After the first exchange of attacks, Dirk and Ava were bombarded by many more blades and balls of pressurized water. The elemental king bore down on them, not giving them a moment of rest.

Neither of them launched any more attacks either. The duo kept moving in their own separate ways, dodging all the attacks they could. Since the elemental had no face and such, it had no problem attacking them even when they were on opposite sides of it. The two gave up on trying to sneak attack it like with the lizard king.

They spent 10 minutes jumping around the elemental. Because both of them were anima trainers, they could run around for hours and their instantaneous movement speed was high, allowing them to dodge for however long they needed to. This was a great assurance that made Dirk confident in a battle of attrition. Otherwise he wouldn't be willing to risk getting tired. Dirk didn't know how anyone who didn't train anima would handle themselves in this place unless they were at least at the level of the king.

With that, Dirk and Ava entered something of a lull in the battle. Dirk kept observing, watching how the king would launch water balls and blades. He saw how long it took to form attacks, the speed of the attacks, their accuracy, their frequency, their range, and their power. He grasped all the details he could, then planned how he could bring about the king's demise.

Thinking, Dirk dodged an attack before creating an arrow. When another attack was thrown, Dirk threw his at the same time. In this gap of time, the elemental wasn't able to release another attack. The arrow hit the body of water just as Dirk dodged the blade of water that threatened to take his legs off.

*Pop!*

When the arrow hit the elemental, a sharp sound was released. The arrow pierced into the elemental, sinking into its body. However, the next moment a heavy water pressure shot the arrow right back out of its body. A burst of water came out of the hole that Dirk made, spraying water everywhere like a burst pipe.

The elemental flooded water for a few seconds before the hole was sealed. Dirk and Ava watched this. When the hole was being sealed, the elemental only threw out one attack. Its focus had been on repairing itself, a process that apparently took energy.

This gave both Dirk and Ava ideas. They realized what that mage meant when he mentioned wearing down the king. If they could keep attacking and poking holes, the king would drain energy. It took lots of energy anyway to pressurize water, and the king wasted a lot of energy when throwing out strong attacks that constantly missed.

"Ava!"

With an idea, Dirk suddenly shouted across the field.

"Throw attacks at it, and make it recover! But conserve your energy! This battle could take a while, so don't get tired before this thing does!"

"Got it!"

"Time your attacks for when it throws its own! Go!"

With that shout, Dirk cast a spell, as did Ava. He created 5 rock arrows while she created 3 water blades. After that, they waited for the right moment to strike.

Then, when the king sent out attacks on both of them, they sent their own. The two attacks passed each other, one of Ava's blades and one of Dirk's arrows breaking the body of the king open. They also dodged the attacks thrown at them.

*Pop!*

Another small explosion was heard as two holes were opened on the king's body. Water sprayed like a fountain for several seconds this time before closing up, soaking the ground underneath with a pool of water. Seeing that, Dirk threw two more of his arrows, while Ava threw her two other blades.

Four more attacks came flying, and the king sent out its own to intercept. Only, throwing out more attacks increased the time its body lost water. The holes stayed open at the cost of the attacks being defended against. When Dirk sent his last arrow, another hole was opened. The ground was soaked even further.

This only lasted for a few seconds though. The holes quickly sealed themselves, and after, the king released a heavy barrage of attacks. Dirk was surprised as 12 blades of water flew out of the king's body, half toward him and Ava.

The blades of water showered down on top of them. Dirk ran, pillars of rock throwing him across the field. However, the blades curved, following as best they could. Dirk scoffed before stopping and facing them.

When the 6 flew at him, he dodged at the last second. At the same time, a thick metallic wall was created in front of him. With the angle he created this wall at, 3 of the blades flew by him, but the other three landed.

*Bang!*

The blades cut into the wall. Shockingly, Dirk watched as his wall was directly sliced open. He saw one blade take the top of the wall off while another blade cut through the wall and slid right past his front, only inches away from his face. The last blade hit the side of the wall, passing by his body.

