Jonah would have heaved a sigh of relief if he wasn’t panting until it felt like his lungs were about to burst. He had managed to use an especially thick tree to halt the Motheater’s advance long enough to glance back and confirm that his triangles were doing damage. It was barely enough to be called damage, but if he kept this up, he might eventually be able to defeat the bugger.
But, after confirming that his triangles—when in large enough numbers, could damage the Motheater’s thick and jelly-like skin, Jonah figured it was partly thanks to his skill, [Invader]. And since one such skill, one at level one at that, could noticeably affect his magic, he wondered what would happen if he used the effects of another skill and stacked it on top.
[Decapitation] was at level two and of a different rank than [Invader], but from what Jonah had gathered or understood from what he had seen so far and from what Serina had told him. Skills with the (HIDDEN) rank weren’t necessarily stronger or weaker than any of the other ranks. That rank primarily meant the skill was hidden from any prying eyes.
Jonah felt like there was more to it, but in short. [Decaptiation] wasn’t necessarily worse than [Invader], and it was at a higher level.
If he combined the effects of the two skills, he should see great success with his attempts at killing the Motheater and fulfilling his part in Serina’s master plan.
With that hope in mind, he changed the way he threw and controlled the triangles he summoned.
Instead of conjuring them and haphazardly tossing them in the Motheater’s general direction and then letting the monster charge into them, Jonah put more thought into it. He vaguely calculated the trajectory needed to send them crashing down on the Motheater’s neck.
He wasn’t sure if it even had one since the end with the mouth was as wide as the end that hopefully didn’t have a second mouth. With how freaky this thing was, Jonah didn’t dare make any assumptions about its physiology.
In any case, he aimed for the part of the Motheater larva’s body that came right after its mouth. Logically speaking, that was where its head stopped and the rest of its body began. So, that’s where he would have to aim to sever its head—to decapitate it.
He didn’t run any numbers in some sort of mental calculator. Jonah wasn’t that smart. But he compared his speed, the speed of his triangles, and the Motheater’s speed.
If he wanted his magic constructs to cut all the way through and kill the monster, he would have to be annoyingly accurate with his weaponized triangles. And since he didn’t have much time or space on him, Jonah decided trial and error would be the deciding factor of his success.
It was a shame he couldn’t look back to see the results of his trials with his bare eyes since he couldn’t risk getting caught by the monster, but he could still sense the triangles. And when controlling them, he could determine whether they hit the Motheater in a satisfactory manner or not.
So, with a mind mostly focused on his magic and a body mostly focused on running for its life, Jonah conjured triangle after triangle. And he sent triangle after triangle into the air. Then, triangle after triangle hit the Motheater’s body from above like a rain of metal, inanimate, triangle locusts.
Some strayed a little and went to the side of the Motheater, some got too far, and some didn’t get far enough. But most of them hit around where Jonah wanted them to hit.
And with each triangle that made a successful landing on the three-dimensional runway that was the Motheater’s skin, Jonah came a little closer to perfecting his aim. Considering his target practice before Thyskria consisted of being stationary while firing triangles, one at a time, at stationary target dolls, Jonah felt like he was doing a good job.
Jonah wasn’t sure, but he also felt like doing a good job would eventually be enough to take down the Motheater larva. Another thing he wasn’t sure of was whether doing a good job would be enough to take it down before it took him down its gaping maw.
But instead of worrying about that without end and letting it distract him, Jonah focused on his magic.
His triangle conjuring no longer misfired. He had long since grown accustomed to the atmospheric mana pressure trying to interfere with his casting and knew how to offset it with his own mana. He was also getting skilled at controlling the triangles and their trajectories using only his connection with them.
So before long, thanks to the combination of [Decapitation] and [Invader], Ackster began drawing blood. Well, he assumed he was drawing blood since he couldn’t get a good look at the green fluid leaking from the Motheater’s neck due to the hectic chase.
But, in any case, he was dealing damage. And once he got through the oddly soft, flexible, and resilient outer skin, he only had soft innards left. Jonah refused to believe such a caterpillar-like monster was sturdier on the inside than on the outside.
But, on the other hand, he didn’t really know what he was up against, so he didn’t make any decisions based on the assumption that the Motheater would be more vulnerable on the inside. However, his triangles had an easier time reaching deeper after getting through the skin.
Jonah was almost out of breath, but he ignored his burning lungs and took solace in the fact that the heavier he breathed, the more mana he inhaled.
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He stacked his triangles on top of each other, dispelling the first one right before the next could land. The wound on the Motheater’s neck deepened with nearly every attack. Some triangles still went astray, but they helped widen the wound and helped the next have an easier time finding its way to the depths of the gash inside.
Jonah’s legs felt like jelly, but the constant pressure of death at the hands of Motheater larva kept them moving almost at full speed. He could feel himself becoming physically incapable of maintaining top speed. The muscles in his legs were breaking apart. But with each step he took, another two triangles pierced into the Motheater. By now, he didn’t even know how many he had sent out. He couldn’t even estimate it since he had been busy with controlling, not counting.
