Jonathan leaped over the canyon and chased down the fleeing bosses. He sent his stamina rushing to his legs, and flitted across the cracked cavern floor towards his enemies. One of them looked back over its shoulder as he neared, just in time to take a massive Void enhanced punch to the face. The creature tumbled head over heels, and Jonathan landed on top of it, whaling on the bird like it was a slab of meat and he, some godlike chef. The monster tried to get up, but its body shape was not made for acrobatics, and it was unable to do much more than peck at him. The other creature, the slime boss, seemed too afraid of Jonathan to do anything, and it simply kept running. Jonathan let out a bitter grin as he watched this. It seemed that monsters and humans were more similar than he had thought.
The bird went down a minute later, its beak a shattered pile of keratin and its face a charnel visage of shattered flesh and bone. Essence poured into him as the monster died, filling him with new vigor. With a primal roar, he pushed off the corpse, turning what was left of it into mush.
As he raced towards Edgar, he set his eyes on the slime boss, which seemed like it was the weakest of those left. A creature like that would need a different approach however, one that was a lot more energy heavy than his normal fighting style. He pumped a load of mana and Void energy into his right hand and expelled a beam of purple light toward the monstrosity. As his Void Cannon struck home, there was an explosion of purple light and force, blasting chunks off of the slime.
Even at this level, such a monster relied on its ability to regenerate far more than its own durability. Against a foe that possessed the power of the Void, such defenses were like being submerged in a bowl of jelly. If the fragments of slime that the monster used to repair itself were utterly destroyed, then it was unable to regenerate at all.
Jonathan raced towards the conflict, wondering if it was time for him to branch out in terms of his abilities. He always seemed to use the same combination of skills in his battles, without any variety. He would gain a lot more power if he bothered to explore his Void abilities a bit more.
As he ran, he started to draw upon the conceptual power of his element, pulling on abilities that he had used briefly before. As the Void came to being around him, he focused its power on reducing the air resistance in front of him. A mist of purple light formed around him, eating away at the air as it neared. His speed suddenly increased by a noticeable amount, and he took the slime by surprise with a thunderous right hook, filled with crackling energy.
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The charge of Void energy detonated with a bang, blasting more chunks off of the slime. Jonathan caught a brief glimpse of its core, and he dove towards it. Then he let out a muffled curse as the monster’s flesh suddenly reversed its direction, enveloping him in its sticky mass. A prickling sensation started to nag at his body, but it never got worse than that. If not for his decision to cross his threshold, his skin would have been peeling from his bones. As it was, the acid, or whatever the creature was using to achieve this effect, was weak enough that Jonathan paid it no mind. Instead, he pulled himself towards the core, guided by its glowing light.
The core was about the size of his head, and it blazed with a dim heat, signifying the Tier 2 power of its owner. Jonathan reached out, and grabbed the core, before withdrawing his hands, grasping it tight to his chest. With a grunt, he began to squeeze. Two entire thresholds of Strength went to work on the core, and it started to crack. The slime began to thrash in agony, but there was little that it could do. With a muffled roar, Jonathan shattered the core completely. The slime dissolved into a tide of watery slime, depositing Jonathan on the ground. Four of the monsters were now down, killed by his own hands. As the essence rushed into him, he could feel that he was at the cusp of the next level. One more kill would get him there.
At this point, the six remaining monsters were the strongest of the lot. The crystalline spider that was their leader posed the biggest threat, but the others were still dangerous. The next strongest of them was another one of the gorilla shaped monsters, but this one had four arms. Perhaps it was the parent of the monster that Jonathan had sent to a dark doom in the canyon. Next was the crystalline serpent, made out of a similar material to the spider. It crackled with dark energy, and its fangs dripped with a shadowy poison that Jonathan was sure would cut right through his thresholds like they were nothing.
Fourth was something that looked like a lobster, with massive, crushing claws and many legs. However, it had too many legs, and looked faintly horrifying as it scuttled around on dozens of comparatively tiny feet. The fifth monster flitted around in the air above, a bat with wings of pure darkness. It was smaller than the other monsters, but more mobile. The wings seemed to be the result of a skill rather than a natural endowment, as they had not been present earlier.
Finally, there was a twisted mass of tentacles and chitin that was completely unrecognizable. At that moment, all of them were trying to tear Edgar out of the sky. The bat was having the most success, but it was continuously rebuffed by Edgar’s immaculate defenses. His swirling shield of wind stopped the creature from getting too close, and it squealed in frustration as it struggled to touch him.