ROAR

Moments after the loud and grating roaring echoed to Adam’s ears, huge footsteps echoed as they came toward Adam and his new companions' direction.

Then, Adam witnessed a tiny blur on the ground running away from the giant predator as if she were the juiciest of prey in existence. At the same time, Adam noticed the speed of the tiny blur. Speed Evelyn had not displayed during their fight with the Moon wolves, probably because it consumed a lot of Essence to keep active.

Either way, seeing her and the giant Monster, Adam squeezed Sun Bearer before calling it to action.

“Edge of Light!”

Almost instantly, the pitch-black Obsidian spear blade attained a golden glow. Then, just as Evelyn ran around the last giant tree, Adam finally witnessed the giant raptor in all its scaled yet very colorful glory. At the same time, he took notice of the two gray patterns on its scales, contrary to all the other Monsters.

Taking notice of the fact and filing it away, Adam began counting.

“Sword of Light!” Adam commanded, and Sun Bearer executed.

However, before the Enchantment fully manifested with its golden glory, Adam released the hold of his Shroud, which glued him to the rough bark of the giant tree and nudged his shoulder blades to tilt his body down.

However, Adam was not stupid enough to jump, fall, or even stupidly run on the rough bark down to the giant raptor. Instead, he called on his Shroud and took hold of his body's momentum the moment it was perfectly perpendicular to the tree on which he was doing it.

The same instant it got accomplished, Adam felt a huge spike in Essence consumption because the Shroud was holding more than it could bear at the moment, yet it held because that was its nature, and Adam willed it to be so.

Either way, taking on a javelin throwing stance, Adam held on with all of his concentration, then threw Sun Bearer, with his Sword of Light Enchantment extending the surface area and range of the spear, right as the giant raptor-like Nightmare passed below him.

Zzzzmmm

The Second Ranked Nightmare did not even notice when Sun Bearer’s Sword of Light pierced through its spine.

Neither had it noticed that it was instantly paralyzed below the chest, though that had not stopped the already moving Nightmare. No, all it meant was that it would take a few moments before the brain and the lower body failed to properly align their information flow concerning balance and all the other biological functions needed for walking, or in this case, running.

As such, it took a few moments for the giant raptor’s steps to become unbalanced enough to tilt it. However, when it did happen, it happened because it desired to make a turn around a giant tree. Hence, when the head and its shoulders tilted to one side, the lower body did not make the corrections, and down went the giant Nightmare.

THUD

ROAR

Hearing the grating roar, Adam focused on the Shroud enveloping and had it slowly push his body to the right so he could reach and grab on the rough bark and regain his hold on it.

A moment later, the rest of his digits did the same, and the overload on his Shroud lessened instantly. Still, he did not refold his Petals and instead used the shroud on his palms and soles of his leather footwear to increase the grip to ease his climb down.

Once he was down, Adam made his way to the giant nightmare, dissing out its anger verbally at not being able to move anything but its head. On the way there, he noticed the group of Adventurers which had gathered close to it.

“Well… That went better than expected.” Adam said with a smile, causing the group of four to turn around and face him.

“It did.” Martin commented grumpily. “Though, I hate how little we did to make it possible.”

“Be more precise, Marty.” Evelyn interjected. “You, the Boss, and Paul did nothing while I had to run for my life to act as bait.”

“Hey, it's not my fault there was no Spawn for us to kill.” Martin defended himself. “Which is weird. We can't have killed all of them on the way? Could we?”

“No.” Jacob answered with experience. “But let's count this as a fortunate sign. Kid, you never mentioned it before, but how much distance is required between us and the Nightmare?”

“No idea.” Adam replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Never had people with me to test it out. Considering that you are Adventurers, what is the maximum range of a kill to receive the reward?”

“It depends.” Paul answered as he was the only one with a ranged weapon at his disposal. “Sometimes, it is more, and sometimes it is less. However, it is generally accepted that it depends on the presence of the killer's Essence within the body of the Nightmare during its death. As such, all Rangers are taught and trained to apply the proper amount of Essence per arrow per distance multipliers alongside the usual penetration and kill potential.”

“Huh… Like a lightning rod.” Adam commented. “Interesting. Anyway, That being the case, listen to the Ranger, and I will go finish the Mon… the Nightmare, I mean.”

