I… I may need to be more careful with this skill, he thought to himself. The situation began to feel more dire as he realised that he would now have to fight four Ferran at once, with one 25% stronger than before. All while Restraint was only doing half damage. No more overwhelming power for a few more hits.

He gulped. “When I said come and get me… I meant one at a time. Form a line, please.”

The lead Ferran pounced. Shifting Restraint back into a two handed grip, he took a step and stabbed sharply. The spike mounted atop the hammer pierced through the pouncing canid’s throat. The momentum of the beast coupled with Dharen’s power, allowing for an effective skewering. He guided its flight to the side, and swiftly jerked the spike free. With relief, he noted that the monster twitched in death throes. Apparently, a stab did not count as a swing and thus did full damage. Who knew?

Though still in imminent danger, he began to feel slightly more at ease. Now able to properly think, he freed a hand and unsheathed his dagger. With a practiced throw, the blade soared end over end before planting itself into the Challenged Ferran’s hide. Frost began to tinge its steel-gray hide.

As he brought his hand back to its place on Restraint’s shaft, he was hit with the force of a hammerblow. A tightly balled Ferran slammed into his chest, knocking him off of his feet. Horns pierced his skin, drawing blood and slamming him onto his back. His overcharged Vitality went to work, halting the horns before they reached his vital organs.

He released a hand from his hammer and thrust the creature away from himself, dislodging the horns from his skin. Blood spilled from his wounds as the beast lunged back in for his throat. He lifted Restraint’s shaft crosswise between them, and the monster clamped down upon it. Vicious claws scrambled against his skin, drawing deep furrows in the Ferran’s attempts to bear down on him.

In desperation, Dharen brought his legs up around his assailant’s torso. He gripped with panic-fueled strength, locking it in place. Then, he twisted sharply upon the hammer’s haft. The canid’s neck twisted alongside it, cracking with the strain. Despite Dharen’s hopes, his efforts proved insufficient to fracture its vertebrae. However, it did cause the Ferran to eagerly release its death grip upon his hammer, yelping in anguish as it slinked backwards.

Pulling himself to his feet, he readied himself anew. The monsters moved cautiously now, attempting to surround him from multiple sides. With one Ferran weakened and hesitant, and the Challenged Ferran constantly slowed by the ice flooding through its veins, he turned his attention to the third.

Shifting his grip further down to increase his leverage, he sent Restraint on a circuitous path towards the enemy. The air whistled along the way. With plenty of forewarning, the creature skipped backwards. As the hammer passed by, it surged back in. Unheeding of the rushing danger, Dharen continued the momentum of his swing. He spun with the twirling polearm and twisted back around, choking back up slightly on the shaft as he did so.

The newly-tightened swing slammed into the startled monster’s ribs. A crack resounded, echoing through the tunnels. Though only dealing half damage, Dharen had put a significant amount of momentum into the swing. It may not have contained the destructive force of his first overcharged swing, but it still fractured bones and knocked the Ferran backwards.

His three assailants hesitated and began sizing him up once more. Occasionally, one would lunge with a snarl. He met their assaults with downwards swings, lightly pulverizing the ground as they skipped backwards cautiously.

After a few swings, he couldn’t help but grin in anticipation.

“You fucked up now.” He said with a gleeful air. He dashed at one of the regular Ferran with a high grip upon Restraint’s shaft. It’s better to make sure my swing is fast enough to land than to smash the thing with more power than strictly necessary.

Restraint roared through the air, arcane lines glowing upon its surface. And just like that, another Ferran was gone.

Shifting his body towards the remaining two monsters, he took stock of the situation. Blood continued to run from the scattered claw marks and dual wounds in his chest, but the adrenaline currently rushing through his veins was doing a decent job of staving off the pain. Only two enemies remained, both wounded in some manner. One wobbled, its twisted neck seeming to be causing some difficulty remaining standing. The other, though enhanced, was slowed and wounded.

