded and put a hand on Freddy’s shoulder. Freddy felt a sinister energy move into him, like a helpful devil asking a price for his services. “There,” Shawn said as he took several steps back. “Make your offer.”
Freddy took a deep breath. “Skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, ears, left arm, left eye!”
“Idiot!” Shawn shouted. “Are you trying to kill yourself!? That’s going to—”
Before the man could finish his sentence, Freddy shouted unbelievably loudly.
He went entirely silent a moment later as his lungs shut down and his voice cut off. An unfathomable power flooded him as he felt a profound sickness move through his body.
His left arm hung limply. His hearing cut off entirely. His heart stopped beating. His skin went numb, dulling his sense of pain. The influx of power was far too much for his body to handle. He felt like his insides were melting and like his bones were slowly turning to dust.
Suddenly, he charged forward.
The line of soldiers raised their shields and readied their spears while the cavalry charged at him.
A knight lifted his lance and prepared to impale Freddy right through his head. Freddy sidestepped the lance and kicked the horse up. The earth beneath his feet shattered and the horse launched up into the air, flying nearly thirty meters up, with its rider flying even higher than that. They fell into the crowd of soldiers, killing a few.
Before the other knights could even realize what happened, Freddy grabbed the leg of another horse and threw it straight into the crowd of charging horsemen. They were knocked over like bowling pins, with their horses dying particularly gruesome deaths.
Freddy continued, picking up another horse that he proceeded to throw right into the mass of infantry soldiers, instantly killing dozens.
He felt a powerful urge to shout, but his lungs were sealed, not even letting him breathe. His heart should be pounding, but it remained quiet, standing still as the unholy blessing still persisted. With just a single eye and his soul sense, he felt like his perception was incredibly limited. The power raging through him destroyed his body wherever it passed, with the influx of lifesteal being just enough to let him keep fighting through it.
But in that moment, as he stood there, seeing the lines of soldiers pulling back in panic, he felt omnipotent.
He charged forward.
A soldier tried raising a shield, but Freddy raised a fist. Two stars sparked in his soul, and a raging tide pushed through his body. With near-impeccable timing, he landed the double-star Flowing Strike.
Both the metal shield and the Gore Knuckles disintegrated into shards of metal, and the soldier went flying back like a cannonball, ramming into another line of soldiers and knocking them over.
He continued charging, tearing apart everyone who stood before him as he rushed straight at the leaders and siege equipment.
They shouted something Freddy couldn’t hear as he grabbed another horse and threw it right at a trebuchet. Then he tore a spear out of a soldier's arm and threw it at one of the commanders. The spear pierced his shield and armor as if they were made of paper mache.
He kept receiving blows here and there, mostly ones that came from his blind spots. But with his numb skin, physical toughness, and the constant rush of healing, he completely ignored any attacks, simply continuing to rush at whatever target shined the brightest in his soul sense.
He blew several engineers into masses of gored meat and kidnapped their trebuchet ammo reserves. Then, he proceeded to climb up on the siege machine and throw the boulders at any commanders he could spot.
The speed and efficiency at which he tore apart the army’s structure was horrifying.
At this point, any soldiers he approached simply turned around and ran the other way. He chased a literal stampede of soldiers in a circle as they caused disarray and pandemonium wherever they went. Because they kept running into more and more people, the stampede grew thicker, with many people getting run over by the charging men.
Many of them bravely stood their ground only to get turned into mincemeat a moment later.
The blessing did not last for long. It ran out after only maybe three minutes. Then, all at once, he felt his senses return to him, took a deep breath, and raised his left arm to take his helmet off after he puked a bunch of blood into it.
He felt exhausted. Every muscle in his body hurt, and he was shaking profusely. He had thought his talent was keeping up with the damage he was taking, but he had been dead fucking wrong.
He had to take out the spark of undeath and punch it a few times just to regain control over his numb legs. Then, without hesitation, he ran back towards the fortress.
It was at this point that the soldiers noticed that he was retreating.
A few of the mounted knights turned their horses around and charged him down. He wasn’t nearly fast enough to outrun a horse.
A lance slammed into his shoulder, knocking him over and sending him rolling across the ground. A moment later, a second knight stabbed down, piercing right through Freddy’s stomach.
“I’m not that fucking weak!” he declared as he grabbed the leg of the horse and snapped it. The beast whinnied loudly as it backed away.
Another knight charged right up, but Freddy rolled out of the way and dodged the incoming attack.
He pushed himself back up to his feet and continued running.
A knight approached behind him, raising a saber to cut his head off, but through the combination of Freddy’s mail turtleneck and his potent defense, he managed to keep his head attached to his body.
Suddenly, shadows rose out of the ground and tied the horses’ legs up. They felt over, sending the soldiers tumbling. Freddy used the opportunity to send a double-star Flowing Strike kick into one of their stomachs, sending the man flying into the distance like a football.
The other one tried getting back to his feet, but he was pulled away by a black tentacle and thrown aside.
“Holy hell, man!” Shawn shouted as he approached Freddy. “You are crazy!”
“Just—” Freddy suddenly coughed out another mass of blood. Then, he put his helmet back on and slowly walked forward. “Let’s go back inside.”
The side of the fortress where the gate had been wrecked was pretty desolate, with most of the soldiers having pulled back and run to the sides.
On the inside, the battle between the boss and the others finally wrapped up, with Thor cutting the man’s head off and ending the fight.
Freddy didn’t know why it took them so long to finish the battle. It was most likely due to whatever talent the deviant leader had.
