The gargantuan monster lumbered towards us. Its giant stone body stood 20 feet tall and had the form of a man. The only openings on its body were its cavernous mouth, filled with sharp jagged teeth, and huge sunken holes where its eyes should be.

“Scatter,” I commanded as it trudged towards us.

“Noah, This is bad. This is really bad.” Lydia said, as she ran.

“More details,” I shouted, while moving in the opposite direction.

“That’s an Adamantium Elemental. It’s a rank B monster that is impervious to physical attacks.”

“Impervious how?”

“It's just rocks that are empowered by a magical spirit. There’s no weak parts to target. We need to use magic.”

The elemental watched us separate, considered for a moment, then surged towards Lydia.

‘I don’t think so.’

I picked a stone up off the ground and flung it full speed at the back of the beast’s head. It struck hard and… nothing happened. The monster didn’t even acknowledge the impact.

Congratulations, You have unlocked the Skill: Throwing

Throwing: Skill governing the ability to manage the force and aim thrown projectiles. Current Rank (1/10).

Skill detected, “Autodidact,” would you like to transfer 100 experience points to level Throwing? Y/N.

‘YES, LEVEL’

I raised it to ten and… learned throwing wouldn’t help. I could now hit the elemental wherever I wanted, but I had already used all the force of which I was capable on the prior throw. I charged at the beast.

“Lydia, any ideas?!?!”

“No,” she said, as the monster finally reached her

“So we’re fucked.”

“Probably,” Lydia said, now frantically dodging its blows.

“Once I get its attention, run for the door.” She began to protest, but I cut her off. “I don’t plan on making a heroic sacrifice. I’ll follow once you are out.”

I arrived at the rear of the elemental and used all of my might to drive the spear into its stony leg. CRRRAAACK. The spear shattered. As I materialized another, the beast noticed me and partially turned. It swung an enormous backhand. Sensing an opening, I launched high into a backflip, and thrust my spear downwards at its wrist as it passed under me. CRRRAAACK. Another spear destroyed. ‘Two left.’

Out of the corner of its eye, the monster saw Lydia run for the door. The elemental, unwilling to lose its prey, grabbed a huge chunk of debris and hurled it at the opening, sealing us in.

"FUCK." I desperately searched for new ideas. 'Maybe an ability.' I unleashed Spear Wall, hoping the mana use would get it through. My hands blurred and the spear snapped at high speed. 'One spear left.'

A memory clicked. "Lydia, what was that thing you talked about before, something charge?" I shouted as I flipped out of the way of an oncoming punch.

"Mana charge?"

"Yeah, do you know how that works?”

“You want to figure it out now?!?!”

“Unless you have a better idea.”

“Fine. I only vaguely heard how it functions. No idea if it's accurate.”

“JUST TELL ME,” I shouted, flinging myself to the ground to avoid another blow.

“You use it by activating your mana core, circulating mana in your body, and channeling it into the weapon.”

“That's it?”

“Of course not, it's way more complicated than that, but that’s all I know.”

This time, the elemental predicted my movement and was able to connect when I was in the air. The force slammed me into the floor, the impact creating a crater in the tile.

I spat out blood and scrambled back to my feet. ‘I need to buy some time to figure this out,’ I thought as the monster renewed its assault.

“Lydia, can you distract it for a minute?”

“Probably not, but I’ll give it a try.”

I continued to dodge, flip, and tumble around its attacks. Lydia ran behind the beast and smashed it with the butt of her spear. The giant barely noticed, until Lydia screamed and repeated her attack. The monster kicked its leg behind it, which Lydia was able to side step. However, when it turned and threw a haymaker, Lydia was off balance from her prior movements and failed to dodge. She flew across the room, only stopping when she hit the far wall. She was conscious but unmoving. The monster moved towards her. ‘I need to make this work, fast.’

My adrenaline pumped and time compressed. I closed my eyes and tried to sense the energy in my body, thinking about the energy that arose in my chest when I used Spear Wall. I followed the sensation back to where it started… ‘found it.’ I had been expecting something vibrant and alive, yet what I found was dark and cold, as though there was a void in me. I set my unease aside and attempted to leach out a bit of mana and move it though my body. Nothing. I mentally grabbed more. Nothing. The monster neared Lydia. ‘I don't have time for this.’ I ripped out as much mana as I could, forcing it into my body. An explosion tore through me.

