The creature was a Tier 6, if barely so, and unlike a sapient, Jonathan thought that he had a shot at defeating it. If he succeeded, it would be his first kill at two ranks below the victim. A worthy challenge indeed.

  Jonathan ran to keep up with Eliza, as although he could lay down heavy firepower from the rear, his true calling was as a melee fighter. With the power of his muscles alone, he shot off the ground like a missile, his right fist leading the way. Waves of violet light gathered around his hand, deepening in hue as they merged. Another layer of invisible power, that of destruction itself, gathered as well. Less than a second later, Jonathan planted his fist in the center of the Swarm Amalgam’s face. A spike of energy penetrated deep into the creature’s head, blasting scorched insect corpses in every direction. Almost as soon as it made contact, Jonathan’s gauntlet cracked under the pressure.

  “Shit…” he hissed. His armor and weapons, still Tier 3 in strength, were woefully outclassed by the caliber of foe that he now faced.

  He flicked his wrist, discarding the pieces of gauntlet. Then he sank his fist into the Amalgam, finding that it was up to the job. With a sigh, Jonathan kicked off, and pulled his other gauntlet away, tossing it to the side. It might as well have been made of cardboard. The weapon’s ability meant little if it couldn’t stand up to a single hit.

  With his hands exposed, ironically more durable than his armor, Jonathan launched into the fray once more.

  Meanwhile, Eliza found her attacks doing frustratingly little against the durable Tier 6. While each slash of her sword took out hundreds of insects, there were always more to replace them. Her Divinity, normally so powerful, spread out and dissolved amongst the legions of buzzing monsters making up the Amalgam. Until now, the massive golem hadn’t really attacked, simply eating the strikes like they were as substantial as a water gun. Now, though, the creature moved, its massive right arm blurring around to strike.

  Eliza ducked under the blow, but it was still shockingly fast. A creature that clearly had invested most of its stats into Strength and Resilience, as much as a massive construct of merged insects could invest anything, it nevertheless possessed speed comparable to her own.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Eliza flipped back, the air condensing around her to provide a stepping stone. She pushed off, narrowly avoiding another swipe of the Swarm Amalgam’s fist. At the same time, Jonathan rushed in, both fists coated in thick layers of his element. The ground beneath him cracked apart as he propelled himself forwards with a mighty kick. As a wave of dust hissed out across the ground, Jonathan struck. Both palms rocketed into the center of the elemental’s face at the same time, achieving an exponential increase in damage.

  A nova of purple expanded out from between Jonathan’s hand, erasing a large chunk of the Amalgam’s head. The creature reeled, but within the span of a second, it was already healed. However, its form was somewhat diminished, having taken insects from elsewhere to repair. If not for Aegis of the Void’s Dichotomy, the Amalgam would likely have been near unbeatable, as it could have replenished itself from the larger swarm.

  In any case, the monster seemed to have no abilities beyond brute physicality. The individual bugs making it up were pathetically weak, and if the monster tried to split up, Jonathan’s ongoing aura of elemental annihilation would turn the creature into specks of dust.

  With a scratchy roar, the beast bellowed, the sound of a million wingcases rubbing together in unison creating the illusion of a voice. Then it slammed its bulky hands down on the ground. With the strength of a natural disaster, the Swarm Amalgam shook the earth itself, cracks spreading across the land. A massive earthquake nearly knocked Jonathan and Eliza off their feet. Mere moments later, the monster snatched a huge slab of broken stone up and hefted it at Eliza like a frisbee.

  Her life flashed before her eyes for a moment as the rotating disk of rock hurtled towards her at meteoric speeds. Before it could hit her, Jonathan rushed in and broke it in half with a single chop of his fist. Eliza flashed him a grateful look. If he returned it, it was impossible to tell under the helmet.

  Thwarted, the Swarm Amalgam let out another bellow of rage, and thrust its fingers deep into the earth. With the crunch of a thousand tons of rock breaking apart, it wrested a chunk of stone as large as a small hill out of the ground, easily a hundred feet in width. Tendrils of scurrying insects extended out of the monster’s arms, coating the rock in a net that prevented its immense weight from tearing it apart.

  “What a one track mind, huh?” Jonathan observed as he got into a better position.

  “If it even has one,” Eliza added, leaping over to join him. Their best chance here was to fight in unison.

  Jonathan adjusted his stance, and glanced over at Eliza more seriously. “Let’s try to combine our Divinity pools. It should allow me to empower a single strike beyond its normal limits.”