Gunner was also running out of Stamina due to his reckless charge. Just running was fine, he could do that for hours on end with his current boost to Endurance and the Fast Regeneration ability, but right now he had to block and retaliate against certain powerful attacks.
This not only ruined his momentum, making it progressively weaker, but it also strained the large lad greatly. With a roar Gunner lowered his body and increased his speed, putting more power into his legs.
When he had built sufficient force, he jumped high into the sky, almost blotting out the sun from the hundreds of thousands of undead swarming below.
Earthen Stomp!
The trademark skill of the half-giant was brutally unleashed here. Darius even took a precious moment to shift Gunner's weight to the increased side, greatly amplifying the effect the skill had when he landed.
An area of 20 meters around the Branded Servant instantly became a cratered zone, with the remnant shockwaves due to the physical force extending for up to 100 meters!
All undead within this range were knocked down, minus the elusive wraiths which levitated off the ground. Even Darius, who usually avoided this with Blink, only managed to make it out by increasing his own weight for that moment, before instantly making himself lighter.
With an area around them tentatively cleared, the duo increased their speed. Once they broke through this main encirclement and left these undead in the dust, they would have an easier time going forward.
As such, they invested everything they could into doing so. However, the undead also didn't seem like they were willing to let these two escape. In a matter of seconds, they got bombarded with endless projectile attacks from Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Mages, and Skeleton Archmages.
Gunner was mostly fine against the spells thanks to his Mageward Barrier negating 15% of spell damage, as well as his polymer suit possessing 30 points of Resistance.
As for the physical projectiles, they affected him even less. With the defense from the armor and Gunner's own Adept stage Endurance, they practically broke against his skin like an egg crashing into a rock.
Unfortunately, Darius lacked the boosts to his defense his Branded Servant enjoyed. Thanks to the polymer suit, spells did not have too great an effect on him, but with his feeble base Endurance, the physical projectiles ripped his attire to shreds, cutting him in many places.
Darius grimaced heavily, but did not falter. The pain was negligible compared to his will to survive. He simply couldn't afford to die here, not when he was so close to finishing his Quest and had received such a great reward.
Darius really wished his moral compass was at Lawful Good so that he could use the Hammer of Thor temporarily, yet he knew himself enough to know it was wishful thinking.
It was a sad twist of irony that despite having a treasure trove of precious items on him, none of them could help him significantly in this situation.
Gunner rushed over to Darius' side and began tanking many of the physical attacks for him, allowing Darius to cast Heal on both of them. With their HP restored, they became more vicious in their struggle to breakthrough.
The distance from where they started to where their destination lay was over 900 kilometers away. With their blink leap technique, this should not have taken much time, but fighting while running like this, their progress was not impressive.
If anyone were to take an aerial view, they would shake their head. From the amount of undead surrounding the duo and how many more were rushing over, they would be exhausted before they even made it to the Amateur band.
Even without such a view, Darius could feel more and more of those undead joining the manhunt, realizing that what they were doing was not going to be enough.
As such, Darius' eyes narrowed as he thought of a way to reach the Amateur band quickly.
Immediately, he came up with an idea, crazy as it was, the current situation did not allow him to play it safe. He flipped acrobatically over the various undead surrounding him and landed on Gunn
"Charge!" Darius roared as he took out the Berserk Potion he had acquired a long while back and fed it to Gunner quickly.
[Berserk Potion - Consumable
Durability: 15/15
Description: A good quality creation of Alchemy that grants a 30-second Berserk state, increasing damage and defense by 5% and lowering Intelligence by 15%.]
This would at least, assist the large lad in breaking through. However, the Intelligence deficit was not much of a problem since Gunner had 35 points. No matter what, he wouldn't be turned into an idiot by consuming it.
Gunner recklessly barreled forward even faster than he had before. Darius had great balance thanks to his Agility, which was why he could flip about so easily and weave through foes, so he leveraged his steel spear and poured a Purification Potion over its tip and shaft.
Holding it with both arms, he used it to pierce and swat any undead that tried to get in Gunner's way or attack from the sides, allowing the fellow to build more momentum as he got faster and faster.
Previously, Gunner hadn't been able to accelerate properly with all the enemies standing in his way, but now that he had some clear road he was quickly reaching top speed.
Darius knew that once the large lad did so, they would be able to break through and keep going with the various undead chasing behind them futilely. Then, it would simply come down to Gunner's Stamina as to how long they could keep this up.
Darius was above Gunner's shoulders, so he could see much farther than the fellow could. He saw, just 300 meters away, the end of the encirclement. Though new undead were rushing to join from the back, they were scattered and hadn't reached the location yet.
Darius became crazed as he took out an Intelligence Potion he had acquired from the fight against the Ogre in front of the cave with the vampire coffin and drank it.
[Intelligence Boost Potion - Consumable
Durability: 15/15
Description: A good quality creation of Alchemy that grants a 30-second Enlightened state, increasing Intellect by 10% and lowering Strength and Endurance by 25%.]
