Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

15. Overcoming the Odds

An Archetype embodies all that its namesake implies.

An Amalgam, by definition, is the culmination of many things into one, like a singularity devouring all in its wake. A gravitational pull that could not be resisted once its maw bit down into smallest segment of its prey.

This was what it meant to be the Archetype of Amalgamation.

The hunted Frost suddenly became the hunter. She threw herself towards the Accusers with little regard for her own safety. The phantom swipes with their mangled wings would clearly hit her.

Her flight response kicked into overdrive, but her raging heart drowned out the woes of her body as she pushed on, side-stepping one of the swings in time just as the other cleanly lodged itself into her chest.

But this did not matter. The attack had considerably weakened. In fact, it only shallowly bit into her. It was agonizing; however, her hunger superseded it by thousandfold.

She used this opportunity to bite menacingly at its trapped wing as she replenished her mana. Each bite, depending on how much she ate, replenished a hefty 50 MP per mouthful.

Just two were enough for her to cast Greater Healing again as she broke free and pressed on, thrusting a solid [Punch] into the weaker one’s chest before she dove to its legs. With its shrunken, twig-like legs in range, she bit down and consumed them with two rapid bites, rending it immobile as it toppled over with a heavy crash.

Anytime that she did cast Punch she would have to disable Prolonged Stasis otherwise the punch skill would not activate.

She dodged the second Accuser’s sudden swipe thanks to her foresight. But instead of stepping aside or leaping away, she lunged forward. If this was a sapient creature of any kind, they would have been left stunned by her movement. Not because they were fast or cunning but rather; because of how little regard she had for her own life.

It was akin to running straight towards the barrel of a loaded gun. The risk vs reward was so impossibly tilted on one axis that it wasn’t even worth it. But Frost’s abilities said otherwise.

No. It encouraged this reckless style of combat. There was no finesse in her movements. All was based on the sole logic of killing what was laid before her with literal tooth and nail.

The swing missed her by only a hair, leaving the Accuser wide open for her mouth to utterly destroy its scrawny, bird legs. Once rendered incapacitated, she swiftly munched on the quivering wings that could no longer swing at her.

The Accusers swung their wings with most of their body weight behind it, so without their ability to maneuver their bodies, they became no more than oversized hens to the fox that was Frost.

“… Corrupted… chickens… but you both taste like shit…” Frost spat, huffing from near exhaustion.

Accuser | HP : 200

Accuser | HP : 550

Each bite was roughly 20 damage. It totally ignored all defense stats as far as she was concerned, allowing her to saw through their health. Frost’s chest rapidly contracted, having realized that she had won.

But this was but two of the many Accusers that had arrived. Frost turned around to see Jury fending off a total of 12 more Accusers, with many more silhouettes in the distance rapidly approaching.

Jury’s HP thankfully hovered above 6,000. But she was terribly fatigued. It became obvious that in the next few minutes Jury would be killed if she was left to fight them all alone. The sheer strength of being 30 levels above was staggering already.

However, even a man armed with a machine gun would be killed if enough rats swarmed them.

“Jury… fuck. Agh… I’ll be right there… I won’t run… I promise… I won’t run away!” Frost vowed as her wounds steadily healed thanks to her active healing skills. “I’M COMING JURY!”

“F-Forest!? Run, run! There’s a big skewered beast inside of the Black Forest!” Jury responded, almost elated to see that Frost was ok.

Though there was also a tinge of confusion in her voice. It was because Frost ran straight towards her rather than running away to hide. There was a saying that came to mind.

‘The absence of fear is not bravery’.

This much was true for her. What she planned to do was reckless and suicidal at best.

How many times would she be skewered by the wings again? Slashed, diced and cut open? How many times would the agony be carved into her body?

It terrified her.

Frost did not know. What she did know, however, was that she was not going to allow her terror to chain her back from doing what was right. With a deep breath that stung her punctured lungs, she let loose of a primal roar to quell the fears as she dove headfirst into the site of carnage.

It was said that the strongest were forged in the fires of hell; through tribulations that no person should ever have to face; and perils that would shatter even the most stoic of spirits.

* * *

Many legs were chewed off. Jury was constantly healed with Greater Healing whenever Frost found the opportunity. A single tap of her shoulder and the invocation of [Greater Healing] was all that was needed.

Her back wore countless slashes and stab wounds, as did Jury’s. But Frost was far worse for wear. It was impossible to constantly track the movements of the dozens of Accusers that swarmed them, leaving her open to many attacks as her mouth swung open and close like an electric guillotine.

