Chapter 85 - Stand Proud

The muscular harpy climbed higher, her powerful wings beating the air as she circled ominously overhead. Her merciless gaze locked onto the dazed form of Phil, the pyromancer still reeling from her previous vicious attack. With a shrill screech, she tucked her leathery wings tight and went into a spiraling dive, wicked talons extending as she aimed to rip the young mage apart."Hyaaah!" Just before those razor-sharp claws could rend Phil's vulnerable flesh, a blur of motion slammed into the harpy's trajectory. Hjalmar had thrown his powerful frame into her path, disrupting the lethal strike.Man and monster tumbled across the hard-packed earth in a tangle of limbs before crashing through what remained of the courthouse's walls in an explosion of splinters and dust. The harpy disentangled herself first, rearing up to her full impressive height with wings unfurling in an intimidating display. She unleashed an ear-splitting screech that set the villagers' screams rising in pitch as they fled.From the roiling clouds of debris, Hjalmar emerged - buck naked but seemingly unperturbed by his state of undress. Clenched in his left fist was some kind of glass vial, which he promptly unstoppered and drained in one mighty gulp.Aden watched, eyes widening, as the big Fjordian's already pale skin seemed to redden and flush like a deep burn. Tendrils of heat-warped air shimmered around Hjalmar's massively muscled frame in the crisp autumn chill.The berserker stalked forward, each heavy footfall shaking the ground, his manhood swinging grotesquely with every purposeful stride. The weighty tension in the air overwhelmed any hint of comical absurdity from his nudity."The berserker," Corporal Knightly murmured in a tone edged with both awe and apprehension, stealing a sidelong glance at the pyromancer's transformed state."What's a berserker?" Aden asked distractedly, forcing his spear towards a harpy that had sought to take advantage of his momentary inattention.Hjalmar came to a halt before the snarling harpy, chest heaving, and let loose a mighty roar of challenge as he pounded his fists against his barrel-like torso. "Come on!""Skreeahh!" The harpy answered with her own guttural screech of fury. Challenge accepted."Let's finish this!" The words tore from Hjalmar in a gravelly bellow. His booted feet pounded the earth like thunderous war drums as he charged, rapidly closing the distance.Tensing her powerful haunches, the harpy launched herself forward in a blindingly fast countercharge. The two titans of battle met in a catastrophic collision at the street's center, the shockwave of their epic impact shuddering through the very foundations of the village.They instantly descended into a whirlwind of snapping jaws, ripping talons, and lightning-fast ferocious strikes - each combatant fighting with the singular intention to utterly destroy the other and decisively claim the victory that had eluded them in their previous duel amid the Wailing Widow's treacherous passes.Wingclaw managed to land some claws into Hjalmar's skin despite his stone-tonic effect. lacerated wounds can be seen from the distance where Aden fought off harpies while helping the villagers get out of the rubble to the Silent Forest."Everyone to the Silent forest! To the Silent forest! move move!" Ser Percy escorted the villagers while Aden helped the villagers get out of the basement cellar from the side trap door of the courthouse.Phil came out from the basement with a bottle of flame oil and a torch. he took a sip of the flame oil and doused fire to any harpy closing them, making a way for the villagers to run into the alleyways relatively safe from the harpies.several harpies who dared to close them caught on fire. their screech of pain was loud."Hey, the other forest is closer, why are we herding the villagers to the Silent forest? That forest is exactly on the opposite side of the village?" Aden asked Ser Percival while busy warding off the harpies from the villager's escape route.Ser Percival bashed his shield into a harpy closing at the nearest villagers before he answered, "Wyvern, Silent forest is wyvern's territory. Harpies won't dare to lay a single finger in that forest."Aden also saw the path to the Silent forest was alleyways between two walls of building which provided the villagers safety without extra supervision they could go straight to the hills between the village and the forest. The recon party should be able to focus on evacuating people from the cellar to the alleyway entry and let them find themselves in the Silent forest.a rough-looking senior knight emerged from the alleyways where the villagers went."Percy, how many villagers are left inside the cellar?" asked Captain Willem to Ser Percy."There are five more people, sir," the homeboy knight answered."Where is the Fjordian?" Captain Willem came to check on the last batch of the villager's escapees."Hjalmar is keeping the big harpy busy," Aden pointed out a half-destroyed house at the corner of the junction just two stone's throw away from them. He kept thrusting his spear toward the relentless incoming harpies."Help him if you can. hold the big harpy until we finish evacuating the last villagers." The Captain requested."Will do sir," Aden replied, though he doubt involving in a fight between juggernauts would make any difference. Or worse, he would be killed for standing between the two titans who try to kill each other.As the battle raged on, Hjalmar, the strong and wiry warrior from the north, found himself locked in a fierce struggle with a muscular harpy inside a ransacked house. The air was thick