The attack was reckless, and didn't have any real tactics or skill behind it. It was a simple swing of his hammer, with nothing but his raw stats and emotion behind it. The haphazard attack was easily dodged by the swordsman, who was far faster than Mike had expected. His sword came up in a counter attack, attempting to slice open Mike's stomach. Mike infused his armor with a touch of mana to increase its durability, which prevented the sword from cutting through him.
His carapace armor was strong to slashes, so he had that going for him at least. He spun around, taking swing after swing at the man, who dodged each attack with ease. The only slip up Klint made was when he attempted to block an attack, and push through to counter.
Despite the swordsman's high speed, Mike completely outclassed him in strength. He had dumped every free point he had earned into the stat for the past many levels, and it had reached heights that Klint couldn't hope to match with just his skills supplementing the difference. Mike saw an opportunity to catch him off guard, and used Cleave to send a blast of force at Klint. The took the attack straight to the chest, nearly being knocked to the ground. He managed to regain his footing just in time to clumsy dodge Mike's next attack, which still caught him in the side. This time, he wasn't so lucky as to be able to recover, and he was sent flying by the strike.
Mike followed after the flying body, using burst step to get up to speed. He grabbed the man by the leg, spinning and hurling him, adding to his already substantial speed. Mike had aimed for a spot in the outer wall that had a large crack from stray attacks before he had arrived, and the swordsman crashed through, barely breaking through to the other side. Mike was forced to dive through the hole as his inertia prevented him from stopping in time to avoid a collision. He sailed over the man, who had recovered enough to swing his sword at Mike. The sword didn't cut, but instead made a sizable crack in his armor thanks to the speed he was moving.
As Mike flew, he attempted to land feet first on a tree he was headed towards, only to crash through, knocking it over. Mike grumbled, remembering how annoying the toughness of the trees had been in the past. Now, he had the opposite problem. Luckily, the tree fell towards Klint, and was on a direct path to land on his head.
Mike gaped as instead of dodging the very easy to avoid obstacle, he instead swung his sword, cutting through the tree and leaving himself unharmed. He then ran, catching up to Mike as they once more clashed, Mike activating Empower Self at half power to keep up with his opponent. The man had to be at a very high level to be so powerful, and Mike identified him as they fought.
Human (level 36)
Not as high as he would have expected, but still a good deal higher than his own level. They fought, moving deeper and deeper into the forest, when suddenly the man slowed significantly. His eyes portrayed panic, before he turned and ran closer to the settlement, speeding back up again. Mike's eyes widened as he realized the obvious weakness. Klint needed to be close to the settlement for whatever skill he was using to work.
This information wasn't that useful at the moment, as he needed to chase the man back into the walls. As he entered the gates at high speed, he saw the man's sword swinging to decapitate yet another bystander. Mike intercepted the strike as he tackled the swordsman at high speed, and they both tumbled to the ground. Mike's hammer was knocked out of his hands, and flew across the field.
Klint saw the opening and charged to take the advantage. Seeing Mike without a weapon, he cared little for defending himself and preventing a counter. He slashed at Mike, and Mike in turn dodged to the side. Unfortunately for Klint, he hadn't known about the special properties of Mike's hammer. Expending mana to draw his soul bound hammer back to him, he used even more to resummon it.
With the large opening that the man had created with his attack, Mike infused mana into his hammer, adding to its weight. Its mass increased as it grew stronger. If Mike made another hammer, he would need to add something to it that would show how much mana was infused into it, because he felt that the sheer power of it was not put well enough on display as his feet began sinking into the ground from the weight.
Mike attacked, the hammer striking the swordsman’s arm. Between the strength Klint had used to try and move away, and the weight of the hammer used in the attack, the arm was ripped from the man's body, getting crushed to a pulp under the hammer as they hit the ground.
This brought out an anger that Mike had yet to see come from the man. Up until now, his opponent had only showcased a mild amusement, a bit of distaste, and a brief panic when he left the range of the settlement. Now, anger burned in his eyes. Mike made eye contact with the man, and both sent angry gazes at one another, feeling nothing but hate for one another. The exchange that followed consisted of nothing but reckless attacks from both sides, as they desperately tried to kill one another, at any cost necessary. Mike and Klint attacked, using every ounce of strength they had to attack.
The passive shockwave effect from Mike's Cleave skill showed its value as even his missed attacks had some effect. The damage began adding up, with Mike getting cuts all over his body, as well as his chest piece, one bracer, and his helmet being damaged beyond usefulness. Klint was in rough condition as well, as every patch of exposed skin was colored deep purple and brown from the bruises and internal bleeding the man was suffering.
Despite how injured they both were, the fight as a whole had not been going on for very long. From the moment Mike took his first attack, to the end of the reckless exchange of blows, only about 30 seconds had passed. To the two of them, they felt as if they were just moving at a typical speed, and it was comfortable and normal for them.
To an outside spectator however, they had been tearing across the battlefield at speeds none of them could hope to match. To those who had yet to evolve for a second time, they were simply blurs that occasionally shot out mana from a skill or blood from an injury.
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Just then, Mike remembered the special ability granted to him by his armor, and shot out poison from the intact bracer on his left hand. The poison shot out, coating the man's body. It was slightly acidic, but not enough to break through the skin. As it flowed over the man, it did find its way into each cut and open wound he had suffered so far. The poison worked wonders as the man was slowing down with each second.
