Refix surveyed the fighting with a critical eye. Even with always training to the extreme to compensate for fighting while exhausted, there was only so much one could do. There was no way someone could maintain 100% effectiveness for hours on end. Even if everything was done perfectly to allow the troops to keep their Stamina above 90% the entire time, the mental toll was something that couldn't be completely circumvented.

Refix was noticing more and more mistakes being made by the soldiers on the front lines. Everyone was covered in sweat, and small wounds were accumulating at an increased pace.

Something has to be wrong, Refix thought. Considering I know the other regular troops don't train the same way we do, we should have received the order to retreat half an hour ago based on the performance of our soldiers.

Refix stepped forward as he drew his sword. He needed to give the men a breather, but he needed to be careful while doing so. That feeling in the back of his mind was constant, and if he let loose to slaughter the invaders, he would invite trouble. He needed to thread a needle.

"Officers! Forward!" Refix Commanded. "Take over as much as you can from your men to let them catch their breath!"

The officers followed suit in drawing their weapons, and they made their way to the front of the line. They weren't superior to the soldiers in the same way Refix was, but they were the highest Leveled individuals in the company, and they were also the freshest at this point.

Refix took up his position in the center of the line and dashed forward to meet the enemy soldiers before they reached the palisade. He was capable enough to hold of the invaders for a time without having to use his Skills or go all out. The officers grouped up on either side and did the same thing, forming little groups to cover each other's flanks while doing so.

Refix was an island in the middle of a raging river. The water broke along his shore. The groups of officers were a lesser version, though they were effective enough to allow for their men to get some much needed rest in the middle of the fight.

Refix could have called for Xudrid and Vyria to step forward to assist them, but they were employed as regular mercenaries and they had made it clear that they wanted to act as normal as possible for their Life Experience. They would step in if things got too serious, they assured him, but things hadn't reached that point, yet. Refix was perfectly happy to let them maintain their identities as regular mercenary soldiers in the current situation.

Refix and the other officers didn't have to keep up their defense for too long. They only needed to hold off the invaders for a minute or two. It wouldn't be enough to give anyone a substantial rest, but those quick couple of minutes could make a major difference down the road if they had to flee in less than ideal circumstances.

Refix's Stats and Skills ensured that he could handle whatever the enemy could throw at him, and he singlehandedly took care of most of the line. The officers didn't have nearly as high Stats or Skills as he did, but the small unit tactics they had drilled in endless hours made up for it. Reivyn hadn't been able to pass along the Skill for sharing Stats and Skills he had encountered from the enemy ambush, but that wasn't too big of a deal in the current circumstances.

Three fiery bangs exploded in the sky where the command center was located. Refix was steady enough that he didn't deviate his concentration, but that wasn't true for all the officers. One of the lower-Leveled officers couldn't help it and took a quick glance up at the sky. One of the invaders took the opportunity to lunge forward and tackle the man to the ground.

Without thinking about it, Refix sent out an ethereal club to knock the invader off of the downed officer. The others next to him quickly helped him back to his feet.

"Retreat by numbers!" Refix called out. "We'll hold first since we're already up here!"

Refix had a sinking feeling in his gut and a grim expression on his face. He had messed up and he knew it. It hadn't been such a dire situation that he needed to use his Class Skill, but he had reacted before his brain could keep up. He didn't let his slip up affect his responsibilities with the men.

Nobody else noticed, but Refix definitely felt a strong presence focus on him as soon as he released his Skill. Even if they hadn't received the signal flare, it was time to go.

Refix didn't get a sense of impending doom or anything right away, so he stayed with the officers for a while longer to give the soldiers time to move away and set up another defensive line to leap frog their way to the wall. After enough time passed, Refix signaled to the other officers.

"Time to go! You go first and I'll be right behind you!"

Nobody said anything as they turned and ran. Refix backed up to the palisade, jumping over it without looking as he reached it. After clearing the short wall, he turned and chased after the rest of the company.

His heart was pounding more than it had the entire time they had been fighting as the focus of the distant presence stayed locked on his position. It was almost a physical feeling. He wasn't worried that he wouldn't be able to fight whoever it was off. He was just worried about the collateral damage caused by a confrontation with such a powerful foe.

