Chapter 114

Lykan

Other Empires’ War

Seeing the battle unfold before him so many different emotions and thoughts went through Lykan’s mind. The first and most glaring thought was that the battle was a massacre, an overwhelming force encircled and struck at a fortified hilltop community. The soldiers on the high ground had the benefit of having rifles and artillery, while the invading forces had magic.

A storm of devastation was building far to the west, after a long moment Lykan realized that he had gone west in his daze filled mind. A quick spin about let him realize that the Ippian Ocean lay to his right. A sign that he had gone farther than he expected. He was on the western continent, a land so close to Lykan’s home that most assumed they were the same continent. Still the western continent was a melting pot of races and cultures. Realizing where he was, Lykan gave a second glance to the two warring armies and realized that this was likely a war brought about by racial hatreds.

The warriors desperately defending their settlement were smaller in stature, but had intricate metal working skills as was evident by the safety of their settlement. Still the invading force were green-skinned warriors. While Lykan had never seen an orc before, he knew from their records and descriptions what they looked like. Also there were archers who were able to fire arrows from exceedingly long distances, farther than one would expect humans to be able to fire. This spoke not only to the strength of the user, but the craftsmanship of the bows that were being used.

Seeing the bows in use and their effectiveness against the high walls of the settlement, Lykan couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic. At one time he too had an orcish war bow, one that was given as a reward for valorous actions on the battlefield, in what felt like a lifetime ago.

Over seven years had passed since Lykan last felt the snap of a bow-string release from his fingers. Just seeing the bows in use below caused a faint nostalgic muscle-memory to come to the surface of his mind. His Bow Mastery was only at the Expert rank and had been so for quite a while. While Lykan had many skills that he had been improving over the years, Bow Mastery was sadly one of the few he didn’t.

Looking at it objectively the rationale for why he stopped was apparent, he was growing tired of war. Tired of fighting off monsters, of dealing with the unknown war against the Titans and their spawn. Looking at the battle below he instinctively gripped his walking stick that doubled as a Bo-Staff. He was glad his latest weapon was one that could be both lethal and non-lethal at the same time. One where he chose if death was required. While he still channeled his qi into the staff, and most fights that were fought were to the death. He remembered how he only incapacitated Nayali’s dragon. How he was able to defend himself against Nayali’s blows without having to kill.

Now he looked down from above, like a descending god made corporeal. He watched the battle and realized he had no way of knowing which side to fight for. Looking at the settlement it was clear that only men lined the walls. A quick look around showed that the women and children were taking refuge in the grand Temple at the center of the village.

Seeing that, Lykan nodded to himself. While he had no intention on fighting in a battle he clearly had no knowledge of. He could protect women and children and not feel too bad about his choice. Even if the dwarfs had somehow caused this whole mess, the blame should not befall the children. Children who would need role models to guide them to the next way.

He was surprised to see that many of the women who went to the temple were armed. While firearms were not allowed within the building, battle axes and giant swords were. Normally that might be enough to prevent any mischief from happening on sacred grounds, but given the number of invaders such a showing would only prove a minor inconvenience at best.

Resolute in his mental standing that he would only protect the women and children of the village from complete devastation, Lykan dropped down from the sky and took up roost on one of the disused towers of the temple. From there he saw all the city gates, he saw the front entrance to the temple and he could see how the warriors on the wall slowly got picked off one by one.

During this time Lykan was not idle. He chose this time to meditate and weave the qi within his body into thick braided strands that would strengthen his muscles and bones. This was a long continuous process that took countless times of threading, then re-threading to gain the best control over his process. As always he started with his spine, then his skull, then the rest of his bones. From there he strengthened his muscles, letting them get densely woven in layers upon layers of support and strength. So focused was he on just learning to strengthen his body, that he hadn’t focused on improving his various cores.

In fact given his rapid rate of growth at first, to how he had mostly stagnated he hadn’t learned much over the last seven years. He could still manipulate the temperature of different objects, and the world around him. He could still fly, or have his whole body and everything he carried appear to be invisible. He could even strengthen not only his fists and feet with qi on demand. He could channel qi into any object he touched, imbuing the object with different properties from increased strength to increased heat.

