Edward turned around sharply and rushed at the monster, determined to take his vengeance after enduring a beating for half an hour. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”, he whispered, using his acceleration power. He didn’t want to play around after seeing the offensive power of the Mare Irae.

The world slowed to a crawl as Edward whizzed past the tentacles, sometimes using them as footholds. He reached the monster’s torso and stab it with his enhanced aura daggers. Sadly, the daggers only bounced off without inflicting damage. Seeing a tentacle coming his way, Edward didn’t stay in place and flew away.

It may be tired, but it still has its aura armor. However, I should be able to overcome it, just like how I did to kill that wyrm. The question is how much aura it will take. Let’s try with repetitive hits on the same spot first.

Edward didn’t deactivate his acceleration and continued to fly around the monster, easily avoiding its attacks with his newfound speed. He stabbed the same spot as before on the creature’s torso. He wasn’t able to stay on the creature to attack it continuously since the latter wasn’t giving him the opportunity. But it didn’t matter, Edward was so fast that there was only a faint pause between his attacks.

After five hits on the same spot, the armor finally cracked. It was a little weird since the armor wasn’t visible apart from a faint reflection of the light. So it look like a broken mirror was falling from the Mare Irae.

Edward didn’t give the monster any time to recover and dived in. The creature had realized the danger and was becoming frantic. Its tentacles threw aura blades for the first time since Edward’s offensive.

The attack was so all-encompassing that it was hard to avoid. However, Edward hadn’t run out of tricks. He formed aura steps behind him in midair and used them to fall back, avoiding the aura blades, before bouncing back on the creature. With no aura armor to block him, his daggers dug into the monster’s body. The latter shrieked in anger more than pain.

Edward greedily absorbed the monster’s blood essence while trying to push his daggers deeper. Its essence was bountiful and tasted of power, might, and pride.

Rather than sending a tentacle to swat at Edward, the monster directly blasted a wave of aura, using the same tactic that Edward had used against the Regal wolves. The blast wasn’t enough to damage Edward, especially since his aura was protecting him. But it was sufficient to push him away.

Edward was now in range of its tentacles, the monster went all out, sending them flying everywhere while throwing aura blades. This time Edward had no choice but to teleport away. Under this deluge of attacks, even the large cavern started to shake.

Just after the wave of attacks, the monster used the slight delay to reform its aura armor.

You can reform it as many times as you want. It won’t change anything. I’m not letting you go.

The monster tentatively looked at the expanse of water in the middle of the cavern, maybe reconsidering its choices.

“Oh, don’t you dare!” Edward shouted, getting the creature’s attention. “I’m not finished with you.”

The monster seemed to understand Edward’s defiant attitude and chose to confront him one more time. Its hurt pride preventing it from fleeing away.

If before Edward was testing if he was able to destroy the creature’s aura armor, now he was going for the kill. He didn’t bother with the creature’s torso and aimed right at its head. Naturally, it would normally be out of reach considering the creature’s size. But with aura steps, this wasn’t a problem anymore.

Edward relentlessly attacked, not even bothering to fall back between attacks, only continuously running in midair to avoid the creature’s retaliation. Edward realized that it was harder for the creature to defend itself while he was literally flying around its head.

The Mare Irae’s tentacles were also its footing. Edward being at his head level, it was tricky for the creature to defend itself. In frustration, the creature blasted its aura several times, but Edward simply teleported back near the creature each time he was blasted away, continuing his attacks.

The aura armor took longer to crack. The monster was gathering all of its armor on its head, giving up other areas of its body.

It’s so annoying. If only I could pierce through its armor with fewer hits. At this point, I feel it is more a question of aura density rather than quantity. I have trained on my aura control and speed but I never tried to increase its density. This is something to keep in mind for later.

The monster tried all it could but it was only delaying the inevitable. With a last attack, its armor cracked and dissipated. Edward swiftly formed an aura blade and beheaded the monster, not letting it have the time to attempt forming its aura armor another time.

The monster oscillated as if not accepting its death. For an instant, Edward wondered if it would somehow continue to fight even while headless. But no, the Mare Irae finally collapsed on the ground. The fight was over.

Edward dropped to the floor and greedily plunged his daggers into the felled creature, absorbing its aura. He already had a taste before, but the creature’s blood essence was the best he had ever absorbed. Its quality was even better than the other monsters able to use the aura that he had defeated in the past. As for quantity, it was comparable to the wyrm he had killed in the Vipin Forest.

