Herald of Shalia 4

by Tamryn Tamer

  “Law! Law! Law!”

  He continued to move, attempting to ignore the pain as the smell of his own searing flesh filled his nostrils. He wasn’t sure where on his arm he’d gotten hit since the pain was permeating his entire body but he felt like it had started at his upper arm. He made a fist to make sure it was still attached and could feel the grip of his sword.

  “Fuck,” Frost growled as he tried to open his eyes. He could make out a shadow of Herald Law rushing toward him, his glowing sword twice as long as it was before he was blinded, explaining why he’d mistimed the dodge. Evading attacks was going to be more problematic if he didn’t know how far they were.

  “Are you still having fun Frost?” Herald Law snarled as he attempted to slice Frost again. “Do you still think it’s funny to antagonize a real herald?”

  “Definitely not having fun,” Frost panted as he attempted to regain his composure. Herald Law’s shield and sword were problematic but his attack pattern was similar to what it was before. He was using the standard one-handed sword attacks, although he could hardly say it was a standard one-handed sword. He sensed Herald Law stop in the middle of the field and carefully squinted.

  It was like he’d taught the villagers, certain abilities had synergies. Evasion was an S ranked ability on its own but with anatomy it could become even better since you could avoid receiving blows to vital organs. With various magical and weapon abilities, you could learn the attack patterns making evading them even stronger. Frost mastered enough combat abilities where normal one-handed weapon attacks weren’t going to be easy to land against him.

  “Law! Law! Law!” the chanting grew louder as an enormous inferno formed at the tip of the blade. Flaming tendrils of the blade began circling the inferno, encasing it within themselves until a burning orb of light stood on the tip of the blade.

  “Raarrg!” Herald Law swung the blade, sending the massive burning orb at him faster than he would have believed possible given its size.

  Normal one-handed weapon attacks weren’t going to be easy to land against him but spells he’d never seen and couldn’t anticipate were completely different.

  “Fkk…” Frost growled through clenched teeth as he summoned a dozen massive barriers, angling them upward. He replaced the dozen with another and another, barely managing to replace them as the previous barriers cracked until he found himself unable to stop the fireball any longer. “Shtt…”

  Frost immediately infused his armor with every ounce of mental strength he could muster, pushing the magical defense of his regalia far past its capacity as the flare crashed against him. Frost dropped to his knees as he felt nearly every piece of his gear shatter as the inferno dissipated.

  “Law!” the soldiers cheered

  “Fuck me,” Frost panted as he climbed back up, his legs shaking as he kicked off his shredded boots and tossed off his gauntlets, leaving him in tattered shirt and pants. “I’ll admit…I’ve been doing this wrong.”

  Frost realized he was too used to hunting monsters. With monsters there were patterns to observe and weaknesses to spot. It was only a matter of time before he spotted a vulnerability and capitalized on it. People were different in that they could change their patterns based on new information. Heralds were steps beyond that.

  Herald Law knew that Frost couldn’t break through his armor so he was able to dedicate himself to a pure unapologetic offense. He didn’t need to think about anything but killing Frost because there was no way that Frost could kill him. By avoiding a head to head fight while searching for a vulnerability he gave Herald Law exactly what he wanted.

  “Law! Law! Law!” the soldiers continued to chant. Frost wished they would just shut their mouths already. He got it, he was the villain and Herald Law was the gold-clad hero.

  “Right,” Frost said, chuckling to himself as he stared at Herald Law. The golden-armored bastard prepared to finish him with his flaming sword.

  “Goodbye,” Herald Law said, grinning as he rushed toward him at full speed.

  Frost pulled his orcish greatsword from his satchel and rushed to meet Herald Law, sidestepping his burning blade while delivering a strike. He quickly closed his eyes as the blade glanced off the kite shield, igniting in a series of small blinding explosions. He reopened them in time to dodge Herald Law’s overhead slash and counter by thrusting his sword into the herald’s golden chest plate.

