The troglodytes were too stupid to fight together effectively, and they ended up only getting in one another’s way as they tried to get to Jonathan. They saw his elusive form as a source of utter annoyance, and as they tried to get to him, they ignored everything else in their path. Of course, that effect was heightened by his gauntlet, which made it so that there was a spiritual lure for the monsters to follow.
Jonathan was eventually unable to keep up the chase however, and he dropped the gauntlet’s effect just as the monsters cornered him. With the momentary confusion that this move brought, Jonathan leaped over their heads and out of the trap, landing on the open cavern floor once more. He turned around and sent mana into his gauntlets, casting his features in a deep blue light. Racing forwards, he slammed both fists into the nearest troglodyte, knocking it backwards. The creature hissed in pain and Jonathan followed up with a finisher that took it out of the fight. Battling so many monsters at once was nerve wracking, as any wrong move could spell his demise. However, he did not intend to make any wrong movers. His superior Dexterity gave him enough speed to avoid most of the attacks, and his durability allowed him to tank the ones that did end up affecting him. These ones seemed to be weaker than the ones from before, as they were not of the warrior class.
Jonathan slowly whittled the monsters’ numbers down over the next quarter of an hour, eventually finding himself standing in front of the last one. By this point, Jonathan was almost completely out of stamina, but he mustered one last final effort to strike out at his final enemy, killing it with ease. Essence rushed into him, pushing him up another level. Jonathan closed his eyes for a moment and recovered his stamina, waiting until it was back up to full before he tried to assault the village. Luckily for him, the troglodytes had lacked the wherewithal to pursue their fleeing members, for if the entire village had come after Jonathan, this fight would have gone a very different way. However, luck had saved Jonathan in this scenario, and he was unscathed.
He quickly left the scene of the massacre and headed for the village, where the remainder of the troglodytes were holed up. When he got there however, he had a surprise in store. The ground around the village was awash with blood, and in the center of the village, bodies lay in long rows, seemingly slain by the troglodyte leader that Jonathan had seen earlier.
He picked up the pace, spotting the leader crouching over a strange hollow in the ground, chanting something over a pool of blood. The words were not in any tongue that Jonathan could understand. Rather, they sounded like they were some sort of primal noises, mimicking the sound of nature. As Jonathan came racing in, the troglodyte looked up and gave him a wild grin, its face distorted beyond its normal state. Jonathan sensed that something bad was about to happen here, but before he could reach the troglodyte, the creature threw up its arms and slammed its hand down into the pool. The blood evaporated into smoke, and the ground began to rumble beneath it. Jonathan reached the monster and crushed its head with a single blow of his gauntlet, but the rumbling noise did not stop. In fact, it only grew louder.
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The mossy huts started to fall apart, and the ground bulged up beneath the village. Jonathan ran toward the outskirts of the village, just in time to spot a massive creature emerging from the ground. It looked like a short and squat humanoid, made completely out of rock. It stood at over fifty feet in height, and seemed to possess a strength beyond even its hulking form. Veins of red were interwoven into its form, likely signifying the blood that had been used to sacrifice to it. Jonathan had inadvertently forced the troglodytes to awaken something terrifying, and without even having to scan it, Jonathan knew that it was far beyond him. If he did end up fighting it, he would have to pull out all of the stops to win, and even then, there was a chance that he would die. No, discretion was the better part of valor after all. He could run from this battle and live to fight another day.
Jonathan tore across the ground, moving at a speed that he rarely reached. Reaching the gate on the cavern wall, he drove his fist into it, cracking the stone. It took three more blows to fully destroy the gate, but just as he was about to enter it, he felt rocky fingers closing around his torso. Jonathan jerked forwards, but it was too late. The monster raised Jonathan up into the air, and held him before its craggy face, as if inspecting him. A moment later, it began to squeeze. Its strength was leagues beyond Jonathan’s own, and his bones began to creak almost as soon as it began. He tried to free himself, but the monster was too strong, and he eventually realized that there was only one way out.
Jonathan went limp, as if he had died, and he found the monster's fingers begin to slacken. As the creature peered down at him, trying to discern whether he was really dead, Jonathan exploded outwards with all of his strength, breaking free of the creature's grasp. Running towards the gate, he almost made it. However, a pillar of rock rose up in front of his path, blocking off the escape route. The monster behind him had summoned it into existence, and Jonathan looked around to see the creature with one hand planted firmly on the ground. It rose up and lumbered towards him, cocking back one massive fist.
Jonathan ran out from under the impact zone, and felt the ground tremble as the fist landed. He needed to get a good gauge of this monster’s abilities if he was to ever defeat it. Jonathan whirled around, and drove his fist into its leg, finding that the stone that made it up was not especially durable. A large chunk flaked off as he hit it, but the monsters seemed unperturbed. More stone gradually grew out into the hole, and within a few seconds, it was completely healed over. The monster stomped down and knocked Jonathan off his feet with its sheer strength. He landed fifty feet away, and got to his feet, groaning. Jonathan knew that he was outmatched here, and only an application of supreme tactical intelligence would save him.