It wasn't much, but every bit helped as Mike landed blow after blow, taking nearly as many in return. His health dropped as he bled, and he was at just half of his maximum. It was the most injured he had ever been, but he was determined to survive and kill the swordsman. Their fight once more brought them outside the walls, though not as far as last time. Huge areas of trees were cut down as Klint tried to make room between the two of them.
The unlucky trees that did end up landing between them were smashed to splinters as Mike tore through them, not wanting to give the man a moment to breathe. Despite his best efforts, Klint had managed to put some space between the two of them, and once more was fleeing back within the walls of the settlement. Mike tried to catch up to him, but when he got to the gate, it was too late.
Klints sword was coming down to cut a mage in half. Mike was too far to help, and he knew that even if somebody tried to help him, they were near certain to be cut down along with her. At least that was what he had thought. A shield came up to meet the sword, and the horrific screech of metal meeting metal rang out across the settlement as the blow was blocked. Not just blocked, but fully stopped in its place. Mike looked for who it could have been that saved the man's life, identifying the savior.
Human (level 26)
It was the captain of the guard, a red headed woman with more muscle than even Mike had. She looked like she could be Aaron's sister with how much mass she was carrying around with her. Unfortunately for her, Muscle didn't equal strength as directly as it had before the system, and she was kicked to the side, with the sword once more coming down on top of John. Mike was close enough this time, and deflected the attack, quickly following up with a kick of his own. The swordsman was sent back several dozen feet, and Mike glanced at the mage, double taking at who he saw.
“John?” He said, meeting the man’s eyes. His old teammate didn't get the opportunity to respond as Mike was forced to intercept another attack from Klint, hitting the sword off course from another killing blow that was aimed at yet another mage. Mike wasn't sure if it was mages in particular that were being targeted, or if it was just an unfortunate coincidence. It didn't matter, as he continued doing everything in his power to prevent Klint from claiming another life.
The fight didn't end up reaching the outside walls this time, instead remaining nearby and continuing. Both combatants had slowed down quite a bit by this point, and they were no longer a blur to the weaker people in the crowd. Klint repeatedly tried to send off stray attacks into the crowd, trying to kill anyone he could. Each time either Mike or the guard captain was there to block the blow, and the swordsman was beginning to grow desperate. He sheathed his sword, grabbing Mike by the neck with his one remaining hand. He crushed down on Mike's throat, and Mike didn't move to attack.
“I don't care about conquering this place anymore, I just want to see you die.” Klint spat, bringing Mike's face close to his own and staring him in the eyes as he choked Mike.
“Well you made one hell of a mistake grabbing me then.” Mike responded. Mike's aura had been working to rid the man of the little mana left in Klints body as soon as he had been grabbed. As the last bits of mana left the man, his body seemed to grow weak, far weaker than he would be without a boosting skill. He was about to drop his opponent, when Mike activated his one and only trait skill. Freedom flared to life as he dumped mana into the hand around his neck. Thanks to there being no hostile mana to resist his skill, the hand, along with half of the arm attached to it, disintegrated into ash.
Klint let out a scream as he lost his other arm. Fear was completely etched across his face as he turned tail and attempted to flee. Mike gave chase, which wasn't hard considering the man was running at just a third the speed he had been before. Mike grabbed the screaming man, hoisting him over his shoulder as he sprinted through the gate, and went outside of the walls. He ran long enough to be out of sight of the settlement, and threw the man to the ground with all he had. Blood spilled all across the ground as he landed.
Mike had been forced to think tactically and not just let loose with his emotions for the entire fight. He now had the chance to let his anger and grief take control for what the man had done. His hammer slammed into the man beneath him. Over and over, his weapon met the soft body of the defeated foe. He ignored the notifications that were urgently trying to get his attention, and just kept up his rampage. With one final swing, he put every last bit of mana he had into Cleave, sending a shockwave into the man and into the ground beneath him.
Mike looked at the puddle on the ground. That was all that was left of his foe, a puddle, with the occasional shattered bone. Mike stood in the puddle, which sat in the center of a ten foot wide crater made by his onslaught. He had to admit to himself, it felt good. It wasn't killing the man that made him feel satisfaction, but knowing he had avenged everyone killed by this man. Mike wasn't a saint himself in any sense of the word, but what this man represented was pure evil. Mike waited there, looking at the puddle that was once a person. Raindrops fell from the clouds above, diluting the liquid he stood in. He stood still there until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, seeing Lucas there.
“They are burying the dead now.” He said. “Though you would like to be there.”
He was right, Mike had forgotten for a brief moment what the fight had been for. He had been telling himself it was for those people, but he would never say the challenge of the fight wasn't exactly what he had been looking for. Aaron healed him, noting the injuries he had taken and commenting on how dead he should be right now. Not long after, he stood in front of the turned over dirt that marked where each of the fallen were placed. He looked at the patch of dirt, which was soaked through with the rain from above. Mike avoided looking at anyone, keeping his eyes on the grave before him. He mumbled a goodbye, low enough that nobody could hear.
“You were a good leader, even if not everyone thought so.” Mike had known that not everyone agreed with the way things were being run. It was just a result of the large variety of people that now inhabited the camp. If every single person agreed on how things should be done, they would be more of a cult than a collective. Mike walked away from the grave, pushing through the crowd of people that were gathering around. His notifications continued to try and get his attention, but Mike just pushed them to the back of his mind. For now, all he wanted was rest. As Mikes entered his cabin and flopped onto his cot, he just hoped that tomorrow, things would somehow be better.