TCOB: CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Wiped (1)

For a split moment, the tunnel fell eerily silent as both sides stared each other down.

Synapses in Nai's brain fired spontaneously, her subconscious weaving her mana as she raised her staff and screamed a spell.

“Wasserschleier!”

[You have used Class Skill - Water Veil Lvl 5]

At her behest, a translucent barrier sprang into existence directly behind the largest monster present. The female mage stumbled slightly, an acute feeling of tiredness washing over her accompanied by the rapid depletion of her mana reserves. The large magical construct solidified into a glass-like wall, directly splitting the cavern in half and inadvertently separating the oversized bonehound from the rest of its pack.

Sir Dunice glanced approvingly at Nai before immediately turning his attention back to the creature ahead, his figure tense in anticipation. Surprisingly though, the monster did not appear to be interested in them at the moment. Instead, it inspected the mana barrier with an almost child-like innocence. A sight that forced a frown onto Nai's face while she consumed another mana potion.

The bonehound faced away from them, observing the barrier by clinking a large sickle-like claw against its surface. It was clearly curious and this fact unnerved Nai. Greatly.

Curiosity is said to be the wick in the candle of learning for good reasons. Without curiosity, there would not be a drive to learn nor the desire to experience new things. Without learning, there would be no awareness or comprehension, and without comprehension, sentience would not exist.

This monster unhesitantly indulged its curiosity, proving its drive and capability to learn. This in turn is a clear indicator of some sort of established intelligence, a mental faculty with the capacity to evaluate logical situations and a possible confirmation of the creature's ability to comprehend. Following this line of thought, one could infer that the monster is sapient…

Or at the very least, capable of some form of sagacity.

It wasn't the fact that the monster was probably intelligent that bothered Nai―there are many intelligent monsters on Ethania, some more so than even the greatest human mages. What truly worried her was the level of intelligence it displayed when considering its species.

With a brief observation, Nai reckoned it was probably just a slightly larger-than-average [Alpha Bonehound] without any significant physical mutations given its obvious morphology. Disregarding its intelligence, a monster of this type rarely exceeded Silver rank on the threat scale due to its generally low intelligence and almost negligible mana manipulation ability.

But if one accounts for an unusual increase in the intelligence stats for any given monster, the said creature's threat ratings tend to dramatically rise as well. As for how much of an increase this 'small' detail would induce?

Nai did not have the faintest idea…

While the mage was caught in her assessment of the threat, an armoured figure suddenly charged towards the monster which was still keenly observing the barrier. Soundlessly, the armoured figure slipped past Nai’s barrier, but as he got within a few metres of the monster, it pivoted its bulk on its hind paws as it swung its sickle-like claws in defence.

The armoured figure rebounded in a shower of sparks, tumbling multiple times in mid-air before carving deep scars onto the dungeon floor as he skidded to a stop. A moment passed with Sir Justin remaining motionless where he crouched before he suddenly shook his shield arm as he rose to his feet. Glaring disappointedly at the monster from behind his visor, he raised his faceplate slightly, spitting towards the side before readjusting his helmet.

Annoyed about being disturbed, the bonehound growled at the knight. With a sharp bark, it raced forward.

“Zeitverzerrung! Erderschutz! Erderschutz! Erderschutz!”

[You have used Class Skill - Time Distortion Lvl 4]

[You have used Class Skill - Earth Wall Lvl 3]

[You have used…]

Immediately firing off multiple spells in succession, Nai attempted to weaken the monster's momentum. Patches of distorted time formed in the bonehound's path while stone walls rose from the ground to block its charge. The agile creature failed to evade the time distortions. Momentarily bogged down, it was unable to clear the walls, crashing into it.

With a loud noise and rain of mud and rocks, the bonehound's bulk directly pulverised the obstacle as it tumbled across the floor. The monster clumsy skidded to a stop and immediately tried to get back to its feet, but a salvo of well-timed stone lances smashed against its right forelimb and shoulder, knocking it back to the ground.

Despite the power of her spells though, Nai watched with a dark expression as the usually lethal projectiles were shrugged off, merely shattering upon impact. The projectiles did little damage other than shallowly piercing the monster's hide and inducing a small bleed status.

But her efforts weren't in vain. The spells provided a suitable cover for the two knights to safely close the distance and engage the creature. Sir Dunice was the first to close in despite being farther away. The agility-oriented advantage granted by his [Bladedancer] class made surpassing Justin a relatively easy task.

Skidding on the muddy ground directly beside the beast, the lithe knight slashed at the monster's hide multiple times in quick succession before darting backwards as it retaliated with a clamp of its jaws.

As the first knight retreated the second arrived, charging in. Raising his shield, he tanked a clumsy swipe from the bonehound's left foreclaw. Violently slipping through its defences, Sir Justin decisively stabbed his blade into the creature's right flank.

A guttural growl laced with pain and malice echoed through the dungeon. Seemingly noticing the malevolent glare in the monster's eyes, the shield-bearer backed off just in time to avoid another potentially lethal strike.

Moderately bleeding and realising the threat the knights represented, the bonehound slowly backed away with a hint of caution in its gaze.

“Erderlanze!”

Not the type to miss out on a cheeky shot, Nai fired another projectile at the retreating monster; this time aiming for the stab wound Sir Justin had just inflicted on its side.

With a hesitant growl, the bonehound backed away further into the cavern while the trio temporarily regrouped as Nai emptied another vial of mana potion. The two knights also consumed what appeared to be stamina potions.

"Normal attacks are not that effective on that thing," Sir Justin said with a small frown. "I will be going all out, you should too."

Nai glanced at Sir Dunice. The knight also seemed to have arrived at this conclusion as she could feel the mana in his body roil. The Bladedancer's sword slowly took a vague ephemeral glow, telltale signs that he had begun to use the skill [Mana Blade]. Ahead of the two, Sir Justin's shield lit up faintly along the carved runes on its surface.

The Alpha bonehound sat at the edge of the mana barrier, pacing as it warily watched them approach. The discovery of the dungeon had long sealed its fate. That was a monster living on borrowed time, this much Nai knew.

Yet for some reason, as she stared at the cornered beast, she saw within its savage gaze what she could only describe as a scheming glimmer…