Without giving the Adventurers any further thought, Adam made his way to the giant raptor, still trying to stand with just its upper body and stubby arms. Reaching the still legs, Adam became even more cautious because scaled animals, Beasts, and Monsters were known for having resilient nervous systems, to the point that even if you removed the head, the body kept twitching and behaving as if it were still alive.

That was why Adam had been prudent to target above the lower part of the spine but not below the neck area to isolate the giant legs from the brain instead of going straight for the neck or the head.

Maybe it would have worked, and maybe it would not, but Adam went with caution over probability.

As such, closing in on the giant legs, he jumped on them and noted no twitches. Positive that he was fine for the moment, Adam made his way towards Sun Bearer. However, when he reached the place, there was no Sun Bearer.

Not physically, that is, because Adam could still feel its presence nearby.

“Could it be?”

Climbing near the opening Sun Bearer had made, a possibility became a confirmation. “So annoying.” Adam said before refolding and unfolding himself into a different Skill/Petal Combo. The instant it was accomplished, Adam put his hand on the wound and pushed his Shroud inside.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Thanks to the Force Aspect within the Shroud, Adam pushed the wound open a few centimeters and grabbed Sun Bearer with the Shroud before using said Shroud to pull it out. Then, when the spear came out, with the Sword of Light Enchantment still activated, a different application of the Petal of Function, of Essence, and the blood was pushed from it as well, making Sun Barer a properly clean spear for the moment.

However, not all was fine at that moment.

Adam noticed one of the gray patterns on the scales of the giant raptor light up with a gray hue. On a hunch, he pointed his head onto the spinal wound Sun Bearer had made and noticed the wiggling flesh there.

“Increased Regeneration?” Adam posited before instantly stabbing and twirling the Sword of Light to generate additional cuts and slices. Through examining the results, Adam was reminded once again that, at times, it was not acceptable to be too sharp.

Grunting once with dissatisfaction, Adam cut a few more times, only this time he was far more precise with his cuts. Specifically, it was a square cut followed by an angled cut to make the square into a cube of bone and meat. After that, Adam crouched down, poured his Shroud into the cuts, enveloped the cube of spinal bone and meat with his Shroud, and pulled it out.

Examining the rough cube of meat and bone before throwing it aside, Adam took note of the regeneration factor of the giant raptor Monster, though unlike the first two he had met, the bear/cat and rat/cat, it was not a hybrid.

In fact, ever since he had left what the locals called Beastlands, the number of hybrid creatures and Monsters dwindled significantly, which further pointed out external factors being present during the generation of the creatures and Monsters. Nonetheless, then, the anomaly became why these Monsters, or Nightmares as the locals called them, were closer to normal animals, if giant-sized, than the mutated Monsters that appear due to overexposure to Mana.

Wait… Technically, I am a local as well. Adam suddenly remembered before sidelining everything else to focus on the present matters.

Either way, the regeneration factor is not as strong as I feared.

Still, it is best to take a cautious approach.

On the side, about fifty meters away from the giant raptor-like Nightmare, the group of four Adventurers observed Adam slash the back of the raptor before taking out a bit of it and throwing it away.

“BOY? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Jacob shouted for an answer.

“IT'S GOT A REGENERATIVE ABILITY!” Adam shouted back. “I WILL BE DONE SOON!”

Hearing it, Jacob sighed and crossed his arms at the thought of fighting the Razor-Clawed Bizard under normal circumstances. “Did you know it had that, Paul?”

“Know?” Paul shook his head in denial. “Assume? Yes, there was a chance for it since this Second Ranked Nightmare held onto this territory for several years.”

“Testing the spear? Is that why you recommended this Nightmare?” Jacob asked while Martin and Evelyn listened beside them, eager to understand the underpinnings of the decisions that had brought them here. “If you did, I can't blame you for your curiosity.”

“Ever since I saw how it sliced the wolves effortlessly. But no, I had not planned for that.” Paul defended himself. “I am not that eager to jeopardize our lives just to satisfy a bit of my curiosity. No, the Razor Clawed Bizard was simply our best option available. I just did not expect it to end like this.”

Ceasing his explanation there, Paul observed Adam finally reach the no longer moving head and slice the brain it hid. Right after that, Adam walked back to the heart of the giant Nightmare, or where it was supposed to be, and sliced around said position with the glowing spear.

“That spear is such a cheat item.” Paul cemented his thoughts.

“Indeed.” Jacob affirmed.

