"Reward: Hidden," read the screen floating in front of me.

"This isn't good; we need to run," I said as Ghislaine rushed forward, lunging at the Beast King while wielding a two-handed sword. "She can't hear me," I said as I gathered mana into my palm, extending my left arm and facing my palm forward. "Mana-Manipulation," I said as I shot a large beam of mana towards the enemy. The Beast King dodged the beam, and Ghislaine was able to land an attack on it. She slashed into his shoulder and then fell back. The wound on the Beast King's shoulder instantly regenerated.

"Ghislaine, I have a plan!" I yelled. "Just trust me!"

"Okay!" she yelled back, facing the Beast King. The light mana in the dungeon was fairly low, so I had to rely on mana manipulation for this fight. I gathered mana into both hands and placed them on the floor. I used mana manipulation to spread the mana across the floor of the dungeon to the boss. As soon as Ghislaine landed her next attack, "Infinite Burn," I yelled. I ignited the mana directly under the boss, causing him to ignite. Then I concentrated the mana from the skill on the wound that Ghislaine had made. "Hm?" the boss looked curiously at the wound that wasn't regenerating. "I may have to take care of you first," he said as he looked at me and pointed.

"Shit!" I yelled as I dodged a sphere of dark mana that rapidly approached. "This won't be as easy as I thought," I said to myself.

Ghislaine took this opportunity to launch a flurry of attacks on the boss. She was able to land two solid hits, but the boss dodged and kicked her in the abdomen. Ghislaine flew backwards into the wall of the dungeon, rendering her temporarily immobile.

I pulled out my sword and began to charge the boss, gathering mana in my sword. The Beast King was much stronger than me, but he was also very cocky. He looked at me like I was an insect that couldn't lay a finger on him; I would use this to my advantage. Once I was within a few meters of him, I pointed my finger at his torso, "Mana-Manipulation," I said as I shot a bolt of mana at him.

"Hoh!" he said as he easily dodged it. I then swung my sword towards his neck; in an instant, he ducked down and punched me in the gut. I flew back, coughing up blood. "This might be impossible," I thought. It was then that I realized something. While I was distracting the boss, Ghislaine seemed to be gathering mana while pretending to be incapacitated. "I need to make an opportunity for her, or we're both dead," I thought. "Mana-Manipulation," I said as I gathered all the mana that I had to my sword. Normally when I use a skill, I use no more than five percent of my mana pool. This time I used everything I had. I became physically exhausted, and my mental state was in disarray. My System skill also activated, warning me that I would die if I tried to gather any more mana. I ignored the warning and kept going.

"Huh, this is a disturbing amount of mana for a human," the Beast King said aloud. "I really should kill you now."

I couldn't hear him; I could barely see or even think. I only had one thing on my mind right now, "Destroy." I used all of my strength to stand up and get into an attack stance with my sword. The Beast King hurriedly dashed forward, ready to attack. I lunged my sword forward as if I were trying to pierce his chest and released all of the gathered mana. Nothing happened. The Beast King stopped in his tracks and chuckled to himself.

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"Hahahahahaha! All of that effort, all of that mana, and for what?" He laughed. "You had me for a moment, human child. I really believed you to be a thre-" In the blink of an eye, The Beast King's head slid cleanly off its neck. "Huh?" Baal said in disbelief. Standing behind the Beast King was Ghislaine, with her sword clad in powerful mana.

"Hmph, you weren't nearly as challenging as I hoped," she said, as if looking down on him.

"Foolish child..." Baal said as his body began to disintegrate. "You have only delayed the inevitable. The demon race cannot be defeated so easily," he said. "Hah, that was a fun warm-up though. 'Til next time," he said as he pointed his eyes at me. His head then disintegrated, leaving only a shining black gem.

"Ugh..." I sighed as my eyes rolled to the back of my head, and I passed out. "Hey!" Ghislaine said, rushing towards me as my consciousness faded.

"Man, he really outdid himself this time, huh..." I heard a voice speak.

"Yeah, dangerous one, this guy is. It's your fault, you know," another voice said.

"My fault? You're the one who gave him this crazy thing to begin with. Those beings won't be so forgiving if they find out," the other voice said.

"Then just don't say anything, please!" the other replied.

"Huh?" I said as I realized where I was.

"Yo!" Rei said.

"Long time no see," Gaia said.

"I guess if I'm here, I probably didn't die... that's good." I replied. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Well, you aren't dead yet. Your body is in critical condition at the moment, so get cozy!" Rei said.

"What exactly happened?" I asked. "You used more mana than you ever should," Gaia replied. "Normally, humans use at most seventy percent of their mana, and that's in extreme situations. Mana doesn't just exist in your core to be used. It is passively circulating through your body to enhance your immune system and strengthen your body. Not only did you use all of your mana, but you even began to pull mana from your soul reserve. Due to this, your body began to break down, unable to protect itself from the amount of force it was exerting." Gaia explained.

"I see, I didn't realize... But I would have died to the Beast King had I not done that." I replied.

"Nah, you would've been fine." Rei replied nonchalantly. "Look at your Questing skill real quick." he said.

"Huh? Sure... Questing." I said aloud. "Defeat the Demon Beast King Baal (Un-awakened) (1/1)," is what it says." I replied. "Wait, un-awakened? It didn't say that in the moment." I said.

"Yeah, it looks like something forced the Demon King awake before it was ready. That guardian you were with, Ghislaine, she would have beaten him alone." Gaia replied this time. "She's very strong. It seems the Questing Skill corrected the quest once it became aware of the Beast King's weakened state."

"Wow... so I was really just in the way." I replied. "So what happened to the Demon? He said he would be back?" I asked.

"I can probably answer that," Gaia said, "As I understand it, Demons are a race from another realm that exist based on belief. As long as their followers, well, follow them, they can reincarnate. There are many Demon Kings and one Demon God. I imagine it will take a while for Baal to return, so you should be fine." they said.

"Aside from that, you got a reward for defeating him, even if he was un-awakened. Hope you like it." Rei said while winking.

"I have a bad feeling about this." I said.

"You won't be able to accept it until you wake up, though," he said as he stuck his tongue out.

"With that, we'll have to leave you for now. There isn't enough mana to keep the connection up. Good luck!" Gaia said as they waved goodbye.

"See ya~" Rei said.

"Bye..." I replied as my consciousness faded once again.