"Wha…?" shouted a Drathan that had been smirking just moments before. He was now on his back and a sword came for his eye. A blue swirling barrier appeared over his head.

When the sword touched the barrier it wasn't deflected as much as it was pushed into a different movement, like currents carrying debris in the ocean. Adam growled at that, but disappeared as another Drathan was body checked sideways when Adam appeared.

Adam didn't want to stab their bodies with the sword because their sturdy skin would dull and break the blade quickly, even if his strength could force penetration. He also couldn't rely on his hammer in these close groups since they would just get up unless Adam managed a fatal strike.

As frustrating as it was, Adam didn't find himself getting hotter since he was running on fumes. Still, that wasn't enough to get him to quit.

The stumbling Drathan fell on another as he cast his own barrier between himself and Adam. But Adam wasn't there. The Drathan trying to stop a fall from the stumbling one suddenly fell himself as Adam swept his legs from under him.

Adam drew on the memories of training that he had taking from the Red Clan Infiltrator. He turned to narrow his body and slipped between the larger Drathans' bodies. He rolled under legs and came up with a palm strike.

When Adam got to the back of one of the Drathan, he teleported to another when they cast a wall of flame at him. Then he used another Drathan's shoulder to flip upwards, managing to stab one of the eyes as he fell in front of him. The angle didn't allow him to stab the brain, but a half blind Drathan would be easier to manage.

While Adam was confusing the invaders, one on the fringes was using his full strength to block a barrage of spells from twenty humans. The Drathan was level 28 in Tier 3, while the humans were peak Tier 2 or early Tier 3. The difference in strength was being offset by the number of attacks coming at the Drathan.

The barrier would weaken after about 28 spells hit it, and he would recast it. A few spells would get through, and while they did some damage to the Drathan's body, it was minor. A second Drathan split from the group Adam was harassing to help the targeted one.

As the new Drathan raised his hands to supplement the barrier, Adam teleported behind him and kicked him in the lower back. The kicked Drathan fell forward and hit the Drathan under attack, causing his body to turn away from the humans. Once it did, the barrier moved as it stayed in front of the casting Drathan due to relative positioning. Then both of the Drathan were hit with a storm of spells. The melee fighters would rush to their sides and attack while keeping them from re-establishing the shield to block the attacks.

Adam didn't stay with those two, leaving his troops to deal with them. Using these methods, with a lot of hit and teleport acts while Adam tried to use actual fighting techniques to lessen the strain caused by his pseudo-skills, Adam kept the Drathan on the defensive.

It took 10 minutes of fighting before he got a notification.

Drathan "Surging Gale [28]" slain. 6,459 shared XP gained.

A glance back showed that the second one targeted by the Sentinels was still defending himself, though he was on his knees and one arm was trying to shield his face.

The fight took so much time, but the Drathan weren't just acting as Adam's punching bags. They would use their barriers to lead Adam to certain places, or they would guess where he was going to appear from. Often, they would put their backs together and try to blanket the area with strong attacks.

Adam had been set on fire twice, had the gray liquid dissolve part of his already crisped skin, and been knocked over as gusts of wind took his legs out from under him. Once, Adam had tried to bite through a Drathan's neck to get blood, but his teeth felt like they would chip from the solidity of the skin.

More Drathan were also joining their forces as they fell from shot down flying beasts. The Drathan numbered thirty, with four having been killed while three had one less eye.

The invaders had decided to group tightly against each other. Several were forming a circle with their backs against those in the middle. They formed shields on the outside of the circle. Those in the center were casting spells outwards to keep Adam away. For the most part they were ignoring the rest of the humans, knowing full well that Adam hadn't killed any, just sown discord while the other humans slowly picked them off.

Adam pointed to a human with a high level and a strong build. "Get my hammer. This sword is done."

The man ran to Adam's motorcycle and carried back the hammer. For a long time, the hammers made for Adam in Jackson had been too heavy for anyone but Adam to use. This one still had the weight, but anyone with a high enough strength could carry it, even if they couldn't effectively swing it around. That demonstrated the stat improvements of the Sentinel Army, from both leveling and base capture titles.

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Adam breathed a sigh of relief as he tossed the worn sword to the ground and lifted the hammer. He felt the heft of it. Swinging the hammer was difficult for him now. His body and energy were tapped, so even though he still had the raw strength, his precision with it was gone.

Done was his attempt to finesse the fight through technique. With not a lot of energy left, now it was time for the brute force Adam treatment.

Adam looked at the Drathan from a short distance. They all had one eye on him and one eye on the other humans. A growl vibrated in Adam's throat. Even with the state of his body and soul he drew more from [Soul and Body Shaping]. Instead of conserving his energy, he opened the tap.

Heat erupted and his skin began to burn off. The Sentinel Army troops winced as they saw, and smelled, the damage from his power ravaging his body. Then he raised the hammer with two hands above his head, as if reading to pound a spike into the ground.

