Ajax wasn’t taking any chances with his second fight, both him and the prince had wandered through the forest as they waited for Ajax’s mana to recharge back to full and they both searched for the next mini boss.

“That eagle looks like a good choice.” The prince said as he pointed to a bird with a wing span of twice Ajax’s height.

Ajax nodded in agreement as he saw the bird using a Wind affinity spell. With the knowledge of the monster's mana affinity he felt a lot more sure of his chances, not only that but while birds were usually more dangerous than other animals they were also more fragile.

Unlike last time Ajax now had the opportunity to take a potion before the fight began since the timing wouldn’t be so close as it had been when the prince needed to distract the three wolves that had surrounded the alpha.

As he drank the potion Ajax felt his muscles flex as he felt light as air and pulled out his bow as he loaded his first arrow. Rather than go for his usual opening shot of Lightning mana, Ajax decided to go with Magma. He had learnt early on in his days with The Collectors that flying enemies were best grounded with a sneak attack, while lightning might also achieve that having one wing covered in magma was a much surer way of achieving this.

As Ajax pulled back the arrow he could feel the bow starting to struggle under his strength. The gear he had been given by the crown was supposed to see him through his delves in the Republic and maybe Sylvanthal but with the stats he had now after going through so many dungeons already as well as a boosting potion he was reaching the limit of his bow.

Ajax combined [Inspector’s Eye],[Spot Weakness] and [Dismantle] to find the best spot to place aim his arrow before using [Focused Aim],[Piercing Shot][Mana Augmentation] and [Mana Syphon] to put as much power behind his arrow as he pumped three hundred mana into the Magma augmentation.

To the eagle’s credit it did well in trying to use a wind wall to deflect the arrow and while it still managed to land on its wing the blow didn’t hit the spot Ajax was aiming for. As soon as the arrow embedded itself in the wing a large amount of magma was released covering half the wing around the center where the arrow embedded.

The eagle was quick to take to the air, though its previous swift and refined movement was now clumsy, slow and discoordinated. Ajax wasted no time pulling back his second arrow, now was the perfect time for him to switch to his Lightning as the eagle started to gain more altitude, even if the paralysis was only temporary it would still send it crashing into the ground.

Unlike his first shot Ajax was no longer aiming for any specific point and instead he was doing his best to predict the eagles flight path as all he needed was for the arrow to make contact for his augment to do its job. Unlike his opening attack Ajax only used a hundred and fifty mana for his second shot.

The second barely missed as the eagle was able to deflect it by an inch using its wind magic before locking on to Ajax as the enemy that was attacking it. Ajax wasn't deterred and fired a third shot identical to the second, this one was much easier to land as the eagle was doing its best to dive towards him.

The third shot almost suffered the same fate as the second due to the eagle much smaller form as it dove towards Ajax, the arrow barely made contact with one of the eagles large sharp claws but that was enough for the Lightning to discharge and the muscles spasms ruined the dive as the eagle plummeted the last thirty feet straight into the ground only a dozen feet away from Ajax.

Ajax didn’t waste a single moment as he pulled out his hammer and axe as he charged. He had felt the eagle using its magic even as its body refused to listen and it created a small air cushion to brace its landing, the spell had been made less efficient by [Mana Syphon] but it was still enough that the eagle was mostly just inconvenienced by the crash.

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Unlike most other monsters Ajax didn’t choose to go with his Void mana, instead he infused both his hammer and axe with Metal mana. Birds had hollow bones so crushing damage was highly effective and its feathers would be almost negligible in terms of defense.

Ajax could feel the bones snap and shatter as his hammer landed on the eagles' already injured wing. Instead of being able to follow up with his axe for a second strike however Ajax was forced to roll out of the way as the eagle’s beak shot forward the moment the hammer knocked the defensive wing out of the way.

The eagles attack was still too fast to fully dodge however what it gained in speed had been lost in raw power, the attack had managed to break past the enchanted shields on the armor it wasn’t enough to more than leave a nasty scratch on the leather.

Unlike the stag Ajax had fought as he entered this floor the eagle wasn’t as used with being wary of the ground beneath its feet and Ajax managed to use his control over Earth mana to bury one of the eagle claws into the ground while also solidifying the earth following that.

