Noticing that the enemies were starting to close in on his position, breaking off from their carefully arrayed ranks, Jonathan quickly made a decision. He immediately started running towards a weak spot in the enemy ranks, spotting an opportunity for escape. He could have fallen for the trap and ran the opposite way, but he knew that there were blind spots where the enemy leader could have positioned troops to surprise him if he tried to do so. Besides, he was eager to test his newfound power against something other than beasts. He had no wish to fight here and die, and he would prioritize his survival, but he knew that he was strong enough to get away if he did this right.
However, Dalnar had other plans. The man reached out towards Jonathan, and a tendril of reddish energy whipped out of his hand, snapping towards Jonathan’s feet. It looked like a mana construct, and Jonathan recognized it as being imbued with some sort of elemental affinity, as his own one responded to it. It tripped him up before he could react fully however, moving so fast that it was almost a blur. It seemed that Dalnar had some tricks of his own.
The tendril closed around his feet, preventing him from rising. Dalnar strode towards him, the man trying to get to Jonathan before he escaped. Dark lightning crackled around his massive gauntlets, promising violence if he reached Jonathan. Jonathan slammed his mana down into the tendril binding his feet, causing it to crack apart with small lines of purple energy running through it. He tore his feet free, breaking apart the fraying red energy. He got to his feet and kept running, building up speed and power for his initial impact with the enemy lines. At this rate, he would reach them before they reached him.
He hit the soldiers a few seconds later, and he bowled through them, his superior physical strength enough to overpower the first rank, breaking bones and stunning the soldiers nearest to him. However, they piled up behind each other, supporting each other with their hands and weapons, and managed to stop his assault. Jonathan pushed as hard as he could, finding that they were too tightly braced, and then jumped backwards, watching as the soldiers stumbled. He would hazard a guess that they had never had to deal with someone as powerful as him in open combat. He then leaped over their heads, avoiding another attack from Dalnar. The whip of red light instead snatched up one of the soldiers, whipping them backwards across the heads of their fellows. Dalnar didn't seem to care, instead snapping his wrist, and sending the soldier flying off towards the dungeon.
Jonathan kept running as he landed, amid a group of fighters. They were all clad in silvery armor, with a few black accents, but he fancied that he could see them paling in terror as he began to attack. Jonathan summoned his void drills to his hands, creating orbs of dark purple light around them. With a deep breath, he began to attack. He punched multiple times every second, creating afterimages of his fists as he did so. The soldiers that he struck head on turned into showers of watery gore, and even the strikes that did not hit ended up taking off limbs. Jonathan did not pay attention to the individual soldiers as he fought, simply thinking about punching and kicking. He had to dodge a bit as well, as the enemies, while much weaker than him, were still relatively high leveled. The one good thing about being buried in the middle of this morass was that Dalnar was having a hard time getting to him.
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The enemy soldiers were starting to break before the indomitable will of his attacks, and Jonathan was starting to break through to the other side. Now their strategy of bunching together was working against them, as even though they would be able to repel a charge, the soldiers at the front of the lines were now vulnerable to melee combat. If he managed to escape, then there would be no stopping him. If they had sent a few people of Dalnar’s caliber, then this might have gone differently, but as it was, he was actually benefiting from the high numbers of relatively weak foes. Essence was entering him in a constant stream, that, while lacking much depth, still ended up making a difference in the grand scheme of things. If he killed every last one of these soldiers, then he probably would have gained a level. However, he was not planning to do so. His new armor was being tested greatly in this fight, and it seemed to be doing an excellent job of turning attacks away with its thick plate armor. Jonathan was glad that he had picked this suit over all else, and it was certainly holding up well to all assault.
As Jonathan slowly but surely forced his way towards the back of the enemy army, Dalnar was desperately trying to get to him. The captain had not been in a serious fight in his entire time in the legions of Granath, as few people ever dared to assault a member of the army. The forces of the circle were more for show than anything else, and while they contained quite a few high leveled people, they lacked any sort of real world experience. Such were the benefits, and the downsides of their positions. Sure, they trained extensively with each other, in the ways of war and their martial paths, but the fact was, Jonathan was a battle hardened veteran, and they were not. Dalnar had only ever killed those far weaker than himself, and now that he was coming up against someone who could actually put up a fight, his resolve was crumbling somewhat. Jonathan was proving to be far stronger than even the most exaggerated of reports had indicated, and Dalnar wasn’t sure what to do. He was ineffectively trying to get through the ranks of his men, but he wasn't sure what would happen even if he managed to reach his target. He had never been in a true life or death battle before, and he was sure that if he engaged Jonathan in a proper duel, then he could just as easily die as defeat the other man. Those were unacceptable odds to Dalnar. Instead, he tried to target the man from afar, sending his whip-like strikes over the heads of his fellows. They were proving to be quite useless however.