A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR!****Lev braced himself. The light gray mana that reminded him of caves and stone was something he hadn’t encountered before. Contact with his armor could end horribly.
His passive skill didn’t activate, and time passed in a blink. The gray mana slammed into his armor without any physical force, pushing against his armor’s enchantments and durability.
Steeling himself, Lev prepared to counteract any damage, only to pause in surprise. After a few moments, the offending mana was just… rebuffed. His armor stood tall, proving itself to be a wall too tough to damage.
… Huh?
Quickly getting over the unexpected outcome, he gazed at the horizon. Eyes squinted, astonishment grew when he barely even noticed the monster, one that had its gaze locked onto him the entire time, despite the massive distance.
What the hell is that, even?
Before he could deduce the monster’s body shape, another wave of gray mana originated from its direction. Lev decided to play it safe and arrayed a large number of shields in front of him, powering their enchantments to the fullest.
Unlike the armor, the shields suffered mild damage, though it was the nature of the damage that made him freeze.
Petrification!?
Stone chunks fell off the constructs, no longer connected to the structure. Repairing the damage also immediately pushed out the petrified portion, making the task trivial.
Ruminations about why the barrier armor countered petrification so well could wait. He had to kill the monster before it got closer. As unlikely as distance was to be a factor in the gray mana’s potency, he didn’t want to take any chances.
Lances formed above him. Far away, boulders, spikes, and other random stone projectiles took shape to oppose him.
A mage battle? He grinned. Let’s see how I compare to a third-threshold monster’s barrage.
Much like the spar against Isabella, they both fired at the same time. Several seconds passed due to the vast distance involved before the projectiles reached their destination.
Stone walls rose and shattered in quick succession. The monster, which he could only now see properly, weaved between all of the remaining projectiles, its speed too much for the initial salvo.
On Lev’s side, shields shattered by the dozens. Each stone projectile was infused to the brim with the same gray mana, and each impact took down several other shields with it.
Completely petrified shields rained on the ground, his control dominated by the sheer amount of mana present in the stones.
Regardless, shields were expendable. Their loss served as excellent testing, and he made good use of that by deploying shieldwalls for the next wave.
Above Lev, giant lances took form. He gazed silently at the Nure in the meantime, watching how it slithered closer with alarming speed. Now that it was only a few kilometers away, he could almost feel its potent body enhancement.
Why is it so strong, though? He wondered, converting a ton of mana into lightning and a smaller amount into fire.
As far as he could tell, the monster was not above level 600. And yet, its aura had a density to it that was rare in anything below that level, especially for the more common monsters.
Even worse, as it got closer, the aura was only becoming more and more intimidating. Hakim had no doubt left it alive as a challenge for the humans, though Lev couldn’t tell if it was meant for just him or everyone in the bubble.
If the increasing strength of the monster was anything to go by, it was the latter.
The second wave of stone projectiles further proved his thoughts. Spikes as large as school buses roared towards him. Shieldwalls were pierced, normal shields were broken in droves, and he had to ascend with the bubble to not be smashed to paste.
Holy moly, he thought with a gulp, watching the surviving projectiles shear through the ground and carving massive grooves. At the end, they even released the payload of gray mana, turning the grass and dirt into stone. His own lances were blocked by massive stone monoliths, somehow surviving the large blasts.
For a moment, Lev debated utilizing all of his mana to put down the monster for good. That would render him out of the fight immediately, though his prodigious regeneration would still let him help here and there as they returned to the citadel.
There was just one problem. For some reason, he didn’t believe that raw power would be able to kill the monster.
“I don’t think I can afford to face it by myself,” Lev sent to everyone. “There’s something off about the monster. Let’s not risk it.”
“Glad someone else noticed it too,” Melvine commented. “For this one, keep the bubble above us and completely invisible. Use as much mana as you need to. We need to finish this quickly, and now.”
The urgency in her voice caught them all by surprise. Lev went to work immediately, jumping back into the bubble and slotting the shadow mana converter in its dedicated spot.
All invisibility and other concealment enchantments came alive in an instant, just in time to evade another massive wave from the monster. This time, stone boulders were the most numerous, almost catching the bubble.
Lev’s hackles rose when he felt the proximity attempt to petrify the construct, only for shadow mana to counter it. Somehow, the gray mana slid off the darker one, something he didn’t even know was possible.
Not looking the gift horse in the mouth, he made the bubble fly even higher, tensely waiting for a reaction.
Fortunately, the nure’s perception didn’t seem to be good enough to pierce his concealments, though it still knew that the humans were somewhere high above.
Instead of bothering to look for the bubble, it did something Lev both approved and dreaded. The nure threw any qualms about preserving mana to the wind and formed hundreds of small spikes.
Infusion made them shine brightly to his senses from afar, a sickly gray aura hanging around the projectiles. Now, however, he wasn’t worried.
Kora continuously buffed his regeneration, and he channeled all of it into the lightning converter. The result was stored in treated orbs, hidden nicely by the bubble’s enchantments.
Fear spiked a bit when the spikes flew at them in unison. He gulped, quickly sending instructions to Melvine and Isabella.
“Wait for the lightning wave, then cover the left and right. I’ll deploy shieldwalls right in front of us, just in case.”
There was no more time. Like miniature torpedoes, the spinning spikes completely dominated their vision as they neared. Lev held his breath, waiting until the last moment before heaving with effort.
Invisibility enchantments turned off to relieve focus. All the converted mana was teleported to the bubble, concentrated on the front side.
When the spikes were moments away from impacting, he released all the lightning outward. A calamitous wave burst forth, shearing and barreling through all of the stone projectiles, disrupting even those that it missed.
Regardless, several more spikes were on track to hit the bubble’s corners. Melvine and Isabella were prepared for that.
