Newly recovered, Jonathan reached into his stat sheet and began to allocate some of his immense stockpile. As he beheld the sheer number that he possessed, he realized that using the natural treasure to boost his racial advancement in Tartarus had been one of the best decisions he had ever made.

Ninety nine points went into both Resilience and Strength, increasing the stats by 165 by the time his titles came into effect. A jolt of energy raced through his body, far more pleasant than being struck by lightning. He smiled grimly, and attacked. The mage sent more bolts of flickering electricity toward him, but this time he shrugged them off, relying on his newly enhanced body to see him through. It still hurt, but not as much as it had.

He powered forth, buoyed by the sound of combat as the other fighters engaged. Edgar and Hushar led the charge, the former tearing apart dozens of fighters with his spells, and the latter fighting like he was possessed, each sword strike ripping through flesh and blood. He looked even more like a demon than he normally did.

Jonathan curled his fingers, and punched with all of his might, layering his Domain on top of his already potent strength. With the combination, his effective strength was likely beyond five thousand, especially with the addition of his Greater Smite skill. As a result, the air compressed and broke around his punch, and the lightning mage let out a short scream of terror as she felt her death approaching. Stamina hurtled into Jonathan’s arm, and the air around it actually burst into flames from the friction.

Jonathan’s eyes narrowed, until all he could see was the electricity wreathed mage in front of him, shielded by a ward of crackling lightning. Before his might, such a thing was nothing but an illusion.

He let out a roar of rage and determination as he punched, the air itself rebelling against his might. The mage funneled all of her available power into the shield, causing it to burn with the light of a star. However, it was all for naught. A spike of energy from Jonathan’s Void Piercer skill formed, and he empowered it with Ephemeral Trifecta, doubling its power. It glowed a brilliant purple, and then turned invisible. Rather than having disappeared, it had become far more dangerous. The mage began to frown, but she was too slow to do more than notice a flicker as the attack transported.

Then it struck the shield. A rippling wave of cracks spread out across the surface of the shield almost immediately, and the two aggregations of elemental energy warred against each other. From the very beginning, it was clear who was the winner and who was the loser.

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The shield fragmented, slowly enough that the mage was able to see her doom encroaching, but quickly enough that she could do nothing about it. The shield fractured, and Jonathan burned as much of his elemental energy as he could. To get past the woman’s internal shielding, he would need as much power he could get.

The spike of energy grew until it was as long as his body, but still entirely invisible. Then it pierced through the mage’s skin, and detonated.

Blood showered everywhere, suffused with tiny bolts of crackling electricity as the mage exploded. Jonathan’s body seized up as a retributive ability triggered, flooding his muscles with roiling energy. His skin charred to black,and his bones began to shake as his muscles tore at them. However, his newly enhanced Resilience bore him through without too much bother, his flesh healing even as it was rendered into nothingness. It was intensely painful, but considering that the death of the mage had all but ensured an easy victory, it was worth it.

Edgar fought side by side against the lightning enhanced soldiers of the enemy army, reaping a great toll upon their numbers. However, they were unable to prevent many of their own allies from going to their ancestors as they fought with the equally potent soldiers of Slothair. With the buff that the elemental mage had layered upon them, the soldiers were far faster and stronger than normal. Edgar could only hope that Jonathan was able to defeat their leader before too long.

As for Hushar, the man was in a red haze of rage and bloodlust, too far gone to care about much more than eking out his revenge upon the enemy, as much as they resembled those that had taken away his friends and family. They were not Slothari, but they were close enough for now.

His sword dripped with blood, and he was covered in viscera, uncaring of his appearance as he butchered a trial of bloody red ruin through the enemy lines. Thousands had fallen to his blade, as his Domain was used to its fullest extent. Even in Mire, a Legendary class was far beyond the norm, and considering he was higher level than those he was fighting, it was a massacre, pure and simple.

For Edgar, it was even more so. Each tornado spear and wave of razor sharp wind killed dozens, or even hundreds, but compared to the bulk of the army and the fast paced nature of battles at this Tier, it was not enough to prevent defeat. It was all hinging on Jonathan’s ability to defeat the enemy general.

As Edgar snarled, his mana pool beginning to drop, he finally felt the blessed release of elemental power as the mage died, and a wave of abjuration passed through the enemy ranks, banishing their buff. They stumbled, and Edgar pounced.

A veritable stormfront formed before him, hundreds of feet long. Razor sharp blades of air rained down from it, and tornados billowed off from its sides. Then it was launched forwards, streaking across the battlefield. In its wake, it left only red-churned mud and bodies.