For a brief instant, it illuminated part of the area, allowing him to catch a glimpse of a dark, ominous creature. Thick-furred and four-legged. A mass of extreme darkness, its eyes trailing golden light. It moved like a flash through the void, retreating back into the darkness just as quickly, leaving Licht wondering where it had gone.
He considered unleashing his lightning again, or light, just as he had moments ago, but dismissed the idea. He was not that kind of lightning or light user. His control over those elements was limited, and wasting MP on such maneuvers against an opponent like this would be foolish.
Instead, Licht relied on his senses.
Sight was useless. Through some ability, the creature had cloaked itself in absolute darkness. Smell and hearing were no better. It did not merely lurk within the darkness. It melted into it so completely that Licht could not even sense the activation of a skill or ability. There was no scent to track, no disturbance in the air to read.
That left him with only one option. A sense many would never rely on when their life was on the line.
Instinct.
For Licht, who had unlocked, trained, and leveled half a dozen skills and abilities tied to it, instinct had become as reliable as sight, hearing, or touch.
He shut down his other senses for maximum focus and relied on instinct alone.
The prediction came instantly. No attack would come from above, behind, ahead, or from his left.
“Here!”
Licht swung Trouble upward in a sharp arc, intercepting a claw strike that would have grievously injured him. Even with a successful parry, the sheer force behind the blow sent a jolt through his arms.
Another attack followed immediately, this one from above.
He had two choices. Block or dodge. Someone of his class would normally choose the former, given their poise and usual high defense stats, but Licht’s stats were entirely not entirely conventional for someone his class.
Choosing to put that strain on his not-so-high defense stats, he withdrew, just in time. The strike crushed the ground where he had stood less than a second earlier, blasting a crater and sending soil flying upward. Before gravity could reclaim it, Licht felt a strange sensation, as if the world itself were being swallowed.
It was not the world itself. It was the creature, a Nocthral. It abandoned its usual attacks of hurling uprooted trees and slashing with its claws. Instead, it charged straight at him, jaws stretched wide with a single, vicious intent: to seize him in a killing bite
This time, Licht neither parried nor dodged.
Adjusting his footing, he held Trouble horizontally, bracing it like a wedge as the Nocthral’s maw closed around him.
“Eh?”
The surprise was mutual, but far worse for Licht. His blade failed to bite. He had expected the mouth to be more vulnerable than the rest of its body. A fellow Dungeon Master had once told him they had defeated a stronger creature by attacking it from within.
That clearly did not apply to this creature.
“Shit.”
With Trouble firmly wedged between its jaws, the creature lifted him off the ground. That was not the worst part.
The steady breathing the Nocthral had maintained suddenly intensified.
Licht knew that sign all too well. A breath attack was coming. He tore his blade free and twisted away just in time to avoid having the creature maw clamp on him.
The attack felt wrong in a familiar way. Too abrupt, which, he realized, could only mean it would not be a sustained beam.
Most creatures with elemental breath had two variants. One was a continuous breath that poured out in a steady stream. The other was a rapid fire burst that spat in sharp blasts, more like gunshots.
This was the latter.
Licht adjusted his stance and infused light into his blade. Light would be effective against a darkness-based attack.
He swung, deflecting every blow. Once. Twice. Three times.
The attacks came from shifting angles, as if the creature were everywhere at once. The Nocthral showed no sign of strain, while Licht grew slick with sweat, his arms heavier with every deflection.
The exchange finally ended on the thirteenth strike.
“Hehe. Hahahaha… You got me sweating there, but as you can see, I’m still standing. Sword in hand.”
As if taking offense to his taunt, or perhaps to the fact that none of its attacks had landed decisively, the creature emerged from its cloak of darkness. Crimson light pulsed through its form in a frantic, heartbeat-like rhythm. Its eyes, filled with unbridled rage, locked onto Licht.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“Oh my.”
“Need assistance in there, honey?” a voice asked from a distance that felt far away and yet carried with startling clarity.
“No,” Licht replied.
“You sure? I’ve already done my part. It’s been a while. You two have been at it for several hours now. It’s almost morning, just so you know.”
So impatient.
They had been tracking this thing for months, hoping it would give him this trouble, and now Goblin expected it to be over quickly.
Goblin was not the only one growing impatient. The creature lunged again, swinging wildly at him. Without the concealment of its shadows, however, Licht could fall back on what he did best. He deflected, dodged, and even countered, landing a few strikes of his own.
Still, he had to admit it. Even after focusing on a single area, the creature’s right forelimb, his attacks had done little to end the fight. Not anytime soon, at least, if he continued like this.
So he changed tactics.
Realizing “her” attacks were getting her nowhere, that Licht was now slipping past her blows and striking back, the creature halted. Once again, it retreated into darkness.
“Again? Here I was hoping you’d show me more of that fiery side of yours. But fine. Since everyone’s getting impatient with this dance, let’s end it.”
