"I think it's eating the Manticore," Aurora whispered.
"That's good for us," Grey replied. "It's a C Rank, so it'll be stronger than we can imagine. I'll have to go all out to even put a dent in it."
'Obviously, all out doesn't include Space, Null or Time.' He thought to himself. 'But I'll use them if necessary.'
The two of them were currently in the tunnel that led to the higher floor of the cavern. They had waited a few hours since the fight, to allow Aurora's Mana to replenish, and it was still eating. Now, it was time to fight the boss.
Dealing with the Fairies was easy, but dealing with a Faery would be much harder. From what Fallen Star told Grey, they were full-sized Fairies, and much stronger than their inferior counterpart.
"Aurora, how long can you create a spear of Ice for?" Grey asked suddenly.
"Uhh, maybe a few minutes?" She told him.
'A few minutes? Can I kill it in that small window?' Grey was conflicted. On one hand, he could just knock out Aurora and then fight with his full strength, however, that would lead to her becoming suspicious. On the other hand, if he let her fight, he had to ensure her safety, something he wasn't too sure of being able to do, whilst taking care of the boss. Also, even if he used her Magic, it wasn't strong enough to do damage to the boss.
'Maybe if I infuse it with my Mana? What would happen? No, that wouldn't work.' If Grey were to infuse Aurora's Ice with his Mana, it would either absorb it, if he didn't put enough in, or be shattered by it if he put too much.
Whilst he was unaware of what would happen if he put the same amount in, it was not the right time to experiment. He had to make a decision, however, so he chose something simple.
"Aurora, I'm going to fight whatever's up there on my own. I want you to run past it and check outside for any Beasts. Whilst you have to use most of your Mana to hurt them, there's a good chance that there's only a few above ground. Do you think you can do it?" He asked softly.
Aurora was about to respond but choked on her words. 'His eyes.'
Grey's eyes showed a clear determination to both protect her and kill the boss, alongside a need to get her out of there. Also, every so often, they showed a hint of hesitation, as if he was having trouble deciding something.
She bit the tip of her thumb, worried. 'He's got something to hide and needs me out of the way. I see.'
"Of course, Grey. Go break a leg... Not literally though." Once she finally spoke, she fumbled, giving herself a small facepalm because of it.
"Haha." Grey let loose a small chuckle seeing her actions. "Sure. I'll break both if needs be."
With that, he left her, jogging ahead to fight the boss. Once he was engaged in mortal combat, she was going to sneak away.
---
From G Rank to C Rank, Beasts get smarter and smarter, but they cannot be called intelligent. From B Rank up, they can be.
It's hard to correlate the 'intelligence' of a Beast to a human standard; a B Rank being as smart as a 7-year-old isn't true, as some might say. It was more accurate to say that the higher the Rank, the better the creature is at understanding a situation, creating strategies, and manipulating the area around them. Of course, past a certain point, they do gain a standard human intelligence, being able to learn languages other than their own set of sounds, and being able to control a situation like a human.
- The stronger a being becomes, the more humanlike it becomes. Because of that, it could be argued that humans are a superior life form, but I digress. You already know this, I'm just reminding you. - Fallen Star finished Its lecture with that, leaving Grey with a single question.
'Yeah, but does it know we broke free of the Illusion?'
This was one thing he needed to check. If it did, it was most likely on guard, no matter how distracted it looked. Whilst C Ranks did not reach the level of having intelligence —that being reserved for B Ranks and above— they were far more cunning and observant than they deserved to be.
- Yes it knows, so be careful. - It replied. - I doubt that it is unaware of your presence already. -
Grey crouched at the end of the tunnel, on the edge of entering the room with the corpse of the Manticore.
He could hear the sound of the corpse being ripped to shreds and could see its tail was already gone. He couldn't see the source of the problem, however, as the Manticore lay with its abdomen facing the exit of the cave, and its spine toward him.
What he could see was two wingtips. They were pointed, and see-through, just like a Fairy's, yet the parts he could see were already larger than a Fairy.
- That's a Faery all right. Scary creature. If it attacks you with Magic, but nothing comes out, immediately use Null. It'll attack with Illusions. - Fallen Star warned.
'Thanks for the help bud. Should we get started?' An excited smile bloomed on Grey's face.
- Of course. - If one were able to see Fallen Star's face, if It had a face, they would see a similar sight.
Grey pushed off the ground, bursting forward toward the dead Beast. In an instant, he sent forth his Magic, creating a ramp from Light, and a spear to wield.
He ran up the ramp, his focus on ensuring it stayed solid, and finally laid his eyes on the Faery.
As Fallen Star had mentioned several times, it was essentially a larger Fairy.
This one had the top half of a lizard... or crocodile, Grey wasn't sure, and was otherwise identical to the Fairies Grey saw earlier.
As expected, the first sign of Grey's attack was anticipated by the Faery, and it responded with a Magic attack.
ROAR!
It roared at him, creating a beam of Fire.
'Fire! It just had to be Fire!' Grey immediately shut his eyes, not wanting to be reminded of that moment. It was the only thing that he hated his perfect memory for. He was doomed to remember it until the day he died.
Of course, closing his eyes left him vulnerable, so he sent out a similar beam of Null. His was much smaller, both in length and diameter, but it didn't matter. It tore through the Fire like paper, removing any trace of its existence.
Once it was gone, Grey opened his eyes to attack, ignoring his Mana pool that was now missing a tenth of its entirety.
The beam of Null carried on, unnoticed by the Faery who was momentarily stunned by the disappearance of its Magic. The final force of the beam dissipated on the creature, removing the layer of scales from where it touched, as if they had never existed in the first place.
Grey jumped into the air after the beam, attacking.
His spear moved in a straight line. It wasn't superfluous, just a simple forward motion, however, it was backed by the art Grey's father had taught him.
Ares' Cry, first movement, 'Puncture'.
The spear shot forth, striking where the missing scales were, digging into the flesh of the Faery.
Nonetheless, it wasn't enough. The spear dug an inch into the Beast, doing little more than drawing some blood. Its heart was much deeper in.
Grey's focus was on the Beast, and it was on him, so it was the perfect moment for Aurora to run past.
Just as Grey expected, Aurora began to circle the cave, avoiding the fight.
She drew the Beast's attention, giving Grey a chance to strike.
"You're not going anywhere." He said, pulling his spear loose.
Now on the ground, he used 'Lacerate', the third movement of Ares' Cry.
He swung the spear in an arc at an angle, striking along his previous attack, from the waist to the shoulder. He followed up with a downward swing in the same place and readied himself for the third part.
He pushed his spear forward, preparing to dig deeper into the hole he created. Thanks to his first two swings, it was now half an inch deeper, so this attack would reach the heart.
His spear stopped midway, being caught in the Faery's lizard hand. It was more accurate to call it a paw, but it was humanoid.
ROAR!
The creature roared again, injecting its Mana into the Spear. For the first second, the spear hungrily devoured the Mana, adding to its own, but it was quickly overwhelmed, breaking apart.
Grey hadn't put too much Mana into the spear, so it was an expected outcome. With that, he no longer had a weapon.
'I'm screwed.'