Mid Afternoon - Early Fall : The Forest of Giants | Temnota

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  *Fwiwiwip* *Tap* Flipping my axe up onto my shoulder, keeping my eyes on the spiney drake dragging its prey through the field, Bella gave me a worried look. "Y..you can't be serious..."

  Gently shrugging, I looked down the drake and started idly coming up with a plan. "I shouldn't have any problems as long as he doesn't target you two. Worst case scenario, I'll lure it away from here." -I just need to stay close enough for my aura to feel presences around Eve... Actually, before that...- Turning around, I quickly opened my system and tapped through it.

  "Huh?" Almost immediately, Bella's face was lit by a panel as well.

  With just a few button presses, I had transferred her a few million gold. "If anything about Eve changes, transfer me some gold." Unlike most things, gold could be transferred between us instantly, without regard for distance. "If you send me gold, I'll come back as fast as I can."

  Staring at the panel in a daze, she sat down and raised her paw, navigating through the panels before mumbling. "Like.. this..?"

  *Beep* My system sounded out instantly. "Successfully transferred 4,216 gold from companion robotic 'Bella'."

  Swiping through the panel to close it, I nodded. "Exactly like that, alright?"

  Seeing her somewhat hesitantly nod, I finally turned back to the horizon where the massive, spiny drake continued across the plain, and started walking down the long tree branch to get a better view.

  It was completely alone, dragging its still-wiggling prey through the grass with its spines relaxed, laying like armor on its back while its heavy horns caused its head to gently sway back and forth just off the ground.

  Unlike the wyvern, it was completely focused on defense, with its lack of speed and attack power being compensated for solely by its spines.

  However, while its spines indeed made it a tough nut to crack, it relying too much on them was also a weakness when it came to fighting an intelligent foe. -If I can close the distance before it can shoot any spines, I should be fine.- Considering its belly was layered with armored scales rather than spines, I was pretty confident that I could get through it.

  The matter was just getting there. -As soon as I head in its direction, it'll spot me.- Even as I stood on the edge of a tree branch some eighty kilometers away, well outside the range of its aura, its eyes were aimed in my direction.

  It knew I was nearby, and that was going to make getting close to it without it noticing me next to impossible.

  However, after everything I had learned from trying to teach Bella how to control her mana, I had some ideas, so while there was still quite some distance between me and the drake, I ran through them. No matter how stupid the idea was, I tried it, modified it, and tried again.

  Until eventually, I managed to create a blindspot in my aura even at extreme ranges.

  The thing was, the farther from me my aura was, the less control I had over it, so at long ranges I didn't really think I had any control at all, but as it turned out, even at close to two hundred kilometers, I could control my aura. However, that control was like sticking a massive, dozen-kilometer-wide fan down into a cloud.

  It was terrible.

  However, it was also just enough for me to keep my aura completely out of contact with the drake's aura up until I got within a few kilometers. -The question will be if I can close that distance before it peppers me with spines...-

  But, with plenty of space to accelerate, I was pretty confident. -Alright, let's see what I can do.- *Tap-WoooOOOOSH* Finally hopping off the branch, I rushed to gather mana in my legs, plummeting down over the very edge of the plain before using my aura to catch myself, flattening a swath of metallic, blade-like grass and springing forward. *FWOOSH*

  Doing everything I could to accelerate, I kept myself low to the ground while remaining focused on the horizon that now hid the drake from sight.

  But while I couldn't see him, he couldn't see me either.

  *WOOOSH* Finally getting up to speed, the drake eventually peeked the horizon exactly where I expected, and I popped my axe off my shoulder.

  While there was still easily a dozen kilometers between us, that was a distance I would cover in just a few seconds.

  "Hooh..." Letting out a heavy breath that instantly turned into a steamy fog when it touched the trail of plasma I created, I stiffened my legs and tightened the grip on my axe before finally, my aura met the drakes.

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  *VWOOM* But while I expected a fast reaction, its eyes instantly snapped to me and its quills stood up.

  Before I could even get within two kilometers, a wall of spines was already headed for me. -But they're slow...-

  At least that was compared to what it shot after me when I was carrying Eve. *TING-TING-TING* Quickly parrying a few of them with the side of my axe, I closed the remaining distance between us before gathering mana in my arms, sliding under its side as it lowered itself to the ground and swinging up into its gut with everything I had.

  But the thick ivory-like armor plates layering its stomach just absorbed the impact like it was nothing. *THUNK*

  But I wasn't one to let go of my weapon so easily.

  Coming to a halt on a dime, I swung my axe around, planting my feet on its stomach before accumulating mana in my shoulders and back. -So your armor is malleable, huh? How troublesome...-

  Feeling the drake falling, attempting to crush me against the ground, I forcefully straightened the axe up so the hilt faced the ground before creating a massive structure of aura that focused the creature's weight onto it.