Hope blossomed in his chest, along with a plan. A plan that might have disturbed some, but a plan nonetheless. He rushed the Ferran with the twisted neck. Exhausted and injured, it made a feeble attempt to dodge to the side as he speared it in the chest.

That left just one. Without thumbs with which to remove it, the Challenged Ferran had continued to be afflicted by the freezing nature of Dharen’s dagger. Though still possessing notable Strength, it had slowed considerably. This allowed Dharen to toy with it, dancing away from its assaults and causing exhaustion to innervate its muscles.

Eventually, he judged that it was time to act. With a swing of his hammer, he clipped the beast in its foreleg. Though only a glancing blow, the bones cracked slightly. With the monster slowed further, he was able to wind up and took a powerful swing at the other foreleg. This time landing directly, the bones shattered with the force of the blow.

The monster whimpered. Finally, its hind legs were crushed. With the Ferran’s likelihood to eat him mostly eliminated, Dharen relaxed. His muscles trembled with exhaustion, and he slumped to the ground. For a while, he rested his burning muscles. Yet he knew it was not time to stop yet, so he eventually checked the time remaining on the current wave.

He skirted around the immobilized Ferran as it growled weakly. There was little time remaining. So, despite his exhaustion, he set to work.

With a powerful swing, Restraint roared through the air once more. Lighting with arcane fervor, the hammer emanated an eager strength. With one final hit, the walls of the cave collapsed inwards. For the last fifteen minutes, Dharen had been employing his immense strength to bend the environment to his will.

Where the twist in the tunnel had previously been, a large pile of rubble held dominion. Only a small hole in the corner revealed any indication of an outside world. Dharen admired his handiwork, muscles aching and trembling.

Just as before, a pulse of black light ripped through the world. He was sure that, at that moment, five more Ferran had appeared alongside an Awakened Ferran. He waited quietly in his ruined tunnel, only the sounds of his heavy breathing and his captive Ferran breaking the silence.

Click. A slight sound of claws on stone. Dharen, unwilling to take any chances, moves to kill the captive Challenged Ferran. He approached carefully, lining up a swing of the hammer. Just as he prepared to end its misery, a barbed tail flashed through the air. He yelped, pulling away from the agitated beast.

Blood running down his skin anew, he made a sound of disgust at his blunder. Despite his annoyance, he couldn’t help but feel a certain form of admiration for the crippled monster. It was surely doomed; but rather than accept its fate, it fought back.

Yet admiration did not mercy make, and the beast fell just as had all the others. As he bent over to retrieve his dagger from the corpse, he felt a rush of power.

Muscles bulged and shifted, momentarily growing denser. As the sounds of clattering claws pulled closer, Dharen swung at the wall of the cave. After a fourth swing, he turned towards the slight hole within the rubble. With leaden arms and racing heart, he stood vigil.

A snout poked its way through the rubble. Claws scrabbled from within the hole, fighting for purchase. The opening grew slightly wider, allowing a Ferran to edge out marginally.

Upon seeing the creature had broken through enough, Dharen sent an empowered swing through the air. Wind ripped and roared and, for the second time that day, an unsuspecting Ferran’s skull was obliterated. The surviving portions of the creature’s body momentarily sealed the hole once again.

Rubble shifted, and rocks made way to create a new opening. Immediately, Dharen reared his hammer back. Another Ferran went down, unable to withstand Dharen’s strengthened state in the wake of prevailing his Challenge.

This bizarre affair repeated three more times, until only one canid remained.

The fallen debris began to shift again. Just before it did so, a mournful howl vibrated through the air. He watched as a section of rubble blasted its way outwards. In its place was a relatively small Ferran surrounded by an ethereal pack of five ghostly Ferrans, each apparition mangled horribly by a vicious hammerstrike. A Seed of Loyalty shone upon its chest, glowing a cerulean blue with streaks of crimson blood.