With the eagle stuck to the ground Ajax quickly switched his hammer for his shield as he went straight for the injured wing. Following the hammer strike Ajax could now clearly see the hollow white bones breaking out through the skin and swung his axe looking to cleanly sever the wing.

Neither the eagle’s remaining free claw nor its beak were able to break past Ajax’s Ice infused shield as the axe imbued with Wind mana made a clean cut taking the wing cleat off. The sudden loss of weight unbalanced the trapped eagle further giving Ajax an opening for an open attack to the body that he infused with Fire mana and added [Cursed Slash] leaving a trail of burning black flames on the eagle’s chest.

With the curse applied Ajax quickly switched to his Holy mana as he started to remove the curse directly from the eagle while also switching back to his dual-wield hammer and axe. This proved to be Ajax’s first serious miscalculation as unlike the humanoid opponents he had previously hit with the combo it seems the monster was able to much better handle the agony inflicted by the curse removal with a clean claw strike breaking through Ajax’s defensive enchantments, cutting through the leather and leaving a nasty cut on his shin that reached all the way to the bone.

Ajax was glad for [Pain Resistance], as he molded the earth to temporarily give himself the support he lost as his leg started to give out under him while also starting to apply Light and Life mana to the wound.

Despite his crumbling form Ajax relied on [Unnatural Balance] to push forward with his attack as he brought his Metal infused hammer with [Precise Blow] down on the eagle’s skull while his axe was following it with a Wind augmentation and [Precise Cut] to the throat.

The eagle was able to lessen the hammer strike by raising its beak and spreading the blow between the skull and beak but the blow was strong enough that combined with [Mana Syphon] it completely disrupted the eagle's ability to control its mana. This meant that Ajax’s axe swing was able to cleanly decapitate the eagle bringing the rough fight to an end.

Once he was sure the eagle was dead Ajax stood back up and leaned on his intact leg as he heaved lungfuls of air. The battle had lasted no more than a minute since his opening arrow but it was intense, Ajax had burnt through a third of his mana quicker than he had ever done outside of using Life mana to animate anything.

“That was a good fight.” the prince complimented him. “Something you might want to keep in mind for the future however is that mini bosses past level one hundred, with the exception of humanoids, almost always have some form of [Berserker Rage] and inflicting pain isn’t all that effective.” a nod towards the closing cut on Ajax’s shin made his point.

“I’ll remember that.” Ajax huffed as he cleaned the wound and pushed more mana into healing it.

The only thing Ajax could pick out about the two arches he had come across was that the first led to a floor where Water mana was dominant and the second to one where Lightning mana ruled. The prince preferred to deal with the lightning floor rather than spend days swimming and looking for the obelisk.

Ajax didn’t even waste time to properly take in the next floor as he turned back around and exited the dungeon as soon as he confirmed the notification for extra stats. Despite the hurry Ajax was careful to exit the dungeon with his helmet on and his shield in hand. The helmet was mostly there to hide the fact he wasn’t an elf and buy himself some extra time before anyone trigger happy enough thought he was a monster exiting the dungeon.

This time there was no issue as he exited the dungeon, Lioriel was on the lookout and quickly picked him up and dragged him away from the dungeon arch and towards the rest of his group. It was there however that the issues began.

As they approached the group Ajax could hear an irate elf spewing hateful comments. While Ajax had no way of knowing one of the elves that had been part of the group of students had had family die at the hands of Duke Manashaper a few hundred years ago. With the news of the Duke’s granddaughter being in the capital one of the student’s slightly older cousins made a beeline for her.

Ajax had no idea what the situation was or what was going, he had expected he would have to ignore such behavior as they made their way here, tired as he was however Ajax’s hadn’t even known he had done anything before everyone in the area turned towards him suddenly.

While Ajax slowly made his way towards Lexi, the elf’s mouth had snapped shut. The elf was barely over level sixty and his face rapidly paled as he looked towards Ajax. Lexi had turned towards him as well both having felt the same thing though they were reacting to it very differently.

Despite being on the weak side as far as these things go Ajax’s disdain for the elf and protectiveness of Lexi could clearly be felt as his aura pushed out without Ajax even realizing.