Sensing a new threat that was far more pressing than the defenders of the portal room, Manarox broke off from his assault and dashed towards Sam, charging up an attack with his sword. A rod of light shot out of the end a moment later, lancing into the flesh of the giant monster. It hissed in rage and whirled around, slamming its stubby arm into the ground. A tremor ran across the ground, almost unbalancing Manarox.
The monster bounded forwards on all fours a moment later, each stride propelling it dozens of feet forwards. Sam cursed and ran after the monster, trying to get to it in time to support his ally. If Manarox was taken out of commission, then this battle was as good as lost. Sam could get out of there with his teleportation skill, but it would be a devastating blow to the Grakoth cause. In addition, he felt that the emperor would not be well disposed to Sam’s faction if he let the man’s brother die.
Sam hefted his hammer and summoned his power to his free hand, sending a projectile attack streaking after the monstrously strong challenger. It struck the monster in the back leg, detonating with an explosion of force. The monster stumbled, and wheeled around, limping slightly. A large chunk of its leg was gone, but Sam could already see it starting to regenerate. This monster was simply unfairly powerful. Sam chuckled. He was one to talk.
By this point, Manarox had gotten his bearings and charged after the monster, sandwiching it between himself and Sam. As the creature charged Sam, Manarox thrust his sword forwards, stabbing into the rear end of the monster. By the squeal that it let out, the strike had hit something sensitive. Sam winced, but still moved, intending to take advantage of the situation.
He bounded forwards and then teleported at the last moment, aiming to surprise the creature. He appeared above its head and brought his hammer crashing down, sending the monster into the cobbles with such force that the blood-slicked rock cracked under the strain. The monster roared in rage and pushed up, forcing Sam off it with enough power to strain his muscles. He flipped backwards and teleported once more, slamming his hammer down once more on the damaged part of the creature’s leg. It buckled, and for a few seconds, the monster went down.
Sam and Manarox whaled on it with all of their strength for those seconds, causing bloody wounds to open up across its body. Then it recovered enough to rise, and sent them flying back with powerful blows. Sam groaned as he flew. This creature was incredibly strong.
As he traveled through the air, he layered his enhancements upon each other, increasing his power by a large amount. The glowing energy surrounding Manarox told Sam that the man was doing the same thing. When they landed, both men were leagues stronger than they had been before. The Dao abomination charged them, but its motions seemed a little bit slower than before.
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Sam streaked forward, starting the motions for his finisher, and Manarox started to charge up his own attack. Sam teleported under the monster’s stomach and then sent it flying up into the air with a powerful strike, before teleporting around it multiple times, striking it with his hammer. A moment later, he appeared above it and hammered it into the ground with one devastating strike that triggered the effects of his skill.
“Justice is Best Served Cold!” Sam shouted as he let loose his attack.
A nova of light blossomed on the monster, blasting chunks out of its skin. A moment later, Manarox thrust his sword forwards, sending out a ray of red light that lanced through the muscle and bone of the hulking monstrosity, and came out the other end. It howled in anger, and started to glow with a gray light, going into a frenzy.
The air seemed to warp around it, and its body grew heavier. The strange energy felt like a conceptual rendition of Metal to Sam, perhaps some sort of subordinate element to Earth. In any case, the danger of this battle had just gone up.
The creature howled and struck the ground, sending spikes of what looked like steel flying at supersonic speeds towards Manarox and Sam. Neither were able to dodge in time. One spear punched through Sam’s armor, cracking through one of the weak spots, and the other buried itself in Manarox’s gut, tossing the man back like a ragdoll. This creature was likely the last hope of the enemy, their attempt to take out Sam and Manarox at the same time.
The blow was powerful enough to go all the way through Sam, which was a blessing in disguise as his regeneration would be able to kick in without the metal in his body. It had shaved off over a thousand points of his health, but at this point, the only way to do more damage was to either obliterate him, or target his head. His body was warping with the effects of mana, and his organs were less important than before. Only his brain was still essential, and even then there was a chance that he could heal.
Blood leaked out of his wound and onto the cobbles, instantly lost among the pool already there. His armor was battered to hell and back by this point, but he was already starting to outgrow the suit in terms of his own durability and the enemies that he fought. By the end of this fight, it would likely be even more damaged. Still, he could always bum off of Manarox for a better suit of armor, as the man’s was noticeably less damaged.
Sam rushed forwards, as his wound started to heal, and channeled his anger into his weapon, causing it to light up with the power of his Dao. He had been trying to come close to the feeling of pure Dao imbuement that he had briefly managed during the tournament, when he had held back the punitive power of the System imprint for a few seconds. He had never come near that since, but he could feel that as he slowly increased his mastery over his Dao of Righteous Anger, he was coming closer. One day he would be able to feel that sublime sensation of pure fulfillment and power. Now was not the day however, and his skill went off with the usual amount of power output, causing his hammer to simmer with barely contained energy.