Death: Genesis

The air surrounding Zeke rippled, but not with mana. Nor was it his Will making itself known. It was something else, something for which he had no label. Whatever it was, though, he couldn’t deny its profundity. Every ripple brought with it understanding. With every passing second, the world came further into focus, and he could see the battle so much more clearly.

“Battle intent,” Eveline said, her mental voice low and filled with awe.

Zeke barely heard her. Gripped by his newfound understanding, Zeke only saw his foe. The troll took a step back, recognizing that something had changed. He made to speak, but before the words came out, Zeke took a step forward and rejoined the battle.

He was no stranger to fighting. Indeed, ever since the very beginning, Zeke had been going from one battle to the next with very little in between. It was how he moved forward, so much so that it had once been quantified in his very status. The Framework had acknowledged his nature with his old martial path, which, even if it had been combined with Runecrafting to become the Path of Arcane Destruciton, still affected him greatly.

Yet, in all of his innumerable battles, Zeke had never felt such clarity of purpose. He’d never been beset by such efficiency of motion. That single step echoed in his mind, placed perfectly to maintain his balance so that he could attack or defend as the situation dictated.

But it was more than that.

Even just looking at the troll, who seemed on the verge of panic, Zeke could intuit the enemy’s actions. Even before the hulking monster swung his great axe at Zeke, he knew it was coming. He ducked before the motion even began, then launched a counterattack. The troll, unbalanced by the blow it had attempted to levy in Zeke’s direction, couldn’t avoid the hammer coming his way. It slammed into him, crushing its dense bones with a single attack.

The troll staggered backward, clutching his wounded chest. “What…”

The blow had been far from lethal, and even as the troll muttered that single word, his chest began to mend. But that was fine. Zeke could feel the advantage. He could practically taste the shift in momentum. He’d been fighting the troll for so long that he knew precisely how much danger it represented, and with that knowledge in hand, he could easily see the impending outcome.

All of that, from a single attack.

Zeke felt powerful. Nearly invincible, like he’d suddenly become a god of war.

With that heady sensation tingling through his body, Zeke took another step forward. The troll flinched away, but Zeke was more interested in the monster’s wound. It wasn’t healing nearly as quickly. In fact, the troll looked like it was under enormous pressure. Its movements seemed sluggish, and its eyes bulged, red-veined and quivering.

“It’s battle intent,” Eveline repeated. “I’ve only heard stories about it. I didn’t believe it was real.”

Zeke hefted his hammer and aimed a feint at the troll. The monster responded just as Zeke predicted, raising its axe to block. But Zeke aborted his attack, then snapped out a front kick that shattered the monster’s knee. A second later, he followed it up with a furious onslaught. Taken by surprise, the troll overlord couldn’t stem the turning tide, and with every attack, it fell further behind.

For his part, Zeke felt like his attacks were crisper and more controlled than ever. Yet, they’d lost none of their strength of savagery. Zeke didn’t gain any more attributes. Nor did he use any skills. But the difference was so dramatic that, suddenly, the fight that had been a stalemate only a few moments before, seemed entirely trivial.

Not that the troll overlord didn’t still pose a significant threat. He could still kill Zeek if he made any mistakes. Yet, Zeke knew that wasn’t going to happen. He could read the flow of battle in a way that would have been impossible only a few minutes before.

And the results were predictable.

Gradually, Zeke’s hammer found the troll’s flesh, over and over again. He broke bones. The sheer force behind his attacks split blue flesh, and within a minute, the overlord was on his last legs.

Zeke took advantage of his enemy’s flagging strength and finally ended the fight with an overhand blow that completely crushed the monster’s skull. The troll fell, collapsing bonelessly to the ground, but the once formidable creature didn’t immediately die. Instead, it took another three attacks – all in the space of a second – before Zeke felt an influx of kill energy.

It took another few moments before his intense focus faded, and his body sagged. His breath came in ragged gasps as he blinked, then looked around. The battlefield looked much as it had at the beginning of the fight, and a carpet of blue bodies decorated the valley’s floor. In the distance, he saw his companions, each one staring at him in awe.

“What was that?” he managed to ask Eveline.

“I told you.”

“I…I wasn’t…I heard you. I just…”

“Developing battle intent is only possible for the greatest and most experienced warriors. In martial circles, it is spoken of with intense reverence, and most people – even the ones who seek it – don’t truly believe it’s real,” Eveline explained.

“But what is it? I felt…invincible.”

“You weren’t,” she said. “It’s a culmination of all you’ve learned as a warrior.”

Zeke checked his status, but he didn’t see anything there.

“You wouldn’t. This isn’t a Framework thing,” Eveline explained. “This is something much older. It existed even in my old world. There were stories about warriors who developed it.”

Zeke found himself nodding. Even on Earth, there were athletes who were capable of exceeding their normal physical abilities through sheer experience and focus. In certain situations, they could push further than ever before. So, it wasn’t that surprising that something similar might exist for warriors.

“It’s focus,” Eveline said. “And adrenaline. Experience. The source isn’t important, but it is the pinnacle of martial achievement. I suspect that if you hadn’t already developed a martial path, the Framework would have recognized one after that fight.”

