Half of the twenty-ish air lizards turn to look at my [Air Bomb] before it even reaches their clearing, and several of them attempt to shoot it out of the air with their green-tinted [Air Bolt]s. My spell is about as fast as theirs, and it manages to make it into their clearing before one of their attacks connects with it – though a bit too late.

The [Air Bomb] was designed to have a blast radius of around thirty feet, meaning that it still affects a huge portion of the nesting pit. Air lizards are thrown about, boulders are shattered with their pieces sent everywhere, and a massive hole is blasted into the ground. Chunks of stone and several of the lizards land in the pond, bit of debris slamming into my [Air Armor].

No Experience notifications go off, but then, I didn't expect one to appear. These monsters are tough enough to weather an [Air Bomb] of my caliber right now, based on Silvia's estimates. It will take more than that to kill the beasts, though I'm sure it did plenty of damage. I can see cuts on a few of them, and the sluggish pace others are moving at suggests internal damage from the impacts.

Before the dust has even begun to settle, I've shot off my second prepared spell.

Only two of the air lizards spot the [Stone Bomb], both of them opening their maws to fire off [Air Bolt]s at it. Both of them miss, and I snap the moment my spell is halfway across their nesting pit. The spell detonates, sending hundreds of shards of stone in all directions, far more stone than the three-inch sphere had within it.

Magic is quite awesome.

The stone fragments embed themselves in many of the air lizards while damaging boulders and the ground alike. Despite that, there are still no Experience notifications.

I'm completely fine with that. The harder these are to kill, the more Experience I'll get in the end.

A pair of [Stone Spear]s form beside me, and I retain control of them as I send them at the beasts. Some of them attempt to send [Air Bomb]s my way and I use my spears to slash through them. Impacting a bomb spell will cause it to detonate, but cutting through it can reduce its effects while triggering it early – and if done right, it completely nullifies the effects.

Terrence, Silvia, the twins and I practiced this for about two hours yesterday as preparation for countering the air beasts' spells. My slashes are good, and I manage to nullify most of them, the spells dissipating into nothing. As for the two that are simply triggered instead of detonated, their effects are reduced enough that they don't even spread out five feet – and they're still over the nesting pit.

Some of the air lizards attempt to shoot me with [Air Bolt]s, but I stop those with [Stone Bolt]s of my own while simultaneously using the spears as an offense as well. There aren't enough [Air Bomb]s to be a hassle, so I'm able to strike the beasts with the spears in addition to nullifying or weakening their attacks.

One of them tries getting in close, sending [Air Slash]es at me by flicking its tail, and only those do I actually avoid being hit by. Moving out of their way isn't too much of an issue, and they slice into trees and the ground behind me. None of the ones that use [Air Whip]s are allowed to come near me, and I soon beat back the ones which use [Air Slash]es as well.

I'm going to have to start putting more force behind my spears when I try to skewer these things. They're cutting into the beasts, but not driving deep enough. Using more force slows down my reactions, however, so I conjure a third spear, the maximum I can keep track of at the moment when moving them independently.

With three spears active, I keep the original two on both defense and keeping the air lizards from drawing too close to me. The third one is used purely for offense, and things become just a little bit easier because of it.

Two minutes after conjuring the third spear, I manage to finally pierce an air lizard enough times it dies, and I'm… quite impressed by the Experience notification.

+573% Experience! You have gained 5 Levels!

That's much more than Silvia estimated, and I think I know where we went wrong with that. When counting it, she was basing things off of the base Experience and how much she believes is needed per Level. Due to the ease with which I killed other things, we didn't factor in the bonus amount from that.

Silvia's also mentioned that this 'bonus amount' doesn't decrease just because I gained Levels. In other words, it will still apply to the other lizards and their base amounts despite the fight growing easier just from that one kill.

Thanks to the 0.105 Mana Regen increase, I'm also now only barely losing Mana for having three [Air Spear]s active and manipulated on top of my [Air Armor]. Another kill will mean I'll be recovering Mana instead of losing it.

My higher Magic allows me to cut deeper, make my [Air Spear]s more durable. I do that as I continue to beat back attacks and air lizards. At the same time, I keep up my attacks and defense, soon removing a leg from an air lizard, then another. When it tries to attack with an [Air Slash] out of its tail, I pin its tail to the ground and redirect a defensive spear into its head.

+461% Experience! You have gained 5 Levels!

"Nice!"

There wasn't much loss there despite the increase in Levels. The gap between Levels must not be as high as Silvia estimated. Either that, or this air lizard was tougher than the other and I somehow jumped up into another Experience Point boost tier.

Shifting the two defensive spears toward each other, I slash through four [Air Bomb]s sent my way, dissipating them into nothing before destroying more attacks flying at me. I send my offensive [Air Spear] into the head of another air lizard, gaining a kill from that as well.

