Sam lingered for a moment, taking in the rows of artifacts on the walls. He might have been one of the most powerful beings in the universe, but there were still more impressive forces out there. It was both a humbling thought and an inspiration to strive for greatness.
With a nod, Sam stepped out of the room and followed Manarox to the battlefield below. The man descended with the aid of the elevator, and Sam followed, joining Manarox in his sojourn to the battlefield far below. The two men stood in silence until the elevator doors opened, and Manarox strode over to the hole in the hull that he had entered through. Sam instantly realized what the man was planning to do. At their level, falls from any height at Earth ranked gravity were of no consequence, as one could only fall as fast as their terminal velocity dictated, and both of them were tough enough to not take any damage from such a drop.
Manarox grinned as he neared the side of the hole, and then jumped out into the open air. Sam followed, hefting his hammer, and dropped like a stone, the air whooshing around him. Below him, the entire battlefield was laid out, and tiny hordes of ant-like figures battled endlessly across its length, neither side seeming to have the upper hand.
Manarox began to control his descent with bursts of Dao energy, and he seemed to be directing himself towards an especially fierce area of fighting, in the far northern half of the plain. A small knot of elite Grakoths were struggling against hordes of the fish people, trying to stay alive in the face of crushing waves of fighters.
Manarox bellowed out a challenge, sending his voice through the air. It must have carried all the way to the mountains in the distance, it was so loud. It was likely the result of a skill.
Sam smiled, and jetted off after his companion, using his own Dao energy to keep up. He could have surpassed his new ally, but he refrained from doing so. His knowledge of this man was slim, and although he was seemingly amiable enough, Manarox might fly into a rage if he felt that his honor or pride had been insulted. Unlike Sam, he had been a warrior before the System had come, and he had preconceived notions of the proper way to act on a battlefield. Because of this, Sam decided to play it safe. He could always show off later.
As they descended, Sam found himself yearning for a flight skill, or at least an improved mastery over his teleportation skill. The skill was already the highest rarity one that he possessed, and he assumed that Ancient rarity was the one after Mythical. Now the rarity system was starting to depart from the norm in games that he had played on Earth, which had been surprisingly similar to the reality of the System. While the first few rarity ranks, such as Legendary, were present, later ones like Celestial were things that he had never heard of. Perhaps the scope of the games that he had played were too limited to contain anything higher in power than a certain amount. It was certainly an interesting thought.
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A few minutes later, they struck the ground, landing in the middle of large craters, with Manarox’s being larger than Sam’s by quite a bit on account of his size. Sam brushed himself off and jumped out of the hole, his weapon starting to blaze with power. The battle raged around them, but as Manarox emerged from his crater, there was a noticeable lull in the pace of it, brought on by his presence. With a roar, the alien warlord sent a slash of power across the air, cutting through hundreds of fish men in an instant. Not to be left behind, Sam leaped into the air, and pumped power into his hammer. Bringing it down, he pulped an entire unit of soldiers beneath its weight and power, before starting to lay into the ones around him. Each strike broke bones, and nobody escaped injury. Most died under his strikes, but a few lucky ones survived, ones that he left for the ‘mercy’ of the Grakoth fighters.
Nearly rabid reptilian fighters, hyped up by the presence of their leader, descended upon the wounded like angels of death, killing them in an instant. It was a brutal, but oddly poetic sight, and Sam started to lose himself in the thrill of battle. Soon he was far away from anyone else, in a similar situation to Manarox. The alien leader had pushed deep into the enemy lines, and was eviscerating entire contingents with his blade, laughing out loud as he did so. It was a gory sight, but an oddly inspiring one as well. After all, Sam was doing the same thing.
The presence of two such powerful fighters was drawing the attention of the main bulk of the fish man army however, and a trio of powerful fighters leaped over the heads of their brethren, landing in front of Sam. Two of them wielded guns, and the third one held a sword. The ones with guns opened fire on Sam without hesitation, and the one holding a sword charged.
The bolts impacted his armor, driving him back a few paces with their sheer force. Sam gritted his teeth and pushed forward, ignoring the bruising impacts. He parried a blow from the fish man’s sword, and counterattacked, sending the head of his hammer into the man’s gut. The fish man gargled and was knocked off his feet by Sam’s superior strength, falling to the blood-slicked ground.
Sam jumped and sent a flying dropkick into the man’s face, sending him into the mud. Even with the frigid temperatures of this planet, the sheer amount of vital fluids splattering the ground was causing it to heat up and soften.
The gun-wielding fighters retreated slowly, keeping up their fire. Sam set his feet and began to pump energy into his hammer, causing it to light up with power. Mjolnir caused the ground underneath it to steam, as the blood evaporated before the heat of his weapon. Bolts of lightning began to crackle around the hammer, and he roared, racing towards the aliens. They scurried backwards, all attempts at a dignified retreat gone, and Sam sped up, bringing his hammer up and over his head to strike.
More blasts struck his abdomen, fracturing bones, but he ignored them, and brought his weapon down. There was a flash of light and the two aliens were blasted away, their skin and bones pulverized beyond recognition. A drift of bloody earth was sent in every direction, and Sam watched as it overtook a small horde of the fish men, swamping them.