Another Centiface burst from the ground in front of Leo, the shockwaves threw him off balance as he fell over. He was moving to stand up and fight, until he saw an arm burst from the ground in his peripheral vision. The arm lunged at Leo, as it attempted to grab him. Leo decided to dodge to the left, narrowly avoiding the grasp of the giant arm as it collided with and gripped the Centiface.
The two titans struggled for control as the Centiface screamed and thrashed while the arm held tight to try and crush it. Standing up he could feel the vibrations of the ground increase, it seemed as if each new enemy drew in more and more as they shake the ground.
Leo didn’t want to waste time running if he likely couldn’t escape the horde he created, as he quickly moved to get a better angle on the giant arm and Centiface that were now locked in a brutal grip on eachother.
[Generic Ability: Basic Strike]
Just one blow was what he needed to take down the two titans at once, even at a distance the force left nothing but the bases of their body intact. Looking past their now collapsing remains, Leo saw sand flying off in the distance from the force of his strike.
[ARMURION | GAINED 4,000 EXP]
[CENTIFACE | GAINED 2,500 EXP]
[SPIKESNAKE | GAINED 2,000 EXP]
Seeing his latest kills displayed motivated him, while he was always worried about hurting an innocent person while he fought, there was nothing here to keep these monsters safe. Leo took the moment of peace to try and feel anything near him, his senses thrown off by the amount of vibrating happening underneath the sand.
His instincts moved him before he did, telling him to launch himself quickly to the left. Looking back as he lept through the air, he saw another Centiface bursting from the ground right where he was with its collection of mouths wide open. He was moments away from being eaten by that beast, though as he looked to his destination he saw a Spikesnake emerge.
He braced himself knowing he couldn’t escape the collision, though this meant the snake couldn’t either. His body acted as a cannonball, the collision caused the snake to split in half as Leo passef through it. Once he landed he regained his composure as the Spikesnake collapsed, he took note that none of its spikes had pierced him this time. While he was definitely stronger than anything here, he still didn’t want to take any risk and be caught off guard.
The Centiface surged towards him, its mouths open and screaming with excitement over prey. Leo once again attempted to throw out a gentler attack than normal in hopes of finding a way to reduce collateral damage.
[Generic Ability: Basic Strike]
Leo cursed in frustration as he saw the once drooling Centiface reduced to nothing, having once more failed to control his strength. He struggled to balance on the fine line of attacking without obliterating, he needed to find a way to handle a larger enemy without putting everyone nearby at risk.
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As if it was right on queue, a screen popped up in Leo’s vision once more.
[Barbarian of Chains Feature: Unlock Precision Strike]
[Yes/No]
He was certainly tempted by the offer, being able to skip the fighting in the hot sweltering desert would definitely be nice. Though due to the limited nature of his class, he didn’t want to waste a use on something he knew he could get himself with effort.
With slight hesitation he clicked on no, seeing the screen disappear from view. Though a new monster quickly appeared in his view to replace it, far larger than any of the others he had seen before. It looked akin to a slug, dripping in slime, until it opened its eyes. The creature's entire body was covered in eyes, more than Leo could count.
He stared in a disgusted mesmerization as more and more eyes locked on to him, staring him down. He felt something else burst from the ground behind him, but the pull of the eyes caused him to disregard it as he tried to figure out what was facing him. Though when a handful of the eyes shot out beams of magic, Leo was thankfully smart enough to dodge out of the way. He barely avoided the beams, as he landed on a sand dune nearby. Looking at the Centiface that had burst from the ground behind him, he was extremely grateful that he did.
The Centiface tried to struggle against the effects of the many eyed beast, but was unable to do anything as its body began to harden and the infection spread. Within a matter of moments its entire body was consumed, turned into hardened stone. Leo looked on in shock, knowing if he had stalled then it could have easily been him to die.
Though as he began to stand up, he saw another volley of beams launched directly at him. He used his arms to propel himself to the side, once more barely dodging the attack. While the fight with the Spikesnake was him preparing for a theoretical danger, being actually at risk completely changed things for him.
Leo couldn’t find any break in the attacks to try and compose himself, launching himself into bad landing after bad landing as it seemed his every move was tracked. He knew this couldn’t go on forever, he would eventually land and not recover fast enough, and die.
Leo did not come this far to die, not here not now. He had hoped that his class would offer him stone immunity or anything, but with each tumble he realized that he couldn’t rely on luck to survive. Leo’s latest tumble had him roll down a small sand dune, thankfully giving him half a moment as the eyes trailed him. Once he was in a good enough position, he jumped once more, aiming rather than frantically dodging this time.
He was barely able to land properly, but didn’t dare risk his best chance of survival by overcorrecting his form. He smacked the ground in between him and the eyed monster as he sent up a large dust cloud to obscure its vision. He strafed left as he avoided the newest volley of beams, thankful that the monster didn’t try and predict his movement.
While he was throwing a practically blind attack, he also knew this meant the monster couldn’t see him. He used the window of opportunity to throw a powerful blow right where the eye monster was. While he hadn’t tried to go all out with his attacks today, he didn’t hesitate this time knowing things had gotten dire.
[Barbarian Ability: Brutal Strike]
Even with his strength reductions, the force still was overwhelmingly powerful as sand went flying violently from the wind pressure. Leo was barely able to stabilize himself as he saw the giant path he left behind, while it wasn’t the level of his destruction with David it was still great enough to change the desert.
[Brutal Strike: Deal 5-10 Damage + Strength x 2]
He hadn’t intended to use anything past his basic strike, but it seemed as if his desperation caused him to go overboard. Leo was thankful he hadn’t dropped Conserve Power, as that strike could have easily surpassed the desert and caused untold damage.
[MULTICULI | GAINED 15,000 EXP]
[SPIKESNAKE | GAINED 2,000 EXP]
[CENTIFACE | GAINED 2,500 EXP]
He took a breath as he saw his newest gains of exp, alongside learning the name of the creature that nearly succeeded in taking his life. Though as he looked around, he realized there were a large handful of emerged monsters staring at him. While they normally fought upon meeting, he realized that there hadn’t been any other activity once the Multiculi emerged.
This was when Leo realized he had just taken the place of the strongest creature in this area, and as they swarmed towards him, he also realized they didn’t respect his new position.