ERROR - MANA CORE RUPTURE HAS BEEN DETECTED.
ERROR - SYSTEM PROCESSES ARE BEING CORRUPTED.
SYSTEM COLLAPSE IMMINENT
SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS…
SEARCHING…
SEARCHING…
SOLUTION FOUND. MANA PURGE REQUIRED.
SEARCHING SOURCES FOR MANA PURGE…
SEARCHING…
SEARCHING…
1 of 1 POSSIBILITIES FOUND.
EVOLUTION (FORCED) - MANA ENTITY (TYPE: COSMIC, SUBTYPE: ELDRITCH)
CHECKING REQUIREMENTS, MAGIC POWER ≥500 IS REQUIRED
MAGIC POWER IS 1000.
CHECK PASSED.
INITIATING STAGE 1.
PROCESSING MANA.

Jet black mist was violently expelled from every pore of my body. It traveled a short distance, recollected, flew back in my mouth, then was expelled again. I dropped to my knees. The feeling wasn’t altogether unpleasant, just overwhelming. I was straddling a precipice. When I saw the form I was about to take crystallize in my thoughts, the room began to shake. Huge slabs of ceiling crashed to the ground. The elemental was struck and knocked flat.

STAGE 1 COMPLETE
INITIATING STAGE 2
BODY REFINING.

“AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH.”

Words could not describe what I felt. My body dissolved and reformed again and again, billions of times at a microscopic level. Each time the molecules were reformed, they changed. A new energy replacing the old. The laws of physics being rewritten.

STAGE 2 COMPLETE
INITIATING FINAL STAGE
MANA SYNTHESIS

A calm washed over me. My body was complete, but weak. It lacked charge. I sucked in the mana around me. It came from every corner of the room, rushed down between cracks in the ceiling, and jetted through the halls. A vortex swirled around with me at its end. The stream rushed down my throat until my body expelled black lighting, bringing the process to a violent end.

A calm silence permated the chamber. I stood. ‘Oh… Oh. I see.’ Black mist crept over my body, solidifying into a liquid sheen. Power coursed through me. Just as no one needs to tell you how to breathe, so too did I understand the boundaries my body had surpassed. Tossing my final spear to the ground, I grinned as the elemental stood up.

I sprinted at the elemental, and it charged towards me in return. Speeding at each other, we both cocked an arm, readying a blow. The monster and I struck.

Its stoney hand shattered to pieces. A pained screech echoed throughout the room. The creature reeled back, unable to believe what had happened. We caught each other's eyes and stared. I cracked my neck left, then right.

“My turn.”

The former apex predator collected itself, not realizing that it was no longer the dominant species in the room. It swung again, channeling all its strength into a momentous blow. The beast’s hand crashed into the floor, smashing another crater. Its body released tension as it pulled back its hand to see… nothing. From its side, I struck its leg with my open palm, obliterating the stone and knocking the monster's remaining foot out from under it, causing it to topple over. Relentlessly, I kicked its torso, sending it sailing towards the entrance way, where it slammed into the rock it had used to block the door.

‘Pathetic.’ I strolled over to a chunk of collapsed ceiling and lifted it. I took my time to calculate the angle, and then used my full might to fling it at the struggling beast. The rock flew into its left leg, pulverizing it.

I continued my casual walk towards the beast, watching it flail its remaining limb ineffectually. I took my time, enjoying the dark comedy. When I finally reached the monster, I hopped onto its chest and sauntered to its face.

“Say goodnight.”

I didn’t wait for a response, pounding my fist straight into its temple, causing its entire head to detonate into shards. The room echoed with scratches as the pieces sped across the floor.

Congratulations, you have defeated Adamantinum elemental 1x. You have gained 500,000 experience. Would you like to loot the body? Y/N

‘Not a bad chunk of experience, I wonder how many levels Lydia gain- fuck mana sickness.” I turned and rushed to her side.