“Come one... stupid snake! Attack or I will kick your ass with my tiny legs!” Murai quacked, trying to force this Horn Snake to do something but it didn't do a thing. It seemed the snake didn't hear him, and rather ignored him, or didn't understand him at all.
Once again, the intelligence of the species in front of him was low, and it wasn't surprising. Murai wasn't able to communicate with any of his enemies, apart from the strange instance of Rain. He was the only one he was able to speak with, but that was possible thanks to his high level and Will, which led to the possible communication.
As for this talk of what Murai was doing, it amounted to nothing but some duck's quacking. It was his usual talking, since every time he spoke out loud, only quack followed from his beak. It was a strange situation, that made sense in his mind, yet those words didn't travel out of his mouth. Of course, apart from that, the curses in his mind acted as a form of stress relief.
Lisa didn't understand those quacks either, but she didn't need to. She had a perfect understanding of his soul, and Will, so hearing his intent with some understanding was easy enough. However, she already had enough of his curses.
Horn Snake didn't attack and simply swirled in the water right above the path that led towards the end of the tower. It almost appeared he was a dog that watched the backyard of its owner, defending it to the bitter end.
Murai was getting irritated since he was the one who had to do something. His time was limited, so he had no choice but to go for the kill since wasting it was more than unnecessary. His cup of patience was overflowing for the past minutes, and unfortunately, the Horn Snake discovered his impatience with its dark black eyes.
Right, he was. Murai could tell he didn't have a lot of breathing time left, so he started to panic a little. With the three mana blades around the Diving Sphere, Murai moved upwards at 40% speed of his swimming speed, which was enough for some strategy. The further he went to the tower, the more was it apparent that this was highly disadvantageous for him.
He kept muttering the words "come one" In his mind until he was 2 meters away from the Horn Snake. There, a change happened in an instant. Murai felt the precise moment where the intent of the foe changed, and the swirling motion of its body went from calmness to a fierce whip-like thrust that pushed its head forward like a stab of a rapier.
Anticipating the attack, Mura didn't dodge it but began a quick descent that was much faster than ever before, following the stabbing horn about 30 meters before the Diving Sphere. His eyes and mind were strained by the pressuring attack that would be his demise, but he did his best to work with his plan in mind.
First, Murai expected this sort of attack, since the message of the Will of the Battlworld talked about it in this manner. It wasn't wrong, fortunately.
His descent almost matched the speed of the opponent, and in this way, the use of Mana Blades easily interrupted the speed of this stab. Though, the term interrupted wasn't correct, since the blades barely scratched its head with a couple of quick slashes.
Horn Snake stopped with this attack, motioning its head to halt, and watched the foe again. It was hiding anger according to his Soul Read. Murai saw it within its eyes, so he smirked in return, descending another 4 meters just to be safe.
Alas, the smirk was hiding his grim reality. His lack of mana with the offensive properties was clear to him but attacking with his beak wasn't a good choice either. He would get stabbed in return, while there was a big possibility of other attacks this Horn Snake could do. So, more mana was up to this task, or a change in strategy.
Murai had to figure out the method to work with otherwise, he won't be able to do much. Fortunately, he already had some experience in Conjuring and Shaping the mana in this enriched environment, which made things a bit easier than they should be. The previous wave confirmed this idea, making him change the strategy accordingly. Before, Mana Return was his first experiment working with a weird principle of Shapers, and it wasn't an easy thing to do.
It required many kinds of things to do at the same time. Shaping, Conjuring, and using the connection to his core, and rules of magic. First, mana itself had to be dispersed and then recalled right afterward so Murai could connect with it again. Shaping and Conjuring it quickly back to its former appearance was another rule since mana can briefly recall it from "memory", which ended up drilling into the last Magic Carp.
At this time, Lisa hadn't uttered a single complaint or a word of her "wisdom". She let Murai do his things, which were rather surprising and effective in her expertise as a former high-level succubus.
Unfortunately, Murai ended up bladeless again. Each of the 3 Mana Blades dissipated against the tough scales of the Horn Snake. They lacked a certain sharpness to them, and Murai knew about it all too well. His control over the blades was efficient, but what he lacked was proper Shaping not in terms of swings, but the direct Shape of the mana itself.
Shaping had two, or more important ways and methods.
1st: It can change the shape of the conjured mana, making it whatever a mage desires.
2nd: It can change the properties of the conjured mana, and already shaped objects to make them more robust - sharp - bigger - longer, and so on.
