Ember's Soul Energy-imbued flames cover the orange sword that plummets down at us, but as the beast follows through with its swing, the massive blade disintegrates away in an instant.
All I feel is a huge gust of wind left behind in its wake, but as we swoop upward, and I see the rest of the flames flow down the monster's arm, eroding away the Soul Energy Shielding around it, a plan comes together in my mind.
I may not be able to puncture its shielding myself at my current strength, but I sure can cut through its flesh with an invisible attack if I'm given the opportunity.
A flap of Ember's black glossy wings brings us higher into the air, moving up past the monster's eye-line almost 40 meters off the ground now.
I deactivate my mana skills and channel Qi into my sword again, just like I did before to take off the monster's left arm. White hot energy flows from my core and oversaturates my sword again, residue trailing below as our ascent increases in speed.
Before, it was still a test; now I'm sure it will work.
My gaze locks on the evaporating layers of orange shielding that creeps down the monster's arm while Ember's Flames of Cleansing begin to die down too. They have their limits too, but it seems the limit to their power is going to be just enough for me to set off an attack.
I swing my blade downward, aimed at the thinnest portion of its defenses in the elbow joint of its right arm where the majority of flames have accumulated and begun to die out.
Orange energy seeps in from its core to fill the exposed portions of shielding, but it's too late.
Another blade of Qi flies downward, and Ember and I fly up.
The sound of a ferocious roar fills the air, followed by a thud as half of the beast's last remaining arm hits the desert floor.
I smile inwardly but keep myself composed in full battle mode while restoring my MP and taking another Qi pill, leaving just 2 more in my storage total.
I open my telepathy link with Ember as he stabilizes us in the air and swoops back down at the beast, now manifesting two arms from pure energy and regrowing the long sword.
"We need to aim for its vital points. The head or heart will be the only way to take it down."
"Understood."
Ember swoops down and tries to attack the monster from behind, releasing a blast of Soul Energy imbued flames at its head.
However, it seems this beast won't fall for the same trick twice. It turns its body the moment it sees the attack coming and uses both of its manifested arms and sword to block the wave of fire.
The same scenario as before happens; its sword is melted away, and the energy that makes its arms melts away too, but it manages not to let any of the dangerous flames hit its real body this time around.
Ember swoops around it with impressive speed and agility, but the giant angry eye continues to track us through the air without fail.
I grip my sword tightly, using my perception skills to their maxed-out potential, trying to find any kind of opening I can.
Ember releases another wave of fire. At the last moment, it's blocked again.
The Colossal's sword and arms are disintegrated away, and some of the shielding on the stub of its right remaining arm is burned away too up to its shoulder. I could land another hit. However, wasting my entire Qi stores on a non-lethal attack right now is not a good idea.
I open my link again.
"We need to slow it down. This creature is too quick and battle-seasoned to allow us to pull another fast one on it."
"Got it."
Ember swoops down again, sending a third wave of fire down onto the monster, only to be cloaked by the same standard move.
However, Ember doesn't swoop back up like the previous times.
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We dive down low to the desert floor, and Ember releases another wave of flames mere fractions of a second after the first attack, directly aimed at its legs.
I focus my Qi on the way down and let an attack fly right behind the waves of flames, confident they'll do their magic.
If we don't land this hit now, this monster will surely catch on and find a way to counter this one too. It's now or never.
An eruption of flames, Qi, soul energy, and a vicious roar erupt in my senses as Ember and I fly right past the creature's kneecaps and back past its eye level up into the sky.
An earth-shaking thud can be heard while I rejuvenate myself with mana and another Qi pill, ready to strike again if needed.
My body is starting to ache and shiver from the high usage of Qi in such a short period of time. I've never gone through multiple full cores in just a small amount of time, but I push the feeling to the back of my mind and charge my blade up one last time.
My head turns to the ground as Ember changes direction and starts dive-bombing toward the desert floor again.
The body of the Colossal is resting face down in the sand with both of its legs cut off through the shins.
However, the growing orange glow that pulses and hums throughout its body grows new manifested limbs, and it begins to attempt standing back up on its new bright orange feet.
"Don't let this monster stand again. We're finishing this now."
A wave of flames stronger, hotter, denser, and more intense than any of the previous waves comes blasting out of Ember's mouth as we make a crash course straight for the back of the creature's head.
It's lifting itself off of the ground slowly, but we're falling downward toward it much faster.
Once my sword is fully saturated, I don't move a muscle and keep my eyes locked on the back of its neck.
The Soul Energy flames make contact with the beast, evaporating its shielding away, and I see my opening.
A final crescent of pure Qi makes contact with the exposed neck, and it slices through without any resistance.
The head slides off its shoulders, and Ember swoops upward while I watch the frightened and confused massive eye lose its life as it hits the desert ground.
Another thud follows as the remainder of its body collapses without life.
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I hit level 765 in an instant, and Ember circles around the corpse high in the air for a few moments before we finally drift down to the ground.
The leftover orange soul energy begins to disperse into the air, but some still stays stagnant. It's just like the leftover residue from my Red Hydra's buff.
Before I hop off Ember's back, I swallow my last remaining Qi pill along with restoring my MP. Even with continuous self-regeneration, my body feels a bit weak. Plus, I'm covered in sweat and breathing heavily.
I do a few circles around the monster, trying to scan it for any other interesting things, but no readings come back.
There aren't any extra popups for stat boosts, and no skills either.
I can't help but think it has something to do with its soul bond with the Dark One. Just like the ghouls and Wraiths, its status is cleared of any items or skills, or extra buffs.
I let out a sigh, then do a deep, extensive All-Seeing Eye scan to see where the dropped armor was that it shed before the battle, and locate it in the city along with many of the broken armor pieces and Wraith Essence Cores scattered around from the other earlier fights.
Then, the faint reading of mana comes from inside the middle of the monster's corpse.
I lift my sword and begin chopping the massive leftover mass of flesh to pieces, trying to dig through to its heart.
The more flesh I rip away, the more intense the source of mana becomes. It gives off a reading unlike anything I've felt before, and doesn't feel like it's infected by the Lich King's soul energy at all.
I finally find its heart and carefully tear it open to find a clear crystal-like shard bigger than my open palm.
I have to put my sword to the side to lift the large clear crystal up with two hands and use appraisal on it.
[Shard of The Colossal] [+266% Strength][+210% Defense][+200% Mental Strength]
I stare down at the item in awe for almost a full minute, admiring the amount of mana coming off of it in its dormant state.
The possibilities of item crafts race through my mind, but I can't think of any item at par with its quality that would be worth merging with it.
This is my first A-Class material I've ever come in contact with.
With a growing smile across my face, I place the item into my item storage and turn to walk away through the blood-stained sand.
I let out advanced fire magic behind me and let my black flames burn the corpse away before it makes a mess out here in the desert.
Then, I approach Ember with a smile.
"A job well done. That was quite the battle."
The corners of Ember's mouth are curved up, and I can see a toothy grin forming.
"It sure was. Your first double-ranked up monster kill."
I nod, and a moment of silence follows before Ember speaks again.
"I know that soul energy very well. That was one of the Lich King's subordinates, wasn't it?"
I let out a sigh.
"It was. And now that this has happened, I doubt it's the last."
Ember thinks to himself and watches the black flames crackle away as the body burns.
"Well... Nothing we can do about it now. If more are on the way, you'll need to find a way to get much stronger. Fast."
Before I open my mouth to agree, more ringing system notifications enter my ear, and I look down at my status to see quite the unexpected string of skill upgrade notifications from my body double. It makes me realize there are definitely more things than just dungeons down in that Canyon.