At this point, I’m not sure how I manage to still be shocked at the effect of the empowered Void Chomp. The fact that it all happens right in front of my face is a little unnerving, and I’m not ashamed to say I’m still not used to it.

Nevertheless, the screaming void appears, my jaws close with a shattering, calamitous sound. Black jaws of pure energy form, crashing down a dozen metres from the front of my face. The orb… seems unimpressed.

The entire cloud evaporates, the lightning cloud too, only to reform twenty metres away, still crackling with dark purple light.

Well, that was a little disappointing. I’m not convinced that my opponent took no damage, surely it hurt them, even if only a little bit, but it certainly didn’t have the effect I’d been hoping for. Broken chunks of rock fall from the roof as the tunnel groans under the effect of the void chomp.

After reforming, the enemy bathes me once again in its lightning. I don’t enjoy it.

The magic attack comes so fast, even my absurdly enhanced reflexes can’t do much to get me out of the way, and once I get hit, the energy ripples through my body, sizzling me, inside and out. With the healing fluid still bubbling through my system, my health starts to recover quickly after the lightning has burnt through my system. