Sitting atop Yuki's chest, I kept shaking her, hoping it would wake her up, but nothing I did was seemingly working, causing me to spout profanities one after the other before slamming her head onto the ground; yet even so, the sudden impact did nothing, she continued to sleep soundly like a baby.
"Dammit, Yuki! You're forcing my hand!" Yelled Alexander in both concern and anger as he released Yuki's shoulders before summoning forth lightning from his heart, causing it to coat his hands in a soft blue aura.
"If this works, just know I'm not sorry at all!" Stated Alexander solemnly as he gritted his teeth before grasping Yuki's head with both of his hands, only to bombard her with a weak [Lightning Bolt].
As I watched my lightning bolt travel through Yuki's body, suddenly, her eyes snapped open, filling me with joy and relief, though before I could do anything, I saw a large metal fist aiming right for my head, and the only thing I could do was slow down my perception using my [Heroes Gaze] and slowly watch how it connected with my nose.
'This is going to hurt.' Thought Alexander as he watched the metal fist slam into his face, flinging him off Yuki's body and slamming him into the nearby wall while his golden blood leaked from his nose.
"What the fuck, Alex!? That hurt!" Exclaimed Yuki angrily, holding her head while sitting upright as she glared at Alexander, who had bounced off the wall and fallen to the ground.
"Ugh, damn, that hurt." Muttered Alexander with a groan of pain as he slowly stood back up while wiping his bloody nose, only for him to glance at Yuki with a massive smile.
Forgetting about being punched and my bloody nose, I lunged toward the angry Yuki and embraced her in a hug before lifting her up.
"I-I was worried you had died, Yuki." Said Alexander softly while tightly hugging the armored Yuki, who finally remembered what had occurred, causing her to calm down while patting Alexander's shoulder.
"Heh, I'm too robust to be defeated so easily; I hadn't put all of my points into Endurance for nothing, after all." Remarked Yuki with a proud smile as she flexed her muscles, only for their happy mood to immediately halt when they heard rocks moving.
Hearing rocks' moving around, I quickly set Yuki on the ground and looked at where the noise had come from, only to spot a grievously injured Lucy leaning against the wall while pointing her staff at us; how she was still alive, I didn't know. Yuki had nearly died from that roar alone, yet somehow Lucy was still alive? It didn't quite make sense to me, but maybe she had an artifact that protected her or something.
"B-Bastard w-where do you think, y-you two are g-going!? D-Don't t-think you can escape from me! I-I'm L-Lucy Munroe!" Yelled Lucy loudly while gasping for breath as she shakily held her staff while leaning against he wall, barely able to stand, oblivious to the thumping noises that continued to draw closer every passing second.
Eyeing Lucy, I ignored her and reached down, grabbing one of Yuki's shields and handing it to her before casting a [Fire Ball], using it to burn some of my ichor that had spilled; I could feel my heart rapidly beating in my impending death, whatever monster that roars and these thumping noises belonged to was wholly capable of killing Yuki and I.
"Yuki, we can't waste our time entertaining her; we've got to leave right now." Stated Alexander as he glanced at Lucy before looking at the large passageway behind her, only to finally look at Yuki, who nodded in response while picking up her second great shield.
"Yeah, I can hear those approaching thumping noises, and I've got no desire to meet an early death." Stated Yuki solemnly with a nod as she holstered her shields onto her back before turning around and approaching the wall.
Holstering my greatswords, I quickly caught up to Yuki and held her hand while preparing to teleport once more; however, all of a sudden, there was a loud thump, causing Yuki and I to flinch as we gazed behind us, eyeing the large passageway behind Lucy.
"Y-Yuki, c-can you s-see it?" Asked Alexander nervously in slight fear as he tightly held Yuki's hand while she fearfully nodded.
"T-That's right j-just stand there w-while I, L-Lucy M-Munore, t-the most talented f-fire mage in t-the last century k-ki-" Stated Lucy arrogantly with a wicked expression as she injected large amounts of mana into her staff, though before she could finish speaking, a massive head suddenly chopped down from above, bitting her body in half with it's massive, sharp teeth.
