The Dichotomy of an Effervescent Moment

Despite being large and heavily armored, the warrior wielding the two-handed sword was ridiculously fast. So much so that it reminded Mike of a fully enhanced Brenden, but with significantly more skill. If he hadn't dodged in a desperate way, the sword would have struck him before he had the chance to respond.

The warrior rested his weapon on one shoulder in a cocky manner. "I do believe this rat actually dodged my strike. How about that?"

"Stop playing around and finish the brat, Keld." The one holding Sera said, apparently the leader of the trio.

The Oracle was still hanging from the impaling spear, unmoving. It looked like the injuries she'd sustained had rendered her unconscious.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting to it. It's not like you'll be dying of old age or anything." The warrior named Keld answered with a laugh, eliciting a growl from the leader.

Without any preamble he strode forward calmly, looking to all the world as if he were just casually walking down the street. Once he got close to Mike, his arms blurred into a diagonal slash.

Mike quickly fell into a Flowing River stance, and redirected the blow down and to his right, allowing his opponents blade to bury itself in the tile of the rooftop. Even with such a maneuver, the sheer force of the blow jarred his arm.

He lowered his center of gravity, spinning in close to the warrior and shoving him with his shoulder, before directing a stab at Keld's eyes, about the only portion of the helmet that looked vulnerable.

The armored warrior simply leaned back, allowing the thrust to skitter across the side of his helmet, before grasping Mike's sword arm in one of his hands and flinging the young adventurer across the rooftop.

Mike slid across the tiles, and rolled to his feet ready to fend off whatever follow-up attack was coming, but Keld hadn't moved yet. He resumed the cocky stance of his, with his sword resting on one shoulder.

"Hey boss, this guy's pretty good. Do you think he's some famous knight or something?" He asked in a jaunty mood while pointing with his free hand.

The leader sighed. "Joran, help the fool out. If we wait for him to finish, we will be here all night."

The glaive wielder nodded silently, before launching himself at Mike in vicious rush.

"Hey! This was supposed to be my kill!" Keld yelled as the other armored warrior passed.

Mike was forced to defend with all of his skill as Joran attacked with blistering speed. Minor injuries started appearing over his limbs, the glaive punching through his alchemically treated leather armor like it was nothing.

[Seriously, why do I bother wearing any armor? It doesn't seem to do anything for me.]

Joran finished his rush with a horizontal sweep that Mike was forced to block, sending him skidding across the rooftop again. Only his quick reflexes allowed him to stop before he flew over the edge, He grabbed onto the ledge long enough to halt his momentum, before pulling himself back up.

The armored warriors were patiently waiting for him again. Mike was a little confused by this tactic. The leader of the trio kept hinting at a pressing time deadline, but they allowed him to ready himself every time they attacked.

[Some sort of honorable demon cultists?]

A sudden wave of dizziness overtook Mike, causing him to fall to one knee.

[What happened? Did I lose too much blood?]

He glanced down at his injuries to see that they had already healed, but his veins were turning black around where the wounds had been.

Kald broke into a burst of laughter. "HAHAHAHA, how do you like Joran's glaive, Serpent's Kiss? Every blow delivers a deadly poison that will dissolve from the inside. Now die in misery."

"Poison?" Mike said with growing horror. He quickly checked his <Status> only to be overcome with a existential depression. The (Rank 4) next to his Intermediate Poison Resistance skill was like a blazing insult from the System. As he watched the number ticked up to (Rank 5).

A vein started throbbing in his forehead, as the dark lines of poison vanished from his limbs.

"I was angry before, but now...now its personal." He muttered darkly.

[Screw preserving my mana. I'm going to DESTROY these M************!]

He mentally examined one of the new additions to his <Status> while preparing the mana to make use of it.

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- Intermediate Elemental Magic (Tier 2, Rank 3) -

Rank 2 Effect: Enhancement Magic

- Enhancement Magic -

Skilled practitioners of Elemental Magic learn to mimic the enhancement spells of other branches of magic, allowing them to temporarily increase attributes. The attribute enhanced varies based on the type of magic used.

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He summoned his mana and poured it into his body, using fire as his element of choice. A roaring aura of flame burst forth from him, swirling and hissing in an angry manner, before condensing into his limbs. He felt the snap of his internal limitations as his strength increased drastically.

A soft orange glow started emerging from his skin wherever exposed, as the air around him shimmered in a heat haze.

"Watch out! He's a mage!" The leader called while readying himself, drawing his war hammer with one hand.

Mike sprinted forward, sword at the ready. He could already feel the drain on his mana. As powerful as he seemed to be at the moment, he knew he had to end this fight quickly.