When one went down, another two would replace it. If two went down, then another four would emerge from the shadows of the forest. These things wanted them dead at all costs.

Frost used whatever she had at her disposal. Without the stake in hand, she utilized the torn off wings as a weapon to impale the chest of the Accusers, often trading attacks that would leave her completely skewered.

“JURY!”

Jury would set her free in these instances and the cycle of hell would repeat for what felt like hours on end.

* * *

 

My body… won’t stop craving… It hurts. It hurst so fucking much…

< Punch has evolved to Punch I >

< Punch I has gained a level >

 

< Greater Healing II has gained a level >

 

< Prolonged Stasis II has gained a level >

The System occasionally alerted her of these level up prompts. How many appeared was unknown to her. Even other evolutions of her skills were drowned by the sound of shattering bone. She was so absorbed in combat that she could not open her status to check.

But she didn’t need to.

Because hours into the endless swarm, Frost noticed that things were steadily becoming easier. This was because every time she ate, a small fraction of their stats would be attained.

Minute after minute, hour after hour; Frost’s ATT became considerably more powerful, to the point where her punches would literally knock them backwards off their feet. Additionally, her ATT DEF stat saw major changes as the stabbings became less frequent, often leaving either a large gash or in some cases, minor scratches against feather-covered areas.

And finally, her AGI stat was raised high enough where she could feasibly dodge their attacks without having to rely heavily on her foresight ability. Over time the brutal battle turned into a bloodied dance as Frost finally found her ‘groove’ against the swarm of Accusers.

Fighting… combat… eating… the pain… I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of here and kill that Iscario! SO –

“GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY AND JUST BECOME MY FOOOOOOD!” Frost hoarsely screamed, almost losing her mind as she tanked a number of slashes before she carried on with the carnage.

At some point Jury was incapable of fighting anymore. As reluctant as she was to allow Frost to fight alone, she realized that the woman who she saved was not the same helpless person anymore.

She was just as much of a monster as the Accusers.

The punches became devastating. Her agility became unmatched as she found herself weaving between their bony appendages devilishly close for comfort, sometimes even willingly taking a brutal hit just to gain a single footing.

Her bite now did a massive 120 damage. Just 10 good bites would kill a single Accuser.

The sheer effort needed to fight higher leveled creatures was unfair; but to Frost, her maw was the equalizer. How many had she fought already?

She had lost count a long time ago.

* * *

Frost blurted out nonsense garbage in a gargled voice when she thrust her fist towards the last handful of Accusers. The beast was thrown back into the others, knocking them onto the ground. She did not give them any room to breathe and swiped a wing from the forest floor, brandishing it as a weapon.

With a swift downward strike, the bony weapon pinned one of them to ground as she promptly finished off the other remaining 3 by pulverizing their faces with a flurry of swift punches.

Whether they were at full HP or just a quarter, she finished them off as quickly as the last.

It turns out it was possible to do more damage than one’s ATT stat normally allowed.

These were called critical strikes. But Frost saw them as opportunistic attacks. It multiplied one’s maximum ATT by 5 times.

This only occurred when the opponent was left in a vulnerable state. What counted as a vulnerable state was unknown since she herself was not inflicted with near instant-kill levels of damage when she was impaled by Iscario or these things. Rather, she was left to slowly bleed HP.

She imagined staggering, tripping, or suspending an enemy would count as a vulnerable state only IF they were incapable of responding. Suddenly, the unfairness of the levels felt a bit more forgiving. Just a tiny bit.

The 300,000 HP bird was still outrageous.

Frost was surprised as these thoughts came flooding back. She sat atop the final Accuser, laying down her fists into its head well after it had already died. Cracks formed on the solid forest floor. It drained the blood of the mound of Accusers that remained in the aftermath of their battle.

She was so lost in the bloodlust that she could still sense the phantoms lingering, causing her to dart her bloodshot eyes around like a wary owl. Her senses were still heightened to inhuman levels. The smallest of sounds caused her to react almost violently, for she could only perceive them as a threat.

“… ost?”

She heard something.

“Fr…”

“Fros…”

She could hear someone’s voice again. It had been so long that she had almost forgotten that this voice existed in her mind, so she ended up rapidly twisting her body around to scour for the source.

“Forest!” Cried another voice cried from behind, causing her to instantly turn with every intention to crush whatever it was…

But to her surprise, it was Jury. The familiar face with soft, dark skin and vibrant golden eyes dashed straight for her. Frost needed to control her instincts to fight. It was only Jury. The battle was over. She didn’t need to fight anymore.

