The battle truly began at that moment. Stargazer, with her weight increased to absurd levels, smashed into the approaching jaw. More than the monster, Lev felt himself be launched away from the rebound, escaping the sharp teeth seeking to puncture him.
From underneath, an open, clawed palm almost caught him. A dense blast of mist slowed it down far more than anything he could have managed, almost trapping the hand in ice.
As focused as the Nure was on Lev, it also provided the others with an opening. Just as Viktor’s shield smashed into the side of its big head, a large whip of blue flames smashed into its forehead, cracking the stone armor and disorienting the monster.
Seeing the monster stumble completely out of the monolith, Aryan targeted its scaled tail, stabbing it with two daggers wreathed in shadows.
They just barely broke through its defenses, cracking stone and scales and delivering the payload of venom inside. The Nure instantly whirled around, breaking through the stun and swinging a hand at Aryan.
Too late, he ducked out of the way. Stone shards, each as long as an arm, rained upon his position. Lev and Lisa formed barrier after barrier in their path, except the barrage was too overloaded with mana, shattering every obstacle.
Three shards sheared through Aryan’s torso. Even outmatched, he still managed to twist his body to limit the damage, and yet, three non-insignificant holes appeared in his sides.
Much worse was the instant petrification. The rogue cut off large chunks of his flesh to halt its advance. He also downed the most expensive healing potion in his ring without hesitation, stopping the insidious mana from spreading even further.
Lev didn’t waste a moment in grabbing him with his enlarged ropes, tossing Aryan in the bubble and into the safety of all the concealment enchantments.
Meanwhile, the Nure had shrugged off the combined assault of several Masters. With the stone armor repaired, Melvine’s mists had stopped slowing the monster, and Isabella’s whips did nothing to hold it in place.
Elias’s swords bounced off, leaving not even a scratch, whereas Zack’s punches merely blackened the stone covering the monster’s body. Lances from the gauntlets also failed to do more, only blackening the armor further.
Stargazer found purchase on the Nure amidst the chaos. Lev’s arms bulged as he put his all into a strike straight to its temple.
The glaive cracked the stone, the force behind it enough to force the monster into the air. Crescent Decimation tore through the remaining armor, its effectiveness against defenses showing in that exchange.
Lev was blown back when the slash exploded. He had managed to cover himself and his friends with barriers, and if the writhing form amidst the flames and lightning was any indication, the monster was far from dead.
Less than half the total mana left.
Far too little for how tough the abomination was. They had to do something, and do it quickly.
Melvine understood that, too, sending a glance towards him. Sending a pulse of mana tinged with willpower, he sent a positive response and opened the floodgates.
Mana roared out of his limbs and torso, crushing his Constitution. The damage was almost as bad as he expected, his ever-increasing attribute and body conditioning showing their worth.
Other than him and Melvine, everyone else backed off. Barrier ropes grabbed them all and deposited them in the bubble. Sending a burst of mana to all of the construct’s enchantments, he prepared himself.
Melvine made the first move, blanketing a large area around the monster in mist. The previous explosion dispersed in a moment, exposing the monster that had tricked them all.
It stood tall, mostly unhurt and covered in intact stone armor. Hatred burned in its gaze, nearly making them reconsider their plans.
It’s far too late to back off now. Lev gritted his teeth and advanced with the swordswoman.
A slash of mist roared towards the Nure’s chest. As expected, it tried to swat away the skill, only for it to explode. Like a smokescreen, it completely blocked its vision and senses.
The temporary advantage turned against them when the monster proved itself to be above the mist’s Perception debuff. Lev hastily raised Stargazer to try and stop a massive stone spike.
None of the shieldwalls or shields reached it in time. The glaive was wrenched out of his hands from the sheer force behind the projectile, and he only managed to half-avoid it.
This time, the armor was not insurmountable. Almost all of the layers on his left arm were turned to stone, and he had to consciously dump mana into the construct to stop the petrification.