"Make sure you guys don't get close to me," Adam said to his troops. They swallowed heavily, nodded, and backed away.

Then Adam used [Power Through].

The combined levels of his enemies compared to his own level, which was nonexistent, proportionally increased the power within him. The leaking energy from his soul wounds didn't matter as Adam's strength and power expanded while his intelligence and wisdom dropped. The internal river of power boiled and overflowed.

Adam snarled like an animal.

The Drathan looked confused as they watched Adam taking damage without being attacked while the light of awareness left his eyes. He growled and bent down, the hammer still held above his head.

Then he leapt. Ten magical shields appeared in layers in front of him, but Adam used [Gladiator's Approach]. He bypassed the shields. The downward swing of the hammer he had started allowed him to attack them from above in the center of their formation.

A grunt was followed by a thud as one of the Drathan fell into the others in the tight formation with his neck an inch shorter and unable to support his head. There was no kill notification, but the other Drathan took a moment to realize what had happened.

That moment was too long as Adam's body fell in between two of the Drathan and then he used [Arc Shockwave]. The force of the explosion pushed everyone out and the power increase from [Power Through] made it strong enough to fully throw away the heavy Drathan, unlike the previous times he used it on them.

Spells bombarded one that landed near the humans. Another was charged by the physical fighters, who targeted his eyes and calves.

The rest of the Drathan tried to get back to their feet but it felt like Adam was everywhere. He dashed around without using skills. There was no strategy to his strikes, no effort to hit them in vital spots. There was only his rage as he struck them as hard as he could before moving onto another.

Adam grunted along with his opponents as his effort to hit them took more power than they were struck with. He also growled and snarled as he moved from one to the next, his hammer striking their backs, legs, chest, shoulders, and heads, keeping them from getting to their feet.

Drathan "Winged Wrath [31]" slain. 7,648 shared XP gained. Drathan "Viscus Torrent [35]" slain. 8,231 shared XP gained.

Once the humans had killed one, they changed their target. Meanwhile, the Drathan realized that Adam wouldn't let them stand, and they were trying to crawl closer to each other while protecting themselves or throwing their own spells at the attacking humans.

A roar came from Adam with enough intensity to freeze everyone on the scene. The previously resistant Drathan all stopped moving, their eyes targeting Adam with an expression of fear. The humans also froze due to the increased strength from [Power Through].

As the roar filled the air and lingered, Adam's bestial behavior from the lack of intelligence showing through, he raised his arms to the sky as if to announce his dominance. The roar lasted longer than ever before.

The Drathan seemed to understand the power before them. Their skin had been split from Adams attacks and their bones had been broken. They were left on the ground, unable to fight back or defend themselves.

As Adam's roar faded and he squatted, looking at the immobile Drathan challengingly before deciding which to pounce on next, a new sound took the roar's place. It was a guttural sound, spoken in a staccato rhythm. The unknown words weren't shouted. They came from everywhere so all could hear them, just like when Adam was talking with crowds in his base.

Adam turned upwards at the sudden flapping of wings. All the flying beasts and their Drathan riders turned away from the besieged tower and headed back to the floating base high above. For miles around where Adam fought, the ground bound Drathan turned away from the humans they were fighting and ran towards the edge of the Sentinel Army's base territory.

The humans breathed a sigh of relief, although the feral Adam squinted and looked upwards. Then a whistling could be heard. It was the sound of something heavy dropping through the air with great speed.

A small shadow started east of them, with the sun moving in the west. The shadow began small but quickly became more distinct and moved in a straight line to where Adam crouched. All while the falling sound increased.

Half a minute later, while many were watching the retreating Drathan, Adam began running and dove out of the way. He rolled back to his feet, holding his hammer ready to fight.

A huge impact happened where he had been standing. It cratered the ground, kicked up dirt, and knocked the Drathan that Adam had subdued away. It was rough on the injured Drathan, but not enough to cause additional damage to their tough bodies.

When the dust cleared, everyone saw an eight-foot tall Drathan. He was massive. Unlike the previous Drathan, he had black armor on his chest, upper arms, and forearms. His thighs and calves also were wrapped in black metal. The cracks in his skin showed a purple glow. This Drathan had a tag of "Arcane Obstructor [14]".

Adam glared at him like a beast, snarling and barking. The Tier 4 Drathan looked at Adam, and then at the other humans. His eyes rotated around while his head stayed still, taking in all the surroundings. It was several minutes before he spoke.

"I see," he said, his voice sounding like bursts of air popping around them. "You are the natives who even repelled the Scyrric. The rumors have spread but were hard to believe. Yet, I was hurried through the portal at great expense to aid my brothers in this battle. It seems there is one among you able to stand against us. Let us see if you can stand against me too."

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