As the monster emerged from its coruscating portal of darkness, Sam teleported next to its head, sending his hammer on a collision course with it. The monster turned, but it was too slow. A thunderbolt of Dao energy impacted its face, and a shockwave propelled it off its feet and into the air. Sam struck once more, just as the creature teleported. Because of the momentum, it found itself sliding off the side of the branch, even when it thought it had found a stable footing.
After seeing how the last one had fought, Sam had concocted a battle plan for future encounters. Even though they could teleport, he could counter that easily enough with his own abilities. As long as he stopped it from setting foot on the ground, he could batter it into submission with relative ease. Without connection to the rot, the monsters were quite weak.
Sam continued his steady work, bashing the Guardian apart. Chunks of rotted wood fell to the ground far below, soon lost among the morass of purple and black already there. The creature was starting to grow frantic, trying to reach safety. However, Sam was too quick for it, appearing wherever it did. It must have been a nightmare for the massive creature to have to fight something far more agile than it.
His fighting style was far more refined now against the Voidrot Guardians, and he could see the results on a visceral level. His hammer rapped out a staccato beat on the monster’s flesh, the wood continuing to deform underneath it. Eventually, the creature had enough.
Its body started to warp as it channeled its power into itself, rapidly burning its life force to empower its next strike. Sam found himself standing before what looked like an arboreal sun, each strand of wood glowing with a blinding light. He cursed and teleported back, watching as the monster thrust its crumbing hands forth. A beam of corruption sliced through the firmament, straight towards Sam. As it went, the corrupted Anarvri’s Sentinel beneath sent up a torrent of energy, empowering the strike to immense levels.
The beam swelled until it was the width of an entire road, containing enough power to turn an entire country’s worth of forests into a wasteland. If it hit Sam, it would continue to spread throughout his body until he was nothing more than a smear of rot, seeping out through the holes in his armor.
He teleported wildly, but the beam zigzagged through the air, chasing him unerringly. With a grimace, he let gravity take him, trying to interpose the branch of the Sentinel between himself and the attack. It was too potent for that however, and it somehow bent around the twisted wood, completely unchanged in its speed.
Sam snarled and thrust his hammer forth, enlarging it as far as he could. The weapon’s tip expanded until it was the size of a refrigerator, and he sent crackling light surging along the haft. He created a shield of potency at the end of the weapon, and then slammed it into the incoming blast of twisting, corrupting light. Charges of pure mana and elemental energy surged along the weapon, and into the shield, creating a forwards facing cone of power that could have leveled a mountain.
Against the supremely potent attack of the monster though, it was like a piece of tissue paper against a waterfall. The beam crashed into the shield and then through it like it wasn’t even there. Then it impacted the end of Terra’s Will. Only a slight deviation in its trajectory from the Dao energy shield prevented it from striking it head on.
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The force spun Sam around, the haft of his weapon slamming into his chest. A shockwave raced through his body, pulping flesh and causing his armor to vibrate like it was a bell. Streams of pestilent mist seeped in through his armor, necrotizing his flesh in milliseconds. All he could do to resist was pulse his own conceptual energy throughout himself. It was barely enough.
The rest of the beam shot off into the sky, rising up through the patchy clouds and into orbit. Then it disappeared, streaking off into space. Sam was too disorientated to see anything of it though, and he fell from the sky like a meteor, moving at speeds beyond even his almighty perception.
He landed in a patch of swampy ground, sinking deep into the concentrated corruption. With a roar, he let his energy rampage around his body, and the rot boiled away, leaving him standing at the bottom of a large crater. Essence poured into his body, and he gained another level. Opening his stat sheet, he smiled. He was gaining so much more from his E Rank class than anything else before that it felt like he was a new man.
Sam Atlas
Human: E Rank
Enlightened Tier
E Rank
Class: Lesser Dao Paragon
Level 154
(246 stat points unspent)
Strength
2800
2.21x
Constitution
2401
2.16x
Resilience
2423
2.16x
Dexterity
2343
2.21x
Intelligence
2452
2.16x
Wisdom
2523
2.16x
* Health 54023/54023
* Mana 54945/54945
* Stamina 63000/63000
* Karma: 54
* Road to Zenith
Stage 2
* Dao
Dao Echo of Inspiration
Dao Seed of the Avenger(Second Step)
* Skills
1x Rare, 2x Epic, 5x Legendary, 6x Mythical, 2x Ancient, 1x Primal, 1x Unique
* Titles
1x Legendary, 3x Mythical, 3x Ancient, 1x Transcendent
* Temporary Titles
1x Epic, 1x Legendary, 1x Mythical
* Dao Heritage
Dao Incarnation of Existence(Second Step)
* Party
None
* Skill Branches
* Lightning Neurons (Level 2)
Iron Body(Level 2)
Iron Bones (Level 2)
Muscle Density Enhancement(Level 1)
Basic Weapon Knowledge: Blunt(Level 1)
Dao Resonance(Level 1)
Karmic Cycle(Level 1)
Lucky(Level 1)
Increased Blood Flow (Level 1)
* Weapon Style
Flowing Water Style
* Weapon Mastery: Brotherhood Stage 6
* Elemental Affinities
Earth: 15% Mastery
* Elemental Boons
Elemental Infusion: Stoneskin
* Quests
The Sacred Bond: Impossible
Engines of the End Times: S
* Professions
Smith: Apprentice Stage 3
Dao Smith: Apprentice Stage 1
The only thing he hadn’t had any success with in the Tower yet was earning Karma, as it was completely disconnected from his reality. Although the Forest Folk were real enough, they were in another Multiverse, and exempt from karmic ties with him.