The shadowed form smoothly weaved in between boulders, hiding from the bright light. Jet-black scales camouflaged it in the pockets of darkness, making it difficult to spot. Sedia created another fireball and sent it out behind the boulders, forcing the large beast to come out of hiding.
The large beast made a hissing sound that could burst eardrums as it slunk away from the boulders and into the light of Sedia's fireball. It shared a physiology similar to that of a snake, but Magnius wouldn't know because he'd never seen one.
Sedia pointed at it nonchalantly. "That's a Kuolema Orvis-- Dangerous and aggressive. Probably came here through some gate to hibernate or nest." There was a glow in her eyes as she watched it.
The massive beast lowered its head, observing Magnius and Sedia with instinctual intellegence as it circled around them. Its large, muscled legs made no sound as it walked. It hadn't attacked yet because it was wary of Sedia. Its instincts warned it of the danger. But its aggressiveness prevented it from fleeing.
Sedia smiled at sweetly at Magnius. "Kill it."
"Wha-?" Sedia suddenly dissapeared from in front of him, leaving him alone with the massive beast.
The threat suddenly gone, the Kuolema Orvis readied itself to pounce, its powerful muscles contracting like coiled springs.
Magnius unsheathed his daggers.
"Sedia! You b-"
Magnius wasn't able to finish his sentence before the Kuolema Orvis leaped at him. It crossed the distance in an instant, attempting to crush him with its large paws. Magnius jumped backwards to avoid the crushing strike.
He observed his surroundings and noticed that the area was uncannily similar to an arena. Had Sedia planned this?
Magnius was pulled back to the battle as the Kuolema Orvis snapped its head at him. If it bit him, it would surely bite him in half. But it didn't manage to bite him no matter how many times it snapped its head at him. Magnius dodged all of the strikes.
Magnius was so focused on avoiding its head that it failed to notice it was reading to swipe at him with his tail. The beast pivoted suddenly and flung its flattened tail it him
It was way too late to dodge by the time Magnius noticed.
He reinforced his bones with mana and blocked the strike. The force behind the strike was equal to that of a speeding truck, knocking Magnius away and flying into a wall.
Damn snake.
Magnius was pissed. He stood up and oberved the large animal. It watched him inquisitively with that beastly intelligence, inspecting to see if its strike had dealt any lasting damage and caused weakness for it to exploit.
Magnius went through the battle in his head. The last exchange had made him realize that the combat Sedia had thought him was largely meant to be used in battle with people. It would have little effect when used in battle against large monsters who used instinct in battle and not martial arts.
So then what should he do?
The beast pounced at him and Magnius dashed towards it, moving under its belly. He slashed fatal edge across it, but the Kuolema Orvis' scales prevented the blade from entering its flesh, instead just leaving a thin scar. The beast twisted in mid air, attempting to swipe at him with its tail.
Magnius was ready, rolling under the strike and wrapping the wire connecting his daggers around one of the beast's legs. He pulled and the beast faltered on its landing, falling to ground. Magnius took this moment to jump on its back.
The beast panicked and jumped up, rearing its back and head to try and shake him off.
"Stop squirming." He empowered his arm with mana and drove the blood edge dagger into the Kuolema Orvis' back. The serrated edge of the blade prevented the dagger from being pulled out and Magnius held onto it, preventing the beast from shaking off.
Magnius felt the beast rumble beneath him. Exactly what he was waiting for. Magnius let go of the blood edge and jumped high into the air, twisting like a screw. He readied the fatal edge to strike just as the beast rolled, exactly as he had predicted it would.
Magnius gathered mana in his arm. After his original strike had been warded off by the beast's scales, he wondered what he could do to penetrate its scaly defence. Magnius wondered how he could make his slash sharper, faster and more deadly.
He circulated mana into his arm, but differently from how he usually would.
If simply gathering mana in his muscles made them stronger, then what would happen if he contained it and prevented it from leaving his muscles? Magnius concluded it would result in an extremely powerful strike. The problem was that containing it in a certain area was extremely difficult. If the volume of mana became too great the pressure would build and explode outwards. But that was exactly what Magnius wanted.
