Chapter 126 Winners And Losers
Boom! The explosion destroyed and consumed everyone in its path, and the warriors present were all affected. It killed every one of Jan's forces he had brought inside the walls due to their proximity, littering body parts everywhere.
The screams of the injured echoed, but they soon subsided as they took their last breath.
Tyr was in a position of advantage as he was one of the few people lying down and not within the immediate proximity of the barrels, but he was dazed despite the shockwave passing above him. He could not believe what he had just seen, and now he understood why Vigar was so tense.
"T-These crazy bastards! They wanted to blow us all up!?" Tyr exclaimed silently, struggling back to get up; he noticed he had a nosebleed, and his head felt heavy.
"What the hell have I done?" Tyr thought, looking at the mayhem that ensued from his rash decision. He only cared about two people right now, his father and brother.
Everyone else could eat shit; Tyr noticed he was the only one standing, multiple structures were ablaze, and his darting eyes tried to find Vigar but to no avail.
This was no surprise considering the state most of these corpses were in, but further, out from the explosion, the bodies maintained their shape, showing that the effects got weaker as they spread out.
"B-Bjo-!" Tyr tried to call out to his brother, but his lungs felt heavy; it was difficult to breathe more, so talking as he regurgitated blood. He had taken some internal damage, but he was lucky this was all his damage.
Clutching his stomach, he saw people screaming and crying as their limbs were missing. Some tried so hard to keep their internal organs from spilling out that the warriors of Kattegat died.
The warriors were stationed or instead engaged with the enemies closer to the barrels. Still, luckily, the majority of the others were out of range of the brute of the explosion, but there was no telling what damage they had been inflicted with because Tyr, despite being the furthest and face down, still took this much damage, talk more of those that were on their feet.
He looked around and saw Birger, he was on his feet already, but his helmet was cracked. He had somehow managed to escape the explosion.
Birger was not looking for anyone but instead went around and began stabbing them to death; for some reason, his helmet had reduced the concussive force, but he was not unscathed as his movements were sluggish.
Tyr was anxious, and he kept up his search, but someone grabbed his ankles; he looked down and saw it was the man that was hitting him previously.
"I-I will kill you, kingslayer…." He muttered, barely conscious. Tyr was overcome with rage as he began stomping on the face of the man uncontrollably until the man's skull caved in.
Tyr caught sight of his father and brother, but he also noticed that people were regaining themselves; this meant he would not have as much freedom to move on as he would have liked.
Tyr was in no fighting condition, and he knew that this was the best situation they could ask for as he dragged his feet and continued his journey to his father and brother.
If he could confirm they were alive, this uneasy feeling would leave him as the constant thought that he was responsible for their possible death played through his head.
But the closer he got, the further he felt. His vision was blurry, and he could not see straight for his life as others had started getting to their feet, they were a few as the majority had died or remained unconscious during the explosion.
The burning structure generated dark smoke, it was not as dense as the smoke from the burning forest, but Tyr knew if they inhaled too much of it while unconscious, then the chance of them dying could be high, but this might also be him not thinking straight. He had to wake them up, and he was surprised that Birger did not show any emotional response to his brother's death.
He might have hated him, but in the end, it was his brother, and he thought he and Bjorn could grow that far apart or somewhat entertained the thought.
Tyr stumbled to the ground; his body could not handle the mental strain it was put under, he was just a child after all, but he already showed a high IQ in his deduction and strategic skills.
"I-I cannot stay awake…." Tyr muttered, falling face-first into the ground, but he was not giving up. Crawling his way forward, but his head hit an obstacle.
He looked up but could not see the person standing above him, but he heard these words.
"Hey, little Berserker," Tyr was banged up so badly that he could not even discern whose voice it was, but only one person had called him this and that was Erik The Berserker.
Unlike the injured enemies, Erik's injuries were gotten from another battle, and his abnormal constitution allowed him to regain consciousness quickly.
Erik began to slaughter the enemies indiscriminately, slaughtering both the conscious and unconscious. Birger noticed that Erik was still alive, but he noted he was not in the best condition. In this condition, Erik was still often superior to the average warriors.
Birger noticed that Aksel, Vigar and Kåre were nowhere to be seen. He was looking for these three people because he knew the importance of killing them.
The sound of a gate being raised was heard, and he darted his head in that direction.
Birger did not remember a second gate in Vestfold, meaning it was a new invention.
He saw three men on horseback that he presumed to be his targets and multiple other warriors running behind them as they fled, but this meant one thing and one thing only.
Vestfold had fallen to Kattegat.