He surveyed the rest of the battlefield, seeing that the fight was almost over. The beleaguered pair of fighters were heading towards the city gates, with the wounded one seemingly on the brink of death. They were both still alive however, which was good. Meanwhile, the three mages were in a complicated dance with the Ash Reaver, trying to keep it at bay with kinetic strikes.
The monster roared in rage as it was forced away from their position over and over, its body slowly but surely breaking apart before the blows. The two conventional mages were clearly focused on quantity over quality, and they spat out a veritable storm of mana attacks, none of which was particularly damaging on their own. In a barrage numbering in the dozens however, they were devastating.
Meanwhile, the enhancer threw his imbued rocks every few seconds or so, breaking into the rhythm of the other mages. When his attacks landed, noticeably large chunks of flesh and bone were blasted apart, and the Reaver stumbled. However, the trio were rapidly running out of mana, evidenced by the harangued looks on their faces, and the slowly diminishing rate of fire.
Without a second's hesitation, Jonathan charged for the mages, his broken bones rattling within himself painfully. He pushed past the sharp pain, focusing on the battle ahead. When he reached the mages, they briefly paused their barrage, distracting the Reaver for long enough for Jonathan to land a clean strike on its back leg. Already weakened from the barrage, the creature stumbled backwards, its leg bent at an odd angle. It opened its mouth to roar in displeasure, but a stone arced through the air on a perfect trajectory, landing straight in the creature’s mouth. There was a pause, and then the creature’s head exploded, showing the mages with blood and gore.
Jonathan gave the three fighters a friendly nod and headed off towards the last surviving knot of elites, which were one of the Fetid Oozes, and three of the Ash Prowlers. The other fighters and him had killed off all the other monsters by this point, which was quite impressive.
The mages supported him with covering fire as he ran towards his quarry, and the monsters were barely able to see him, occluded by the mana bolts as he was. Balls of mana began to form on both of his hands, and he crushed them down to their smallest size with his iron will. Holding out his hands in front of himself, Jonathan cocked back his fist as fast as it would go, building up power for his strike. When he reached the monster, his hands were alight with blue mana, and he punched forwards, aiming right for the nearest Ash Prowler.
The monster howled and leapt at him, trying to get to him before he could strike. His fist met its jaw, and its head was blasted straight off its shoulder, the mana cutting through its neck like it wasn't even there. Jonathan grabbed the corpse out of the air, and threw it towards the Fetid Ooze, distracting it for long enough to move onto the next of the Ash Prowlers.
The two remaining ones pounced at the same time, but they were struck out of the air by a well timed imbued rock from the mage in the background, and Jonathan was upon them, punishing them for their mistake. Each fist broke bones and tore flesh, and he quickly had the beasts on the ropes.
The Fetid Ooze had begun to move towards him, uninterested in the corpse that he had thrown, but he had enough time to kill off these monsters.The creature bit down on his chainmail armor, unable to get past its immaculate defense.
Jonathan tensed his muscles and then roared in exertion, swinging the monsters together. The two creatures splattered against one another in a hideous shower of blood, and he brought them crashing together once more, finally killing the things. Leaving them aside, Jonathan raced towards the Fetid Ooze, which was sliding across the ash towards him, a look of hunger distending its enlarged jaw even more than it was normally.
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He swung at the last moment, and met its fist in midair, both fighters struggling to maintain their equilibrium. The monster was incredibly strong, with its grotesquely enlarged muscles, but Jonathan was slightly stronger, especially with his new armor. With a roar, he pushed the arm backwards, and closed the gap, pummeling the monster’s flabby exterior with his gauntlets. It chortled at him as he did so, and as bloody wounds began to mount on its body, it suddenly opened its mouth, seeking to envelop his hands in it.
Seeing the razor sharp teeth that lined its maw, Jonathan quickly snatched his hands back, before punching again after it snapped down, splintering its decaying teeth. The monster let out a wet gurgling sound, and opened its mouth wide. Yet another of the well timed imbued stones came whistling through the air, and popped into the creature’s mouth. It shuddered as an explosion ripped through its insides. Unlike the Ash Reaver however, it was built for durability, and it did not fall.
Jonathan’s fist crashed into the top of its head a moment later, and it rocked backwards, unbalanced by the strike. He quickly followed up with a quick volley of punches, rocking it further and further off balance. After about ten of these, he swung for the fences, driving his fist into the rubbery flesh of the monster with everything he had. The creature was lifted off its slug-like body, and fell backwards. It struggled to right itself, but it was too late.
Jonathan leapt into the air, and tilted his body towards the monster. Condensing a ball of mana in his hands, Jonathan came crashing down, driving the energy into the monster’s head. It splattered beneath him, and the monster let out one last gurgle before dying. With that, the battle was over.
Notifications spiraled into his vision, but he cleared them all away except for the one telling him of the levels that he had gained. As his flesh and bones knitted back together, he stared at it in disbelief.
You have leveled up!(x2)
Jonathan gaped at the low number in astonishment, that quickly turned to rage. He had personally defeated almost half of those monsters, and he had only gained enough essence to gain two levels?
“What the hell!” He exclaimed, as he looked at the notification, hoping to have misread it. If he had been a little less assiduous with finishing off the monsters, he might well have walked out of that without any sort of levels at all, leaving him at the mercy of his injuries. He closed the notification with a grunt and headed back towards the city, where the mages were walking.
As he walked through the open gates, he was greeted with a storm of cheering from the townspeople. They were lined up on either side of the street in front of him, and he could see Petrag and Beatrice there, clapping with the others. Jonathan waved at the townspeople, wondering what exactly had attracted all the attention. As he entered the town, and the gates swung shut behind him, an elderly man walked up to him, with a smile on his face.
“You are a marvel, my boy,” the man said, his voice genuinely happy. “You did more work out there than our finest warriors. How can we ever repay you?”
“Well, I was given this armor for fighting, so I suppose that is payment enough for me,” Jonathan answered.
“Ah yes. Petrag’s fine work. I would recognize it from anywhere. Well, if you are content with that, then who am I to push more on you?” The man paused, as if remembering something. “Right. How rude of me. I never introduced myself. I am Granal Evenson, Mayor of this town. You never met me because my talents are not exactly suited to fighting.” The man gave the gathered crowds a glance, and then looked over at Jonathan. “Would you mind if we conversed privately? I have some propositions for you.”
“That would be fine,”Jonathan said, already pretty sure of what those propositions would be. If he was not mistaken, the man would want him to stay in the town, and protect it. It was only up to Granal to not push the matter, or try to force it on Jonathan. This town had been better than the others he had visited before, but he would not hesitate to leave if he was forced into anything. In any case, he was confident that he was strong enough to escape, if not defeat, the defenders of the town, especially with his new levels.