Could he change and work around those two most important aspects of Shaping? Sure, but his mana control over his core wasn't something that could become easy all of a sudden. One had to be comfortable with the flow of the inner mana as well as feeling the Mana Core. Both should feel good and not hinder one another.
Either of these wasn't something Murai perfected, nor was he good at according to his standards. Killing Magic Carps? Easy enough. They were dumb enemies, but with proper magic, he could've killed them in a blink.
What Murai lacked the most was the core idea of figuring out his magic, and no amount of past lives would change that. Something bothered him for a long time. Something that has to do with the mana itself, this place, and his body.
It wasn't about the quality or quantity. It was as if something was intentionally done to the mana to act in different attitudes, ways, control, or rules. The last thing was definitely suspicious. That, or everything was wrong and strange because of his own body. He couldn't guess it, but he could think and come to certain conclusions himself.
His ideas weren't right or wrong. He simply wasn't used to his Beast Core, so whether it was the work of the gods or his body, it didn't matter. It wouldn't be the first time a god manipulated the mana to their benefit, but would it be possible in large-scale effects? That left much displeasure in Murai's life. After all, this could be a much stronger effect of the manipulation, since even he, found it rather difficult to imagine.
Oh, wait... I think I know how to get out of this situation. Murai thought, beginning his ascend once again. Alright... You tough snake. I will make you regret your life's choices. Coming toe to toe with me is barely a good idea, and you don't even have one. How funny. He laughed, forgetting his tiny legs that had 3 fingers between some kind of membrane and small fangs at the end.
Lisa cringed at his weak joke that the Horn Snake couldn't even hear. In fact, who was Murai kidding? He had a toe, but a strange one.
With that said, Murai willed his Mana Shaping forward and didn't form a blade, or anything similar. It was a simple Conjuration of mana with a hefty amount of it. Pulling this dense mana into a ball, the shape of a glowing sphere became brighter and brighter, becoming like a small radiating sun.
The intensity of the bright and light mana particles was his goal until it resembled a tiny little sun that was much brighter than the surrounding mana crystals or spikes. Horn Snake looked down with cautious eyes, which was a stupid idea since it was brighter and brighter until it couldn't see a thing.
It panicked since it thought the enemy wanted to use this change to end its life, so it attacked. Charging toward the sun was the easiest and only thing it could do since the foe was right below it.
Wrong.
Murai moved away the moment Horn Snake charged. The huge amount of mana that he used to create this much brightness was his plan, while the following one was a huge gamble. It took at least twice as much mana than previous attacks combined together, but Murai could feel the replenishment fueling his core at all times. His own mana in his core was yet to become painfully empty and destabilized, which was a good thing.
But, was it worth it? After all, the little sun was charged with way too much Shaping and it stressed his mind less than he feared. It will be hard to point out or return it, meaning a lot of mana will become wasted in this manner, but he didn't have a choice. He needed to solve this enemy in one move. A quick kill of this snake should benefit him more than coming up with some other ways to kill it.
Changing the shape of this much mana shouldn't be impossible. That much Murai knew, so had to go very close to his limits, and surprisingly, his mind was up to this task. Would body and mana do the same? He wasn't sure, but he planned to force it to happen anyway, Shaping his path ahead.
That's why he came up with the simplest form of Shaping and not something that had anything to do with too-complex Shaping. He just turned his mana denser, making it heavy and bright.
Easy... That's right. I will just smack this snake well, so he will have no time to regret his life's choices. Murai thought with little or no issue, deciding to act on the simplest solution.
Right as the Horn Snake - with its eyes closed - charged past the bright sphere, it did miss it. The glowing sphere changed into a wide pillar, resembling nothing but a wild and chaotic shape that had no proper form. It only generated a lot of loss, and Murai felt how his mind shook under this sudden Shaping of this amount of mana.
The pillar smacked the snake to its horn and head, pushing it towards the section of the wall with a dozen or so crystals and spikes around it. This one was a flat wall, perfect for a kill.
Some of them penetrated its body, but some cracked into bigger parts because of the momentum or toughness of Horn Snake's body. Their content seeped out, while the Mana Spike let glowing liquid dissipate to the water, dissolving in a couple of seconds.
Still, with at least 5 spikes successfully penetrating it, the Horn Snake shrieked in pain, wriggling its body in pain as blood colored the water.
Alas, this sort of attack didn't end its life, much to Murai's pleasure.
