The ethereal blades arced through the night sky, decapitating two Stalkers with graceful sweeps. Their lifeless corpses hit the ground as Ralph rushed forward towards the next group. Just like the many times before, the essence that escaped the bodies flew towards him and entered his system with a vibrant burst of glimmering light. He had become accustomed to the sensation, but still enjoyed seeing it happen. It felt like victorious fireworks being set off to celebrate his kills.

As the light faded from all around him and got absorbed into his body, Ralph looked at the size of each ethereal blade on his hands. Instead of sheathing the power between fights, he kept them active, which had led to a new discovery. The blades were gradually growing as he absorbed more essence. He idly thought about how big they would get, or if they would stop at a certain point. None of that mattered though at the moment, because he just needed to keep killing them and keep absorbing their power. He needed to be stronger.

If Ralph was being honest with himself, he'd admit that he was actually enjoying himself. Yes, it had been pretty terrifying at the very beginning, but now he was feeling himself getting incrementally tougher and stronger. The abilities that had manifested in him, like the detection and the mana blades... they were just incredible. He felt like he was in some crazy movie and was doing his whole training arc. Maybe that was just the fallacy he was telling himself to keep his head right, but it was working for the moment.

"How about this?"

Ralph grit his teeth as he rotated his body around and flung his wrist forward as if he were throwing a fastball. The blade on his right hand disappeared with the motion, with nothing else happening. The Stalker that he was aiming at perked up in shock at the sudden sound of Ralph's voice, but it didn't worry the former prisoner in the slightest. He had been dispatching the creatures for hours now, and none of them had contended with his mana blades. He started experimenting with his body to see if he could make the abilities work in other ways, but to no success. The first test was to see if he could throw his mana blades at a target, but the power kept cutting off and disappearing.

"Okay, then what about...?"

Ralph muttered as he twirled his open palm like a fan.

Still nothing.

The Stalker that had noticed his arrival flew forward towards the sound of the noise, its limbs were already glowing blue in preparation of an attack. There was an attack alright, it just wasn't initiated by the Stalker. Ralph's ethereal blade sliced down with pinpoint precision, killing the Stalker with ease. The faint smile on Ralph's face grew wider as the essence entered his body... it truly was like a drug. He didn't even need to close his eyes anymore to detect the location of his next target. He just instinctively knew where to go, as if he could see the creature in the distance. The powers were only getting more potent, and Ralph needed to see how far they could go.

Hours passed as Ralph ran from group to group, not letting up for even a moment. He didn't need to take any breaks as his body continuously recovered both stamina and mana from absorbing the essence from his defeated foes. There was a point that he lost count of the amount of Stalkers that he had killed, and his efficiency had grown to such a point that he wasn't fazed by encountering groups of up to five or six Stalkers at a time. His blades could almost touch the ground when he stood straight with his arms pointing downward. The colour of the mana blades was becoming more vibrant as time went on, which Ralph guessed was a good thing.

When the most recent orb of essence connected with his body, a new realisation washed over him. His detection skill suddenly picked up an incredibly powerful entity that was in the centre of the dead zone. The area of land that all the Stalkers actively avoided was suddenly open to his senses. It felt more ominous and terrifying than the Stalkers, which was a much stronger sense of dread than he had experienced the first time he sensed a Stalker. Did that mean that the power level of this new creature was much stronger than him? Was it an even bigger gap than when he encountered his first monster?

Ralph remembered his first encounter vividly and how weak he had felt, but he killed those Stalkers with only a few hits. He had yet to sustain a single injury.

His sensory ability still told him to be cautious of the surrounding Stalkers, but they were essentially just sitting ducks that couldn't sense his approach or his attacks until it was too late. He had absorbed their abilities and was now the true hunter on this battlefield. Ralph continued to rationalise his thoughts as he considered what his next course of action should be. He wanted to know if his sensory ability was just being precautious, or was there actually a substantial threat waiting for him in that dead zone.

Ralph took a breath and hopped up and down on the spot to keep his body warm in the chilly night air. If he looked at the facts, he hadn't yet experienced a challenge outside of his first few fights. If he was honest with himself, they were because of his fear as opposed to his inability to fight. Facing monsters that looked like giant mosquitos had now strengthened his resolve, and he wasn't terrified before every battle. One of the biggest advantages he had now, were the mana blades that added to his range and versatility. He was able to fight at range which protected his vital organs.

It only took a few seconds for Ralph to realise that he was just trying to convince himself that fighting the powerful enemy was a good idea. Instead of arguing with himself about it endlessly, he decided to just go for it.

"Worst case scenario. I run. That's it."

