Fighting them was nowhere near as annoying as facing off against Gordanus, who was basically immune to every form of damage that Sam could dish out. The only time he had even drawn a drop of blood was when the man had let him hit him with his full repertoire. He had struck the man full in his nose with the entire power of his fully charged Justice is Best Served Cold skill, and had only managed to make the man bleed slightly. However, none of that was especially relevant at the moment. These creatures needed his full attention.

The current one that he was fighting was on its last legs, but the others were quickly approaching. The weakened one was closer however, and it neared him, hissing in rage. He quickly dodged one of its blows, and slammed his hammer into its head, causing it to stagger to the side, blood dripping down the side of its face. With one devastating overhead strike enhanced with his power, the creature died, its head exploding into a cloud of gore.

The strangely enhanced Dao augmented monsters, for they were truly nothing but mindless beasts, with barely a spark of the sapience that they had once possessed, were quite the challenge, even for Sam. They were strong enough to hold their own in a contest of physical force with him, and only his skills allowed him to bridge the gap. He was far more skilled than them in terms of martial ability, but there was only so much that could do for him. What was carrying him by far was his teleportation skill. It really was an incredible advantage, especially when nobody else possessed it. That would change as he advanced through the ranks, but starting this early meant that he would always be a step ahead in terms of Dao mastery and related abilities. In any case, the one good thing about these monsters was the amount of essence that they gave.

Barely five kills later, Sam had gained another level, a huge increase compared to the thousands of the weaker aliens that he had been forced to kill to level up before. However, they were far from pushovers, and before he had gained the level, his bones had been cracked by constant pummeling from the aliens’ blows. Leveling had healed him somewhat, and the damage from the actual level had healed by now. It was starting to get to the point where it was severely distracting in battle, and he would eventually have to pace himself more effectively. He was using the levels for healing, as his skill was too hard to use in the middle of battle. That was something that he would have to rectify when he eventually upgraded Earth’s Embrace. As of now, it took entire minutes for him to effectively heal, and it took all of his concentration to do so.

For now, he needed to focus on the battle. Manarox and the other Grakoth were stuck in a few hundred feet away, slowly advancing up the main street towards the auxiliary command center that was located in the center of the fort. Sam was serving as a highly mobile vanguard, taking out the fighters threatening to encircle Manarox and his allies. They were the hammer that was striking into the center of the enemy forces, and Sam was happy enough to serve as the guiding hand of the blacksmith that safeguarded the path of that hammer.

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The interior of the fort was very utilitarian in construction, and there was little to distract Sam from his fight. Not that he would have wanted distraction in any case. He needed every ounce of power and skill that he could muster. His hammer worked like an extension of his body, but it was taking everything that he had to not only block the incredibly powerful attacks coming his way, but actually make some sort of headway against them. Each victory was hard won, and left a toll on his body. It was barely sustainable, but with his ability to teleport, even infrequently, the gap was possible to bridge.

Mjolnir was proving its worth again and again, and the smell of burnt blood hung heavy in the air, the result of the lightning coating the weapon scorching the viscera that painted the hammer. Sam’s arms were starting to grow heavy, as he was being forced to strike with his full power every time that he moved, or he would do barely any damage at all. The enhanced aliens seemed to barely feel pain or fatigue, and they simply threw themselves towards Sam as he moved.

Hours passed, and dozens of the aliens came and went, taking an increasingly large toll on his body. As the street began to converge, Sam found himself moving in towards Manarox, finally finding some support in the aid of his allies. None of them spoke, but there was an unspoken sense of gratitude in the air as Sam covered Manarox’s weak spots, and the alien conqueror did the same for him. Half of the Grakoth accompanying the man were dead, but the remaining ones were proving their worth. It took a concerted effort on their part to harm their enemies, but they fought valiantly enough. They were all in the higher end of the first hundred levels, with most of them being between level 75 and 85. In addition, they were moderate members of the elite ranks of this universe’s fighters, which meant that they could fight up a few levels against a less skilled opponent. However, there was only so far that this advantage could go, and they were being sorely tested.

At this rate, he would simply be him and Manarox against his enemies before long. Not that he cared especially about the fates of the other Grakoth, but they were still his allies, and without them, this battle would be harder. In addition, any setback would be annoying, no matter how minimal of an effect it had. In any case, Sam was not planning to let his allies die, no matter how easy it would be to simply stop fighting for them.