  “Don’t you understand yet?” Herald Law laughed as the sword bounced off. “You can’t hurt me!”

  “Enchantments have limits!” Frost snapped, as he stayed in close, unleashing a series of strikes, each one glancing off the impenetrable barrier provided by Herald Law’s armor. “I just have to outlast them!”

  “Idiot,” Herald Law growled as Frost continued his onslaught.

  Two single-handed weapons had Frost on the defensive but he knew every combination of attacks that Herald Law would resort to using a sword and a shield. He was level ten in both and that knowledge carried over to dodging and parrying and combined with the knowledge of his own attack pattern. He knew how Herald Law was going to react before the herald did.

  “Enough!” Herald Law roared as he swung his sword around in a circle to create some distance but Frost wouldn’t let him. The moment the rotation finished Frost was back in close where the extra length of his fiery greatsword made it difficult to maneuver. “This is pointless!”

  Frost panted as he felt his energy depleting faster than Herald Law’s, losing any previous advantage he thought he had over the crusader.

  “You…will…never…” Herald Law smashed his shield against Frost, sending him several yards backward before following up with an overhead slash. “Defeat me!”

  “Law! Law! Law!” The chanting continued as Herald Law nearly took off Frost’s arm.

  Frost slowly began to realize that even if he managed to break the armor, he would exhaust himself in the process. He could probably break the barrier, but defeating Herald Law after that wasn’t a likely outcome. He needed an attack so powerful that he would not only shatter the barrier, but finish Herald Law in the process.

  He continued meeting Herald Law’s attacks head-on, his skin practically on fire due to his proximity to that burning blade. Nothing in his combat abilities would be powerful enough to break a barrier and kill Herald Law. Even if he were to fill his sword with every ounce of his strength there was no assurance that Herald Law’s barrier wouldn’t absorb most of it, allowing the herald to easily absorb the rest himself.

  Magically he was in an even worse situation. Herald Law had several pieces of equipment that granted massive resistances and immunities to different types of magic on top of the barriers.

  Frost needed something more powerful, like a cannon, except even stronger like one of the weapons from his world able to level a city in a single blast. He could send chunks of earth flying at Herald Law at a hundred miles per hour all day and they wouldn’t break the barrier. Hell, his strikes were so fast that they broke the sound barrier but his blade still didn’t have enough force. He needed something even more ludicrous.

  “I’ll admit that you’ve put up quite a fight,” Herald Law growled as Frost dodged his attack. “If not for the power of my enchantments I might have been in trouble. But these were created using pure magical essence. It would take an army to break them!”

  Magical essence. Frost leaped backward and continued moving until he was far outside of the herald’s striking distance. The armored crusader didn’t bother chasing as he watched Frost retreat.

  “Running away?” Herald Law laughed while raising his arms in the air victoriously. “I would expect nothing less from a coward!”

  “Law! Law! Law!” the soldiers chanted.

  He wondered if it would work. Essences were concentrated magic power according to Cassia. Every essence could potentially create hundreds of barriers which explained why he couldn’t break through. They were basically concentrated power and what he needed was power. He reached into hi
s satchel and pulled out the earth essence, tossing his orcish greatsword away as he gripped it with both of his hands.

  He had an idea for a weapon from his world that might be able to break through the barriers, but he wondered if it would work as he quickly changed his class to elementalist, increasing his magical control.

  “What?” Herald Law laughed as he stared at Frost, holding the glowing orb in his hand. “Are you an enchanter now? Are you sure you have time for that?”

  Frost activated the drain spell and suddenly became aware of the unbelievable power he was holding in his hands. His fingertips were practically on fire as they began pulling the energy from the orb, immediately filling his mental strength beyond its capacity as it tore him apart. There was so much power that his body started to immediately dispel it, causing the air around him to crackle with electricity.

  “Fool,” Herald Law said, raising his sword to the sky as another fiery globe began to form. “How many times do I have to tell you that my barriers are unbreakable.”

