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Not willing to let an opportunity pass him by Rain leapt across the pool and bounded toward the groggily sitting up Adlen. His paw slapped down and clamped on to the leveler’s foot.

Adlen jerked, seeing what had caught hold of him.

“Wha- s-stop!- Nononono!!”

Rain’s paw swept up and around as he skidded past, Adlen went from lying down to being ripped into the air and meteorically spun around Rain at arm’s length until Rain let go and he was flung toward the nearest building at frightening speeds. Adlen screamed as he flew until his voice was cut off with a crunch and an explosion of masonry. Rain bounded after him and leapt at the jagged hole in the building’s wall Adlen’s passage had created. He barely fit, shoving and ripping his way through, but that wasn’t about to stop him. Inside, Adlen was crawling away on his hands and knees one hand clutched at his side. By some miracle his spear was still with him, held in one bloodied hand.

Masonry crumbled around Rain’s shoulders as he hauled himself inside, the floorboards groaning desperately under his weight.

“G-get away from you monster freak!”

Rain strode toward him, the top of his head brushing the ceiling, looming over everything in the room, a dominating presence.

Before he could get much closer however Adlen rolled over and held his spear up, grasping it in the center. Rain paused as the spear seemed to vibrate and then the ends flashed. Now Rain was looking for it his sharp eyes were able to pick out what was happening. The last foot at either end of the spear was not uniform metal but covered in small holes laid out in a diamond pattern. Incredibly powerful jets of air were being forced through the holes on one side of the spear accompanied by a bloom of white light. In effect Adlen gripped the spear parallel to the ground and the spear rocketed up into the air, roaring jets at either end lifting it, dragging him up off the ground to standing. 

Rain eyed the spear, that weapon... was extremely powerful. If the blade was driven into him with the additional boost the air jets provided he doubted even his unusually tough body would hold up. 

The spear flipped around in Adlen’s palm, microbursts of the jets giving Adlen incredible speed and control. The spear spun and flipped to his other hand, nearly scraping the walls and floor as it moved but expertly adjusted to just avoid them.

Rain realised it might have been a mistake to chase him in here, an enclosed space where it would be hard to evade. He readied himself, if this was going to be where things ended then he would likely need to take a wound if he wanted to get to Adlen before that spear took him apart, he could only hope it wouldn't be deadly.

His foot shifted across the floorboards, settling his weight, his foot pads brushing aside masonry dust as his claws dug down into the wood. 

He would go for it and end it right now, on one, two-

Adlen turned around and ran away.

Rain was left flat footed, it took him a moment to realise that the leveler had thrown his advantage away, and then another moment to realise his prey was getting away. 

His prey was getting away. 

Predatory hunting instincts flash burned across his mind and he exploded forward, the floorboards shredding beneath his feet. He smashed into the door frame with a roar, wood and walls disintegrating around his shoulders as he brute forced his way into the hall, smashing up against the wall before rolling down the hall after Adlen like a wave of black furred death. 

Adlen’s back disappeared around a door frame and the door slammed shut and remained that way for all of one second before it was blown apart, the door becoming so much splinters as Rain ripped through, the frame coming with him as he burst free roaring his fury.

They’d appeared out on a street outside the market, seemingly used by caravaneers judging by the number of crate stacked carts parked around. Dozens of workers who had been unloading and reloading stock were frozen in place and staring at Rain.

“M-monster! There’s a loose monster!”

“Someone get the guard!”

“On me! We can take it! All of us together!”

Rain did not like where this was going, even less so seeing Adlen darting around a cart out of sight. This was not going to happen, not again, not like Eliza. He snarled and bounded into a sprint, thrusts of his legs powering him through the air and shattering cobble under foot. He was fast, very fast. It occurred to him that he’d never actually tried to see how fast he could run in this body, there just hadn't been enough room in the dungeon most of the time, and he had never thought to test it once in the outside world.

His outsized strength plus his large stride together were a deadly combination and the workers barely knew what was happening before he was blasting past them, one sweep of his arm knocking over a cart, one bound into the air taking him over the top of another, down the street and far past the workers.

Adlen turned his head, glancing behind as he ran, a pale and sweaty face that became paler and sweatier seeing Rain gaining ground. Rain's huge bounds were enough that even with Adlen using a Skill to boost his running speed he couldn’t outpace him. Out of desperation he thrust his spear into the air and hissing jets burst from each end, his feet stepped, hopped, and then he was lifted into the air, floating upward, carried on his jet-propelled spear.

Unfortunately for him the act of doing so slowed his pace significantly and he could do nothing but look down in terror as Rain’s giant paw wrapped around his foot. 