Nobody had the time to look at him. They split between protecting the broken gate and fending off the attack on the other sides.
Once he was sure nobody was looking at him, Freddy pulled out the spark of undeath and started hitting. He had no meat he could feed it, so the amount of lifesteal he could extract from the spark was highly limited. Still, it was enough to allow him to at least move without feeling like nails were scraping across his bones.
While his stunt would undoubtedly attract attention, it was much better than revealing Bloodshed. In fact, most people would likely conclude that he had suffered permanent, irreparable injuries on that day and that his overall power would be limited going forward. He was okay with letting people believe that.
Let them think he was weak when he was strong. And let them believe he was strong when he was weak. In a sense, he had accomplished both of those at the same time.
The minutes passed, and slowly the challenge reached its end.
Just as he was about to get up to go leave, that old man who announced that they were under attack left the balcony above the dungeon entrance again. “Well done, righteous defenders! You have bravely protected the kingdom and fulfilled your duty to the crown! Now, it is time to give you your rewards! You shall be rewarded based on your contribution!”
Suddenly, a massive scroll unwrapped in the sky above them, with the pseudonyms of all the participating delvers lined up, ranging from most to least contribution.
His eyes widened as he saw the results, but before he could express his shock, the air before his face started glowing, and a strange object appeared.
Comments
kiwi
This was one of the hypest chapters of this novel. Bro really sacrificed almost every body function to turn into the hulk.
Lyncher98
Tftc
Robert Blaise
Indeed! I am blessed to have the support I do. For years, I've fought this shit all by myself and made exactly zero progress. In fact it only got worse. But now that I have my wife my side, adult friends, and a supportive community, I'm finally making the right steps forward.
True_Reaper
Great chapter. You’ve been killing it lately! Glad to hear that all the steps you’ve been taking to get yourself healthy and happy are reflecting in your work so obviously! :-), Keep it up and if u do ever stumble reach out. It sounds like you have a great support network both IRL and this community
Beeees!
Really loved this chapter. Im thinking our man did more damage than he realized while he rampaged at the end. Bet he hits top 5 contribution for sure
Beeees!
Hey, i feel all those things and more. Crazy how doing more makes doing other things easier sometimes. As a fellow lazy cunt who cant get off his ass to go to the gym, i would recomend starting with 2-3 days of 20-30 min home workouts. You can get so much of so little when it comes to exercise, as long as you are consistent week to week.
Robert Blaise
I'm pretty skinny myself. Stress, poor appetite, shit tons of coffee over the years and yeah, I've kept my weight in a rather healthy range. But my muscles are pathetically weak, like holy shit. Back and neck problems galore. Keep at it man! Progress is made one step at a time! Best of luck!
ZaA
Damn, that sounds so similar to the problems I've been dealing with as well, and I've also cut back on the energy drinks and mobile games lol. My brother lives near me so he and I have started going to the gym together. I have consistently done nothing since the start of highschool in like 2011 and went from playing sports to playing league of legends and World of Warcraft. For 10+ years I've consistently weighed 352 pounds. Sounds specific, but no joke, every few years I'd see a doctor for this or that(usually ear or throat infection, or a fucked ankle a couple times) and EVERY times it's been 352. Not 351 or 353.. 352. Pretty sure I'm pre-diabetic which has made me stop craving sweets almost completely due to it making me feel awful, and started just buying rotisserie chickens, bought a rice cooker, and divy up meals for a few days in advance. 1 chicken is roughly 4 meals for me, with 1 ish cups of cooked rice and some trader Joe's sauces that are low cal. 2 months in of gym with my brother+eating that and I've only gone from benching bar+10's on each side to bar+35s on each, but I've also gained tons of chest muscle, which is helping to made my moobs look closer to pecs(still have a ways) and I'm down 27 pounds, even with muscle gain. I feel a lot better. It's hard. It's hard feeling like people are judging me at the gym or laughing at me, but it's worth it. And more and more I get a bit more confident. Get someone you know to go with you. Just a few times a week. You can have cheaty days here and there. Just do the small changes. Light mayo and slightly less of it. Less ketchup or try healthier dips. Etc. I'm happy for you, and even if you don't go to the gym, walking is great! Keep it up, man!
Robert Blaise
Thank you very much! I have indeed had many problems, and I'm still suffering from several issues regarding physical and mental health. But I've taken a number of steps in the right direction, such as completely dropping coffee, eating better, getting more sleep, going out walking more frequently, spending more time with friends and family, and maybe most importantly, I've returned to spending more quality time doing things I actually enjoy. I've had a major problem with overconsuming social media brainrot and god-awful mobile games that ate a bunch of my time and gave back nothing but short and meaningless bursts of dopamine hits that provided no value to my life. I still struggle to get myself to exercise. That one's still a bitch because I'm a lazy cunt, but I feel I'm very close to finally getting myself off my ass and into a gym. Interestingly enough, despite directing so much effort into everything other than work, it made work so much easier. I'm not only more inspired, but I'm a fuck ton more focused and passionate about the work. I no longer dread having to sit down and write because I stay on top of future plots and have a solid direction in mind. Overall, life has been good. Thank you for your concern, and I really, really appreciate the support! Cheers, mate!
ZaA
Moree! More!! Ty for the chapters dude. Was really sad when you were having troubles writing, but you're killing it. These are so fun to read and think about. Tyvm
Robert Blaise
:)
Raganash
Damn cliffhangers
Kevin McKinney
Interesting!
PoeticSaint
Let's gooooooo!! New toys!!
