C52: War, Father-son bonding experience. Mass Slaughter
Word count = 2058 on 3/16/2024
Music rec = Graveyard by Neffex, Chorus got me on lock.
It is quite the impressive lineup on the Eastern Walls of Orario. The Freya familia has contributed most of her upper echelons to the defense of Orario. He had heard that most of them had volunteered with the Massive Boaz man, Ottar being the first. It seems News had somehow spread to the familia about Freya trying to relay the title of her Odr onto Axel and that has caused them to be more competitive and spirited since most of them are reliant/charmed by Freya. As such, they have fallen under a sort of delusion that she is reliant on them and enjoys this feeling. This is why they have become active again, they had been dungeoneering and protecting Rivira these past few weeks.
On the other hand, there are those who truly look to Freya as a Mother or Parental figure. This is why they joined the war to witness the difference between themselves and Axel. To see if he is worthy of her and if he can protect her. Axel understands that their stance here today is a prelude to the war game that would shed Freya of her chains.
Axel finds that Ottar and a few others are staring at him intensely, Axel himself pays it no head, if anything, he is feeling a bit cheeky at their attitude. Amongst all the executives of the Freya Familia there is: The quartet of Pallum, the Gulliver brothers, the elf Hedin Selland, the dark elf Hogni Ragnar and the cat person Allen Fromel. Amongst them, only the elf Hedin is missing from the wall lineup. It said he is stuck in Rivira, sharing the leadership position with the three Loki executives stuck down there too. Which is necessary as with Antares being free of its new seal and approaching Orario, the monsters have redoubled their offensive efforts against the city.
The Loki familia instead is a bit more spread out on the walls as they are fighting off any of the surface monster, Granted most of them are gathered on the eastern wall as well but they are in charge of defending and managing the various other adventurers as well the war armaments like catapults, magic cannons and various spellcasters.
Most adventurers are nervous but feel a bit more relaxed upon seeing the various Loki and Freya Familia members but seeing the freshly armored Axel walking past them to reach his own friends sends another sense of safety to them as news had spread about how it was him that discovered Antares and rescued the half fallen Artemis familia (goddess herself constitutes other half. Which means possibility of revival for the familia). And he did this while being level 3 and is now level 4 after breaking through the various monster hordes of the dungeon to reach and kill Amphisbaena. Such a person almost makes them feel giddy in how they might witness how he fights for their own inspiration.
Axel stops in between his party members Welf and Bell who are looking off into the distance. They can only see the dust cloud created by the marching scorpion army. Axel notices that Welf has gotten himself a few magic swords and Axel has upgraded their magic item tools when they came back from the dungeon too. Senji has not been able to finish the special metal that Axel had shared with Welf yet so the best rings and amulets they have is silver with a bit of mithril seeped in which has left very good results so far but is also a bit expensive for most customers.
In terms of business he had expanded the overall list of magic items he was selling to include a variety of spells but the 2nd most popular for common citizens is the Create water spell. They had been warned that it could cause regional dryness but it's still immensely popular.
Bell on the other hand has a new set of silver red armor on his body. It seems his previous set was broken in the dungeon but he had also reached level 3 the day before yesterday. Axel finds that Bell has something in cloth wrapped around his back. A strange aura being released from the wrapped item that reminds Axel of the arrow-like spear that Axel saw that Kyrene had when she was still moping around and on her way to Orario before she met Axel. He doesnt know what it is but trusts that Bell can handle it. Granted, even if it is some sort of divine weapon, it now enters the equation of whether the weapon would even be used before Axel kills Antares.
He clenches his fist and ends his ruminations as he spots the distant dust cloud stopping and slowly dispersing to reveal hundreds of scorpions as well as 3 giant scorpions further back with Antares at the very back.
"Well those are new. They must have been made recently as Astolfo gave us the details of her most recent scouting job" Axel says as he studies the 3 giant scorpions. Everyone else is instead focused on the gradually expanding number of scorpions as they gradually try to surround all of Orario. Finn Deimne of the Loki Familia has his thumb ache as he ponders whether to take the initiative to strike out and keep the war distant from Orario but something feels off and he wants to keep everyone here on the walls.
Axel himself ponders if he would even gain anymore stats from the regular scorpions, he mentally calls dibs on the bigger ones too as they are an appetizer before Antares.
Soon enough the first wave which seems to be roughly 400 scorpions rush to besiege the city. Finn proposes the usage of the artillery to thin out the number before the weaker members of the volunteering adventures work together to handle the rest.
