Kaltyr stayed put in the tree until nightfall, ultimately spending the last half of the daytime resting, recuperating from the battle against the five strong minions and their lightning-attributed leader.

The girl thought about how the corpses of her enemies had sunk to the bottom of the river and were probably becoming food for whatever aquatic wildlife was left. Served them right for daring to bare their proverbial fangs against her, but that also meant she would have to swim down deeper than she was comfortable with to retrieve their corpses if she wanted to kill them all over again.

“Well, I definitely have to get that level 6 lightning jelly, at the very least.”

She cocked her head back, letting it rest against the trunk of the tree she hid within the crown of, and allowing the rain to fall directly onto her face. The thought of the lightning beaver caused the memory of the lightning bolt that struck her to resurface, which then led to her musing over how all the beasts capable of wielding spells she’d come across so far…seemed equally capable in both Internal and External Mana Manipulation.

“It can’t be…that beasts are naturally stronger than humans, right?”

She recalled how Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth confirmed her suspicion that all beasts gained access to spells—though probably to internal techniques as well, now that she thought about it—at Life level 3, while she wasn’t magically gifted squat besides Magic Sense, which every creature seemed to have. She’d assumed that they specialized like she did, but now it seemed to be the case that all beasts were as much warriors as they were mages? That wasn’t fair at all.

“Then again, it’s me who killed all of them…”

Kaltyr ceased complaining after remembering that she was alive while the countless beasts she’d fought were not. Natural intelligence clearly made up the difference in power. Hell, she even 1v40ed the bastards! Maybe it was her who held all the advantages against them…

With the help of the moonlight, she glanced at the bloody, corpse-covered battlefield nearby, where she’d fought and won against the horde of beavers by taking advantage of the trees to prevent them from completely dog-piling her… It was about time she create another such battlefield.

The girl used a moment to stretch her arms, weaving her ten fingers together and lifting them above her head while puffing her chest out. Signs of her many wounds from the previous two battles were still littered across her body, but, at the very least, they had scarred or scabbed over with the assistance of nearly the rest of her elixir stockpile. Even after eating them all, it continued to amaze her that the “ridiculous amount” she concocted would be gone, just like that. The thirty-plus level 0 pills had long since dissolved in the river while most of her level 2 pills dissolved in her meridians. She still had a few left—which she’d made with the best-quality phantasmal goo she had available—but the circumstances weren’t dire enough to use any of those…yet. If Kaltyr’s gut was right, the next, and last, invasion of the Beaver Lodge (Small Dungeon) was going to end in a majestic battle that would be told to future generations for years to come…if anyone actually believed her when she finally reached civilization.

……

Spears in hand, protective layer of Fish Scales activated, extra set of alligator eyelids active, and face stern, Kaltyr lifted herself out of the tumultuous river and onto the wooden platform that was the base of the lodge. Her magic light disk was on and her awareness was spread out as far as possible, keeping a lookout for hidden enemies and sneak attacks. She had learned her lesson from what happened the last time she stepped onto that—

The distant skies were lit up by a flash of light before thunder caused the air to quake, making the girl tense and purse her lips. She wondered if she’d ever get over the trauma produced from being attacked with a real lightning bolt…

Kaltyr shook her head and resumed a placid expression. “Pay attention.” She told herself. “Don’t let your guard down. You’re about to enter the lair they built. Although they may possibly not be smart enough to lay down traps…” She looked up at the mighty fortress that stood before her, and around at the lodge built in the center of the wide river. “…they did build all this.”

The girl felt as though she were walking on ground as solid as any she’d ever tread atop—though this one was textured quite roughly, given that it was made entirely of wood stacked up from the river floor—as she approached the center of the platform and was immediately met with two options, as she saw two separate entrances that appeared to lead to opposite directions: up or down. While the entire structure was considered the Beaver Lodge (Small Dungeon), the fortress built on top of the lodge felt like a separate building, and it even had a large entrance that led upwards. Meanwhile, next to that entrance was a hole in the platform that led deeper into the traditional “lodge”. She assumed there were more exits and entrances underwater that led directly to the rooms within the Dungeon, but those were likely too much of a pain to enter. Additionally, of the couple entrances the girl could see, they were definitely big enough for her to step through, but what was to say any other access points would be so convenient?

After only a minute was spent on deliberation, Kaltyr headed for the fortress’ entryway. The above-water fortress seemed less secure than the underwater lodge due to how it probably lacked the many access points she speculated the lodge had…

Kaltyr was very glad she chose the fortress to invade first, as doing so allowed her to feel a little safer knowing half the place was now empty. The fight was a breeze since it seemed to be the case that she’d guessed correctly—the beavers, too, thought it was less secure, and didn’t hole up in it during the one-woman invasion. Only a few beasts patrolled the entire building.

“Well, not that I’d know if seven skilled minions and one leader—I’ll call them generals—is a lot.” The girl supposed as she walked over the corpses of the eight beavers. She’d dispatched them so easily due to their being within a confined space and not underwater. While Kaltyr probably couldn’t make use of Fire Skin much without setting the entire place ablaze, neither could the beavers use spells or their numbers advantage easily. They risked hurting their own if they tried, which only benefited the invader.

As I thought—a second floor.

Despite knowing what the structure was built of and what creatures it was built by, the girl felt not at all surprised by the fact that the narrow hallway and few small rooms weren’t all to the building. What she was surprised by, however, were the combined facts of how the small rooms were used to store phantasmal goo and spirit herbs, of all things, while the second floor was full of corpses! The scene in the second story was reminiscent of what Kaltyr had done back at her home territory. Piles of smelly assorted corpses—most of them aquatic species like fish—just sat around, waiting to phantabilize. In fact, one did while she was up there. The nearby magical essence was suddenly disrupted and began to swirl until it formed a full-blown whirlpool around the body of a small fishy. Upon the corpse being consumed in the creation of a glass-like, floating, living sculpture…the newly-born phantasm was instantly killed. The creature had met its second demise at the hands of Kaltyr, who realized that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to kill all the beavers in the fortress—they were likely the ones previously farming the phantasms, which prevented the translucent, glassy apparitions from eating the goo on the first floor…

Kaltyr quickly headed back down the pseudo-stairs to the ground—water?—floor, where she searched the various rooms for the best-quality and highest-level phantasmal goo, which she stuffed into her pockets until they were full. She had no way of knowing just how long she’d be stuck fighting within the lower layers of the Dungeon and wanted to ensure she had the best goo with her in case enough phantasms spawned to eat the rest.

From there, the girl spent a minute to refill her mana stores before turning off the magical disk and beginning her march down the tunnel that literally led deeper into enemy territory.

……

The atmosphere was beyond chilling.

Not in regards to the temperature—because, despite the freezing volleys of rain and frigid tempest squalls above, the interior was seemingly quite well regulated to be warm—but referring to the ambience. The rugged, rough, and bumpy wooden hall Kaltyr walked down was eerily long and dark, illuminated solely by a small flame she maintained at the end of her finger as well as some softly glowing plants lining the walls. The hallway appeared to wind down into the lodge deeper than what was physically possible…but then again, the lodge did look pretty huge from the outside. Additionally, the rooms that connected to that main hallway were completely empty, barren save for mud, sticks, leaves, and some half-eaten food. It looked to her that they were living spaces—now abandoned and/or ownerless living spaces.

A pang of guilt struck the girls’ heart, but she shoved it to the back of her mind. She was in Manic—a world where the strong ate the weak in order to grow even stronger. The beavers were just the next weaklings on her chopping block. If she didn’t kill them, they’d continue killing many more, or those many more would find a way to kill them. Manic was home to an endless cycle of blood and carnage. Kaltyr didn’t choose to be placed there, but she had to participate in it if she wanted to live. Such was life.

Oh, that’s a big room.

Kaltyr was taken aback when she peeked into the only room still producing sounds from within. She expected to find enemies biding their time for her arrival, but something much more shocking was housed there—a humongous indoor, underwater swimming pool. Or at least, that’s what it looked like before she realized that it was full of fish.

They’re farming other creatures?!

The realization that the beavers were capable of such things as rearing fish alongside automating the production of phantasmal goo…put her off. How intelligent were those beavers? Was she killing semi-intelligent beings?

