Magnus stumbled backward as the mysterious attacker finally unveiled its form. Sleek and standing more than a head taller than the 180 centimeters tall Magnus, it had an imposing-looking face with a maw filled with dozens of splinter-like teeth. Its claws were much more prominent than any other hand he had seen, a green, almost black liquid dripped down its claws singing the ground where it fell. The liquid reminded him of the dragon’s blood that seemed to choke out the life of anything it touched. When Magnus looked at it [Danger Sense] started screaming, meaning that it wasn't just for show. Magnus used [Identify].

[Ent Assassin – Tier 0] – Level 10

It looked to be a similar type of Ent to Caridus – the Ent Spearman. Cardys explained that Dryads had a way to empower some of their Ents and make them a better variant. That was probably what was going on with the Assassin as well.

The Assassin lunged for Magnus, stabbing with its right clawed hand toward his heart. It was fast, terrifyingly so. Magnus couldn’t dodge out of the way completely but he managed to get his left arm in the way of its attack. The claw stabbed him halfway between his elbow and hand. Thankfully it didn’t manage to penetrate very deep. The venom poison coating its claws was another issue entirely. Where the previous poisons Magnus encountered tried to get into his heart and destroy him from within, this one rotted the flesh it touched. Magnus could feel his flesh blackening and slowly melting. The pain was on another level entirely compared to others. He could feel his [Poison Resistance] working futilely to contain the spread of the poison. The Skill wasn’t familiar with this kind of poison. It would take a while before it adapted.

Getting back to the issue at hand, Magnus’ mind worked overtime as he analyzed his opponent. The Assassin was very fast but not overly strong. It probably relied on its superior speed and devastating poison to defeat its enemies. Despite its name, it didn’t specialize in killing with one strike but instead in battles of attrition. Magnus smiled. What it didn’t know, however, was that Magnus was especially suited for such battles.

While Magnus analyzed his opponent it didn’t slow down its onslaught of attacks. In fact, it seemed to getting faster. The only thing he could do was try to dodge or deflect the vicious blows. He needed to slow it down somehow down and let [Poison Resistance] work its way on the poison, and hopefully gain a few Levels at the same time.

Luckily, Magnus wasn’t alone. In the corner of his eye, he could see the Mage preparing something big. It was taking a lot longer than a usual spear and Magnus could feel it would be quite a lot stronger. Looking into the Mage’s vibrant eyes while more and more cuts along with black spots appeared on his body, they seemed almost pleading to Magnus. What did it want?

It was hard to think while getting slashed all over his arms and chest, but after a bit, he got an idea of what it wanted. It would take a while for the Mage to ready his attack, so Magnus tried to minimize the damage as much as he could. The cuts and the poison were starting to pile up even with his impressive Endurance. He didn’t know how much longer he could take.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long before the Mage made itself known with a pulse of Mana he could feel even without [Mana Perception] on. It smelled like a primal forest full of ancient towering trees. Beautiful but cruel in the way only nature could be. The moment the pulse of Mana reached Magnus and the Assassin, it tried to stop its attack that was already in motion but Magnus was ready. He leaned forward and let himself get impaled in the stomach with the vicious claws.

Even through the pain that was worse than anything he felt during this fight, he stared into its cold unfeeling eyes and smiled. Looking at the Mage he saw a wave of thorns rushing through the ground toward the immobilized Assassin. It was the same attack that nearly got him when defending Cardys, only much stronger. They had the bastard. The Assassin tried to wrench itself out of the vice grip Magnus had on its arm. But it was all for naught. Magnus chuckled but cursed and stopped when he started coughing out blood. The Ent seemed to contemplate something and seemed almost dejected when it did something unpredictable.

Its free arm flashed and Magnus flinched, thinking it wanted to ensure a mutual destruction. Instead, it cut off the hand still stuck in Magnus and dashed backward. Magnus stared, flabbergasted as the wave of thorns completely missed the Assassin and harmlessly crashed against the forest trees. Looking at the Mage, he sighed. It lay on the ground seemingly completely exhausted. Even its eyes flickered dangerously, almost as if the Mana used to power them was on the brink of running out. Turning his attention back to the enemy, Magnus was surprised yet again. Instead of an attack as he expected it stood in place, quivering.

Using [Mana Perception] to try and figure out what it was doing, Magnus immediately realized what it was doing. It was flooding itself with Mana. Not the blue Mana that he was familiar with. But instead, a dark green Mana that reminded him extremely of the vision he had earlier today. Cursing, he pulled out the hand that was lodged in him. It would lower his mobility if he left it there and either way, it was probably better to bleed out than rot from the inside. Even faster that is. His relatively high Will kept the worst of the pain at bay but even then it was starting to reach its limit.

