Holding a black bladed sword with a sinister glow Muiren approached. He blocked Luna's arrows with simple and accurate movements. I had read a few stories in my life where the protagonist's world had something similar to our leveling system but they never had to fight opponents at a vastly different level. It was an unrealistic part of those stories. A protagonist that always ends up fight opponents that are never more than ten levels higher than them. It a difference that can be overcome by skill or chance.
Muiren was not someone who could be defeated by chance. Real-life meant there are consequences to actions and that stronger enemies than I could handle may appear at any time. I had become complacent because the Gods and goddesses on my side had been helping to keep me safe. Now I was paying the price for this complacency. An enemy that I had no hope of defeating had come!
Ileor(my father) met Muiren head-on. I was at my dad's side providing support. A few times a managed to stop, slow, or redirect one of his blows but my level was to low to keep up with him. Emma and I were only just above level 300. I had gotten Augmenter as my second class, so it didn't add much combat improvement. Dad's body quickly acquired a lot of minor cuts, he too was no match for Muiren. Even Emma's ghost/dragon powers, as well as Luna's arrow support, made much difference.
If not for our teamwork We wouldn't have lasted even for mere moments. Our enemy seemingly indestructible in physical combat. So I did what I knew best! I called our to the elements with my magic and summoned the earth to encase him and the wind to cut his head off.
The massive wind blade felled a few nearby thick trees but the Dark knights head did not roll. He had some kind of dark defensive aura that seemed to flow out of him like thick water or oil. Only I seemed to be able to see it after asking those around me. It was like an endless stream of ooze that evaporated once it reached a certain distance away from his body. Then it turned into black smoke that floated back into him. A never-ending cycle. Why hadn't I thought to make anything similar from mana or magic?
I was fairly impressed by the brilliance of the design but it was not made from mana or fighting spirit aura. No. It was something far more sinister. It felt like somehow he'd taken the resentment of billions of souls and somehow harnessed it. Neither my magic nor our physical attacks could reach him. He'd only bothered to catch Luna's arrows to show us how outclassed we were. He reveled in our hopelessness. I tried using all the elements of which I was capable but only my light magic seemed to make the slightest dent.
The Dark knight broke free of his stone entombment and charged at my father. Using light magic I momentarily managed to blind him with a flash. Muiren cast some quick spell that covered his eyes with a dark screen. Jerk even managed to bring sunglasses!
I locked eyes with Muiren, "Why are you doing this? I never intended to break your curse. It was an accident."
Muiren Laughed," Hahaha, you think this is just about that? No. This is more about what you are and what you are meant to be. Yes, you breaking that little curse makes more time and effort to accomplish some of my goals. You, however, if left alive will break what has been established and enforced for a long time. Your race must end! Had you been human none of this would be of much concern."
"What does being reborn an elf have to do with anything?" I demanded.
All the while I spoke with Muiren my father had exchanged blows with him but Muiren easily parried them all with little effort. Muiren was barely even paying my father much attention.
Muiren glared at me, " It has everything to do with you being an elf!!! That prophecy tells of you destroying what we've built and turning it into a world we have little control over. What will I do if I cannot torture mere mortals for fun? It's bad enough that damned system came along and took much of the control we had before away."
"Wait, did you just say the system wasn't made by the gods?" I said surprised.
"Ha! No! That thing was made by the High Gods when they added it onto the tablet of creation. They, unfortunately, did not have the foresight to prevent the tablet from taking control and revoking our access."
"I ... Have so many questions about that statement", I mumbled.
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"Too bad you'll never live long enough to find out the answer", I just barely nimbly dodged a knife Muiren threw at me. It went " thud" into a tree trunk. The tree the knife hit rapidly began withering.
"Nice dodge brat", Muiren exclaimed flatly.
My body was suddenly covered in cold sweat as I realized how close I came to dying. Emma burst from the other side of the battlefield towards Muiren.
I grew far more panicked than ever before. Yelling to Her to stop but she was enraged by what had just happened. Muiren was readied himself turning her direction. No! No! No! I screamed in my head. I bashed at Muiren with my ax's but he didn't even look at me anymore. I couldn't pierce his aura and he knew it. All his attention was on the person I loved most in this world!
