1% Lifesteal

The leader of this wave was more powerful than Freddy. He was early—very early into the third star, but that was an incredible jump in power compared to the wave that came before it.

No wonder this wave was effectively the final wave for all intents and purposes.

The leaders of the waves had so far simply stayed behind the lines while pushing their soldiers forward, and there was no reason to believe that this one would break the established rule.

But then it immediately broke the established rule.

To the surprise of everyone, even the powerful delvers, the general suddenly charged, its horse leaping over the front lines as he rushed forward at immense speed.

Nobody could stop him.

With a mass of thick, oozing miasma coiled around his halberd, the general roared and slammed into the fortress gates. The wood was impossibly tough. The entire wall shook, yet the gate seemed to only suffer minor damage from the blow. But that did not last long.

As the green miasma seeped into the wood, it rapidly began to rot. The horse the general was riding propped itself up on its back feet and kicked, breaking the gate and leaving the fortress wide open.

Everyone present paled.

Given their reactions, this definitely wasn't something that usually happened.

"Men!" the general shouted as he raised his halberd. "Run down the enemy! Charge!"

Oh, this is fucking bad, Freddy thought as he saw the mass of soldiers charging forward.

The general rushed straight into the bailey, where he was intercepted by Travis, Thor, and a minor figure from the Lapis Clan.

"Everyone!" Thor shouted. "We'll take the boss down! Keep the tides back so they don't flood the fortress!"

Freddy gritted his teeth. This was really bad. His gaze drifted to the group that was with him on the tower. They all looked deathly pale. Even though there were only twenty minutes left until the end, that was more than enough for the fortress to get flooded and for everyone below the second star to die.

Although the army was coming from all around the fortress, most of the forces had to focus on the general and the broken gate. The others would have to fight tooth and nail to stop the other gates from breaking down.

"Shit!" Freddy yelled as he leaped off the tower and down to the battlements. He rushed toward the section where the gate was broken and was quickly joined by a number of others.

He leaped down onto the fields and instantly conjured his Gore Knuckles. Besides being short on blood, he was in top condition.

Shawn Gem appeared beside him soon after, followed by the main force of the Lapis clan. That made seven people total. The other handful of two-stars stayed behind to protect the rest of the fortress.

Freddy's gut twisted as he realized that there was no way the one-stars could survive this. Twenty minutes was just too long for them to hold out on all sides. Hell, if the fortress was broken into too early, there was a good chance that everyone there would die! No matter how powerful someone like Thor might be, his essence reserves were still limited.

But what could he do? He gritted his teeth as the answer came to him all on its own.

He had to summon Bloodshed. But he really, really didn't want to do that. Still, he might not have a choice. Keeping his secrets was worthless when his life was in danger.

He suddenly turned to the Lapis folk and shouted, "You people! Go protect the rest of the fortress! Leave this side to me and the shadow guy!"

Their eyes widened briefly before they scowled at the command. But as Freddy released his full-powered aura, they paled and reluctantly nodded as they turned around and rushed to help the others.

"I'm sorry to say it, but I can't handle this, hahaha…" Shawn suddenly said as he awkwardly retreated a step. "I'll support you from behind. Do you want an unholy blessing?"

Freddy paused once he heard the offer. Unholy blessings were a group of unholy-affinity abilities that acted similarly to their holy equivalent. There was a catch, though—they were more powerful than ordinary blessings, but this power came at a cost—in return, he had to offer a part of his body that he wouldn't be able to use during the boost. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the benefit.

"Yes," he agreed. It turned out that he might not need Bloodshed after all.

"What do you want a boost to?"

"Strength!"

The man nodded and put a hand on Freddy's shoulder. Freddy felt a sinister energy move into him, like a helpful devil asking a price for his services. "There," Shawn said as he took several steps back. "Make your offer."

Freddy took a deep breath. "Skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, ears, left arm, left eye!"

"Idiot!" Shawn shouted. "Are you trying to kill yourself!? That's going to—"

Before the man could finish his sentence, Freddy shouted unbelievably loudly.

He went entirely silent a moment later as his lungs shut down and his voice cut off. An unfathomable power flooded him as he felt a profound sickness move through his body.

His left arm hung limply. His hearing cut off entirely. His heart stopped beating. His skin went numb, dulling his sense of pain. The influx of power was far too much for his body to handle. He felt like his insides were melting and like his bones were slowly turning to dust.

Suddenly, he charged forward.

The line of soldiers raised their shields and readied their spears while the cavalry charged at him.

A knight lifted his lance and prepared to impale Freddy right through his head. Freddy sidestepped the lance and kicked the horse up. The earth beneath his feet shattered and the horse launched into the air, flying nearly thirty meters up, with its rider flying even higher than that. They fell into the crowd of soldiers, killing a few.

Before the other knights could even realize what happened, Freddy grabbed the leg of another horse, flinging the knight off and throwing it straight into the crowd of charging horsemen. They were knocked over like bowling pins, with the horses dying particularly gruesome deaths.

Freddy continued, picking up another horse that he proceeded to throw right into the mass of infantry soldiers, instantly killing dozens.

