With a deep sigh, he sent the golden light of his Divinity coursing through his veins, empowering his body, but also slowly killing him in the process. Jonathan rose to his feet, held aloft by sheer power. Summoning massive balls of mana, he watched as his Divinity surged into them, empowering them beyond their normal means. He ran forwards, almost completely oblivious to the monstrous pain that he was in, and he planted his fists in the stunned Ralnar’s torso. Flesh and bone burnt away beneath the blow, and the other man roared in agony.

Ralnar slammed his shoulder into Jonathan, knocking him backwards, before slashing at him with his greatsword. Jonathan held up his left arm to block, and felt the blow shatter his wrist. However, he stopped the attack in its tracks, and he grabbed the sword out of the air with his good hand, twisting it around and tearing it out of Ralnar’s grasp.

The man stumbled forwards and as the sword was yanked out of his grip, he was staring into a devastating right hook from Jonathan. The other man dodged, leading straight into Jonathan’s other hand. He grabbed onto the man’s arm, and used his redirection skill, slipping the man head over heel and onto the ground. He quickly dropped to his knees next to him, and began to pummel the other man mindlessly, opening up great wounds on his body.

Ralnar screamed, and began to chant something under his breath. Jonathan still had the presence of mind to get out of the way, but he was still caught by an expanding shockwave of power that erupted from Ralnar. His bones shattered in the face of such raw force, and he was tossed straight into a wall, almost fifty feet away. Jonathan groaned, and collapsed, almost completely spent. He could see that Ralnar was still alive, and through sheer force of will, he hauled himself towards the man by his fingertips, crossing the distance over the next minute. It was far slower than he was used to moving, and it felt wrong for him to be so weak. By the time that he reached Ralnar, the man was struggling to get to his feet. However, an entire chunk of his chest was missing, looking as if it had evaporated into thin air.

Ralnar was on his last legs, but so was Jonathan. Jonathan surged forwards for the last few feet, raising his gauntlet above his head. Bringing it down on the unprepared Ralnar, he was rewarded with a spurt of blood, and a cry of pain. Ralnar beat at Jonathan’s head with his hands, trying to force him backwards, but neither man was strong enough to do anything more than flail ineffectively at one another. Jonathan’s vision was starting to go dark around the edges, and knew that he was mere minutes away from death. His only hope was to level up. As his vision deserted him, he flailed blindly around, feeling his fists impact flesh and bones. Eventually, he lost consciousness, and knew no more for some time.

Jonathan woke up sometime later, with a constant, burning pain suffusing his body. He had survived, that was for certain, but for the first time, a level up had been insufficient to heal him fully. His bones had come back together, but they were covered in microscopic cracks. In addition, his skin had barely healed at all, having been torn apart by the use of his Smite skill. That had been by far the hardest fight he had been in so far, and it had come so close to killing him that he had felt the cold touch of death mere moments before killing the other man.

Jonathan got to his feet painfully, and looked at the scene around him. Ralnar lay on the ground in front of him, barely recognizable as the remains of a living being. He was nothing more than a hunk of battered meat, and the ground was liberally coated with his viscera. There was nothing else left of him save for his greatsword, which lay on the ground some distance away, having been knocked away during the climax of the fight. Jonathan looked down at his own armor, noting that it was dented and scratched all over, but there were few serious holes or tears in the armor. It had not done much to protect him, except for stopping him from bleeding, but it was still valuable. Every suit of armor had its pros and cons, and Jonathan was quickly learning them.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Leather armor was good for those who lacked the strength to use heavier forms of armor, or had a highly agile fighting style. Chainmail was in between leather armor and plate armor, and it was both durable and flexible, although not to the same degree of the other two. Finally, plate mail allowed for one to resist a large degree of damage, but it limited mobility. Jonathan had seen this with Ralnax. Even if the user had high speed and strength, it still was somewhat of a handicap regardless. Jonathan steadied himself, and checked his notifications.

You have killed Ralnar the Shatterer!

You have leveled up!(x3)

He had gained quite a lot of essence from that fight, at the cost of it being the hardest fight of his life. There was another notification too, one that was less welcome.

You have gained a new title!

Lineage Hunter:Rare

You eradicated the last members of a family line, showing your willingness to hunt down loose ends. This is an intriguing path for one such as you to go down, but one that holds its own merit. Do not lose track of your morality in the process.

Bonuses:+5 points to Dexterity

Jonathan shook his head and closed the notification as quickly as he could, not wanting to dwell on its implication. He had been entirely justified in his actions, but they were still quite evil out of context. A moan came from one of the city defenders, and Jonathan turned around.

One of the city defenders, Eliza, if Jonathan remembered right, was stirring, the female mage’s face twisted in agony. He was surprised that she, out of all of them, was the one to have come out on the other side first, seeing as she was not exactly specced out for durability. Still, she was the first up, and Jonathan moved towards her.

“Hey. Are you alright?” Jonathan asked, as he moved closer. As he approached he saw that she was decidedly not alright. He felt wretched, but she looked in far worse shape. One of her hands was missing, and as Jonathan looked closer, he saw that it had been crudely hacked off, likely from Ralnar’s greatsword.

“Is… Is that bastard dead?” Eliza asked.

“Ralnar? Yes, I killed him. Nearly killed me in the process too. What was someone like him doing out in this region? He seemed far too strong to be in a place like this,” Jonathan asked.

“He was… he was a servant of Granath. He boasted of his stature among the lord of this circle's legions as he attacked us. He was some sort of bigshot apparently. A rising star among the soldiers of the Ash Heaps.”

“Well, all meteors fall eventually, no matter how bright they burn. It seemed that I was the end of his rise.”

Eliza gave him a look of surprise, before letting out a throaty laugh. Her internal organs were clearly damaged, but she seemed to want to talk. In any case, Jonathan had nothing to offer other than talk. If that healer from before was still alive, which he doubted, Jonathan had no idea where he was.

“You certainly talk in a different manner from most warriors, especially ones as powerful as you. You are something else entirely though. You are a lower level than me, but I have no illusions about who would win in a fight between us. You must have a great destiny ahead of you.”

“Apparently, I do, but if I die first, then I might not get to realize it. And that seems to be more likely day by day…” Jonathan trailed off. “Anyway. Will you survive? What about the others?”

“I’ll live, but the others are in worse shape. I don’t think that Ralnar saw me as much of a threat. He injured the others severely though. He had been about to kill Jakarthi when you arrived. The others were unable to keep going after that. They left their lives in your hands, and you delivered.”