Magnius twisted in the air and his fatal edge flashed just as the beast rolled over onto its back. The power exploded out of his arm like a spring and into the fatal edge, cleanly severing the Kuolema Orvis' tail at the base.
'KIAAAAAAESSSSSSSSSSSS'
The beast screamed and hissed as Magnius landed on the ground. The beast twisted and writhed haphazardly, nearly crushing him. The blood edge lodged into its back came loose, and Magnius pulled on the wire to return the dagger to his hand.
Magnius looked at beast's severed tail. What a satisfying result.
The Kuolema Orvis recovered from its shock and sprang up onto its legs. It regarded him differently this time. The beast recognized that Magnius was extremely dangerous.
But did fleeing cross its mind? No!
The Kuolema Orvis is an extremely aggressive and territorial monster. It would never flee from invaders.
The beast reared its back, hissing loudly as it coiled its body once again. Its bright eyes turned to slits and it opened its mouth and purple venom dripped out, an ominous sight.
Magnius chuckled. Was it trying to intimidate him? If so, it almost worked. But Magnius wasn't intimidated. The beast's severed tail worked as evidence. It was weaker than him.
Magnius took a stance, bending his knees and bringing both his daggers to his right side. He locked the fatal edge into one of the serrated edge of the blood edge. If he coiled the mana in his legs, instead of his arms, would it have a similar effect? He wanted to find out.
The condensed mana exploded as Magnius jumped at the beast. He crossed the distance in less than an instant. The coiled mana in his arms exploded as Magnius severed the beast's head with his daggers.
The beast's head, still locked into a display of aggression and intimidation, rollled on the ground as its body twitched before collapsing.
Sedia suddenly appeared next to him. A wide grin on her face.
"Damn! That was pretty exciting to watch. You did a lot better than I thought you would. You figured out how to apply mana to battle properly, too! There's no better teacher than experience, after all."
Magnius cleaned his daggers and sheathed them, once again wrapping the long wire around his waist.
Magnius glared at her.
"What's that look for? You killed it just fine, didn't you?"
"What if it ended up being a magic beast and crushed me with earth magic, or something?"
"You think I'm stupid? I could tell it wasn't. Now open your pack and get our your skinning tools. You're gutting it."
"Just me?"
"Shut up and take out the damn tools."
__
Magnius cut open the Kuolema Orvis' belly and its large intestines spilled out. The stink of blood began to permeate the area as he worked.
"Make sure you don't puncture the venom gland next to the liver." Sedia directed him throughout the process.
"Most beasts have some kind of unique physiology. The Kuolema Orvis' is that massive venom sac next to the liver. The poisons and venom they create depend on what they eat. The toxins get filtered out by the liver and then the venom sac turns them into something nastier. If you puncture it the entire body will be ruined."
Magnius did his best to work around it. He couldn't help but compare himself to the spider at this moment. Was he any different from him? Just like the spider would gut Magnius, he was now gutting the Kuolema Orvis.
Sedia smacked him in the back of his head. "I can tell what you're thinking. Its not the same at all. Now work fast before the blood attracts more beasts. Detach the venom sac here..."
Sedia instructed him through the entire process of taking out the seperate organs. Sedia told him only to keep the venom sac and throw out the rest. The small bat-like beasts began feasting on the discarded organs.
"Now sever the tendons here and take this piece of from its spine. Follow the spine ridge along to its skull. Detach the venom gland next to its fangs-- Good. Now break off two of its fangs."
Magnius worked with purpose, and eventually they had harvested the necessary materials from the Kuolema Orvis corpse.
Magnius put them all in his storage pack while Sedia burned the body.
"What are the materials for?"
"You'll know when we get back home. Now get up-- we're going to continue on, now."
Sedia called the ball of fire back and it hovered next to her shoulder. She sprinted on into the darkness, Magnius following closely behind.