As the monster started to turn towards Sam, who was recovering quicker than Manarox, he brought the weapon whipping around into the damaged bulk of the monster, sending a pulse of power into the wound from his previous skill. The closing rent in the monster’s side was blasted open again, and it roared in pain. A moment later, Sam thrust his hand into the wound, acting on pure instinct, and summoned a ball of pure mana at the tip of his fingers. The reaction was cataclysmic. Snapping his fingers, the ball of pure energy exploded, blasting the monster almost in half. It collapsed, spasming, but one of its legs caught Sam on the torso, tossing him backwards and damaging his wounded body further. The creature was still not dead, a testament to its monstrous endurance.
Sam could feel that he had touched upon something with his instinctive use of his pure mana, but he knew that it would not be enough to win the fight. He started to imbue himself with the power of Resolve, and felt his body increasing in durability. It did little to heal his wounds, as his healing skill was the only thing that could do that, but it allowed him to walk. His healing skill would have taken too long to trigger in any case. By that point the monstrous regeneration of the creature in front of him would have allowed it to regenerate fully.
Manarox was barreling across the cobbles by this point, his sword held high, ready to smite the monster into oblivion. Sam charged up power within his hammer, gritting his teeth as the effort caused shooting spikes of pain to erupt through his body, and surged forwards, bringing the weapon down on the monster. He aimed directly for the center of the creature’s torn stomach, and watched as his energy blasted the wound apart, almost bisecting the monster.
Manarox came in a moment later, and brought his sword down on the weakened area, finally cutting the monster in half. It wriggled violently for a few moments afterwards, but Sam finally finished it off with a blow from his hammer. Essence entered him, enough to propel him up two entire levels, but in this state doing so would take him out of commission.
The spiral of nodes that allowed him to level up were growing larger by the level, and if he tried to break open the next one, with his extensive wounds, he would probably black out. It was better to wait until he got to safety, as the remaining aliens were not much of a threat, even in his diminished state.
He roared in anger and pain, and then ran, with Manarox following suit. In front of their mighty charge, the previously stalwart alien lines crumbled, running back toward the portal. Their greatest champion had been defeated, and now its killers were coming for them. With a screeching paean of horror, they ran into the central building of the fort, almost crushing one another in their desire to escape. The surviving Grakoth elites piled in after them, butchering the aliens as they ran. It was tempting to think of them simply as monsters, in order to assuage his tiny bit of guilt, but Sam knew that every one of these aliens had a life. Just because they looked radically different than he did did not mean that they were not worthy of respect. Then he realized that his Dao was influencing his thoughts again, and he shook his head as he ran, clearing it. This was not the time for moralizing.
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The rest of the battle was a quick mop up of the surviving enemies, and only about half of them got away before Sam shut down the portal, leaving the rest stranded. They fought like wild animals, with no hope of survival, and they died like ones too.
Sam took a deep breath as he lowered his blood stained hammer, taking in the piles of corpses in front of him. They had achieved a great victory today, and the battle was coming ever closer to its conclusion. In addition, the timescale was a lot shorter than Sam had been expecting, and he still had plenty of time to complete his training. He suspected that Gordanus would be coming for him soon enough.
He was eager himself to learn about the new level of mastery that he had reached in his mana related abilities, and for that he would need to meet with Pelar again. He could sense that Gordanus was not the best teacher for such a thing. The man was a warrior over all else, and he was not as adept at teaching about the more theoretical aspects of power than Pelar was. In any case, Sam was excited about the power that the technique had promised. It was like nuclear fusion in a way, producing a result far outstripping the energy put into it.
Sam remained back, recovering from his intense fight, and was soon joined by Manarox.
“I hope that those scum do not have more of those monsters,” Manarox said, leaning on his sword.
“How do you suppose they even were made? There was something wrong with their Daos,” Sam replied.
“Who knows? Those aliens are well known for their grasp of perverse fleshcrafting. Even before the System came, we were aware of their presence. Some of the foulest abominations in this universe were created by them.”
“Abominations?”
“Asteroid sized hulks of twisted flesh, strange loops of recursive flesh, even their own race. They are a product of extensive genetic engineering. They arose from the oceans of this world millions of years ago, and through their exploitation of various forms of power, turned this planet into the icy wasteland it is today. Their taint spreads far beyond this place, of course. We butted heads with them long before the advent of the System,” Manarox answered.
“Is that why they consider themselves to be the pinnacle of life?” Sam asked. “I mean, you told me that was what their species’ name meant.”
“Indeed. They see the mutability of their genome as proof that they have completely gone beyond evolutionary boundaries. However, there is such a thing as going too far, especially with things like that.”
“Well, talking about going too far, my armor is starting to break apart. I don’t suppose you have any smiths that can repair it?” Sam asked tentatively.
“Of course. My people are adept at the arts of metalworking. Our skin allows us to withstand the heat of the forge, and our natural strength allowed us to work efficiently since the dawn of our race. Although we phased out such primitive methods long ago, many Grakoth still practice them out of reverence for our beginnings.”