Licht adjusted his grip on Trouble and called upon every skill and ability that could raise his output. Up until now, none of his strikes had caused a decisive injury, the kind that shifted the tide of battle.
This time, he committed fully.
He poured in all his remaining MP, letting elemental energy flood the blade. Lightning crackled along Trouble’s length, the sword seeming to scream with bloodthirst. Licht shut out every sense except instinct, the only one that mattered in this darkness.
Finding the creature was easy this time. Once again, as it blended into the shadows, it was charging a beam attack.
Licht did not panic. He took it as a challenge.
Adjusting his stance, he activated another skill to boost his agility and waited. Seconds passed in tense suspension. Then the creature emerged from the darkness.
The instant it did, Licht lunged like a bolt of lightning.
Before it could adjust the aim of her breath attack, he unleashed [StormCleaver].
The strike was both physical and magical. As a knight, he might not have hit as hard as others at his level, but by committing both MP and SP, he made up for it.
The blow landed cleanly.
Lightning, pressure, and steel tore into the giant wolf, obliterating one side of its face and hurling its massive body backward. The darkness shattered instantly, dispelled by the force of the strike.
For a heartbeat, the battlefield was filled with the sound of crackling and collapsing trees.
Then silence.
With the darkness cloaking the surrounding dispelled, light of dawn filtered through Goblin’s golden Ancestral Tree, bathing the clearing in golden radiance. Goblin had not been exaggerating. Morning had come.
Licht had taken his time. But it was nearly over. Noticing that he had not yet received the experience reward, Licht knew the creature was still alive.
He walked up to the Nocthral which he found pinned beneath fallen trees, its once majestic form reduced to ruin. Half its head was gone. It struggled weakly, unable to free itself. Each movement only caused the debris crushing it to shift and settle further.
A miserable sight, all things considered.
“She did give you a run for your money,” Goblin said, landing nearby after withdrawing his sigil, something Licht noticed immediately.
“Yeah, she did.”
Goblin studied Licht for a moment before asking, “Out of MP or SP to finish her off? I can end that poor thing’s suffering.”
“No need,” Licht replied, walking closer to the creature. “That would ruin the sole purpose of all this.”
They had hunted that creature for one sole reason: for him to reach an important. Goblin using his sigil to isolate them from other monsters had already been pushing his luck. Letting him land the finishing blow would or at the very least might ruin everything.
Gripping Trouble firmly, Licht raised the sword high.
Goblin was not wrong. Licht was indeed out of MP and SP. But that was alright. While those resources were depleted, he had not yet reached his fatigue limit. That meant he could still use an ability, and he knew exactly which one.
[Radiant Intake].
Like water spiraling down a whirlpool, the surrounding dawn light was drawn into his blade. Where Trouble had once crackled with electricity, it now brimmed with pure light. Licht was careful not to overstep what his fatigue percentage allowed. The moment he felt he had reached his limit, he brought the light-infused sword down.
The strike, along with the radiance it captured then unleashed, obliterated the Nocthral completely. The battle ended for good, as confirmed by the notification that followed.
[Notification]
Skill Name: Levitation
Description:With the activation of this skill, you can begin to dream of reaching the sky.
『Expand』
[Level Up Interface]
Experience requirement met.
Congratulations! You've Leveled Up!
Attribute Points Earned: 12
『Expand』
[Notification]
Title Name:
Description:The title of Midday Astromancer is a testament to your innate talent and potential in the future-seeing arts.
[Notification]
Skill Name:
Effect: Allows the user to see moments into possible futures.
[Level Up Interface]
Experience Requirement Met.
Level Requirement Met.
Attribute Requirements Met.
Congratulations! You can now choose a secondary class
“From the wide smile on your face, I take it—you finally did it. You’re finally level 50.”
Licht nodded. “At long last, yes. I’m finally level 50… moreover, I’ve also—” He cut himself off as a familiar screech rang out, one he hadn’t heard for a long while. As “she” flew by, the creature responsible for it cast a bloating penumbra across them, dark and unmistakable.
“Gaelle… Gaelle?”
A gigantic draconic creature flew above them. It was Gaelle, yet not as he last seen her. Her scales were thicker now, redder, traced with distinct black patterns that made her look ominous in this light. At the same time, she radiated vitality, appearing younger and more energetic than before. Her new horns were broader, sharper, and far more pronounced.
The most striking change, however, lay in her wings. Their frames were far more muscular, and the membranes extended along her limbs in a way that almost resembled a second, smaller set of wings nested beneath the first.
“So that’s why she went missing, I was starting to think she’d just given up on us. Did you know about this?”
“That she was planning to evolve? Why would I know? It’s not like I talk to monsters.”
Licht rolled his eyes at his fellow Dungeon Master, who just laughed and said, “Well, after everything she’s been through with Ma’am, it was about time she evolved beyond her last form. She was already a top Prime for her species, but there’s always room to get stronger. Glad she finally took the step.”