{Dungeon town}
Minutes before the Teleportation circle got destroyed Gobiee was holding her own against the armored man.
But as every second passed, he grew stronger and faster.
The longer he was in motion the more power he could release, converting kinetic energy into mana.
He swung at her, but she leapt back
missing his fist by a scant few millimeters.
Pressing her, he charged again.
Only this time she ducked, and a steaming pile of shit was thrown in his face.
Gobiee rolled away as the armored man wiped his face plate.
Saitama ran up to Gobiee holding two spears in one hand while wiping the other on his leg.
He quickly tossed her one of the spears.
She caught it, and sheathed her dagger.
Together they charged him.
He blasted a stream of fire at Gobiee, but she spun out of the way as Saitama quickly stabbed him in the side.
He turned to shoot lightning at him, but got hit in the face with a bullet.
Which gave Saitama enough time to back off.
The goblins Duke and Zev joined them.
Each one playing off the others.
Attacking to draw his attention, and then dodging his attacks.
As Saitama stabbed at him, the armored man caught the spear, pulled out his cudgel, and swung it at the spear haft.
Saitama let go at the same time as the shockwave from the cudgel smashing the spear ragdolled him.
The energy the armored man had accumulated flowed into the cudgel, activating a multitude of enchantments placed onto it, and causing it to glow a bright pink.
"Finally!"
He exclaimed.
"It takes forever for it to charge enough."
In less than a second he went from where he was standing to kicking Zev in the chest.
In the same moment he sent a shockwave at Duke.
Then, he was in front of Gobiee.
He yanked her spear from her hands, threw it away, and grabbed her by the throat.
Her flesh started to sizzle.
"Do you know how embarrassing it is to have to use this,"
He lifted the cudgel.
"against a mere goblin?!"
He asked as bullets were bouncing off the back of his helmet.
"THIS INDIGNITY WILL NOT STAND!"
Gobiee shat in her hand, and threw it in his face.
"Aaargh! YOU FILTHY CUR!"
He threw her down.
Then, as she rolled over to try to crawl, he stepped onto her back.
Pressing her down.
Boom!
The sound of the teleportation circle being destroyed drew his attention upwards.
There he saw a huge slangan killing witches, the elf fighting it off, and then for the said elf to be summarily killed.
He then saw the Dalian knockout the witch that powered the teleportation circle with a kick to the head, whilst the other adventurers killed or captured the rest of the remaining monsters that were fleeing.
The sight enraged him!
This was his shot to get in good with the higher-ups, and once they have established a new world-order he'd be placed in a cushy life.
But that cushy life hangs by a thread, and the blade poised to cut it is his failure to defeat this little pathetic...
"DALIAN!!"
He yelled out loud enough to be heard over everyone else.
"YOU'VE EMBARRASSED ME ENOUGH! KEEPING YOU ALIVE BE DAMNED! I'M GOING TO SHOVE HOT COALS UP YOUR ASS UNTIL YOU DIE!"
He would not let his future slip from his grasp!
"But first, I'll rid myself of this PEST!"
He crushed the goblin underfoot.
Crushing its spine.
With the power of the Deathstrikyr he could defeat all here with ease.
Before he could do anything, however, what felt like an inferno of mana washed over him. Silencing not only him, but everyone else as well.
He, along with everyone else, turned back to the wall.
"Kill..."
He felt rather than heard the intent of the scrawny human that had been using that weird earth magic staff on him.
"Qila, kill them all!"
The instant Daley yelled that out the world stopped, frozen as if in ice.
Daley looked around himself.
"You froze time?"
He asked out-loud.
"No,"
The air took on a shimmering affect, and started to shift and form into a dozen different shapes.
Eyes would appear and disappear, tentacles would coil into existence only to then uncoil out of it, and a fang filled mouth floated above Daley's face.
"I sped you up. Otherwise, beings I'd rather not have aware of my escape would turn their gaze here."
Daley looked past the entity to look at the motionless Gobiee.
