Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 194 - Grim Resolution

I wasn't absolutely certain what I was looking at was what I feared, but even with the slightest off chance it was, I needed to stop it now.

When enough Demons got together and had sufficient power, they could force a convergence. Doing so would link our planet, where the Ritual took place, to a Demonic planet through a permanent portal, like I saw now.

It would let endless hordes of Demons through with virtually no way to stop them. It was like trying to swim upriver while also building a dam. To have any chance of closing the portal, you would need to fight through an endless tide of Demons to get there.

Which was virtually impossible without severely out-leveling them or out-numbering them.

Which we didn't on both accounts.

If we failed, the only recourse would be abandoning the continent. Demons could swim, but they wouldn't be taking over the world anytime soon with the amount of water we had. Still, everyone in North and South America were screwed.

The South Americans could maybe hold them off at Panama if they were warned and had sufficient time to prepare, but even then, with endless bodies of Demons to throw at the problem?

None of that mattered to me, though, as everyone I cared about was a month's travel away. They would be the first to fall if I let the portal finish. Who cared if it took the Demons years to take over the continent, everyone I cared for would already be dead.

There was no running from this fight.

Not that I could, either. With the wounds adding up and the blood leaking out of me, I wouldn't get very far if I turned tail and ran. Not that I would do that. Even thinking of doing that caused my body displeasure.

Like my Anchor would crack if I went through with running away.

As soon as my mind comprehended what was at stake, I threw everything I had at the Evolved Demon in charge of the Formation. I wasn't sure killing it would destabilize the portal but it was a good start.

[Ice Arrow] after [Ice Arrow] flew at the wretched thing but all they did was phase through its body in a puff of smoke. Somehow, the Demon was turning insubstantial and my Ice was flying straight through without doing any damage.

Immediately, I looked for any other signs of another illusion but I couldn't find any. Everything my senses were telling me was that the Evolved Demon was where my eyes saw him to be.

I had no wish to begin discourse with something like that and immediately switched to a new avenue of attack.

Since [Ice Arrows] didn't do anything, I dumped mana into [Sweeping Snow] and a deluge of white crashed down on where the Demon stood. A mixture of naturally made snow from the area along with conjured snow from the skill impacted the ground with a dull thud.

It was more snow than I had ever sent at one monster and it packed quite a bit of force. The collective weight could have staggered even Jonathan, let alone the Demon.

Still, when the white cleared and I stopped sending mana into the skill, the Demon remained unharmed in the same spot as before. Like the mountain of sharp snow I dropped on him did nothing.

During this time, the surrounding Demons weren't idle either, so as I was assaulting who the System claimed was Goranth, my hammer was used to fend them off.

Seeing that the Demon was again unharmed, I began to get desperate. None of my ranged magics were working and the Demons weren't letting me get any closer to the nascent portal, I was running out of options.

With nothing better, I began to throw anything I could think of. A giant [Icy Bastion] froze around the Demon followed by a massive [Shatter].

Forming a javelin of Ice and using [Throwing Proficiency]. Directing [Desolate Blizzard] and leaning on the hail portion to bombard the demon with falling slabs of ice.

I even used unstructured magic, leaning on my pure manipulation skills to sling Freezing Winds and chunks of Ice at the Demon.

Nothing I did worked.

The Demon flitted around, dodging the worst of my barrage and letting some of it phase through its body. As it moved around the platform the Formation was carved on, a black fog leaked out of its body that made it hard to see if I was actually doing anything.

Its speed far surpassed anything I could throw at it and it didn't even seem pressured under the weight of all I did.

Again, nothing I did worked.

Even with both my Laws saturating all my skills along with the meager energy I had left in my Spirit Anchor, all of it was ineffective.

Seeing that Plan A wasn't working, I turned to Plan B.

If I couldn't kill the Demon to destabilize the portal, I would destabilize the Portal and deal with the Demon after. A flash of indecision passed on my face but I buried it under resolution.

I knew destabilizing a portal holding that much power would have dire consequences. The amount of mana that was flowing into its creation had to go somewhere and it didn't just disappear.

If I was successful, it would most likely explode.

Even with [Momentum of the Avalanche] doubling my Fortitude and [Righteous Fury] pushing it further, I wasn't confident I would survive it. Sure, my Bloodline also boosted my Fortitude, but even so, the amount of mana glowed to the naked eye, let alone any kind of mana sense.

As soon as I thought it, my course was set. It didn't matter if it exploded, I couldn't let it form no matter what. Even if the worst were to occur, it would be worth it.

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Changing targets, I took all the Wind and Ice I was throwing at the Demon and shifted it toward the budding portal.

The change in the Demon was instantaneous and visible. It stopped its flighty dodging and any sense of sinister pleasure at my helplessness was gone. It teleported in a flash of black fog in front of the portal before casting a massive inky-black shield in front of my target.

Where my skills phased through before, they clattered off now. The wall of black stopped everything I could throw at it. [Ice Arrows] crumpled and shattered on impact and nothing else could get through.

Even as everything failed, I kept up with my barrage for the Demon did one thing that gave me the advantage.

To block the portal from being hit, it stood still in one spot. It anchored itself in front of the portal and stood as its sturdy shield.

Taking advantage of the stationary demon, [Shatter] rippled through and exploded [Frost Armor] off my body, killing and incapacitating all the nearby Demons. With everything I was doing to empower [Frost Armor], its subsequent [Shatter] was equally empowered.

Even Demons over level 90 had shards of the durable Ice armor rip through them incapacitating them. The Demons close enough were were all cut down in one move, leaving my way toward the black wall blocking my path free.

Without hesitation, energy began to build up in my hammer.

Runes along its length began to light up and all my past worries were forgotten. My mana pool was bordering on empty as I shoved all the mana the skill could take into it.