In all hey only found one other operational Titan labyrinth that had a working training room, though he couldn’t get many of the sequences to work properly. Mostly he just focused on improving the basics and realized that if he wanted to improve he needed to focus on improving his body and muscles first. Then he could move on to stronger cores, which would invariably lead to more advanced capabilities with combat.

Still he was tired of combat. Or at least that was what he told himself, even though he effectively spent most waking moments improving his body so that should he need to enter combat he would be at peak condition. He was in the process of weaving together a fifth layer of qi into his muscles. One layer, while effective couldn’t be entirely effective, so he found that alternating the direction of the braids helped. Not only did it make it tougher for random claws or strikes to pierce his skin, but the changing direction of the weaves also allowed more torque with his muscles. While he hadn’t received a notice from the gods about his progress, he could feel the changes from his enhanced muscles. The sheer force he was able to generate from compacting, then releasing his muscles were astounding.

His efforts of course were nothing compared to true Titan flesh and bones. In each of the Labyrinths he entered he always managed to find one skeleton of the great hunters. A skeleton that despite being ravaged by time remained relatively uniform. In some cases, had Lykan not been able to tell that there were no cores in the bodies, that the bodies had used every last shred of ambient qi in their bodies, he would swear the monsters would come back. Part of him almost wondered if they could come back. He hypothesized that some of the most powerful could regenerate their wounds if given enough access to ambient qi. Fortunately Lykan never found such a creature in the lairs he visited, but the more he saw of the great monsters, the more he was certain they could.

Lykan once again thought about what he always did, when he thought about the true menace that the Titan’s provided. Looking at the battle going on right now, one where countless people and forces from both sides of the battle would face. He saw them and thought about just how meaningless the entire thing was.

A great storm bellowed and boomed with thunder claps overhead. The storm circled overhead and began targeting the warriors still manning the walls to their last breath. A quick glance from Lykan and a minor expulsion of mana caused a hole to rip apart the storm, right over top of the temple. To many who were watching from the walls this was seen as a sign of hope, that their gods had not abandoned them in their moment of need.

Had they known the truth, that Lykan had taken a momentary break from his travels to offer protection to the women and children only many might have changed their minds by seeking refuge within the temple with their loved ones. As it was, no one knew of such events. Most mortals who could singlehandedly change the course of a battle were well known by this point, many having either joined a major faction or created their own. Of all the powerful denizens of the two sister continents, the only warrior of the third echelon or higher that was not part of a major faction was Lykan.

Lykan for his part was well on his way through the fourth echelon, while there was no difference realistically between the third and fourth echelons. The power level held by Lykan was far greater than any other fourth echelon warrior. In fact, save for a few advancements in his Magical Abilities and he would already be able to take his second evolution. Then throw in on top of the normal evolution offered by the gods, one then factored into account that Lykan was tempering his body in the way the Titans had and it would be clear to see that anyone would want Lykan for their forces.

Lykan having spent time in the military as a low-ranked officer knew well the limitations of humans, and while orcs were often seen as stronger and more stably built than others. The fact still remained that they were not on the same level as Lykan.

All this is to say that when the city walls finally broke after four days of relentless fighting, Lykan descended from his perch to stand as the lone sentry for the Temple. While he did not care about the battle, nor why these two forces had been fighting in the first place, he could not stomach the idea of innocent children dying due to war.

Realizing it was his moment to stand up for what he believed in, he finally let himself appear.

Orcs that had been busily running about the streets, opening other gates and killing off every soldier they could find stopped when they saw Lykan appear out of nowhere.

“What?” One orc that was clearly just a member of the squad on clean up duty said. But his question was caught short as the other members of his team charged forward at Lykan.

Lykan for his part looked relaxed as five fully dressed and armored orc warriors charged him. From their looks they were likely scouts, as the armor they had on was minimal. Cries could be heard from children within the temple behind him. Children that had taken to staring out the windows as the only form of reprieve from being held captive within the temple while their parents lay down their lives to protect them.

Now it was Lykan’s turn to fulfill the dying wish of their parents, of the valiant warriors who held out to the last moment to stop the invasion. The fact that this city would be taken was apparent from when Lykan first saw the skirmish from the air nearly a week ago.