Rain skidded, twisted his upper body and torqued down hard. Adlen full throatedly screamed as Rain whipped him downward like a wet rag. The cobble shattered and cratered as he struck like a sack of meat, chunks of stone spraying up around his bloody body. Somehow he survived the impact, his body enhancing Skills preventing most of his bones from breaking, mostly. He was barely able to get out a gasp of protest as he felt his foot rocketing back up and he along with it. He went flying over Rain's head in an arc before he came meteoring back down once more creating a second depression in the cobble, as he was pulled back up yet again he left behind a bloody smear on the stone, then another as he smashed back down to earth. 

Again and again and again, Rain used the leveler as a hammer to pulverise the ground. Then he spun on his heel and threw Adlen as hard as he could. Adlen had lost consciousness by this point but that didn't stop him from hitting the wall with a grizzly crunch, his body folding as he punched through stonework. A long low wheeze unconsciously escaped Adlen’s lips where he rested partly inside the wall.

The wall. Rain paused as he realised the wall he had just thrown Adlen into was the outer wall of Lynthia. Massive crenellated stonework, a vast building height rune carved into the wall on the inner side, one of many runes that had been set along the wall in fact, one after the other.

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Adlen was cratered into the lower part of that rune, disrupting it. As rain watched a sectional magic field above the wall flickered to life, a barely visible misty blue even to his sharp eyesight. It flickered with soft light, desperately holding itself together.

Rain narrowed his eyes. He knew a little of Lynthia’s defences of course, none of the full details as the guard liked to keep quiet about it, but he did know it was old, old and outdated, created when Lynthia had been founded centuries ago and never re-built with more modern enchanting practices. The town had simply never gotten a Ranker willing to spend the money.

Looking over his shoulder he spotted a crowd coming down the street toward him. A mix of people from the market, led mainly by those who had put down bets.

He had a moment so he reached out a paw and pushed it into the smashed up masonry around Adlen. Curling his digits then tensing his muscles he ripped out feet of stonework, stone pouring down onto the street as fractures ran out along the wall from where he worked.

Rain looked upward as the carved rune was totally disrupted. The section of nearly invisible shield above the wall flickered once, twice, and then misted away into nothing leaving the part of the wall above the rune completely unshielded, just bare simple stone with no magic or enchantments. A small, street wide, section of Lynthia was now magically defenceless. 

Perfect. He pulled Adlen from the crater and tossed him on the cobble. Now, now to kill and eat the leveler, his prey. He loomed over Adlen’s form, still breathing deeply from the run. His claws tensing and twitching, drool spattered on the cobble below from his slavering jaw. He could smell Adlen’s blood plucking at his nose, his hunger was roaring in his ears and adding to his urgent need to kill the leveler, do it, end it, sate the fire, purge the torment.

He curled over Adlen’s body, his teeth lowering toward him, ready to bite down and start feasting, ripping him apart, devouring.

“S-stop!” 

He paused. His hunger did not agree that he should stop. His maw continued to move toward Adlen’s neck. 

Then a hand touched at his side and he snarled, whipping around to see who had dared interrupt him, ready to rip them limb from limb. 

Lyra stumbled back with a squeak. Surprised, he blinked several times, managing to push aside the hunger.

He glanced from Lyra who was looking at him fearfully, her legs visibly trembling, to the crowd of people. They were all looking at him, many of them had drawn weapons and looked ready to attack. 

“N-not here” whisper hissed Lyra. “You can't do this here!”

Oh, right. Openly eating a leveler in front of everyone might cause some small minor issues. Levelers generally did not eat other levelers, as a rule. 

He drew back from Adlen with a sigh.

Lyra looked so relieved she practically melted. Gathering herself she turned to the crowd.

“W-We h-have a winner! Fitz of the north!”

Part of the crowd cheered, whatever happened they had gotten what town dwellers so valued: entertainment, and they had gotten it in spades. However, the part of the crowd who had made bets against Rain did not look quite so happy. 

“Tch, what a joke, like hell I’m standing for this,” said one. He scowled and lifted his sword, stepping forward, preparing to attack.

A large hairy arm came up in front of him, preventing him from going further. The blacksmith gave the man the side eye. 

“You chose of your own free will to bet against the monster. You will have the grace to accept you were wrong. Do not make me disarm you.”

The sword wielder glared at the blacksmith, but then he backed down, a lower leveler in the face of a higher.

Lyra gave the blacksmith a grateful look, she didn't want to think about how poorly things would go for everyone involved if it became Rain versus the crowd.

Rain leaned down and hooked a paw around the unconscious Adlen then flipped him over his shoulder. He turned and strode down the street, the crowd parting to let him through, angry or awe filled eyes following his every step.

He’d got what he wanted, not everything, Lira still lived, but he was satisfied for the moment. Lyra followed him in his wake, snatching nervous glances at the crowd, Opal was… less nervous.

“Hahahaha! Monsters win! I have all your gold!” She clumsily swung Adlen’s spear in the air, which of course had found its way into her hands.

Lyra turned around and quickly grabbed the Goblin, marching her after Rain. 

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