Arie really did it. He managed to land an attack on a Titan.
There is actual physical damage on one of these massive sentient endless voids of mana. I'm not sure exactly how his attack is able to do it, but that doesn't matter right now...
Arie smirks looking over to me.
"See, they're not that bad. You were scared for nothing."
I still stare wide-eyed at the beast but crack a small smile.
"I guess you were right, they-"
Stopping halfway through my reply, the grin plastered across my face slowly fades away. The 3m wide hole on the front of the Titan's featureless face begins to shrink and the humming sound of dense mana in the air begins to grow louder and louder.
It's still well over 200m away, but approaching at a steady rate. Arie tightens his bowstring again and readies another arrow.
The smart thing to do would be to grab him and Dungeon Walk out of here before that Titan releases its shockwave, like before, casting us off into the endless void within it. My curiosity takes over though, I want to see what kind of attack his new bow shot really is.
Activating my All-Seeing Eye, watching the mana flow through Arie's body as he charges up another arrow.
That's right... he charges up his arrow. Highly refined mana flows through his body to form a dense arrow in his quiver. It's similar to my own refined mana...
The archer lets the arrow soar again.
It flies through the air leaving a light white glow in its wake. I recognize this arrow from the exam, but I didn't have the same understanding of mana control back then. I'm sure Arie's [Legendary Grade] skill adds to its power, but the actual strength behind his attack is due to the density and purity of the mana within it.
I gave him a lot less credit than he deserved... Arie has been a much more skilled Hunter than I first imagined.
As his arrow soars, more connections come together in my head. I remember watching my own refined mana attacks splitting through the void like butter, soon to heal up just like Arie's first unsuccessful strike.
Maybe my own attack will be strong enough to pierce the void of a Titan from the outside now too...
I grin as his arrow slices another clean 3m wide hole in the monster's featureless head. Gripping both of my blades, I begin to charge up an attack of my own. Just one... Then I'll portal us out of here.
I carefully open the spacial magic portal of my item storage against my back. I've been meaning to try a move like this for a while. Letting the mana crystals fall out, the moment they make contact with my body I activate plunderer and take in their MP.
My attack charges up slowly as the Void Creeper's wound heals.
I've rested and regained a lot of my strength since the last time I tried one of these attacks. The mana coursing through my veins feels denser and more stable than ever before, the only problem is the speed of absorption.
For this is a trial run, I don't need to go all out, but I want to release something very powerful. After about 30 seconds, I channel over 10,000MP into my blades and let the crescents of energy soar.
Not having an abundance of pure mana around me makes it much harder to plunder and imbue my blades. The efficiency rate has dropped by nearly 1/3 outside The Titan's Domain.
Even in my slightly weakened state, I still let out a devastating attack. The transparent blade of wind and the deep black blade of fire cut through the air aiming straight toward the monster's midsection.
My perception of time slows down as I watch this attack slowly near its target. The nagging sensation of a voice at the back of my mind becomes louder and louder until I give in and open my telepathy link. Ember's voice rings out.
"Run."
I swallow hard, shifting my gaze toward Arie as he cheers me on. I'm holding both of my blades, so the only thing I can think of doing is to jump straight at him to make physical contact. My shoulder hits him in the chest and I mutter the only two logical words in the moment.
"Dungeon Walker."
We blip away using the last remaining stores of MP in my body after releasing that attack. Both of us fall to the group about 3km away. Arie yells out.
"Hey, I was just about-"
An earth-shattering crack interrupts him, followed by the loud metallic hum of a Titan's domain being activated from a distance. A huge dust cloud forms on the horizon as I see a black void erupt outwards in a spherical shape easily 500m in diameter.
Then... it shirks and disappears completely in an instant. Leaving the two of us in a silent dungeon. I activate my telepathy link with Ember, and he replies almost Immediately.
"You cannot defeat a Void Creeper with brute strength. The only way I know of to defeat it is to plunder its entire pocket dimension neatly dry of MP until the link to our realm collapses. I could easily take it out for you. This won't take more than a few hours."