Underneath, the Epic suit was easily overwhelmed. Bones turned to powder, and flesh was compressed as if under a hydraulic press.
Only Melvine’s timely intervention saved Lev from the follow-up as he was smashed into the ground and buried in the middle of a large crater. Shieldwalls were arrayed around him, blocking off several more spikes.
Fortunately, Stargazer hadn’t been thrown far. Pulling her back, he imbued the blade with a ton of lightning and increased her weight.
An opportunity soon arose. Melvine repeatedly jumped back as massive fists tried to turn her to paste. Spikes tore out of the ground, just barely dodged as the displacement mist warned her in advance.
The monster was relentless, though. Beneath Melvine’s feet, a stone platform rose in a flash. She was flung upwards, barely saving her hide as the Nure lunged to bite by freezing air and kicking off it.
That was Lev’s chance. Stargazer flew forward like a blue comet, straight into the monster’s chest. Lightning rushed into the wound, gleefully targeting the blood and organs.
The sheer amount eventually became too much and was released in a violent explosion. Even inside the crater, the shockwave smashed him into the ground again, eliciting a groan of pain. His arm was in no condition to even twitch, let alone move.
Searching for Stargazer, he found her still buried in the monster’s chest. With a mental heave, he recalled her and recreated the broken blade, enchanting its edges.
For several long seconds, he and Melvine stood there, not daring to go near the crackling blast. Lev took that time to fix his armor completely and send more healing mana into his body.
Grinding his teeth, he ignored the pain and remained focused on the monster. It was still alive, for there was no notification.
For a moment, he hoped that the monster was too wounded to move. There was no movement inside the explosion, and just when he was sure of their victory, a shape rose from the ground.
It moved fluidly, too smoothly for what should’ve been a dying monster. Then a wave of dread shot through his being when a gaze landed on his form.
It’s not even close to dead…
Arm unusable, low on mana, and nearly out of all projectiles and defensive constructs. There was nothing he could do to kill the monster, not anymore. By his side, Melvine’s breathing was also ragged, with only a small amount of mist clinging to her form.
“We can’t win,” he sent through the communication item, knowing everyone was connected. “Let’s call for backup and keep it occupied in the meantime.”
His duo had no problems accepting their defeat. Just to be safe, Lev dumped lightning and fire mana into his remaining lances, grimacing all the while.
The monster charged immediately. Stone spikes met lances, though fire mana ensured that a large area was affected.
None of the stone projectiles made it to the humans, who were scooped up by barrier ropes. Though right before they entered, something changed.
Suddenly, the air around them was no longer as oppressive. The Nure’s daunting presence was subdued, and it instantly tried to turn tail and run.
Yet before it could, Drakys suddenly appeared in front of its damaged chest, one that was stitched together by stone. The monster didn’t hesitate in throwing four punches in a blurry combo, overloading its body enhancement as fear wafted off its aura in waves.
None of that amounted to anything. Invisible strikes chopped off all four arms. Drakys took a single step on solidified air, his palm landing on the stone armor. In a blink, the monster’s torso exploded, and a pristine light gray core landed in his waiting hand.
[
Your group has slain [Mature Nure - Level 588]
Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 305
Unerring Volley has reached 4th Level 7
Arcane Protection has reached 4th Level 8
]
Lev could only watch with his mouth slightly ajar as Drakys waved a hand, redirecting the rain of blood and gore away from him.
The man turned around with a small grin, twirling the core in his hand before it vanished into some ring.
“Not bad,” Drakys sent, easily tapping into the communication item. “Some part of me expected you guys to win, but then again, even I couldn’t reliably face one until the third gap. You did well.”
No one had anything to say to that, nor to the fact that an Exalted was watching over the whole battle. In hindsight, that should’ve been obvious, for Hakim wouldn’t send such a strong monster towards them without notifying backup first.
