The blood-dripping Berserker Giant falls to the floor after attempting its jump into the sky.
I check my mana crystal supplies. There's just under 60k MP worth of crystals in my item storage. Judging by the state of this monster, and its tendency to throw itself in front of my attacks, it seems like I'll be able to defeat it in just a few more hits.
Grinning, I charge up both of my blades again. The white and red lights glow on both sides of my body as I concentrate on refining the dense mana flowing through my veins down into a perfect attack.
Locking my eyes on the target below, nearly 30 seconds pass as I charge up my attack full close to 10k MP. Once its ready, I let the energy crescents soar.
Same as before, they rocket downwards toward the grinning beast. It plants its foot and raises its blade, bracing for impact.
Moments before the mana-dense strikes make contact, I see a red blur move across the flat battlefield. The twisted grin of this menace haunts me as it runs from my attack...
A loud cracking sound rings out seconds later as 10k MP worth of hard-earned mana hits the glossy stone structure below exploding into a vibrant red, white light show below.
I scowl, air-stepping away while keeping my vision locked on the speeding Berserker. I can't tell what it's doing, but I know it just messed up my attack and I'm not happy about it.
This win isn't going to come as easily as I thought it would.
Resentfully charging up another 10k worth of MP, I plan an attack I've been meaning to try for a few days now...
After 30 seconds go by and both my blades are near the point of full mana saturation, I concentrate hard on my target and whisper two words under my breath.
"Dungeon Walker."
Teleporting to the opposite side of the black square arena, still over 20m in the air, I release my dual attack. In the blink of an eye, I teleport over 100m to the other side of our battlefield right behind the hidious creature.
Now, with the element of surprise on my side, the white and black energy blades rip through the air with All-Seeing Eye-guided precision.
It takes fractions of a second for the dense mana output to reach its intended destination. Watching it hurdle toward the Berserker's back, I let out a victory yell. It lands a perfect unguarded hit.
A bright white light shines on impact. Then after half a second of lag, wind and fire magic erupt from the target. Crimson red flames along with near-invisible razor-sharp gusts of wind shoot out in all directions.
I air-step closer full of curiosity, eager to admire my job well done. Today is the first time I've been able to test my new mona refinement abilities on a moving enemy that can actually take a hit.
The dust clears as I approach, but I stop abruptly as a red glow seeps out from below me. It's followed by another ear-piercing screech as the menace jumps up with its sword pointed straight ahead.
There are more residual burns and gashes from my wind slashes and fire magic, but somehow, it hasn't slowed down one bit. If anything, the beast has gotten faster and stronger from taking these attacks.
I use Dungeon Walker to teleport backward again, about 30m high in the sky. It takes a considerable amount of wind magic to keep me upright in the sky, I'm having to plunder MP from crystals more than I'd like to. It's the only way to avoid the leaping monster's attacks.
It hits the ground with another thud, locking its eyes on me again and sprinting around in circles with greater speed than its previous attack.
This is how Berserkers work.... The more I attack the more that beast will enjoy the fight. The closer it gets to dying, the more danger I'll be in.
It seems like I'll be safe if I stay high up in the sky though, I just need to land a few more attacks.
Peering into my item storage I count just under 50k MP worth of crystals. Burning through my whole supply would allow for 5 more solid attacks... Possibly... If I can manage to land every last one of them, maybe that will be enough.
Grinning, I begin to charge up another full-power attack into both of my blades. The Berserker stares at me from below salivating at the thought of battle.
Moments before releasing my strike, I Dungeon Walk to the opposite side of the monster and let it soar. After a flash of white light and a wind-filled fiery explosion, the rubble and dust clear up again.
I hit the beast, and it's even more scorched and bloody than before, but its wicked grin just keeps getting wider and wider...
It's a bit off-putting, but I like this monster's style. Charging up another 10k MP attack, the smirk across my face begins to look similar to the monster I'm trying to defeat.
Dungeon Walking to its far side again, I let out another dual strike. As lights flash and flames fly up in the air, a laugh escapes my lips. Energy surges through my veins as I begin charging up another strike before the dust even clears.
"This... is fun..."
Deep wounds show all over the Berserker's thick red skin. Its light armor is riddled with holes and slash marks. A trail of red blood follows the beast as it continues to run across the flat arena-like surface below.
With its silver sword held steady and green eyes locked on me, the monster doesn't flinch for a second jumping at me again.
Dungeon Walking behind it, I let out another attack as it screeches out in agony.
Every time I do so, I activate my All-Seeing Eye to collect more data on the mana refinement that these new dungeon creatures have.
So far, I've found that moments before impact, the creature lets out a thin layer of dense mana surrounding its skin. To me, if I were not using my perception abilities, this mana shield would be invisible to the naked eye until impacted with an equal or greater force.
The flash of white light seems to be the release of used MP after a clash of attacks, if my shots were weaker, they may have just bounced off without making much of a white glow at all...
The dust clears from my most recent attack and the beast is still standing. Its movements and strength seem to all be at 100%, but based on its physical appearance I can tell about 50% of its HP is spent.
I air-step higher into the sky counting less than 15k MP left in my storage. I scowl but push forward. I'm too far into this battle to give up now. I can't just leave halfway through after burning through all of my hard-earned MP.
"It's all or nothing. I need to do one final attack to finish this monster off for good..."
After a deep breath, I begin charging up both blades again. This time, not holding back in the slightest. I glow red and gold with the power from my bloodlust, berserker, and extreme strength buffs.
Plundering the MP from every last drop of mana crystal I have in my storage, my blades begin to glow and rattle. The berserker's eyes widen and it begins to glow darker red as well.
With that silver sword at the ready, it's eager to take on my newest attack head-on.
Just like in my past attempts, whenever charging up past my limits, the fire and wind elements begin eating away at my hands and arms. This can be healed later, but it's definitely painful in the moment. Struggling to hold on for over 40 seconds, I manage a full charge.
This is one of the biggest un-aided attacks I've let out since the Titan's Domain. A total of 13.5k MP all stored up in one dual attack.
With a yell, I Dungeon Walk to the monster's blind spot, and let it soar.
The release of energy feels incredible in the moment as I watch each mana blade glide through the air. The only downside is, my MP nearly hits 0 as I fall from the sky...
Watching the collision of attacks from a distance, the ground gets closer and closer. The white flash, followed by a ball of fire puts a grin across my face.
The red glow and murderous screech that follows do not...
My heart skips a beat as I watch the now one-armed menace jump 10m in the air out from the cloud of dust and rubble. Gushing blood and glowing red. The Berserker points its silver sword at me, sporting a twisted smile.
I fall toward the monster, fully able to activate Dungeon Walker as I please, but not interested in the slightest.
My final attack almost did the job...
Just one more and I could have finished this beast off.
I think of calling for Ember, or even going back to the lower floors to farm more MP, but none of these options will satiate my craving for killing this monster in battle right here and now.
Gritting my teeth as I fall closer and closer to the glowing Berserker below me, I reach into my item storage to pull out a Strengthening Fragment. Holding it in the same hand as my dagger, I smirk while bringing it closer to my mouth.
"The real fight is about to begin."