< Frost! Can you hear me!? >

“A… A… I… S-System?” Frost spoke clumsily like she hadn’t spoken in years. “Jury…”

It was strange hearing the System’s voice again. It sounded so much clearer than she remembered.

“Forest!” The same with Jury’s voice. She wasn’t far off from finally reaching her.

“Can you hear me?” The System asked again.

“I… I can. Yeah… I can hear you.” Frost managed to calm down.

The mound of dead Accusers separated her from Jury. 30 at the very least were laid across the crimson-painted forest floor. At least half of the blood belonged to her. She was sure of it.

Frost appeared like a beaten, stray dog. Her hair was amess. It was almost funny that her hair could be ‘healed’ back. But Frost could not muster the energy to laugh, sulk or even reflect on what had just happened.

< Will of the Amalgam has deactivated >

< Combat has concluded >

< Frost. You did it. You managed to survive >

I really… don’t need a congratulations right now. System. Please don’t say anything unnecessary.

“I apologize. I do not understand emotions –”

Please, don’t say anything more. Not now.

Jury stopped just in front of her, tilting her head to the side as her usual, curious self. But there was so much more in those golden eyes than curiosity. Frost could see it but couldn’t really make out what it was.

“You’re ok Jury… I’m glad. It was one hell of a fight, huh?” Frost managed to put on a smile for her. “… System. I feel lightheaded. Tired. Fatigued. Everything. Think I can just… sleep right here and now?”

Frost groggily spoke. It felt like a single gust of wind would be enough to knock her out.

She exchanged stares with Jury. Just looking into her eyes was enough comfort for Frost in this moment. Knowing that they were both were safe made her happy. And yet… there was something else that swelled deep within her heart. A cauldron of emotions buckled inside of her as she tried to find something – anything to say.

In the end all that left her cracked lips was a raspy breath.

But where she failed to speak, Jury suddenly yelled:

“FOREST!”

She walked right up to Frost and, with open arms, embraced her. The warmth instantly enveloped her. The coldness of the blood and the forest disappeared all at once. Frost’s arms were trapped by her embrace. She was unable to move anything at all.

“J-Jury? What are you doing?”

It was strange. This woman, who was as tall as she was, used to be the same small child she met by chance only days ago. Somehow, Frost felt like a child in her embrace. It made her want to squirm free but then –

“Forest… Forest! Forst! F-F…Fro… Forost! For… Fro –!” Jury was desperately trying to say something.

When Frost realized what she wanted to say she went completely limp and surrendered to Jury’s embrace. Jury was the only person in this world whose warmth managed to reach her heart. She had even stuck to her side despite the odds they faced.

She only knew her for a week or two at most, but it felt like they had known each other for years. It was now when she understood that the look in Jury’s eyes was not one of curiosity.

It was concern.

Jury was worried about her because she saw right through her smile. She was worried to the point where the woman trembled as her heart painfully thumped against Frost’s chest.

“… I see… Are you trying to… cheer me… up again…?” Frost ended up tearing up, her words cracking at the seams as she tried to pull herself together.

She bit her lips, trying her best to stop the tears from falling.

But in the end –

“F-Fro-

FROST!” Jury managed to finally say her name.

– She broke down.

Tears ran down her bloodied cheeks like a burst dam as she wept uncontrollably into Jury’s shoulder. Frost was mentally strong. But there no such thing as person who was strong enough to come out unscathed from the equivalent of a hundred deaths.

Therefore, for the first time since arriving in this world; Frost properly lamented for the hellish tribulation she was casted into.

It was her first step forward in many ways.

A vibrant world was waiting outside. She knew that. The grand fantasy world of Elysia looked spectacular, fun, and full of wonderful moments. Cat eared girls? Elves? Snake people? It was like a fantasy dream come true.

But in here it was hell. That’s why her grieving was important. Because she knew that there wouldn’t be another one. After all, she had already endured the worst of it and came out victorious.

It tempered her heart, body, and mind. If she was a weapon and the battle were the flames she was thrown into, then Jury was the oil that quenched her in this tempering process. It was a strange analogy admittedly, but it was the only silver lining Frost could grasp as she slipped away to the darkness behind her eyelids.

She had cried herself unconscious in the arms of Jury.

The only direction she could go was up now, for she had reached the bottom of this hell and survived.

< PROFESSIONS >

< ACTIVE SKILLS >