Frosty mist layered itself over the right side, whereas fiery ropes formed nets on the left. Spikes slammed into the frosty layering, cracking the construct underneath yet failing to petrify it. Against the flames, petrification was naturally ineffective, the mana wasted to turn the fire solid.
“That was close,” Lev breathed out, turning the bubble invisible again. “Alright, quick vote. Should I bomb it or do we risk facing it up close?”
“Is fighting from afar even an option?” Elias spoke up. “Do you think you can kill it?”
“Honestly, no,” Lev replied bluntly. “There’s more to it than what meets the eye. Gotta cooperate before even attempting to go close.”
“What’s the plan?” Isabella questioned.
“Play it safe, bait out its abilities.”
There wasn’t more to discuss, not until they knew what the nure could do. For now, it slithered ever closer with its four thick arms hanging on its sides, fists clenching in anticipation.
“Getting close to those arms is a bad idea,” Melvine remarked, now able to see the monster clearly as well. “I’ll slow it down first. Try to restrict its movements.”
Upping the shadow mana in the bubble’s enchantments, he pushed the concealment to its upper limits while descending. It proved effective, the construct escaping the nure’s notice as it neared the ground.
Lev observed yet another wave of spikes pass through where they were a moment ago, like a swarm of hateful bees ready to pass through flesh and bones instead of merely stinging.
The moment he stepped out of the bubble, a heavy pressure descended on the humans. It felt like a weight on his shoulders, one that existed beyond the physical world. The sensation also reminded him of when the stag or the Ripper King looked at him, albeit to a lesser degree.
If there was any doubt about the nure’s strength, it didn’t exist anymore.
Melvine burst into a sprint the moment she stepped out of the bubble, mist already rushing through her body and spreading around her in a dome.
Elias, Viktor, Aryan, and Zack followed behind, staying at a distance, with Lev flying a few dozen meters high and remaining behind everyone.
Lightning and fire rushed into his armor, predominantly the former. Speed was going to be the most important factor going forward, and he put all of his heightened agility to good use when boulders flew at his face.
A large amount of pure mana infused the armor at all times as well, overloading it selectively and pushing back against the petrification without much trouble.
Each projectile tried anyway, the gray mana somehow detecting him in the vicinity through unknown means. Lev took notes after making sure that he wasn’t in any great danger.
Shields hovered around him, reformed the moment they shattered. Spikes flew at his being again, and this time, he focused on capturing a few inside his constructs.
Three of them tore through a dozen shields, eventually coming to a stop after continued collisions. He narrowed his mind and perception on those spikes, noting how they tried to corrupt any mana that wasn’t aimless and ambient.
The answer came to him rather easily. Willpower was infused in the spikes, targeting any signs and presence of foreign willpower and intent.
More research would have to wait. Melvine was about to reach the nure, and he took a good look at it for the first time.
It wasn’t as big as he expected. Thrice as tall as the swordswoman in front of it, the nure pumped its body chock full of gray mana.
Stone armor appeared on its being, covering every nook and cranny. Only its eyes remained visible, glaring at Melvine with an intensity that almost scared Lev.
Almost.
The warrior took offense at the glare. She dashed in, sword and body blazing with mist, and launched a slash of the same element.
A stone-covered fist met the skill, shattering it and eating the damaging mist without problem. Melvine’s aura showed her surprise, as well as a slight bit of panic, as the punch continued towards her.
Viktor’s thrown axe impacted the monster’s arm, cracking the armor slightly and pushing it off track. Melvine’s sword deflected the corner that almost hit her, pushing it towards the ground, which the fist tore a massive crater into.
A normal monster would be unbalanced, except the nure had four arms. The other three weren’t at all hindered by the deflection, descending onto the warrior like comets.
Melvine showed why she was the strongest in the group, dashing between the punches. Each step froze the ground below her for the best footwork, and in the meantime, more and more seeped out of her body.
By now, the dome had completely covered the nure, and with a thought, it started to dig into the monster’s stone armor.
Lev winced when a deafening hiss broke through his prepared sound wards, rattling his eardrums inside the armor. His bubble moved above the stunned creature, the ropes connected to it receiving an influx of lightning.
Shieldwalls were placed around the nure by the dozens, his entire stock deployed in a blink. He refrained from bringing out the absorption pillars, for his friends were also fighting with him this time. Any large blasts would risk hurting them.
Their coordinated assault started with Melvine’s charge. She blocked a punch, slowing down but not stopping. Jumping over another, a barrier platform appeared beneath her feet mid-air, letting her evade the third.
Before the first fist could coil back again, barrier ropes dove through the misty zone. Half of them wrapped around the nure’s neck, utilizing the element of surprise as best as they could, and the rest tried to stop its arms in place.
As usual, the constructs only held for a moment. That moment, also as usual, turned out to be vital. While the ropes gave Melvine an opening, the ones around the monster’s neck were a bit more successful.
Using the mist as a conduit, the lightning rushed inside the neck, finally eliciting a reaction, one that came with an unfocused wave of petrification.
Mist froze, falling in stone chunks. Melvine covered herself in a thick layer of ice and aborted her strike, just barely avoiding the same fate.
Lev covered the rest of the humans in multiple layers of shields, protecting them from the gray mana that weakened rapidly the further out it went.
Making the nure waste mana would’ve been a good thing, except the ground all around was now made of stone, and Lev’s intuition turned out to be right as things rapidly took a turn for the worse.
Stone monoliths rose out of the ground, concentrated around the humans. The nure escaped Melvine’s mist without missing a beat, diving into the ground and becoming invisible to all forms of perception.
Fortunately, Lev already had an inkling of what was happening, bringing up Stargazer just in time to slash at the jaws that soundlessly slid out of the monolith next to him.