Ralph said his decision out loud, as though it made it more reasonable.

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Gritting his teeth against the pain, Ralph continued to cross his arms, hoping the mana blades could block at least some of the incoming damage. In the back of his head, he continuously cursed himself for being naïve.

It hadn't taken him long to find the Boss monster, as it hadn't moved from its resting place as if it lay in wait for him.

The webs probably should have been the first indicator that he wasn't going to be facing another mosquito-esque creature. The lack of silver grass all around him probably should have been another cause of alarm... but no, Ralph had been resolute in his decision to take on the challenge and fight whatever creature was waiting for him.

That creature turned out to be a gigantic spider. Ralph wasn't fond of spiders. When they started moving their legs so rapidly, they just freaked him out. When he said that the spider was gigantic, he didn't mean like the size of a dog either. This thing had a body that was closer to an elephant. That wasn't the problem though...

"You're a fucking idiot, Ralph."

He chastised himself as the incoming mana blade completely destroyed his defence.

Yep. The spider's legs were all mana blades. It walked on eight weapons of incredible destructive power, but that still wasn't the worst thing about this opponent.

A flash of light erupted all around Ralph as the Boss creature teleported to a new location in the fields.

"Fuck!"

Ralph cursed in a panic as he ran across the fields. He was only grasping the attacking pattern of the creature, and it was absolutely terrifying. The Stalkers just floated around and practically waited to be killed. The only exception was a little bit of thrashing here and there before they eventually died. This creature was capable of critical thinking and self preservation. The first example of it had been when Ralph unsheathed his mana blades. The Spider recognised them immediately and retreated backwards to test Ralph's abilities.

If Ralph had to guess, he'd say it had probably only been six minutes since they had started fighting, but it was already feeling like an eternity. The Spider in the distance launched itself upward with its forelegs, revealing its base that suddenly pointed at Ralph. He didn't understand a thing about spiders, but he knew what this one was doing. It had been the first opening attack and Ralph wasn't eager to experience it again.

Quick as a flash, a thick beam of pulsating blue energy launched at Ralph's position, which he deftly avoided by rolling away to the side. He wasted no time in jumping back to his feet and resuming his panic induced sprint. The Spider would send at least five of these beams, but that was only the start of the attack. They weren't actually energy attacks, but were instead thick ropes of web... laced with mana. Ralph didn't need to glance down at his left forearm to see the burn, he could still feel it from that first attack. The Spider had almost cocooned him in a weblike netting, but he had ripped it apart with his mana blades.

That alone would have been a scary enough ability... but the webs could somehow steal his own mana. It significantly reduced the blade on his left arm after coming into contact with the webs.

The next beams of light came even closer to his body and Ralph knew it was no coincidence. The Spider was learning his movements and adapting it's attack patterns. Ralph continued to grit his teeth as he fought against every instinct and sense in his body that was telling him to run away. He needed to get closer to the creature if he had any chance of defeating it. Common sense was telling him that the Spider was staying far away when it was releasing those webs. It was nimble enough to do it in close range, so the fact that it retreated probably meant that it became vulnerable during those attacks.

The third beam flashed in front of his eyes and Ralph barely avoided it with a quick slide. It was now predicting where his body would be. The last two attacks were going to be much harder to avoid.

Ralph rolled at the end of the slide and launched back to his feet. Instead of weaving in and around the opponent, he headed straight towards it. It would likely make it that much harder for the Spider to predict which way he'll dodge. One of the scary things was how the battle was evolving over time. The first set of five beams had been erratic and immediate, all of them trying to kill him quickly. Now they were spaced out and considered. It was the difference between a kid with a machine gun, and a trained sniper taking their shot. Ralph saw the familiar quiver in the Spider's lower body that occurred just before firing. He needed to wait another second, otherwise the monster could arc the trajectory towards him and probably cut him in half with it.

In the last moment before the fourth attack, Ralph estimated that he was only a few seconds away from intercepting the Spider. His instincts, well the ones that weren't screaming at him to run, told him that the Spider wouldn't be able to teleport away from that location or activate the mana blades while it was in the middle of an attack. It was an odd logic, but Ralph didn't have that the luxury of sitting down and figuring out a better tactic.

The fourth beam burst straight and... low?

"Fuck!"

Ralph leaped into the air as the Spider aimed for his legs. He barely had enough time or space to do it as he was in mid-stride, but he knew that was no coincidence. Before Ralph even landed on the ground, the Spider's lower body was quivering again in preparation of a follow-up attack. Ralph interpreted this as anxiety. He was getting closer to the Spider, and it desperately needed to finish the attack pattern before it could move away and change its attack pattern. Ralph wondered if it had anything to do with the large buildups of mana? He knew it was uncomfortable to not unleash the mana blades... so what would it be like to keep those laser beams trapped in the body?