Without even looking at the Experience notification, I dismiss it and continue my attack. An [Air Bomb] shoots from me toward the monsters in an arc, and those in its path attempt to clear out of the way. All three of my [Air Spear]s return to me as an [Air Barrier] forms in front of me, and I trigger the bomb spell before anything can move out of its range.

It detonates, and even though I only designed this one to blast an area thirty feet in radius, the effect is far more pronounced. The sheer force of the blast itself is significantly higher, resulting in a much deeper hole in the ground, a dense cloud of dust, and many of the air lizards dying.

Two concussive blasts and a bunch of spear wounds will do that. Debris impacts my [Air Barrier] as I assess the message. Seeing as I only received a single amount of Experience in it, I killed more than eight of the air lizards with that blast.

There's no way I gained this much with just one kill, not unless there was some ridiculously-powerful, way-above-me beast out here.

+2,641% Experience! You have gained 26 Levels!

I really doubt I killed a single beast that powerful, so I definitely killed more than eight air lizards.

The dust from the explosion makes it difficult to see and I can only make out vague shapes not far from me. Some of them are still and unmoving, some are twitching, and some are slowly moving around. These things didn't stand a chance against my higher Magic, and now?

I can probably finish them off without too much of an issue.

Letting out a breath, I send a [Stone Bomb] around my [Air Barrier] and detonate it once it's fifty feet away. A few of its fragments impact my [Air Barrier] as another Experience notification appears.

+32% Experience! +31% Experience! +33% Experience! +32% Experience! +31% Experience! +34% Experience! +33% Experience! You have gained 2 Levels!

I guess that means I did find a bigger gap between Levels somewhere. That, or I killed much more of those with the previous bomb than I'd thought. There's a guarantee of at least eighteen kills between the last two attacks, though, which means I should be mostly done.

While I don't know the exact number of air lizards in the nest, it should be around twenty, and it looked to be around twenty.

After waiting about a minute, I find nothing else attacking me so I gesture with a hand to generate raw wind. It blows the lingering dust away, and I dismiss my [Air Barrier] as I cautiously walk forward, examining everything for signs of light.

Some of these air lizards were destroyed way beyond recognition, and I can't even count how many of them there were because of that. Nothing attacks me, however, so I can assume that I'm done here. Being at Level 62 now and the amounts I gained from the [Stone Bomb], I can make a guess about further fights.

It's unlikely I'll gain very much, and I might need to clear out an entire nesting pit just to gain two or three more Levels. The significant increase in my Magic changes that to probably needing to clear out two or three of the nesting pits just to gain one Level.

As I examine the remains of this nesting pit and the craters I'd created, a trio of screaming [Air Bolt]s shoot up from the west.

Three of them? Terrence must be in serious trouble!

I jump out of the pit and rush over to the other one, which is only about twenty feet from this one. The cliff edge is on this side of the nesting pit, meaning the pit's much lower than the one I just deal with. It has two smaller ponds and several still-standing stone clusters and a handful of pillars of stacked stones. Only six of the air lizards are dead, though all of them are wounded.

From this vantage point, I can see that there are seventeen more air lizards left. Terrence seems to be in a panic over something, and I learn why only a few moments after arriving.

An [Air Whip] materializes out of nowhere a few yards behind Terrence, slashing into his back as he deals with defending against two air lizards that approached him.

Terrence twists his body and fires off a [Stone Bolt] at the location the [Air Whip] seems to be coming from, and the latter spell vanishes. The bolt slams into the ground, breaking as it cracks the stone floor of the nesting pit.

He's fighting an invisible monster, and it looks like he's already wounded it. I can make out small drips of blood leading away from where he'd attacked. They're hard to make out from this far, but I can spot them appearing. The invisible beast is moving quickly to find a new attacking spot as Terrence battles against the air lizards before him.

Terrence has active only a single [Stone Spear], though I can see that he's summoned [Stone Wall]s to defend against attacks on several occasions. He's also using [Stone Bolt]s to strike against offensive spells and in attempts to strike some of the faster-moving air lizards.

As I prepare to assist him, his [Stone Spear] manages to skewer one of the air lizards in the neck. The wolfkin continues without pause, summoning a [Stone Wall] to stop a trio of [Air Slash]es from his left.

No doubt the source of his plight is the invisible beast, so I wait for it to stop moving, the creature coming to a stop atop one of the pillars of rocks. The dripping blood hits the same spot twice in a row, which is how I know it's stopped moving.

There are several bleeding spots. Terrence has hit this thing several times already, but it's invisibility is definitely causing him issues while he's dealing with other monsters.

I watch as an [Air Bolt] forms around the spot where the invisible beast must be, and I send a [Stone Spear] shooting at the creature. The [Air Bolt] doesn't get a chance to fire before my spell connects… and it only cuts the creature, drawing a small amount of blood but not killing it.

Whatever this creature is, it's much more resilient than the air lizards. Only a couple of inches of the spearhead went into it before the spell broke and the broken [Stone Spear] fell to the ground. No wonder Terrence is struggling with it here.

