One of them quickly fell to the combined assault of Tukar, Eva and Edgar, but the last one was still free. It charged towards the city, seeing its brethren fall one by one. It likely wanted to get in one last hit before it died.
The creature trundled along like a hill given life, causing the ground to shake beneath its titanic stride. At this rate, it would do serious damage to the city if it managed to set even a single foot within its walls. Although its level was lacking, its sheer size was a weapon all on its own. One of those massive feet could erase a house from the world before one could even blink.
Jonathan roared in anger and launched a barrage of Void Cannons after the monsters, peppering its head with the concentrated bolts of mana and Void energy. They slammed home unerringly, the practice that he had gotten with the ability showing. Each time they hit, chips of rock were blasted off the crudely hewn head of the monster. Still, it seemed content to continue blindly racing towards the city. At this rate, there would be no way to stop it in time unless he went all out.
There was only one real way for Jonathan to reach it in time. With a roar, golden Divinity swirled around his form, coating him in the light of the gods. Energy coursed through his veins, causing him to laugh out loud. With a primal scream, he rocketed forwards, the movements of the Golem looked like it was moving through molasses. He reached its foot a moment later, and swung with all of his might, blasting his fist straight through the rock. His Void coated gauntlet ate through the stone like butter, fracturing the harder inner layer with ease. Jonathan roared and struck again, this time sending a tremor through the beast’s leg. The Golem shuddered, and began to fall. Straight towards the city.
Chapter 17
Jonathan cursed as he saw the massive body of the golem falling towards the wall. It would crush the defenders under its bulk like they were ants, and take out a good portion of the city defenses. There was only one thing left for him to do. With a sigh, he sent stamina to his legs, propelling himself forwards at many times the speed of sound. He appeared in front of the falling behemoth, standing on the wall, and rooted his feet in the ground. This was a desperate ploy, and one that would likely result in his death. However, he refused to let his city be marred by the attack of such a weak monster. If something as pitiful as an Ashwalker Golem could deal such damage to his people, then the forces of Granath would undoubtedly destroy them.
Jonathan tensed his muscles in preparation for the pain to come. Then, without giving himself time to think, he slotted all of his remaining stat points into Strength. There was no time for him to allocate them in optimal sized batches, but he did manage to divide the stat points into four portions. That granted him a few extra stat points for his trouble. He was going to need them.
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A few moments later, his body began to burn from the inside out, and he could feel his muscles liquifying. Time seemed to slow down, just to make the torment worse. The monster’s fall decreased in speed until it was but a minor concern next to the unceasing agony that Jonathan was feeling. It was worse than anything he had ever felt before. It felt like he was being rebuilt, atom by atom, and each of those atoms was made out of acid. He stood there, in complete torment, for what felt like hours. However, in the real world, it was barely a fraction of a second.
Some part of him, some unrelenting, godlike part of him, refused to give up, seizing control of the process with his will power. He sped it up, heightening the pain to untold heights. His screams, if he had been aware enough to hear them, sounded like the cries of a tortured animal. However, the process eventually finished.
He was left standing there, shaking violently, as the monster fell towards him. With a scream, fueled by the agony that he had just felt, he swung his fist, mustering all of his abilities as he went. His stamina propelled it forwards at unprecedented speed, his Hungering Decay created an inexorable coating of nothingness, and his mana created a core of explosive power, accentuated by his Void elemental energy. As he was using Smite, he was unable to imbue his gauntlets with Divinity. However, it hardly mattered at this point.
With his threshold crossed, he had multiplied his strength by an incredible amount. He could sense that if not for his multiple boons invested into toughness, his strikes would tear his body apart. Even with them, fighting at full capacity like this was quite painful. He would need to allocate some points to Resilience before long. However, none of that mattered now.
His fist surged forwards, projecting a bow wave of force before it that caused the air to shimmer. A piercing howl rang out as it forced the air out of its way. As the titanic body of the Golem fell, Jonathan cried out in defiance, his tiny form looking like an ant next to the pillar of stone falling towards his head. However, he was anything but.
His fist made contact a moment later, and a blinding light erupted from the impact point, whiting out the vision of everyone nearby. Only Jonathan saw the effects of his blow. The Golem seemed to fold around his fist, before exploding into dust. A beam of light pierced through its body and out the other side, just as this happened. To the observers, who were slowly regaining their sight, it appeared as if Jonathan had rammed a star through the monster’s body.
His body broke under the strain, and his right wrist shattered into dust. However, it had all been worth it in the end. He had saved his city from destruction. Darkness swirled around him, and he fell backwards off the wall.