with the stench of blood and the sounds of chaos outside, but in this confined space, it was a battle of sheer strength and skill.Hjalmar got the upper hand, he deliberately picked the confined space to limit the harpy's agility. He drank the stone tonic which rendered the muscular harpy's razor claws ineffective.The harpy lunged at Hjalmar, her razor-sharp talons slashing through the air. Hjalmar, his muscles honed from years of training, swiftly sidestepped the attack, narrowly avoiding the deadly claws.The harpy landed a clean hit with her claw on Hjalmar's abdomen, although it couldn't rip it open she managed to cut him deep enough to make fresh blood flow out of his enhanced body.Wingclaw realized it, and Hjalmar noticed it. The stone tonic was not that formidable.Even with the stone tonic which made his body as hard as a rock, the harpy managed to make another cut wound.Wingclaw exploited this, she aimed her claws at the already open cut wounds in Hjalmar's body. The cut wounds got deeper and deeper.It was the battle of endurance.Hjalmar avoids her by landing another claw on his already open wounded cut. defending only made his already open wound get wider and deeper. His vision starting to blur. He was bleeding out. He realized he couldn't do it for long, he had to switch to offensive strategy.With a primal roar, he retaliated, his fists flying towards the harpy's face. He was aiming for her eyes, making her focus on his fists.The harpy, agile and quick, managed to evade most of Hjalmar's blows, but one powerful punch connected, sending her reeling backward. Seizing the opportunity, Hjalmar closed the distance between them, his hands wrapping around the harpy's neck in a vice-like grip.With every ounce of strength he possessed, Hjalmar applied a rear choke hold, his muscles straining against the harpy's resistance."Hraahhh!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, tightening up his grip on her neck.The harpy thrashed and clawed at Hjalmar's arms, her screeches of pain filling the air. But Hjalmar held on, his determination unwavering.As the harpy's struggles grew weaker, Hjalmar tightened his grip, his fingers digging into the harpy's flesh. With a final, desperate gasp, the harpy's body went limp, her neck broken under the relentless pressure. The life drained from her eyes, and she fell to the ground, motionless.Hjalmar released his hold, his chest heaving with ragged breaths as sweat poured down his brow. He surveyed the utter chaos around him - the once tidy home was now a shattered ruin bearing the violent scars of the fierce battle that had raged within its walls. Splintered furniture was strewn about, tapestries hung in tattered shreds, and the floors were stained crimson.In the center of the wreckage lay the muscular harpy, its grotesque body motionless - a testament to Hjalmar's preternatural strength and savage fighting skill. Her feathery wings were rent and torn, wicked talons bent at unnatural angles, and a thick pool of blackened blood slowly spread out from the mortal wounds he had inflicted.Outside, the sounds of the ongoing melee raged on - the clashes of steel, the shrieks of the harpies, the screams of the terrified villagers. But for a fleeting moment within these battered walls, an unnatural stillness fell.Hjalmar's eyelids grew impossibly heavy as his adrenaline finally ebbed, the weight of his exertions crashing over him like a mighty wave. He sank to one knee, his great sword clattering to the floor, as darkness closed in. His eyes slipped shut...... only to be jarred back to wakefulness as someone vigorously shook his body. A familiar voice called out, vaguely at first but growing sharper. "Hjalmar! Hjalmar, wake up!"Blinking, the Fjordian berserker's vision swam into focus on the concerned face of Aden looming over him. He looked down at himself, taking stock of his condition. The rents in his flesh from the harpy's wicked talons were closing, the bleeding already staunched by the regenerative powers of the stone tonic he had consumed."How long was I out?" Hjalmar rumbled, his voice still thick from the battle haze."Not long," Aden replied, helping the larger man to his feet and draping his own travel-stained mantle over Hjalmar's nude form. "I heard the commotion and came running."Hjalmar took a steadying breath, forcing the lingering cobwebs from his mind as his hunter's instincts kicked in once more. Though the immediate threat was eliminated, he knew the larger battle still raged beyond this temporary sanctuary."The others?" he asked gruffly."They've fallen back to the Silent Forest along with the last of the villagers," Aden informed him. "We're the last ones here. We need to move, and quickly - can you walk?"Flexing his calloused hands into white-knuckled fists, Hjalmar gave a curt nod. "Aye, I can manage."Sparing one last glance at the broken form of the felled harpy, the scruffy berserker stooped to reclaim his strength. With Aden leading the way, the pair slipped from the ruined home and melted into the shadowed alleyways, converging on the tree line where the rest of their embattled company awaited their arrival and the chance to regroup.<> Hjalmar uses Stone Tonic he hid inside his bum. a glass tube of liquid."Where do you hide it?" Oliver asked curiously."Don't ask something you don't want the answer boy.""..." Every adult was smiling. especially Ethan. He giggled and suppressed his laugh."Eww!" Oliver realize late. Aden was a bit happy because Oliver had his spirit to that cheerful boy again."You had that all this time and you only use it now? not in the wailing willow?" Aden confronted Hjalmar.