Osoris equally noted that this huge monster was able to use aura. “Careful, it can use aura to enhance its attacks. Everyone not able to focus aura on your weapons, fall back!!” he exclaimed hurriedly.

I have to do something. Edward thought. If it uses its acceleration power together with its aura it will decimate our whole group in seconds. I have to act, there is no time to waste.

“Rèng khwāmrĕw!” he shouted, his perception of time slowing drastically. He could sense the adventurers closest to the beast still shocked in terror and turning back to run away, not that they would make it on time. The beast was already starting to move, ready to repeat its aura-enhanced attack on the runaways.

Edward didn’t wait, and he ran as fast as he could toward the beast. It saw it coming and adjusted its attack to hit him. But in slow motion, Edward was able to monitor the attack’s change of direction. He wasn’t able to move faster, but avoiding the slow-going hit was just a question of timing. Instead of avoiding the extended arm, Edward jumped on it, using it as leverage to climb on the beast.

I have to aim at the head.

Edward jumped from the arm, throwing a right jab, dagger first, at the beast’s face. The blade buried itself in one of the monster’s eyes. The Lusus naturae lifted its head strongly due to the pain, projecting Edward right toward the ceiling of the cavern. He teleported behind the beast to avoid crashing against the roof. However, due to his momentum, he didn’t fall to the ground. He appeared in midair and he still ended up hitting the ceiling, the force barely diminished. The shock made him lose his focus and he dropped the accelerated perception spell.

As he fell to his knees, back on the ground, he heard Osoris give more orders. “Target the columns and collapsed this area. It won’t be able to follow us after the tunnel collapse!”

Wait a minute, I’m still there! Edward protested internally since he was still catching his breath. However, the first blades were already cutting the columns near the exit tunnel. As the huge monster was shaking and bumping against the walls, dust, and dirt started to fall from the ceiling. The adventurers fell back further into the tunnel as the falling rubble intensified. The enraged beast was between Edward and the exit, and his teleport was still in cooldown. When Edward stood up, the tunnel finished collapsing, sealing the exit.

Great. Now I’m stuck here with an enraged oversized monster. Edward sighed before his bloodlust took over. Works for me. If I can kill it on my own, all its blood essence will be mine.

The beast had recovered from its injury and turned to face Edward. He felt its power gather in a strange way. Shit, it’s about to use its acceleration power.

He teleported away to avoid the attack. The beast collided with the wall on the other side of the cavern. More dirt fell from the ceiling but it held on, only a few of the columns had been destroyed, and it had been restricted to the area near the now collapsed tunnel.

This is bad. I feel like I could take it if not for its acceleration power. I need to restrain its power somehow.

The beast turned back again toward him, its blinded eye and the total darkness not bothering it. Edward hid behind a column but he could sense the monster still focused on him.

Its blinded eye doesn’t seem to hinder its perception. Is it relying on its aura to locate me? I could shut down my aura, but then I wouldn’t be able to use it to sense my surroundings. I would still be able to see the beast through its aura because I can still see the aura with my eyes. But then, I will only see it if I’m looking straight at it and I will be blind to everything else. He still has one eye left, I have to blind it before I hide my aura.

The monster didn’t wait for Edward to finish his deliberation. He didn’t care for the column Edward was hiding behind and charged straight at it. Edward had barely the time to teleport away before the column was reduced to rubble, more dust falling from the ceiling.

Shit, if I don’t want to end up buried, I have to take it down before it can destroy all the columns.

Having some mana left, Edward reactivated his increased time perception. “Rèng khwāmrĕw!” As time slow down, he was confident he could fight the beast in melee. I can teleport on it to connect a hit, but then I will be in danger standing right next to it and with teleportation on cool down. No, I have to save the teleportation to escape after a blow.

Edward ran towards the beast, the difference in size was quite comic, it was like a cat attacking a bear. The Lusus naturae used its own acceleration ability and decided to finish this annoying foe. With such a speed, in Edward’s perception, it was as if only the monster was moving at a normal pace while everything else was sluggish, him including. Bollocks! I can follow its movements but I am too slow to avoid its claws swipe. The result of the beast and him using their power simultaneously was the equivalent of an opponent moving at normal speed while he was paralyzed. He could see the claws, shining with the beast’s aura, advancing closer to him, but he was unable to move.

