I Received System to Become Dragonborn

Mark moved with terrifying focus right now. His footsteps striking the blood-slicked ground like drumbeats of war.

His jaw was tight, his breath unnaturally steady for situation like this, but his eyes… his eyes burned cold.

They weren't the eyes of a man panicking or hoping for a miracle. They were the eyes of someone who had chosen to protect and to kill if he must. Chosen to win over this predicament.

He saw Kaela who was wounded, crouching, with blood trickling from her mouth but still fighting.

She was one of his party member. She'd fought beside him since the campaign in the Ashen Pass long ago and had stood between him and death more times than he could count alongside Selene and Thorne.

This wasn't just another questt. This was survival and Mark would see it through that they make it back home alive.

He would not let Kaela or anybody die here.

The abomination howled again, its chorus of tormented voices echoing like a maddened cathedral choir. The stink of rot and acid burned in the air.

Its limbs came crashing down at him like the arm of a real nightmare that turned alive. The monster was created from warped by dimensions no sane mind could fathom.

Mark didn't hesitate in the slightest. He pushed deeper into his power.

A surge of blue light pulsed from the hilt of his sword, rippling down the blade like a heartbeat. Ancient runes embedded in the steel came to life, burning with raw Magic energy.

Then he raised his free hand to his forehead, drawing a sharp sigil. His fingers moving in practiced and perfect speed. A moment later pulse of power flowed into him.

His eyes snapped open and glowing with blue fire.

The world seems to slow around him. His body surged.

All of his speed, strength, agility tripled in a breath.

Mark moved like lightning unfurled. A thick and wide limb like a tree trunk of sewn corpses came at him.

He didn't dodge. He stepped in. His sword flashed upward and sliced through the center, the force of his swing splitting the fused flesh down the seam.

Black ichor sprayed, sizzling where it struck the floor.

Another limb whipped toward his side. He twisted low and became barely a blur to the naked eye, then drove his sword upward into its center mass, cleaving tendon and bone of empty humans.

Screams shrieked from within the abomination as it recoiled in fury.

Mark didn't slow.

He carved a path through the attack and his blade never still. He struck a writhing mouth-torso that lunged from the wall and kicked its remains aside without stopping.

His breath was like fire in his lungs but his will held.

And then he finally was there. He reached Kaela.

She was crouched with dagger still in hand, blood trailing from her lips, one knee on the floor.

Her face lifted as she saw him. Despite everything, despite the pain… she smiled.

"Mark…" she rasped.

"I've got you," he said.

But her eyes widened.

"Behind you!"

Mark immediately twisted his body. Two massive limbs descended from behind him.

There was no time to move to dodge. He raised his sword in both hands, just in time.

CLANG!

CLANG!

The force nearly drove him to one knee. Sparks exploded around him as the abomination's limbs crashed into his blade from both sides, trying to crush him between them.

The runes on his sword flared, absorbing the worst of the blow, but his arms trembled under the weight. His muscles screamed.

But he didn't fall. He held his ground.

Kaela, seeing the moment, surged up beside him. Her dagger flashed out, stabbing deep into one of the limbs now pressing on Mark's shoulder.

The flesh hissed and recoiled, giving him just enough space.

"HAAAAAAA!"

Mark let out a roar and spun, his sword let out more blade of energy making it longer and broader then he carving a clean arc that severed one of the limbs at its base with single slash.

The abomination shrieked, staggering back.

Kaela leaned on him. He caught her with one arm, steadying her. Blood streaked down her mouth and nose but her grip on the dagger hadn't loosened.

"Can you walk?" he asked.

She gave a weak nod. "Not far."

"Then you won't have to."

Mark turned toward the others and narrowed his burning eyes.

"Thorne! Hund! Jan!" he called. "Cover us!"

Jan, Thorne, and Hund heard Mark's voice that somehow much louder and sharper, cutting through the roar of the abomination like a warhorn.

Jan didn't hesitate. He already had an arrow notched, the fletching kissed with silver flame.

His hands moved with practiced speed, his mind calm amid the chaos.

He spotted a cluster of limbs moving to intercept Mark and Kaela. He loosed the arrow.

SWISH!

The shot sailed through the air and struck one of the joints dead center.

It exploded in blue fire, tearing muscle and sending the limb reeling backward.

Thorne surged forward next with his sword held high.

His armor clanked. He was scratched and bloodied but his stance was unshakable.

He met a lurching limb full of grasping fingers with a two-handed cleave, cutting through it with a roar.

The creature shrieked and staggered, its bulk momentarily blocking more limbs from reaching Mark's position.

Hund charged in, his blade sweeping in arc. He hacked through a torso that had grown upside down from the creature's hip then slashing again before it could regenerate.

Acid hissed across his armor, but Hund didn't slow. He barked like a wolf, teeth clenched and eyes wild.

"GO!" Thorne bellowed. "We've got you!"

Mark didn't need to be told twice. Supporting Kaela with one arm and his sword in the other, he brought them moved fast.

With Jan's arrows raining down, Thorne clearing space, and Hund shredding anything that got too close, Mark pushed through the opening.

At last, he reached a shadowed corner beyond the worst of the chaos behind the three.

He lowered Kaela there with her back against the wall.

"You're relatively safe now," he muttered. "Use your potion to heal yourself and get back to fighting."

Kaela exhaled, eyes fluttering, but she smiled.

Mark moved again toward the battle.

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