Jonathan raised one eyebrow as he looked at the description. It would be useful indeed. Now that he possessed the skill, he realized that it would be invaluable in battle. If he could detect the health of an opponent, then he could track it in real time, and know when it was about to die. In addition, the status part would likely tell him about current weaknesses. Although the skill was quite plain, it was very useful. The potential for it was quite high.
With these new pieces of information in mind, Jonathan relayed them to Edgar, who started to come up with a plan. The golem was basically untouched in terms of its durability, which meant that this would be a difficult, but not impossible, fight. It would be harder than it would have been in the Ash Heaps, sure, as the monster would be quite a bit stronger, but it was still within their capabilities.
When Edgar had fully appraised the situation, he decided that it would be best for him to unbalance the monster from the sidelines while Jonathan moved in for the kill. The weakness of larger monsters like this was generally stability, especially if they were made out of a hard, unyielding substance like rock. If they fell, it could be devastating.
The effects of higher levels on such monsters built up their durability, which also increased their weight proportionally. Just like a slab of stone would shatter if dropped from even a small height, the toppling of such a titan would have outsized consequences.
Jonathan sped forward, letting Edgar set up his opening move. The wind started to howl behind him as a cyclone of power drew in all the nearby air, creating a spear of compressed air that would act like a tornado, drilling into the monster’s leg. As Jonathan ran, Edgar loosed the attack, sending it across the plain towards its target. It slammed home a moment later, and exploded in a blast of air, knocking the monster to one knee.
The stone exploded under the force of the strike, and the creature stumbled as it tried to get up, almost falling. Jonathan sent his stamina to his legs, causing himself to explode with speed, and move dozens of feet with every stride. He reached the monster in no time at all and layered his energy into his fist, flying towards the weakened area. With a roar, he drove the attack into the hole left by Edgar’s strike, and the energy detonated, blowing off the creature’s leg.
A move that would previously have rattled his armor barely caused it to move at all, the result of its increased durability. He flipped backwards as the monster fell, and watched as its one leg was no longer enough to support its weight. Falling onto its face, he heard stone crunching as the beast landed. It was far from dead however, and it made its first noise, a grinding howl of rage.
The lava around it began to churn, and geysers of orange rock rose from the ground, breaking through the thin crust of the realm’s floor. The lava began to increase in heat until it was blindingly bright, and definitely hot enough to burn Jonathan.
He dodged as one of the geysers of lava flopped down towards him, threatening to douse him in fiery liquid. The lava landed next to him, eating away at the rock like industrial acid. The heat was intense even from where he was standing, and it had to be at least ten thousand degrees, if not more. That level of heat was akin to a star, and it would be devastating for it to touch him.
Then Jonathan realized how ridiculous it was that he could honestly speak about surviving the heat of a star. Although his leveling felt intuitive and natural, it was extremely powerful. Many stories that he had read in a genre similar to his current existence had gotten the scaling of stats wrong all the time, whether through ignorance or through a desire to make it seem less powerful than it actually was. The math did not lie however, and if he was fifty times stronger than a human on his stat sheet, then he was fifty times stronger in actuality as well. If his durability was higher, then it was higher in a way that matched his stats. He could take all but the most powerful of gunshots now, and it would take something akin to a tank to even hurt him. A bomb or missile could still hurt him, and a nuke would turn him to ash, but eventually he would be able to survive.
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In any case, he had a battle to fight and win now. As he ran between the glowing pillars of lava, he saw the golem begin to reattach its leg with tendrils of fiery rock, using it to fuse the stone together once more. The landscape was starting to melt under the onslaught of rock, a little taster of what was to come as Jonathan ascended the Tiers. At his current state, he was still underwhelming in terms of his destructive abilities, and he would be able to take out a hill with a single infused punch, if he put all of his power into it, but this monster was capable of taking out a village.
The scaling of power did not work in a linear fashion, and while Jonathan was not able to output that level of destructive power, he was still able to beat the monster. His build was more of a duelist type than some sort of area of effect specialist, which fitted his mission. When it came down to it, his task was to take out the strongest beings in every realm that he entered. It didn't mean anything if he could destroy a city if that same attack would not leave a scratch on an opponent of his level. All in all, he was quite satisfied with his own abilities. They were potent, and served him well.
As the golem rose, Jonathan drew on his mana and Divinity, empowering himself. Taking control of as much of his stamina as he could, sending it to his legs, he leaped forwards, traveling at over a thousand miles per hour for a brief moment. Although the speed dissipated quickly, the momentum stayed, and he found himself rocketing towards the monster’s leg.
It was still glowing from its impromptu surgery, but the heat was not enough to inconvenience Jonathan anymore, as it had already mostly cooled. When he slammed his fist home into the cooling rock, it sank in a solid foot before letting its charge go.
The leg, which had just been reattached, was blasted off once more in a spray of semi-liquid rock as Jonathan tore it off of the monster. His strength really was something else. As the creature stumbled, he started to climb up its side, making use of the cracks that covered its surface as handholds. He clambered up in a matter of moments, and was standing by its head as it came toppling down. The monster twisted in the air, trying to crush him underneath its bulk, but Jonathan was able to get out of the way in time by scrambling around the head of the beast, and positioning himself on top.
It thudded into the volcanic rock below with an earth shaking thump, and Jonathan was almost thrown off by the impact. However, he held on tightly and made his way up towards the two volcanic orbs that were the creature’s eyes. As it struggled to get up, Edgar peppered it with bolts from below, and Jonathan began to whale on its eyes with his gauntlets.
Explosions of purple and red light went off every second as he sent enhanced strikes thudding into the monster’s head. With the addition of his stamina abilities, the damage dealt was quite significant. Even though this monster was very tough and durable, the strikes still broke off large chunks of its matte black skin, and sent them tumbling to the ground.
The golem roared in anger and started to heat up its skin, causing Jonathan’s feet to begin burning through his armor. He gritted his teeth and kept at it, even as the air around him began to turn into an oven. The heat kept rising as the surface of the monster began to turn to lava, and Jonathan was running out of time.