149 Endless Fights (2/2)

Once again, countless ice giants spawned from the icy tundra. However, there were even more than the previous time. If before they were like a sea of towers blocking sight, then now they were like the world itself. They stretched to the horizon and beyond, seeming to be the only thing to exist within the icy tundra.

Ed gulped, cold sweat covering his back. 'It started with one... then went to over a dozen... then a hundred... followed by around ten-thousand.' He didn't wish to believe it, but following the line of common sense, the answer seemed obvious. 'One-million ice giants.' Despair appeared in his eyes as he looked towards the direction of the snowy area he had come from. He couldn't return even if he wished to now. Even if he wanted to propel himself into the air with purple water, he simply didn't have enough mana remaining to do so.

A thin thread of purple water appeared in Ed's hands again. Even doing that much caused jolts of pain to travel through his entire body. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'I'll just have to improve as I go.' He attempted to fool himself. When he reopened his eyes, only determination could be seen.

The first ice giant rushed towards him, using the same crude combat style he had literally faced thousands of times. He hurriedly dodged to the left and sent out the purple water thread, bisecting the ice giant's waist while also cutting off its hands and feet. He didn't even attempt finishing it off as he moved on to the next ice giant. He no longer waited for them to come to him and surround him. Instead, he attempted forging a path towards the snowy tundra. No matter how desperate a plan it was, it was still better than no plan.

The thread of purple water flashed in all directions as he jumped to-and-fro through the horde. Each ice giant healed completely soon after, but he couldn't be bothered with them. At first, he made good progress. He knew the ice giant's attack patterns in-and-out, allowing him to fight cleanly and efficiently. However, his body could no longer keep up with his mind. A brief delay here or slight stumble there caused his wounds to grow even worse. Things were growing increasingly desperate.

Suddenly, an ice giant's sword swung at just the right angle. Ed didn't even notice it until the last moment, but it was too late. The sword cleaved into his left ankle, severing his Achilles tendon.

”Fuck!” He stumbled, falling to the ground.

The ice giants didn't let the opportunity go to waste as they hurriedly closed in and swung their swords.

Ed sent his thread shooting out, hurriedly cutting their swords in half. He still took a couple hits, but greatly reduced the damage taken. He forcefully stood up, the purple water thread swimming around him. ”Tsss.” He hissed as he tried putting pressure on his left foot. It couldn't support any weight at all. He had lost any opportunity for escaping by foot.

'Not good.' He frowned at he once again cut the ice giants surrounding him. He couldn't even tell how far he had left to go, let alone how to escape. All he could do was forcefully defend himself from the never-ending waves of attacks.

...

Time dragged on, but each minute felt like days as Ed struggled. He was so exhausted that it hurt to even breath heavily, causing him to constantly be out of breath. His injuries had only worsened, and he had even lost his right arm. His vision grew increasingly hazy, and his eyes turned dull. He was like a machine at this point, operating on nothing but instinct. He had fought the ice giants enough to fight them on auto-pilot, and he was actually taking less injuries now that he deferred to his instincts.

'So cold.' Ed thought as an ice giant was cut to pieces. He was like a ghost spectating himself in third-person. He felt detached from himself, not even feeling the pain anymore. Only an infinite coldness seemed to invade him without end.

Suddenly, Ed's body got into a bad position. An ice giant's sword came cleaving down, cutting off his remaining arm. He didn't scream or yell, nor did he react in any way one would expect. Instead, his eyes remained dull as his purple water thread diced the ice giant to pieces. 'Who cares.' He thought as he glanced at the fallen arm. 'I can make as many new ones as I want.'

The rubble of ice continued to pile up as the fight continued. Another blow cut a large chunk from Ed's rib cage. Yet another slammed into his back, managing to even explode one of his three hearts. 'None of this really matters...' He thought as he watched. 'In the end, this was just as far as I could go along the paths. I have no regrets about the path I chose.' He closed his eyes, but his body kept fighting on its own.

...

A dark void. Mayor Mick was there, but Ed completely ignored him, treating him as less than air. Interestingly, he felt something calling for him from the paths. But it wasn't like the usual strong and intense calling. Instead, it was indifferent, as if it didn't really care whether he came or not. Instinctively, he followed the calling.

A stream of blue water appeared in front of him. Suddenly, it transformed into humanoid-shaped ice, mirroring Ed's looks exactly. It had no expression as it reached towards him, placing its hand on his chest. Ice spread over Ed's soul body as the humanoid ice shrunk in size. Soon, the ice vanished entirely, leaving only Ed's soul body behind.

'So, this is the power of the path of blue water.' He thought as he stared at his soul body's hands, which were now covered in an icy blue glow. 'Well, whatever.' He lowered his hands, seemingly having no intention to return to his body. 'Whatever happens will happen.' He thought as he sat down in the center of the paths.

Suddenly, a shattering sound rang out. The cracks all over Ed's soul body increased greatly in number. There wasn't even a single patch of pristine surface remaining. He looked like glass that had already shattered, only being held together by a vague outline of a humanoid shape.

The shock of the blow caused Ed's eyes to return to normal. Unbearable pain ravaged his soul. It was so bad that he even contemplated suicide, not that there was a way to kill himself in his soul form. An unknown period of time passed as his soul body writhed in pain and agony. When he finally calmed down from the pain, panic took over. 'FUCK!' Forgetting about his soul damage momentarily, he hurriedly returned to his body.

...

Ed awoke to the sight of the endless ice giants and the icy tundra, the wind howling in his ears. Each piece of hail that struck him felt like a thousand needles being jammed into his body. Amidst the icy wastelands, a splotch of bright red blood stood out just beneath his body. Looking down, Ed saw both his arms were gone. His left leg was essentially useless. He had several gashes in his stomach, chest, and back that bled heavily. Unbearable pain in his chest came from his broken left heart. It took a moment for him to realize that he couldn't see as well as usual. It seemed he had even lost an eye with his face becoming disfigured.

Rage appeared in his remaining eye as he glared at the endless ice giants. He had no purple mana to utilize, but he had plenty of water mana. Especially since he had already unlocked the hidden water storage meridian. His blue mana came to the surface of his body, freezing shut any wounds he had. Hard ice covered his body as an ice dragon shot out from his back. The ice dragon rapidly grew in size, destroying dozens of ice giants in the area. It circled protectively around him, like a divine beast guarding its master.

'Time to leave.' His eyes hardened with resolution as he readied himself for destroying whatever remained of the one-million ice giants.