Chapter 71: Dying Grace.
"Ethan, from this moment onward, you’re a temporary member of the Round Table."
For a brief moment, Ethan simply stared at her.
"Me?" His voice cracked.
Andrea was promoting him in the middle of a crisis, to him, everything seemed surreal, but as far as Andrea was concerned, he was more than qualified, if not for his unserious personality and crazed obsession with Seris, he wouldn’t be just another awakened.
Masters of space were rare, but when you’re before one, then expect them to be a difficult opponent, Andrea understood how strong Ethan was even more than himself.
"You heard me." Andrea’s tone remained calm, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of room for discussion. "Naomi is missing. Vincent is missing. Until one of them returns, I need someone to fill that seat."
Ethan instinctively straightened his posture.
"What do you need me to do?"
Andrea pointed towards the distant horizon.
"I need eyes on the Eidolon army. Find out exactly where they are, how close they’ve gotten and, more importantly, how they managed to strike the ice caves with that level of precision. If they’ve somehow located this camp, then every second we waste here is another second they gain to storm the camp".
"I understand." Without another word, Ethan spun around and hurried into the camp. Only after taking several steps did another problem suddenly present itself.
He slowed to a stop. Being a member of the Round Table didn’t automatically come with followers.
He looked around the camp.
Old Man Bo had already begun throwing open the weapon stores while Awakened lined up to collect whatever they could wield. Others were reinforcing the makeshift barricades surrounding the camp. Every able-bodied Awakened already had something to do.
Nobody was waiting for Ethan’s orders, nobody even noticed him. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
Ordering random survivors around just because Andrea had temporarily promoted him would only create more confusion. Half of them barely knew who he was.
After a moment’s thought, he quietly nodded to himself.
"My ability is better suited for this anyway."
His body leaned forward, the space in front of him stretching into the distance.
Then Ethan suddenly vanished, pushed forward by the compressing space behind him.
Moments later, Ethan stopped so abruptly that the snow beneath his feet exploded outward.
His breathing caught in his throat.
"Impossible."
Less than ten kilometres away from the camp, Ethan stood alone, The Eidolon army matching like a tide.
At least a thousand towering white-furred Eidolons filled the frozen landscape as far as Ethan’s eyes could see. They stood shoulder to shoulder in flawless formation, every soldier facing exactly one direction.
The Eidolon chief stood at the helm, his giant axe in hand, next to him. The priest bowed reverently.
"This lowly slave has to admit, your wisdom is beyond any mortal being, by your grace we have successfully deceived these foul smelling creatures, and now we have the upper hand".
The chief puffed his chest proudly.
"Their one mistake is assuming that I will lie down and lick my wounds, that conniving wretch slaughtered hundreds of my slaves and destroyed all my siege weapons. I admit he caught me by surprise, there’s no shame in doing so...
The Chief’s eyes became even colder.
"They never expected that I would be decisive enough to feed my dead slaves to the living, and abandon my siege weapons. From there it was only a matter of patience, they sent their scouts to come count how many I had left and to tamper with my supplies, so I allowed them to, and focused on tailing them after they left proudly...
That’s how easy it was to pin them down, the fools underestimated me and my resolve".
The priest remained bowed for a moment longer before finally lifting his head. His goat-like eyes slowly swept across the frozen wasteland, carefully studying the endless white horizon.
Then he frowned.
"My Chief... It appears one of the foul smelling creatures has wandered rather close."
The Chief followed his gaze.
Far in the distance, a lone figure raced across the snow with impossible speed. The surrounding space stretched and compressed around him, allowing him to cover enormous distances with every step. Though he was still several kilometres away, he was moving directly towards the army without the slightest attempt at concealment.
The Chief’s lips curled into a savage grin.
"What remarkable timing."
The next moment, the frozen earth beneath him exploded.
His enormous body shot forward like a crimson cannonball, shattering the ice beneath every step. He didn’t bother weaving through the marching Eidolons. Those too slow to move were simply knocked aside by the violent shockwave trailing behind him.
As he charged, a dark red aura erupted from his body.
"Blood Rage."
His already towering frame expanded even further. Muscles swelled beneath thick fur as though they were about to tear through his skin. The white fur covering his body rapidly turned a deep crimson.
...
Ethan continued sprinting across the frozen plain.
The closer he drew, the more impossible the sight before him became.
"There are... this many?"
Not only had the Eidolon army recovered, they were marching in perfect formation. There wasn’t the slightest trace of panic or disorder.
Andrea needed this information immediately.
Without hesitating, Ethan twisted his body and prepared to retreat.
He expanded the space between himself and the distant camp, but before he could make the space behind him push his body forward.
A deafening explosion erupted.
The ground he’d occupied barely a heartbeat earlier disappeared beneath an enormous crater.
Ethan’s pupils contracted.
He immediately stretched the surrounding space again, his figure flashing dozens of metres backwards just as another crimson blur tore through where he’d been standing.
The chief slowly straightened, blood-red fur rippling in the freezing wind.
"My mercy to you is the grace of dying by my battle axe."
Ethan swallowed.
His ability allowed him to manipulate distance, making nearby locations seem impossibly far and distant ones suddenly close enough to reach in a single step. Against ordinary opponents, it made him almost impossible to catch.
The thing standing before him wasn’t ordinary.
The priest slammed one claw into the ground.
The frozen earth burst apart.
Before Ethan could widen the distance again, the crimson monster had already crossed it, forcing Ethan to throw himself sideways as the enormous battle axe crashed down beside him.
The impact split the ice for hundreds of metres.
Chunks of frozen earth erupted into the air while blood-red mist flooded the battlefield.
Ethan’s heart pounded violently.
The Chief slowly lifted his axe, the blood-red aura around him growing heavier as an eerie chuckle escaped from his throat.
"Today, you die".