Out on the battlefield, Sam and the others began to group up, seeking to drive a wedge through the enemy lines. Sam, Lao and Eduardo stood at the front of the group, working in concert to strike at the skeletons in front of them, Their attacks went off in synchronized unison, allowing for them to combine their efforts in the most effective way.Thanks to their high stats, and knowledge of each other’s fighting styles, they were easily able to work in concert, as they knew how the others would act before they had even done it.
Using this method, they increased their fighting abilities by a large amount, letting them tear through the monsters like they were nothing. In the background, the other captains fought, with Jeffrey and Addas providing the bulk of the ranged support. For now, they were the only ones out here, but over the next few minutes, the automaton units began to troop out of the gate, making their way out to help. Most of them were waiting in reserve for the main fight, but two of the units were available to support the captains and Sam.
As they exited the city, the automatons sped up, running towards the skeletons. None of them were as strong as the captains, but there were more of them, and they were just as efficient in their dispatching of the monster hordes. As the automatons waded into the fray, Sam smiled. This was starting to look up.
The strain on the forcefield began to diminish, and it seemed like it was going back under its normal recharge rate. The shield was powered by a percentage of the mana of everyone in the city, which meant that it constantly recharged as long as it was in use, and as long as the damage of attacks did not eclipse that rate, then the shield would remain secure. As it was, it was barely below the critical amount of damage to fully damage the shield, and as the skeletons started to pile in closer and closer, it started to edge back up once more.
The automatons gamely tried to stem the tide, supported by heavy fire from above the city walls. Still, perhaps only twenty or thirty thousand skeletons had fallen by now, which was a tiny drop in the horde that they were facing. As Sam’s stamina bar began to drop quickly, he locked eyes with Reaper. If he took that man out of the game, then the horde would likely lose its sense of direction and splinter apart, no longer a threat.
The only problem was that Reaper was guarded by the largest skeletons in the army, and as far as Sam could tell, the strongest as well. He tensed his legs and leaped over the horde, crushing a few skeletons beneath his legs as he landed. The skeletons around him tried to grasp at his legs, but he kicked them off and leaped again, heading towards Reaper.
The man was about half a mile away, surrounded by a dense knot of super-sized skeletons, each of which was in the F Rank of strength. Sam hopped as quickly as he could, stranding himself deep within the army. At his top speed, he could move about fifty feet with each leap, bolstered by his main enhancement abilities. His control over his Girdings of the Arbiter skill had increased over the last few weeks, and he could almost glide with it now, extending his overall reach.
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As he neared Reaper, the man started to chant something under his breath, summoning a strange whirling ball of energy in the sky above himself. As he finished the chant, he thrust his hands up in the air, and the ball exploded, revealing a skeletal dragon in the air above him.
Reaper sagged in exhaustion at summoning the dragon, but then he looked up, smiling grimly at Sam. The dragon opened its mouth and roared out loud, ignoring the fact that it lacked lungs.
Setting its eyes on Sam, the dragon swooped down, expelling a cloud of noxious energy out of its mouth towards him. The cloud of purple energy coursed down over Sam, and it seeped in through the cracks in his armor, reaching his skin a moment later. Where it touched, his skin blistered and began to slough off, leaving large holes on his flesh. The attack rotted away his nerves, meaning that he felt no pain as this happened, only a profound sense of disgust.
Sam shouted in rage and leaped forwards, getting out of the area of effect of the attack. He jumped up towards the dragon, and grabbed onto its trailing tail, using it to catapult him towards the top of the dragon. His ascent stopped about ten feet above its back, and as it swooped forwards, he accelerated his descent with his skills, coming down like a meteor.
His hammer landed first, and the monster buckled beneath his blow, its spine bending unnaturally, even for a wholly skeletal monster. Sam smashed his hammer down again, and this time he triggered its ability, sending lightning coursing through the monster’s bones. It jerked around in the sky and began to fall, plowing into a knot of skeletons in the ground. It was stunned, but still not dead. Sam was about to change that.
He brought his hammer down on its head again and again, and eventually shattered the bones entirely, exposing a core of glowing green energy. Lifting it up with one hand, he crushed it, staring at Reaper the entire time.
Sam flashed across the ground, now cleared of skeletons by his impromptu dragon surfing, and reached the man within a few seconds, bringing his hammer back and over his head, readying a strike to level at Reaper.
Reaper smiled at Sam, and snapped his fingers, creating a large shield of ectoplasm in front of himself. Sam roared and accelerated his attack even further, bringing it crashing down on the shield like a force of nature. The ground billowed out as the air pressure was redirected from around him, and a few of the skeletons were blown away.
Reaper stared into Sam’s eyes as this happened, and he began to purse his lips as his control over his skill weakened. Sam’s stamina was dropping precipitously, at this point but he held on for dear life as he pushed his hammer into Reaper’s shield. The man finally lost control completely, and the shield shattered, sending him falling backwards. Sam’s hammer crashed down next to the man, knocking him dozens of feet away, borne on a wave of rock and earth.