"Yeah, I get it, you're afraid of whatever big bad you pissed off before. Just save her!"
The section of the wall under Daley cracked and buckled, as if something massive had landed on it.
"I fear none! And I have no reason to help you."
"I freed you!"
"By accident."
"You dragged me to this God forsaken planet!"
"A mere consequence of you freeing me, which was your own fault."
"We made a deal!"
"A deal you betrayed."
"I did no such thing."
"I told you to hunt every single species down until I could physically manifest, not fuck them!"
"No, your exact words were to pursue them, and I did... sexually."
"You know what I need!"
The stone beside Daley shattered, as the entity smashed it.
"And you will SAVE HER!"
"I am under no such compulsion, boy."
"You showed up, that means you will save her, but for a price."
The entity chuckled.
"And you know what that price is. Or,"
The entity paused to add some weight to its words.
"would you rather she die?"
Daley paused for a split second before responding.
"I got a better deal for you. Give me a decade, and I'll take down a creature so powerful you'll manifest in one go."
Their surroundings were starting to vibrate.
"You'd draw their attention."
"And you think killing possibly millions wouldn't?!"
"It wouldn't take that many."
"Whatever. You keep saying that you aren't afraid, yet here you are tippy-toeing around! Coward."
"I'm not afraid! I'm just being... cautious."
"Cautious is just another word for chicken."
"No.."
"Chicken."
"This won't wo..."
"Chicken."
"I could destroy you in an instant!"
"Then, you wouldn't get what you want, aaaaaaand.... chicken."
The surroundings weren't just shaking anymore. No, they were going batshit crazy.
The very air was smoking.
"Fine, what did you have in mind, boy?! And I'd be quick about it too. That is if you don't want to end up obliterated by the very universe."
"Give me ten years to get stronger, and I'll take down whatever beast that's strong enough to get you free. If I fail, you can just abandon me here."
The entity paused.
"One."
"What?"
"You get one year from this moment. And if you fail, I won't abandon you."
A wide grin appeared before Daley.
"No, I will end your life, and I'll spend the rest of my imprisonment torturing you."
"That's impossible! I need more time!"
"Time? You don't know the meaning of time. I've seen mountains rise from the earth only to be ground back into it, I've seen oceans become prairies, I've seen titans become itty-bitty birds, and all of that was just a speck of the time I have served! So, do we have a deal, or not?"
Daley's flesh started to crack and burn, but he wasn't looking at himself. No, he was gazing at the prone form of Gobiee.
"Deal. Now, save her!"
"You know the cost of that, right?"
Daley grit his teeth.
"Yes, take the newer ones."
The flow of time returned to normal. The destroyed part of the wall pieces pelted all of those around Daley, and the stench of burnt hair hung heavy in the air.
Before anyone could think, never mind act, a pulse of mana travelled outwards from Daley.
Once it passed through all, a bulk of his goblins dropped dead.
He went from forty goblins he had gathered since he came to Dungeon town to just twenty.
The armored man saw all of that.
From the surge of power, the pulse of mana, and the fact that only the puny human's monsters had died.
This could only mean this was the perfect time to...
"Retreat! Fall back!"
They had already repelled most of his forces, and made it so he couldn't get anymore reinforcements.
The human is planning something.
His promotion was already out of the window, not his life!
He stepped off of Gobiee, and started running back for the treeline.
But unfortunately for him, as he was yelling for that tactical retreat, Daley's remaining goblins were transmogrifing.
They grew bigger, straining then tearing through whatever armor they were wearing.
They turned from mere goblins into hobgoblins. Gorilla-looking monsters on steroids.
They all evolved this way except for four.
Gobiee, Zev, Duke, and Saitama all became hobgoblins, but then their bodies compressed. Becoming increasingly more dense. Their bones hardened, enabling them to exert the full force of their strength without shattering their own skeletons.
Their muscle fibers became more elastic, allowing faster and stronger movements.
