After catching my breath, I turned away from the corpse and walked over to Harold. He was still alive, but barely. I cast multiple healing orbs and covered his broken arms and injured body. The masses of water essence worked slowly but steadily to repair his injuries. After 15 minutes of healing, Harold finally opened his eyes and tried to sit up.
"Don't move, you're badly injured"
Harold listen to my advice and leaned back against the earth wall.
"W-what happened?"
"You were thrown into a wall and hit your head"
He looked confused for a moment before the memories came rising back to him and his eyes widened in alarm.
"The rank 5, where did he go?"
Before he could continue I pointed at the corpse behind me. Harolds eyes widened even further as he observed the dead body of one of the most powerful people in the entire region.
"I... I can't believe it, you actually managed to kill a rank 5"
After saying this he broke out into crazed laughter.
"So he's dead, my comrades have been avenged"
Even though he said this, his eyes conveyed nothing but sadness.
"Stay still, we'll leave after you've regained a bit of strength. My spell will keep your arms splinted, but you have to move slowly"
Harold didn't say anything and closed his eyes. 20 minutes later He opened them again and said he was ready to move. Since he couldn't use his arms, I slowly raised the earth below him until he was standing. Before we left, Harold spoke up.
"You should take his head, no one will believe you if you tell them you killed a rank 5"
I nodded and walked over to the corpse. I conjured a dagger and cut away the remaining flesh that connected his head to his body. I wrapped the severed appendage in my blanket and stuffed it into my pack. I then rejoined Harold and moved away from the Army.
We walked slowly for hours, trying to get as far away from the army as possible. Having to maintain over a dozen healing orbs caused my essence to regenerate incredibly slowly. But It was worth it, as our wounds healed incredibly quickly. With my [Accelerated regeneration] skill on top of the spells, both the gash in my side and my broken hand healed by nightfall. When we stopped, I had to forcefully keep myself awake. Harold couldn't fight, and my spells would deactivate when I fell asleep.
I was finally forced to drink the stamina tonics we had been provided for the mission. They tasted horrible, like a rotten fruit smoothie, but were effective. With their help, I stayed awake for another day until Harold's injuries had mostly healed. I then sat down against a rock and fell into a deep sleep. I awoke after what Harold told me was ten hours.
"Were heading back to the base. I should have abandoned this mission when half of the team died, but my judgment was clouded with anger. I apologize for putting you into needless danger"
I didn't really care, the fight with the rank 5 had shown me what they were capable of first hand. And I was sure that his head was going to bring me plenty of benefits.
After we ate a breakfast of dried meat and hard bread, we headed back towards the Yosan Mountain Range.
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It took us two days to reach the mountains and trek through then to the special forces base. We presented our badges at the gate and were let through. We immediately headed for Sophia's office and knocked on the door.
"Enter"
We opened the door and walked inside. Sophia smiled when we walked in, but that smile soon faded as she realized there were only two of us.
"Report"
Harold nodded and began a detailed retailing of our mission. When he reached the part where Sanir and Cicely's life amulets broke, he choked up, but then collected himself and continued. When he explained how the rank 5 had caught us in a tracking spell, Sophia's eyes widened in shock.
"I was almost killed by his first attack and passed out, Magnus will have to continue from here"
I stepped forward and pulled the head out of my pack, unwrapped it, and placed it on Sophia's desk. She shot to her feet and knocked the chair she was sitting on to the ground. Her gaze moved from the severed head to me rapidly in disbelief. After a few moments, she calmed down.
"Unbelievable, you actually killed the vice general of the Palence army. This, this is huge. You've singlehandedly changed the entire war. Palence had one more rank 5 then us. It's the entire reason they advanced on us. A few years ago, this man advanced to rank 5. We've known since then that they would be coming. But now... Word needs to be sent to Monolith. Magnus, I'm sorry but I need you to take this head and a letter from me to Lord James. You're the fastest operative I have. Harold, go get some rest"
Harold saluted and walked out of the office. I sat down on a nearby chair and waited for Sophia to finish writing her letter. A few minutes later she walked over and handed it to.
"I really am sorry about this. I would love to give you a break, but this is too important"
I stood up and took the letter from her.
"Don't worry about it, I've got plenty of stamina left"
Even though I lost my chance to immediately catch up on my reading, I didn't mind helping Sophia out.
'I'm just gonna stop questioning it at this point'
I made my way out of the fortress and began running. Without anyone to hold me back, I could run at full speed. I practically flew through the mountain range, using [Sky Step] to avoid many of the time-consuming detours around cliffs. Once I was on flat ground, I speed up even more.