“Fun,” Lev eventually snorted. “I, uh, can you help me heal my arm? It doesn’t wanna fix itself.”
He moved the limb slightly with his armor, wincing. Drakys got more serious after seeing the injury, flying into the bubble through an opening.
The arm was, to put it mildly, fucked. It was pretty much paste. A single look from the Exalted was enough to scan it all for whatever Drakys wanted to do, and a dense stream of an unknown mana type easily pierced Lev’s armor and entered his arm.
Immediately, every pain receptor was set alight. Pain dug through every nerve, completely overwhelming his seasoned resistance to the sensation.
He stifled a scream, accidentally biting his tongue. Blood flowed down his throat before the tongue was also healed. And just like that, his whole body was whole and hale, not sporting even a single blemish from the previous encounter.
“Warn a man next time,” he sent tiredly amidst deep breaths.
“I’m just as surprised as you are,” Drakys commented, looking at the now-healed arm. “Severe injuries usually don’t eat up healing mana types like that. The restoration mana had already primed your arm for strong healing, which your current mana wouldn’t have provided.”
“So I shouldn’t send too much mana into my body if there are healers nearby?”
“Correct.”
That was news for him, and he filed the information away for later. His brain was still getting over the intense shock, so to distract himself, he stepped out of the bubble and summoned his refillable canteen.
Rinsing his mouth and throat thoroughly, he sighed and looked at the remaining lower half of the nure. Even in death, it reminded him of the stone spike that could’ve put him in a much worse situation.
If Drakys wasn’t watching over him and he was slightly slower? The same spike could’ve easily killed him.
Oh. That reminds me, where are the monsters following us?
That had completely slipped his mind. The Nure probably pushed away most of them, and yet, the wave following them hadn’t caught up yet.
“Did you deal with the monsters?” he sent through the communication item and sat down in the driver’s seat. Fixing the minor damage to his bubble from the explosions, he made it ascend for several hundred meters.
“Just trimmed it a little,” the Exalted answered, staring towards the mountain region. Lev wondered how their Perception compared and just how outclassed his eyesight was. “You should also take up a few anatomy books. By now, your control and mana capacity, and also Constitution, are too high for undirected healing.”
“… Can I even afford to focus on that during battle?” Lev countered.
“You need to.”
He snorted. That was precisely what an Exalted would say, and also exactly what made the most sense. Ever since Lev had evolved to Adept, he had mostly been doing what he needed to, not what he wanted to. The System itself had confirmed that humanity could vanish just as easily as a town hit by a tsunami.
Staying weak was not an option, and if that demanded he heal himself with precision during life-and-death battles, then so be it. He would have to make do.
While thinking about Drakys’ words, Lev also properly looked at Aryan. The rogue’s condition was the first thing he had checked after entering the bubble, but only now could he take a closer look.
Without wearing anything over his torso, Aryan’s pink skin was visibly free of scars and blemishes. No signs of the stone growths were visible, nor could one guess that the injury was so unique and dangerous from looking at the healing.
“Was the healing potion enough?” Lev asked.
“It was,” Aryan sighed. “Just needed to… nudge the potion in the right direction.”
Lev didn’t need to be a genius to deduce what he meant. The rogue had cut off his flesh to fight against the petrification and hold back the gray mana.
He didn’t need to imagine that, though. Fortunately, the approaching monsters saved him from that morbid imagery.
“Mana?” Lisa sent to everyone.
“Close to a tenth remaining,” Lev answered.
One by one, everyone else answered. Viktor, Elias, Rena, Zack, and Luna were the only ones with mostly filled pools. Everyone else was tapped completely, so they stayed behind while the five took it upon themselves to clear as many monsters as possible.
After all, the fight against the Nure had shown them the gap between Melvine and Lev, and everyone else very clearly.
And by early morning, we will be back at the citadel.
All in all, Lev was strangely relieved to be surrounded by humans again after all that had happened in the dungeon.