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[Poison Resistance is now Level 9]

Magnus let out a breath of satisfaction as the pain receded. Every little bit counted. The earliest black spots were already regaining their natural color. The poison seemed fast-acting but not very persistent. What caught his attention more than the weakening poison, however, was the subtle blue glow of Mana gathering near the cuts. He poked the wounds but only got pain as a response.

“There’s going to be more time to experiment after I win this fight.” Magnus thought as he shook his head. The Assassin was still quivering but something changed. The poison formerly only coating its claws now filled its horrifying maw and poured out of its bark. Whatever it meant it wasn’t good. Deciding to try and end the fight before it could get any advantage he charged. He figured it wouldn’t be very durable if it was so fast. Unfortunately, it took him too long to react to the Ent’s transformation, and with the poison still hurting him, he didn’t make it in time. The Assassin now had a dark green aura that smelled of rotting flowers. Reminiscent of the dragon but much less intense. If it had such potent poison as the dragon Magnus wouldn’t likely even know it. His Soul itself would have probably already melted.

The Assassin screamed an unnatural roar and stabbed out with its remaining arm. It was even faster than before. Despite that Magnus still somehow managed to block with his left arm. Magnus managed to find out it wasn’t only faster but much stronger. What before would only cause a small cut, now left a deep gash along his arm. The poison seemed even stronger now but that was countered a bit by the Level in [Poison Resistance]. All that power didn’t come without a steep cost it seemed. Its core was leaking, the very shape that enveloped it was melted. That’s why it was so reluctant to use it earlier in the fight. Now, it didn’t plan to leave this fight alive, Magnus realized. As for why it didn’t try to kill him when he held it in place. It probably wanted to ensure his death and it couldn’t if it was torn apart before he died. The Assassin seemed aware that he had [Poison Resistance].

The one positive thing was that he now stood a fighting chance. Its advantage in Strength and Agility was offset by the loss of its arm. He just had to last a while longer and let it slowly melt from inside out, just as it seemed to want to do to him. And the now tangible bonus from [Last Stand] also helped.

Breathing in, he completely focused on the fight. Even with the intense concentration, he couldn’t deflect or dodge all the slashes. But he noticed something. Mana was starting to flood out of his Core, gathering more and more at the cuts that were piling up so much. Soon his whole body was flooded with it. Something clicked into place.

[Rare Skill gained – Slashing Resistance]

The Assassin hit his blocking right arm, his left one currently hanging uselessly at his side overwhelmed by all the poison. The attack left a much smaller, but still not ideal gash in his arm. Even with the rare Skill, Magnus suspected it wouldn’t be enough for him to last before the Assassin melted. Getting an idea, he focused inside. On his Mana. It was quickly flooding back into his core, its role seemingly completed. If it could provide him with something as a rare Skill surely it would be enough for this. The time around seemed to have slowed down considerably, the Ent’s claw inched closer to his face. The only thing standing between life and death was his weak, nearly melted arm. He would make it tougher then. Mentally scooping the swiftly escaping Mana, he forced it to listen to him. IT started moving sluggishly but it was moving. Most of it slipped through his metaphorical fingers and evaporated into the environment but he didn’t let that stop him.

By the time Magnus’ perception of time returned to normal, his hand was packed full of as much Mana as he could manage. The vicious claws clanged off his arm. Like metal on metal. It was the Assassin’s time to get surprised and it tried to attack him again. Magnus managed to deflect the hit yet again.

Again.

Again.

And again.

Until the sheer amount of poison coursing through the Assassin didn’t melt its chest. In its desperation to kill him, it lost all the sense of self-preservation. Its core stood exposed right in front of Magnus. Who was he to not take the opportunity?

Dodging the now sluggish attack he managed to send out a [Last Stand] and [Vicious Blow] punch. The Assassin, surprised by the sudden attack of the formerly passive Magnus didn’t manage to dodge in time and the punch hit dead center. The core shattered like a plate thrown onto the floor.

With the fight finally over, he breathed out a sigh of relief. As was becoming tradition he was going to pass out after a fight. Before he could pass out, he had some things to do. He slowly shuffled over to the technically unconscious Mage and gently nudged him with his foot. In an ideal scenario, he would crouch and poke it with his hand, but he had a feeling that he wouldn’t be standing up anytime soon if he did that. The Mage’s eyes flickered back on for a few seconds. It wasn’t completely out of Mana. That was good. He heard from Cardys that when Ents or all beings of similar nature lost all their Mana their structure would break down and they would disintegrate.

Walking back to the Assassin’s corpse even slower than last time, he fell to his knees. Magnus reached for the corpse’s clawed arm with his one functioning arm and pulled. With the leftover adrenaline and [Last Stand] he managed to pull it without much struggle. Unfortunately, he forgot about one thing. The rigid Mana still left in his arm seemed to go haywire from the struggle and exploded out. Blood exploded out of his arm.

That same moment, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backward.