The night was bright under the splendour of the two moons. The bigger moon hung far to the west, eager to have its watch end for the night. Trailing far behind was its little sister, which seemed reluctant to leave without receiving first the adoration of the early morning risers. After the Rahang Nimgan, Bulan would linger in the sky well after daybreak.
Blink strolled into the monster's lair with the confidence of a conqueror. With the recent upgrades in his soul and mana quality, he was ever more certain that he could finally kill the monster beast. Moreover, he tested his mental energy on several pieces of stones by the riverside. He came up with the conclusion that his mental energy power had increased by at least three times based on the size of the stones he could control through telekinesis.
When the monster saw Blink, it let out a low moaning sound ending with something like a whine.
As expected, it still didn't want to fight him. It looked at Blink with hopeful pleading eyes.
Blink walked casually towards the monster, which became more and more restless as he approached.
At thirty meters away, Blink stopped. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to drive away whatever hesitation he was having at the moment. It took only a few deep breaths.
The moment Blink opened his eyes, he fired off a [[Flame Shot]] towards the monster beast. When the shot hit, the creature got staggered so hard it had to take five steps back to stabilize its footing. It was clear that [[Flame Shot]] not only gained a longer range but also packed more power than it did a few hours back.
After recovering from the jarring explosion it just took head on, the monster immediately sank into its turtle shell defense.
Blink didn't care. He fired away at the monster with both hands while keeping in mind to not break past the optimal threshold of his mental energy. He now had a lot more mana and mental energy that it was hardly a problem.
The desperate cries of the monster still affected Blink somehow. However, he countered the desolation in his heart by thinking of that human skull that he saw the first time he went here to this monster's lair.
When it went on long enough, however, Blink's resolution was on the verge of collapsing.
Fortunately, the monster beast decided it had had enough. It roared towards Blink then shot out a billow of fire.
Blink almost laughed at the monster's mindless attack. He was too far away from the range of the enemy's burst of flame.
The beast tried to move closer only to get stymied at every step by Blink's offensive arsenal. As if to add insult to injury, Blink even found the time to mentally hurl a rock into the monster's head.
After desperately trying and failing to close in one too many times, the beastly monstrosity turned berserk. It charged at Blink with all its might and somehow used its rage to ignore the pain inflicted by Blink's magical attacks.
The sudden change in the battle's pace caught Blink by surprise. While he was able to easily dodge the first few assaults, the non-stop mindless charge by the monster got Blink flustered enough to mess up with his timing. Eventually, he found himself harried no end by the beast's total disregard for pain.
Blink knew he had lost the initiative completely.
After a lot of rolling around to dodge the monster's attempts at taking a bite at him, Blink saw an opportunity to turn things around. It happened during a moment when the monster's jaw was just a hairline away from snapping his head off. The monster failed to check its momentum and slid for several meters as it tried to turn itself around to resume its attack. Blink recalled that there were several close shaves that ended up with the monster nearly stumbling. Of course, many times Blink was able to evade earlier. But during those times, the monster was also able to stabilize its footing immediately for another charge.
Keeping those in mind, Blink retreated while firing away at the monster. He knew it would be dangerous, but it's the only way he could win. He had to let the monster come really close to him before rolling away to the side.
Seeing that the beast was about to charge him again, Blink steeled his nerves but still felt a little on edge. It was at this moment that he felt a warm feeling spread from his forehead to every part of his body. And just like that Blink suddenly felt an absolute calmness take over him.
As the beast was about to close in, Blink gritted his teeth. Then, at the precise moment, he rolled to the side, and the beast overshot him by a mile.
The beast tried to turn immediately by sliding as it had done several times already. However, Blink sent it tumbling with a heavy [[Barrage]] to its rump. With its adversary hitting the dust, Blink fired shot after shot in quick succession as he retreated. In the succeeding sequences, Blink was even able to plant an [[Earth Spike]] at the very spot where the monster would stumble after receiving an explosive pummelling.
Over and over the scene repeated itself. The monster tried to change its tactics, but Blink was always on top of the situation, making the correct guesses and preparing a nasty counter-tactic.
Yet for all the magic attacks the monster beast had taken, it only screamed in pain but it simply refused to die. Blink had a troubled feeling in his heart.
