A roar echoed through the cavern, and heavy footsteps started to sound out from the center of the arena, as if some invisible monster was being set loose. The creature began to come into view as it walked, revealing its true form. A troglodyte, about three times larger than a normal one of its species, strode across the ground, dragging a massive stone sword in its right hand. It was built like a tank with thick layers of armored scales protecting every inch of its body. Two beady eyes were set deep into a prominent forehead, and they glittered with malice as Jonathan beheld them. He scanned the monster quickly to see what he was up against.

Troglodyte Patriarch(Boss)

Level 70

It hefted its sword, and stomped the earth once, causing it to quake beneath Jonathan. It was quite the intimidating sight.

“Human,” the creature rumbled, its voice so low that it shook the sand around it. “You attacked my people, despoiled their lands, and slaughtered them without mercy. Your bloody journey ends here and now.”

Jonathan grimaced. It seemed that this monster was the leader of the troglodytes, and it was pissed at him.

“Where were you when I did those things then? Hiding from me in terror?” Jonathan replied, trying to rile the monster up. An angry opponent was always better than a calm one, unless they were far stronger than oneself.

The monster roared in rage, and charged Jonathan, its footsteps shaking the ground. All of the fissures and gaps had disappeared with the death of the mole, leaving a flat playing field for the two to fight. The monster moved slowly, but it carried the momentum of a freight train, and its sword was the best possible conduit for such power. A fifteen foot long monster of a weapon, it was wrought out of black stone, and looked as if it weighed over a ton. The monster wielded it with ease however, and Jonathan did not want for that weapon to come anywhere near him.

He raced forwards to meet the monster, with his fists outstretched and covered in crackling energy. The monster roared once more, and its sword started to glow with a red light, accentuating its brutalist appearance. It raised its weapon, and brought it crashing down, blasting away a ten foot crater of sand in front of Jonathan.The sand washed over him in a wave, pushing him backwards at high speeds. He could hear the footsteps of the monster even though he could not see it, and he hurriedly extricated himself from the sand.

The monster was barely ten feet away, and it swung its sword, almost catching Jonathan. He leaped over it, but the creature reversed its grip, and swung it straight upwards, catching him on the bottom of his feet. He was sent flying up towards the ceiling, where he impacted, stunning him briefly.

He fell back down to earth a moment later, and only managed to move at the last second to avoid a baseball bat swing of an attack from his enemy. The attack whistled through the air next to him, and he could feel the wind of its passing. The monster growled in rage, and let go with its left hand, reaching out to grab Jonathan out of the air. It swung him around and punted him towards the wall, trying to crush him against it.

Jonathan was too strong and agile for such a thing however, and reversed himself in midair, landing with his feet first. He pushed off the wall, flying in an almost straight line back towards the monster, his fists outstretched. Twin orbs of purple light crowned his fists, and his fight fist glowed with Divinity. The monster's eyes narrowed, and it swung towards him as he approached.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Jonathan pulsed Divinity into his left gauntlet, and the monster altered its swing by a tiny amount. It was minimal, but it was enough. The attack glanced off of Jonathan’s side rather than hit him straight on, and he powered through, landing a solid hit. His fist smashed into the monster's plated abdomen, and scales flew off of it as the creature flew backwards. It had a look of complete surprise on its face at this, but it wasn't that hurt. Its stomach was vulnerable now, but it seemed to be still in the game.

Its scales were immensely tough to be able to withstand a blow of that magnitude, and Jonathan began to feel a grudging respect for his enemy. He was still going to kill the monster, but it was a step above the other ones, as it was not some mindless beast hungering for blood, but a real person with its own hopes and dreams and desires. It believed that Jonathan had killed its people, and that was as good an excuse as any to fight. Jonathan knew the truth of the matter, but he didn't bother explaining himself. There was no way out of here save through bloodshed. He would spill oceans of blood over his time within the Infinite Hells. What more was a single drop? The answer was that it was nothing.

Jonathan raced after the monster, trying to get in an attack before it recovered. The Patriarch plated its reptilian feet into the sand, arresting its movements immediately. It pushed off, and rocketed towards Jonathan, using its tail to course correct. Jonathan ducked as the monster came flying towards him, and he was within its minimum weapon range. As it passed by, it whipped out with its tail, trying to knock him off balance. Jonathan grabbed the tail, grunting at the impact, and flipped the monster over his shoulder with his Redirection skills. He tore something within him, but it was worth it.

The creature slammed into the ground with an earth shaking thud, and Jonathan began to whale on it with his gauntlets. The creature raised its sword to protect itself, and Jonathan withdrew quickly after realizing that his strikes were futile. The monster was covered in small wounds now, but it seemed to be more eager to fight now, rather than less.

“You are good, despoiler. Your strength is far beyond what it should be. That is to be expected from one who killed my tribe. Anything less would be an insult to their memory.”

“You talk about your tribe, but how come you were never there then? Why are you still alive to face me?” Jonathan replied.

“The accursed System separated me from my tribe after we had grown to full strength, using me as a boss monster further down the dungeon. I am the only one of my people who knows of our true purpose here, as I am the only sentient one. I am the last light of the Alcazar, the original species of my tribe. When we were turned into these fleshy hulks, I managed to retain my intelligence.”

The monster growled low after this, and started to advance towards Jonathan. Clearly, the time for talking was over. That was fine with Jonathan. He knew that the monster was coming at him full force this time, and it had a dangerous light in its eyes that seemed to promise great bloodshed. It raised its hands above its head, with its sword between them, and started to summon a tornado of yellow energy around itself, coming up from the ground.

The Patriarch roared in anger, and started to channel the energy into its sword, causing a massive growth of spikes to appear on it. They were made out of solid rock, and Jonathan immediately knew what the monster was doing. It was channeling the element of Earth, in a similar manner to his own Void element, in order to empower its strikes. Well, two could play that game.

Jonathan summoned his mana to his hands, and pushed past that, starting to draw upon the actual power of the Void that lay dormant within him. It had simply tinted his mana pool before, but now the purple energy came in a flood towards his hands, turning the orbs into flecks of midnight. His eyes began to burn with a cold purple light, and he could faintly see them reflected in the metal of his gauntlets. With a grim smile, he charged to meet his enemy.

The Patriarch held its sword out to the side, and barreled forwards, each step shaking the ground. Jonathan on the other hand was a diminutive sight, but he contained incredible power within him, compared to his stature.

A few seconds later, fist met sword in a devastating clash of power. There had been only one possible outcome to their charges, which was that they would cross weapons in the middle of their paths in an expression of dominance.