Jonathan continued running, with Alastair and Branth at his side. Over the last few days, they had grown used to one another’s fighting styles, and were able to work side by side without much difficulty. It was nothing compared to the teamwork between Jonathan and Edgar, but until the wind mage ascended to this plane, it would have to do.
He leaped a hundred feet away from the front line of monsters, using his stamina to propel himself forwards. His fist snapped forwards, a charge of colorless consumption limning it as he channeled his elemental energy.
With a dull thump, his fist carved into the flesh of the nearest Muck Muncher, blasting the top of its head off. As the monster reeled, he brought his heel down in a savage ax kick, pulping its brains. Although the monsters were large, that meant that their durability was less concentrated. With his immense single target damage, killing them was child’s play.
Alastair got to work with his ax in the background, blades of force slicing through the air as he swung. Rotten flesh dropped into the muck as he fought, quickly sinking below the surface.
Branth weaved in and out of snapping tongues, his blows devastating the flesh of the swollen amphibians. However, Jonathan was still noticeably stronger than them. The creatures’ bodies were strewn behind him as he forced his way into the melee, keeping away from the area of effect attacks of the mages behind him. The company commanders seemed content to watch, as not engaging would net the mercenaries more essence.
As he went, Jonathan wondered when exactly the mercenary aspect of his temporary job would come into play. He hadn’t been paid anything yet.
Once he was far enough into the morass, he thrust forwards his elemental mastery, sending the raw energy of the Void towards his enemies in a wide fan. The toads were too large to be engulfed by the energy, but many were sliced in half by his attack, with ones further afield suffering grievous cuts and injuries.
Jonathan savored the rush of essence as he fought, lifting him up a full level within a span of a few minutes. Fighting in Mire was far more satisfying that it had been in the Ash Heaps. He could actually benefit from his talents here, fighting up enough levels to make the essence intake nothing short of astonishing.
He quickly ran out of monsters to fight as the other mercenaries made short work of the rest of the swarm. It had been a lot less impressive than he had expected, and all that was left of the horde was a landscape of viscera left strewn across the marsh. Then he remembered Captain Ralond saying something about a horde leader. None of the monsters had been anything special, which could only mean one thing.
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On the horizon, a wall of darkness seemed to spread, and the noise of a thousand feet echoed through the mud choked land. A few moments later, Jonathan’s advanced perception was able to spot a horde of thousands of monsters coming their way, with a far larger monster, easily double the size of the others, leading the way.
“Oh,” he found himself saying, lost for words.
Remembering Ralond’s words about holding back, he sighed, and embraced his full power. A ball of darkness formed on top of his right hand as he channeled his runically enhanced projectile skill, bringing a black hole into reality. With a quick flick of his will, he sent it hurtling towards the incoming horde, soon lost among a storm of other projectiles.
Its effect was certainly not lost through, and a dome of consuming light erupted from the impact point, visible even from miles away. A tide of essence rushed into Jonathan, almost carrying him straight to the next level.
“What in the Hells was that?” Alastair exclaimed from nearby, the man having tracked Jonathan’s skill.
“A projectile attack,” Jonathan said simply, not wanting to split his focus from forming another.
Each of his attacks cost thousands of mana to use, and he found himself running out after the sixth blast. He gained another two levels in that time, and he decided to invest some points into Intelligence. Mana thrummed through his body as he sent his stat blasting up another hundred plus points, allowing him to fall back on his regeneration as he launched another attack. Hundreds of monsters had fallen to the massed projectiles of the army at this point, but thousands remained, and they crossed the ground far faster than their comical appearances might indicate.
A swirl of energy began to form around the largest of the Muck Munchers, the leader seeming to notice Jonathan as the threat that he was. A lance of swirling muck rose from the swamp before the beast and shot outwards as if out of a hose. Unlike a hose, the spray traveled at supersonic speeds. Water at that velocity was akin to stone, and it would seriously injure Jonathan if it hit.
Stamina blazed through his body as he launched himself to the side, letting the lance pass by him. It struck the city walls with a shuddering boom, almost bringing them down in a single hit. With a grimace, Jonathan scanned the monster.
Muck Muncher Patriarch(Boss)
Level 255
Health: 156983/156983
Status: Healthy, Enraged
The monster seemed to have focused most of its wrath on Jonathan, and he could tell by the way its beady eyes stared at him. Its health pool was massive, but that likely meant that it was lacking in other stats. Perhaps when he upgraded his skill, he would be able to glean even more information from a scan of a monster.
Captain Ralond and the other commanders still remained behind, trusting in their mercenaries to take out the threat. Either that, or they were trying to weed out the chaff. Jonathan could almost smell the fear in the air around him from the weaker fighters as they witnessed the power of the boss. However, all Jonathan felt was excitement.
“You guys up to take out the big one?” Jonathan asked the four members of his squad.
“Why not?” Alastair said, smiling wryly. “I have a feeling that your strength goes beyond what I suspect.” The others agreed as well, and as one, they charged across the fetid muck, towards the monsters looming ahead.