Things happened faster than Lev had ever operated before.
Blood seeped out of the first wound, though before it could even coalesce into a drop, the Nure formed an obelisk and darted inside. The thrown lance missed by a blink, but this time, Lev was not going to play a game of cat and mouse.
Before the ground could turn into stone, a Fracturing Wave landed on the obelisk. He trusted Drakys to keep the fort safe, for the explosion was mighty.
Forced out of the structure, the Nure decided to get close and personal. It—somehow— dodged the next lance despite the projectile’s speed and spent enough mana for body enhancement to light up like a beacon in Lev’s senses.
His Perception struggled to keep up with its speed, though he still waited. Feedback trickled in from his new skill, and this time, the effect was akin to his glaive skill. No more was it a straightforward bonus. He was looking at yet another boon that would later define his path.
The moment they were within twenty meters of each other, everything erupted into motion. Terrifying gray mana rushed towards his form, only to be washed away as Lev infused his armor with shadow mana. Hidden by invisibility formations, he simply moved out of the monster’s path and aligned all of his traps.
Orbs exploded first, overloaded with lightning to impair vision. The Nure halted, though Lev saw no signs of pain in its aura or bearing. His Perception skills peered through the explosions, tracking its every move.
Alright. He allowed himself one moment of rest and planning. Let’s see what this new skill is capable of.
In less than a second, Lev’s vision was dominated by bright blue. Half of it was fire that detonated near the monster’s tail and torso to unbalance it. The other half was lightning, infused into constructs like ropes and lances.
The first huge lance, enchanted with Lightning Surge, found its mark. It landed squarely on the chest in a shower of stone debris and a bit of blood. Lightning eagerly dug in, stunning the Nure for ropes.
Most of them tried and failed to pierce the rapidly forming stone armor on the monster. The rest coiled around its strong arms, and it was only the brief paralysis that allowed Lev to jump in.
Using another lance as bait, he waited until the creature dodged before appearing behind its shoulder. Stargazer fell in a blur, and yet, the blade only pierced the stone coating, failing to reach the flesh.
Sharp protrusions grew on the monster’s body, almost impaling him before he hastily backtracked. Shadow mana once again made him invisible, but he didn’t wait this time. A massive shieldwall fell from above, its weight raised to the extreme. The ground below the Nure also exploded into bits.
Visibly annoyed, it formed a stone platform and held it afloat. Mana rushed out of it in waves, turning the debris mid-air and the surrounding ground into stone.
Then it was all launched haphazardly. Lev used shieldwall after shieldwall to block the barrage while moving in, using another lance as bait. The monster was expecting it, dodging while keeping an eye out for the human.
He wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Instead, the floating ground below it bubbled for an instant before a Fracturing Wave tore through it. The Nure still reacted in time, forming a stone pillar from its left and punching itself out of the way. Hard.
Lev would’ve noticed that the same impact would’ve killed him if he could spare the mental effort. He was already swinging, Stargazer’s blade flying towards the wound on its chest. A clawed hand, covered in stone, blurred towards Lev, thwarting that attempt.
He was prepared for that. A big orb wrapped him up, and Lightning Surge came alive. His mind and skills charted a clean path towards the least resistance behind the monster. The orb moved near-instantaneously, and yet, when it fell away, Lev had to quickly lean to the side. A stone protrusion nearly grazed his face, shearing through the barrier armor. Lightning was infused in a burst to counteract the petrification mana, and also for him to retreat.
Just how fucking high is this thing’s Perception!? Lev glared at the Nure that retreated for once, wary of more rapid attacks. Despite all of that, there were only two wounds on its body. Fine, then. I’ve been wanting to try something new, anyway.
Fear surged in him. Lev had very specifically refrained from even thinking about a certain matter. And now, he was about to change that, and the results were going to be anyone’s guess.
The dance began anew. Lev hid with shadow mana, pestered the Nure with attacks, actually landed a beam on the side of its head, grazed it with a few spikes, tossed two Upper-Rare discs at its neck, and even used a few dozen ropes.
Throughout all of that, he was in more danger than the monster. As much as he wanted to feel like it was going to plan, it really wasn’t. The best he could manage was a single bait, one that left him in the path of the creature’s open palm.
He could feel an insane amount of mana roaring inside of it. A single touch, and Lev would be turned to stone. His Perception slowed down to the extreme to reflect that, though he remained prepared with matching amounts of lightning and blue fire in his armor.
Uhhhh… Uhm, my lord, please don’t take offense to this.
Lev did what he considered beyond foolish. Mara had warned him never to say his patron’s name aloud. It was too dangerous. Monarch knew what would come of it, and he certainly wasn’t going to risk finding out.
What about himself, though? He had only an instant to test it, and before he could second-guess himself, Lev imagined the majestic dragon he had seen when he had received a Blessing.
The effect was immediate. All bodily and mental functions halted. Lev became a prisoner in his own mind, frozen and powerless in front of the huge eye. There was nothing else surrounding it, only a few massive scales and an endless expanse of white.
Then, inside his paused consciousness, the eye moved ever so slightly to stare directly at him.
Fear turned into terror, then that morphed into resigned awe. Lev couldn’t even make a peep, and yet he didn’t feel any danger from Kassavin, only…
Huh?
The corners of the eye creased upwards almost imperceptibly, and then he was ejected from the mindscape. Reeling, disoriented, and incredibly glad to still be alive, Lev realized that the slowed instant was still ongoing. The Nure, however, felt like it was moving in reverse until he realized it was running. For the first time, Lev saw only fear in the eyes of a monster. A third-threshold monster, no less.
He could dive into that later. His original plan took priority. Raising his right palm high, Lev created a ball of lightning and infused it with willpower. The element turned more stable from the infusion, so he compressed it, in turn making it even brighter.
