The Spirit of Protection is working its power through you. You have gained access to 5 limited use spells.

Bulwark - 3/3 uses remaining

A protective barrier against both physical and magical attacks that protects those within it.

Shield Wall - 3/3 uses remaining

A temporary barrier that will prevent enemy access. Typically used to block gates, hallways, or other passageways during combat.

Karma Armour - 3/3 uses remaining

This spell creates a glowing suit of armour around the user that reduces 50% of damage received and returns that damage to the enemy.

Saving Grace - 1/1 uses remaining

This spell prevents all damage on the user from a single attack, unless that attack is beyond the damage threshold.

Floating Shield - 10/10 uses remaining

This spell creates a glowing shield the user can control with their mind, able to block attacks. Multiple floating shields can be controlled at once, however this takes a mental toll on the user.

Time until spells become unavailable: 5 minutes

Xavier looked through the different spells, his smile growing as he read each one. The Spirit of Protection had warned him that the more of the spells he used, the longer his cooldown would become—that might be a problem for someone who struggled to gain a level or two each year, but for him, right now, it wasn’t even a part of the equation. In fact, it might be better for him if he were able to test exactly how long that cooldown would be.

The five-minute timer was also much more time than he had anticipated. He knew that there was a consequence of using summoning spells to bring forth spirits from the Otherworld—that doing so was damaging his soul—but it wasn’t something he knew how to quantify, and his soul was tougher than most with his usage of Soul Harden.

Five minutes will be plenty of time.

He turned to the Spirit of Vengeance. The Saving Grace spell. It says there is a damage threshold it can’t go over?

The full-plate armoured spirit inclined his head. Indeed. It wouldn’t be fair to have a spell that allowed an F Grade to effectively defend against the attacks of an A Grade, would it?

Xavier tilted his head to the side. No. I suppose it wouldn’t.

Do you have any other questions about the spells?

Xavier smiled.

He had many.

He spoke to the man for a time, until he figured he knew all he would need to know about the spells to get him through this fight. The main thing he was worried about was his lack of sight. Xavier had developed his other senses, but he’d never anticipated being completely without sight the way he was now. After he obtained the Farscope item, seeing literally everything around him had become normal. He’d grown to rely on the ability more than he had realised.

The torch he’d lit, he knew wouldn’t last long. The moment he stopped the Time Alteration spell, the Stone Bear would be able to snuff it out again.

Xavier came up with a plan of attack as he stood within the time bubble, staring through the barrier over at the visage of the Stone Bear. The name of the beast had been so innocuous, he hadn’t expected it to be capable of everything it was.

Once Xavier had turned all his options over in his mind, he let out a breath.

He had a plan. A rather clever one, he thought.

He took a few steps back from the edge of the barrier, until he was standing in the centre of it, that falling stalactite over his head. There were things that Liana had taught him how to do during the past week that he wouldn’t have thought possible, and now he was beginning to realise just how useful her instruction on his Time Alteration spell had been.

Xavier pushed the time bubble open wider around him. The larger the time bubble, the less time it would last, but even at its largest Xavier could still hold it for as long as he would need.

One thing Liana had taught him was that the time bubble didn’t need to be a perfect circle—he could craft it. The more he crafted it, the more toll it took on the spell, and the less time it would last. He pushed the time bubble as far as he could manage, planting enchanted torches into the ground as he went, illuminating the space.

Definitely glad I got a bunch of these torches. Never thought I’d have a use for them.

The Spirit of Protection tilted his head to the side, watching closely what Xavier was up to.

Xavier wasn’t used to taking his time to prepare for a fight like this—usually he would go in, spells flaring. There was still room for that, and it would happen soon, in a manner of speaking. But this was a more methodical approach, one that he knew would serve him well.

He carved the time bubble, making the fighting area as large as he could.

Xavier’s cooldowns were not the only ones that would suffer whilst inside the time bubble, and that was something he would take into account.

The spells that he had at his disposal from the Spirit of Protection? They didn’t have cooldowns at all—he could use them, one after the other, even inside of this space.

Xavier was careful to avoid the stalactites and stalagmites that had been formed around the cavern, carving his time bubble to avoid them.

When he deemed that his time bubble was large enough, Xavier released a breath. He walked back a little ways, coming closer to where the Stone Bear was.

What is it you are doing? The Spirit of Protection asked within his mind.

Just a little experiment. I’m not sure how well it will work. If it fails, well, that’s when I’ll be in true need of your protection. But if it works…

He grinned, letting the words sit.

Xavier had been collecting more souls as he fought beasts over the last six days. His soulkeeping reserve was nowhere near full, but it should serve him well enough in this battle.

