Notably, the quest objective merely required Sam driving the invader away, rather than killing him. That meant that there was something else going on here. Most likely, his foe had an escape plan if things went south.

The sky crackled as the newcomer flew away from his landing spot, wings of fire exploding out of his armor, easily twenty feet in diameter. Sam summoned his Domain, layering it over his own armor in the form of a multicolored suit of plate mail capable of stopping a missile. Then he used his newest skill, and a third layer of armor joined the other two, crafted from interlaced mana, elemental energy and the Dao.

He shot upwards on rockets of purified mana, cutting through the air like a knife. Orientating himself on a horizontal axis, he sped off towards the intruder. About a hundred miles away, a mere four or five seconds of flight, Sam felt the first hints of the fire cultivator's power. Now that he was closer to his likely foe, Sam realized that the wings of incandescent flame he could see burning their way across the sky weren't made out of fire at all, but rather out of lava. The man combined the elements of Earth and Fire to form his wings, with Earth being predominant.

Within the span of a second, he was close enough to make out the details of his foe. The cultivator was a human, like him, but his armor was so thick that it made him look like a giant. Sam came to a stop a moment later, about five hundred feet away from the other Earth elementalist.

"So you're the one who butchered one of my best teams," the newcomer said in a matter of fact tone. "It's been a while since I had to come here. I hope you're worth the effort."

Sam grinned. "I hope so too. Anyone trying to avenge the scum that I killed is no better than them." Narrowing his eyes, Sam scanned his opponent.

The Foreman

Human

Level 243

Eyes still narrowed, Sam prepared for battle, hefting his hammer. Torrents of mingled Dao energy poured into the weapon, causing it to gleam like a tiny star. The Foreman did the same, his weapon turning a bright red as he channeled the heat of a volcano into it. Upwellings of molten steel gave the weapon a bulbous, craggy appearance. Sam could feel the heat from where he waited, like a furnace had been opened in front of him.

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"Let's see what you have," The Foreman said. "It's been a while since I've fought, let alone been challenged."

"Interesting boast to make," Sam replied wryly. Despite this, he could sense the strange Dao that his foe cultivated, one of sloth and hierarchy, fit for an overseer or a mercantile emperor. In many ways, the Foreman was at the peak of his power.

Sam wasted no time, darting in towards his enemy, Terra's Will already sweeping towards the other cultivator. A surge of volcanic heat ripped the very atoms of the air apart as the Foreman lifted his hammer. Gouts of molten rock exploded out of the weapon, looking like tiny comets. They homed in on Sam with the accuracy of missiles, even through his teleports.

His hands flashing, Sam batted them away at many times their initial force, his latest Threshold proving itself worthwhile as he sent one particularly large orb of lava straight into the Foreman's face. The E Ranker reeled from the strike, which, while not having penetrated his armor, dented it somewhat.

Sam grinned "It's been a while since you had a challenge, huh?"

"I would hardly call this a challenge," the Foreman replied. "You haven't even broken my armor. What sort of cultivator revels in the opening shots of a battle?"

"One who's sure that those opening shots are also the closing ones," Sam retorted.

Terra's Will blazed with golden light as he used his Dao Fragment of the Passage to galvanize the hidden weapon ability within it. A spear of lightning appeared in his hand where the weapon had been. Sam cocked his arm back and threw with all of his might, Strength blending with his Dao in a throw that would have sent a normal spear into orbit. Instead, all of that speed was directed towards the Foreman. From what Sam had seen, the warrior was durable, and presumably strong, but lacking in the Dexterity department.

To his surprise, not only did his foe stop the lightning bolt, but he did so with an open palm. "I have cultivated my element until I was able to shame mountains with my durability, and volcanoes with my strength. Lightning?" The Foreman chuckled. "It's like the rain falling on my skin."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "That's new. I guess you qualify for my true Dao."

While his words were immensely arrogant, Sam was used to dealing with cultivators that dealt in interpersonal relationships. It was best to act contrary to their element. In the case of the Foreman, as a better rather than a subordinate.

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