Josh laughed, and jumped off the top of the wall.

He couldn't mimic Ruth's maneuver, jumping straight over everyone's heads and into the middle of the horde. He was pretty sure that was a trick with a gravity rune-chain. Instead, he landed among the dragon's teeth with the rest of the fighters. That meant he was facing dozens of monsters of all descriptions, screaming and roaring and crying out in pain. He stood among a whirling storm of swords and spells, shields and armor taking hits, blades and polearms slicing and stabbing in every direction.

But Josh had been in combat before. This was not the largest battle he had participated in. He knew how to zero in on what was in front of him and not get distracted. The System helped with that, giving him something to focus on when he inspected the thing in front of him.

Cervus Canadensis Peacebringer Level 34 Monster Have you ever been to a graveyard? Just walked around, enjoying the quiet, meditative environment? All the rows of marble headstones, some of them with flowers, all organized and serene. It was nice, right? This is the guy who might fill such a graveyard.

It was an elk as tall as a bus, looming over Josh with horns that seemed to be solidified lightning, crackling as if they would explode at any second. Unlike most monsters, which seemed—emphasis on seemed—to be made out of the material of the Jungle itself, this one really did just look like an ordinary elk, albeit enlarged and with crackling blue-white electricity for horns.

It narrowed its eyes at Josh, and before it had a chance to decide to kill him or search for meatier prey, he slammed his ax down on its head in a mighty two-handed chop, using Ruth's gravity rune-chain for added weight.

The elk reared back, but then glared down at him again, seemingly only mildly annoyed. There was a small trickle of blood running down the fur of its forehead, but nothing more.

Josh cursed under his breath. Level 30 was about when monsters started developing major resistances to mundane weapons. They needed to be enchanted to stand a chance of piercing their hides. Ruth's little gravity rune-chain didn't count, as that was purely physical. It just made the ax heavier, it didn't actually give it any extra magical power.

Before the elk had a chance to do anything, Josh swung his ax again. This time, he channeled his [Empty Chop] into it. It worked much better, digging deep into the monster's brain. It didn't even have a chance to cry out in pain before it fell. Josh ripped his ax out of its skull, wincing at the pain in his missing fingers, and moved forward into the horde.

Ruth was just past the dragon's teeth, laying about with that damn hammer of hers. She had upgraded it more than once since their first forays into the dungeon. Gone was the heavy wooden club with a few runes carved into it. Now, she wielded a massive metal maul, the head of the weapon easily bigger than her own head. Every time she slammed it down, it shook the ground, and it crashed through armored monsters as easily as if she was crashing through tea cups.

Josh threw a grenade, far enough away that neither of them would be caught in the shrapnel but close enough to distract the monsters. Ruth immediately took advantage, showing that she had gained combat experience to go with her new weapon. She swung her hammer wide, knocking back half a dozen monsters at once. That gave Josh enough room to run up next to her, throwing an [Empty Chop] that finished off the stunned monsters.

“Good hit!” he said. Then he frowned. “Wait, how'd you pull that trick?” A tree monster reared up, and he attacked it with an ordinary [Chop] technique to preserve his mana. It still cut the monster in half. “You should have been knocked back!”

“Got some new tricks!” she called. She slammed down her hammer again, and the runes flared with purple light. A wave of power pulsed out, and everything around them was slammed to the ground as if stepped on by a giant boot.

Everyone except them. She had somehow perfectly excluded them from the effect. That was not something she had been able to do ten minutes ago.

“Ruth?” he asked, even as he cut down a living corn plant. “Did you get your last rift crystal?”

She laughed maniacally. “Yep! Mary gathered some up for us, and I hit level 40 when I upgraded the citystone!” She grinned so wide that it looked like it hurt. “Vareo Rune Warrior, at your service!” Then she winked at him. “Let's finish these beasties off, yeah?”

Josh looked around. The horde was diminished, it was true. Compared to the endless waves of monsters that had assaulted Gilroy, this fight was practically easy. It wasn't over by any means, though. There were still quite a few of the smaller monsters, and a handful of bigger ones.