I reached Monolith in half a day. I presented my badge at the gate and was quickly let through. Once I arrived at the castle, I once more pulled out my badge.
"I have an urgent message for Lord James from the commander of the special forces"
"Right this way sir, the Lord will be alerted momentarily"
The guard led me to an audience room and left to get Lord James. He arrived after a few minutes and dismissed the guard.
"What happened?"
I handed him The letter and placed the wrapped head on a nearby table. His expression changed multiple times as he read the letter. After finishing it he unwrapped the severed head and stared at it. He was silent for a moment before turning to me.
"You've really done something extraordinary. When the king hears of this, he's going to want to see you. I really need to get to work, this is going to have major effects on the war. You can stay in the castle for as long as you like, I will have the servants prepare you a room"
'An audience with the king? That's going to be tedious'
"There is no need for that, I will be returning to the mountain base immediately"
"Whatever suits you"
I saluted Lord James, his military rank took precedent over his noble one, and left the room.
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Sophia was surprised when I walked back into her office barely a day after I had left it.
"I swear, this is the last time I'll be surprised by your crazy feats. Common sense just doesn't apply to you. You should get some rest. After the death of a rank 5, the army should be slowed down by many days, if not retreat completely. Oh, and you should come by tomorrow, you'll need to learn a bit of etiquette before your inevitable audience with the king"
Before I left, I asked Sophia a question.
"Where is the-"
She cut me off.
"Library? the third building to the left of the main barracks"
I nodded in thanks and left the office. As I walked to the library, I pondered on my battle with the vice general.
'While daggers are quick and deadly. They have some shortcomings, the biggest of which is range. In a battle where I can't get in close, I need another weapon'
While most people would stick to one or two similar weapons to master. I could reach an insane level of skill with a weapon within two weeks if I had enough books and manuals. When I reached the library, I surveyed the weapons manual section before coming to a decision.
'Might as well go from one extreme to another'
With that thought, I picked up a book titled [Basic Stances for Glaive Combat] and got to reading.
For the next week, I did nothing but read and practice with a glaive. I did try to learn etiquette from Sophia, but it was dull and time-consuming. Instead, I read a book on it and had it mastered by the next day. After using the light dagger for so long, it took a while to get used to the heavy polearm. It was a weapon mainly used for cutting, its long reach allowing for devastating attacks. A week of reading yielded me an A rank glaive mastery and a few other useful skills.
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[Giant's Endowment]
Rank A
The blood of the Giants runs through your veins, granting you extreme strength and resilience.
[Uncanny Eyesight]
Rank B
Your eyes have been imbued with ancient runes that boost your vision. You can see clearly for over a mile and regulate how you perceive distance.
[Light Discharge]
Rank C
Gather a large amount of light essence and release it in one blinding flash.
[Carnage Pinwheel]
Rank A
Combine fire, poison, and metal essence into a rotating storm of death.
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When I receive [Uncanny Eyesight] I looked in a mirror and did indeed see faint runic symbols set beneath my grey irises. If you were not right in front of me, they would be completely unnoticeable. [Carnage Pinwheel] was as crazy as the name implied. I went to a nearby valley to try it out after I received it. It used a huge amount of essence just to cast it once, about a sixth of my total reserves. A cloud of flame quickly gathered in front of me, followed by shards of metal and then streams of dense yellow-green gas. Somehow, the fire didn't burn the gas as all three began to combine and spin. After a few seconds, a massive disc of strangely colored flame appeared in front of me. I threw the disk as the valley wall and it sheared into it before exploding and releasing a hail of shrapnel and poisonous gas. It was a brutal AOE skill.
After my week of rest was over, Sophia called me into her office.
"The Army of Palence began moving again yesterday. Even without their vice general, It seems they are intent on continuing the war. It is estimated that it will take them six days to arrive at the border. They are moving slower than before and have established a more defensive formation. General Maneli and Lord James intend to fight this battle aggressively. The special forces will be moving out in full force in two days. We have been tasked with flanking the enemy army from multiple points and allowing our troops to sweeps through them. I will have you leading one of the strike groups, though you will not be responsible for command. Your only job is combat, I need your extreme strength overwhelming the enemy and demoralizing them. I am also promoting you to level 4, the highest I can bring you without being in the capital"
"What of the traitor?"
"Lord James and I convinced General Maneli to let me have spies observe Commander Xiao's every move. We will know the moment he does something strange. Prepare yourself, Magnus. The final battle is upon us"