I hummed while looking around. We had descended to the 11th layer and had been clearing chambers for a while now. Everything was dead, but my Danger Sense hadn't subsided.
"There is something hiding," Lanner said as he carefully approached me, with a wand out.
Ozy was flying up above, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The chamber we were in had Feathered Humanoids. We finally took them all out, but it was a struggle.
This was the fourth and last chamber for the day. After this, we would rest and then repeat it all the next day. Even with our senses, Ozy and I found nothing when we looked around.
The tension continued to increase as we waited for whatever was causing our Danger Sense to trigger.
"What do you think it is?" Lanner asked after a couple of minutes.
"A monster, one that is clearly capable. Most likely an Abnormal," I said with a frown.
Demons might be a bit more common on the surface, but I didn't think we would run into one randomly in the dungeon.
No, this was a classic situation where an Abnormal would show up. A monster that defied the standard conventions of the dungeon. Ozy flew about and checked each tunnel leading into the chamber, nothing.
Closing my eyes, I focused on my skill, Danger Sense. Slowly turning my head, I let myself experience the minute changes. It took several minutes, but I could sense the direction the threat was coming from.
I turned to look and then used my sensory skills. Though difficult to see, Shadow Vision detected a small warp. I mentally communicated that information to Ozy.
The monster reacted to being spotted. It broke out of stealth, and overwhelming pressure crushed down upon us. This monster, no Abnormal, was a legend. It was massive, at least the size of the war mech.
My hand tightened on my Reforged Beginner's Blade. I couldn't place its general type, except as a bug. But it was a giant armored dark green bug.
Its carapace had a metallic glint. Each of its six legs resembled a blade. Its mouth was a giant pair of scissors, and it had a pointed spiked tail. It had six eyes scattered around its giant scissor mouth with elevated armored plating. It was clearly a melee-type monster.
As its massive scissor mouth opened, revealing smaller teeth, it let out a roar. I would rather face a demon than this thing. I knew how humanoids fought, but this Abnormal was unlike previous monsters.
Lanner had collapsed to his knees in fear or pain. It didn't matter; I could not protect him in this fight.
The monster was looking at me and Ozy, and well if it wanted to give me time, I would take it.
My offhand darted into my spatial pouch, knowing what I wanted to grab. The monster leaped off the wall.
Ozy created a volume of solidified space that I didn't understand. But he could accomplish it with Alchemic Bounded Field.
My offhand pulled out a stone plate. I put roughly a third of Mana reserves into it. Now wasn't the time for hesitation or careful activation. I threw it at the monster.
"Ward!"
The fire and lightning exploded outwards, striking the monster. Ozy shielded himself as well. Lanner went tumbling away from the force of the blast.
Although damaged and smoking, the monster left the effect without fatal injuries. I moved my off-hand to my blade, and I twisted a little.
The monster's scissor blades on the front of its mouth spread open, hemming me in. I had to gamble. Trying to duck or dodge would expose me to its six sword legs. It would slice me apart.
"Vibration Blade!"
I moved with my slash, darting to the side. My blade cut into one half of its scissor mouth. My back took a hit, but my blade still pierced through.
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I cut through its mouth, and I rolled to transition the loss of force and balance. My healing points had plummeted by more than half. Ozy had also used a Greater Cure otherwise the damage would have been even more severe. The enemy completely compromised my armor's back.
The monster lunged and swung its legs as I stood up. I retreated backwards while quickly parrying the attacks. Each blow was like a massive hammer slamming into me.
To keep up with the attacks, I needed both hands. I couldn't afford to cast a spell skill now. My blade barely scratched the monster's blade limbs but didn't sever them. I wasn't strong enough with my weapon and skill.
Ozy rushed in, yet the monster lurched, and the sharp spike extended on a muscle cord. My pet evaded.
The monster jumped into the air, slamming one of its legs down at me, forcing me to one knee as I blocked the heavy flow, while slicing at Ozy with another leg.
My pet tried to dodge but took a heavy blow across his stomach. The mental feedback of his pain and shock nearly overwhelmed as he screamed in pain. The monster landed on the ground, breaking off its blade lock with me. I came back onto my feet.
"Lightning Beam! Lightning Beam!"