I knew I would only have two shots at this and my mana wouldn't support any more. I wasn't sure my body could, either.

As the skill began activating, its groans and cracks were drowned out by the howling winds I was sending at the Demon. [Desolate Blizzard] was being true to its namesake, even as the skill ate up my dwindling mana.

The Winds it was sending forth were howling as they carried chunks of Ice, battering the Demon's shield.

Under the cover of Wind, [Shattering Hammer] was free to drink in all I could give it. Any sounds originating from my hammer were nothing.

I only spared a glance down to watch the cascade of energy reach the hammerhead. The skills effects were hard to turn away from, as there was something in the way it worked that called to me.

While going full offensive, [Frozen Patchwork] had enough time to work its way through my riddled body, patching me up. I wasn't in top shape, but enough of me was left to do what was required.

One harrowing step in front of the other, I ran toward the wall of black. My feet left deep impressions on the layer of snow that had built up around me as over two thousand points of strength propelled me forward. The blood-stained white was the perfect footing for what I required.

The lights and sounds of those fighting elsewhere were similarly forgotten and I was left alone.

One hand dragged my hammer behind me, the other out in front casting all I could. I couldn't afford the added distraction to cast the spells from elsewhere, using my left hand as an anchor.

I wasn't sure if the Demon noticed what I was doing, but by the time I neared the wall, it was too late. The Winds cut off as I reached back and both hands gripped frosty wood. Wood that I had come to love for its unyielding nature would soon be tested in that regard.

The time between cutting off the spells and my hammer coming down was a flash. It took less than a second to reach back and grab on. The fractured hammer face came screaming down with my full strength behind it.

CRACK

The sound resounded out like a thunderclap, bouncing off the Valley wall and echoing back. It exploded down the Valley's gulley and could be heard from miles away turning the environment into a natural amphitheater.

Everyone fighting heard the sound of the Demon's skill shattering to pieces. The once stalwart dreadful black wall crumbled in on itself. The shield unable to hold up against the force and shattering energy pushed into it. The energies contained in my hammer shot out and into the Demon's skill with nowhere else to go. I didn't partially miss it like I had with the Wolf before. My hammer hit square.

Like glass falling to pieces, the shield did the same.

After the mana used to power the shield was thoroughly destroyed, [Shattering Hammer] still had more left in the tank. It sought out something else to shatter and grind into pieces.

My eyes took everything in and saw the Demon's body get launched back from the impact. The force of my skill traveled through his and reached the source.

Either the Demons was physically touching its shield for reinforcement, or my skill somehow followed the mana back to its body.

I wasn't in a position to ruminate on it as I wasn't one to waste an open opportunity.

With the cover broken, the growing portal was revealed once more causing me to suck in a breath. The foulness in the air was pushed aside for a much more important problem. The moments it took me to come to a decision and charge the Demon let the portal power up that much more, growing from the mana the Formation was feeding it.

Injured or not, the Demon was displaced from its place guarding the portal, leaving me an open lane to do what I must.

The backlash of using the skill nearly staggered me as blood gushed from reopened wounds, but I pushed through and started the process a second time.

The last time.

Mana built, my stamina drained, and my Spirit and Law were infused into the skill. Everything I had into one last attack. I wouldn't be staggering away after the backlash of this one. I would have no more energy to stand.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Demon trying to put up a resistance but before it could, its skills failed. The structure collapsing in on itself.

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"How?! What did you do to me!" It screamed in rage but I dismissed it like I had the rest of its words.

I paid no attention to the screaming Demon and marched forth toward the Portal. I knew my odds of survival were even worse with every step closer and statistically impossible within arm's length, but that didn't deter me.

The Demon's eyes went wide as it watched what I was doing. It saw my hammer change for the second time and it knew what was coming.

"No! Are you insane!" It clambered.

"Stop!"

I didn't. I only grunted.

My hammer went up, and for the briefest of seconds, glistened in the afternoon sun, before it came slamming down with resounding force.

My weapon descended like it was going through molasses to my eyes, even though I knew it was coming down at the same speed as before.

Lines of black shot out of the Demon's body and hit all the surrounding Demons, and as one, they turned to stop me. All the Demons hit by the black leash lost all reason and charged at me with reckless abandon but it was too late.

They wouldn't be able to stop my hammer from falling.

Nothing could.

The Demon, seeing that it could use skills again, shot spike after spike of shadowy black at me but it didn't deter me, nor could it stop me.

"STOP!!" It screamed again.

Its spikes broke through what was left of my metal plate, penetrating through my body but even the pain of being skewered didn't stop me. The Runes were already broken and the metal provided no more protection than normal.

Its first pierced through my leading leg, coming up from my shadow on the floor and clean through my thigh. Its second re-entered the wound in my gut from before, taking advantage of the missing armor.

The last was aimed at my head but it never got a chance to land. A wave of energy rippled out from the portal and blew it off course, cutting through my cheek instead.

Half my vision disappeared to black, but even with only seeing through one eye, I knew I had done it.

The initial wave was only my hammer impacting the mass of mana. Just the impact force was enough to send the Demon's skill off course.

Seeing that it failed, the Demon didn't even try to send any more spikes to kill me. Once it saw the waves of force rolling off the portal, it did something that had my newly narrowed field of vision had to do a double take.

It turned and ran.

It didn't get far.

The shattering energies coursing through the portal did its job.

The Formation feeding it mana went first, the stone that it was carved into shattered into pieces. The altar the portal was built upon went next, exploding similarly in a shower of shrapnel.

I wasn't able to perceive what came next.

All I saw was white and my body felt weightless. My grip on my hammer was lost and I flew through the air unfettered.

At least it was glorious.