Before the Spider could fire its last attack, Ralph had landed on his feet and launched forward towards the Spider's nearest leg. It was clear that the Spider flinched slightly, but didn't move from its current location. Ralph realised in that moment that the Spider's limbs hadn't moved at all during any of the attacks, except the forearms that were raised in the air to allow the lower body its shot.

Ralph lashed out with his right arm, his ethereal blade sliced through the Spider's limb like it was gliding through butter. The noise that the Spider made chilled Ralph to the bone and reignited his childhood fear of spiders. A series of clicking and shrieks combined with its bared fangs was enough to make Ralph go white. He didn't even know that spiders could have fangs... he thought they just had lots of eyes and really fast legs.

Fear, once again, turned out to be an incredible resource for Ralph. His body flew into a flurry of slashes and attacks against the Spider who hissed at him before firing the last laser attack off in a random direction. It wasn't even aimed at Ralph, and it didn't take him long to guess why. A flash of light erupted around him and he found himself alone in the field. It had teleported again.

Before he activated his senses to track the creature, Ralph looked down at the single limb he had rid the Spider of. Instead of crumbling away like the limbs of the Stalkers, this one was still full formed and emitting a vibrant glow of blue. It was still retaining power, which Ralph couldn't figure out at all. It was dead, so how the hell was it still able to hold mana? The answer came to him as the limb vibrated slightly before pulsating with an even brighter light.

"... that's just unfair."

Ralph complained as he pulled the limb out of the ground. It was like he had just turned off the mana tap, as the limb crumbled and fade in his arms. The Spider was channelling the power from the ground and then firing them off as attacks... which was probably why it needed to get rid of it and couldn't move its legs when it was in the middle of the cycle.

"Can't put the pin back in the grenade."

He muttered as he glanced at his left arm. The burn was still quite prominent, but his blade was gradually growing back to its original size. Ralph guessed he needed to be in a relaxed state or out of instant danger for it to replenish.

His detection ability flared up suddenly, and he knew the Spider was back to kill him... but the question was how? Would it attempt the long range attacks again with those laser webs, or would it try to rely on teleportation and quick attacks to kill him up close.

In a flash of light, Ralph suddenly had to defend like crazy as a flurry of attacks came at him from all sides. The Spider had teleported over him and was now jabbing its mana infused limbs at him, looking for a break in his defence. The attack was over as quickly as it started as the Spider disappeared for a moment. Ralph didn't even have time to curse before it teleported back and repeated the process, this time from a different angle... and its attacks were more potent and decisive. It was learning his moves in a flash, retreating, recalibrating and then coming back to repeat the process.

The shrieks and chattering of the Spider was terrifying, but it became an overwhelming force when it appeared out of nowhere and assaulted all the senses. By the time the Spider had teleported over him for the third time, the attacks got through Ralph's defences. No matter how quickly he tried to come up with a countermeasure, nothing was appearing. Ralph continued to wave his mana blades around himself defensively as he kept his footwork up, moving and weaving around the attacks. His speed was good, and his flexibility was something he was quite proud of... but he couldn't face the torrent of limbs from every direction. It was exhausting him rapidly, both emotionally and physically. Dread had seeped into his mind as he struggled to find a way out of this situation.

When the Spider teleported back for the fifth time, Ralph screamed out in agony and rage. One of the Spider's legs had pierced into the back of his thigh, causing him to fall to his hands and knees. The Spider's attacks halted at that moment and it loomed over Ralph's struggling form. In a last ditch effort, Ralph swung his right arm around, hoping to slice at the Spider's eyes... but it had already calculated the distance and the attack fell short. Ralph could only stare helplessly at the face of the Spider that was just out of reach. He could have sworn that the creature was mocking him... and that it now wanted to savour its victory by slowly killing or eating its prey.

An unnatural calmness washed over Ralph as he came to terms with the fact that he was about to die. He could feel the twisting pain in the back of his leg. The strain of his shoulder from holding his right arm in front of the gloating Spider and the sting of the burn on his left arm.

"Wait."

Ralph said aloud as he remembered his left arm. Without wasting another moment, he deactivated the mana that he was sending to his left arm, and pushed everything into his right.

The Spider got to see the Mana Blade from eight different angles, as it shot forward and skewered it's head, killing it instantly.

Ralph stared in silence as the enormous monster slumped to the ground, defeated.

The sound of hysterical laughter echoed throughout the night before Ralph collapsed unconscious on the ground, a wide smile still on his face.