Going with the flow

The explosion had another effect that worked in John's favor: Like zombies drawn to a gunshot, robots from everywhere came running towards John, but apparently, none of them were smart enough to pick up any weapons. These things really acted like a hive mind of angry and mindless machines that had no other purpose but to kill humans.

But the weird thing about all of this: John hadn't seen a single corpse or a single bone yet. It was probably another inconsistency of the Barrier, but it still struck John odd that there were no bodies around. Then again, there were a couple of reasons that he really shouldn't think about that right now; namely, ten reasons running, or briskly walking, towards him. The first robot that got close enough got John's spear through the head, while the second got a Mana Dagger through the shoulder. Thankfully, the damage didn't change, even if he missed his intended target of the chest.

33 DMG + 23 DMG (Light) + 30 DMG when pulling out

32 DMG

Using a lot of strength, he picked up the impaled machine by the spear, took a swing and tried to throw him into the oncoming enemies. At least one robot was hit and had to crawl its way out from underneath its kin. Another two robots tried to grab John, one on each arm. He could use Flash Step just in time to dodge one of the robots, but his most trusty weapon worked against him this time as one of the robots grabbed the shaft of the spear to fling him into a tree that was standing to one side of the park.

As he was flying through the air towards the tree, John had to use every muscle in his body to change his position to soften the impact. Another Flash Step in the air made it possible for him to position his feet in front of him and absorb most of the impact but not all of it.

-8 HP (Impact)

Not a threatening amount of damage, but still enough that he shouldn't repeatedly slam himself into walls. The remaining seven robots (with two dead and one still stuck under the dead one) were already closing in on him again. Thinking about what he could do to deal with these hordes better, John realized that he didn't even use his most useful tool for this fight yet: Flurry Strike. The skill said that he could use it to attack multiple times in a short time, but it didn't say that the targets had to be the same. It was weird thinking about a skill he hadn't used yet and feeling the knowledge of the skill run through his brain.

He quickly adjusted his stance to be wider and prepared his spear to quickly jab in the direction of the oncoming enemies. Once the first two enemies were in range, John used Flurry Strike to quickly strike at the closest two robots that were running close to one another. The attack didn't even last a second, but John could clearly watch his own hand quickly strike the first enemy, pull back and strike the second in a speed that didn't feel like he would be able to.

26 DMG + 23 DMG (Light)
33 DMG + 23 DMG (Light)

32 DMG

Mana Dagger, Lv. 2, Daggers will now deal 34 DMG

The third one was another Mana Dagger, thrown into the next robot to keep them at bay. Now reduced to 4 encroaching bots, they took a second to register the **** of their 'brothers'.

Big mistake, as John quickly took that opportunity to get closer with a Flash Step to strike with another Flurry Strike, hitting another two bots.

Critical Hit! 2x Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 2x
42 DMG + 23 DMG (Light)
45 DMG + 23 DMG (Light)

Seven down, three to go, and the next robot came just in time for John to dodge him and use his Counter

Counter! Bonus damage added!
30 DMG + 23 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Counter)

That Counter was more out of instinct than actual need, but it did show that his instincts were already starting to kick in when it came to combat. Striking down the last two robots was a breeze seeing how he struck one directly after his counter, and the other one had just gotten free of the clutches of his dead brethren, and a lot of webs thanks to Gary apparently, only to be met with the pointy end of John's spear. Taking a second to breathe, John took note of his current status:

This wasn't looking good... His Mana was seriously low, and he barely even reached half the number of enemies he had to kill to beat Brun for sure, which would be 101. He still had those Potions of Rejuvenation, but he wanted to save those for more dire situations. But, then again, he was not sure what would happen if they didn't finish the Barrier in the time limit, would they be able to leave the Barrier? Would they be stuck and drown? Speaking honestly, John did not want to find that out, so he just took one of the potions, and then he would be good to go if the rest of the Barrier went as easy as it did up until now, at least for him. He had no idea how Brun was faring...

Speaking of which, John opened up the Bond and sent a, 'How's it going on your part? Still lagging behind?' through the connection, only to receive a loud 'FUCK YOU!' back. 'Come on, don't be like that, we're a team here, so let's act like one,' was his amused answer while he went towards the next bigger cluster of robots that seemingly lay on the way the wire from the structure above him went to.

'Yeah? Are we a team? Well, then fucking act like it and don't steal my fucking kill!' Wow, she was really pissed about that one... 'Listen, I'm sorry about that SINGLE KILL I took from you, not like it's going to matter when I'll handily beat you.' He just had too much fun winding her up, even if she was getting angry with him. He heard a deep breath inside the connection before she slowly said, 'Oh? You really think you can keep this up? I got Mana for days. How about you, noob?'

'Eh, I'm good, should be enough until I got most of the enemies,' he casually replied, not letting through that he already had to resort to the potion. 'You little cocky fucker, I'll show you not to underestimate me!' John had to chuckle at that. It seemed like Brun was someone that got really motivated by competition, evident in the jumping of her score:

Enemies remaining: 98
Time left: 20:20
John N.: 56
Brunhilde G.: 46
Astrid G.: 0

Damn, that fight with the robots took longer than he had hoped... John was pretty sure that they wouldn't be able to beat the boss in time for the bonus objective, but then again, it did seem like they should be able to beat it in the total time, which was good as well.

Now, where was that second charging terminal?