Axel himself lets out a yawn as he learns that he and the other stronger members have nothing to do. He watches on as various rocks and magic bombs are shot out towards the scorpion hordes. Tens of them are killed in each strike and when their numbers dwindle to a simple 200, the adventurers begin to make their move. Axel decides to help them a bit and uses his reverse gravity magic to buff them all. It only lasts for 5 minutes but that is enough to give them an impression of what it would be like if they rose 2-3 levels as they slaughtered the monsters.
They soon return to the wall to rest a bit, Axel is warned against wasting his mind like that but he just rolls his eyes as he observes the situation. The second wave soon arrives with their numbers reaching over one thousand. Axel finds that if there are even more in subsequent waves then no matter how many weaker adventurers they throw at the horde, it won't be enough. So he takes the initiative.
Stepping upon the stone block before him on the wall, he turns to look at the Freya Familia members as he proclaims, "Alright Kiddos, Papa's going to go introduce the funeral service to those disease ridden dogs at yonder. You're welcome to join in but it's not really needed. But here, have this as a treat. Last ones there a rotten egg"
He boosts his group, the Loki familia and Freya familia executives with reverse gravity. He then gives a salute and falls off the wall. Activating his shades, he flips over and lands perfectly before dashing forward. At the same time, Ottar had leapt off the wall, unharmed by the fall damage as he charged into the oncoming horde. Because Ottar went straight and then gradually went down, he had a slight distance advantage over Axel who fell down and then sped forward. Granted, Axel overwhelms Ottar in speed and thus reaches and surpasses him soon enough as his parasyte shade merges with Asura for extra arms.
Thanks to the Radahn shade, the distance that all the shades can exist away from Axel is much greater now. The parasyte can now also make up part of it's stretched limbs with mind to create half mana constructs on itself that expand its range as it's 6 limbs cut hordes of scorpions into chunks…and that is just with one sideways swipe from it. The elf shade, and gluttony shade utilize Axels own techniques such as vortex punches to diminish the number as well. The only shade Axel doesnt summon is the red haired half giants due to it's giant size as it would be too overwhelming and he wants to test out his abilities after his level up.
The monster horde itself changes it's plan as it no longer spreads out but they rush forward toward Axel as the grudge of denying their parents desire to eat the goddess fills them with rage. Even if their death was meaningless, they still rushed forward to hit Axel even once. Ottar finally catches up, his sizable blade cutting up hundreds of scorpions at a time with his immense physical strength.
Ottar could very well catch up to Axel in terms of kill count but only if he was facing off against Axel himself but with his shades being counted as well, it becomes a different deal. The pressure on Ottar is plentiful as he calls out with a roar. "HIldis Vini". A golden light coats Ottar and his sword and with a swing of his blade. The golden light moves forwards to cut through a thousand scorpions as they explode into dust.
"Hey, that's pretty cool. Here ya go." Axel yells out due to all the noise of the fight. He moves to Ottar and gives him a dose of Reinforcement magic that boost his body and gear. Ottar himself feels as if he had just undergone beastification as his power is boosted further. Easily reaching level 9 in overall power if you include the gravity magic buff too.
The monster army no longer pursues wave tactics, they are all moving towards the duo. The Gulliver brothers and Allen and Hogni are rapidly catching up but they feel sweat on their backs due to the piles of monster cores left behind by all the scorpions killed.
Hogni is in the lead of the group with Allen a close second and one of the quartet is last. If Hedin was part of the group then he would have likely been last as a feeble mage.
Through the rampant slaughter of monsters, Finn and the rest of the adventurers on the wall have their sweat drop, some drop to their knees in hopelessness as they don't understand how a level 4 is meeting and exceeding the strongest adventurer in Orario. Some show signs of Revelry at the combat ability that Axel is showing off. On the other hand, a single distant figure on the city wall is wearing a cloak and grits their teeth in annoyance and anger (not the evil figure. different).
Many people witness how the scorpions would rapidly develop atrophy before being crushed by an invisible force which people assume is some sort of wind power but the sword princess who is the child of the wind spirit can tell that is not the case as she swings her blade to cut down another scorpion. She had also joined the battle after being buffed by Axel. her speed is no less than a ravaging tempest as the monsters are instantly killed.
Soon enough, Axel and Ottar reach the first giant scorpion child. Gazing up at the beast that towers over them. Axel is unperturbed while Ottar is analyzing the strength of the beast and finds that it is only slightly weaker than the Goliath which makes it easy prey as he uses his single magic spell to send out the golden sword beam to decapitate it immediately. This broke its core as well which killed it.
"As expected of my son" Ottar frowns at this bit of praise as he lightly glares at Axel before refocusing on the battle at hand.
The second giant soon comes charging in. It's maw open to try swallowing Axel. The person in question does the unthinkable.