Stomach churning uncomfortably, Kaltyr couldn’t help but be overcome by the same guilt from before. Was she doing the right thing? Was there a “right thing” to do? Was it evil to look upon the beavers as just the next source of XP? It was one thing to eat animals, but she was doing much more than that…

She smacked her forehead with the haft of one of her spears.

She was too far to turn back. They were just beasts. Just animals with superpowers. They would opt to kill her just as she did to them. In Manic, this was normal. The System tasked her with the mission to become stronger. This was just another way she was following orders. Growing more powerful was the most important thing she could do right now, because she had to defend herself against the beasts that would kill and devour her! Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth would condone her actions…right?

Just as Kaltyr came to the understanding that she wasn’t sure if she wanted that last question answered, she finally saw a light at the end of the hall. It was bright, near blindingly so compared to the darkness she was walking through—she had a tiny fire, and the hall was lined with glowing plants, but the shadows were still quite repressive. She wondered if the beavers were using magic or fire to provide that kind of illumination.

Upon passing through the “door”way, Kaltyr wasn’t even spared the time necessary for her eyes to adjust before her Magic Sense picked up a wave of water-attributed spells flying her way. The projectiles, which included crescent-moon-shaped arcs, spikes, and just globs of magical water, were spread out in such a way so that Kaltyr couldn’t simply step to one side or duck to avoid them all. She was forced to repel the spells with her spears as well as dodge, but even then, an arc of water struck her left leg.

The girl’s eyes opened wide as she lost partial control over that limb, which twitched and writhed for nearly a second before she reestablished her authority over it. She gulped, realizing that the water arcs were similar to her Bubble Pain Splash, which was super effective at causing opponents to lose focus. Being chopped up while she was helplessly squirming about on the floor was not the way she wanted to leave Manic, so Kaltyr searched the surprisingly large room with her magical perception, trying to calculate where the enemy was that used the water arc spell.

She gulped, and even whimpered a little.

The large room she’d just entered was occupied by a total of ten enemies—seven minions/soldiers in the frontline, two generals seemingly watching from behind, and what Kaltyr presumed was the Boss Monster, sitting between the two generals, its body the size of a large bear. The terms “Boss” and “Boss Monster” automatically surfaced from her memory, so she decided to use them.

The “Boss Room” was quite spacious—her clearing actually might have been able to fit in it—and it was made very homely by its residents. A layer of dirt and grass covered the chunky wooden ground, making for a soft carpet, with very many of the same glowing plants from the hall growing in every corner. That was how it achieved the brightness despite being enclosed underwater at night. Additionally, since the Boss Room was well lit, she couldn’t use the magical stone disk to disorient her opponents. That trump card was now useless.

Oops. Too much thinking.

Too much time had passed while Kaltyr surveyed the room, and the frontline beavers finished casting the next volley of spears. This time, Kaltyr laughed before shattering some spells, dodging others, and tanking a few more. It was a blessing in disguise that the beavers had illuminated the Boss Room, because planting the glowing flora required…

The girl dropped her Alligator Eyes spear—not needing its ability any longer and frankly fighting more efficiently without it—formed numerous linked vortexes over her clothing and infused the dirt beneath her feet with mana, urging it to climb up and envelop her body. After the layer of armor completely formed, she began forming a bubble spell and charged the soldiers, Fish Scales spear pointed forward, ready to impale whatever dared stand in its way. In response, the frontline beavers split themselves into two groups: three spellslingers in the back, and four warriors to meet her in close-quarters combat. Fortunately for the invader, none of the remaining three beavers stepped forward or even channeled any mana. It was almost as though they didn’t deign to accept her challenge.

Kaltyr mentally scoffed at the behaviors of the generals and Boss, ridiculing them for their hubris and admittedly feeling a little offended…then she remembered that she’d almost done the same thing—the most recent time nearly spelling her undoing.

Bone-headed spear met with beaver claws, and the spear won, rending the limb it struck. After winning the first exchange and leaving one of her enemies badly wounded, she ignored the spells and claws bouncing off her Dirt Coating, directing her attention to the next beaver in line. Like that, by devoting her efforts toward offense and completely disregarding defense, her earthen armor crumbled to pieces in just seconds, but two beavers lay dead in the same amount of time. Eight to go.

