Upping The Ante

26. Monster Unleashed

Under the impact of Tiny’s mighty fists, the barrier flickers in and out of existence, on the verge of total collapse. The two mages physically recoil from the power of that strike, one of them is even driven to their knees. Still, their eyes are burning with determination and they keep their staves raised to the sky, reinforcing the barrier with everything they have.

To resist that full bodied strike from Tiny, the shield up there must be incredibly strong.

The shield down here near me however…

Infused Mandibles!

Still desperately constructing the Gravity Spear within myself, I start to charge my mandibles as well. The strain on my mind is so immense I would have blood flooding out of my nose if I had one! Straining with all of my spirit, I desperately control the Mana, directing it into my mandibles while leaving as much of the load as possible to the sub-brain. It feels as if both brains are on fire, cooking themselves with the strain.

As the traces of Mana flow out of my core and into my mandibles, they begin to emit a glow that grows stronger every moment. My face is pressed against the barrier, its invisible resistance pushing back against me. My mandibles are spread wide, digging in but not penetrating. As the Mana flow grows from a trickle to a stream, and the light emitted grows more intense, I begin to feel the tiniest bit of give.

Yes! With Tiny distracting their attention, they have reinforced the barrier above but it has grown noticeably weaker below. This is my chance!

Straining with every muscle fibre of my face, I push my mandibles to the limit.

Break through, dammit!

The barrier gives a little more under my assault, then a little more. Seemingly sensing something, the closest mage turns from Tiny to me. Noticing my fiercely glowing mandibles, he tries to redirect his attention to stop me from breaking through, raising his free hand at the last second.

Too late!

Tearing through the barrier, my mandibles close with a mighty snap! The invisible shield before me cracks and dissolves, the pressure I’d created with my legs sends me flying forward, tumbling inside the dome.

Snapping one section of the barrier has a visible impact on the mage and he wilts under the strain. I don’t have much understanding of barrier spells, so I’m not sure exactly how this recoil works, but I sure as heck am going to take advantage of it!

Snapping to my feet, I use all of my mental power to complete the Gravity Spear. Cutting off the flow of Mana to my mandibles relieves a lot of the pressure on my mind and the spell construction continues at a blistering pace.

Before the mage can recover, I dart in, mandibles wide open.

Shattering Bite!

With all of my strength, I bring my jaws shut upon the mage, I don’t even rely on the manifested mandibles, instead ensuring I’m close enough that my mandibles crush him directly.

CRUNCH!

With a sickening noise the pulverising force of my mandibles closes on the mage before he’s able to recover. When I release him from my bite he collapses and doesn’t get up.

[You have defeated Level 43 High Mage.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 11. One Skill Point awarded.]

[You have reached Level 12. One Skill Point awarded.]

The second mage turns in time to see her compatriot fall from my jaws and her face is filled with horror. She hasn’t time to act against me, as Tiny has prepared another strike against the shield.

She’s in a dilemma now. Does she withdraw her mind from maintaining the shield and attack me, letting Tiny smash it to pieces and robbing the warriors of their defence, or does she leave herself vulnerable to my attack and try and maintain the shield?

I expected her to fight to maintain the shield, but instead she decisively brings her staff around on me, hands weaving patterns in the air as she manipulates the Mana around her.

Of course, this means Tiny gets a free swing.

From the corner of my eye, I witness the massive ape rear back with his good hand, rotating his body so far that his back is to the barrier before he unwinds and unleashes his fist as if firing it from a cannon!

With a shattering sound like a thousand panes of glass breaking at once, the invisible dome collapses. Diffused shards of Mana fall like rain upon us even as they dissolve into nothing, no longer controlled or shaped by any mind.

The soldiers pause in their butchery out of shock. Several turn to witness the situation behind them and become aware of my position for the first time.

I don’t have much time to act. This mage is going to blast me right in the face in one second. How is this spear still not ready!

Finally, the spell hums to life.

I hope I’m in time!

Without a thought for my own safety, I decisively turn and fire the Gravity Spear toward the warriors on the front line, desperate to prevent their swords from killing any more of my siblings.

Before I even see my spells impact, the female mage has completed hers. Dozens of blades of ice have formed in the air around her. With one wave of her hand, each of the blades blasts toward me at supersonic speed.

Holy moly!

I can’t even dodge if they move at this speed! Before they impact, all I can do is tuck my legs and antennae under my body and tilt my head down in order to protect my eyes, then receive the blow head-on.

Just before they impact me, something strange tickles my awareness. The ice blades are registering on my heat sense as immensely cold, the temperature of the air around the female mage has dropped precipitously. Now that those blades are screaming through the air, they leave vapor trails of cold behind that are detected by heat sense.

With all of this cold in the air… What is that source of heat on my left? There isn’t anything there?

Before I have time to properly think about it, the ice blades strike home against me.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Intense pain erupts throughout my body as the magical blades slice into my Diamond Carapace, cutting my flanks, back and directly chopping off one leg plus an antenna.

Holy-MASOIUGLKASNF-Gandalf!

That stings like the dickens!

My whole body is screaming with pain! Those numerous blades have cut through me all over. My Diamond Carapace was specially chosen to defend against physical attacks, it’s clearly not up to the task against something imbued with Mana.

Activate the Regeneration Gland!

I try to slump forward as if on the verge of death, even as the regeneration fluid rapidly spreads through my body, closing over the cuts and repairing my damaged muscles. Thankfully none of those blades was able to penetrate deep enough to damage my core.

I can only imagine that significant damage to a monster’s core would be completely disastrous, if not immediately fatal. Once it has been created, the core is central to a monster’s life force, the storage and nerve centre of the monster as a magical being. Much like the brain operates as the centre of thought, the core is the centre of Mana. I’m not confident a monster can live without it once they’ve adapted to it.

Certainly, it isn’t a theory I want to try out…

My ruse seems to have worked. In the heat of the moment, with the barrier destroyed, there are threats other than me these humans need to deal with. When the mage turns her staff away, I push my healing legs underneath myself, ready for my next move.