What was left was the small section of wall that Dirk barely fit behind. Upon passing, the blades cut into the field and released a small pressurized explosion, kicking up mud. Dirk was still as stone for a second.

"...Shit."

He cursed at the sharpness of those water blades. The next second, he dashed out from behind the wall. Luckily, even after creating the wall he moved his body out of the trajectory of the blades. He never fully trusted his magic against this strong enemy, and that had saved his life.

Only, he was worried about Ava, who got the same attack. After running out, he looked over.

To this attack, Ava wasn't able to conjure a strong wall like Dirk, something that wasn't effective anyway. So instead of hiding, she had formed balls of water, pressurizing them before sending them out at the 6 blades of water.

After colliding, the balls of water exploded. This destabilized the structure of the water blades, making them lose form and release their pressure. The result was 6 explosions in the air and a successful defense.

Only, this defensive attack had come at great cost to Ava's energy. She felt a small but sharp pain in her head, a result of pressurizing the water balls so much. In a short amount of time, she couldn't launch very many of those attacks before exhausting all her energy. And this was even after her advancement.

But she was at least okay. After recovering from the retaliation, the two went back to kiting the king. Dirk consistently threw out his own arrows while Ava threw out blades a bit less often. Both of them tore open holes that weakened the king.

Only, they hoped it weakened the king. The battle went on for an hour, but even after so many attacks, the king didn't falter. It never even moved, just sitting there and throwing out attacks while repairing any damage it took. There was no indication as to how much energy it had. It never made pained noises, shook, or anything. There were no hints as to its status.

This distressed both the challengers, but they could only keep going. After one hour was two, and yet the attacks of the king never let up. In fact, it would occasionally launch barrages of water balls or blades, forcing Dirk and Ava to expend lots of their energy.

Like this, their mental energy was gradually depleted. Luckily they at least had their seemingly endless physical stamina. But that alone wouldn't keep them alive forever.

As they approached the third hour, Dirk started thinking of different plans. He knew they were bleeding energy from the king, but he didn't know how much. If they couldn't harm it before they collapsed, then they would be done for. So he planned out a way to cause deeper wounds without burning too much energy.

"Ava! To me!"

Suddenly, Dirk shouted. Ava was quick to run to his side, the two defending against attacks together.

"It's risky, but we need to heavily wound it. One big attack, and hopefully that will at least tell us how strong the king still is."

"Alright. But we'll need to recover for a while after that."

"That's fine. We'll disperse afterward and spend time recovering. For now, just worry about this attack. We're going to combo your blades and my arrows, getting as deep as possible. Form two of your strongest blades while still being able to run and dodge, and I'll take care of the rest. On your mark, we'll attack. I'll be right behind you."

"Okay."

Ava nodded. With that, the two dodged an attack before Ava raised her hand.

After a couple seconds, two water blades appeared above her head. The blades were a foot long, about half the size of normal, and their power was extremely condensed. After forming these blades, Ava felt another sharp pain in her head, but she pushed through, approaching the king.

"I'll give you an opening."

Suddenly, Dirk jumped forward. The king attacked him, throwing out four balls of water. To this, Dirk formed and launched four arrows. The attacks canceled each other.

After that, Ava took the chance. Running forward, she swung her arm, and the blades went flying. The first blade instantly cut through the king's body, creating a large parting. And before water could explode out, the second blade came, cutting even deeper. The two blades combined opened up the king's body until there was barely a foot wide barrier of water between open air and the core.

Naturally, Dirk didn't let this chance go. Before the second blade even hit, he was already behind the attacks with his own rock arrows. As soon as the king was open, he threw down 6 of his own rock arrows.

However, at the same time that he threw the arrows, the king attacked with a water ball. Dirk disregarded the attack, pushing forth and releasing his own. When his arrows were gone, he raised his arm, and a layer of metallic rock covered it. The ball crashed into him, the explosion sending him flying.

At the same time though, the arrows rained down upon the core. One after the other, the arrow tips chipped the core. The first one barely scratched the surface, and the second one only created a small opening before bouncing away. But the third and fourth ones opened up a crack. The last two opened up the crack further, causing water mana to spill out.

