Jacob immediately jumped to his left to avoid the sword stroke, while Aurelius immediately charged into the stone statue his right hand meeting the stone sword with a confident smirk on his face. To Jacob surprise not only did Aurelius hand not break it did not even contort seemingly as sturdy as a sledgehammer. With his right hand catching the swing of the sword, he moved into the stone statue and punched out with his left throwing the stone statue flying backwards. While that was happening Jacob remembered the other stone statues if one of them can move so can the others, he immediately jumped away again moments before a stone mace flew past where he was.
‘After meeting Aurelius it seems like I have only been on the backend, time for maximum effort’
Jacob did a quick check of his surrounding as he started churning his essence from his core throughout his body and into Flowing Water, the smaller statues were already starting to surround him and Aurelius. There were three normal sized statues left apart from the one Aurelius was handling, Jacob would have to get rid of at least two of the ones in front of them. He charged into the battle between Aurelius and the sword stone statue if he can put an end to that battle, Jacob would be able to get Aurelius help with the other 3 were in the motion of jumping down from the fountain.
Jacob brought Flowing Water to bear and caught the stone statue unaware and sliced it apart at the midsection the stone statue face could be seen slowly contorting to one of surprise and Jacob levied another cut on the dropping head to make sure the stone statue stayed extra dead with Flowing Water already churning at maximum from the channeled essence both the head and body exploded a long trail of essence flowed into Jacob, somehow Aurelius knew Jacob was coming and smoothly got out of the way not even letting the resulting explosion of stone affect him. A dark blue trail of essence could be seen entering Jacob.
With one down and an example of how to handle the next three, Aurelius settled comfortably into the role of bait and tank and moved to draw the three stone statues already on the ground while Jacob with the explosion inducing Flowing Water gleefully rushed to the smaller stone statues there were 12 in total. Jacob moved to the first two stone statue that was nearest to Aurelius, Jacob took a look back at Aurelius, he seemed to be handling even three opponents with ease. While Aurelius did not managed to deal any significant damage to the three stone statues neither could the stone statues.
To Jacob, Aurelius seemed like he had been through hundreds of battle each movement was precise and intentional. He also naturally know what he should do in a team setting, seeing that he could not deal significant damage but he did not receive any lasting damage in turn. He chose to lead the three statue in a stalemate, did he receive military training from a young age? If Jacob had a few more Aurelius during the kobold outpost save, they might have been able to take out the kobold horde living further inside. Jacob thought Aurelius would be more competitive about the essence since he proposed the method of first come first serve.
Setting his thoughts and admiration aside, Jacob began taking care of the two nearest to Aurelius with a swing causing the stones to explode outwards and two trails of light blue essence entered. He decided to repeat the kobold charge from before, with each set of stone statue he approached he gave each of them two wild swing. As Jacob was taking care of the mini goon squad, Aurelius continued his battle it was a constant one versus one as any of the two stone statue that came was met with a force palm push that sent them away in the direction where Jacob was not, Aurelius was also constantly on the move and positioning the stone statue he was fighting in between the constantly chasing two.
While Jacob was doing what he thought was a clean up operation of the smaller stone statues as the first four fell easily to his reckless charge. They managed to surround him and turned it into one of survival when he was finishing off the third pair of them, hence small goblin like statues with warped expression of ecstasy wildly swinging their weapons on hand caught Jacob in his back and side once each. The wounds while it quickly scabbed did not sting any less so Jacob could only grit his teeth and ran out of the encirclement of 6 braving three more slices across his right leg as he did so, thus lowering his combat capability throughout the fight.
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Jacob managed to get clear of the circle and this time all the statues were in one direction, excitement coursing through his veins at the dicey scenario he got himself into and his lips formed a half moon yet again. He gripped Flowing Water tightly with both hand and got on the defensive slowly backing around the junction and ensuring he was not surrounded again giving his wounds time to heal. As he felt the pain receding, Jacob arrested his own momentum and pushed forward instead. Seemingly flying at the statues, he timed his swing perfectly catching all 6 of them as they came rushing their scary visages all changed into ones of surprise 6 trails of light blue essence flowed into Jacob as the small ones exploded. If Jacob had more time he would have left one to see what other faces they would make from different situations.
After Jacob finished off all the small statues a good 10 minutes have passed and his core swirling as fast as a wind turbine if it was filled further Jacob might have trouble keeping it in even now the abundance of essence was threatening to find a way out of Jacob by hook or by crook and they have 3 more regular stone statues to finish off.
Jacob could see Aurelius still taking it relatively as he was not even breathing hard and no visible sweat could be seen.With his positioning right behind the stone statue that Aurelius was fighting and the two approaching from the sides as they were recently pushed back. Jacob decided to let Aurelius finish off the three, Jacob shouted to Aurelius not taking Aurelius supernatural senses for granted.
“Aurelius CATCH!” and he threw Flowing Water with all his essence fueled might and it exploded through the stone statue granting him one last kill and he immediately sat down to refine the essence that was already pressuring to break him. With more than sufficient evidence of Aurelius prowess and hoping that not killing him at the start means Jacob would continue to be useful to Aurelius so he would not suddenly stab Jacob in the back with his own sword. ‘Talk about cruel irony if he did’
Aurelius easily caught Flowing Water by bending his body backwards to avoid the sword from exploding him too and caught the sword with his right hand by the hilt as the blade started skimming through his chest completely stopping the sword mid-flight despite the still considerable force after exploding the stone statue wielding a mace. With no reaction to that amazing feat, Aurelius met the two stone statue with unconcealed confidence. This time he did not burst into speed only walking towards the running stone statue, each step he made was slow and unhurried. The first stone statue to reach swung the axe it was wielding downwards with speed and naked violence a wicked natural smile that did not suit a stone statue on its face.
Aurelius stepped to his left and did a light swing right above the still falling axe bypassing the stone statue guard easily chopping off its arms followed by its chest, dark blue trails left the stone statue and entered Aurelius. Loud clatters could be heard but Aurelius did not pay it any heed and this time he crouched his leg gathering strength and burst into speed leaving the second stone statue surprised as it clearly thought that it still had some distance before it would need to bring the broadsword it was wielding to bear.
Before the face on the stone statue could even change its facial expression, Flowing Water came down on top of its head separating it cleanly down the middle. Aurelius not even breaking his stride ran to the still meditating Jacob easily reaching him in seconds, Jacob did not even have time to fully settle into meditation to compress the essence into his core, merely only keeping the essence from breaking him apart.
Only a minute went by after Jacob threw his sword to Aurelius, only half a minute was needed for Aurelius to take care of the two stone statue with Jacobs’ sword. That was the difference between Jacob and the golden haired giant, experience and foresight. Jacob was easily distracted meanwhile only the battle existed for Aurelius.
Aurelius gently placed Flowing Water beside Jacob and moved some distance away to began absorbing his own essence, however he did not sit. He stood there silently and closed his eyes. If one could see what was happening inside Aurelius middle dantian they would see that it was constantly absorbing any external essence. Even now the remaining dark blue essence was being assimilated into his core in real time. Meanwhile Jacob slowly entered into meditation after hearing Flowing Water slowly calming its water than did his core start to absorb the mixture of light and dark blue essence. The duo had 3 more junctions to clear and the stone statues did not seem to be controlling the stone hands and Jacob needed more than maximum effort.