The tainted smiled at John. It then opened its mouth wider than normal; dark purple tentacles shot out of its mouth. They twisted and turned, covering its entire body, increasing its size and transforming it into a grotesque six-foot, hunched-over monster.

Sadly, it didn't end there, as from the rubble, more tainted began climbing out, circling John and Jake. Their twisted forms didn't allow them to tell what creature they were before.

Over ten of them came out, surrounding the two. The goblin that had transformed began cackling; its distorted voice made it sound terrible.

"Seems we are in trouble here," John said.

"Not really," Jake responded, and immediately summoned Crypt and his Tainted.

"Ohh, I forgot, you have a powerful arsenal," John said. He looked up to the goblin tainted. "That one, I feel there is something unique about it; it may be able to gather tainted in one place to attack. That isn't easy.

"Either it has someone backing it up, or it's smart as hell. Let's leave it for last," John said.

Jake nodded. He looked around; the place went silent for a few seconds as if waiting for a sign to attack, and then—boom—all at the same time they attacked.

Crypt charged in first. Two tainted rushed his way, coming from two directions. He spun the spear in his usual style, then went very low and used a sweep.

The spear slammed into the legs of the tainted and sent them into the air before they could do anything. Crypt leaped into the air and stabbed with the spear twice so fast you could barely catch it.

Stab, stab

Boom, boom.

Both stabs hit their targets right in the guts and sent them to the ground, their impact sounding like a small explosion. Though they weren't dead yet, they could barely get up.

Another tainted came from behind to attack Crypt. It opened its mouth and the black liquid-like tentacles shot out, wrapping around Crypt's face.

The tainted felt it had successfully caught Crypt, but the next moment it felt a powerful tug. It looked up and saw Crypt grabbing the tentacle with one hand while his second hand held his spear slightly behind his back with the tip touching the ground—his signature pose.

He pulled on the tentacle and yanked the tainted forward, and while it was rushing through the air toward Crypt, he turned and slashed.

The blade of the spear met its head and dug in, splitting it in two along the horizontal line. The body of the tainted fell to the ground, but Crypt already knew about their ability to heal quickly, so he stabbed right through the head again and spun the spear, ripping the head into bits.

[You have gained 200 EXP 200 soul shards]

As that one died, the other two that he had knocked down got back on their feet and lunged at him, teeth out, elongated claws stretched out—one attack to end it all.

They cut through Crypt, but it was an afterimage. The next moment, they felt death from above; a spinning spear came down.

Booom.

The spear ripped through the bodies of both tainted at the same time. They fell to the ground, not dead, but they had massive holes in the sides of their bodies. Crypt walked to each one and destroyed their heads.

[You have gained 200 EXP 200 soul shards]

[You have gained 200 EXP 200 soul shards]

On the other side of the fight, three tainted rushed toward Jake's tainted summon, but his summon was no ordinary summon. It touched the ground and tentacles shot out of the ground; they wrapped around the tainted and picked them off the ground, slamming them hard into the rubble.

The tainted still rushed out of the rubble, charging toward it. They attacked with ferocity, trying to get close, but the summon was too fast and strong for a tainted. It extended its arms and they split into separate parts, creating a whip field.

The whip-like arm extensions attacked in all directions; the sound of whipping filled the air. The tainted wanted to get through, but the whip dug into their bodies deeply, tearing and cutting until they couldn't move forward again, so the summon grabbed them all, wrapping its hands around their heads and crushing them.

[You have gained 200 EXP 200 soul shards]

[You have gained 200 EXP 200 soul shards]

[You have gained 200 EXP 200 soul shards]

John, on the other hand, was forced to face two tainted. Jake thought something like this might prove to be an issue, but it wasn't. John drew on his cigar before the tainted came close; he let out a calm puff and then gripped his sword tightly.

The first tainted got to him and attacked with its long arms. John stepped backward, dodging the attack with precision and timing, and still without missing a beat, he countered. His sword dug into the tainted, but it didn't stop there.

He channeled mana into the blade and it erupted in flames, burning the tainted from the inside.

Screeeeeeech.

The tainted cried in pain and immediately pulled away from John. By then, the second had gotten there; it seemed to have its own unique ability that allowed it to extend its neck and bite from a distance, and so it used it, stretching its neck to bite John.

John dodged to the side and delivered a quick and precise smack with the blunt side of his sword, hitting the head like it was a baseball. The tainted's head swung around before retracting to its body.

The moment it completely retracted, it looked up to attack John again, but John was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, it felt heat behind it. When it turned, it saw John behind it with a flaming sword in hand, but it was already too late; John slashed its head clean off.

As the body of the tainted fell to the ground, he walked to the one that he hadn't killed and stabbed it through the head, killing it. He casually took another draw on the cigar and blew out the smoke.

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