Like a rabid beast, Magnus tore through the creature's effortlessly. Swing after swing, heads were dismembered, bodies cleaved in two and gore was left in his wake.
Both of the girls, especially Elara, were shocked at the carnage unfolding right in front of them.
'I used all my power to crush its head with a kick and barely succeeded, while he is...'
A torn off head flew past her.
'Yeah. Good call to trust my gut feeling.'
They continued through the horde in this way for 10 minutes, before an accident occurred.
Magnus, plowing through the horde of workers, glanced at his half full xp bar.
Behind him, Elara suddenly shouted.
"Watch out!"
A tongue shot out, piercing towards Magnus. Not having a free hand to defend himself, the tongue wrapped around his neck.
The tongue grew taut, and a soldier jumped towards magnus, its maw wide open as it aimed for his head.
An idea flashed in Magnus mind, as he crushed another one of the normal worker enemies.
As the creature got close, Magnus tore off the tongue with his hand, causing the soldier to flinch. His hand shot into its throat, removing the entire head of the creature with one fluid motion.
'Got one!'
Seeing the 50 XP he was happy, but what made him happier...
SWING!
Grabbing the dead soldier by the leg, he sent multiple creatures flying with one powerful swing.
'Although it'll kill less, I'll get more per swing, and I don't care for XP now!'
A tongue shot out from the sides once more, and Magnus was ready to defend himself.
'Wait, it's not aiming for me!'
He turned around only to see it piercing towards Elara. "DODGE!" he shouted, charging towards the two girls.
The tongue wrapped around Elara throat, before stretching taut. Gasping for air, she tried to claw at the tongue with her one free hand.
Unlike Magnus, she couldn't break free no matter how much she struggled. She didn't have sharp metal gauntlets that could tear through it, nor did she have the strength of his.
Swing!
The tongue came loose, and she saw Magnus standing next to her, a monstrosity in his hands.
Before she could speak, a shadow loomed over him. The creature who has had it's tongue cut off turned berserk, getting significantly stronger.
The creature's teeth sunk into flesh, but it was a dead soldier's arm. Blue blood spurted out as it bit the wrong target. A fist closed in, and the world went dark for it.
"Fuck you, DUAL WIELDING TIME!" as Magnus shouted, he grabbed his new 'weapon' and swung it in tandem with the other.
All the nearby creatures that got close due to his absence as a vanguard were sent flying.
"Can you keep running?" he asked Elara, running ahead slightly.
"Yea! Thank you Magnus!" although she had a slight red line on her neck, she replied confidently.
With peace of mind, Magnus once more started clearing a path through the creatures swarming them. Along the way, a notification from the system came, alerting him of a level up.
'Save up for now!'
The horde thinned, and soon they had gotten through them. Although some of the creatures still shrieked and chased after them, they couldn't really keep up with two superhumans.
Half an hour later, he once more used Elara as a scouting tool, much to the girls protest. After catching her once more, she confirmed they were getting closer to the metallic structure.
"Also," she spoke, confused, "It doesn't seem the same as the tower I previously took shelter at."
"Huh? Please tell me it's taller at the very least or something." Charlotte asked, her expression darkening.
"It is, it is. It's just...."
"Out with it, don't keep us waiting."
"It looks like a fortress."
"Huh?" both Magnus and Charlotte exclaimed.
"And why do you keep only throwing me into the air Magnus," she pointed at Charlotte, "She's smaller than me and she's lighter!"
"Because you're sturdy. Charlotte is a normal human so I'd have to be much more careful with throwing her."
"Damn it..."
"Enough messing around, let's get going." Magnus said, before clenching his fist.
'Surprisingly, I'm not tired at all even after all that fighting and running. Anyway, time to check the skill shop!'
Other than the previously listed mana affinity and mana control skills that got cheaper, he saw three new skills.
[Berserk 4P]
[Charge 5P]
[Bare Handed Mastery 2P]
'Well... I can't pick berserk if it makes me lose my rationality. That's usually the caveat. Hmmm... Charge, im guessing it's either a buff or an attack skill. Bare handed mastery... Probably a buff?'
Seeing it was the cheapest, he bought bare handed mastery to try his luck.
'I'm feeling lucky. Don't disappoint me system!'
[Your martial prowess with your bare hands has been sufficiently proven. Pick one martial arts style from the following and receive a fraction of the knowledge needed to learn it. This skill can be taken multiple times, either to fill the knowledge youre missing or to learn another style.]
"Ehhhhhh?" a loud sound escaped his lips.
"Is anything wrong?" Charlotte asked, while Elara looked at him with concern.
"No... Nothing. Don't worry about it."
[ Judo. 64%]
[Vale tudo. 76%]
...
'I know some of these. Most were martial arts you could find on earth, but...'
As his eyes scrolled down the list, he found some he never heard of other than in movies.
[Dragon style. 33%]
[Fist of Rebirth. 12%]
...
'Are these magical martial arts or something, system?'
No response.
'Damn. Okay... I don't think a normal martial art would help, most people with combat experience would murder you either way. Something... From this world, I guess.'
His eyes settled onto a name.
[Undying Dragon. 34%]
Gritting his teeth, he made his choice.
Unlike what he expected, there was no sudden sharp pain shooting through his head, instead a gentle flow of information flowed into him.
His posture changed subtly, a sturdy aura appearing around his body. Even the glint in his eyes underwent a slight change, becoming more determined.
[Movement speed reduced by 45%. Arm attack speed increased by 31%. Body durability increases by 78% of Strength. Techniques unlocked. Numbers were adjusted by compatibility percentage.]