Then he did everything he could. First, he tried to imbue a desire into the ball of lightning. It didn’t work, so he instead threw even more willpower at it. When that also didn’t do anything, he tried to compress it farther, which almost made it explode. Just to be certain, he also dismissed his armor for a split second and touched the ball with his finger. Skin melted immediately, except that the addition of his blood also had no effect.
Again and again, he searched the corners of his instincts. Guided by mana, he came closer and closer until the first thing clicked. Reducing the amount of willpower, he also stripped away everything else affecting the lightning. It was primed for something, but Lev ran into another wall.
In that dazed state, though, he did what he normally wouldn’t have. The sheer awe and terror from the brief experience urged him to be mad, so he complied. When simply tripling the amount of lightning also didn’t do anything, he threw his whole left hand onto the ball. It was filled to the brim with mana, and he immediately tried to pull it back.
The lightning refused to let it leave. Alarmed, Lev’s drunken state evaporated as his limb felt a pull. He almost forcefully pulled the arm back until a nudge made him reconsider.
Unexpectedly, it came from Mana Regulation. The skill sat there, waiting for a command. Lev’s confusion mounted as he set it to a constant output. When that didn’t feel enough, he followed his gut and gave the element a simple command.
Kill for me.
In slow-motion, the ball morphed in front of his eyes. The blue lightning became denser, greedily absorbing willpower and stamina from his body. Then, like a wildfire spreading, the whole thing became white, still retaining a tint of blue that hinted at the base element.
The slowed instant from his Perception skill ended. He turned towards the Nure, only to find it waiting at a distance, warily looking at the evolved lightning. Lev chuckled, which almost devolved into full-blown laughter before he remembered who was watching over him.
Thank you, Lev spoke in his head, regardless of whether it was heard or not. Outwardly, he bowed towards the sky, for that much was definitely going to be seen. I know how much worse that could’ve been. So, truly, thank you for sparing me. I will do my best to live up to your expectations, no matter what they are.
No reply came, though he was glad for that. Talking to a god was far too daunting a prospect, something he could do without for a few decades or even centuries.
Getting up from his bow, he immediately pushed everything related to the experience to the back of his mind. The new and improved lightning took priority, and what a gorgeous sight it was.
The damned thing was actively killing him. Lev almost coughed up blood before healing himself, replenishing the lost stamina with restoration mana, also noticing how the healing was outpaced by the stamina depletion. It felt right, now, to give the lightning only a nudge instead of a full push like fire.
From the start, the element had been volatile. Enforcing more control upon it was, while viable, not what he ultimately demanded from it. Lightning filled that raw, destructive role in his arsenal, and he wanted it to continue excelling in that. Fire did, too, but he had always been more careful with it, and for good reason. Too easy to blow himself up.
Thus, the command was perfect. Relatively. If only it weren’t killing him as well. Such was the tradeoff for more power, but Lev could feel just how potent the new element was.
Bringing all of his manipulation to bear, he twisted the ball of white lightning until it resembled a lance. Then, with a thought, he launched it at the monster while observing it closely. Its speed was already considerably higher than normal lightning.
The Nure tried to run, diving into an obelisk. Just before it could enter fully, the white lance also tore into the structure, eliciting a very loud roar of pain. The monster stumbled out of the other side instead of diving underneath, and Lev was already there, Stargazer in hand.
Stone met barrier blade infused with white lightning, and the former lost this time. The impacted stone armor was reduced to particles, wasting a lot of the lightning, though more was constantly being converted. It took a ridiculous effort to shape a Fracturing Wave with the new element, and he fired it immediately upon completion.
His control wasn’t enough, but the distance between the slash and its destination was also negligible. It immediately tore through the remaining stone armor before tearing into the monster’s hand.
With great interest, Lev watched. The lightning seemed to possess a mind of its own, greedily searching for vitality. It snaked its way inside the body, targeting blood to use it as a conduit.
The pain in the Nure’s wail reflected that. Dozens of pillars rose around the monster as it tried to create room for escape. Lev wasn’t going to allow that.
Converting another chunk of white lightning, he was forced to stop creating even more. His body felt as if it had aged several decades in ten seconds, and he also pushed that to the back of his mind.
A huge orb of blue fire landed amidst the stone pillars. The Nure almost managed to get inside one before it was blown off course. All of the stone structures were destroyed by the massive blast, through which Lev dove towards the monster.
It felt him coming. Stone spikes formed and shot towards his location, dispersing the flames in their wake. Through that barrage, a white arrow flew faster than the Nure could track, embedding itself deep into its eye.
Stunned, it could do nothing when Stargazer hit it hard enough to destroy the armor covering its chest. Lightning discharged violently, rupturing internal organs. The monster still tried to run. Turning around, it threw gray mana at the ground to turn it into stone, only for it to bounce off Lev’s armor.
Seeing a chance, the Nure overloaded its body enhancement and punched with all four arms. The huge bubble, with its weight pushed to the maximum, fell on its head before something could become of that move, pushing its head towards Lev’s raised right arm. It also happened to be blazing with white.
I win this time, bitch.
A lightning bolt roared out of his limb. It also blew off the arm entirely, though he had already put his storage ring into his pockets.
The result was shockingly powerful. There was only a small explosion; it was loud as hell. The lightning proved more vindictive than expected, every last drop of it seeping into the skin to raze the monster’s brain. It died before Lev could prepare the next moves.
[
Your Group has slain [Mature Nure - Level 608]
Mana Regulation has reached Level 3
Trapping has evolved
Arcane Barrier Authority has reached 4th Level 9
Wrath of the Arcane has reached 5th Level 1
Expeditious Empowerment has reached 4th Level 9
Mage Conduit has reached 4th Level 9
]
…Where did the class levels go?