After looking around and seeing that he wasn't in present danger, the first thing he did was startle and then shake his head smiling at his impatience.
'I should have bought a few vouchers before exiting the castle defense.'
Immediately Gordon fixed the problem and bought a whole bunch of vouchers.
With the amount of soul energy he had right now he could basically spam this verdant mercury beast with [Invulnerability] and [Critical Hit] vouchers like this was one of those old arcade games from the 1980's back in his old world.
It was time for some serious action.
Fortunately the verdant beast was not in the arena so tossing out an [Invulnerability] voucher he ran into it triggering the benefit and then headed out of the temple the quickest way possible. Jumping from bleacher bench to bleacher bench all the way up the side of the seating area.
One side of the arena above the bleachers had three great rents from the beast attack three hundred years ago. Having never been repaired it looked easy to fit through. Shimmying into one of the cracks in the wall of the temple, Gordon found it easy as if anything these clawed out portions of the arena had only become worse after a few attacks from whatever was currently attempting to destroy the temple.
Once outside Gordon was thrown like a rag doll to the side as a sloth two times the size of the temple appeared above him. Apparently his exit hadn't been quiet enough and the sloth attempted to pulverize Gordon into the gound of one of the temple's gardens.
With [Invulnerability] however it was doable. Instead of doing a squashed bug impersonation all that happened was that the forces acting on [Invulnerability] were redirected to toss Gordon for a loop.
His analytical mind analyzed what just happened and he realized that [Invulnerability] was not what he thought it was. It didn't absorb all the force from the sloth's attack in some mysterious magical way. Instead a blow should have sent him flying, didn't. He wasn't thrown with all the force of the sloth's attack concentrated through one vector. Instead the force was dispersed throughout the environment. So instead of flying two hundred meters out over the ruins he was only tossed up and then landed some twenty meters away.
Except for the fact that he been thrown twenty meters he was definitely still in this game. [Invulnerablity] was a cheat!
Now, his only hope was to get this sloth back into the castle defense instance. Calmly he focused, one limiting factor for this plan was that he only had five minutes.
Previously the castle aid had said that the instance could hold for as long as five minutes without him inside. Or at least Renier's control token. He could have left the token inside, but it had bonded with him and it would loose its functionality if it was separated from him anyway.
Gordon's first thought had been to incite whatever beast was out here into following him into the instance. But now this plan was not going to work.
While running back towards the temple Gordon considered his options. Right now he could think of two reasons.
The first reason why inciting the beast into chasing him inside the training ground was not going to work was that the beast was just too large. It wouldn't even fit inside the doors let alone through the narrow crack in the temple's wall.
Second this sloth didn't have red eyes. It was only a guess, Gordon didn't really understand how all this worked, but whereas all the other beasts in the beast tide had been enraged this beast alone among all of them wasn't.
'What is going on?'
Was this guy the instigator of all the others? Was that why it could maintain a more normal state. He had been to the zoo in his old life and seen sloths. He had been struck by the slow calm way in which they moved. Really it was too exaggerated. Maybe a sloth couldn't be berserked?
While distracted thinking the sloth attacked Gordon again. This time he knew he would be okay, but in the split second that the attack was incoming he realized that the sloth had already figured out that something was preventing it from damaging Gordon. However, it was certainly going to prevent him from getting in close. Indeed it employed no grand skill or magic. Instead it just swept out an arm as if taking out the trash.
And in that split second when there was no time for strategy and realizing he had been outplayed Gordon release a [God Storm].
He was still struck by the two toed sloth's wickedly vicious claws and thrown, though.
Yet in the next second the heavens opened and the [God Storm] unleashed its might upon the sloth.
Shocked Gordon opened up his status screen even while flying through the air. This time he was knocked away over a hundred feet into the residences to the south of the temple.
[Gordon Alfmunsen (Avatar)
Level: 50
Title: Defender of the Castle
Health: 20,000
Mana: 60,000
Stamina: 143
Physical: 201
Soul: 614
Mental: 128
Abilities: Beast Taming Ability (S rank)
Talent: Beatific Luck
Skills: Heavenly Sword, Immortal Body, Divine Purification
Magic: Transcendent Heal, Angelic Resurrection, God Storm, Empyrean Blink, Uncanny Chain Lightning, Seraphic Lightning
Cultivation Techniques: Star Refining Cultivation
Pets: None
]
Seeing his status screen displaying the talent and all of the skills and magic of the avatar Gordon realized what had happened. He still had over one hundred and three avatars patiently burning through the time their skill allowed them to exist. Having used the [Avatar] skills so much in a heightened state of learning efficiency, somehow the combination of Renier's temple and her token was affording these skills even beyond the technical limits of the castle defense instance.
'This changes everything.'
In that calm mind state during a crisis when all you have is tunnel vision on your goals Gordon slapped another [Invulnerability] voucher on and burst out of the wreckage of a house that he had been thrown through.
It wasn't that he needed the next [Invulnerability] voucher yet, but he sure as all the gods of heaven that he wasn't going to count seconds until the first voucher expired. At least not when he had so many vouchers.
Instead as he ran back towards the verdant beast he reflected. It was just that through this state of extreme focus that his mind became distracted by thinking about all the tests he had been given as a child. The tests he had failed. Every child was tested to determine their aptitude for becoming a defender. Basically becoming a 'have'. Gordon had failed those tests because, when he entered a battle stage he became too focused and then had these random thoughts pop into his head. Through the combination of the two he could not listen to or obey commands. Gordon had been judged a liability on the battlefield.
So he had had to settle for becoming one who couldn't defend themselves.
Yet now in the middle of this situation he was calm and cool. It might be true that no one could shout commands to him at this time. But it was also true that right this moment there was nothing stopping him from punching this two toed sloth into oblivion.
Nothing was going to stop him.
Because of the system and Renier's gift he could punch way above his weight. Within sight of the sloth he saw that the [God Storm] was only just wrapping up having continuously lit up the sloth with [God Storm]'s energy.
First he threw up another voucher and ran into it gaining the [Critical Hit] buff. Then he selected from the list of available skills.
[Immortal Body]
He jumped up and boosted by the added stats he cast.
[Heavenly Sword]
Gaining the avatar's armor and weapon he started his descent from his jump. Coming down from twenty meters in the air on top of the sloth he executed.
[Divine Purification - Judgement Cleave]
One of the moves within the [Divine Purification] sword art.
Immediately after he threw another voucher.
[Critical Hit]
And cast.
[Chain Lightning]
At the bottom of this sequence he looked up at the sloth and immediately had to dodge. Since the cleave had a dismembering ability the sloth's right arm had been severed and was falling or really slumping down on top of his current position.
Creating some distance Gordon ran to the side. Trying to keep the sloth's next actions viewable he performed.
[Divine Purification - Running On Mountains]
However instead of retaliating the sloth dropped its rump into the ground and began laughing.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha!"
Which was much more like a tired rumbling thunder, because, as sloths do, the laugh was slow and heart felt. On top of everything else that had happened up to now there was even belly jiggling mirth.
'I so did not need to see this, today!'
Yet somewhere in that laugh the tone changed from just being a sound that he could hear with his ears to being something that resonated within his mind as well.
Instead of a cerulean text box, a bright red color like oxygenated blood, text box appeared in front of him.
[Ha, ha, ha, ha! Did you think you could win? Pit Dweller!]