"Tch!"

On the plus side, it doesn't to be strong enough magically to actually kill Terrence on its own, so it must have a high Constitution, but low Magic. Maybe a low Strength as well, though the way it was moving around suggests a decent Agility.

I track the blood drips as the invisible beast moves around again, and the way it's moving, it's trying to get behind Terrence, probably for another attack from the back. I send a pair of [Stone Spear]s at it, along with half a dozen [Stone Bolt]s. These aren't intended on actually killing it, just on drawing its attention away from Terrence.

The beast is quick enough on its feet that actually hitting where I aim will be easier when it stops moving.

My attack works, one of the [Stone Spear]s and two of the [Stone Bolt]s slamming into it. As they do, I realize that there's no way Terrence could have wounded this thing. It's much too tough for someone who isn't able to to hurt the air lizards as little as Terrence is.

"Friend of yours?" Terrence asks as a pair of [Air Bolt]s shoot at me from the beast.

Friend of mine? Why would it-ooooh. I see what's going on.

This beast was wounded by my attacks. That [Stone Bomb] at the end must have injured it, and it decided it didn't want to play with me and so came over to Terrence for some Experience. But why wouldn't it have attacked me first? Did it only show up towards the end of the fight?

If so, why would it come investigate a fight… now I'm seeing a bigger picture.

I slap the [Air Bolt]s out of the air as a show of superiority over the beast. Considering how tough they are when my hand hits and the fact that they don't just break, this beast is stronger than I thought. That confirms the bigger picture to me.

This is an air lizard as well. It's an elite air lizard, and it came to investigate my fight against the others, got caught up in the last attack, and then decided to come help these ones out rather than face me head-on. The beast is trying to force me to decide between attacking it and helping out Terrence.

If I devote everything to killing it, Terrence will get overwhelmed by the others. He doesn't get as much stronger as I do every Level, so he's not just jumping up in power. The chances of him getting overwhelmed went up because the elite has landed a few hits in on him, wounding him.

If I don't devote everything to killing the beast, it might get a good hit in on me. This thing is strong enough that if it succeeds with a blunt attack, it might break bones, and a bladed attack might cut me.

"Not a friend of mine," I respond. "It's an elite that must have come to investigate the fighting. How do you feel about recovering for now and then taking on another nesting pit?"

Terrence doesn't need me to explain what I mean, he understands pretty much immediately what I'm getting at. The wolfkin creates an [Air Barrier] and jumps up onto it, then jumps off of that and out of the pit. He runs over to me as I start sending [Fireball] after [Fireball] into the pit.

In response to that, the air lizards which can begin sending [Air Slash]es at the [Fireball]s, dissipating them or reducing them enough so as to render them useless. There aren't enough of them, however, and most of them are already depleted from their fight against Terrence.

It takes me less than a minute to get several [Fireball]s through, even with the elite air lizard working to stop them.

The nesting pit becomes a full inferno, nothing but flames visible. Wails fill the air as I receive a condensed Experience notification for less than what I need to reach the next Level. That doesn't matter, though, and I've already sent in two more spells before the flames have finished fading.

My [Stone Bomb]s burst as the flames finish dissipating, each one in a different half of the clearing. Stone pillars that weren't simply melted by my flames are destroyed, the ground riddled with holes, the ponds rippling as stone shrapnel plops into them, and the sole remaining air lizard finds several more cuts on its body.

"There you are," I smile as half a dozen [Stone Spear]s form.

I send them all forward, not bothering to control them. The elite does its best to dodge them all and break them with its spells, but two of them still manage to impact, and I think one of them is pinning its paw to the ground. If not a foot, then some other part of it because the blood drips aren't moving much, and they are moving back and forth a little as if the body's trying to pull away.

Even as the elite breaks the spear with its magic, I've already sent more [Stone Spear]s on their way to it. Three of them pin it down further while the others miss, though they still poke out of the ground around it. A third wave is sent as the elite tries to break free, then a fourth.

My fourth wave includes a [Stone Bomb], and the elite wails a bit as it strikes. Then it's thrown backwards as the [Air Bomb] I sent after the wave bursts, and I've sent half a dozen [Stone Spear]s at the beast again.

Unable to regain its footing due to both the impacts and its injuries, the elite air lizard is pierced through all the way. Either that was simply enough damage to it, or one of them pierced something critical this time.

+486% Experience! You have gained 5 Levels!

The elite air lizard becomes visible, its spots yellow instead of dark grey. Its body is covered in burns and other wounds, and it's easily fifty percent longer than the others.

"Jeez," Terrence says. "That was brutal."

"Only a little," I say. "It would've been less brutal if the thing wasn't so tough."

Terrence snorts, then stretches and says he wants to apply some of the salve Silvia sent with us before he tries to take on another pit.

"This time," I tell him as we walk to where we left the packs. "I'll be close by. Just in case."