At his current level, he didn't need to worry about Badu and Hubesi. Both of their levels had increased since the battle during the expedition. Badu was now level 57 and Hubesi level 53, but they were only a special elite and an elite respectively. Even though they were much stronger than their equal counterpart for being special-ranked natives, their grades were too low for the current Jack. Jack had grown too strong for them by now.
The only menace for him was Abasi. The warlord was a level 66 rare elite, seven levels higher than Jack. Jack might be able to handle him if he fought Abasi alone supported by Arlcard and Therras, but he had left his two minions back where he was originally positioned. Now it was instead he against Abasi supported by the warlord's aides.
However, Abasi had only one arm due to his Brave Slash. So, the warlord was not at his peak. Seeing the situation, Jack decided not to flee. The Elementalists around him had mostly been slain, the surviving ones tried to put as much distance from him as possible.
Jack was glad that Abasi didn't bring his two high-level aides, Lubanzi and Bishara. Otherwise, Jack could only flee. Unbeknownst to Jack, Lubanzi and Bishara were elsewhere fighting the knights of the round.
"Die…!!" Badu exclaimed as he cast a spell. Vines erupted from the ground, trying to entangle Jack. Jack's whirlwind slash promptly cut all the emerging vines. Jack rushed over to Badu. If he could kill one opponent first before Abasi arrived, all the better.
But before he reached Badu, the ground directly in front of the orc split apart and a large man-eating plant appeared. The plant had a large eyeless head with a wide mouth filled with sharp teeth. The plant was about to chomp at Jack but Jack suddenly vanished.
His body zipped past both the plant and the orc it was protecting. Five rapid slashes hit their bodies. With the Blitz Slash, Jack appeared before Abasi and Hubesi who were still heading over. Jack used Flame Strike with his right claw and Drilling Thrust with his left claw.
Hubesi was caught off guard. The Drilling Thrust stabbed into him. The damage wasn't high since Jack hadn't spent any skill points to level up this skill, but Hubesi lost 30% defense from the stab.
Abasi had a better reflex. His large axe swung at the same time Jack's Flame Strike came. The two weapons collided. Jack was pushed back due to losing in terms of strength. Abasi was also forced back a few steps due to Flame Strike's knockback effect.
Jack didn't fight the force though, he used it instead to propel him back to Badu.
Despite Badu's desire for revenge, the damage he suffered from Jack's Blitz Slash alarmed him. He lost more than 10% HP. When Jack came over again, he quickly cast a defensive spell.
A wall of vines erupted in front of him, but Jack used Flash Step to bypass the wall. The man-eating plant snapped its mouth at Jack again, but its advance was stopped by a magic shield that appeared in front of Jack's hand.
Jack used Asura and added two new pairs of arms. With extra limbs, he slashed at Badu and the man-eating plant. He also activated Phantom Blade, increasing his damage counts.
Hubesi tried to come to help but Badu's wall of vines instead hindered his approach. He went circling the wall.
Abasi didn't have the same patience. He slammed his giant axe into the ground. Flame erupted and traveled toward Jack. The flame devoured the vine wall and continued to Jack.
Jack sensed the attack and broke away from Badu. Badu used the chance to retreat and cast Druid's Healing Spirit. A magic wisp floated around him and slowly healed his HP.
Despite dodging Abasi's attack, Jack didn't do it randomly. His dodge brought him to Hubesi who had been circling the wall of vines. Hubesi swung his hammer at Jack's back, thinking that Jack wasn't aware that he was behind.
Jack was aware of his three adversaries' positions at all times due to his mana sense and God-eye monocle. He shifted just as Hubesi's hammer was about to hit him. With the swing missed, Hubesi lost balance. Jack's six claws came then. The two extra pairs used Formless Flowing Sword Style while his main arms executed Penta Slash.
With the addition of Phantom Blade and the defense reduction Hubesi suffered earlier, the barrage of assaults took out all his HP in an instant.
Abasi was shocked that his deputy had been taken out in such a short time. But if he knew how easily Jack slayed elites and special elites these days, he wouldn't have brought Hubesi to this fight.
"Badu, stay behind. I will deal with him!" Abasi uttered.
Badu had been consumed by rage when he saw Jack, but now that rage had somehow dampened after witnessing Hubesi's demise. He complied. He cast a spell at Abasi. Vines with sharp thorns grew around Abasi's armor.
"Thorn Armor! It grants additional defense and reflects all melee damage," Peniel informed.
Badu didn't stop. Since it was unlikely he could personally take Jack's life, he must make sure that Abasi could. He cast a few more spells onto the warlord.
"Giant Strength, Earth Enchantment, Lightning Resist," Peniel identified the spells one by one.
When Badu didn't cast any more support spells, Jack asked him, "Are you done? Or are there any more spells to add? Don't be shy, cast all your available support spells."
Badu and Abasi were peeved, this outworlder could still joke. Abasi increased his swinging pace.