Next, Xavier cast Floating Shield. Being able to converse with the Spirit of Protection had diminished his need for experimenting with the spells, as the full-plated warrior was able to tell him the specifics of the abilities.

The shield that the Floating Shield spell created had a minimum runtime. They could only last for a minute each, and they could only take so much damage.

Xavier didn’t think the battle with the Stone Bear would take very long, so he decided he would use multiple floating shields at once.

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The first materialised before him. As time wasn’t of the essence within the bubble, Xavier practised with the shield until moving it felt natural. He split his mind, making one part entirely control the shield so he wouldn’t have to focus on it.

Then he cast the spell for a second time and repeated the process—over and over until he had five shields surrounding him. This would give him the opportunity to summon more if the need arose.

With that done, Xavier checked the number of uses he had for Bulwark and Shield Wall. Three each. That, too, would serve him well.

The Shield Wall spell, he thought would come in the most handy. Xavier was attempting to control his environment as much as possible, but he was still within the Stone Bear’s domain—and the Stone Bear had the ability to teleport wherever it wished as long as there was rock.

Xavier knelt on the ground before him and created a Shield Wall that covered the ground—this would prevent the Stone Bear from teleporting up beneath him, or from creating a stalagmite to skewer him from below.

Once that was covered, he cast two behind him at a right angle, effectively blocking the way. While it appeared to box Xavier in, he had discovered that the user of the spell was able to move through a Shield Wall freely.

Ah, I see what you’re doing. Clever. Very clever.

Xavier glanced about inside the Time Alteration bubble, wondering if there was anything he was missing. He nodded when he felt satisfied.

There were more spells yet for him to cast.

He cast Karma Armour on himself. He looked down. It was strange to see the glowing purple armour over his dark robes. He hoped he wouldn’t take too much damage from the enemy, but if he did, at least this spell would serve him well. He lamented at not having something like it when he’d faced the Magma Bull.

Xavier started casting offensive spells against the Stone Bear, which was still clearly visible outside of the bubble.

Spirit Break! Soul Shatter! Core Burn! Willpower Infusion!

And, for good measure, he cast Soul Strike.

He used five hundred souls in the spell. While he worried about reducing his reserve too much, he would still have well over 3,000 souls in it.

This was but a fraction of his power. On this floor he’d only used Soul Block once—using 200 souls in the spell. He had since replenished his reserve, even if it had taken a while.

The Soul Strike was targeted against a single enemy, and the soul apparition that appeared was an amalgamation of a wolven and a boar, with hints of bullish features.

The Spirit of Protection seemed to take an almost imperceptible step back at the sight of the soul apparition. His eyes opened wide, very slightly, but only for the barest fraction of a second.

The soul apparition froze after if reached the other side of the barrier.

What now, Denizen? Will you drop the barrier?

Xavier smiled. Not exactly.

This cave was the enemy’s turf—the beast’s domain—but Xavier was about to turn it to his own advantage.

He pushed the time barrier forward until it engulfed the Stone Bear.

The spells slammed into the Stone Bear seemingly all at once. It shuddered from the pain. It did not roar—it did not make a single sound.

The torches were not yet snuffed out—the bear’s attention had been too strongly grasped by the spells.

The spells Xavier had just cast had never held so much power—he had gained not only levels, but attunement in each of his attributes, making everything he did stronger and more powerful.

He saw that newfound strength at work. The Stone Bear faltered as it came forward. As Xavier had cast Willpower Infusion, he felt the bear’s mental barrier snap up. It was powerful, but there was a crack in it. The bear was too focused on the pain it was feeling, while trying to shrug off the effects of the Core Burn Spell, for it to be able to defend against this entirely.

But Xavier knew he wouldn’t be able to hold the enemy in his thrall for long—not something as powerful as this.

When his control solidified, it was time to move. He leapt forward and cast Telekinetic Enhanced Strike as his Midnight Scythe came down on his enemy’s head. The blade pierced the rock skull, but it didn’t go in deep—that was something Xavier had been afraid of.

Still, at least he’d been able to get a hit in before the beast disappeared.

The Stone Bear wrenched control of its mind back and flitted out of existence, materialising somewhere else within the time bubble.

Xavier smiled, for all was going to plan.

The beast collapsed down to one knee, clearly hurt. Xavier couldn’t help but wonder exactly how much damage he’d done to his enemy—he wished the beast had some sort of health bar that was visible to him.

Xavier had exhausted the use of all his offensive spells, and not a single one was going to reach the end of its cooldown while he was still inside that time barrier.

Except, that wasn’t truly the case.

Xavier cast one of the three Bulwark spells as the torches were snuffed out, and the cave was once against plunged into that strange, oppressive darkness.

Cooldowns were tied to the clock of the universe he currently resided in.