  *Crackle* With such an immense force, the axe had no problem digging through the malleable layer of armor, but right as it hit something hard, the creature noticed and caught itself, rolling onto its side as it went to grab me with its oversized claws.

  -Well, since you won't do it for me...- Ignoring the claws, I rapidly increased the amount of mana in my shoulder before pulling back a fist and driving it into the hilt. *WHAAAM-CRAACK* The harder, but more brittle layer of armor instantly exploded, sending my axe deep into the monster's chest cavity with a shotgun blast of bone before barely managing to catch the axe's staff and ripping it back out. *SPLAT*

  "Oooh, that felt good..." Feeling a rush of adrenaline as crimson blood glistened in the sunlight, my pupils thinned before snapping to the drake's paw, approaching like an immovable wall. *VWOOM* But without realizing it, I strengthened nearly half my body with mana at once.

  And that led to a punch completely incomparable to anything I had thrown since the system wipe.

  *WHOOM* Warping the light around my fist, the impact melted the drakes scales on contact before sending a shockwave through its arm that splintered its metal-like bones, and blew the spines coating its arm out into the air. *CRRRAAACKKK*

  Still failing to strengthen my bones enough, cracks instantly spread through my hand and forearm.

  But there was so much adrenaline pumping through my veins that I didn't even notice it.

  Bolting to the ground, I darted toward its head. With it laying on its side, the underside of its neck was an easy target.

  Or so I thought.

  As I jumped over its leg laying flat against the ground, one of its massive horns slammed down in front of me, trapping me in before its bulky tail curled under itself, whipping a dozen barbed spines at me so fast I didn't have time to dodge.

  But even though my body was too slow to react, there was one thing that didn't deteriorate after my system was wiped.

  My mind.

  *VWOOM* Instantly taking control of my aura, I meticulously pushed around the barbed ends of the spines, each far bigger than me, guiding them around me before forcing the tail to aim up in the air. *TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-THUD*

  Finally panicking, the monster raised its quills, and its front legs started to close on the cage of spines I had made around myself.

  I didn't let it get that far though.

  Before it had a chance to react, I slipped out of the cage and darted up under its arm, and onto its enormous horn. "Geez..." It was so oversized I honestly struggled to believe it. -Its skull might be a challenge...- With such a huge mass of bone coming from it, the skull was bound to be built like the wall of a fortress.

  But the skull wasn't the only place I could hit. *WOOSH* Darting up to its neck, right at the base of its skull, I used my aura to push up on the atmosphere, turning my comparably light body into a hundred-thousand-ton monster before stomping my foot right on the edge of one of its vertebrae. *CRACK-Pop*

  A dull pop instantly sounded, as if I only managed to give the creature a readjustment.

  But in the same moment, its body relaxed, its quills laid down, and its tail limply fell out of the air. *WHAM*

  *Beep* It was only a few seconds later that the kill-confirmed panel appeared in front of me. -Level 8,600, huh...- "That felt pretty good..." Shaking the tingling feeling out of my fractured hand, I let out a breath to try and ease my nerves. -It's a shame it died so fast...- Idly looking up at the tree branch Eve and Bella were on, I felt a bit disappointed.

  My original plan to to just paralyze it, knock it out, or get it on the brink of death, and give the kill to Bella to see if she could level up, collect items, and collect upgrades, -But maybe this would've been too much for her anyway...-

  Tempted to find something a bit more tame to have Bella kill, I made my way back to the forest after tossing some of the drake's materials in my inventory to try and find anything, even if it was a small bird or rodent.

  Nothing ever caught my gaze though. -No wonder this world's population was so low...- Even though it was a world considerably larger than Earth, it had nothing but megafauna, compensating for the lack of creatures keeping the ecosystem in check with size and appetite.

  In other words, it was a world of predators.

  One where the drake I had just killed was only halfway up the totem pole. -Of all the worlds for me to drag Eve to...-

  But thankfully, the hardest part was behind us. With her body moving to live off mana, it would inevitably get stronger with time, and things like finding food to eat, water to drink, or even air to breathe were irrelevant. -We just need to be careful until I can run with her on my shoulders without nearly putting her in a coma...-

  That was a challenge that was going to be far harder than I could have ever imagined though...

  I just had yet to realize it.

  *Beep* Hearing my system sound out of nowhere, I looked over to see a transfer of one gold from Bella. -Is she waking up?-

  Considering it was just a single coin, it likely wasn't anything serious. -But I shouldn't lollygag...-

  So, kicking it into high gear, I made my way back to the tree she was resting on as fast as I could while starting to think about how I would explain what happened to her without sounding insane.

  And well, it went about as I expected...

  "YOU DID WHAT?!"

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