I ducked low and burst to the side, narrowly avoiding the first hammer swing.
The weapon crashed down where I stood a breath ago, kicking up snow and broken earth. Fire surged up my staff as I twisted and countered with a blazing strike aimed at his ribs.
He blocked just in time, but the flames licked up his arm.
He grunted and twisted, launching himself back onto another rising platform.
"Too slow!" he shouted.
The hammer in his hand began to glow, a deep, angry red. I felt the Essence stir unnaturally around it.
"[Gigantic Smash]!"
The moment slowed. I moved to dodge, body tensing to spring away but the platform beneath his feet launched him straight at me like a cannonball.
The hammer met my ribs mid-dodge, and the world snapped sideways.
I flew.
Pain exploded through my side as I slammed into the ground, only it wasn't snow or soil that caught me. The surface had shifted beneath me mid-flight. Hardened. Black. Slick like obsidian.
Crack.
I bounced and skidded, leaving a trail of steam and ash before coming to a stop.
I groaned and tried to move, but the ground shifted again.
The blackened material surged up, gripping my feet, locking them in place. Before I could wrench free, more of it shot up, wrapping my arms in cuffs of black stone.
I struggled, breath ragged, heat still pulsing through my veins. My muscles screamed as I pulled against the binds—
But then the hammer-wielder came down again.
He dropped from the sky like a meteor, both hands gripping the weapon, eyes locked on me with murderous intent.
My instincts screamed.
I shifted my focus inward, locking onto the Essence channels running through my body. With a sharp breath, I willed them open, commanding them to absorb every bit of energy they could from what was about to come.
I barely managed to twist my core before—
Boom.
The hammer slammed into my stomach like a collapsing mountain.
The air was torn from my lungs. I doubled over with a violent cough, blood spraying from my lips. My vision wavered.
But through the pain, I felt it—raw energy flooding into my channels, pouring into my core like a broken dam. My body trembled from the sheer pressure, but the absorption dulled the impact just enough.
The force had been brutal… but it should have been far worse.
Pain wrapped around my ribs like chains, and then—
Crack!
Spikes.
Black spikes erupted from the ground, shooting up and driving through my forearms and calves. Not clean through but deep enough to pin me, deep enough to burn.
I gritted my teeth, blood leaking from my mouth as I tried to lift my head.
"Got him," the hammer-wielder muttered, panting.
But I wasn't done.
I forced my eyes open and extended my perception past the pain.
Steve's group was fighting nearby…and losing.
At least five or six of them were down, groaning and clutching limbs, their weapons fallen. Steve, Sarah and North were still up, but they were being pushed back, barely holding the line against the third attacker.
"Damn it…"
I checked my Essence storage.
40/55.
I forced more strength into my body, thirty points straight into Strength.
My muscles strained to keep up as power surged into every cell.
I could feel it instantly. My arms twitched. My legs shivered. The pain dulled as muscles and bones adjusted to the new boost.
Then I activated the passive ability embedded deep within my flesh :Tensile Musculature.
A low hum rolled through my limbs as the high-tension muscle fibers coiled tighter.
My arms and legs compressed as if drawn by invisible cables. The fibers folded in on themselves, layer by layer, tightening, storing strength like a bowstring pulled past its limit.
My skin rippled. My veins bulged. Each muscle swelled by an inch from condensed, explosive energy held just beneath the surface.
My body trembled under the pressure.
Strength surged.
The hammer-wielder faltered a step back, his voice uncertain.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
I didn't answer.
Instead, I focused all that coiled power into my wrists and ankles—right where the black earth cuffs held me pinned.
"Seismic Burst"
The Essence ignited. Not with flame, but with raw, concussive force.
Boom!
The blast rippled outward, the shock traveling from my limbs into the stone. The bindings didn't crack, they detonated. Shards of black stone scattered like glass in a storm.
The obsidian spikes embedded in my arms and legs burst apart at the base, tearing loose and clattering to the ground.
My body lurched forward as the recoil of force pushed against my frame and I moved with it.
Steam hissed off my skin. Smoke rose from the ruptured ground. The air around me rippled with heat and power.
I stood.
Slowly.
The hammer-wielder backed off another step, eyes wide now. The heat from my body painted red across his face.
The earth-user behind him narrowed his gaze, but even he couldn't hide the tension in his jaw.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked, his voice low.
I tilted my head, fire crackling along my knuckles.
I grinned, blood still dripping down my chin.
"No one today…"
I raised my blazing staff.
"…but soon, I'll be your death."
I could see it in their eyes, both of them were tense now, a flicker of fear creeping into their expressions.
But I didn't care.
I had already made up my mind.
If I wanted to force them to retreat, I needed to do something drastic.
Something they wouldn't expect. And the only thing that made sense was to beat one of them within an inch of their life, even if it meant risking my own.
A direct fight wouldn't work; not for long. But if I caught them by surprise? Then maybe… just maybe… I could tip the scales.
So I decided to go all out.
I slammed my will into the Essence flowing through my body and ignited every thread of it.
Boom.
Fire exploded from my skin like it had been waiting to be freed. It burned and flowed wildly across my body. The air shimmered from the sudden heat, and my hair whipped in the wind like it was caught in a storm.
Pain flared all over my body as I felt the channels, my muscles and even my Psynapse strained to limit to control the wild fire.
I clenched my teeth and forced my channels to pull in more energy, more than they were used to, just to generate extra Essence. My core ached from the strain, but I didn't stop.
My legs bent low. The muscles there coiled tight again. They were already strained from earlier bursts, but I ignored the warning signals screaming through my nerves.
"Seismic Burst!" I roared.
Boom.
My body rocketed forward, fire trailing behind me as I passed between the two dumbstruck enemies like a bolt of lightning. Their shouts echoed behind me, but I didn't listen.
Mid-air, I triggered another burst from my left leg.
Boom.
The shock slammed through me again. My speed doubled. Pain rippled through my legs, but I held the shape of my body, pushing it forward like a spear.
The only thing I saw now was the cloaked man, the one crushing Steve's group.
Flames surged across my skin in waves, wild and uncontrolled.
I compressed my legs one more time and pushed them past their limit. My lungs burned as I let out a harsh breath.
"[Seismic Burst]!"
Boom.
The world blurred around me. For a moment, it disappeared altogether. When it came back, I was in agony but I was faster than ever.
In seconds, I was above the battlefield.
Steve and the others were below me, beaten, surrounded by groaning bodies. I had to end this now.
I channeled another burst, this time from my back, shifting my angle and diving straight at the cloaked man.
"[Seismic Burst]!"
Boom.
A blast of Essence launched me like a missile. Wind screamed past my ears. My arms swelled as I pulled my staff above my head.
Then a flash of light—an alert pinged inside my mind.
[Skill Level Up!]