Xavier was able to both speed up time and slow down time in a bubble he had created—and with Liana’s help, he had learnt to alter that flow.

He did so now. He altered the flow of the time bubble, making it move more swiftly than the time outside of it. He only did this for a short period of time, for he did not wish to lose the floating shields, and the majority of his cooldowns were rather short.

A measly ten seconds went by outside of the timbe bubble. The stalactite that had frozen in mid-air as it had tried to fall on Xavier’s head did so now—he heard its whoosh as it moved through the air.

And Spirit Break, Soul Shatter, Core Burn, and Willpower Infusion all reached the ends of their cooldown.

Though ten seconds passed by outside of the bubble, within it, only a fraction of a second went by. The stalactite had yet to even reach the ground. The bear would have barely a moment to respond to what was happening.

Xavier reversed the flow of time within the bubble, speeding it up once more, then he contracted the bubble, locking the bear outside.

He released a breath, and touched a hand to the nearest enchanted torch, relighting its fire.

The Spirit of Protection looked over at the bear. Ingenious.

It was only possible because we’re stuck within an instance, and I’m facing a single opponent, if I did that on a battlefield, with more enemies in play…

Xavier walked around his time bubble with the torch, pushing back the darkness. His body and mind relaxing once more.

You would have been hit with countless enemy attacks. You would have died.

Xavier cancelled the Bulwark spell—it turned out it hadn’t even been necessary. The bear was fast, but still recovering from all the spells that had been cast on it. It hadn’t had enough time to attack Xavier—Xavier hadn’t given it enough time.

Xavier couldn’t help but smile at what he’d just done. He had turned the fight on its head—and he hadn’t even been struck by the enemy.

Xavier had expanded the time bubble large enough to give the Stone Bear somewhere to teleport to, knowing from his Identify skill that it was the beast’s nature to do so. He also knew that the beast, being Level 280, would be incredibly intelligent. As a D Grade, it would no doubt be able to discern the barrier around the time bubble, and figure out what it was, even if it didn’t have much time to do so. And so when it did teleport, Xavier knew it wouldn’t risk teleporting back outside that barrier.

The only problem was, he was now on a time limit. The Time Alteration spell could last a long time, but the way he was using it, each time he expanded, contracted, or altered the flow of time within it, he cut that time down more and more.

Xavier cast his spells for a second time, all but Soul Strike—that spell suffered from a longer cooldown than the others.

You don’t even need me. The Spirit of Protection’s glowing form walked up to the edge of the barrier. It did not sound offended. This beast will die before it ever has a chance to hit you.

Maybe, Xavier thought in reply. Maybe not. That isn’t a risk I’m willing to take. He hadn’t known if this experiment would be a successful one. The spells the Spirit of Protection granted him were his back-up plan—something to keep him safe while he fought his enemy.

With Spirit Break, Soul Shatter, and Core Burn cast once more, Xavier expanded the time dilation field to encompass the Stone Bear for a second time. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead at the effort. He felt the spell straining, something he was only able to identify because of Liana’s training, and wondered just how much more of this it could take.

Again, the spells slammed into the bear.

Again, it was rocked, frozen by Willpower Infusion.

Its mind was weaker than it had been at the first, and Xavier’s control felt stronger. He slammed Telekinetic Enhanced Strike into the exact same wound he had created in its skull the last time. Then, he had time to strike the beast again, using Heavy Telekinesis to enhance his physical strike, just as he had before he’d gained the new spell.

The crack widened. The bear weakened. Xavier could feel it. It wrenched control of itself back, plunging the cavern into darkness.

But this time, it didn’t teleport. Xavier felt it move. His Evasion skill warning him. Xavier couldn’t see the blow coming, but he knew where it would land. It felt powerful, dangerous.

He summoned all five floating shields up to block the strike, and felt three of them instantly obliterated.

Xavier leapt backward. He had familiarised himself with the environment and knew where he was, and where he was going. He landed behind the protection of his shield walls, then—with great effort—reversed time within the bubble.

His cooldowns reached their end.

He forced the bubble to contract.

More beads of sweat formed on his forehead, dripping down into his eyes. He breathed heavily. He was having to push to keep the time bubble up—it would falter at any moment.

One more time.

He lit the torches. Saw the beast. Cast the spells.

The time barrier fell. The spells hit.

He launched himself forward with a shout as his Willpower Infusion spell took control of the Stone Bear for a third time.

Slam!

He combined his strike—Telekinetic Enhanced Strike backed up with Heavy Telekinesis, making the strongest physical attack he could muster, combined with his newly attained attunement with Strength.

The Stone Bear crumpled.

The kill notification came.

Xavier breathed a sigh of relief as the darkness in the cave was finally pushed back for good.