Chapter 56 - Chapter 56: Shadow sword vs Metal Control (Part 2)

"Okay maybe flying towards it wasn't the best idea" I muttered as I wiped the blood from the corners of my mouth.

Black Salamander trembled in my hand and I was getting the feeling that if it had a 'body' it would definitely be rolling its eyes at me.

I could hear Jace's almost maniacal laugh from the distance.

"Look at you talking all high and mighty only to die in a single hit!" he laughed

"I'm not dead you moron" I said loud enough for him to hear.

"You will be soon anyway" Jace said as he ran up or rather the metal giant he was in did. The ground quaking with his every step.

The metal giant moved with agility that should have been impossible for something of that size. Kicking up dust in its approach. It was closing the distance between us fairly quickly.

I could see this and my thoughts raced in my mind.

A head on attack wouldn't work. With my agility I was slightly faster. was another card that I could use but I didn't want to rely on that too much. It took up too much mana and currently my mana was down by half.

Black Salamander trembled in my grip and its message became clear in my head…

Don't overthink it…follow your instincts…

'Okay…' I took a deep breath and activated .

At that moment my eyes changed slightly. The color of my eyes was still the same however if one looked deep enough they would see small gear shaped magic circles turning as I analyzed the mega structure before me.

My vision changed as well. I could see blue lines continuously moving within and around it. The blue lines resembled what one would see in a digital circuit board. They ran up from the center of its chest where a large bright blue orb pulsed and from the orb the lines spread out to the rest of its body.

The arms, legs and even the center of its body.

In awe I realized that this must be the flow of mana that was able to show me. After did just that, it showed me the internal structure of either a magic skill or a magic spell respectively and long as said skill or/and spell were below Second Star Order and tier 2 respectively then I would be able to cut the intricate mana connections within them effectively weakening or even completely breaking them apart.

'I'll have to find time to level up some of my most crucial skills later' I thought

It was true. I hadn't found the time in the last two days to properly scan through my stats and skills and even though some of my newer skills that I had self-learned were relatively new and helpful. I didn't know how to apply them effectively yet.

That said, that was something I had to think about at a later time.

Jace swung a giant fist in my direction. Learning my lesson from last time, I didn't take the attack head on. I rolled forward slipping underneath his large metal arm while passing in between his legs. I made a swing for the metal giant's ankle where one of the four 'mana circuit' lines flowed.

Cutting through scrap and metal, I severed it completely.

I continued forward and came to a stop half a meter behind him. The part where I cut off had some pieces of metal scrap fall off however it wasn't to the point of affecting the structure completely.

That wasn't my goal though.

…

Jace felt something cut his ankle as he lost a connection with some metal pieces that fell off his right leg but didn't think much of it. After all why should he worry when he could just reconnect them later and with his current mana exceeding 80 points he didn't worry that much.

That's right. Jace's mana stat was abnormally high for a level 12 and that was due to him investing more in the stat as he found using his mana and more convenient than anything else. Besides, he could make up his lack of strength and speed using . He could increase the weight of the metal as he attacked for extra impact meaning more strength and for speed, he just had to half the weight of the metal materials.

Although using his magic and mana like this took a significant toll, it was always enough for him to end his battles early on.

Using his mana Jace made the metal suit he was wearing lose its weigh to almost zero and with the weight gone he was able to spin and turn with an almost impossible agility. One metal leg lifted off the ground while the other acted as a pivot.

Jace had Huey in his line of sight.

A thunderous kick exploded forth.

…

Jace's follow up was fast absurdly so. I hadn't even finished determining my next moves when I saw the metal giant spin and turn around, a split second later I saw it throw out a monstrosity of a kick.

'A hit from that and I'm finished' the brief thought flashed in my mind as shadows beneath my feet shifted and layered on top of both of my feet. For a split second my legs, from my feet to my shin, were covered in darkness.

I felt my feet become lighter as I used to avoid Jace's attack.

However instead of backing away to increase the distance between us, I took half a step backwards. The foot of the giant barely grazing past the skin of my exposed torso. A rough surge of wind threatened to blow me off but I held my ground.

With still active I blitzed forward closing in on the metal giant's body. I swung my sword in an upward motion as I cut a deep trench in the giant's left hip and part of its abdominal section.

Simultaneously, four 'mana circuits' were cut clean. More metal pieces fell to the ground

"Ugh!" Jace groaned in frustration. "Stop moving around like a little coakroach!" he said as he brought his foot back up in an attempt to stomp on me.

However with I dodged the blow. Dashing to the side I activated another Shadow Art skill.

From within my shadow multiple tendrils rose and started covering up my arms, legs and head. The feeling was a little unnatural and for a moment I panicked when my thoughts flashed to distant memory where I watched a hentai episode where a heroine once got hentaied by strange dark tentacles!

'Fuck!' I thought

A second later my body was seemingly pulled down as my body sunk into my shadow.