With such damage, Horn Snake couldn't move, defend, or do much about the incoming Beak's Fury to its neck that ended up decapitating it with a dozen or so strikes.
Murai was furious, and he made quite a bit of a mess. Blood flowed around, coloring the water crimson for dozens of meters.
At this point, Murai's control over the Diving Sphere was gone, and the seriousness of Beak's Fury attacks ended up destabilizing it, at last. Protection and breathing altogether were over, leaving Murai and Lisa stranded in this tower.
Though, Murai planned for this to happen since it was a time to gamble. He had to get rid of this snake first for the sake of his next move and even though he felt the pressure of this place rising, he didn't care. Effects of the Celestial Pool of S Grade were penetrating his body, so he needed to be quick. He picked the longer part of the snake's body with his beak, swimming upwards with his limited breath which was around 34 seconds long.
At this time, he noticed a panicking Lisa, who was flipping her hands and wings, shouting some inaudible curses with her voice, and not her Will. Murai wasn't one to make fun of her at the moment, so he grabbed her under his wing, before forcing his way to the section of the wall where the Horn Snake emerged from. He thought it was his key to a clear victory.
After all, this snake wasn't a fish, unlike what Will of the Battleworld proclaimed. It was both land and water animal. Its life in the water was only possible thanks to how long it can breathe. It can remain under the water for longer than Murai would ever wish for, but it meant one thing. There was a breathable surface in this tower. Somewhere.
So, following this gamble and thoughts, Murai ended up swimming to a door-like hole in the wall, indicating his hunch to be plausible.
Panicking, and struggling with his breath and weight in his beak, he pushed himself forward into the depth and darkness of the dark room. This one was wide enough for Horn Snake to move through, while according to his Mana Detection, this should be the one it came up from.
To his lack of surprise, what was right around the corner were stairs. They weren't submerged in water, allowing the Horn Snake to hide there and breathe.
Seeing it, Murai left the snake's body be, hurrying to breathe the fresh air he wished for.
“Haaa...” Murai took a deep breath, tossing Lisa to the stairs, along with his own body. They both appeared like fish who got out of the water. Both appeared dead and unmoving, apart from the duck gasping for breath.
“Murai Hisagi... You lunatic and piece of shit... Why did you not tell me that beforehand... I almost died in shock.” Lisa struggled, smacking Murai's beak in frustration since she changed her physicality to a more physical form.
Is that to your liking? He sent her without even bothering to move his beak.
“What?”
My beak.
“No way.” she smacked it again. “You duck. Hmph!”
It's what saved us though. Well, Murai got to his feet after a couple of dozen breaths. This worked better than I thought. Breathing is good, so how is the situation looking? He thought and observed his mana and whether it would be enough for the upcoming last 2 waves.
Through his feelings, he could tell he had less than half left, which wasn't a lot. Thankfully, the Replenishment was boosted from this environment, and he could tell his body absorbing the mana in steady form. It was automatic, much to his pleasure, and it didn't require his intent like it did as he was in Novihaim or other places.
His lack of proper mana management was apparent, but thankfully so, the base Mana Pool of the Anatidae Panacea was huge. The thing Murai had done in the past waves wasted a lot of mana in a short amount of time. It at least gave him no mana shock, which was good. Any kind of mage would've long shown symptoms of losing control, getting nauseous, or dying straight up from unkept mana flow.
This wasn't the case for Murai, whose body was unlike human or humanoid mages.
22 mana a minute amounts to something since I have 1 hour to get up. A better source of mana than this would help, however. Lisa, any ideas that I shouldn't know? He turned to her pouting self.
“I have no idea what you know or don't since your soul made me upset. Figure it out yourself, since your fragments didn't help at all.” She barked at him, frustrated.
So much help... I swear. Murai sighed, stretching his head and body. He was feeling good, albeit a bit fatigued inside. Either of these things was a piece of good news since there was still one thing he lacked. His stomach was growling in horror and anguish, wanting some nutrients fast.
So, Murai dived back into the water, retrieving the snake's long body which should be plenty for his current needs. In a bit, Lisa watched how Murai got it out to the stairs, which didn't even fit there without succumbing back to the water.
Still, Murai was satisfied with pulling at least a meter of this snake above the water. He will try to come up with some method to eat it, which shouldn't be that easy, nor good.
There was no way he wanted to eat it raw, so it was time to figure out one method he was familiar with. Among the rules following the magic and mana, there was only one thing that could heat his heart up.
Flame.