After that, the arrows were blasted away as water came exploding out of the large gouge.

"Dirk!"

After watching the successful attack, Ava flipped around to Dirk. After getting hit by the water ball, he had been thrown away, tumbling on the ground before coming to a stop.

Only, Dirk was never one to be hindered by pain. After gaining control of himself, he immediately jumped to his feet despite the throbbing pain in his arm. The piece of armor he had raised to block the water ball was totally shattered, and now his entire arm was paralyzed as the muscles spasmed in pain. Dirk grit his teeth as he turned his head to the king.

After the attacks landed, the king's body immediately shrunk by a small amount. Still, it was noticeable, and they had done damage. That's all Dirk wanted.

For a while, the water within the king continued to spray out and soak the already wet ground. Seeing this, Dirk decided to throw out more attacks. He was in a better position than Ava to do so with more energy to spare.

Raising his arm, Dirk conjured 5 more arrows, immediately throwing them all out. The king responded and threw out three water balls, blowing away three of the arrows. But two arrows still landed, puncturing the water body even more.

Dirk was happy as the king was further injured. With that crack in the core, it would continue weakening over time. Now Dirk and Ava just had to survive.

However, as if the king knew this, it suddenly changed tactics. Right after the arrows punched into its body, 6 water balls shot out of it. Dirk saw this, and his pupils contracted. All 6 shot toward him.

"Damn!"

He cursed, running away. The 6 water balls followed behind him, rapidly gaining ground.

*Boom!*

Suddenly, one of the balls made contact with Dirk, exploding. His body was thrown across the field, tumbling a few times. Using this momentum though, Dirk staggered to his feet and continued running. Right after though, another water ball flew at him. He barely brought up a plate of metallic rock armor on his back before it exploded.

*Boom!*

Dirk was sent flying again. Right after hitting the ground though, he jumped back up to his feet, the rock armor on his back shattered.

"Again!"

*Boom!*

Right after, yet another ball exploded behind him. Dirk did the same and created armor, but it was also shattered.

This time though, as Dirk recovered, he turned around and created a wall. One of the balls exploded on it, directly shattering it. However, as the next ones came flying through the debris, they were met with arrows that took them out.

With that, Dirk took a deep breath, looking at the king. His entire body now throbbed in pain, the armor not doing much to mitigate the shockwaves. He felt a bit of blood seep into his mouth from how rattled his body was, but he ignored it as his nanites went to work.

The king's body continued to gradually shrink. Not long after sending out those balls, the holes started to seal up. But even with its body intact, its core was irreversibly damaged. It would still weaken over time. Damage to its body would just accelerate the process.

Dirk knew this, so when the king sent out another 5 water balls, he braced himself. He just needed to outlast the king and keep it off of Ava.

However, it was at that moment that Ava suddenly struck. With two water blades, she cut open the distracted king, causing more water to explode out. Dirk looked over and saw her gritting her teeth in obvious agony.

"Hey! Don't attract its attention! Just recover!"

"No! I'm helping!"

Ava shouted back, forcing herself to create another water blade. She launched one quickly, creating another gouge. After that, the king sent out two water balls toward her. With a splitting headache, Ava turned and ran, grabbing her axe for the first time.

Right as the water balls got close, she swung around. The blade of her axe split open one of the balls. The resulting explosion threw the axe out of her grip, sending it across the field. Then, the second ball came hurtling toward her.

At that time though, a wall was suddenly erected in front of her. The wall blocked the ball, breaking under its subsequent explosion. After that, Dirk came running over.

"Can you move?"

He spoke as he turned around, sending out arrows to some more incoming attacks. Through her dizziness and pain, Ava nodded.

"Yes!"

"Alright, no more magic. Just run with me. Stick to defense, and I'll try to poke some more holes in it."

"But you've already used so many rock arrows."

"It's fine. I've got a bit more in me."

Dirk reassured her. Not unlike her, after getting tossed around and having to conjure so many walls and arrows, he also had a stabbing headache. But his pain tolerance was higher. Even with this headache, he still maintained his physical function.