The attacks hit the monster, but it barely twitched and rushed at me again. More hits were traded.
I was panting, and the monster's increasing speed made it hard to keep pace. I felt fear grow as its Mana pressed down on me.
The ground underneath the monster turned to sludge. Good job Ozy!
The monster swung its tail up behind it, and the spiked point shot into the ceiling, pulling the monster up and out of danger. Ozy had healed himself and recovered, but his Mana was down to a third already.
My offhand reached into my spatial pouch and pulled out my wand. "Fireball!"
The monster leaped through the attack, using its front bladed limbs to disperse the spell skill. I had made the spell skill weaker on purpose to induce it to attack like this in a straight line where it couldn't dodge.
My wand came up, and I unleashed the spell skill inside of it. The Explosion struck the Abnormal. As I moved forward, the Vibration Blade remained active.
I swung, and it connected to the blade at the end of the armored limb. I pushed through it and continued onward. The monster crashed down, losing a bladed limb and spraying green ichor.
The spiked tail shot back out at me. I brought up my blade and deflected it slightly, but it still pierced my armor with my right arm, cutting into my flesh. I was focused on maintaining Vibration Blade.
My attack on its tail muscle only did minor damage as it retracted.
"Cure." I used the spell skill on myself, focusing on my wound. The spell repaired my arm, but I had about a fifth of my Mana left.
The monster let out another roar. It leaped at Ozy, who was flying in the air. Ozy darted out of the way, but his Mana was almost out. He wouldn't be able to dodge in the air much longer. We had damaged the Abnormal but were taking more damage. Although we had wounded it, and half of its scissor mouth and one of its six legs were missing, it was still quite capable.
Ozy's landing forced me to rush forward. The monster had landed on the ceiling again, this time using pure leg force to jump. It had twisted around and used its bladed legs to stick into the stone. I could sense its pure hatred of us from its eyes.
My breathing steadied itself slightly. I had to win. I had to.
The monster leaped back towards me, its legs and scissor mouth all pointing at me.
"Ward!"
The spell skill broke almost immediately but altered the monster's trajectory enough. I had to put everything I had into the next blow. This was it!
"Vibration Blade!"
As the monster passed over me, I pivoted and swung. Its tail shot out at me. The point deflected off the edge of my blade, piercing my helmet and scraping across the right side of my face.
I swung, parted the knotted muscle, and cut off the knotted tail. The monster roared and spun around, two of its bladed limbs coming for me. I didn't have the Mana and Vibration Blade stopped.
I exchanged a series of blows with the injured monster. Its missing leg, removed spiked tail, and earlier explosion damage were the only things that allowed me to keep up. The explosion from the stone plate and the wand had hurt it and damaged its armor, but the monster was well suited to resisting spell skills.
We continued to exchange blows across the chamber. Ozy used Refresh on me, but that was the end of his Mana as well. I had potions in reserve, but there was no time to pull one out and use it.
I focused everything on blocking the monster's limbed blades as they crashed down on me. My limbs felt like solid metal, but to stop moving was death.
Several times, the monster's bladed limbs cut into my armor, which was taking more damage. I felt wounds growing on my body. The damage was adding up. It was all I could do to avoid a critical blow that would kill me.
This was it.
This was how I was going to die…
I refused to go down. Not after everything!
I screamed. I tapped into the skill Focused Rage often to give me an extra boost. This time I dug as deep as possible.
My reserves would be useless after this, but I couldn't think about the next fight. I had to win this one.
As the blows continued, the Abnormal's overwhelming pressure forced me to retreat slowly. I had no time to reach into my spatial pouch. I had to use both hands to counter its superior strength. Its wounds were the only reason it hadn't crushed me already as our melee exchange stretched out to a minute.
Ozy created a burst of fire in front of the monster's face. He had recovered enough Mana to do that much. The monster paused in its assault to give me a moment to catch my breath and steady myself. I didn't have the strength to take advantage of the momentary distraction, unfortunately.
The monster was too strong, and I was too weak. I had enough Mana for one last attack, putting everything on the line. Using this skill against a superior monster with a higher level would hurt me tremendously.
It was like taking three cuts to deliver five cuts to an enemy. But there was no other choice. I couldn't win this fight any other way. If I survived, that was all that mattered.