CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER _38. THE FIRST WAVE

The alarm bells continued ringing. Their sound cut through the cold air in frostholt like screams.

Aldrich and Freya ran through the ice corridors of the castle. Their footsteps echoed off the frozen walls. Servants and soldiers rushed past them, all heading toward the northern wall.

"How often do these attacks happen?" Aldrich asked as they ran.

Freya didn’t look at him. Her eyes stayed forward. "Every three days now. Sometimes twice in one day sometimes unexpected . They’re getting worse."

They burst through the castle doors and into the city streets.

What Aldrich saw made his chest tighten.

It was complete Chaos.

People were running everywhere. Mothers grabbed their children and dragged them toward underground shelters. Elderly citizens struggled to keep up. Soldiers in white armor sprinted toward the walls, weapons were being drawn.

And above it all, the alarm bells kept ringing.

"This way" Freya said.

They ran through the streets. Past frozen fountains. Past damaged buildings which were still being repaired from the last attack. Past faces of people filled with fear.

Aldrich’s twenty soldiers from the royal kingdom appeared beside him. They had heard the alarm and armed themselves quickly. Their faces were pale. Nervous. This wasn’t their kingdom. This wasn’t their fight.

But they followed anyway.They reached the base of the northern wall. Massive stone stairs led upward to the top. Soldiers were already climbing. Archers. Spearmen. Ice mages.

Freya leaped up the stairs three at a time. Aldrich kept pace beside her. His soldiers struggled to keep up behind them.

When they reached the top of the wall, Aldrich finally saw what they were facing.And his blood went cold right there.

Beyond the wall, the frozen wasteland stretched endlessly. White snow and Gray sky. Nothing but cold waves and emptiness for miles.

Except now, it wasn’t empty.

There were Monsters and Hundreds of them.They moved across the snow like a black wave. Their bodies were made of ice and shadow. Their eyes glowed blue like fire.

Ice Wolves ran at the front. Each one was the size of a giant horse. Their breath came out in freezing clouds. Their claws left deep cuts in the snow.

Behind them came the Frost Giants. Fifteen feet tall. Made of ice and stone. They carried massive clubs carved from frozen trees. Each step they took shook the ground.

And above them all, flying through the gray sky, were the Snow Wraiths. Ghostly figures wrapped in blizzards. Their faces were hollow. They wailed as they flew, and the sound made Aldrich’s skin crawl.

General Bjorn Frosthelm stood at the center of the wall. His white beard was frozen with ice. His scarred face was grim.

"ARCHERS" he roared. "READY YOUR BOWS"

Two hundred archers lined the wall. They nocked arrows and drew their bowstrings back.

"FIRE" he commanded

The arrows flew. A black cloud of arrows launched into the air and arced down toward the monsters.

They struck and Dozens of Ice Wolves fell. Their bodies shattered into frozen chunks.But more kept coming.

"FIRE AGAIN" Bjorn commanded.

Another volley and More wolves fell.But the Frost Giants raised their arms. Ice formed in the air above them, creating massive shields. The next wave of arrows struck the shields and bounced off harmlessly.

"Mages" Bjorn turned to a group of twenty ice mages standing behind the archers.

"Break those shields Nowww"

The mages raised their hands together. Blue light surrounded them. They chanted in unison.

Massive ice spears formed in the air above the wall. Each one was ten feet long and glowing with Essence energy.

The spears launched forward and smashed into the giants’ shields. The shields cracked. Shattered. The giants roared in anger.

But they kept coming.

Freya stood beside Aldrich. Her hands glowed blue. Water rose from the snow below and floated around her.

"They’ll reach the wall in two minutes," she said quietly. "When they do, some of them will climb. The wolves can’t, but the giants can. And the wraiths..." She looked up at the ghostly figures circling above. "The wraiths don’t need to climb. They’ll fly over and attack from inside the city."

Aldrich’s mind raced. Inside his consciousness, Solomon spoke.

"This is your moment, my boy. These people doubt you. Your own soldiers doubt you. Freya respects you now, but respect isn’t loyalty. You need to show them what you’re capable of."

Aldrich took a deep breath. "What do you suggest?"

Solomon’s voice was calm and very Strategic. "The wraiths are the real threat. If they get inside the city, civilians die. The soldiers are focused on the giants and wolves. No one is watching the sky."

"So I handle the wraiths?"

"Exactly. Use your speed. Use your light magic. Hunt them in the air before they cross the wall."

Aldrich nodded internally. Then he spoke aloud to Freya.

"I’ll take the wraiths."

Freya turned to him, surprised. "What? By yourself?"

"Yes."

"That’s suicide. There are at least thirty of them."

Aldrich looked up at the flying creatures. They were circling lower now. Getting ready to dive down.

"Then I’d better move fast yeah?."

Before Freya could argue, Aldrich activated his Library.

"Library of Hermes."

Energy flooded his legs. His muscles compressed with power. The world around him slowed down slightly as his perception increased.

"Library Art: Archive XIl Speed of Hermes."