The first Orc darted in, slightly faster than his brethren. He moved and made to stab at the unarmored human before him. A human who only brought a large stick to fight. Why a human of all races was here was beyond him. All that he cared about was getting the kill. He still needed to prove himself in battle, to bloody his hands in battle. This human was as good of a target as any to prove himself worthy of reproducing the next generation of children. Yet, when he lunged forward, his sword that had been on a direct collision course with the unarmored human’s torso moved away. In fact his whole body began veering to the left, even though he had no recollection for how the world started spinning that way. He contemplated the sudden change in direction for half a second, before a thwap, struck him on the side of the neck and then the world went dark.

His brothers in arms were not thrown off in the slightest by the sudden movement of the warrior in front of the door to the temple, as they too charged forward. Each receiving quick decisive blows to the back of the head and neck.

Once it was all said and done, five orc scouts an entire squad lay motionless on the ground. Their heads bashed in, as dark blood and cream-colored brain fluids merged together on the street.

Then as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The warrior once again took up a relaxed position in front of the temple as he waited the next wave of attackers.

The next time two squads converged on Lykan at once. In all this only made dealing with them easier for Lykan as their numbers forced them to huddle together. Then with one massive swing of his glowing qi-infused staff, Lykan struck many opponents all at once. Thump, thump, thump, tink.

The last strike was to an armored helmet, one that sounded like a bell denoting the hour. Knowing that for the first few attacks Lykan would have to be deadly, to prove there was no use to get past him Lykan held nothing back. His speed and power on full display as he made short work of the warriors.

When the second wave was over, and both additional squads were eliminated Lykan took a calming breath. Then with the swipe of his staff pushed the bodies of fallen enemies away from him. The bodies spread out in an arc that would serve as a natural buffer and a warning to any who would dare come.

By now more squads were entering the streets, as close to a full regiment of forces had entered the city. Still Lykan stood, a pillar of death silent and unwavering.

Shink.

An arrow flew at speed to Lykan. From the familiar sound alone Lykan knew the arrow was fired from an Orcish war bow. The speed and force of such an arrow would be enough to cave in the chest of most targets, whether they wore armor or not. As for Lykan, he just stood there and felt his body moving on instinct before he could even register what he was doing.

Like a snake striking, he moved and lunged out his free hand for the arrow snatching it from midair.

Groan.

Then holding the arrow in one hand, he bent the iron arrow causing it to groan loudly in the streets. Once the arrow was bent back on itself he discarded the piece to the side. Letting it slide to one of the bodies he had pushed away not moments ago.

There was a tense moment as more and more orcs lined up on the streets. Lykan couldn’t help but feel impressed by the professionalism of the orcish warriors, how they immediately fell into rank and file formations.

To his disappointment the archers started to make a line to fire directly on Lykan. A quick glance behind him showed that should the archers fire, they wouldn’t just hit Lykan, but also the temple and many of the kids who were even now being dragged away from the windows by the few remaining adults. Realizing he had to do something, he looked at the slightly elevated road. He saw the way the roads had been made to channel off water run off underneath. His enhanced Mental Mapping skill also showed him the complete layout of underground sewers that ran throughout the village. Some to channel rain water to a reservoir, others to move waste safely away from the village. So many tunnels and paths were shown in Lykan’s mind that he almost had too much information to deal with. Fortunately Lykan had an impressive mind, and his many years exploring labyrinths had helped to prepare him for this one moment.

The fact that he could escape this encounter was apparent to him. The only problem was he had made a mental task to himself to protect the children. To leave now after effectively stopping a dozen or so soldiers would be a waste. That was why Lykan chose to do what he did.

Pulling deep from the ambient mana cores that he kept on his person he siphoned off the qi. Then he channeled an entire cores worth of qi into his staff. An entire core, the remainder of life from a powerful creature whose only sign that they even existed was this core. The only sign of how powerful the creature that produced this core could only be felt by the residual power left as an echo of the former beast’s glory. Glory that made Lykan’s staff glow white. Glory that caused the wind to blow, as even the heavens took notice of its sudden appearance on the lands.

Glory that came crashing down with a deafening BOOM! As Lykan brought down his staff to the ground. There was a slight pause as the world watched in shock as nothing seemed to happen at first. The orcs who had gathered could feel the ground rumbling beneath their feet, but it took a moment for the sheer scale and magnitude of that one strike to register in their minds.

The event that would forever be recorded over and over throughout history happened on this day. And it started with a simple crack.