The mercenaries were well trained and conditioned to operate in adverse conditions. They quickly increased the distance between themselves and the invaders, not even having to use the leap frog method to buy time for their retreat. They still employed the method, but the first group never engaged with the enemy before they, too, continued their retreat.

"When we get to the wall, don't stop for anything," Refix Commanded. "Just go straight up and over without hesitation."

"What about Captain Reivyn?" Jekle asked.

"Don't worry about Captain Reivyn," Refix replied. "He knows where and what to do."

"Yes, sir!"

Refix didn't explain further, but his Danger Sense was beginning to tingle in the back of his mind. Someone was coming for him.

The race through the streets was uneventful, and before long, the wall was looming in front of them. Refix's Danger Sense got more and more intense as time went on, and he stood back, away from the soldiers of the company, as he watched them ascend the wall.

Something piqued his attention, and he turned around to see a giant of a man step out of the shadows of the alley.

The man was wearing full plate mail adorned with spikes. His helmet had a "T" shaped opening with curved horns on the top, and a tabard that looked like it was made of steel hanging almost to the ground.

He stood half again as tall as Refix, and he held a large, thick staff with a spiked ball and chain attached to one end.

The man stood with his legs shoulder-width apart, his weapon held in both hands across his waist, as he scanned the retreating soldiers. He quickly dismissed them and focused his gaze on Refix. A wide, manic grin split his face beneath his helmet.

A towering aura shot up to the sky as the man's fighting intent rocketed upward. Strangely, Refix didn't feel any killing intent in the man's aura. It was like he was simply excited for a challenging fight.

Refix wasn't one to back down, and he released his own fighting intent, though his was a bit darker with his intent indicating he was ready to kill. Refix's aura was slightly muted beside the giant's, but he wasn't too concerned about it.

???: Tier 5 Level 101-199

Significant Threat

He's most likely a battle junky with a lot of experience, Refix sized the man up, throwing out a Sense Threat. His Stats are probably slightly higher, but his actual Skill Levels aren't necessarily as high as mine. Numbers aren't everything, but things are different if he hasn't transcended a Skill.

The subtle shifting in the man's muscles gave the man's intent away, and he charged across the open ground toward Refix. He twisted his body and used his entire center of gravity to swing the spiked ball at Refix's head.

Refix didn't hold any of his tricks back. He released his arsenal of ethereal weapons and launched them in a whirlwind of death as he leapt forward to mee the man's charge. Each weapon had an unpredictable attack-type infused into it through his transcendent Skill. Some of his blunt weapons would act like slashes or stabs, and some of his bladed weapons would act like bludgeons. It was as random as he could make it.

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He didn't shy away or leap back from the spiked ball. Refix closed the distance and entered inside the range of the flailing weapon to avoid the spiked ball. That meant he was in range of the staff portion of the weapon, but he had plenty of experience fighting against staves and other long, two-handed weapons.

Refix's sword came down on the staff, sparks flying like the giant's weapon was made of metal rather than wood. The man grinned down at Refix with a ferocious glint to his eyes. At this distance, Refix could tell that the man's face was covered in a full beard. He gave off the vibes of a bloodthirsty bandit.

The spiked ball continued it's trajectory, but before it could wrap around with centrifugal force and become a threat to the wielder, the chain detached itself from the staff, and the giant shoved Refix away while swiping the staff upward to try and smash it into his chin.

Refix bent his body back ninety degrees to avoid the strike, taking the opportunity to lash out with a kick. His foot met the armored shin of the giant, though, and the force wasn't enough to pass through.

Despite the giant's size, he was incredibly quick and agile. Before the spike ball and chain could sail off, he twirled his staff around, and it somehow reattached itself to the other end of the staff. The man smoothly turned the whirl into another wide slash at Refix's other side.

Refix rolled his body around so his chest was facing down instead of his back, and he launched himself backwards, toward the giant once more, while he twisted in air to leverage his own body-weight into his attack.

A visible shockwave emanated out from the clash of the two weapons, and the ball and chain once more detached itself.

