World Filter

Bits of stone splintered against Mark's barrier as the collapsing wall shot outward toward their squad like shrapnel.

Mark had had just enough time to get it in place as the thing came charging through.

“It's no use running if this thing can do that. We’re fighting! Scatter and find vantage points for suppressive fire! We’ll hold it off!” Jonathan shouted to the squad.

The wind began to whip around her as Sam lifted into the air. Mark saw Jonathan readying himself while drawing his blade.

They were preparing to fight this thing to the death.

Mark watched as the squad began to run in three separate directions, he hadn’t even considered joining them.

Sam and Jonathan would need all the help they could get in this situation.

Mark looked over to the Guardian, strangely after it had broken through the wall it had simply been observing them.

A sense of restraint showed real intelligence, which Mark didn’t like one bit. Taking in the scene he noticed the way the Corruption was moving around the creature's body and weapon. The whole area was flooded with the stuff. This had truly become an Orange zone, if only temporarily.

Mark knew that it’d take about a week for someone to reach saturation in a green zone. Looking at the current rate it would take mere hours for someone to reach 100% in the presence of this thing. That is if it didn’t trample you to death in mere moments.

As if it got tired of waiting for them the creature began charging forward.

The fight had begun and Mark realized they couldn’t hold back for even a second or they’d be crushed.

Mark flared his Construct out for a second to reach Jonathan and cast [Bestowal]. The difference this time was that he supercharged the spell, easily sinking 50 Mana and Prana into it. Warping the construct back he wrapped it around himself and condensed it around himself until he had a thick suit of armor.

Jonathan drew his blade from its scabbard and launched himself forward with explosive speed causing the road beneath him to crack under the pressure.

For a moment, it looked like they would meet head-on, only for Jonathan to sidestep its charge at the last moment. Jumping up, he ran the blade against the flank of the creature. Sparks flew into the street, but otherwise, it looked like there was little damage.

The creature continued its charge rushing toward Mark, as he was the only one left in the street.

Looking at it coming at him head-on, Mark bent his knees slightly and launched himself into the air, watching as the creature trampled over the spot he had been just seconds ago. He kept floating in the air while gravitating towards Sam.

He saw her testing the creature by launching a couple of blades of wind. The cutting motion broke against the Guardian's armor to no effect. Summoning a slab of earth she launched that too.

The stone landed and when she moved it away some of the scales of armor were dented, the creature also let out a scream that was a combination of a horse's whinny and a woman screaming in pain. It turned back toward them anger evident in its body.

Mark saw the difference and came to a conclusion as Sam shouted.

“Don't cut it, smash it to pieces”

Which was a lot easier than it sounded, though that didn’t stop Jonathan from trying.

Charging back in, he moved with the creature this time, getting into close range. Targeting its front legs in an attempt to cripple its movement. The thing must have seen it coming because it jumped up on its hind legs to dodge and then brought them crashing down when the sword swiped under it.

Jonathan had the dive away as the hooves tore the road to shreds, sending dust flying everywhere.

Just when Mark thought Jonathan had dodged the attack the spear stabbed towards him at an impressive speed.

Jonathan suddenly activated a skill as Aura exploded out of him as he blurred to the side but even with the increased speed the spear still cut into his side in a splatter of blood.

This was an improvement because if it was anyone else, the spear would have torn through their chest. That did not mean it was not life-threatening, it was hard to tell from here but the skin around the wound seemed to fester with Corruption turning as black as coal.

Mark dove towards a nearby single-storied building, dropping down he lifted both hands and began to cast another [Sculpt Mana].

It was time to see what he could really do with his new spell.

Instead of reining it in he let the construct grow rapidly into the road below, enveloping The Guardian and Jonathan in its center.

As he filled the spell with Mana and Prana, it continued to grow until Mark had pulled a large portion of the road into his construct, giving them plenty of fighting room.

Now usually the more concentrated he made it the more resilient the construct became but in this case, he didn’t need a lot of stopping power for what he wanted.

Meeting the Ghosts had been an angering experience, but at the same time, he had learned a lot from them. Even the way he had used it against the Titan in the last fight had opened new doors and ideas for Mark.

Now he was building upon their ability to slowly move through his barrier Mark began to think of this one as more of a field.

He didn’t want to stop everything he just wanted to slow things down.

Searching for the feeling, he let his Resistance connect to the construct. Everything inside here was his to control.

Invisible walls of force began to collect around the Guardian from every direction, at first it looked like nothing was happening but as Mark continued to layer the spell around the creature, it began to slow.

Just like the Titan's charge, he didn't want to stop it, he wanted to disperse its force. It would need to work twice as hard to get half the force out.

