After launching my dual-bladed energy attack, and attempting to Dungeon Walk away, I stop mid-stride as the odd sensation of a dense dome of mana shielding covers the entire island that this fallen castle sits on.
The murderous roar of the Behemoth makes my head spin as it storms through the ball of flames from my previous attack.
Using the liquidated ground, it glides toward me with astonishing speed.
The monster clears hundreds of meters of distance between us in seconds. I Dungeon Walk to the opposite side of the island to avoid the charge.
Gritting my teeth, I watch the massive beast turn its body in an instant and come rampaging toward me again.
The cloud of fire, dust, and smoke that covered its entire body moments ago has dissipated as it continues to turn around.
I start to grin as I see the top portion of its helmet break off, and a large red glowing gash appears on the monster's face, right through its left eye.
Flames flicker on the wound as my advanced fire magic residue seeps into its body.
It glows white, and I watch the flames go out, but then a red glowing gash remains. The Stone Suit of armor begins to liquidate again, forming the helmet back in place exactly the way it was. The only difference this time, is the slip where its eyes were before is no longer there.
This confirms it. I've injured the monster for real this time, and the beast will be more cautious moving forward.
I look up to the sky as the Behemoth runs across the island with its blades for arms pointed at me in a furious rage.
I see Ember high up in the sky and I'm hit with a moment of panic as I attempt to open our link...
Nothing comes through.
I try to Dungeon Walk up into the air to get near, but he's out of my range.
The red mana-dense barrier has us separated completely. I dart my eyes back and forth, then teleport to the far side of the island next to the light red mana shield.
I let out two 2000MP attacks.
My black and white blades of energy drift right through without a sound.
It does nothing at all...
I try to touch the barrier with a bare hand, but the closer my skin gets to the buzzing red energy, the hotter it becomes.
The skin on my fingers, wrist, and forearm begins to sizzle and melt off the moment I get within a meter of this odd barrier.
I let out a painful grunt as I back away and regenerate my right arm's wounds.
The Behemoth is closing in again. I'm trapped within a barrier with this beast until I can figure out how to break it open from the inside. Ember is stuck on the outside for now and I can't teleport up to him or open our link... The only immediate way out of here is to take this monster down.
I already injured it once, I'll just do it again.
While charging both my weapons, and air-stepping into the sky to level with the approaching monster's eye level once again, I release a dual energy strike of 2000MP per blade.
As the white and black crescent of mana silently rocket toward the monster's head, I Dungeon Walk to its backside.
I'm fairly certain it'll dodge or block those incoming strikes with ease. I prepare my real attack while it's occupied.
Taking almost 2 full seconds, I watch my previous strikes collide with the monster's right arm as it lifts it in the air to block.
The red mana around its body strengthens on impact and my distraction shots are defects into the air with ease as I predicted.
Simultaneously, I dive straight at the Beast's backside with my eyes locked on its flat Stone Armor. With a yell, I bring both my weapons across my body releasing 2350MP per blade onto its blindspot.
I didn't touch the ground at all before this strike, it must have not picked up on my presence.
Smirking, the loud buzzing twang of mana on mana fills my ears and I watch the stone Armor under my blades crack with the intense pressure being pushed down upon it.
The heavy stone, intertwined with dense red mana fractures more and more as I plunder MP and push down with all my might.
The cracks become larger, moving along the Stone
Monster's backside. The moment I break through, there's a white flash of light and a fiery explosion of wind and flames.
The monster roars as a 5-meter-wide hole opens in its armor and two mana blades slash open its back.
I let out a laugh as I watch the white and black energy attacks rip into its flesh, then explode into a display of wind and fire.
I Dungeon Walk backward, but am hit with a familiar feeling shockwave of energy...
This time, my full body shivers, and I let out a reflexive grunt follow by a groan. I grit my teeth as the wave passes, but my All-Seeing Eye picks up on the worst part as I come back to my senses.
The 500-meter-wide dome of dense mana has shrunk to less than 200 meters. My teleport point flexibility has severely dropped again, but that still isn't the worst of my issues...
My feet and arms begin to tingle and feel rather numb. It's been almost 40 full seconds since I took the Strengthening Fragment The side effects of not using up enough MP are actually kicking in.
I'm burning through thousands a second on my fire, stat boosting, and perception skills, but every moment I'm not in battle is a moment wasted on this precious temporary upgrade.
This lessened range may be a blessing in disguise. It just means I have to finish this battle quicker. Either I defeat this boss here and now, or it defeats me.
I air-step upwards as the furious beast. It's back is still flaming as it liquidates more fallen rubble to heal its armor.
At this point, It's crushed every bit of the banquet hall and surrounding rooms in sight. We're facing each other out in the Open Dungeon air now... The Castle is basically destroyed...
I can feel the heat of the lava pools all around me, and can even see the flowing molten rock from a distance. I'm sweating and breathing hard, taking in more and more mana from the expanding Strengthening Fragment as I stare down the Behemoth and I fly towards it in the air.
My heart pounds faster and harder and I grit my teeth, gripping both blades tight while charging them with as much dense mana as they can hold.
The island has become a war zone.
With a yell, I let out two airborne attacks and it raises its arms up to block.
I Dungeon Walk to its backside.
The air is hot and thick with steam, but there's also an eerie buzzing sensation that hasn't gone away since the monster's last shockwave.
I reappear on the monster's backside, ready to let out another attack on its unguarded back.
The Stone armor is still reforming from my last slash and I can see the wounded area. I'll be able to land another devastating hit.
I smirk, air-stepping in closer while swinging both of my blades, letting MP flow through my body and into another full-power strike.
My eyes widen as I see its right arm swing backward and intercept my attack...
It guessed where I'd appear in an instant.
No... It knew.
The twang of mana on mana rings out as my dual energy attack cracks through its stone armor and hits its body.
On the opposite side, my attacks that were meant to be a distraction hit its left arm and crack its armor on the opposite side as well.
The beast lets out a roar, but it's nowhere near as damaging as a vital point like its midsection, neck, or back.
As the explosion ensues, I Dungeon Walk away.
Another surge of dense mana hits me as I reappear.
I finch, and the energy wave starts to burn my skin and insides, similarly to the red mana shelling that surrounds this island.
I let out a painful grunt, as my HP drops a few hundred points, and I use self regeneration to heal the internal and external wounds.
I look around, and the dome has shrunk again.
There's no more than 100 meters of space to move around in here...
The air all around me is now lightly tinted red similar to the fog in the castle before our match even began. My eyes dart around as my All-Seeing Eye's ability to track mana lessens and lessens.
I grit my teeth and whisper under my breath.
"This is bad..."
I hear an echoing roar and watch the beast charge toward me as the red fog grows thicker and thicker, making my virility even worse.
Another shockwave of mana hits me and I let out a yell, regenerating my body, but losing even more HP. I'm down to almost half health...
This battle has made a drastic turn for the worst. I charge my blades and Dungeon Walk to its backside to let out another attack.
These next few moves will decide the true winner, I'll make every last drop of MP count.
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