Under the scorching sunlight and suffering from the Raging Fire Bears' fire breath spells, the soldiers and knights had trouble coping with the infernal heat. Yet, their eyes and mind were focused on one fight: Viscount Philipp Dawins, successfully and brilliantly impaling the enemy's leader, an advanced-level bloodline acolyte.
The higher the realm of the bloodline acolyte, the more spells he would awaken, and the stronger he would be physically. But unfortunately for the Viscount, this advanced acolyte didn't earn his position as commander by mistake. He was one of the most brilliant elder in his family, a fearsome tactician and unique fighter.
After shapeshifting into a Raging Fire Bear, Allan Gambit's body had thoroughly become a monstrous magical being. His organs weren't as weak and as indispensable as they were in the human body. His muscle tissues were much thicker, and his fighting spirit unyielding. The Raging Fire Bears couldn't survive a barrage of lethal attacks, for sure, but their blood had the strange property of 'limiting' the bleeding very quickly.
Despite having been impaled in the heart, Allan didn't die immediately, and instead released a mighty fire breath spell, that could deal as much as 65 points of damage, a considerably high amount for an area of effect spell. Yet, after taking a closer look, one would realize that Allan didn't hit his enemy! The Viscount Philipp had killed two bears nearby with two clean hits at lightning speed, using the corpses as meat shields, protecting him from the infernal heat of an advanced acolyte's spell!
'How could my family send me against such a freak? He was supposed to be just a veteran knight, and here he unleashes attacks rivalling that of elite, no…peak knight!'
Viscount Philipp wasn't stupid. He knew that his momentary burst of strength was ephemeral. He had to finish this duel as soon as possible, before the potion's effects wore off. He remembered his daughter warning him about the secondary effects of this potion: Regression of a Knight realm, internal injuries, bone fractures, eventual madness, sequels on constitution. In other words, should he not finish the advanced acolyte in front of him before the potion wore off, he would die, along with his precious subordinates and subjects he once swore to protect till his last breath.
As if the flame of combat had increased in intensity, the Viscount broke through. He never feared death, not even once in his life. At least, he never did until now. Realizing the consequences his death would have on his territory, family and citizens he swore to protect, he felt frightened in a battle for the first time in his life. The pressure allowed him to break through the bottleneck that stopped his growth several decades ago.
'So this is what you wanted me to realize, Selene?', Viscount Philipp thought while grinning.
His daughter had broken through the elite knight realm before him, something that wounded his prime. Yet, was his talent inferior? No. Selene Dawins was a freak, a one-of-a-kind genius, but the viscount was even more monstrous when it came to sheer talent. Be it martial arts, footwork, tactics, charisma or even growth rate, he had broken through the veteran knight realm at the age of at the age of 17. If not for this bottleneck, he would have long since caught up with Elder Spear, a legend and a model to many knights: Hubert Thornfield, Count of the Elysia County.
The Viscount Philipp not only broke through the elite knight realm, but also managed to sense and absorb every single bit of the potion's essence. However, his size started to decrease until his height reached 3 meters.
The soldiers had pale faces. They were lamenting about this scene, thinking the Viscount Philipp's strength was decreasing. Without this Gigantification Effect, how could the viscount take on an advanced apprentice? However, who knew that Viscount Philipp's strength wasn't decreasing, but instead, increasing by leaps and bounds?
Allan Gambit suddenly released a terrifying laugh, and he opened his jaw to release a second fire breath, but a spear pierced through the 'meat shields', and went all the way through Allan's throat.
An advanced apprentice had fallen…just like that. There were no warnings…there was only a thrust. Yet, this time, the internal energy was wild and barbaric in nature; the strike was flawless yet much more lethal for some reason. It had dealt more than 80 points of damage!
Viscount Philipp's own body was a mess. By breaking through and absorbing the potion's essence, he had entered a berserk state, allowing him to release and use much more strength than his body could muster. While his fighting prowess had increased significantly, It also caused his vessels to burst under pressure, and his muscles to be torn apart repeatedly.
Feeling overflowing strength in his veins, and boundless internal energy at his disposal, Viscount Philipp's didn't stop at 3 kills. He started to rampage through the battlefield, killing every single acolyte who was unfortunate enough to be in his thrusting range, disregarding the permanent sequels on his body accumulating and crippling him further.
Seeing this, the soldiers' morale rose considerably.
Knights started to issue orders at lightning speed, while the soldiers showed remarkable discipline and obedience. Ganging up on the acolytes with a numerical ratio of 5 to 1, the soldiers actually had the upper hand in the confrontations! While they were nowhere near the Viscount in term of strength, they could still damage the bear's hide upon attacking, sometimes even piercing this sturdy leather and damage their enemy's internal organs.
Allan Gambit, whose throat and heart were originally pierced, got up. It was a shocking scene. How was he not dead with two fatal strikes? Allan Gambit was a one-of-a-kind rising star in his family.
