The rumbles thundered across the landscape.

Stanis stood in the open, his eyes latching onto the speck of dust in the distance. His sword, once flawless, was now dirty with stains of red, green and black. No amount of wiping could rid his blade of these tough stains and so he let them stay, perhaps double-playing as a deterrent alongside being a decoration. But his enemies were not deterred in the least. In fact, he could see that the horde rushing his way were eager if nothing else.

A week, a whole week had passed since he had left the village. This might not sound like a large period of time but it was the exact opposite for Stanis. He hadn't had any free moments to indulge himself in at all, instead every hour acting as part of his training.

And it had been well worth it. Well, that was what his stats told him but he would learn whether it had truly been worth it within seconds.

The singular speck had spread out into many more in the time that Stanis had spent thinking, these multiple specks further growing into monsters of awful features. They were Rashkars, yes, but they were not Rashkars. These animals coming at him were beasts even when compared to the Rashkars he had been fighting, their muscles bulging and faces horrific.

His coming had started a new age for the Jaguars. Serb and Niss leaving had left them at quite the predicament but luckily Stanis had taken over their roles. In fact, he had taken over more than just their roles over the course of the week. He had killed hundreds of Rashkars in the time, the total count just shy of a thousand. Now considering he had been struggling against 3 at a time at the start, it was easy to imagine how much stronger he was now. And the Rashkars had taken note of this…

They had sent some of their stronger troops to sort out the Jaguars, to prove to them that they were nothing but ants to the Rashkars. Of course, this would have quite the high cost on the frontlines but the Rashkars hoped this decision would pay out in the future.

And so Stanis stood still, waiting for the newcomers to greet him. Around him stood no Jaguars. They had wanted to assist him on this but he had declined himself any help. This was his fight; this was his training.

The Rashkars were running at quite the speed now, perhaps to add to their intimidation factor. Whereas the normal Rashkars had mighty molar teeth, these beasts had vicious canines. While the average Rashkar stood between 2 and 3 metres, these monsters were at least a solid 3, with a few even taller. And most importantly, while the average Rashkar would have been graded at around mid-tier 3, these were all at the peak. Perfect.

Stanis looked down at his sword. The dirty stains and specks glimmered in the sun. He took a deep breath in. This could be his final moments, but at the same time he knew them not to be. No, this was just the beginning.

Stanis popped his hesitation and threw himself into a sprint, the incoming Rashkars slightly slowing at his charge. His speed, it was not normal.

But they had no more time to ponder on the matter as he flew into the first one, sword crackling loudly.

The Rashkar used its fist to deflect his attack, pushing his trajectory away from its chest and into the ground. It gritted its teeth and hastily retreated, only noticing as it took its first step back that its left boulder-fist was sliding off. Murky green liquid leaked out of the clean cut, followed by bright crimson blood.

Stanis, however, had no time to carry on as another Rashkar violently swept the ground with its fist. Stanis leapt up at this, at the same time falling beautifully into the trap as another fist arced around his field of vision.

But he didn't fluster, instead pivoting his legs so that he fell more centrally with his chest facing the boulder-fist. He simultaneously activated Blueshot spitfire, the bullets making quick work of the ground underneath him, a mighty dust cloud overcoming the whole troupe.

The boulder hit solidly, the Rashkar arm almost a rocket as the strike burst forwards with immense force. Then the Rashkar threw back its arm while screaming in pain, the brownish boulder now a matt-black. The smoky, burnt flesh smell further disorientated the surrounding Rashkars.

Stanis grimaced as he was thrown to the ground like a rag-doll, gritting his teeth while he got up and struggled through the rabble. Around him quickly formed several ice crystals, their numbers monstrous compared to what he could do a week ago. He closed his eyes and repeatedly used Scout and sense as he made his way out of the dust. Any Rashkar that stood in his way quickly had several crystals embedded in them, Stanis escaping the dust-cloud after a few seconds of navigating.

By no means had he done it uninjured but it was fair to say that the Rashkars were in a far worse situation that he was. He could hear a rallying cry from the other side of the dust cloud, followed by roars and thundering footsteps.

He focused on all of this which activating Destructive mana recharge, the stony ground somehow growing further lifeless and staler. The rock he stood on grew brittle and collapsed, followed by the ground surrounding it as all of it caved inwards. He jumped out from the growing pit and used Blueshot spitfire once more, the dust refilling the air.

However, the Rashkars were already used to his little tricks and this time easily located him, 3 of them charging him at once while the others retried to circle him.