A thread that shinned the color of a red rose flowed out from Emma's body wrapping and coiling around her right arm and hand. Briefly, Muirens smile disappeared as he brought up his blade to block. Emma delivered a punch that created such a big boom that it knocked everyone else on the battlefield over. Only Emma and Muiren had remained standing. At that moment Muiren stood with a shattered his sword in his hand.
Emma tried to stay standing but she suddenly grew weak falling towards the ground. Ileor moved the fastest I'd ever seen an elf move and caught her as soon as she started to collapse. At that moment, Muiren put what was left of his sword into my dad's lower back and through his stomach.
Even with the injury, my father brought the collapsed Emma to safety. My mother immediately began stabilizing my fathers wound. I knew he would most likely be fine but that was my father and that green goddess was my future wife! I lost control and I let a bit of the beast deep inside myself out of its cage! Whatever this feeling was it was primal! A primal rage that overflowed from within me.
Like how the Chinese say the mind, soul, and body are intertwined, my emotions affected my mana. My eyes started to glow gold and somehow my real voice and my [Soul Speak] overlapped each other. What's more, everyone could hear it. My mana began to replenish faster from both my body and soul simultaneously. My berserk mana pained my body as it ransacked through me but I did not care.
"Listen here you two-bit cockroach of a God! You screwed with my family and even if I die I'll make you regret coming here today forever!', The mana boiled within me and crossed into my Elorium axes. The two weapons swelled with the concentrated mana. This time both weapons glowed goldenly. I charged Muiren my mana boosting all my attributes temporarily and giving me a super-enhanced perception.
I was going to swing my first ax at Muiren but it suddenly became unstable as I charged at him. This instability was common when an item is forced to retain more mana than it can handle. Something that Grillo and I discovered by trial and error. Let's just say we got a lot of stories that are funny only in hindsight. So I threw the ax at Muiren right at point-blank range. It exploded in his face while I ducked to the side. The other Ax in my hand seemed fine though. It greedily drank all the mana it could get.
So I forced into it all the mana it could possibly want. That last attack had shredded Muiren's chest plate on his armor and gave the bastard a few scrapes. If I could give him another one of those then at least I could die knowing he suffered some pain. The ax didn't lose stability but instead started making a weird thrumming noise.
Titan's Heart resonates with your will.
This weapon has received enough mana to evolve. This weapon share's you dislike of a particular God and chooses to be bound to you. (This weapon is soul-bound and cannot be wielded or given to others. If dropped Titans heart will return to its owner.) This weapon is Mythical Grade.
My weapons shape had changed slightly becoming more detailed and beautiful. There was a bunch of questions I wanted to be answered but still furious I ignored my desire to inquire further. I landed my ax into the unsuspecting Muiren's shoulder. He had thought me still unable to harm him but my now mythical ax pierced his aura and damaged armor.
"Take that asshat!" I shouted.
I didn't get a rebuttal statement. Next thing I knew I was a lot farther away coughing up blood and in serious pain. Muiren had unleashed his full force and kicked the ever-living heck outta me. He kicked me probably 150 yards back from where I had been. He appeared before me almost instantly. My ax was nowhere around me. I saw a punch come toward my face with what I knew was enough force to turn my head into a paste. A glowing transparent hammer appeared and blocked the blow before shattering. It had appeared out of the tattoo on my chest. Another secret of Grillo's family symbol? I thought.
The old dwarf seemed a little drained after the hammer blocked Muirens blow but he still rushed to me in time. Just in time to smack Muiren in his head with His adamantium alloy hammer. The hammer crumbled to bits after knocking Muiren over. This didn't keep the evil god down long though and soon he was up and before Pops. He gave Grillo a punch hard enough to shatter the Elorium power gauntlet the old dwarf was wearing. The force left over blasted Grillo away just like the kick used on me before. Man, these Gods strength is no joke!
Picked up by the Evil God and held aloft by my collar, he said, " To think that without that mountain nearby I may never have found you."
We heard an immense roar that shook the very air around us and the ground trembled beneath our feet. I recognized the roar as Zotherg's voice. As the very land moved beneath us I realized that Zotherg was taking action.