Throwing himself forward while falling into the Roaring Flame stance, he noticed his already enhanced strength increase further. Putting off that investigation for later, he launched his attack.

Both Joran and Keld were ready for him, weapons held warily in front of themselves. Mike feinted towards Keld before sweeping towards the glaive wielder. He flicked his sword up at the weapon before the armored warrior had a chance to react.

The goal of this maneuver was to push the haft out of the way while knocking Joran off balance. However, it was much more effective than he originally intended. The glaive flew through the air before embedding itself in a nearby chimney. The warrior himself was nearly pushed over by the force of the blow.

"What the-" Keld started saying.

Mike didn't waste the opportunity, grasping the hilt of his sword firmly in both hands, he brought it down on the breastplate of Joran's armor.

With a ringing crash, two things occurred. First, the chest piece cracked under the weight of the blow, causing a spray of thick black fluid. The warrior soundlessly started to fall backwards. Second, the blade of Mike's sword snapped near the base.

[Another one! I really need to find myself a really solid weapon.]

Thinking quickly, Mike dropped the now useless sword hilt, brought his hands together, and delivered a double axe handle to the damaged portion of Joran's armor. The resulting force cratered the surface of the roof, actually punching a hole that the prone form of the armored warrior fell through. It was only with quick reflexes that Mike was able to avoid a similar fate.

[Thank you pro wrestling.]

He had little time to recover his balance, before he was forced to dive under the swinging head of the war hammer. The leader of the trio had finally stepped in. Mike could see the limp form of Sera where she was dropped in one corner of the rooftop.

Jumping over the newly formed hole in the rooftop, he bought himself a few moments to contemplate a plan.

Knowing that he couldn't maintain this level of combat for long, he decided to seek out the best chance of success. Mike pulled some of the last dregs of his mana, forcing a combination of Fire and Water together into its composite element of steam.

A cloud of hot water vapor exploded from him, covering the rooftop in a nearly impenetrable fog. Mike whirled, moving as quickly as he could, and scooped up the Oracle's nearly lifeless body. With a quick application of Fire Magic, he severed the chain from the spear-like device.

Vision starting to grow dim from a lack of mana, he threw Sera over one shoulder, and jumped off the building. Luckily it was only a few stories tall, so when he landed, assisted by a small blast of Air Magic, the resulting injuries were minor. The glow from his enhancement faded, and he nearly stumbled from the sudden change in strength.

"S***, he's getting away." The leader cried. "Cut him off, Keld!"

Mike heard a loud thud behind him, and not bothering to look, started sprinting back towards the barricade. He didn't think the adventurers would be able to stand against these enemies, but sheer numbers might dissuade them from pursuit.

He rounded the corner of the alley he was in, and spotted a handful of adventurers on the main thoroughfare, among them were Tal and Brenden. They appeared to be searching for him, and reacted when he came into view.

"Help!" he called while running to them. "We got company!"

He felt the rapidly approaching enemy through his Detect Hostile Intent skill, and was in the process of looking back, ready to start avoiding the attack, when a howling blast of wind rushed by, intercepting the sword wielding warrior and forcing him back.

Tal, hair whipping in the storm created by her contracted spirit, raised her hand and issued another quick chant. "Tear the wind asunder, and cleave thy enemy in twain, [Wind Blade]!"

Three nearly invisible rends in air itself flew after Keld, who had yet to fully regain his balance. With preternatural skill he actually cleaved two of them apart, somehow cancelling the magic with his sword. The last impacted his shoulder guard, leaving a deep scratch, but little else.

The group of adventurers circled protectively around Mike and his charge. Brenden spared him a quick glance while keeping his attention towards the armored warrior. "We were wondering where you got off to. Looks like you found yourself some more trouble."

He looked over at Sera, and asked, surprisingly indifferent, "She dead?"

"Not if I can help it." Mike replied, already pulling on his reserves of mana to stabilize the wounded girl while he removed the spear. Thankfully, it seems his mana recovery rate had improved in the intervening time, giving him a small, but significant amount.

"Hold them off for a minute or two if you can."

Brenden looked over at the pair of tall, armored warriors, a little hesitantly. His instincts were telling him that these two were incredibly dangerous.

It got even worse when the door to a nearby building burst open and a third, albeit wounded and unarmed, joined them.

He grinned savagely, already feeling the building rage coursing through his veins as he activated his skill. Hells with it, he wasn't going to let these guys scare him.

"Don't blame me if I end up taking care of them before you're done." He said in a voice thick with bloodlust, as he readied his sword.