Jonathan ignored the attacks coming in from behind, and used the soldiers around himself as a shield to deter Dalnar’s frequent attacks. The spell that he was using seemed to have a degree of autonomy, and once it latched onto a target, then it pulled them back towards the caster, no matter if they wanted that or not. Because of this, Dalnar was wasting valuable time as he tried to get to his quarry.
Jonathan ducked under a strike from a sword wielding soldiers, and used his fist to redirect the strike into another one of his enemies, breaking through their armor with the force that he imbued into the strike. At least his martial skills were getting a good workout here. He had discovered that his redirection skill could be applied to almost anything with movement, and that it worked on the attacks of his enemies as well, as long as he got to it first. He sensed that he was starting to come closer to an upgrade for the skill, but he would need to refine it a bit more first. He would use these soldiers to do so.
It was easy enough to deal with them, as they all seemed to be mirrors of themselves, trained from the same master most likely. There were only a few weapons that Jonathan could see being used, and out of them, the sword was by far the most common. It wasn’t that they were bad, per se, but they lacked any sort of drive past the mastery of their own techniques. They weren’t like Jonathan, who had dealt with danger since entering this world. Likely, none of them had ever been in a situation where they had to fight for their lives on their own. They probably had lived quite a sheltered life, or as sheltered a life as one could within the Infinite Hells. It wasn't like there were any frequent uprisings around here anyway. Jonathan was giving them a good workout.
He weaved around their strikes like they were from the most unskilled of children, and used his fists to teach his foes a permanent lesson. He tried to limit his reliance on his overabundance of stat points halfway into the fight, wanting to train up his martial power. Halving his stats, he felt an immense difference from the get go, and the attacks from the soldiers were suddenly a lot more pressing. His armor was still just as durable however, which he was counting on. Jonathan knew that he was dancing on the knife's edge here, but he knew that this would be a good opportunity to rank up a few of his skills.
As he looked at the soldiers rushing towards him, faster than they had a few seconds before, he raised his fists, and began to move. His first attack redirected the sword strike of his closest assailant, and he grabbed the weapon by the blade, slapping it upwards. The soldier was disarmed by the attack, and Jonathan reached out, grabbing the weapon out of the air. He swung it around, and cut straight through the soldier’s neck, bending this armor in the process.
As the body fell, Jonathan threw aside the sword, and ducked under an ax, kicking out into the knee of the soldiers who had sent it his way. The joint buckled backwards, and the man stumbled, allowing Jonathan to drive a devastating uppercut into his jaw. Blood flew in an arc as he landed his attack, and the man landed ten feet away in the midst of his companions. Even though Jonathan was limiting his power somewhat, he was still stronger than any of these people here. The only danger to him was in their sheer weight of numbers. However, if it became too dangerous, he would revert back to his normal state.
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As he progressed, the soldiers began to adapt to his movements, starting to position themselves in a way that allowed for them to attack him while being protected by their fellows. Even if they were not exactly the best of fighters, they were still well trained as it was, and Jonathan sensed that the time for experimentation was over. He quickly went back to his normal rate, and powered through the nearby soldiers, pushing them away with his strength. His feet dug deep into the ground as he moved, and he eventually forced enough of the soldiers out of the way to break through to the other side. He did not look back once, and instead started to run at his full speed, racing across the ash as he did so.
Behind him, the soldiers turned around, and ran in pursuit, but it was pointless. They had made a grave error in the army composition that had been sent after Jonathan. If they had possessed a few ranged fighters, then the outcome might have been quite different. However, they likely had been afraid of his Unravel skill being the bane of any mage that attacked him, and as a result,the only person with ranged attacks that they had sent was Dalnar. In addition, they likely had not expected the difference in power between him entering the dungeon, and him exiting it. He had grown in more than just levels within that place and his newfound connection to his Divinity had empowered him more than should have been possible.
Jonathan was a bit annoyed that he hadn't been able to fight Dalnar, but he knew that if he had stayed, he would have died. He had managed to deal with the soldiers around him, but his stamina would have eventually run out, leaving him defenseless. In addition, by the time that he had left, the soldiers were becoming too much of a threat to him as they adapted to his fighting style. Half of his success had been due to shock at his power, rather than his actual prowess itself. Jonathan was strong, but he would not have survived that battle had he not been able to escape.
Jonathan spared a glance backwards, and saw a figure wreathed in red light racing across the ash, faster than even he was moving. It seemed as if Dalnar was stepping up his game. The man shot off a blast of red energy towards Jonathan, almost hitting him with the end. It seemed that he focused more on the speed of his spells than anything else. Jonathan ignored the obvious attempt at a provocation, and kept running. If he was to fight Dalnar, he would do it out of range of the rest of his army.
Jonathan headed towards a nearby ruin, which seemed like the perfect place to get a vantage point on the nearby land. He doubted that these were the only forces sent to capture or kill him, and he knew that there were likely more in the surrounding lands anyway, even if they were not there for him. Jonathan made a beeline for the crumbling spire of rock and wood, and looked back to see Dalnar changing course to follow him. The other man was about a mile behind him, but he was slowly gaining on Jonathan, as his longer legs were propelling him faster. Despite his heavy armor and seemingly defense oriented build, Dalnar was quite fast, which seemed to come into play with his spellcraft as well. Jonathan guessed that the man had invested heavily into Dexterity and his mental stats,with a bit added to his other physical ones to complete the build. He was actually similar to Jonathan in a way, just less overpowered.
Jonathan kept running, even as he thought about what this meant for the probable fight between the two of them. Dalnar’s signature move was the whip attack, which Jonathan would have to watch out for. It did not deal any damage, but it would be deadly in a fight, where a moment of weakness could spell the difference between victory and defeat.