Throughout this period, he seldom encountered Celeste. When he finally did see her after a month, she appeared completely transformed. Her hair was significantly shorter, and she had a more intense demeanor, with eyes that appeared vigilant, as though she was constantly on the lookout for danger. She also wore loose battle robes, which were marked with cuts and scrapes.


    Camila, whom he considered a good teacher even though he was nearly 29 and somewhat behind in his skills as a warrior, made him feel like he was rapidly catching up to the others. Even in the spars now, they either ended in a stalemate or him winning for the most part against people around his power level and no weapons. What he had come to realize is that most warriors had very low intelligence for their level. Most of them around 10 to 30. With his higher processing power he was able to think much faster than them with similar levels of strength and constitution.


    As he continued to train with his armor Camila decided how best to use his armor. Because he had the basics of actual combat movement he could actually tank and deflect techniques much better so she decided to use an actual weapon. She showed up after almost two months with a large two handed spear with a massive blade on the end. For the next several days he had to sit there and learn how to use Lucinda’s Blessing instinctually.


    What he learned was that Lucinda’s Blessing had the ability to not just allow him to shrug off hits but be much more aggressive than most could as reducing efficiency meant he took meager amounts of punishment from all manner of attacks. He could sidestep forward, activate his ability and just continue to keep moving.


    This also continued for days while he continued to weave together combinations of strikes to work together. Despite not getting another mastery bump what he did get was a glimpse of his Image. As he laid in training bed next to the arena on the days that he slept he began to imagine himself as a Titan.


    A warrior of destruction that could swing and destroy all things in his way. With the force to flatten mountains. Things would come but there was nothing that he could not destroy in his mind and nothing that could stop a Titan, they were calamity incarnate and that’s what he needed to be if he wanted to protect humanity.


    As this continued he now was able to use his Fists of Havok after getting a firm grasp on his armor. With him already on his way to mastering boxing he was given the opportunity to now put it all together. His Fists of Havok and his Fortune’s Bulwark.


    He was assigned to be teleported to the frontlines of the Undead Frontline and told to survive for at least 48 hours with no rest and he would be out there for about two weeks. He could try and pull back if needed to sleep or recover but not for very long.


    He was given a charm that would allow him to teleport back to the base after a minute of being activated. After he showered and ate a large meal he went up to Celeste and told her he would be back in a few days and would probably get some levels in the process.


    But what was strange to Marcus about Celeste is that she seemed more….clinical. It was strange as he had come to know Celeste as a pretty charismatic person but this was different. As he looked at her, he noticed that her hair was now her natural hair color of blonde and she seemed to move almost like a cat, that was ready to jump into action at a moment''s notice.


    She might have been well trained before but this is a different ball game. These are some of the best in the world.


    As he was fully debriefed he was told that the Antonia Family had a staging area where they repelled the main bulk of the Undead Horde that came to the Silveroak and Florro border. What guards and mercenaries fought in Druid’s Grove and in Outposts were the stragglers that managed to get through but more than 95 percent of the undead are repelled by them.


    Currently Camilia''s Uncle Lucian was fighting as the lone level 3000+ along with a few hundred others ranging from level 100 to 1000.  With his effective power level around 300 it was time to put his training to the test. He would be going with a collection of other promising members of the Antonia family to relieve Lucian of his duty for a few weeks.


    As he reached the teleportation area he saw dozens of others including Father Birion and Camila suited up. She turned to him and spoke.


    “I will be out there with you but, you have to take care of yourself. You will be on the side of the mass swarms of weaker mobs. Each of these mobs are estimated to be around a level 1-25 Ume but there are tens of thousands of them.I can not and will not protect you. You are a warrior. Show me the fruits of your training and make it back alive with glory. “


    She nodded as she extended her hand to him in a show of strength.


    “I’ll make it back. I promise.” She nodded as she stepped on the teleportation circle with the other three dozen people. Father nodded and said.


    “ARE WE READY?!?!” As the others yelled out in agreement Marcus yelled out as well as they were shifted through time and space to another large and similarly made area. But here, the sounds of the fighting were so loud that it was deafening to him initially.


    As his ears adapted the group rushed out of the teleportation circle and into the staging camp  that was filled with hundreds of people of various races of Ume. Most of the people in the camp were the support structure that made sure that the troops were well fed and well supplied, each of them moving diligently and quickly as Father Birion began to chuckle loudly he moved along with Camila.


    “We will rush forward as the support members from Hollowridge will relieve the members that have been working constantly here since the last swap.”


    Dozens other chefs, doctors, and crafters rushed to help the support people at the camp that looked like they were bone tired.


    “Time to see if I was worth the time she spent on me.”


    They quickly left the camp en masse and after running several more miles saw hundreds of humans fighting off tens of thousands of Undead.


    He had seen thousands of undead before but this was a variable sea of monsters before him. As they finally reached the front Biriron called out.


    GROUP DELTA FALLBACK! We are here to relieve you. “ As a small section of the group broke off He saw a man with fire red hair covered in grime and guts immediately point to the sky and create a massive meteor the size castle and drop it on the backlines of the undead before retreating as he looked over a Birion the man nodded as he also commanded.


    “DELTA! We are falling back!” As several dozen more continued to pull back. Camila pointed over to the rest of the group of soldiers that were fighting much smaller looking undead. With the simple eye test he could tell that these people were nowhere near as strong as Camila and the other people that were well over level 1000. She nodded at him and slapped him on the ass.


    “Go get’em tiger.” With that he rushed forward to the front with the weaker horde.


    There are undead like he has never seen before. He saw undead Ume, werecreatures, lizards, Ogre, Trolls, and sea monsters.