The remaining two melee soldiers, after watching two of their comrades die so quickly, became quite skittish, no longer willing to tangle with the Life Level 7 invader despite being only a single level weaker. They saw what she was capable of and stayed clear, still trying to keep her attention in the hopes that the ranged support could deal significant damage, but backstepping every time she took a step forward.

That won’t work!

Kaltyr stepped forward, making it look like she was intending to engage again, before launching herself backwards, where she performed Dirt Coating once more. Seeing their enemy reequip the armor that allowed her to slaughter their peers so easily, the two melee soldiers barked nervously and retreated to where the ranged support stood. That caused the girl to wonder what they were doing until one of the generals stepped forward, chirping haughtily in response to the barks, taking the place of the melee combatants.

The new challenger, unlike those it replaced, didn’t hesitate to move in. Kaltyr acknowledged the guts her opponent had by ceasing to hold back. When they traded blows—claws against spear—the girl finally released the bubble spell she’d been holding onto, landing it on the general’s foot. The beast struggled to sidestep her next lunge, but her weapon only grazed its side—the ranged support landed another arc of water on her, causing her to lose control of her shoulder. Frustrated with the spellslingers in the back, Kaltyr forewent her defense for the second time while she charged up another Bubble Pain Splash. As she expected, the beaver no longer behaved so aggressively and pulled back with every one of her advancements so that it couldn’t leave an opening for the bubble spell to hit.

Yet it did not expect fire to explode from the invader’s palm without warning. It was engulfed in flames and quickly retreated, not wanting Kaltyr stab it while it was distracted…but when it looked back, Kaltyr had disappeared. She was no longer bothering with the singed beast, using the opening she created to charge the backline rather than end the general’s life. She dove toward the spellcasters, Dirt Coating tanking the damage from the second general’s spell, and stabbed at the beavers who seemingly couldn’t move much lest suffer mana backlash. One managed to complete its spell before she stabbed it, but once again, the dirt armor absorbed the blow.

Just before the girl could kill a fourth ranged support beaver with the help of the level 1 pills she scattered to distract them, something large and heavy struck her from the side, pinning her to the ground. The first general was back, had tackled and mounted Kaltyr’s back, and was viciously swiping at her armor, taking huge chunks of dirt off. Before it could reach the Fish Scales beneath the dirt, more flames seeped out from her. Not enough to envelop the beaver, since she didn’t want to waste it all before fighting the Boss, but enough to scare the general off of her.

When it scrambled off of her, Kaltyr rose to her feet, but Dirt Coating did not follow, and had returned to its previous state of regular dirt. Unfortunate, but not a big deal because she could just—the girl mentally cursed as she hurriedly swiped at the water spell the second general cast, shattering it, before rushing to kill the remaining soldiers. By the time she’d run them through with her spear, the Boss was on its feet.

One Life Level 7 human against two Life Level 7 beaver generals and one Life Level 8 Boss. All combatants were now participating.

Kaltyr panted hard, catching her breath as quickly as she could before crushing one of the two pills she’d long since wrapped in a leaf and stored between her teeth. The level 2 pill immediately released a dense fog that slipped down the girl’s trachea and into her lungs, where it was quickly absorbed into her meridians. She’d lost a lot of energy even before the Boss Monster—whose aura was quite domineering—entered the fray, forcing her to consume the sole mana-replenishing pill she made with the ingredients she had at the time. Additionally, that elixir had been concocted with a Perfect-quality phantasmal goo, making it the most effective she could afford it to be.

Emboldened by the recovery of her soul’s mana stores, Kaltyr accepted the Boss’ charge head-on, her spear aimed for the beaver’s face. However, instead of the clawed swipe she expected to receive, the beast used an internal technique to extend its ugly rodent incisors, which it used to bite the spear. The girl was so surprised by what she saw that she didn’t have time to react, and almost had the weapon pulled out of her hands.