I can’t let that hit me. It will cut through my armor. Wait…or will it? I can use my own aura to reinforce my armor. That’s already what I am doing on my daggers to pierce my enemies. But I don’t want to test this idea right now. Time to teleport away.

Edward used his teleportation to move behind the monster, avoiding it. He would have liked to use the opportunity to injure it, but the monster was too fast and was already past him. Once more the beast was stopped only by the cavern’s wall stopping its charge.

With the amount of dirt falling, I’m starting to get concerned about the integrity of this room.

The monster turned back toward him, ready to chase him again with its enhanced speed. I can’t let this go on. The cavern is getting more and more damaged. I have to blind its last eye even if I have to tank a hit for that.

As the two opponents were racing toward each other, just like a deadly joust, Edward grew more focused. When the Lusus naturae was swiping at him with its claws, too fast for Edward to avoid, he teleported right in front of its face, his dagger aimed at its last working eye.

His strategy worked, the dagger pierced the eye without encountering resistance, definitively blinding it. However, the beast had too much momentum to slow down, and without being able to teleport, Edward was rammed with the full weight of the monster. He was sent flying like a cannonball, bouncing from the other side of the room due to the force of the blow. However, having anticipated the shock he was able to barely maintain his enhanced perception spell.

The impact didn’t stop the monster which continued its charge until the wall right where Edward had been sent flying. Edward was on the ground with the wall behind him, and the monster towering in front of him. The beast howled in rage and pain. It was now totally blind but it could still perceive Edward’s aura right in front of it. It swiped its claws in a mad fury, but only at normal speed now that its ability had ended.

Having his perception enhanced, Edward was able to see where he would be hit, on his waist. He reinforced this part of his armor with his aura as much as he could.

Luckily for Edward, the beast was not a skilled warrior. Apart from its aura, it was relying on brute strength and speed more than anything else. It wasn’t aiming at its head or any unprotected area. In the monster’s mind, a simple swipe of its claws should be able to kill this pest, so it didn’t bother aiming its attack. And being blinded and enraged didn’t help with that.

Its claws connected to Edward but bounced back from its armor without cutting it. Edward felt the aura he had managed to condense into his armor scatter under the force of the blow. He impacted the ground with a thumping noise. He felt as if he had been hit by a car. The beast was about to connect another blow, too angry to even realize that Edward had been able to fend off its attack instead of being reduced to paste. However, this little bit of delay had been enough for Edward’s teleportation to go of cool down.

He teleported away immediately and hid his aura. He got up slowly, coughing blood. Fuck. That hurt. Ignore the pain. Its blood will heal you. You have already managed to blind it totally.

He stood without moving, aura hidden and controlling his breathing. Everything was dark around him. The only light was coming from the beast’s aura. Although calling it a light didn’t describe the phenomenon in the right way. Edward was able to see the beast’s aura, but that was all. The aura was illuminating the surrounding, even the beast within the aura wasn’t visible, only its shape could be discerned. It was as if a light had taken a physical shape.

The monster continued to hammer the spot from where Edward had vanished. It is too risky to run at it in the dark. I can’t see anything. Knowing me I would be able to run straight into a column. Now that it can’t sense me, I have time. I will approach it unnoticed, injure it and teleport back to safety.

While the monster was distracted by its pain, Edward walked slowly toward it, arms in front of him to avoid walking into a column. The monster was the only reference point in the total obscurity of the cavern. It finally stopped hitting the empty ground, and silence descended, the beast’s rasp panting was the only noise in the room. Edward was creeping closer and closer until he was under striking distance.

He jumped on the monster’s back, using his aura on his dagger to bypass the monster’s protection. His weapons plunged deep inside its flesh. The beast roared in anger and Edward used his aura to accelerate the absorbing effect of the daggers, draining the beast of its blood essence and vitality. The Lusus naturae couldn’t use his arms to reach its back, so it rolled on the floor instead. Edward teleported away before he was squished like a pancake.