The next day, the two men were gone, having left the town behind them. However, the experience was still engraved within Jonathan’s mind. He had not expected for the people of the world to be able to resist the domination of Granath, but they had surprised him.He had been a little frosty with Edgar after the whole thing, and the man seemed to realize that he had been a bit rash in the whole thing, but Jonathan eventually came around. Besides, what was done was done, and he was more of a pragmatist than anything else. There was no point in creating a problem out of something that did not exist.
The far more important thing right now was their quest to reach Tier 2. Once that happened, they would be able to indulge in their opinations upon the right way to approach the dissemination of their creed to the wider world. By this point, they were nearing the edge of the known world, as their movement speed was far higher than anything Jonathan had ever known before, at least within the realm of human movement. Although the landscape was seemingly endless, it was anything but. The towns were growing fewer and fewer, and the monsters were slowly growing stronger. As they ran, they spotted something massive lying on a nearby ash drift, seemingly asleep. It looked like an Ash Prowler, but one that was many times larger than any Jonathan had seen before. He raised one hand for silence, and analyzed the monster, stopping. Besides him, Edgar did the same thing.
Ash Prowler Patriarch(Boss)
Level 93
It was the Boss tier version of the Ash Prowler species, something that Jonathan had never seen before, but had assumed to exist. In other words, it was an opportunity to gain some levels.
“I assume that you plan to attack?” Edgar asked, already readying a bolt of wind on the tip of his wand.
Both men were underleveled, but they were far stronger than their levels suggested, and this monster was not strong enough to pose a deadly threat. Jonathan nodded, and the man loosed the bolt of condensed air pressure, sending it whipping towards the monster. The bolt struck, tearing off a strip of skin from the monster’s back. A rumbling growl came from its direction, and Jonathan charged.
As the monster rose to its full height, it bared fangs coated in fiery energy, with droplets of molten power dripping from its mouth. It was an imposing sight, but nothing compared to the likes of Granath. Jonathan sent mana to his hands, sending off a few Mana Rockets. The skill did not do much, but it helped him refine his technique.
The bolts struck the monster with little effect, but it seemed to sting it slightly. The creature roared in rage and clawed at the air, creating whip like arcs of energy that traveled through the air rapidly. Rather than dodge them, as Jonathan wanted to, he leaned into his magical skills and forcibly unbound them with his mana. He had been taking the easy route out in battles over these last few weeks, which resulted in little trouble, but made it so that his skills did not rank up as quickly. After seeing the power that he could gain from increasing the rank of his pathway skills, he was eager to do so more in the future. Reaching Journeyman Rank had given him a lot more points compared to the previous level, and it would only get better from there. Jonathan could scarcely imagine the sort of power that something like Divinity rank would give.
As his mana bolts shot out of his hands, he actively exercised control over them, even after they had left his body. It was difficult, but he was able to imbue them with a weak homing function that allowed them to seek out the monster’s most vulnerable spots. One thudded into its nose, the other into its underbelly and the last one into its open maw. Out of those, only the last one did anything, and even then it only scorched the creature’s mouth.
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Surging, Jonathan moved in. There was only so much he could do with his mana projectiles. As he approached, he took in the sheer scale of the monster. About twenty feet long and almost ten tall, it was an imposing sight, and it bulged with muscles, unlike the half starved figures of most of its brethren. It snarled at Jonathan and then pounced, its powerful hindquarters propelling it at high speeds. Jonathan ducked, and let the monster pass over him, raking his gauntlets along its underbelly as it did so. Enhanced with blades of mana, the gauntlets tore through its skin, eliciting a pained yowl from the monster.
As he landed, Edgar fired off a bevy of elemental bolts, and these ones were far more effective than Jonathan’s half hearted attempt. A trio of swirling white bolts slammed into the monster’s chest, knocking it backwards a few steps. Then a larger one struck a moment later, drilling into its body in the weakened spot. As it reared up, preparing to slash down at Edgar, Jonathan leaped, driving his fist into its vulnerable underbelly. His strength was such that he managed to lift it off the ground slightly, and as it was in the air, he released his true power.
Swirling motes of purple light condensed into a nadir of nothingness around his fist, and it was backlit with the red light of his Divinity. With a roar, he raced forwards a few steps and then jumped, bringing his fist up into the monster’s chin. There was a loud crack, and the bottom half of its jaw was blasted apart in a spray of meat and bones, painting the top half of Jonathan’s armor with viscera. However the monster was not out of the fight yet, and through shattered teeth, it growled, before slamming its paw into his side.
Some of his ribs cracked in response to the punishment and he groaned, rolling away as he landed on the ash some fifty feet away. His small stature relative to the monster that he was facing was really starting to show the disadvantages of such a form. Unfortunately, with his element, he could not think of a way to anchor himself. If he had possessed the element of Earth or something like that then it would have likely been self evident, but as it was, he was vulnerable. He heard a roar as the monster charged Edgar, but the man simply rose up into the air on pinions of invisible energy, carrying himself out of the reach of the monster’s claws. It batted at the sky in frustration, leaving it open to Jonathan’s next attack. This monster was clearly the apex one in the area, and it was unused to fighting with opponents as strong as itself. It possessed no fighting ability at all, and it didn't even register the fact that splitting its attention was bad.
Jonathan smiled grimly as he approached. He was about to make this creature regret that. Summoning a vast chunk of his mana reserves, he formed a long spike of energy on the tip of his right fist, packing it as full of power as he could. His Mana Saber skill was weak, but it was still versatile, and it was an ability made for a melee fighter, meaning that someone like Jonathan with a surplus of mana could make great use out of it. By the time he was finished with it, it glowed like a purple star, and he leaped, thrusting it towards the center of the monster neck, aiming for its spine.
He slammed the weapon into its neck a moment later, and it sank all the way in, cutting clearly through its vertebrae. With a flick, he severed its head, letting the monstrous visage fall to the ground. Essence entered him, bringing him up two levels, and healing his wounds. However, as he healed, he noticed something ominous. It almost seemed as if he had healed less than normal. It had been a gradual trend, starting after he had hit level 75, which had only been assuaged by the fact that he had generally leveled up multiple times while facing any opponent that could injure him. However, this trend was becoming noticeable, and it was entirely possible that he would eventually be left without healing, which would mean that he would have to make his own skill.