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


    So be it, they walk this planet the same as me. If they died once they can die again.


    With the single thought he emptied his mind of all unfettered concepts in his mind and focused on the battle and his Image. It was hazy and not quite very clear but it was at least functional.


    Calamity Incarnate: Titan of Humanity


    He rushed past several of the ranged soldiers that were harassing the flyers and into the thick of it. He was next to a large Ghanume warrior with two stone like clubs as he smacked around lesser undead and a Gobume warrior that was dashing around with a strange crossbow that launched bolts of energy. As he studied them for a second he felt he could adapt his combat style around them until he got deeper into the horde.


    As several shamblers rushed him as he reached the front line he set a mental macro to his left arm.


    Straight Jab - Quick - Low Power - Center Mass - Undead within 2 feet.


    As he surged ahead, his hand swung with the force of a battering ram, obliterating the skulls of shamblers in a relentless drive forward. Arrows rained down upon him, ricocheting off his armor and slicing into his skin, but he was unfazed. He kept punching, each blow a thunderous clap of fury, and he kept charging forward, an unstoppable force of destruction.


    “Jab,weave.”


    “Jab,jab,sidestep.”


    “Forward dash, jab, forward dash, sidestep, jab.”


    In his Image he was a Titan of Humanity that had unleashed. In his mind he had been trapped, training and studying to overcome the monsters of his world. He was free now. He was free to destroy and smash all of those that thought that they could dismantle humanity. He was the dismantler, he was a plague to these monsters. He would make a way for humanity. It was a feeling, a desire that felt more true than anything he had ever felt in his life.


    Reckoning has come for them all. There will be no mercy for these monsters.


    “God forgives, I don’t.”


    As dozens of undead creatures groped and clawed around him, he pushed forward with determination. He had ventured so deeply into the throng that he found himself encircled on all sides by an unending mass of undead; ghouls with decaying flesh lunged at him, shamblers dragged their twisted limbs in his direction, and flocks of zombie birds swooped down with malevolent intent. It was as if the very air was alive with the grotesque and the macabre, yet he pressed on, undeterred by the nightmarish scene.


    But he had to adjust his Marco and add a new line to handle the sheer amount of monsters.


    Straight Jab - Slower -  Strong - Center Mass - Undead within 2 feet - Into bodies of other monsters.


    Straight Cross  - Very Quick - Weak - Undead within 1 feet.


    As he adjusted his stance changed to a more traditional Southpaw stance as he used his powerful jab to almost act like a snowplow and and just truck back dozens of Undead and even with cross being weak because of biomechanics it was roughly as strong as his Straight Jab and he continued to blister and pepper enemies by the dozen as he continued to push forward.


    His mind was so…free and clear at this point that it was almost unnerving to him. There were no other thoughts in his mind. As the shamblers began to turn into mostly undead trolls and ogres. He had to adjust as he continued to push forward.


    Straight Jab - Normal - Average Power - Major Joints - Sidestep After.


    Straight Cross - Slow - Strong - Headshot - After three Straight Jabs.


    Uppercut - Very Slow - Very Strong - Headshot - After a Straight Cross.


    As he moved forward he aimed for knees, spines, and elbows as he dodged powerful blows or took it on the chin and used Lucinda’s Blessing. These bigger creatures were much slower and were uncoordinated to him at least as they could not properly surround him as they often swung around and hit each other before having to back off giving him opportunities to punish their flaws with prejudice.


    As he continued to fight he realized this was as far as he could push against the hoard. He did not have enough destructive power to get deeper. Maybe he would if he had his other weapons but that thought fled his mind. This was a test. A small trial against a foe that never ended.


    I can’t kill these massive creatures fast enough to push deeper into the horde so this is where I will stay for now.


    As the hours passed in his mind there was no concept of time or concept of a trial escaped him. This was the grizzly work. This was his life, he was a new god born on the battlefield soaked in blood and gore but this was his life. This was all he had ever known.


    Even more hours passed as the day soon turned to night but he did not stop. He continued. All he knew was survival and punching. His Straight Jab was an instrument that gave him time, it brought him time. It was a great friend to him. It loved him more than anyone or anything he had ever known.


    His Cross gave him hope, it showed him that the time he brought from the monsters served a purpose. His Uppercut was deliverance, it was the resolution of the hope that he had encapsulated all of the time that he brought with his Jabs.


    This continued on for hours and hours as the night turned to day he continued in his cycle. As Guin continued to assign his stat points as he leveled he continued like this. As his hunger and thirst began to gnaw on his insides he continued to move and strike move and strike as he entered in what was a true battle trance. As the hours turned into days, he felt Guin’s presence slowly invade his mind.


    “You need to pull back and rest. It has been four days with no food and water. Even with raising your stats you still need food. You are roughly 20 miles away from the frontlines. Your performance will begin to drop significantly if you don’t pull back.” Marcus had to agree his punches were not coming as fast and his energy was not regenerating as fast as well. He was getting sloppy. He nodded and said a single word.


    “Understood.”


    He then turned around and made an adjustment.


    Straight Jab - Quicker - Lower Power - Major Joints - Sidestep Around or through.


    He was covered in his own blood and the entrails of others but it was of no difference to him. He fought in slippery icy hellscapes and even underwater. He always fought tired, he was rarely at his peak for long in battle. It was always a matter of who could take the most punishment and who can outlast the other.


    This was just a trial, a mere test. I just have to keep moving and fight.


    As he retreated back to the frontline the only thing he could only think about was one thing.


    I fought for 4 days with no end in sight of undead. I had killed thousands of them and there were always more…just how many undead were there.