"W-Well, a-at least our s-situation is marginally better." Muttered Alexander optimistically with a forced smile as his purple eyes fearfully stared at the massive reptilian creature.
Although I was trying to stay optimistic, it was next to impossible when both Yuki and I were looking death in the face; the creature that was currently chewing on half of Lucy's body was, without a doubt, one of the largest monsters I'd ever laid my eyes on; even the school bus-sized centipede was significantly smaller than this behemoth.
Its large head, massive body, muscular legs, and short arms reminded me slightly of a T-Rex from my past life; granted, while the two creatures had some striking similarities, that was about it. Watching it chew upon Lucy, both Yuki and I stayed silent while not moving so much as an inch, lest we gathered its attention; despite knowing it knew of our presence, we just hoped it would take a little bit longer than usual for it to shift it's attention to us.
However, just the mere presence of this monster being so close made it very difficult for me to use mana since it was releasing all of its own mana wantonly into the atmosphere, making it exponentially harder for me to utilize it.
'Dammit! I Remember Master warning me about this. What did she say?' Thought Alexander with an ugly expression as he closed his eyes and thought back to his training sessions with Lavender.
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Seeing Master easily block my attack, I cursed under my breath before waving my hand, planning to use a [Fire Blast] enhanced with my wind mana, but for some reason, when my mana exited from my body, controlling it became increasingly difficult, it was like my mana was moving through a viscous liquid. Frowning, I glanced at Master, who was just standing there while faintly smirking at me, causing me to grumble under my breath as I stopped running and intently focused on trying to cast a fire blast, yet, even after a full minute, I couldn't so much as create a small spark, let alone a large fireball.
"Haa, I surrender." Said Alexander in defeat as he raised his hands while glancing at the several icicles floating in the air around him before looking at Lavender, who waved her hand.
Seeing the icicles disappear, I absorbed Trina and her elder sister back into my body before giving Master a slightly annoyed look as she approached me.
"What did you do this time, Master?" Asked Alexander as he folded his arms and looked at Lavender, who softly chuckled with a faint smile.
"Fufu, nothing amazing, my dear disciple; I simply released my mana in the vicinity." Replied Lavender lightly as she waved her hand in the air, prompting Alexander's eyes to glow slightly while he looked around, only to nod.
"Yeah, I can see that; there is an unnatural abundance of water and earth mana floating in the air. However, why couldn't I form a simple fireball? My control over mana didn't just suddenly vanish, did it?" Questioned Alexander with a raised eyebrow as he looked at Lavender, who smiled while absorbing the mana back into her body.
"Sort of. By expanding my vastly superior mana reserves around you, I indirectly made it much more difficult for you to control your own mana. Think of it like water and air, Alexander. You can walk through both air and water, but unlike air, it'll be far more difficult to maneuver through the latter. Now imagine if that water were suddenly turned into honey, you'd move even slower than before." Stated Lavender softly as she grabbed Alexander's hand before enveloping it in a ball of water while his other hand waved freely through the air.
"I think I get it, Master; by filling the atmosphere with your mana, making it far denser than usual, it, in turn, made it more difficult for me to control my mana since I needed to manipulate it through your dense mana. Is that it?" Asked Alexander with a thoughtful expression, causing Lavender to nod with a smile.
"If that's so, how do I get around this?" Added Alexander curiously, only for Lavender to shake her head.
"You can't. Having great control over your mana will help in offsetting some of its effects, but there is no way to get around this other than to brute force your way, which will be impossible since if you're fighting someone who has enough mana to completely overpower yours, you've already lost the battle." Replied Lavender lightly, causing Alexander to frown, only for him to suddenly glance at her when he felt a hand rub his crotch.
"Now then, that was my 200th win; don't you think your Master is deserving of a little reward?" Added Lavender with a lustful smile as she rubbed her dainty hand against Alexander's crotch, which nearly instantly turned erect.
"Heh, I've never liked losing so much." Muttered Alexander with a smirk as he reached down and kissed Lavender while groping her small butt with his large hands.
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'Ugh! Dammit, me and my horny Master! I-I don't regret doing it, but I wish I had brought that topic up later! I could really use the assistance!' Thought Alexander with a wry expression as he opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, wanting to cry, yet he had no tears.