While he was only 40 years old, he still reached the advanced acolyte realm, and awakened a unique spell, namely Spiritual Roar. Furthermore, it seemed that his enemy had once again underestimated his bloodline's perk that allowed him to disregard wounds for a short amount of time.
While it didn't mean that his injuries were healed, at least he wouldn't die from them and could fight at his peak strength until he gets treated. This was a massive opportunity to surprise enemies in a battlefield. Yet, his innate spell 'Spiritual Roar' was even more terrifying, a unique spell that could be categorized as a real trump card.
*ROAR*
A spiritual roar reverberated through the battlefield, forcing the soldiers to crouch and cover their ears in order to survive the spell. The roar was over 130 decibels, something that would permanently damage human ears, but in truth, it wasn't the noise intensity that was the most dangerous perk about the spell, but the frequency which boosted Raging Fire Bears and damaged human's brains at the same time.
It was a splendid attack to enemies, as well as a war cry boosting his allies' strength. It was Allan Gambit's trump card, increasing temporarily the individual strength of every other Raging Fire Bear in the area by 20%, a considerable improvement.
With this sudden burst of power, the acolytes roared as well and started to rampage on the crouching and trembling soldiers in front of them. There were no soldiers or knights whose ears weren't bleeding. Moreover, most of them couldn't see straight. It was as if their brain had been thoroughly messed up. The situation had once again turned all the way around.
In the eyes of the acolyte predators, the soldiers, originally hunters, had become mere preys waiting to be beheaded, stomped and crushed.
'ARGHH', a knight screamed in agony, after his limb was blown off after receiving frontally a bear's charge.
"HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP…ARGHH", another shouted whiled getting eaten alive by another acolyte.
Bloodline acolytes were frightening because they were extremely strong compared to their peers, but also because they were more savage than others. Unlike the scholar-like elemental acolytes, Bloodline acolytes didn't seek knowledge. To become stronger, they just needed time, and nutrition. In their eyes, human knights were delicious preys since their blood essence was sweeter than normal human beings or wild beasts. Plus, it was beneficial to their bloodline cultivation!
Biting the soldiers, releasing terrifying fire breaths…It was a dramatic turnaround. A few moments ago, the acolytes were on the verge of being captured under the continuous harassments of soldiers and knights. Yet, now, the soldiers could barely see what was in front of them, while their ears were bleeding without showing any signs of stopping. The entire army had been crippled with just one spell. Was it the reason why acolytes are so haughty in front of knights?
Now, everyone could understand the huge gap between knights and acolytes. Individually, they was no wide gap of strength seperating the two. However, in a battlefield, a spell could easily turn the battlefield upside down, something that a knight could not do.
The soldiers had the numerical advantage, and even the monstrous powerhouse Philipp, yet it wasn't enough. The acolytes were just too strong. They were not only superior in terms of physical attributes, they were 20% stronger thanks to the Spiritual Roar, meaning that they could display fighting prowess above their peak.
On the other hand, the soldiers, crippled, could only watch monstrous beings charge towards them, get eaten to death or ripped in an agonizing and cruel way. The battlefield was a complete bloodbath.
Only one man was frenetically continuing to fight against the bear: Viscount Philipp. Unable to think straight anymore, he was no different from a monster. His ears had been blown off and it wouldn't be a surprise if the man would become permanently deaf. His thoughts were not clear, but he stayed faithful to his character: he focused on the battle in front of him, disregarding pain.
Pain is just an illusion that can be lifted, as long as you convince yourself of it.
Each strike damaged his body further. His arms were covered in a reddish liquid: a strange mix of his own blood melted with the Ragin Fire Bear's blood from his enemies.
Thrusting over and over again, he had killed over 40 acolytes in less than 8 minutes, a considerable prowess. However, Allan Gambit stopped the man's rampage. He sneaked behind him, and bit him in the belly, his bear-sized jaw and teeth drilling eight thumb-sized holes. Right after, Allan was kicked and smacked by an incoming spear, but there was no strength behind these strikes. Allan's massive bear-sized body didn't budge, akin to a mountain.
"So your strength is exhausted huh?", Allan said in a weird tone, probably because he was showing pride and mostly because he was in his bear form, making speaking quite difficult.
Yet, this provocation was quickly answered by an elbow strike plunged into his eyes. The pain stunned Allan for a few seconds, an opening big enough to repetitively thrust three times in the bear's shoulder, leg and head. Yet, only the two former thrusts landed, the third one missing.
Allan was releasing an aura of killing intent. Furious, he was about to stomp the knight who had nearly taken his life thrice in a row, but a dramatic downturn in the battlefield left him dumbfounded, as an icy voice cut softly in the air, seeming to freeze time itself.
Somehow, his instincts were screaming at him to run as far as he could, as soon as possible.
*Cave gelu hiems adoperta o timorem movetur perennis in blizardus ame habe...*, is what he could hear in the chaotic battlefield.