And their lungs expanded, with small sacs able to store excess oxygen.
Mana, instead of passively diffusing into their mana hearts, it was getting sucked in.
It flowed through mana channels powering their muscles, and powering mana pads on their hands.
Saitama stood.
The battlefield lay before him completely open.
He could see every single minute detail. His Malignity locator ability did something similar, but with this not a single blade of grass went unnoticed.
By the time he laid eyes on the retreating back of the armored man mana flooded into his leg muscles, and he bounded towards him.
In just a few strides he was upon him.
The armored man sensed the massive amount of mana behind himself, turned on his heel, and swung his cudgel.
At the same moment Saitama pumped mana into his arms.
Kumpbft!
Saitama slid back, slowing, then stopping himself by dragging his right hand through the ground.
He stood yet again. This time his left arm was burned, hair singed off, and bruised.
But the armored man was not looking at Saitama's hurt arm, no, he was looking at Saitama's face. Namely his three inch fangs dripping drool in anticipation.
He knew he couldn't let that goblin attack, so he lifted his right arm to blast him with lightning.
Only at the last second he felt an immense amount of mana coming from his left.
Turning he saw a spontoon bursting with mana sailing right ahead at him.
He switched from lightning to flame, and blasted a torrent of flame exceeding the temperature of a few thousand degrees.
He expected it to burn to ash, but instead it flew through the flames, hit him, and exploded.
The explosion didn't hurt him at all, but it did make him stumble.
A stumble which gave Saitama enough time to inhale a deep breath, cross the distance between them, and started punching and kicking him.
Sparks flew as the enchantments on the armor shocked and burned Saitama, but the pain paled in comparison to his wrath.
While he was pummeling the armored man the other hobgoblins were stopping the other F. A. R. T warriors' escape.
Since their evolution increased their strength a hundredfold they'd just charge up from behind and break some legs.
As for the ones who fended of the first attack... they quickly learned how truly unlucky that was.
The hobgoblins then saw them as a viable threat to be put down... brutally.
One hobgoblin grabbed a wildfolk by the face, and ripped its head clean off.
Some stopped trying to flee at all, curled into the fetal position, and tried to look as unintimidating as possible.
Gwuaah!
Saitama exhaled, and in that moment the armored man swung his cudgel.
Saitama blocked the swing with his left arm, and punched him in the face.
He recoiled from the blow, and then Duke took that opening to slash him in the back with his charged swords. The armored man swung around to attack him, but he rolled out of the way, and Saitama kicked the armored man on the side of the head.
He stumbled back, but then he blasted out some fire Saitama, but Zev threw a dropped shield between them.
The flames were redirected, Saitama grabbed it from the air, charged it, and started bashing the armored man with it.
The heated shield burned Saitama's hand, but he kept swinging on him anyway.
Saitama broke the shield over his head, and did the supposedly impossible and caused his armor to crack.
A long crack straight down his helmet.
Saitama threw away the remnants of the trashed shield, and lifted his arms yet again.
The armored man was looking for a way out of this fight, but that would be a herculean task to say the least.
Those hobgoblins are preventing his warriors from escaping never mind coming to his aid, and these whatever they are refuse to let up.
The two sidekicks are using hit and run tactics while the main one soaks up all of the potential damage he could be killing them with.
The armored man glared at Saitama's face. It held not a trace of weariness, but instead the same wrath it had at the beginning of the fight.
He wasn't going to quit until he died!
"Grrrrraaarh!"
With a yell more akin to a wild beast the armored man pressed on. Forsaking all pretense of form, and attacking blindly.
Saitama, however, was the exact opposite.
Gliding over the rocky earth with grace, blocking all hits with his left arm, and striking with his other limbs.
His left arm became even more bruised and bloody after using it as a shield, the flesh underneath exposed.
The armored man swung his cudgel again, desperation fueling him even more than mana.
Saitama blocked it with his left arm, fracturing the bone, charged his right fist, and then he punched him in the already cracked helmet.