He launched himself upward.

He was not running. He exploded into motion.His body shot off the top of the wall like an arrow. He flew through the air, propelled by pure speed and momentum.

The soldiers on the wall gasped. Some shouted in surprise.

Aldrich reached the peak of his jump fifty feet above the wall. For a moment, he hung in the air, completely weightless.

And then he summoned his light sword.The blade appeared in his hand, shining bright and deadly.

A Snow Wraith dove toward him, its hollow face opening in a silent scream.

But Aldrich swung.The light sword cut clean through the wraith’s body. It split in half and dissolved into mist apparently the light sword was a perfect counter to there forms.

But Aldrich was already falling. Gravity pulled him back down.He saw another wraith below him. He twisted his body mid air and slashed downward as he fell past it. Another kill it was.

He was about to hit the ground outside the wall a fatal fall.But something unexpected happened he activated Light Exchange.

His eyes locked onto a chunk of ice on the wall itself.

"Exchange." He muttered

Reality bent. He swapped positions with the ice chunk.Suddenly he was back on the wall, safe. The ice chunk fell to the ground where he was supposed to previously and shattered.

Aldrich didn’t stop. He launched himself upward again.Again and again, he jumped. Each time, he killed one or two wraiths. Each time, he used Light Exchange to return to the wall before he fell.

It was a simple and smart strategy Jump. Kill Swap Repeat.

It was exhausting. His essence reserves were draining rapidly. But it was working.

The wraiths started to notice. They stopped diving toward the city. Instead, they began circling him. Focusing all on him.

But it was Good. That’s what he wanted.

On the wall below, Freya watched in stunned silence.

"He’s... actually doing it," she whispered.

General Bjorn stood beside her, his eyes wide. "That boy is insane."

One of the twin warlords her name was Astrid smiled slightly. "Insane or brilliant?"

Her sister, Ingrid, nodded. "Both, I think."

Aldrich killed his tenth wraith. Then his fifteenth. His breathing was getting heavier. His arms burned from swinging the sword so many times.

Inside his mind, Solomon spoke. "You’re running out of essence. You can manage maybe five more jumps. After that, you’ll be too drained to fight."

"Then I’ll make them count." He said

He jumped again. Higher this time. He spun in the air like a dancer, his light sword cutting through three wraiths at once.

But when he reached the peak of his jump, something went wrong.His vision blurred. His essence reserves hit critical levels.

The system alert flashed in his mind.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION

WARNING: ESSENCE DEPLETION AT 15 PERCENT

PHYSICAL ABILITIES COMPROMISED

RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE REST

He tried to activate Light Exchange. But his body was too slow and too tired.He was falling. And there was no ice chunk close enough to swap with other than that Aldrich essence was low.

He was going to hit the ground outside the wall. Right in the middle of the monster space.Freya saw it and figured what was going to happen . Her eyes went wide with horror.

"NO!"

She raised both hands. Water shot out from the snow below and formed into a massive frozen slide. It curved upward, catching Aldrich mid fall.

He slid down the ice ramp and landed roughly on the wall beside her. He collapsed to one knee, breathing hard.

Freya knelt beside him. "You idiot! You almost got yourself killed"

Aldrich looked up at the sky. Twenty three wraiths dead. Only seven remained. And those seven were retreating now, fleeing back toward the wasteland.

He smiled weakly. "But I didn’t."

Below the wall, the Frost Giants had reached the base. They began climbing. Their massive hands gripped the ice and stone, pulling their enormous bodies upward.

General Bjorn roared. "SPEARS! PUSH THEM BACK!"

Soldiers rushed to the edge and thrust long spears downward, stabbing at the climbing giants.

One giant fell, its head pierced. But two more kept climbing.

Freya stood up. "Rest. I’ll handle the rest."

But before she could move, a horn sounded.

Not from the wall. From the wasteland.That action froze everyone.

The horn sounded again.Echoing across the frozen landscape.And then the monsters stopped.

All of them at once.The wolves stopped running. The giants stopped climbing. Even the retreating wraiths stopped flying.They all turned and looked back toward the wasteland.

And then, slowly, they began to retreat.

The wolves ran back into the snow. The giants dropped from the wall and lumbered away. The wraiths disappeared into the gray sky.

Within two minutes, they were gone.

Silence fell over the wall instantly.

General Bjorn stared into the distance, his face grim. "They’ve never retreated before. Not once. Not in six months of attacks."

Freya’s voice was quiet.but Worried.

"Something called them back."

Queen Elara appeared at the top of the stairs. She had been watching from below. Her face was pale.

"This isn’t over," she said softly. "This was just a test. They were testing our defenses again ." She looked at Aldrich. "Testing him."

Aldrich stood up slowly. His body ached. His essence was nearly empty. But he forced himself to stand straight.

"Then let them test me again," he said. Solomon’s voice came through, smooth and confident. "I’ll be ready."

Queen Elara studied him for a long moment. Then she smiled faintly.

"Perhaps the Royal Kingdom sent us the right person after all."