Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 226: CCXXVI. The Bonefire

After that, one of the two men hit sank to the ground, lifeless, while the other crawled away from their field of vision, following his other companion, who after noticing the invaders had disappeared.

"That bastard is going to blow our cover!" yelled Karl, referring to the man who managed to escape.

Just then, after Karl's words, Dag jumped from the boat to the rocky shore of the cave.

The jump was incredibly daring: about 5 meters separated the Brass Arrow from the cave and for a moment, his companions feared that he would end up in the water, or worse, on those sharp rocks.

While suspended in mid-air, a large amount of dark liquid came out of his arms and back.

He threw the hammer forcefully into the cave and it violently hit the wall in front of him, wedging into the rock and leaving a beam of black fluid behind, connected to Dag's right arm.

At the same time, he looked toward his companions and stretched out his other arm in the direction of the boat, firing the fluid like a bullet, which attached itself to the wood of the Brass Arrow, remaining linked to his left arm.

Emitting a howl of fatigue, Dag crossed his arms, dragging the boat towards him and himself towards the cave, while the muscles of his chest became as hard as metal, imprinting a superhuman force.

Within seconds, his feet touched the mainland, as did the lower part of the boat that became wedged between two protruding rocks less than a meter from the shore of the rocky coast leading to the cave.

The liquid detached from the left side, releasing the wood of the boat, which slipped slightly, settling down and forcing Gridd, Karl and Reidar to grip on makeshift handholds, to avoid falling into the sea.

Before they could get off, Dag pulled the hammer from the wall, tearing his arm, which swayed the fluid, allowing the weapon to move through the air.

In a whip-like gesture, the hammer was thrown in front of him, hitting behind the head the guard who had fled a few seconds earlier, still visible due to the slippery bottom of the cave, which had not allowed him to escape quickly.

After the man fell to the ground with his skull split under the hammer's black stone head, it returned at great speed to Dag's hand, which gripped it firmly from the handle, while the elastic fluid re-entered his arms, which turned black.

The second guard, who was crawling away from there, stopped and turned on his side.

"Please! Stop! I didn't do anything to you, I'm just a guard, you can pass!" he yelled, pleading for the pity of Dag, who approached him and lifted him by the neck.

The man remained with his knees resting on the ground, after losing the use of his legs due to Reidar's arrow, which had hit him in the lower part of his spinal chord.

With his full-black arms, the hammer in his right hand, and the enemy's neck in his left one, Dag looked at him in the face and said: "The Crows Of Odin prisoner. Where is she?" 

"What?! What prisoner?! I don't know anything boy, I don't know what you're talking about! Let me go, please!" 

After the man's words, without even responding and trying to talk to him, Dag threw him on the bonfire and his body immediately began to burn.

His desperate screams lasted only a few moments before his head fell inside the small pyramid of woods holding the bonfire, exploding in a blaze, and emitting the disgusting stench of burned human flesh.

Dag turned to his teammates again, also extracting the Giantbane.

"Come on, there's no time to waste" he said, while the other three were still gasping after witnessing that incredible show of power.

"He could connect that liquid as if it was an extension of his body... managing to drag an entire boat with us over it without any problems! Maybe what we've got so far was just a taste of your real powers, Dag... what are you really capable of?" thought Gridd, looking intently at her brother and his purple eye that shone in contrast to the dark wall of the cave.

As his three companions recovered from the shock, Dag proceeded to the exit, which led to a kind of makeshift staircase carved into the rock.

"Karl, Gridd... it's better if you advance with the Captain... I will keep myself at a distance, following you from behind, so I can activate the Failnaught" Reidar proposed, closing the line.

Gridd and Karl nodded and accelerated the pace, trying to stay behind Dag, who was advancing like a fury, without even looking behind.

The rocky staircase took on a spiral shape, circularly turning on itself until it reached the surface.

About halfway through, Dag heard voices and quick steps descending the stairs in their direction, perhaps after noticing that the guards had not complied with the shift change.

"How do we do now? They're coming in front of us, we can't hide anywhere! Be careful, Dag, let's go back!" said Karl, in a low voice, trying not to be heard. 

Dag said nothing, continued to climb the stairs undaunted, until, as he had already guessed, he found himself in front of two other guards, who as soon as they saw him, pulled out their weapons.

Gridd and the others retreated a few meters when one of the two enemies tried to hit Dag with a spear lunge.

He dodged the blow by moving sideways, grabbed the rod of the spear and pulled it violently backwards, dragging the man and hitting him with a strong headbutt on his forehead, which unbalanced him and knocked him to the ground, sore. 

The second enemy, just behind the first, waved his axe toward Dag, who parried the vertical blow with the Giantbane blade and hammered the guard over his left temple.

His head hit the wall that lined the staircase, destroying a part of the rock, as well as his own skull, from which pieces of brain splashed away, ending up on the man on the ground, who did not stop complaining about the pain, continuing to touch his forehead, cut to its center.