Zeke let [Titan] fade, then ran his hand through his sweaty hair. Was that what had happened during his battle against the warlord back in the troll caves? That was when he’d gotten his first martial path, and he’d experienced some level of insight back then. However, it was nothing compared to what he’d just felt.

Then again, he’d fought in countless battles since then, so maybe it made sense.

Whatever the case, Zeke quickly saw the benefits. It wasn’t often that he chose to fight without using skills, but if he ever found himself without access to abilities like [Unleash Momentum] or [Titan’s Smash], he would now be capable of holding his own.

Just as he was wrapping his mind around the concept of battle intent, the others joined him. Adara was the first to speak, asking, “What was that? You two were evenly matched for almost an hour’s worth of fighting. Then, you just ended it. Were you holding back the whole time?”

Zeke shook his head, then explained what had happened. Apparently, Adara had heard of battle intent as well, but she’d never considered the concept a real possibility. “It’s a myth meant to push warriors to use better technique,” she said. “Instead of just relying on skills.”

“Well, it seems pretty real to me,” Zeke said.

“Ak-toh is unlike anyone else,” Silik said. “He makes the impossible ordinary.”

“Eloquent as always,” Adara said with a roll of her eyes. She and the kobold general had gotten along famously from the very beginning. “I’m just saying that most people don’t think of battle intent as anything but a legend.”

“You must develop this further,” Pudge stated.

Zeke agreed with that assessment. The only problem was that there weren’t any enemies left. They’d completed the dungeon, as made abundantly clear when they saw the exit gate just behind where Zeke had fought the troll overlord.

But unlike previous dungeons, there was a chest standing in front of it. It reminded Zeke of the ones he’d received for completing quests in the past, though it had been quite some time since he’d experienced that kind of boon.

“It’s a one-time dungeon,” Eveline said.

“What?”

“This isn’t like the other dungeons you’ve completed,” she answered. “Those can be repeated. Some, like the centaur trial or the one Pudge completed can be run a single time by each person. However, they will still be available to others. Wild dungeons are sometimes different, and they can only be completed a single time. This dungeon will disappear the moment this group exits.”

“Damn,” Zeke muttered aloud. Then, he explained it to the rest of the group. After that, he asked Eveline, “And the chest?”

“Your reward. Think of it like completing a unique quest. No one else will be able to get this reward,” she said. “Sometimes, they’re extremely valuable.”

“I see,” Zeke said. In truth, he’d wondered why he’d not gotten a quest when entering the dungeon, but now it seemed that he had his answer. “I guess we should see what we got, then.”

With that, he headed up the slope until he reached the chest. Once there, he reached down and popped open the lid to reveal a small glass globe. Inside was what appeared to be a whirlwind. The second he touched it, he received a notification:

Congratulations. You have attained the Frozen Gale, satisfying one criterion of your quest, Multiple Attunements.

In addition, Zeke felt dense and destructive attuned mana rushing all around the globe. It eroded his hand, ripping the skin from his flesh and peeling muscle down to the bone. He pushed it into his spatial storage, then used [Hand of Divinity] to heal the damage.

“Damn, that hurt,” he muttered.

“You think?” Adara said with a shake of her head. “You just had your hand scoured to the bone, and you act as if you were stung by a bee.”

“I mean…it definitely hurt more than a bee sting,” he said.

“Wouldn’t know it by your reaction.”

“I fought bees once,” Pudge said suddenly. “Their stings were very painful.”

“I’m sure they were, buddy.”

“What was it?” asked Adara. “Not the bees. The globe.”

“Called the Frozen Gale. It…I think it’s a natural treasure,” he said. “It satisfied the terms of a quest. The only question is if it’s strong enough.”

Eveline appeared beside him, saying, “Oh, that’s definitely strong enough. With your endurance, anything that can damage you so quickly is very powerful. Check your quest, though.”

Zeke did, and he saw:

Quest: Multiple Attunements

Objective: Gather natural treasures representing the nine major classifications of mana.

Progress:

Fire 0/1

Ice: 1/1

Water: 0/1

Earth: 1/1

Wind: 1/1

Nature: 1/1

Arcane: 0/1

Poison: 1/1

Disease: 0/1

Life: 1/1

Death: 1/1

Indeed, the requirement for Wind had been satisfied. Now, all he needed were Disease, Arcane, and Fire natural treasures in order to complete the quest.

“And Faith,” she pointed out. “Corruption as well.”

“Right. And I still don’t even know where I might find either,” he said. Or the rest of them, if he was honest. Regardless, completion of the quest was not his first priority. If it happened, he would be happy that he could help the kobolds progress more easily, but if not, he felt they would be fine.

Whatever the case, now that they had gotten their reward, Zeke and his companions stepped out of the gate and back into the Muk’ti Plains. The moment they rematerialized in the real world, the gate collapsed in on itself and disappeared.

“Well, that sucks,” Zeke said with a shake of his head. He’d hoped to farm the dungeon for kill energy, both for himself and for his army, but now that was impossible.

But that was fine. They had an entire empire of enemies waiting for them in the Imperium, and it was high time they took the fight to the Radiant Host.