He felt a powerful urge to shout, but his lungs were sealed, not even letting him breathe. His heart should be pounding, but it remained quiet, standing still as the unholy blessing still persisted. With just a single eye and his soul sense, he felt like his perception was incredibly limited. The power raging through him destroyed his body wherever it passed, with the influx of lifesteal being just enough to let him keep fighting through it.

But in that moment, as he stood there, seeing the lines of soldiers pulling back in panic, he felt omnipotent.

He charged forward.

A soldier tried raising a shield, but Freddy raised a fist. Two stars sparked in his soul, and a raging tide pushed through his body. With near-impeccable timing, he landed the double-star Flowing Strike.

Both the metal shield and the Gore Knuckles disintegrated into shards of metal, and the soldier went flying back like a cannonball, ramming into another line of soldiers and knocking them over.

He continued charging, tearing apart everyone who stood before him as he rushed straight at the leaders and siege equipment.

They shouted something Freddy couldn't hear as he grabbed another horse and threw it right at a trebuchet. Then he tore a spear out of a soldier's arm and threw it at one of the commanders. The spear pierced his shield and armor as if they were made of paper mache.

He kept receiving blows here and there, mostly ones that came from his blind spots. But with his numb skin, physical toughness, and the constant rush of healing, he completely ignored any attacks, simply continuing to rush at whatever target shined the brightest in his soul sense.

He blew several engineers into masses of gored meat and kidnapped their trebuchet ammo reserves. Then, he proceeded to climb up on the siege machine and throw the boulders at any commanders he could spot.

The speed and efficiency at which he tore apart the army's structure was horrifying.

At this point, any soldiers he approached simply turned around and ran the other way. He chased a literal stampede of soldiers in a circle as they caused disarray and pandemonium wherever they went. Because they kept running into more and more fighters, the stampede grew thicker, with many people getting run over by the charging men.

Many of them bravely stood their ground only to get turned into mincemeat a moment later.

The unholy blessing did not last for long. It ran out after only maybe three minutes. Then, all at once, he felt his senses return to him, took a deep breath, and raised his left arm to take his helmet off after he puked a bunch of blood into it.

He felt exhausted. Every muscle in his body hurt, and he was shaking profusely. He had thought his talent was keeping up with the damage he was taking, but he had been dead fucking wrong.

He had to take out the spark of undeath and punch it a few times just to regain control over his numb legs. Then, without hesitation, he ran back towards the fortress.

It was at this point that the soldiers noticed that he was retreating.

A few of the mounted knights turned their horses around and charged him down. He wasn't nearly fast enough to outrun a horse.

A lance slammed into his shoulder, knocking him over and sending him rolling across the ground. A moment later, a second knight stabbed down, piercing right through Freddy's stomach.

"I'm not that fucking weak!" he declared as he grabbed the leg of the horse and snapped it. The beast whinnied loudly as it backed away.

Another knight charged right up, but Freddy rolled out of the way and dodged the incoming attack.

He pushed himself back up to his feet and continued running.

A knight approached behind him, raising a saber to cut his head off, but through the combination of Freddy's mail turtleneck and his potent defense, he managed to keep his head attached to his body.

Suddenly, shadows rose out of the ground and tied the horses' legs up. They felt over, sending the soldiers tumbling. Freddy used the opportunity to send a double-star Flowing Strike kick into one of their stomachs, sending the man flying into the distance like a football.

The other one tried getting back to his feet, but he was pulled away by a black tentacle and thrown aside.

"Holy hell, man!" Shawn shouted as he approached Freddy. "You are crazy!"

"Just—" Freddy suddenly coughed out another mass of blood. Then, he put his helmet back on and slowly walked forward. "Let's go back inside."

The side of the fortress where the gate had been wrecked was pretty desolate, with most of the soldiers having pulled back and run to the sides.

On the inside, the battle between the boss and the others finally wrapped up, with Thor cutting the man's head off and ending the fight.

Freddy didn't know why it took them so long to finish the battle. It was most likely due to whatever talent the deviant leader had.

Nobody had the time to look at him. They split between protecting the broken gate and fending off the attack on the other sides.

Once he was sure nobody was looking at him, Freddy pulled out the spark of undeath and started hitting. He had no meat he could feed it, so the amount of lifesteal he could extract from the spark was highly limited. Still, it was enough to allow him to at least move without feeling like nails were scraping across his bones.

While his stunt would undoubtedly attract attention, it was much better than revealing Bloodshed. In fact, most people would likely conclude that he had suffered permanent, irreparable injuries on that day and that his overall power would be limited going forward. He was okay with letting people believe that.

Let them think he was weak when he was strong. And let them believe he was strong when he was weak. In a sense, he had accomplished both of those at the same time.

The minutes passed, and slowly the challenge reached its end.

Just as he was about to get up to go leave, that old man who had previously announced that they were under attack left the balcony above the dungeon entrance again. "Well done, righteous defenders! You have bravely protected the kingdom and fulfilled your duty to the crown! Now, it is time to give you your rewards! You shall be rewarded based on your contribution!"

Suddenly, a massive scroll unwrapped in the sky above them, with the pseudonyms of all the participating delvers lined up, ranging from most to least contribution.

His eyes widened as he saw the results, but before he could express his shock, the air before his face started glowing, and a strange object appeared.