  As Frost felt the power of a single essence course through him, he understood why the barriers were so powerful. The essence he was holding had an immeasurable amount of magic power within it. Even his body was unable to hold onto the energy as it surged through him. It felt as though the orb was going to explode in his hands any second but somehow remained stable as he continued to absorb every ounce of power.

  He had power but he just needed a way to direct it. If he were to release it on its own, it’d go everywhere. He needed a way to send a single powerful blast right at Herald Law in an instant.

  Frost searched the earth for metals, using the essence to magnify his powers until he found what he was looking for. Within seconds, a dozen copper rods shot forth from the ground, all pointing toward Herald Law as Frost stood at their center holding the emerald gem. The crackling air around him turned into legitimate electricity as lightning began to bounce between the rods, surging between them as Frost continued to drain the last of the energy from the essence.

  “Time’s up,” Herald Law said as he launched his fireball at Frost.

  “That’s right,” Frost said as he released all of the energy he’d gathered at once.

  The lightning tore through his body as his flesh burned and a powerful surge began at the base of the copper rods. A deafening blast echoed through the air as the orichalcum core of the essence launched itself faster than the speed of sound right at Herald Law, a trail of lightning following behind.

  The enormous fiery orb that Herald Law sent toward him dissipated in a cloud smoke as the chunk of orichalcum blast through it.

  “How’s that?” Frost panted as he looked across the field at the trench created by the force of the blast. At the end of the trench the herald stood in shattered armor with a hole half the size of a bowling ball in his shoulder, nothing in his hand as his arm dangled from a strand of flesh as if an accessory.

  The golden-haired crusader collapsed to his knees, spasming uncontrollably as he attempted to get back up.

  “N-no,” he stammered as he attempted to stand, only to fall down again. “N-n-no...”

  “Y-y-yes,” Frost said mockingly, glancing down at the ground. He picked one of Herald Law’s small one-handed axes and made his way toward the golden-eyed bastard.

  He didn’t feel great himself, he reeked of charred flesh and could see the lightning burns up and down his arms. He could only imagine what the rest of him looked like but his physical strength was still there, suggesting the damage was superficial. All that was left was to finish the job.

  “Y-you c-c-can’t,” Herald Law said, his body twitching as if he were being shocked every two seconds.

  “Oh, I can,” Frost said, arriving in front of the kneeling Herald. Magnus looked up at him, his eyes filled with terror as he realized that the impossible had happened. He lost. “Just like you planned on doing to me.”

  “That’s enough!” Brynn shouted as she rode into the arena on her white horse. “You can’t kill him!

  CHAPTER 26

  Frost looked around and every royal guard was preparing to draw their weapons as Brynn approached on horseback and she wasn’t the only one rushing onto the battlefield. He glanced back at Filan to see Queen Valencia being escorted by Sir Isaac and Sir Adamus, all on horseback.

  The elves looked irritated as they stayed behind, suggesting that Sir Isaac and Sir Adamus commanded it to keep them safe.

  “H-ha-ha-h-ha,” Herald Law laughed while staring at the ground. “My l-little s-s-songb-bird.”

  Brynn arrived just before Queen Valencia and the others and quickly dismounted from her horse, rushing over to them. She was smiling.

  “Why can’t I kill him?” Frost asked while playfully spinning the golden axe in his hand. “Those were the terms of the duel.”

  “If you kill him my father will send an army,” Brynn said. “Even if he lost the duel, the people will not tolerate the Herald of Ziralia being executed by you on Ziran soil. If you kill him, my father will have no choice but to send a real army here to avenge him.”

  “She’s right,” Queen Valencia said as Sir Isaac helped her from her horse. “You’ve won the duel. He’s unable to stand and clearly can’t fight. If you were to kill him now it would be considered murder.”

  “So,” Frost laughed. “This has been rigged from the start. He’s permitted to kill me but I’m not permitted to kill him.”

