Arwin slammed into the mass of red flesh like a runaway cart. Blades rang off his helm and chest, scraping against the metal of his enchanted armor harmlessly. Verdant Blaze was considerably less kind.
The massive hammer pulverized another hobgoblin. Arwin only had to use a little extra power from [Scourge] to strengthen his swings. The hobgoblins were ill prepared to go up against something that could hit as hard as Verdant Blaze.
Screams and roars filled the air; familiar sounds that brought him back to times that he didn’t care to remember. Arwin’s teeth clenched as an oppressive magical aura rolled off him. Every swing his hammer made accelerated his next one.
He didn’t even bother trying to block any of the monsters’ attacks. Blades cut into the outside of his arm, leaving behind long, scoring wounds that wouldn’t be fatal anytime soon. The screams mixed with the crunch of bone and the thump of blood in his ears.
Every kill lent itself into the next. The aura coiling off him continued to intensify as it drank in all the death around him. None of the monsters had any magic, but the sickening power roiling off Arwin’s body was still enough to hinder them.
Verdant Blaze seemed to sing in his mind as the weapon devoured the life of the monsters that fell under it. But, despite all the power coursing through him, there were a lot of hobgoblins.
If it hadn’t been for the others fighting them at the sidelines and drawing their attention away, Arwin suspected he would have been overwhelmed. Weapons clanged off his armor and sought to pierce into the openings between it.
Unfortunately for the hobgoblins, he wasn’t alone. Every glancing wound they managed to land on him was already reduced by [Indomitable Bulwark], and he made the hobgoblins pay its cost in their blood.
The battle was over in just seconds. Arwin spun in search of the next hobgoblin, but there was nothing but a field covered in corpses and blood. He let Verdant Blaze lower, his breathing heavy, and dismissed his helm.
“What if the adventurers get themselves killed? If they’ve got decent magical gear, they might be a little stronger than random people. Their death could end up causing the dungeon to collapse,” Olive said with a concerned frown.
Arwin cursed under his breath. “Olive is right, and they aren’t that far off the path in the first place. We should interfere with the fight and make sure they don’t get themselves killed. Picking up the kill for ourselves certainly won’t hurt either. It’s too dangerous to just hope they survive.”
“Then we’d best be fast,” Anna said. Another roar shook the air, marking her words. Whatever the massive monster was, it was angry.
The magical energy in the dungeon was already teetering, and it would only take one firm shove to send everything toppling down. They all broke into a sprint, running as fast as they could to stop the monster before anyone else could die.