Just as Kaltyr landed a Bubble Pain Splash on the Boss and wanted to follow it up with a kick to its face, she was reminded of her other opponents when a water spike shattered the Fish Scales on her hip and impacted her mana flow for a few seconds. Thus, with furrowed brows, she returned her attention to the generals, who were casting more spells from a safe distance. The girl quickly cast another bubble spell, this one half-powered to save time, at the Boss to keep it busy, and even lightly set it on fire for good measure. Then, seeing as the Boss was so adamant on keeping her main weapon away from her, she let go of the spear, sending the creature tumbling backward while she encased herself in another Dirt Coating and kicked off the ground in the generals’ direction. They released their spells, but the magic was easily sidestepped and shattered.

The girl released a plume of flames—the last of her fire mana—to the generals’ right to force them into moving left, where she shot a full-powered Bubble Pain Splash. The first general was struck, and the pain caused it to trip. Kaltyr meant to capitalize on its loss of mobility by jumping onto its back like it had done to her, but the second general stopped to guard its kin, forcing her to attack it instead. She dodged a clawed swipe and landed a right straight onto the beaver’s face before kicking it aside. With the second general temporarily out of her way, she stomped her boot onto the first general’s spine with as much force as she could muster. No bones could be heard cracking—since its Body Mana Reinforcement was just as strong as hers—but the stomp surely hurt, because the beaver squealed.

It was at that moment when Kaltyr sensed the Boss’ mana flare behind her, accompanied by the most bestial roar she’d heard since awakening on Manic. Through her Magic Sense she could see the giant beaver toss aside her spear as it recovered from her spell’s pain effect. It locked its sights on her back while she was stomping its general.

Fuck it! I can’t kill them like this! Using my last resort!

Kaltyr spun around to face the charging Boss Monster with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She crushed the second, and last, elixir stored in her mouth, allowing its Perfect-quality level 2 medicinal effects to spread throughout her body mere moments before the humongous beaver slashed her arms.

The Life Level 8 mana cut through her own reinforcement without too much trouble, sending her blood everywhere, but also pushing her out of range of another melee attack from the Boss. Unfortunately, she was open for attacks from the second general, which recovered from the punch to its snout. It swiped at her with extended claws, forcing the girl to let herself fall to the ground to dodge—her arms were in no shape to take another strike, even if it meant putting herself in a precarious position.

However, another Dirt Coating covered her body while she kicked off the floor, pushing herself backwards to make time to reach into her pocket, from which she retrieved three items.

“It’s too bad that I probably won’t get to make phantasms outta you!”

Kaltyr tossed the last of her level 2 pills—a regular healing one—into the air, distracting the generals, but failing to catch the attention of the Boss. It was unamused by the pill it couldn’t gain anything from. Yet, before it could claw at her again, the girl threw a small vial at its face, which shattered upon contact and splashed around the liquid it previously contained. The beaver Boss barked and shrieked in distress as it stopped its pursuit to wipe the liquid from its eyes, which burned.

That gave Kaltyr the rest of the time she needed. With a strand of her mana she pulled the water out of the third item—it was soaked when she swam to the lodge—opened it, and struck one of the sticks she pulled out against its side. Like that, she had a lit match, and with it, she set the lighter fluid she’d splashed onto the Boss aflame.

With a “whoosh”, the beaver and surrounding grass went up in flames, sending the beasts into a panic as they attempted to put out the blaze with their bodies without burning themselves too badly. Yet, Kaltyr couldn’t let that happen. She first separated herself from the three large beavers, retrieving her spear before using as many strands of mana as she could control to spread the tongues of fire. Then, she viciously struck at her enemies while they were preoccupied, doing her best to distract them in order to provide the fire enough time to grow.

Her plan worked marvelously.

While she couldn’t put nearly as much strength into her spear thrusts and swipes as she wanted to, she didn’t give that fact away, opting to fight completely offensively as though she were in top condition. While the beavers did bother defending themselves against her onslaught of weak jabs, they didn’t dare spare too much attention on her, instead batting at the inferno that they were struggling to deal with.

Soon, as though the grass they had planted and grown in the Boss Room was of a particularly flammable kind, the entire room was ablaze, filling with smoke, and even the walls were catching it. Despite it all, the beavers fought tooth and nail to save their home from being engulfed, unwilling to allow it to be consumed.

