It seemed that since he had not engaged any of the other monsters, he had been able to gain levels unimpeded by their presence. Otherwise he would have been in a dire state. Soloing the monster had given him quite a large boost as well. He was progressing quite quickly at this point, quicker than he could have imagined. However, he reminded himself that there was still an almost endless path to the top. He was not even halfway through the first Tier yet, and there were at least a hundred to go after this.

Jonathan ran towards the nearest mammoth, and spotted a weak spot on its back leg from where the two warriors had been whaling on it for the last few minutes. They were both desperately defending against scything blows from the monsters’ trunk, and although they were both level 40, they were hard pressed to even survive here.

Jonathan took advantage of the distraction, and drove an ultra enhanced fist into the monster’s back leg, causing it to buckle as he tore through its ligaments. The beast dropped like a stone, wailing in rage, and Jonathan climbed up its back before it could ignite itself. He ran towards its head, and jumped as he ran, flying towards the creatures’ skull. Raising one hand above his head, he brought it down, imbuing it with Divinity and mana. He sent five sets of two points into his Resilience stat as he did so, boosting it by a total of fifteen points. This time, he felt the impact less than before and his fist went noticeably deeper. Strength was not the only thing that increased damage.

For example, attacking with a wet noodle would always be less effective than with a sword, even if the wielder had the same strength. It was all about durability as well as raw power. Jonathan quickly stepped up the pace, bringing his hands down over and over again in a staccato beat that quickly tore through the monster’s flesh. Every time that it tried to retaliate, the two warriors on the ground would attack it with all their might, causing it to lose focus. In addition, the enhancer mage on the battlements was doing a good job of keeping the monster’s attention too, allowing him to keep attacking.

He broke through to its brain in record time, and killed the beast with an orb of red hot mana. Jonathan’s mana was beginning to run low from all of the expenditure, and he wanted to give it some time to recover. He was confident that the others would be able to kill off the final beast on their own. He had gained another level from killing this beast, lower than normal because of the others.

Jonathan sat down on the back of the mammoth, and watched. The final beast was covered in wounds from the two mages, both of whom were purposefully keeping their distance. One of them was missing an arm, having been seared off at the elbow, but they were still casting.

The warriors crashed into the mammoth, using the open wounds as a way to send their attacks in with maximum force. The wounds were quickly opened further by their attacks, and blood began to pour onto the ash.

The monster bucked and stamped, but with the combined efforts of the fighters, it was futile. After a few minutes, it finally bled out, and the defenders cheered. No essence entered Jonathan, but he hadn't been expecting for any to do so. He had gained enough from this fight already.

Now that the monster wave was finished, it was getting close to the time that he needed to leave this city. He had better things to do with his time, and now that the mayor had cleaned up his act, and the crafters had fallen in line, his work here was done.

Jonathan quickly got off the mammoth, and made his way back towards the city. He wanted to say goodbye to Petrag and his daughter, as well as Janessa, the demonic librarian. Both groups had helped him out, and he had the impression that they were the only truly good people within the city.

As the gates opened in front of Jonathan and the others, he could hear muffled cheering coming from behind. The townspeople were ecstatic that the monster wave had ended without any damage to the town, and it was all thanks to Jonathan and his fellows. With a start,he realized that he had never even learned the names of the other five fighters. He had just taken them for granted as defenders of the city that would come when there was danger. However, it was time to talk to them for at least a little bit. They deserved that much for fighting with him.

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As the fighters walked off, Jonathan followed them, causing one of them to spare him a backwards glance. However, none of them said a word, which told Jonathan that they were happy with him following them.

They quickly made their way towards a large square building in the center of the city, with a pair of crossed swords emblazoned over the door frame. It looked like some sort of barracks, and Jonathan walked in after them. He quickly shut the door behind himself, and took a look around. The interior of the building was much more richly furnished than the exterior, and it seemed as if it had been built for luxury rather than practicality. A plush red carpet ran the length of the hallway, and large sofas lined the walls. In the distance, an opened courtyard beckoned, filled with training supplies. As Jonathan entered the place fully, the others turned to face him.

“Well? What did you come here for?” One of the mages, a woman, asked.

“I merely wished to talk to you all. I never found out anything more about you, even though we all fought together, multiple times in fact.”

“Huh. We all thought that you consider yourself too good to talk to the likes of us. You are quite far beyond us, in terms of power, even though you do now follow the true path,” the other mage said. At hearing this, one of the fighters scoffed.

“Don’t listen to Harland. He is a magical purist. He thinks that mana manipulation is the only way to fight. I say that he is wrong.” This was clearly an argument that had happened multiple times before, as both men glowered at each other, with an ease that spoke of years of friendship. A moment later, Harland shook his head, and turned back towards Jonathan.

“I apologize for that. We all have our little quirks. Now, what did you want to do? You must have come here for something other than just watching us bicker.”

Jonathan laughed at this, and looked at the other man, a grin on his face.

“I just wanted to thank you all for fighting with me. That, and maybe get to know you all a little bit better. I will be leaving this city soon, but that doesn't mean that I can’t make friends.”

“True, that,” the enhancer mage said. His voice was deep and sonorous, and Jonathan immediately assumed that he was the leader of this group. “Honest people are few and far between in this world, and they never get far unless they band together. May we have the pleasure of knowing your name?”

“My name is Jonathan. Jonathan Harlowe,” Jonathan said, trusting the others with his real name.

“My name is Eliza,” the female mage said. She looked to be a purebred human, and she looked exactly the same as any other human woman Jonathan had seen.

“I am Harland,” the other mage said. He was of a different race, one that Jonathan did not know. He had long, pointed fingers, and his head was pointed slightly at the top. In addition, he was almost seven feet tall, with a willowy build.

“I’m Ragar,” the ax wielding fighter said, with a slight lilt to his accent. He was a dwarf, and was quite a stocky specimen too. He was clad in plate armor, armor that was dented and torn from fighting. “My clan name is, was, Stonehollow. Back in Telvaria, I was one of the warriors of my clan. However, we were nothing but a blip on the radar for the rest of the dwarven kingdoms. Apparently, some of our enemies spread false rumors about us, and the gods caught wind of our supposed blasphemy. Miserable bastards…” The man muttered under his breath.

“Do not disparage the gods!” Harland said, almost shouting. His face was pale. Ragar spat in response.

“Those gods are not the gods of the Infinite Hells. They cannot hurt us here. I thought that you got over your zealotry long ago, Harland?”

The other man muttered something under his breath, and the other fighter took the opportunity to break up the argument.

“My name is Delvar,” he said. The man was a half orc, and was quite an imposing figure. He stood at almost six and a half feet of pure muscle.

“And I am Jakarthi, the leader of this little band,” the enhancer mage said. “Now that we are all introduced, have we fulfilled your objective? I am sorry for the abruptness, but we have a meeting with the mayor in a few minutes.”

“I just wanted to thank you all for your help in those battles. I know that it might have seemed like I was hogging all the monsters, but I still valued your contributions. I wouldn't have won on my own.”

“I appreciate that sentiment,” Jakarthi replied. The man bowed low to Jonathan, and the other followed suit. “May you have the best of luck on your travels, Jonathan Harlowe. Hell is not an easy place at the best of times.”

“Farewell then,” Jonathan replied, walking out the door. The others stared at his back for a moment, and then went off to their business.