"You're not going back into its Domain are you....?"
"That would be the quickest way, but it's far too risky for you to come along. I'll be able to handle myself in a fight with a mindless low-rank Void Creeper. Plus, it'll have plenty of mana for me to plunder into exp. The level-up threshold has reached a rather high limit, but we may be able to gain a level or two from this one."
"..."
"What is it?"
An idea pops into my head that should have come far sooner. I must have been scared out of my mind of these creatures, that I forgot Ember was the one that defeated with ease... As a level 1...
"Could you farm the Titans in the back of the Dungeon while I train with my team this week?"
"Certainly, it would be my pleasure."
I smirk, looking over to Arie as he still stares wide-eyed off into the distance watching the massive dust cloud settle.
"Interesting... Take out as many as you can, I'll meet with you as soon as I can."
"As you wish."
I sever the telepathy connection and stand to my feet. Arie speaks up in a quiet tone.
"Did... we get it...?"
I let out a chuckle.
"No. Far from it. That thing is still perfectly fine..."
Arie gulps, then grins, then lets out a laugh of his own.
"Well, I guess you were right. They- uh- were a bit too strong for us."
I scratch the back of my head while plundering the MP of a fresh mana crystal taken out of my mana storage.
"Lets head back I-"
Arie cuts me off.
"Wait. Before we do... That attack you let out. You've trained your mana control too? I've never seen you let out an attack like that. Were you just hiding it before?"
I look Arie up and down with curiosity then respond.
"I trained for a while to build up my control. I don't like to use it often, just like a lot of my skills and techniques."
He nods.
"Alright, alright. I won't pry. It's just another thing we have in common. I know how long and hard the training can be, I went through hell when I was a kid back in my village."
I give him a firm nod and a light smile while putting out my hand.
"Let's head back. I think we've gotten out fill of Titans for the night. Maybe we'll come back and take one out when we get a bit stronger, how about that?"
Arie grabs my hand and nods as I teleport us back to the dungeon's start point. We make our way out of the Hub and back to our new residence quickly. Overall, I think that was a pretty good night run.
I managed to touch base with Ember to get our future plans in order, strengthen my theory about the mutant's non-existent drop rate, and even bonded with Arie over his mysterious ability to also wield condensed mana...
We make it back to the Vanguard Heights and call it a night. I take a long hot shower, then walk up the clear staircase at the far side of my living room up to the bedroom loft.
After staring out the blue glass window for a few minutes, I drift off to sleep.
The next morning, I wake up to the sound of a ringing notification as the sun begins to rise
[Level Up]
I check my status and see that I've grown to level 405 overnight. Thanks to my exp share, I've gained a level in my sleep. He said the new leveling threshold was low, but this low....?
Hopping out of bed, I get dressed and make my way down to the lobby. My 3 teammates are already waiting for me. We grab a bite to eat on the way to the Association's HQ, and the 4 of us arrive with a few minutes to spare.
As we walk through the sliding doors, Maria insists that we hand in the Strengthening Fragment from yesterday's hunt. Abby agrees, and they are already halfway down the first narrow hallways at the back of the lobby before its too late. Arie and I don't get much input on the situation, so we both follow with a shrug, interested to see where this goes next.
A short walk later through the neon shop signs, and we're face to face with the white-haired Association merchant named Sophie. She greets us with a smile as Maria hands her the little black gem.
"Here you go! We got our first Strengthening Fragment yesterday, only 9 more to go!"
The short woman blinks at us a few times with her mouth wide open as the coin-sized Fragment falls into her hands. There's an awkward silent pause for a few seconds, then she speaks.
"V-Very well..."
The merchant woman puts the small stone into a concealment case under the counter, then taps on a small silver tablet a few times before looking up at us.
"Your progress has been updated, 9 more to go."
She lets out a thin smile, but I'm not buying it....
I chime in.
"Hey Sophie, I'd like to ask you a few things about these Strengthening Fragments if you don't mind. Is that alright with you?"