But he knew it was a lot of triangles.
Since the Motheater still hadn’t noticeably slowed down, Jonah felt hopeless. Would he need to conjure just as many more to get the stupid caterpillar monster to react?
He could probably do it purely based on the necessary mana. But not before his legs and body gave out.
However, he might have begun thinking it would just be easier to give up a little too early.
The Motheater was still leaking green mucus out of its wound. The thick liquid didn’t gush out like blood, so it wasn’t very useful as an indicator of the Motheater’s injury. And neither was its unaffected pace. Without a proper sense of pain, why would the Motheater react to its injury, even if it was grave?
The Motheater is a monster that, regardless of its developmental stage, lives for the hunt. And for the larva, which has a soft and sensitive outer skin, pain would do nothing but get in the way when it chased down its prey.
For most beings, pain is a good indicator of danger or when to back away, to retreat. But for Motheaters, there is no such thing as retreat. And failure means death. Only a Motheater that is always successful will continue to grow, develop, advance, and evolve.
That was why the Motheater larva chasing Jonah and Jonah himself were equally surprised when the Motheater’s chin equivalent snagged on a branch as it tried to narrow the distance between itself and the zigzagging Jonah. It wasn’t the first time the caterpillar monster used brute force to get through or over hurdles that Jonah went around to try and slow it down.
But it was the first time that the Motheater’s larva’s strength worked against it. Its lower jaw caught and snagged on the root, which would have snapped in the end. But before it could, the Motheater’s jaw flipped forward like it was attached to the rest of its body with well-oiled hinges on its throat.
The wound Jonah had given it split open like a door, and the force of the Motheater’s own momentum tore its head off.
Jonah’s attacks had weakened the connection between the Motheater’s head and body until a single puny root was enough to sever that connection.
Jonah didn’t even know if losing its head would be enough to stop the Motheater since it didn’t look like it had a brain, spine, or nervous system. But after secreting thick greeny mucus from its trembling body and spilling that same mucus out of its mouth, the body and head both slackened.
[You have slain Motheater Larva (lvl 13)]
[Experience gained]
[Related skill experience gained]
[[Invader] Detected. Bonus experience gained.]
[Primary usage of mana detected. Mana gained.]
The System’s blue notification windows popping up in front of his eyes confirmed Jonah’s hope that the Motheater larva was well and truly dead.
“Finally!”
Jonah raised his fists to the sky in celebration while his tired legs gave out below him, and he sank to his knees. Relief washed over his tired mind and body like a wave of cool water on a hot summer day. He closed his eyes and just let the forest breeze brush against him as his arms, which weren’t that energetic either, hung limply by his side until he fell back and laid down.
[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]
As he felt a final System notice pop up, Jonah’s eyes cracked open, and he glanced at it. Although he dearly wished just to take a nap and let his body recover from the fatigue of running like a madman and pumping mana out of it like he was a sinking boat, Jonah was still aware of his surroundings and circumstances.
The System hadn’t told him how much he leveled up. It could be only once since there was only one notification window. But killing the Motheater was only the first step or kill of the many necessary for him to reach a suitable level for having [Decapitation (lvl 2)].
He also had a feeling that taking a nap in the middle of the forest was only a good idea now that he was too tired to move. He would realize how foolish it was as soon as he woke up, assuming he ever would. Without Serina’s presence, Jonah would be alone in the forest. The two monsters he had encountered so far had almost killed him when he was doing his best to prevent that from happening. If he was asleep, he had a negative chance of surviving if anything even remotely close in level decided he looked tasty.
The thought of levels was the final push Ackster needed to open his eyes. He wasn’t going to get up just yet, but he would at least look at his system window to see what had changed following his first kill after connecting to the System.
Since he hadn’t been connected when he killed the Rock Roarer, it apparently didn’t count. Jonah thought it was rude, but the System wasn’t really something he could blame for that. It would be like blaming the rain for his socks getting wet after stepping in a puddle of water inside.
Jonah looked at his system window with anticipation. If his level was high enough, maybe he wouldn’t have to do this again before they arrived at the Institute.
[Name: Jonah Fairchild (Wilchammer)]
[Class: Triangle Mage (lvl 4)]
[Skills:
[Triangle Magic (lvl 3) (UNIQUE)
A Triangle Mage’s signature skill.]
[Mana Heart (lvl 5) (EPIC)
A mage’s specialized mana storage. Provides improved control and usage of magic, as well as an increase in mana quality.]
[Mana Control (lvl 6) (COMMON)
A mage’s basic skill. Necessary for manipulating mana. A higher mastery means greater efficiency and power while casting spells.]
[Decapitation (lvl 3) (RARE)
Bonus damage for decapitations]
[Invader (lvl 1) (HIDDEN)
You have entered another world through unlawful means. Natives will hunt you down and try to kill you.
Bonus damage to natives.
Bonus experience gained.]
However, it looked like Jonah wasn’t free of his first monster-killing adventure just yet.