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A grin split his lips to match hers. “You got a trick for this, too?”

“I think you'll like it. I just needed a little bit of help to make it work. You ready to finish them off for me?”

He hefted his ax, then downed a mana potion to top himself off. He also checked his grenades. Four left. “Yeah. I'm ready.”

Ruth's eyes suddenly glowed with violet light, like tiny beacons in the night.

His smile widened even further. It had been a long time since he had seen an Exemplary-tier class go all out.

Ruth crouched down low, then leaped straight up into the air. Even with her Strength, which was rather impressive these days, she wouldn't have been able to get more than a few feet in the air.

With her new gravity magic, she jumped fifty feet straight up.

She hung there just long enough to throw her hammer. It spun end over end until it impacted some twenty feet away, close to the edge of the tree line. As she fell back to the ground—Josh clearing the space for her—the hammer glowed brighter and brighter, purple light building like a bomb.

The light suddenly disappeared, and for a brief moment Josh thought it had failed.

Then the hammer exploded in violet light.

Every monster within fifty feet was sucked towards the hammer, as if falling down a deep well. Many of the bigger ones resisted, just stumbling for a moment. But thanks to Mary, there weren't many of the bigger monsters left. Dozens if not hundreds of smaller monsters, badgers and moles and voles and bats, were all scrunched up into one spot. One big ball of confused monster flesh.

It wouldn't last long. Josh had seen this kind of trick before. It was impressive that it had only touched the monsters, but a stronger spell would have bound them all together, keeping them contained for at least a few minutes. Ruth's spell had already ended, leaving nothing but a big pile that was already starting to fall apart. Josh doubted a single monster had even died in the attack.

That was fine. He had started running the second he realized what she was planning.

He threw his grenades at the pile, one after another, and by the time he was close enough to be in range of the effects, he was out of grenades. The monsters howled and bled, but they were tangled up and angry, and too confused to realize who had attacked them. He unleashed every [Empty Chop] he could, emptying his mana bar before downing a mana potion and doing it again.

A few fireballs flew over his head and hit the monsters. Some of the fighters on the walls had realized what was going on and decided to give him support. Most of them, however, were busy burning down the bigger monsters that hadn't been pulled in by Ruth's spell.

There was nothing glorious or even difficult about what he was doing. He felt as if he was chopping through trees, even as his arms burned and magic screamed in his veins as he emptied his mana bar too much, too fast. It felt like his nerves were burning up from the inside.

He didn't stop, though. Every time it looked like a clump of monsters was getting their senses back, he downed another potion and went further on the assault. There was nothing but the blood, the pain, and his arts. Red mist poured out, and he breathed it in almost before it had a chance to turn white.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Josh tried to swing his ax in that direction, with no success. His arms were wet noodles, and slightly less dangerous.

“Hey,” Mary said. “You're good, yeah? It's done.”

Josh stopped struggling. He swallowed. His throat felt like he had chugged a gallon of pure syrup. That might have been healthier than the number of mana potions he had used. “Ruth?” he asked. His voice came out in a croak.

Mary chuckled. “She's fine. She burned up too much mana by stacking a dozen rune-chains and overcharging them all at once, but she's just dealing with manaburn. She's good.” A pause. “You?”

Josh forced his eyes to open. It felt like he had to crack a layer of blood and sweat and who knew what else. He couldn't see much through his bleary eyes, but he managed to see... quite a few monster bodies. There were shapes that he thought were people. Probably scavenging for materials.

He focused on his System notifications. There was the combat log, which he ignored as usual, and more importantly the level-up notifications. The ones he had been waiting on for weeks now.

CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a level 38 Stonecrafter! You have 1 free attribute point and 1 class attribute point to allocate. Your class attributes are Perception and Sensitivity.

CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a level 39 Stonecrafter! You have 2 free attribute points and 2 class attribute points to allocate. Your class attributes are Perception and Sensitivity.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have reached level 40! You meet the minimum requirements for class refinement. You do not possess any class advancement resources. Would you like to pause your level-up to obtain advancement resources?

Josh breathed a long sigh of relief.

“Yeah,” he said. “I'm good.”