Refix's ethereal arsenal wasn't doing nothing, though. He had been pelting the man with attacks that he simply stood and took. He had correctly guessed that the strikes would only be able to utilize a fraction of Refix's Stats, and they weren't strong enough to bypass his armor. The vibrations, reverberations, and bludgeon damage managed to pass some of the damage through the armor, though. Refix didn't have a good reference for how much damage it did, though, as the man was completely unfazed and didn't even flinch.

Refix redirected some of his ethereal weapons to intercept the spiked ball and chain, and he batted it out and away from their conflict, but his sense of victory was short lived. The giant's grin turned into a smirk, and with a gesture, the spiked ball and chain arrested themselves in midair before returning to the man at a quicker speed than they had been knocked away.

Refix twirled away from the flying spiked ball, the giant taking the opportunity to swipe at his legs with his staff. Refix turned his twirling maneuver into a spinning cartwheel that avoided both strikes.

He came back up at the ready, facing the man once more. The giant continued to grin at him.

"Is that all you got, little man?" The giant taunted. "Weak! Why are you all so weak?!"

The man took a giant step, lifting his leg high into the air before smashing it down on the ground. The earth shook and cracked as it caused Refix to lose his balance and stumble a bit. To Refix it felt like a massive earthquake had hit, but the Skill was localized as evidenced by zero damage caused to even the closest buildings.

The giant yanked his hands apart, and his staff turned into two smaller weapons. Another spiked ball and chain appeared from somewhere, and the two attached themselves to the end of either shorter staff.

The man roared with laughter as he charged forward once more, swinging his weapons with wild abandon and using his greater size and reach to maximum advantage.

Refix found himself on the back foot, unable to regain the initiative temporarily, but he wasn't panicked. The man was wild and unpredictable, but Refix could tell his conjecture was right about him not being quite as Skilled as him with his weapon. It wouldn't have been as bad if his ethereal arsenal was more effective against the giant. This was the first time he had encountered an opponent who could practically completely ignore his Skill.

Refix moved his body, contorting it in every which way as he dodged and danced around the multiple strikes flying at him from all directions. Even with the hectic strategy employed by the giant, he wasn't losing out so bad that he couldn't get the occasional counterattack in. His sword snaked through the whirling staves, chains, and spiked balls to slash at weaker parts of the man's armor. There were no chinks or openings to take advantage of, but even metal could be eroded over time with enough Stats and precision strikes. All of Refix's attacks landed on the exact same positions where he would whittle down the other man as he looked for other opportunities.

The best opportunity he could hope for would be for the man's open faced to get in range of one of his thrusts, but he would have to lead the man into it. Refix didn't have the initiative, but he could still influence the flow of the battle with his fighting experience, and that's what he was aiming for. He was simultaneously carrying out two wars of attrition: one to try and break through the armor and the other to accumulate damage with attacks that could somewhat bypass the armor, and a deadly dance to eventually lead the giant man into a trap.

All the time that Refix was scheming his strategies, though, he had to be hyper aware to not fall for any schemes of the enemy. With the battle lust and fighting spirit the giant man was giving off, there was no way his form of fighting was as simple as simply swinging erratically until he landed a solid blow. Refix had fought berserkers before, and the tactics used by the giant felt a bit off as compared to the pure berserkers he had faced in the past.

Blood began to seep out of the giant man's mouth as he continued to press Refix, but the presence of the blood only excited the giant man more. Suddenly, he disengaged without warning and stood at complete ease a short distance away from Refix.

"Ha! Fun!" The man yelled out cheerfully. "But now, the real thing is about to begin."

The grin left the man's face, and all cheer disappeared as if flying ash. The man's face turned grim, and Refix noticed a deep, dark red color seep up the man's face, completely covering every inch of skin. The man spat out a glob of blood, but instead of falling the ground, it stopped in the air and hovered in place for a moment before floating to the man's back where it began to spin.

Refix had a bad feeling in his gut, and it only got worse as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

Streams of maroon liquid came flying through the air at high speeds and converged with the glob of blood floating behind the man. More and more blood arrived to join the first, and they merged with the man's own blood as the little orb grew bigger and bigger.