Hearing him, Ava could only agree. Any more magic and she would pass out, and then she would be dead weight to Dirk. Mustering up all her willpower, she began to run again, Dirk right behind.

Over the next several minutes, the two dodged and blocked attacks together. The king continued to be aggressive, using its dwindling power to try and kill its enemies before it gave in to death. Because of this, the pressure on Dirk and Ava only increased. And while Dirk knew that more pressure meant the battle would end faster, he was worried about the damage they would receive trying to defend.

Because of that, he started to use everything at his disposal. By now, Dirk's earth mana heart was almost depleted. He had been pulling in mana gradually from his surroundings to supplement his magic. One thing he came to discover from this was that his mental energy surpassed the size of his mana pool, meaning before his energy ran out, he would deplete his mana pool. This happened during the battle, requiring him to use mana lungs in order to pull more mana in.

But now, he was summoning the last dregs of his pool. With each attack of the king, Dirk was forced to throw an arrow or raise a wall, and his soul was quickly depleted. This was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling, but he had no choice.

But this extreme depletion caused something within him to bloom. As exhaustion set in for both Dirk and Ava, the king began to let out its final attacks. Its body had already shrunk to half its size, and with this attack, even more of its energy was depleted. It wouldn't live after much more.

Only, this attack consisted of 4 water balls, not water blades that took more energy to conjure. Dirk and Ava, who were on the edges of the field, watched as this attack flew toward them.

"I got two!"

As Dirk struggled to muster any mana, Ava stepped forward. Raising both her arms, her eyes went bloodshot as her fingers streaked across space. Two water blades were created. And with extreme fatigue threatening to put her to sleep, Ava pushed them forward, sending them flying toward two of the water balls.

The attacks collided midway, an explosion of water causing a mist to drift in the surroundings. Now, there were only two water balls left.

Dirk also grit his teeth. He stood and tried to form a spell, but there was barely any mana to use. He was totally dry, not even able to form a rock arrow.

But this wasn't acceptable. With wide eyes, Dirk glared at the oncoming water balls. Then, he activated mana lungs, his one technique that could recover mana.

"Huuhhh!"

With a deep breath, Dirk felt his soul surge with a small burst of power. The power of his mana lungs spread throughout the field, turning into a pit that all earth mana fell into. For a second, Dirk teetered on the verge of passing out. Mana lungs still took a small amount of energy to use, and he no longer had any more energy.

However, with that small burst of power he felt, Dirk felt something inside him change. With no energy left, there was only one way to engage the technique: with his very soul that wasn't bound by any concepts of energy. Like this, his soul became responsible for utilizing mana lungs. And with this came a small transformation.

|Profile|

Name: Dirk Strider

Species: Human

Tier: III-

Rank: III+

Attributes: Fire - 71% (Lightning - 89%), Earth - 88% (Metal - 93%), Dark - 92%

Traits: Cybernetic Enhancement, Adaptable Genes, Pure Soul

Skills: A.I. Interface (Grade 7), Mana Resonance (Grade 5), Mana Lungs (Grade 5)

Dirk was suddenly prompted with messages, but he had no attention to spare. After the skill was acquired and its effects kicked in, Dirk felt any earth mana in the vicinity flood toward him, giving him a small supply.

After that, he instantly cast his spell. Perhaps because of his skill acquisition, Dirk was able to muster up just enough energy to facilitate the cast. With a wave of the hand, two walls were formed in front of him and Ava. These walls were only made of the dirt in the ground and filled with his mana to reinforce them. They were flimsier, but they did the job.

One after the other, the two remaining water balls exploded on the two walls. With that, the attacks were over.

Dirk maintained consciousness as he watched the king. It actually sent out another water ball, but this merely hit the ground before it could reach them. The king then proceeded to lose the last of its bodily form, water flooding outward, unable to be contained.

The core settled on the ground, that single crack in it draining the last bit of power. Seeing this, Dirk looked at Ava who was kneeling before bending down and grabbing her arm. She was barely conscious, and supporting each other, they trudged over to the core.

At the same time, they saw the confirmation of their victory.