Jack had activated Gold Scale Armor. He had been dodging and parrying Abasi's wild swings. For the ones he failed to dodge or parry, he depended on the Gold Scale Armor to tank the damage.
Abasi was indeed ferocious. If the warlord still had two arms, Jack was sure he would be in a more difficult position now.
"I have one more! It's your end, accursed outworlder!" Badu said and cast the spell.
"Speed! It increases the target's overall speed," Peniel informed.
"Okay, now is my turn!" Jack exclaimed and started casting his spell. Six runes were formed at the same time. When it was completed, Abasi found his thorn armor crumbled. His speed and strength were also back to normal.
"Di… Dispel?" Badu said when he saw the effect of Jack's spell. He felt foolish, he had been provoked and cast all his support spells, only for Jack to dispel them all in one go.
The dispel spell could be cast with three or six runes. Although Jack thought his intelligence stat shouldn't lose to Badu, he still used six runes to increase the success rate. After all, the casting time for casting three runes or six runes was not much different due to his multi-rune casting method.
"Hah! Like I need help to deal with the likes of you!" Abasi roared. His axe was ablaze with flame. At the same time, five shadowy axes came at Jack from all directions.
"Don't be so sure of it!" Jack shouted. His two claws exploded with the burst attack of his sword art.
Jack used all three pairs of his arms to execute the martial art. Hence, there were almost three hundred claws that came at Abasi.
Abasi was shocked when his vision was filled with uncountable claws. He couldn't defend himself from all of those claws. He felt as if he was pelleted by countless sharp objects. Damage numbers popped up with incredible speed as he was forced back.
Jack felt great fatigue. Executing the third phase normally already consumed much stamina. Doing three at the same time made him almost faint. Such a feat was only possible due to his Hundred Synchronous Thoughts. He forced himself to not give in to his weariness. He used Spirit of Heroism, the active ability of his unique-grade ring. The HP he lost from clashing with Abasi just now was healed, it also increased his damage and reduced the damage he received for one minute. He then used Shooting Dash.
Badu was extremely shocked when he saw Abasi get beaten back by Jack's burst attacks. What was that? Badu wondered. What kind of skill was that? While he was still wondering, he was shocked again when he found that Jack was suddenly before him.
Jack used Flame Strike. The hit sent Badu flying away. Jack then used Charge to keep up. His six arms barraged Badu with hits all the way. When the five seconds cooldown was off, Jack used Flame Strike again. He aimed it so Badu flew in the direction away from Abasi who was chasing after them.
Since Charge was not available anymore, Jack used Acceleration. It was a waste since there were no allies nearby so only he was affected, wasting the spell's ability to affect four more targets, but he didn't care about that at this time.
With his increased speed, he continued to dog after Badu and never stopped barraging him with non-stop attacks. After five seconds, he again used Flame Strike and sent Badu away from the Abasi. Badu was helpless. He wasn't even given the chance to cast a spell.
"Outworlder! Face me…!!!" Abasi was extremely frustrated. He was not exactly a fast-type combatant. He was unable to catch up to Jack's speed.
However, they were not exactly in an empty field. There were other soldiers all around. Soon, Jack ran out of space to throw Badu. A row of native soldiers saw the predicament of their superiors and came to help. The scattered Elementalists after seeing Jack being tied up, regained their courage and started throwing a few offensive spells at Jack.
Jack used another Flame Strike and threw Badu to the front line where the humans and orcs were clashing. The orc soldiers were surprised when they felt someone slam their back. They turned back and saw it was their comrade. But then they looked further and saw a humanoid dragon hitting this comrade of theirs.
Badu's HP was low already by then. Jack was intent on finishing him. Jack used Devouring Cross, hitting not only Badu but also the soldiers Badu had slammed into.
Abasi had slowly been gaining on him. The warlord finally caught up when Jack was using his Devouring Cross.
"DIIEEE…!!!" Abasi unleashed all his frustration. A gigantic flaming axe image burst out from Abasi's weapon. It was the same giant image that appeared when Abasi tried to disrupt Nilrem's mega spell casting during the battle at Slaughterer Plains.
This gigantic flame axe slammed into Jack. However, Abasi was shocked to find that Jack was completely fine. His HP didn't even reduce one point.
Jack had experienced this skill before and he was killed in one hit. He suspected this was Abasi's strongest skill. Hence, he didn't take any chance. He had Peniel cast Invulnerability when Abasi's attack was about to hit. Aside from not being confident in tanking through Abasi's attack, Jack also didn't want his assault on Badu to get interrupted, hence Peniel's ultimate protection spell.
Long golden light erupted from Jack's right claw. When Abasi saw that golden light, he instinctively jolted back. This was the same golden light that had cut one of his arms.
Jack swung his Brave Slash at Badu's neck. It produced critical damage, which took out Badu's remaining HP. To both Jack's and Abasi's consternation, that final attack also caused Badu's head to separate from his body.