The giant didn't wait for the Skill, or whatever it was he was doing, to finish before he once more charged forward. His attacks came just as fast and fierce as before, but gone was the complete randomness. Refix's heart sank further as he noticed that their was a methodical method to the strikes the man was now delivering.

All thoughts of subtly leading the giant into a trap left Refix's mind. Shockwaves continued to expand out around them from when Refix parried the man's attacks. Refix still counterattacked and continued to rain blows upon the man with his ethereal arsenal, but the more damage he did to the man with his armor-penetrating attacks, the deeper the shell of blood covering his skin grew. The darker the blood covering the man's body grew, the stronger and faster he became.

Soon, Refix was no longer able to launch any counterattacks at the man. He called off the the ethereal arsenal as it was just making his enemy stronger. The giant would get strong enough to overpower him long before the attrition of damage threatened his life, so there was no point.

The giant man suddenly stopped pressing forward. His arms bent at his sides, holding his staves upward as he threw his head back as he screamed.

"Rivers of Blood!"

Without him noticing, the little glob of blood floating where it had initially settled had grown into a veritable lake of blood swirling in place. Refix spotted Reivyn come out from behind some buildings just as the blood exploded out in three long rivers and completely submerged Refix.

Blinding pain assaulted him as everywhere the blood touched, it felt like searing-hot iron needles stabbed into him. His Health pool dropped by several percentage points per second, and it didn't seem like the Skill was going to end any time soon. The floating blood lake had been much more heavily compressed than he had imagined, and it contained literal rivers of blood within it.

Refix's body was carried away by the swiftly moving blood. He tumbled end over end as he was caught in a powerful current that he couldn't fight against. There was no danger of him drowning in the blood. He could hold his breath for over an hour at this point, but the damage being done to him by the Skill was astounding. This was the most dangerous predicament he had encountered in many years.

He still didn't despair, though. He could feel that the Skill was losing momentum, and it wouldn't be enough to kill him. He just had to wait it out and hope that the Skill took almost as much out of the giant as it did him.

"Tides of Blood!"

The sound of the giant man's voice reached Refix's ears perfectly clearly through the blood submerging him. He grit his teeth as he felt more energy disperse through the blood, and he could tell that something larger than the simple drowning with blood was taking shape.

A shining light came slashing down from the wall without warning, though, and the blood lost all connection with the giant man. Refix heard the man grunt in pain. He was unceremoniously dropped to ground, and he laid there panting for a moment.

His entire body was completely covered in the thick liquid, and he could feel the bile rising in his throat. He forced it back down, however, and slowly regained his feet. He looked around and saw that the entire open area between the buildings and the wall was completely red with blood. It was the most gruesome sight he had ever seen.

The giant man was down on one knee, clasping his chest with one hand as the other propped himself up with one of his staves. He looked up at the wall, and his gaze immediately focused on two people standing at the top.

Xudrid and Zyria were standing proud, looking down on the giant man. Zyria's sword was out of its sheath and held aloft in the direction of the enemy.

"Cultivator brat!" The giant man spit. "Just because we can't brand you doesn't mean we can't kill you!"

Reivyn ran up from behind the giant man at that moment. His sword was at the ready as well, and Refix could feel the powerful emanations of Mana fluctuating through his body. From the look and feel of it, though, Refix could tell Reivyn was reaching the end of his reserves.

Steely determination filled his eyes, and all four of them watched the giant man as he regained his feet and held his weapons up once more. He stood at an angle so that he could affect a strike in all three different directions at the four people surrounding him. The grin was back on his face.

"We just need to kill the boss, here, and we'll be able to get away," Reivyn said, standing ready to fight at a moment's notice.

"He's not the boss," Refix said, shaking his head. The giant man just watched the four of them with his manic look. He didn't respond to the words being said.

"He's not the boss?" Reivyn asked, shooting a confused look at Refix.

Refix looked back the way they had come, to the presence that was still focused on him. The giant man that had arrived to confront him and the presence that had locked onto him from so far away weren't the same person.

"No. There's someone stronger, still, watching from the shadows."