Kapow!
The helmet shattered, leaving behind a headless body.
Saitama dropped his arms, and let out a heavy breath.
It was finally ove...
WHAAAAAM!
The headless man slammed his cudgel into the left side of saitama's head. Saitama's field of vision narrowed only to his right side as the blood vessels in his eye burst.
He fell to his knees.
Everyone was stunned into silence as from the armored man's neck a crystalline skull formed, and then a viscous gel enveloped that skull.
"A slime!"
A random adventurer called out in surprise.
"That's not a slime, that's a jelly. They don't have the telltale hue slimes have, and they're venomous not acidic."
Another corrected her.
"Who gives a fuck! Neither are they supposed to have a skeleton!"
The armored man ignored them. Normally he'd have a retort ready to go, but right now he wasn't in the mood.
This was the perfect time to run away, but his common sense wasn't working at the moment.
He was beyond angry, he was embarrassed!
The witches had an excuse for losing, they went up against what were obviously Mid-rankers and then a Mid-ranked slangan.
He, however, just fought weak humans, and some fucking goblins!
Forget running away, he was going to smash this insect into bloody paste!
"Die, you miserable taint-stain!"
He swung his cudgel downwards.
"N...o!"
Saitama used his fractured arm to grab the armored man's wrist.
The fracture grew slightly worse, and tore some more blood vessels.
"Y..o..u d..ie!"
Saitama's grip tightened on his wrist as he graveled out those three words.
"What?! This is im...."
BOOOOOM!
Saitama punched so fast and hard at the armored man's chest that the very air exploded before he even touched him.
The armored man got shot backwards, and due to Saitama's iron grip his arm got ripped off his body.
Saitama dropped the severed arm, and the cudgel held in its grasp.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!!"
The armored man yelled out as his arm regrew, the crystalline humerus, ulna, radius, and hand bones were replaced in a second. The jelly flesh soon followed.
"THIS WAS ONE OF A KIND! YOU..."
WHAM!
An adventurer slammed his heavy blade into the armored man's head.
Only it didn't even break the jelly skin. The armored man slapped the adventurer away.
The adventurer landed a dozen yards away, and started to convulse.
He died a moment later.
"I SHOULD BE INVINCIBLE! WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU?!!!"
Mana filled Saitama's body as he took off towards the bastard.
"DIIIIIIIE!!!!!"
The armored man yelled as he released a torrent of flame at Saitama.
Saitama threw up his bad arm as a shield, and kept running.
Bam!
When Saitama reached him, he slammed his powered up fist into his face.
The armored man's got shattered from the blow, but was immediately healing. The neurotoxins surged into Saitama's arm.
The pain - like a million wasps had burrowed into your skin, and started to sting you repeatedly - alone would drive any to his knees in agony, but he stood his ground.
"THE DEATHSTRIKYR WAS BUILT FOR WAR!"
The armored man yelled as he punched Saitama with his armored fist. Sending magical sparks flying.
Saitama responded with a kick to his side.
The armored man grabbed his leg, and started to punch him with the jelly flesh arm. The venom flowing into Saitama in droves.
"HOW. ARE. YOU. STILL. STANDING?!!!"
"{Arrow reflect}."
The same archer adventurer on the top of the wall shot an arrow.
The arrow flew way to the left of them, only to hit a flash of light, and get reflected towards the armored man's head.
It nailed him.
"{Fire trail}."
A stream of fire followed the path the arrow took, and when it reached his head it exploded.
It knocked him to the side, making him let go of Saitama.
"Are y'all really gonna let a couple of goblins save ya?!"
She yelled at all of the adventurers that were watching in awe.
"Are y'all gonna let all of your friends' deaths be in vain?! And more importantly what about the free shit?! Are you gonna let them claim dibs?!"
They all gripped their weapons tighter.
"No!" They yelled in unison.
"Then, stop being lazy assholes, and KILL THAT TAINTFUCKER!"
