My arms felt like they were being ripped off from two different directions as I swung using the threads created by 「Black Widow」, a spell that, I recognized as a utility, rather than combat spell. I also felt that my element and origin has affected the spell in some way and altered it's properties. Nevertheless, it's a convenient spell to learn, especially against my current opponent, though a combat or defensive spell would have worked much better here.
I bury my saltiness and swing like a pendulum, landing on the enormous beast's head. I manipulate the threads so that I could have something to hold onto, and grip the conjured webs with my all. The spell fizzed out of existence for a bit, making me lose balance, but I quickly stabilized it, pouring and draining mana from my reserves.
The 「Black Widow」 spell is a utility spell, I assumed, and thus was ineffective in real-life combat situations, though the indirect uses of it's properties seemed infinite, almost never-ending. That much I was certain about. The length and tensile strength are indirectly related. If one side rises, the other must fall—that kind of thing. I remember the witch saying something about this, though I could not remember the exact term.
I take a deep breath and pull out my sword I had tied to my scabbard with a short, durable black thread to keep it from falling off. In a clean, smooth motion, I draw the blade with one hand slash the beast's hard scales.
*ching*
Sparks flew as the momentary contact with the hydra's tough scales caused a brief ignition. It's too hard, I realized. Much too hard, I affirmed. I need to find a weak point, one that I can slice through.
*rumble rumble*
The beast trashed again, and I held on for dear life like this was a rodeo and I was the cowboy. I need to find that weak point, fast.
I took a deep breath, checked how much mana I had…and let go.
*whoosh*
As the beast was trashing, I was flung backwards, then continued falling, lower and faster. I stayed idle as the ground grew closer, focusing inside and doing my best not to break my concentration.
…
Then, the world froze..no, not freeze. It was just passing by so slowly that it looked like it was frozen. I ignored it and focused some more, even closing my eyes.
One thing has been bothering me since my fight with the sonic bats. While I was fighting the underlings of the giant sonic bats, I had managed to 'get in the zone' as athletes called it. It was the state of peak of concentration that some athletes experience in times of need or just utter desperation.
To them, it was like the whole world slowed down. 'Just me and the ball', I heard a football player say in a documentary once. I had tried to do the same thing in my past life before, but never succeeded. It wasn't like I knew what to expect or consider a success, rather, I just based it on my instincts, hoping that I would know what it is when I did experienced it.
I had tried to replicate that skill in this world as well.
When I awakened to the presence of mana and learned 「Reinforcement」, out of all the possible spells that I could have developed, this was the first thing that came to mind. This desire lead to the development of「Horizon Oath」.
Then, there was the event right after that, the one with the bats. In that occasion, however, I ended up not relying on 「Horizon Oath」, but rather a different ability, though the results ended up being the same. I had done, reached peak concentration without the aid of magic—at least as far as I knew.
At this point, I had simply chalked off this…ability of mine as something I could do on command, as long as the conditions are met. This all changed, though, with the simple utterance of the witch.
"To be able to focus to such a degree through sheer will is, what I can only call as, impressive. You should hone this technique further, polish and master it to it's absolute limit. A technique like this can come a long way. Who knows? Maybe it might even become a skill." That overly casual remark lit a fire of curiosity inside of me.
What could she have meant by that? The question irked me like an unreachable itch. If skills can be learned instead of simply absorbing like I thought the first time I got here, then that should mean…
「You have learned the skill 'Mind's Eye' Lv.1」
「You have obtained the skill 'Mind's Eye' Lv.4」
「Skill 'Mind's Eye' is activating」
That's more like it.
It was only then that the world unfroze itself, albeit it was still considerably slow.
Time seemed to pass at a snail's pace.
I took a deep breath and emitted the mana inside of me. With my enhanced sensory capabilities, I was able to obtain more information at a much higher rate.
The center of my mana, my core, the pulsating organ in my chest thumped wildly and unnaturally as it pumped not just blood, but mana as well into my mana circuits and out of my pores, materializing into a transparent film of black just above my skin. Before it expanded any further, I willed it to stay as cling to my skin without actually seeping into it. The half-formed barrier heeded my command and stopped just there, hovering an inch above my skin. Quickly reorienting myself, I crashed on the ground with a loud thud.
*BOOM*
The piercing pain seemed to stretch for an infinite moment, my hyper-sensory skill extended the moment for much longer than I would have liked, just like a spell that I have. Fair is fair, I guess. Such a powerful skill was bound to have an equally powerful downside.
The pain spread throughout my body in slow-motion, making me feel every second of what was supposed to be just a moment of agony.
I stood up on shaky legs and put my sword.
The giant hydra looked down on me with it's ethereal gaze, both mystifying and terrifying.
Come on.
*boom boom boom*
It rushed at me with malicious intent, palpable even from where I stood. I sucked in breath and dashed forward as well, my eyes traced on it's every move.
「Skill 'Quick Step' is activating」
The hydra opens it's maw wide, conjuring multiple earthen spikes from the ground just behind me. They miss, of course. With 「Mind's Eye」 active, combined with my mana tracking and vision, I could see the way the mana traveled from the beast's core, into the ground, and traveled in the ground and predicted the formation of a spell just behind me.
「Skill 'Instinct' is warning you」
The beast was relentless, always conjuring earthen spikes behind me with every step I took. I was always a step ahead, though, quite literally. With the way this confrontation is going, I'm bound to reach and battle the beast upfront where I'm at a disadvantage, just where the hydra wanted me to be.
At least, that's what it thought.
「Skill 'Instinct' is warning you」
Condensing and focusing mana into my legs, I leap forward and use 「Mana Burst」 to jump into the beast's mouth. Right after I do so, I cover myself in a thick barrier, one that surpassed even my expectations.
I guess fear really does do weird things to people, I thought, a little merry despite my current situation. The place was pitch-dark, but thanks to 「Night Vision」, I could see perfectly well.
「You have learned the skill 'Acid Resistance' Lv.1」
Yup, I was in the beast's mouth.
I imbue my sword with as much mana as I could spare, then step forward and stand before at the beast's uvula.
This should hurt.
◇◆◇◆◇
Is he…
My knight rushed to the beast's front, his eyes opened as wide as he could as he grasped for every single variable that could be seen. Then, just as the chasing spikes were but mere inches away from him, he jumped forward with force greater than he could normally exude.
"No!" I cried aloud, standing up and immediately rushing to his location, it took but a moment for me to catch up to him. At this rate…
Huh…? It was then that something happened, one that I couldn't have ever predicted.
The hydra, a being at the near top of the serpentine ladder…began to bleed from it's eyes, nose, and trashed about wildly. However, that was not what surprised me.
It was it's mana, more specifically the one in it's core. It was draining rapidly, dropping even faster every other second.
Somebody is draining it.
It couldn't be. Magic-born creatures, those that rely on them much more than normal magicians like monsters or outer beings, depend on mana much more to sustain their bodies.
For example, me and my knight. Our body naturally absorbs and purifies mana, though the process can be hastened upon mediation. We depend on mana to survive, even suffer severe repercussions upon too much use of it, but rarely ever death. That is because of our instincts, stopping us before we could reach the point of no return. However, if, somehow and someway, somebody could, absorb that mana without their consent and with minimal conditions.
"That would mean instant death, even more so magic-born creatures."
…
A minute later, my knight stepped out, bruised and bloody with a hint of acid. He had a vial in his hand and his eyes barely open.
Then, almost lifelessly, he fell over and collapsed, just before giving me snarky grin.