All gone, the large horde of creatures flying around, waiting to pounce on me were all utterly decimated, and not even a scrap of dust remained.

And in the next second, the system rang out in a chaotic bout of dings.

〚You have killed LV16 Melior Azarone!〛

〚You have killed LV20 Verum Ridilich!〛

〚You have killed LV19 Verum Ridilich!〛

〚You have killed LV21 Verum Ridilich!〛

Aaahh! So many notifications flashed before my eyes at once that I could barely see anything else and the continuous dings left me disoriented and somewhat ill.

〚You have killed LV12 Melior Dactus!〛

〚You have killed LV14 Melior Azarone!〛

〚You have killed LV16 Melior Terozan!〛

〚You have killed LV12 Melior Azarone!〛

〚You have killed LV17 Verum Ridilich!〛

Ah! When will it stop!

I eagerly wished I could disable them or put it on silent mode.

How many creatures did I kill this time?

Above me was only an empty space, along with a gaping hole in the surrounding rocks.

Further away, one of the serpent was buried under a pile of rocks but it was still trying to get free. The other was less injured and shaking off the fallen debris that covered it with an enraged hiss.

As for the shadow creature, it was nowhere to be found.

Did I overdo it?

I warily eyed my surroundings, ready to move the instant any shadow flickered while the dings continued to pester me for several more seconds until finally.

〚You have earned 3460XP!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

Kyaaaah yess! So much XP! I am so rich right now!

And two levels!

But then.

〚You have earned the title『Merciless』〛

〚You have earned the title『Monster Slaughterer』〛

〚You have earned the title『Mistress of Chaos』Activating status effect. Success〛

So many titles at once? Yet they didn't seem good at all!

I could feel my cute and sweet image disintegrating to dust before my eyes.

Was this system trying to shame me or something?

And why did that last one sound so…suggestive?

«Hmph! What's so wrong with them?» Sensei affirmed with a stamp of approval. «Didn't you kill them all just now? Why do you look surprised?»

"You're not helping!"

I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry.

Why did these titles sound so ominous when I'd only been defending myself?

As the dust settled, I felt strangely empty, so I checked my stats to see how far my stats recovered after levelling up.

However, I was left in shock.

---------------

Name: Aurelia [LV25 Small Cerastes]

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 223/650 Defence: 2450

MP: 050/540 Intellect: 2070

SP: 290/620 Magic: 2542

Attack: 2600 Agility: 2868

---------------

"Why is my MP so low!" I cried out in panic.

A moment ago, cutting loose felt so amazing, and I did not regret doing it because the power coursing through my body demanded it.

But this empty feeling was too unpleasant!

Sensei felt my irritation and sighed. «What do you expect after such a wide area attack? Do you think my potion is almighty? Who told you to do too much?»

Even though I was being scolded, his tone was very much one of laughter and this made me even more unhappy.

I scowled. It seemed my normal MP stat - however improved, was limiting how much of this boosted state I could utilise.

If just one attack depleted my MP to almost nothing, did having over [2000] in magic even matter? I'd never get to use that much power at this rate.

As I scrambled to think of a solution, I came to realise something else.

Surely if I could heal myself quicker, couldn't I refill both my MP and HP using my innate recovery?

I set about redirecting the turbulent waves of mana around to my core and instantly my MP jumped from [50] to [150].

And the system dinged.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase:『MP Recovery: LV6』has become 『MP Recovery: LV7』〛

It actually worked!

Unfortunately, my joy was cut short when I saw a shadow rising out of the dust.

Then Sensei announced. «You have exactly a minute and a half left.»

What! No!

There was still so much I was yet to understand!

Just then a scythe crashed down beside me, with so much force that it shattered the ground around me.

I quickly moved away, but the shadow creature was equally fast. No sooner did I switch positions did it appear ahead of me again, raising its scythe with such ferocity that I was forced to stop my advance before my own speed cut me in half.

It was like it didn't even need to plan before it vanished into the ground.

Every time the scythe appeared I moved the other way, but the creature continued to appear in intermittent bursts to wherever there was a hint of shadow to get ahead of me, almost like it was tracking me under the ground.

It didn't even need to materialise fully to attack, and sometimes, it was only its scythe that appeared.

I soon lost track of how many times it appeared along the wall as I sped along, or how many times I escaped with a narrow cut.

To prevent such surprise attacks, I tried breaking down any stationary rocks I came across, but they were far too many. The serpents created more every time they crashed through obstacles to get to me, and even though I was fast, they showed little signs of exhaustion.

One of the serpents was far more damaged than the other, but the only indication of this was that it moved slower. It didn't seem to care at all that it was on the verge of completely destroying its body.

But who knew their uncoordinated attacks had a more sinister motive?

Before I knew it, I was penned in against a narrow section of the chasm with no other escape routes.

The shadow creature was advancing from the left of me, and the savagely wounded serpent was to my right while the last serpent was advancing from the centre.

Hahh!

They seemed to be intent on killing me even using tricks and tactics!

Was this because I destroyed several of the other creatures?

But thankfully, I still had my speed so I easily manoeuvred out of the tight spot and rushed towards the slower serpent with the most wounds. My aim was to end its existence once and for all.

Every time the shadow appeared together with the serpents, its movements were much harder to follow – so the fewer foils it had left, the more my chances of killing it increased.

However, as I approached behind the weaker serpent, its shadow flickered and stretched to reveal a fully formed scythe that swept towards me with sheer destructive force. I pulled back just before it could cut me and the result was a series of split rocks.

The fully formed shadow creature had emerged from within the serpent's shadow and its pensive eyes seemed to glare at me as I evaded its scythe yet again.

But not long after, the large fangs of the second winged serpent lunged past me. Savage fangs aiming for my flesh to tear off my wings, but they missed and instead its fangs fell against my highly buffed scales.

To its shock, there was barely a dent to show for its efforts.

Rather, one of its fangs cracked, and the serpent screeched loudly in frustration.

The scythe of the shadow creature seemed to be covered in darkness, which was the reason it could harm me even with all my defensive buffs, but the mere fangs of these creatures could never penetrate my defences even if I stayed still.

The feeling of such invincibility was euphoric, so much so I even forgot my damaged wing had healed a long time ago.

Why the hell was I still on the ground when the air was my domain?

However, with the shadow right in front of me, I couldn't just leave. I had regained much of my MP since the last attack so I shot a second darkness blade at the shadow before it could sink into the ground, much smaller in size so my MP would not get depleted again.

But to my annoyance, it moved aside, and my attack only slashed through part of its torso.

The shot, however, decimated the serpent behind it, and from the dust that arose, the shadow once again vanished from view.

I was annoyed.

More so to see the second serpent crossing over its wounded peer to cover its retreat.

I must have wounded it for it to retreat instead of continuing its attack!

The thought filled me with glee and I was determined not to let it get away.

Not caring about the serpent in front of me, I generated a larger darkness blade that tore through the vicinity, fully intending to blast them both to dust.

However, the serpent blocking me had less injuries and could still move. It ended up taking the brunt of my attack, and provided enough time for the shadow to disappear.

These undying things are getting more and more annoying.

I seethed in rage. I still had enough power to eradicate them to oblivion!

«Half a minute left » Sensei announced in his droll voice, and I felt myself snap to reality.

What? So soon?

I was so close to getting the shadow!

Plus I was having fun.

But Sensei didn't care, he even started to count down.