Kaltyr couldn’t fault them for their efforts. She even felt more of the same guilt from before she entered the room. The structure was magnificent. Beautiful, even! It was what every kid dreamed of—both an aboveground fortress and underwater bunker! Yet because of her, it would be destroyed. All the fruits of their labor, gone—just like its last living inhabitants would soon be!

The Boss beaver finally gave up its futile efforts when the girl ran one of its generals through the back in a surprise attack with the help of her new stores of fire mana. The gigantic beast half squeaked, half roared, and Kaltyr could feel the pain behind its voice. Although it didn’t care about its beaver population, its kingdom was crumbling, and to it, that was a heart-wrenching result.

It began its assault on her, but was quickly pushed back by her newly-acquired fire mana. Though they were unable to damage the Boss much, its mana was quickly depleted in order to keep the continuous plumes at bay. It attempted to dodge, but Kaltyr could release the magical flames from her body faster than the beaver could move. Eventually, the Boss ran dangerously low on mana, and it was forced to confront her if it wanted to escape.

The last remaining beaver general followed closely behind its Boss as the huge beaver charged Kaltyr, allowing its body to be engulfed by the blaze, leaving the girl no choice but to pick up her second spear and retreat back into the hall. Given the state of her arms and lower Life Level, she wanted to give her limbs as much time as possible to heal before her final clash against the beast, thus, the girl entered the first room she found and allowed the Boss to barrel past her through the hall…

But she soon came right back out in order to attack the general.

She shouted a war cry, stabbing forth with all the strength she could muster combined with a healthy dose of fire mana. The beaver general, like its Boss, was perilously low on energy, and didn’t dare continue standing up to Kaltyr, who still had a decent reserve thanks to the mana-replenishing pill. The general attempted to dodge and flee, but the confined hallway was nothing like the spacious Boss Room, and its pathetic struggle to stay alive only lasted seconds before a spear punctured its heart.

Congratulations! You have leveled up!

Your current Life Level: 8

“And now the ground is even…though, the pill stopped healing me.”

Kaltyr hurriedly distributed her stat points while she chased after the Boss beaver. Although she had 10 of her 40 total points in External Mana Manipulation, and the number of points she put into each stat determined the performance of her related skills, she knew she was almost as strong as the Boss in internal manipulation despite it seemingly not needing to distribute points…

The girl shook the distracting thoughts out of her head. She would have plenty of time to learn the intricacies of getting stronger from leveling with Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth after she killed the Boss.

The beaver Boss soon darted out from within the lodge, Kaltyr hot on its trail with her magical disk now activated, and jumped off the wooden platform, which would soon be structurally unstable. However, it did not flee, instead staying in the river’s tumultuous waves, waiting for the invader to step off into the territory it had the most advantages within. It slapped its giant, flat tail against the surface of the river in a challenge, piercing the girl with its beady eyes.

Kaltyr laughed, then turned around, heading for the entrance to the abovewater fortress. She would definitely face off against the boss in the river—she was no longer so fearful of it after reaching its level—but making sure phantasms didn’t eat all the phantasmal goo was more important! She entered the roughly-built structure to find a few fish and other aquatic phantasms mindlessly fighting each other in a winner-takes-all battle to the death, while a single level 1 weasel phantasm munched away at a goo in one corner. The girl shot all the phantasms with some Crude Mana Bolts, which were now around the strength of a Life Level 2 mage’s attacks, hurting and sending them into even more of a frenzy as they realized that more competition had arrived. They stopped fighting each other, focusing their beams and other low-level spells on Kaltyr, ironically making it easier for her to run them through with her spear because they quit their aerial maneuvers.

Then, Kaltyr removed her tattered shirt and cargo pants, doing her best to use them as bags to carry more phantasmal jellies and as many spirit herbs as she could because all of her pockets were full. Although solely wearing a sports bra and shorts was still embarrassing, the stacks of jellies before her carried much more value than her dignity! Even though most of the magical resources wouldn’t directly benefit her in combat because her Life Level was too high, she could still increase her Enchanting and Alchemy skills by making stuff. Plus, who knew if she could sell them for a lot later when she found civilization?

