Of course the System might have other ideas. While Jason tries to sneak up on the goblin warboss, Jarr, it notes this will be his bottleneck boss battle and responds accordingly. A loud noise like a gong being rung sounds out, alerting Jarr of his presence. Then to make matters worse fractal patterns of pixels cover the warboss obscuring him from Jason. As they clear up what was once a normal enough goblin is revealed to have changed. The first thing Jason notices is the tattoos now glow a sickly green color. Then Jarr stands up straight, something normal goblins can’t do. He stretches out and reveals thick corded muscles in place of the stick-like appearance he had before. Beyond that once Jason looks past the tattoo’s glow it is clear, the skin tone has gotten darker. A shocking change because he knows that the lighter a goblin’s skin is the closer they are to being a three-eyed sentient. To have gone a darker green means Jarr has become more savage. Jarr turns toward Jason and reveals the final shocking change. The Guild had been wrong about the path he had been going down. Right in the center of his forehead is a double-sized eye. Instead of going down the goblin ruler or the hobgoblin evolution tree, Jarr was heading full tilt towards being a cyclops. A relative of the more noble giants only second in their cruelty to the worst of the giant kin, the hideous fomorians. The only creatures a cyclops will tolerate is food and blood relatives who are also cyclops.

Jason settles into a side stance to ready for Jarr’s charge. The demi-cyclops obliges him after a loud roar into the sky. As Jarr rushes up Jason squats deeper and winds up his back arm. Before they collide, he unleashes a powerful punch. Jarr is furious that Jason is attempting to fight back and swats the punch away.

-3

Jason goes flying and lands in an uncontrolled roll a few bodies lengths away. He takes control of his roll and gets back up only to be smacked back again by a backhand slap.

-4

This time Jason is ready for the unplanned flight and lands on his feet. Just in time to bring both his arms up and block a one handed shove. This pushes him back, his feet digging furrows in the ground. Now though he has a chance to counter attack and brings his back leg up around in a high kick that Jarr was not ready for. The strike knocks his head to the side and stuns him long enough for Jason to retreat and steady himself.

Jarr bellows in a rage then pulls a giant club out from the ground as pixelated fractals scatter around. With a hideous smirk he charges again, this time swinging his new club. Jason mentally sighs as the System keeps pushing him. He knew that it would change stuff up so that the boss fight would be suitably difficult but this was getting ridiculous. Though this charge is easier to dodge as he had time to prepare.

The wooden club swishes over Jason’s head as he drops into a crouch. Then he spring back up with an uppercut onto the arm that swung the club. His blast punch connects to the arm and Jarr looks like he is about to drop the club but holds on to it. Jason follows this up with a spin into an elbow strike to the side. Jarr recoils and gnashes his teeth at Jason. He grabs the club in both hands and slams it down.

It pushes Jason back by the force of the blow. Jarr lifts the club up high and pounds the ground over and over. Jason dodges back-and-forth so as to not be crushed by the crazed pummeling. As Jarr lifts the club for another ground pound Jason dashes in with a shoulder bash.

With the club well over his head, it throws Jarr off balance and tips over backwards. As he crashes into the ground Jason pushes his advantage and stomps down hard on his ankle. Jarr cries out in pain then scrabbles backwards on the ground. Jason tries to follow but even prone Jarr is able to swing the club around with one hand and ward him off.

As Jason backs off Jarr’s tattoos glow brighter and he lifts himself off the ground. With great force smacks his back against the ground. Though instead of the expected thud the ground makes more of a wet noise. Before Jason can try and stop it the very dirt crawls up over Jarr’s body and forms a large depression in the ground. It takes mere moments to solidifies into crude armor plates and the club has gained a number of rock spikes. As Jarr stands up, he cackles at his new found protection and slaps his club against the chest piece a couple of times. Whatever magic is at work here the dirt has condensed enough that this sounded more like it was hitting a rock and not earth.

Now better protected Jarr tries to charge again, however the heavy armor slows him down enough Jason has no problem dodging. Even his swings with the club are more ponderous with the addition of those stone spikes. This worries Jason as a single hit from the club would not be devastating. That and Jarr won't stop cackling which grates on his nerves. He needs to remove that club from the fight.

Jason backs away as Jarr tries to run around and bash him flat. Then an opening as Jarr once again goes for a ground pound. Werry of a trap though Jason lets it go by. The club shatters the ground where it hit, sending dust into the air and pebbles flying. Jarr pauses for a moment and snarls. He raises the club again, this time with a pause at the top of the swing before it smashes the ground. An even bigger crater is formed by the strike as a flash of irritation can be seen on Jarr’s face.