At the same time, Mark moved Prana into Jonathan to close his wound. He noticed right away that the wound was infected with Corruption. Which was fighting his Prana back and slowing the healing.

“Jon give me some room!” Sam shouted.

The Guardian swung its spear once more, but because of the slower speed, Jonathan didn’t need to use his skill this time, putting a large amount of distance between them while holding his side.

Sam launched a shower of rocks that surrounded the creature in a cyclone of revolving hail.

The Guardian tried to get out of the storm but Mark pulled the construct in further restricting its movements just temporarily. When Sam’s spell ended he relaxed the force once more.

Jonathan dashed back in just as the spell ended and smacked its left front leg with the side of his sword like a club.

If Mark didn't already know that the system items were much stronger than regular objects, he would have worried for the sword. But as it came into contact with the armor, a satisfying crack issued from the Guardian's leg.

At the same time, Sam sent a massive chunk of rock crashing into its chest caving in a good portion of the armor. Black blood leaked out and Jonathan dove at the chance, sinking the point of his sword at a chink in the carapace.

The creature screamed and retaliated with a wide swing catching Jonathan off guard and sending him flying. Mark managed to slow his fall enough with the field, giving him a chance to land on his feet.

It was at this time that an impact grenade went off against the flank of the Guardian. Then another came from the opposite direction, then another. Shockwaves shook the area.

It looked like they had not been buying time for nothing. The squad had managed to set up all over the surrounding area. Once the bombs ran out, a hail of bullets followed shortly.

Most of them had chosen higher vantage points but a few were hitting it at ground level.

In the grand scheme of things, each bullet didn’t do much damage -ricocheting off its armor- but it did offer them some much-needed breathing room.

Giving Mark time to work on Jonathan’s wounds. At the same time, he noticed the corruption in the area was still rising.

Mark's construct was made up of a combination of Mana and Prana and it was because of this that he realized the build-up of Corruption was reaching its peak.

The Guardian seemed to release a joy-filled scream and the thick mist surrounding it became a burning inferno of Corruption.

Mark's eyes flickered to his Map for a second and near the center of the orange, a red blip appeared.

Mark both saw and felt its speed increase. The Prana in his construct started to burn away like when he used [Corruption recovery] to fight the Corruption, only now he was on the other end of the stick. His Prana was melting away as fast as he could replace it.

It was fighting him for control of the area and if he let up, the Corruption would be free to spread outward. It almost looked like the bullets were doing even less now.

The Guardian was on a rampage now, attacking indiscriminately. The ground shook and cracks spread up the nearby buildings, as the creature seemed to lose itself in the destruction.

Ten large spears of stone fell from above as Sam continued to rain destruction down on it. This seemed to enrage the Guardian further as it charged at her in retribution but she rose up out of reach in an instant.

At the same time, Jonathan used the opening to attack and came crashing into its chest once more, cutting into the same wound he’d made before. The creature whined in pain and battered him off sending him flying but its focus did not waver from Sam.

Suddenly, the Guardian changed its stance to that of a javelin thrower and took aim at her, floating above. Mark's eyes narrowed in shock as he realized what it was trying to do.

Jonathan must have come to the same conclusion because even as he was recovering, he triggered his movement skill again and exploded forward in a burst of speed.

Mark poured more energy into the construct and tried to build a protective layer around Sam. But as it turned out, all of them underestimated the Guardian because, in the middle of its swing, it readjusted its grip on the spear and turned to face Jonathan in one quick movement.

With that single feint, it brought the spear down and stabbed toward Jonathan, who had basically no time to react. The spearhead sunk straight into his shoulder, his own momentum pushing him onto the weapon.

The damn thing had never intended to attack Sam, it was looking for an opening to deal with Jonathan and the Guardian was not done there.

It lifted him into the air with the spear still in the wound and charged toward the nearest building, attempting to crush him against it.

Sam screamed his name and threw her spears in an attempt to knock them off course but the Guardian pushed through them, allowing its armor to take the hits.

Mark tried to pull Jonathan from the spear with [Telekinesis] but the force was too great and the spear seemed to hold onto him.

With less than a second to think Mark grabbed hold of what was left of his construct and slammed it down, at the same time he cast [Bestowal] once more, attempting to fuse the two magics.

Popping his mental limits skill and forcing the two spells together while pouring resources in the whole time.

The spell was messy, and Mark would pay for it later. But as the dome shrunk down and wrapped itself around Jonathan in a sphere, Mark couldn't find a reason to care.

The two plunged through the wall, crashing into the building. However, it didn’t stop there; the ground trembled as the sound of the neighboring buildings collapsing echoed through the area, one after another.