My heart thumped once, and then the energy surged outward, flooding through my body as strength and speed spiked instantly by 50%, every movement tightening, sharpening, the strain from before pushed aside under the sudden increase. I pushed myself up, steady now, and began walking toward them.
They didn't notice my change and the largest one, their main boss, moved first.
It didn't circle or wait. It lunged as its fist came straight at my head, fast and heavy, cutting through the air with a sharp force that would have crushed me if I had stayed where I was. I shifted just enough, the punch grazing past as I stepped inside its reach, my leg snapping forward and driving into its midsection. The impact lifted it clean off the ground and sent it crashing back into a tree, the trunk splintering under the force.
I didn't get the chance to follow. The other three were already on me.