They roared, and charged at him.
"{Water punch}."
"{Air slam}."
"{Ground pike}."
....
....
....
Mage after mage pummeled him with spells, and any close combat fighters that had long-range attacks also joined in.
The barrage pushed him away from Saitama.
When mages had to stop slinging their spells due to low mana Duke rushed in with his swords.
Slashing hundreds of times within seconds.
The armored man was forced to use his arms as a shield.
The still armored arm armor was cracking more and more.
The armored man sent a pulse of mana into the ground, causing it to shake and throw off Duke's balance.
The armored man pulled back his jelly flesh arm to punch Duke while he was off balance, but before he could a whip wrapped around his arm and held it back.
He tried tugging it free, but the whip held firm.
Looking back he saw Zev holding the whip another adventurer tossed to her, pumping mana into it to increase its durability.
He flung his other arm forward to blast him in the face with fire.
"{Stone clamp}·"
A random adventurer slung his spell, and a earthen claw shot from the ground to grip the armored man's arm.
It only held for a few seconds, but those seconds were enough.
Duke stabilized his stance, threw one of his swords up into the air, grasped his remaining sword firmly, and brought it down on the armored man's arm.
Both Duke's sword and the armored man's arm exploded.
Shards of metal flew into Duke's face, but he didn't blink.
The seconds it would take for him to regrow that arm would give Duke all the time he needed.
The armored man might be whatever monstrosity they made him to be, but at his core he's still a monster.
And to kill any monster, you just have to destroy its mana heart!
Duke caught his other sword, pumped every last ounce of mana into it as he could, and stabbed it into the armored man's breastplate.
KraBOOOOOOOOM!
An explosion loud enough to pop eardrums rang out, throwing everyone on their respective asses, and injuring Duke.
Seeing this as his chance the basically unarmored man stood up while quickly regenerating.
Knowing most would aim towards the chest to hit his mana heart, it was placed lower. Right below were a diaphragm would be.
Only the lower half of Deathstrikyr was left.
Most of the attack enchantments were in the arms and torso, so if he were to finish them off it would have to be with pure strength.
And he could do it.
They are all severely hurt, and all he'd have to do is... No.
This battle was already lost, signified by how broken the Deathstrikyr is.
His regeneration has slowed to a crawl, and his main forms of attack were destroyed.
He turned, and fled.
Most of his men were dead or captured along with the witches and monsters, and so he could probably get away with a lie about how he lost.
Like, maybe they had a pet dragon? No, too unbelievable.
A wyvern would work.
As he was running an arrow flew past him, got deflected on a burst of light, and hit him in the chest.
Then, a stream of flame followed, and exploded against him causing him to land on his back.
That damn archer!
A shadow covered him.
Standing above him was an adventurer with a cracked chest plate.
In his hands was the maul the unarmored man dropped.
Layer upon layer of found leather armor was wrapped around the handle, preventing it from electrocuting the adventurer.
"You couldn't have died with more of your armor intact?"
The adventurer stated as he swung the maul downwards.
"So fucking selfish."
The maul landed, and all of the built up energy flowed into the unarmored man.
Zwaaap!
"Ow!"
The gnome yelled, and threw off the smoking helmet.
He met Emira's gaze.
She looked at the lifeless body of the unarmored man, and then back at him.
Something clicked in her head, and he saw that click.
She sheathed her iklwa, and pulled out her gun again.
"{Hasty retreat}!"
Magic swirled around him, and he sped off into the forest before she could shoot.
"He's getting away!"
Emira yelled out as she started running after him.
"He's the leader!"
Minako dropped her transformation, willed Squall out, hopped onto his back, and rode him over to Emira.
"Get on!"
Emira climbed on.
"Can he fly with both of us?"
Minako gripped the pommel on his saddle.
"No, but he can run. After him Squall!"
Squall used his mana to make the air around him thinner, lowering the atmospheric drag. He then slightly opened his wings, and flared his tail feathers.