Stanis used a wider Scout and sense than usual and noted down the area. He then closed his eyes before refiring Blueshot spitfire four times around him. The dust cloud quickly grew into something more, something monstrous, as the leading Rashkar commanded the order to retreat. It was nothing but petty tricks in its mind.

Reality proved otherwise as Stanis compressed many units of mana into his sword, the blade now shining brightly through all the dust. It was no surprise that the 3 Rashkars that had been charging him turned around and ran in the opposite direction. After all, who wanted to go against a sword that was spitting bolts as bright as white and as long as arms. Nevertheless, they were too deep into the tiger's den to go back now, Stanis activating Layman's Rush under his breath.

"RAGRRRRGHHHHHHH"

"YARARGAGAGHHH"

"NHHHEEEEEEEEEEE"

They screamed like the Devil incarnate as he swiftly sliced them down, their bodies twitching and scorching even after death. It was without question that Stanis was also getting hurt by such an absurd amount of lightning, however he merely hardened his mind before moving on.

He no longer needed the dust cloud to hide his advent as the Rashkars ran at the first sight of his shining sword. But as before, none of them fared faster on their feet than him and thus all of them had grisly endings, the worst one being when one of the Rashkars lit up, before dimming, before lighting up once again. This carried on for two cycles before the Rashkar collapsed onto the ground, the air now thick with the deathly smell. It smelled of a sickly sweet barbeque…

What had started out as 20 Rashkars quickly became 6. Not that Stanis had won an easy battle though, no, rather the opposite as his dented Cuirass and wounded flesh proved all of the hits he had taken. It was then that the leading Rashkar noticed something, anger crawling out of its cracked shell of fear. Stanis was disarmed, his sword left a few metres behind him. And yet, Stanis kept walking towards them. One look at Stanis's hand was enough reason as to why he had dropped it, his right arm jolting and shaking madly.

"KILLL ITTTT" roared the Rashkar, the other 5 quickly joining its sweet revenge as they bolted towards Stanis.

In response, Stanis merely showed his pearly whites. Well, not exactly white with all the blood leaking out of his mouth but his smile still disconcerted the Rashkars. Not enough to stop them but still enough to put them on edge.

Multiple crystals bloomed to life, Stanis shooting ice after Blueshot spitfire after ice.

These abilities were weak against the Rashkars' defences, sure, but that was only when they weren't continuously layered over each other.

The leading Rashkar rose from its turtle stance a few seconds later, looking around to see all of its comrades splayed across the ground with twisted limbs. It ignored the biting pain and sprinted forwards.

Stanis stood a few metres in front of it, his body shaking from side to side as it threatened to fall. He squinted his eyes as he saw the largest Rashkar rise from the dead and begin a mad charge towards him, his lips curling into a self-deprecating grin.

He was low on mana, very low on mana. There was only one way to end this…

The Rashkar punched forwards, its boulder-fist arcing upwards as it aimed to knock Stanis's head off his body. Stanis stepped forwards to accept this notion with open arms, in fact a little bit too eager as his body cut the punch short in its flight. Rather than knocking his head out of its socket, it crashed into his right arm.

The Rashkar felt the punch connect and increased the mana flow into the arm, the punch striking forwards with far more strength than before. It was one of the intrinsic Rashkar skills, one that was about to stab the Rashkar in the back.

Hit with such force, Stanis's arm flew right off, his shoulder bone cracked and twisted. It hurt but Stanis was used to pain. He could deal with it, especially considering the delirious state he was in.

Now that its arm was struck out straight, it meant that it could no longer bring it back in time to defend its body. Stanis spun past the straightened arm and used his chest to take on the defensive push, the Rashkar more than surprised as it realised Stanis wasn't budging. While it snarled and its eyes popped out, Stanis manically smiled and his left arm struck upwards. In it was a dagger.

The Rashkar felt death before it saw it, its body draining of all energy. It used both arms to push Stanis away, his body once again like a ragdoll as he flew across the skies before coming to a violent stop. Needless to say, it was already too late. The Rashkar hastily looked for its injury and quickly noticed that its previous wounds were leaking black alongside green and red… It also noticed how its vision was growing blurrier every second. In fact, what it saw in the last second was a dark object stuck in its chest as it heaved with pain. One last wheeze. One last breath.

Stanis groaned while he forced himself up. His limbs had been cut and smashed, one of them even taken out of its socket. His cuirass was dented and the rest of his armour ripped. There was blood leaking and bruises all over his body. But none of this could come between his win.

His groans turned to manic laughter as he pushed himself to his feet, recovering his weapons as he did so. He drained his remaining mana into Light healings, his body at least functional once he was done.

His week of grinding had come to an end. And what a grand ending it had been!