Blink came up with only one obvious conclusion. He might hurt the monster beast with magic but not kill it.
Once more the calming effect of the fiery teardrop gem in his forehead sorted out Blink's troubled heart.
"I may have to try that then," Blink spoke to no one in particular.
Facing the monster, Blink calculated the distance between him and the wall of rocks at two o'clock to his right.
"Between thirty to forty meters," Blink thought.
He cast an [[Earth Spike]] right behind him. The spike was angled at forty-five degrees and was just several centimeters from piercing one of his thighs.
Blink sent a [[Barrage]]. He didn't stop even when the monster beast charged at him. The enemy had totally gone berserk and didn't allow itself to be bothered by the powerful projectiles that was hitting it at an insane rate of five shots a second.
When the enraged beast was only eight meters away, Blink successfully penetrated its defense and a [[Flame Shot]] exploded on the creature's left eye. Normally, that should have stopped the monster on its tracks. However, it had already established a strong momentum. Besides that, its target was also just a moment away it could almost taste the sweetness of victory.
The monster opened its jaws widely, ready to devour the dastardly human that had pestered it for days. But at that exact moment, Blink ducked and rolled to his right. The monster swung its massive head in a vain attempt to snatch a bite at Blink. It even lowered its head to have a better chance at the rolling enemy.
That act of lowering its head presented the best possible scenario for Blink. His [[Earth Spike]] punctured the lower part of the beast's neck. The monster went crashing down. It rolled several times over. When it stopped rolling, it trashed about and cried out in a terrifying shriek that sent chills all over Blink's spine.
Still, Blink wasn't about to let it catch a break. He plastered the monster with [[Flame Shots]] and [[Magic Arrows]] while piercing its sides with [[Earth Spike]] as it attempted to get up.
At this time Blink had positioned himself exactly where he wanted: with the wall of rocks fifteen meters behind him. He knew exactly what to do. He clenched his fists tightly and let the monster beast gather itself together.
When the large beast was finally on its feet, Blink let it stare at him for a few moments. Then he sent a [[Flame Shot]] to its ruined eye to get the action going anew.
Direct hit!
A shower of blood sprang out of the monster's eye. It screamed in utter agony.
Blink provoked it further into rage. He shot a few more times to its head still trying to target its eyes.
The monster cocked its head back. It was about to send out its breath of fire. Blink didn't try to interrupt it. The spell won't reach him anyway. More importantly, he understood perfectly what the beast wanted to do. It was trying to use the fire to cover its charge.
Blink started walking backward while shooting an endless barrage of [[Flame Shots]] towards the monster's fire cover. The monster charged out, mouth wide open as it screamed to resist against Blink's flaming missiles.
When the monster was about ten meters close, Blink turned around and ran towards the rocks.
He stepped into a nearly flat angled surface of the middlemost rock with his right foot.
Then, he stepped upwards with his left foot.
Next, he kicked his left foot against the rock to launch himself high in the air.
He twisted his body in mid-air allowing him to see the enemy below.
As the monster came under him, he pushed his left palm against the monster's snout to stabilize himself.
His right hand turned into a glowing ember.
His right hand came down.
Collapsing Mountain – Seismic Palm variation!
Blink grunted to channel his energy into his palm as it struck the monster beast's head.
He landed safely beside the monster beast, which went down with a thud—its shrieking stopping suddenly.
There was no violent twitching like a butchered animal would do as its life was about to end.
The monster just laid there quietly, its death too sudden its eyes were bulging out. Blood poured out from its eye sockets, nostrils, mouth and ears. From its ears also gushed out a milky white substance. On top of its head was a charred palm-sized spot where his [Hand of Ember] struck.
Blink's knees seemed to turn to jelly. He stumbled backwards crashing heavily on his buttocks. His back slammed hard against the rock, but he felt nothing. Just an emptiness gnawing at him that started from the pit of his stomach spreading out to his lungs then to the top of his head. He felt a numbness take possession of his limbs.
Blink was now staring the dead monster in the face. He rested his hands just below his bent knees out in front of him. He clenched his hands tightly into fists. His hands started to shake—gently at first and then violently later on.