  “No,” Queen Valencia said. “Everybody has witnessed the outcome of the fight. He will withdraw and…’

  “The terms of the fight were our lives,” Frost said coldly before coughing up a little blood. “So much for the damage being purely cosmetic,” he mumbled to himself before glancing at Brynn. “If I don’t kill him, he’ll just come back and…”

  “Handsome,” Brynn shook her head while reaching out for his arm. Frost quickly pulled it away causing the petite bard to step back.

  “Don’t you fucking touch me you,” Frost snapped bitterly. “Not after the trouble you caused.”

  “H-handsome?” Herald Law mumbled while staring at her. “B-brynn?”

  “Yes,” Brynn said, smiling as she turned her attention to Herald Law. “Handsome. It’s what I call him. It’s sort of like how you call me your little songbird. Except songbird implies that I should live in a cage and sing songs for my owner’s amusement. I call him handsome, or sexy, or my love, because those are apt descriptors for my husband.”

  “What?” Herald Law panted as his spasming started to subside. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m so relieved that I don’t have to pretend anymore,” Brynn let out a relieved sigh as her lips formed a malevolent smile. “I hate you Magnus. I’ve always hated you for as long as I can remember.”

  “No,” Herald Law said, shaking his head slowly. “You love me. You told me.”

  “No,” Brynn laughed while grabbing his hair, forcing him to look at her. “You disgust me. The way you stared at me ever since I was a little girl. I always wondered how you could look at me like that despite being responsible for my parent’s deaths.”

  “Wait,” Herald Law’s eyes went wide with terror. “How do you…”

  “How do I know that?” Brynn asked, shoving Herald Law to the ground as he struggled to stand back up. “Queen Henrietta informed me. And then she taught me what it would take if I wanted to get revenge. She told me all about how my father was one of your royal guards, how you sent him off on a dangerous mission that you knew he wouldn’t come back from, and how you took my mother by force when he was gone.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” Herald Law said. “She loved me…”

  “Really?” Brynn said, pulling the herald’s Truthseeker Ring from her pocket. “Then say it while holding this.”

  “Brynn,” Herald Law shook his head, refusing to take the ring. “Wait, the ring! You were holding it when you said you were loyal to me!”

  “Are you sure? Let’s test it,” Brynn said holding up the ring. �
�I am loyal to Ziralia.”

  “See!” he said as the ring glowed green.

  “I am loyal to Herald Law,” Brynn said, causing the glow of the ring to turn red. “Funny how that works, isn’t it? I was honestly really worried you would notice that I was never actually answering your questions directly. But people have a tendency to hear what they want to believe, don’t they?”

  “No,” he said, suddenly realizing that Brynn had been lying to him. “Was everything a lie?”

  “Mostly,” Brynn said cheerfully. “Want to know one of my favorites? I have not slept with one demihuman. I have slept with one demihuman.”

  “What?” he said, clearly confused by the continual green glow.

  “Both statements are true,” Brynn said smugly. “I have not slept with one demihuman because I’ve slept with far more than one demihuman and I have slept with one demihuman.”

  “No, no, no,” he said shaking his head in denial. “You couldn’t have…wait…” he began chuckling. “Wait, why are you telling me this? Do you think you’ve won? It’s like you said! He can’t kill me without your father running him down like a dog! So, you’re going to let me go and now I’ll know…”

  “Magnus,” Brynn chuckled while shaking her head. She knelt down in front of the wounded man and dug her fingers into his open wound as he let out a guttural cry. “Do you really think I arranged for all of this just to tell you?”

  “Gah,” he said, falling to the ground in pain as Brynn wiped her bloody fingers on her white dress. “You…”

  “You arranged all of this?” Queen Valencia asked. “But how? How did you get Elias…”

  “That wasn’t me,” Brynn said. “That was just good fortune. But that first night at the party, when I saw Herald Law and the jealousy in his eyes, I knew his real reason for coming to Blackwater. He just couldn’t handle that his little songbird belonged to somebody else. From the moment I saw him I was setting the stage to push him over the edge and drive him to attack my husband.”