'Huh...'

Noah raised his hand, examining the bone gauntlet, now stained with blood. He had absorbed massive amounts of essence during the encounter with the pack of rodent-like monsters. Even now, shimmering green clouds were hovering towards him, every time a monster was slain by his minions and Jeffrey. Noah had Claws and Steve fighting for him and a trusted friend and ally in Jeffrey. But he no longer needed to cower behind them. Noah was powerful, armed and had ways to manipulate the battlefield.

'It's not that easy to bully me, anymore.'

Another simian looking monster lunged towards Noah, who in turn closed the gap to the hulking creature, slashing its throat with his clawed gauntlet. The creature's four yellow eyes widened in shock as it clutched its torn throat, blood pouring out and staining its white fur.

By the time the monster had collapsed to its knees, emitting awful gurgling sounds, Noah had already moved on, charging at the large group of apes that were surrounding Steve.

A powerful kick threw one of the monstrous apes on top of a few others, causing them to tumble on the ground in a chaotic heap. As Steve mercilessly finished off the creatures with his blade, Noah had already plunged the claws of his gauntlet into the stomach of another monster, causing it to howl in agony as it was being disemboweled.

Noah had no time to stop and reflect on the sheer brutality of his actions, anything other than focusing on the next move, would get him killed. With a swift motion, he sliced at a monstrous ape's ribs using his right hand, while the claws on his left hand had carved deep, bloody gashes across the creature's furious face. Leaping back, Noah created a space between himself and the encroaching horde.

'Rise!'

Glowing green clouds of mist began to envelope the mutilated corpses of the ape horde. One after another, the slain monsters levitated up to their feet, as their flesh dissolved into radiant cinders. Noah could sense his pool of essence diminishing, but for now, the drain was minuscule. He had plenty of essence to spare and with every fallen monster, he regained some of it back.

With his new skeletal minions throwing themselves into the fray, the center of the group's formation was secure, for now. The undead apes were not particularly powerful, but as they engaged the members of their former horde, it had freed Steve to swiftly finish off the distracted monsters with his Greatsword.

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At the front, Jeffrey didn't require any aid. The werehuman was a force of nature, thrashing his head wildly with a human-snake hybrid monster being crushed by his powerful jaws. Monstrous snake-like creatures were flailing in the air, mangled and broken, every time Jeffrey swinged at them.

That left Claws, in the back. Noah had already sensed that the two skeletons that he had raised to aid the undead reptile, earlier, had been destroyed. However, as he turned to face the rear of the formation, Noah felt a searing pain shoot through his shoulder.

'Ah... what the duck?!'

There was a tear in the raggedy shirt that Jeffrey had provided Noah, smoke wisping out from it, carrying the acrid scent of burnt flesh.

The monsters clinging to the walls of the buildings, with their six limbs were spitting some sort of corrosive acid.

'Ew! That's disgusting...'

Noah raised the corpses of more of the ape monsters, while dodging the acidic projectiles. Every new skeleton created was then sent to scale the walls of the buildings and hunt the six limbed creatures. The latter were much weaker compared to the apes and all that would not scurry away, were viciously mauled.

The lifeless body of one of the acid-spitting monsters fell at Noah's feet. It bore a grotesque resemblance to a human, twisted and contorted to mimic a nightmarish lizard of sorts. The sight sent a shiver down Noah's spine, unsettling him far more compared to the appearance of the other monsters.

Composing himself, Noah headed towards Claws. The undead reptile took quite a beating. Its bones were coated with foamy green mist, yet Claws appeared to relish the slaughter, lunging from one twisted serpent to the next, leaving a trail of bloodied foes in its wake.

Repeating the same tactic, Noah proceeded to raise slain monsters. After commanding them to join the battle, he himself began to tear at the creatures with his gauntlets.

As the battle raged on, Noah's sense of time blurred amid the chaos. He was feeling the strain and exerting a lot of essence, as he alternated between supporting Steve in the center and Claws at the back. Surprisingly, however, the hordes of monsters seemed as though they were beginning to falter.

Even monsters, it seemed, could be unnerved and demoralized by the sight of their fallen comrades rising to attack them, all while scores of them are massacred by formidable foes.

'We're winning!' Less and less of the monsters appeared to be willing to attack Noah's group.

Then, a furious shriek reverberated through the street and the monsters acted as though they had been whipped into a frenzy, howling and hissing as they resumed their assault on Noah's group in greater intensity than before. Yet, all Noah could glean from the eyes of the creatures, was fear.