Two makeshift bags full of phantasmal goo and herbs in hand, Kaltyr exited the fortress to find that the beaver Boss was still splashing around in the river, awaiting her. Good. She put the sacks full of jellies and one of her spears down onto the wooden platform just as the floor violently shook and sank into the river slightly, accompanied by the sound of a thousand tree trunks worth of wood snapping from far beneath her. The girl caught herself from falling by sticking her spear into the platform and leaning against it—probably not a good idea. After all the damage her Fish Scales spear suffered, including being struck by lightning and being mauled by a Boss Monster, it looked to be on its last legs. However, that didn’t matter much to Kaltyr. She couldn’t use its enchantment since Life Leveling up to 8, so all she needed it to do was last a single battle more.

Lightning fell from the heavens somewhere in the distance, causing the sky to rumble with thunder. Kaltyr winced in remembrance of the lightning general—that sounded pretty cool, now that she thought of it—and how it…nearly killed her…with its…use of…nature…

“Can the Boss do something similar…?”

Suddenly paranoid, the girl warily eyed the Boss Monster that awaited her entry into the river. Could it also have such a skill? One that gave it unprecedented power when within a body of water? It might have just been the case that it wanted to fight Kaltyr in the water become it was a semi-aquatic species with higher mobility there, but the idea lingered in the forefront of her mind…

Kaltyr backed up from the edge of the platform, making space between the water and herself, before charging directly toward the Boss, gaining speed and appearing as though she planned to jump at it. Immediately, the Boss channeled the rest of its remaining mana out from its meridians and into the surrounding river water, causing it to turn a darker shade of blue that gave a similar aura to what the transition between the Purple Hours and night felt like.

Then the girl screeched to a halt just before plunging into the river.

Time seemed to freeze as Kaltyr and the Boss Monster looked at each other—Kaltyr with her smug smile, the giant beaver with eyes full of burning hatred. The girl backpedaled away from the platform’s edge while chuckling, mumbling about the simplicity of animals, and the Boss let loose its roar/squeal before making its way to her, enraged. It quickly arrived at the wooden platform and easily hoisted itself on top. Kaltyr wanted to attack it while it was climbing, but the dark water it had infused followed it up and was floating around it. She guessed it to be a crowd control spell.

And she didn’t wanna stick around to find out if she was right.

Kaltyr grabbed the sacks of magical resources—holding them beneath her arms—left the Alligator Eyes spear behind, and ran around to the other side of the platform, buying as much time as she could for the beaver’s spell to run out of mana. With each second she could see portions of the dark water it controlled return to their resplendent, natural blue from before and fall to the ground…but the platform was only so big, and escaping into the river when up against a beaver wasn’t a wise idea. The girl was eventually forced to turn around and face the Boss, whose spell still had half its volume.

“Fine. I guess I have no choice but to find out what it does.”

Cornered at the platforms edge, Kaltyr watched as the beaver attacked with its mysterious spell, sending the water at her. In response, she scoffed, raising her hand to shoot out a plume of fire. However, to her surprise, the water spell was much denser than she expected, and her fire only burned through a third of its mass before the rest landed on her body…where it stuck.

“Oh no.”

The girl’s eyes widened in fear as the water solidified, becoming a gelatinous goop that weighed heavy on her entire body. She immediately released her fire mana in all directions to melt it away, but not before the Boss tackled her, pushing her beneath the river’s waves, where she quickly sank.

It clawed at her while they sank, but its body lacked the mana necessary to be reinforced, so its blows felt more like heavy slaps to Kaltyr, who was more focused on burning through her restraints. She was a bright red, softly glowing brick as she continued to sink deeper into the cold abyss while the Boss repeatedly struck her.

However, it was only a total of ten seconds before she softened the solid water enough to break through with her physical strength, upon when she drove her enforced fist through the beaver Boss’ chest.

Had her foe held onto even just a smidge of mana to slice at her throat with, Kaltyr would have been a goner. Her body was restricted by its extremely powerful spell and could not raise her arms in defense.

Nevertheless, that did not occur. The beaver Boss lacked the mana necessary to deal a significant blow with, and Kaltyr had come out of that fight on top.