Edward felt a deep satisfaction as he felt himself and his aura grow stronger from the monster’s strength. I doubt Quintus was able to fell such a monster on his own. He must have either received help or used some kind of trap to weaken the monster first. I’m not even sure Mare Irae are supposed to be normally this strong. It may have gotten stronger due to the surge. It’s hard to determine what is normal or not when you encounter a monster for the first time and when all monsters are gaining more power.

But even if he managed to kill and absorb the blood essence of a weaker Mare Irae I can see why his aura was so strong. Edward laughed out loud. By now my aura is certainly stronger than whatever he could have achieved.

The surge makes for interesting times. It is certainly dangerous but at the same time, there is no way I would have been able to grow so much in strength without it. Heck, without all the powerful monsters I encountered and managed to slay, I could even still be stuck at the awaken level.

Edward finished absorbing the monster’s strength. With the creature having so much blood essence the process actually took some time.

He glanced at the corpses of the three crocodile-like monsters. Their blood essence is negligible in comparison to the Mare Irae. It is better if I leave them for Charles and company. It would be great if they could go to Leyla, actually. This incident is showing once more the importance of gaining power. She needs to be at the awaken level. I want her to be able to hold her own against normal monsters if I’m busy dealing with a dangerous one.

Edward quickly graved a durability rune on the monster corpses to prevent their power from dissipating. Already, from how long the fight had lasted, they must have lost some of their blood essences.

Now, let’s go fetch my friends. They must be worried.

Edward left the cavern and went to search for his companions. There is no point in searching the island blindly. The most obvious choice is to go back to the boat.

He ran to the beach and indeed find his friends all gathered together and on their nerves.

“Edward!! Are you okay?!” Leyla shouted anxiously.

“I’m fine, the monster is dead,” he answered with a smile.

“What was that thing? It looked so terrifying.” Aquamarine asked rhetorically.

“A Mare Irae. That’s the monster the Vega family gained their enhanced aura from.” Edward told them.

Charles frown. “Shouldn’t they be more powerful if they are able to deal with that level of monster?”

“Well, I have no way to know if the one we fought hasn’t been boosted by the surge. Besides, I think they must use some kind of treachery to weaken the monster beforehand. They are supposed to live in the deep. I was quite shocked to meet one. It must have been attracted by other monsters.” Edward explained.

Brian sighed in relief. “Phew. That’s good to hear. We didn’t dare to go back into the boat in case another came out of the water.”

“A tempest is brewing. We have no choice but to follow the wind.” Norte said. Everybody looked at him since he talked rarely.

“What do you mean?” Charles asked him.

“It is only a matter of time before we encounter more powerful monsters. The Mare Irae is but the first one. We have no choice but to become stronger just like the monsters. We can’t escape it.” He explained his thought.

Edward nodded. “That’s what I feel as well. Already we had to evacuate Agripin. And if Gobéliard defenses weren’t getting reinforced I would be worried for the city safety as well.” He paused. “Actually, I have a favor to ask. Could you leave one of the monster corpses for Leyla? I want her to reach the awaken level.”

“Naturally,” Charles answered though bitterly. “They are your kills so they belong to you. Honestly, we were useless until now. We didn’t kill a single monster, you had to take care of everything on your own. I can only agree with Norte, we have to grow stronger if we want to stay relevant.”

“Thank you. And you weren’t useless. You took care of Leyla for me, and you will help with the crystal extraction too. Honestly, if the Mare Irae hadn’t come, I would have left you one of those crocodile-like monsters to deal with.” Edward answered warmly.

The group came back to the cavern both to absorb the power from the slain beasts, and to harvest the mana crystals. The adventurers took the two bodies that were near the cavern entrance while Leyla went to the corpse that was alone and not far from the water. Edward went with her, keeping an eye and his aura perception on the water expanse, making sure that nothing was coming out.

Since Leyla didn’t master aura yet, she had to apply the blood directly onto her skin to absorb the blood essence. She removed her top, staying in her bra, and started to apply the blood on her. Edward couldn’t help but blush. She looks damn sexy. Leyla didn’t shy away and simply focused on the task. Her face became flushed, not from bashfulness but from the power she was absorbing. Suddenly her pupils dilated and she stopped what she was doing.

She looked around in surprise. “Wow, so that’s what aura looks like. That’s awesome! And I can sense my surroundings even while not looking at them.”

Edward smiled with glee. “Welcome to the awaken stage.”