“It's my first time seeing a genuine Artifact at work. So I wouldn't know.” Martin simply told.

“Couldn't agree more.” Evelyn added last because she had witnessed a few Memory Imprints, and the spear overshadowed their existence by vast quantities. Especially when the glowing sword vanished, and a shiny bulb of light appeared to rise into the sky.

In truth, Evelyn had never been much of a believer before, even when she had witnessed the Miracles of Healing performed by the Priesthood of the Church of Ina. However, right at this moment, she could not help herself be moved a bit. Additionally, seeing the Light above the Nightmare and the kid below it with her own eyes, Evelyn’s mind reminded her of her earlier remark that it may have been Goddess Ina who had made the arrangements for their meeting today, especially after the betrayal of their fifth companion.

However, if that is the case? Evelyn wondered. Just what did that entail, considering our goal was a Nightmare Gate? Was there something special about this Nightmare Gate?

Sensing the dilemma in her mind, Evelyn used her mind, developed just to figure out hidden information through even the tiniest clues presented.

Still, whatever her mind conjured up, Evelyn kept it to herself.

Adam, on the other hand, once the Eternal Light was deployed and stayed on the giant raptor, Adam relaxed and awaited the moment when the gray patterns on its scales vanished and an Essence Crystal formed in its head.

However, no gray pattern vanished, even after waiting about ten minutes. Adam went around inspecting the wounds he'd inflicted and gouged out on the giant raptor.

“Hmph… It's resilient, I give it that. ” Adam said after noticing the regeneration still occurring. “I don't think more wounds will kill it. I need a somewhat more direct approach.”

Pondering for a moment, Adam made his way to the head before infusing his Shroud within the brain and where the supposed Essence Crystal should form. Almost instantly, he noticed a foreign influence upon his Shroud.

It was weak, but it held on to its existence.

Just as Adam wanted to try something, a rough and deep voice reached him. “IS IT DONE, KID?”

“NO!” Adam shouted in reply. “THE REGENERATION IS KEEPING IT STILL ALIVE.” Then, as if reminded of something he added a different comeback before staring at the somewhat distant man. “SINCE I DID THE MOST WORK, YOU PROBABLY WON'T MIND IF THE ESSENCE CRYSTAL DOES NOT FORM, RIGHT? I WANT TO PERFORM AN EXPERIMENT REGARDING SOMETHING?”

“FINE!” Jacob affirmed after a moment of silent discourse between his teammates. “BUT DO IT QUICKLY. EVEN WITHOUT THE CRYSTAL, YOU HAVE PROVEN TO BE DECENTLY COMPETENT. I WON'T MIND YOU ON MY TEAM FOR NOW.”

“PERFECT!” Adam added before recentering his attention on the giant head and brain that it hid.

“Now, how do I do this?” Adam asked himself before withdrawing his Shroud, refolding his Petals of Existence, only to unfold them once again, only this time it was a combo that he had only tried once with no obvious results.

Skill/Petal Combo Ninty Three - Resolution of Purpose - Through Function, Form, and Change.

Now, though? Now, Adam had a target.

Quickly unfolding himself in the proper order, Adam pushed the still-to-be-named energy, centered around the Petal of Purpose, on the previously sensed spark of influence causing a new battlefield to reach his awareness.

A battlefield the Nightmare had never even known existed.

A battlefield of the Mind.

Unfortunately, for the Second Ranked Nightmare, a battle of the Mind was not the type it knew how to oppose. On the other hand, while Adam had never fought one before, the memories of Adamu guided him on the hows and the whys. As such, the moment battle ensued in the pitch-black void that was the Nightmares Mind Sea, Adam made himself bigger, stronger, tougher, faster, plus a few other benefits, all without having to draw on the Bloodline to do it.

No, this was a pure mental capability to conceptualize one's existence on the mental plane, and without an opposite force doing the same, or at least denying said advantage to the enemy within one's own mental domain, the giant raptor was out of its primitive league.

The results were apparent when Adam beat the mental shit out of it, such that on the first mental collapse, an involuntary response occurred within its Mind to protect its existence. That response, combined with its physical condition, finally triggered the contraction of all of its Essence into one tiny singularity where it could exist as a mental shadow of its former existence for as long as the crystal remained in existence.

After the collapse began, Adam withdrew and refolded his Petals of Existence.

“Phu… Not bad for a first try.”