Behind him, the others fought, squaring off against dozens of the weaker beasts. A localized hurricane spiraled around Edgar, while his companions fought within it, repelling any monsters that came close. The man sent out spikes of the wind to slice through encroaching beasts, while others were hammered into oblivion by the melee strikes of the lesser fighters.

  Arkanon and Hushar fought on the front lines, each strike killing its target, while the other Uthraki fought in unison. Maranta conducted great serpents of flame and lava, burning the monsters into cinders.

  Jonathan watched for a few moments before his own opponent recovered, the monster uncurling from its prone state, hissing in rage. Its entire body surrounded its egg, having protected the orb from the impact. Its body was bloodied and battered, but it was still in the fight.

  Its mouth opened wide, and a torrent of acid spilled out, noxious vapors leaking into the air. In front of it, the ground sank as the gas melted the stone, and with a series of powerful strides, shaking the ground, it thundered towards Jonathan, a dark rage filling its eyes.

  Cocking back his fist, Jonathan germinated a seed of the Void within it, before slamming it forwards, a cylinder of darkness enveloping the charging monstrosity. Scales turned to ash in the blink of an eye, and before the beast could even take another step, a hole was carved through its entire body. It twitched once, as if trying to take another step, and then collapsed.

  Jonathan turned to the others, but saw that they were doing a good enough job of dealing with their own opponents. Instead, he decided to watch, as they needed the experience more than he did. The essence from his kill was not enough for another level, but he was close.

  The battle came to a close with detonations of lava, wind and Eliza’s Divinity. Monsters died in seconds, too weak to do much against the similarly leveled fighters, what with their higher rarity classes and titles. All of them were highly capable, especially the Uthraki, Eliza and Edgar. Even without weapons that reflected their true level of power, they fought like demons, and killed like them too.

  In particular, Hushar’s greatsword sliced with flesh and bone with ease. There was no decrease in the weapon’s efficiency with his Tier, as he crafted it out of his own elemental energy.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Meanwhile, Arkanon’s fists were the only weapons he needed, with the gauntlets that he wore serving only to gird his hands more securely. There would have been little difference in his capabilities otherwise.

  Edgar, naturally, was the most versatile of the fighters, able to do almost anything with his elementalism, especially with his advancement to a True Affinity. Parts of his body seemed to fade in and out of sight, even as segments of his elemental attacks grew exponentially in strength, blasting and cutting through his foes.

  Andovar and Hansel were weaker than the others, but still fought well, working together seamlessly to batter and slice the beasts into submission. Their swords and hammer, respectively, wove a tapestry of singing steel that closed in on monsters in the blink of an eye, before killing them in an instant.

  Before Jonathan could even register properly the battles involving the others, the dungeon ended, with the last beast slain. There was a ripple in the air, and then the dungeon shifted, depositing them back into Tartarus.

  “That was… profitable,” Jonathan observed. “If a bit easy. I have to say, I was expecting more out of that dungeon.”

  Arkanon nodded. “So was I. The lesser beasts died in a single hit, and I caught a few glimpses of the one sided beatdown you engaged in.”

  “I got almost five levels from that,” Edgar added. “What about everyone else?”

  “Three for me,” Jonathan said.

  “Four,” Arkanon replied. The rest of the group also were around the four to five mark, showing Jonathan more evidence of his essence demerit. Still, he hardly cared, given that the very demerit that annoyed him was a byproduct of the foundation of his immense strength.

  ***

  Jarob led them across the realm on a somewhat roundabout path. While the capital, according to him, was about a hundred thousand miles away, a journey of a day or two for Jonathan and his party, he advised stopping at a few more dungeons along the way. The third realm of Tartarus was far more refined and, in a way, safer than the previous ones. There were roaming monsters, but they were corralled into smaller regions by massive fences of energy, meant to provide a leveling opportunity for those who desired it.

  This was a testament to the industry and wealth of the realm, a place where the Uthraki could live in a manner similar to how any normal sapient race would. The party met a few more Uthraki along the way, but their path took them on a more roundabout journey through the least heavily populated sectors of the realm. It was great for leveling, but not so much for socialization.