All of those actions took less time than breath, and in the next breath he was already running.
Moving through the messy battlefield like a fish through water.
Using his wings he'd make turns on a dime, moving past all obstacles.
In a moment he was already in the forest, using his razor-sharp vision to detect everything. It wasn't long before he found the gnome's trail, and not that much longer after that he caught up to him.
The gnome's eyes grew wide as he saw them on his tail.
He zigged and zagged, but he couldn't shake Squall.
High speed and agility hunts are the falconyx are made for.
As they were chasing him Emira was shooting at him.
None hit him however as he evaded between trees.
When Squall got within a hairsbreadths away from the gnome he swatted his legs out from under him.
The gnome tumbled, and hit his head on a tree.
Squall stopped, and Emira got off.
As she walked she was reloading her gun.
"W...wait!"
He could feel his blood falling onto his neck from a head wound.
"I'm an enemy combatant!"
"So?"
"I demand you treat me as such!"
"No."
She finished loading her gun.
"There are rules concerning this!"
"So?"
He didn't know what kind of magical weapon she's wielding is, but he saw what the larger versions of it did to his army.
He threw his hand forwards towards her.
"{Dea...}
Minako saw that, compressed an air dagger in her palm, and shot it at his hand.
It hit his palm, embedded itself, then the pressure released and blew off his hand.
"Eeeeeeeiiiiigh!!!!"
He screamed like a pig that was being gutted alive.
Emira stood over him, then looked skywards.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry?! You think a sorry will bring back my hand?!!!!"
She shot him in the gut.
"Aaaaaargh! You fucking bitch!"
She stepped on his gut wound.
"Aaaaaaaaggh!"
In vain he tried using his other less decidedly blown-off hand to push her leg away.
"I wasn't apologizing to you."
"Le... let me live, and... and... I can tell... urrgh..."
She pressed down harder.
"Let me stop you right there. No information is worth me sparing your life. Your attack drew blood, you aren't going to live."
"Then, why not just kill him?"
Minako asked from her seat on Squall's back.
"Easy enough to put a bullet in his head."
Emira shook her head.
"He led them here, he's going to suffer."
She looked back down at him.
"He'll bleed out... eventually."
"So, are we just going to sit here?"
Minako looked at her, back whence they came, and then back to her.
"Because that might take awhile."
"You can go if you like, but I'm going to make sure he's dead before I head back."
"I'm pretty sure nature will take its course."
"You're probably right."
As they were talking the gnome was smiling to himself.
Not five feet away are some horsetail plants. As soon as they leave he can crawl over there, and use it to stop the bleeding.
He was going to live and get revenge on this bitch!
"You can go."
"What about you?"
"I'll stay until he dies. It's unlikely that someone could come save him, but my uncle always said 'No one is dead until their cold lifeless eyes are staring you in the face'."
"What a fucked up thing to tell someone, just like a man to say that."
Minako sighed.
"But I can see his point."
The gnome realizing he was truly screwed, tried once again to shove Emira's leg off of himself.
Only for her to press down harder.
"Aaaaaargh! You short eared bastard, I hope you rot in hell with your whore of a mother!"
Minako looked befuddled.
"Your ears aren't short, how is that an insult?"
Emira shrugged.
"Some ignorant fools think Dalians are an offshoot of the elven races, and think that because we have shorter ears than 'regular' elves we will be emotionally crushed by them reminding us. No Dalian has ever corrected them because... we just don't care."
"Wait... gugkt..."
The gnome spat up a mixture of bile and blood.
"I know... you... don't want to kill... me! You... apologized for gods sake!"
She kneeled down beside him.
"Again, that wasn't to you."
She leaned in.
"It was to my family. Because I will never get to see them again, and that's because I don't deserve to go to 'heaven'."
He tried to speak further, but she chopped him in the throat.
"Let's pass the time in silence."
For the next seven minutes he died a slow painful death.
And with that death, the battle of Dungeon town ended.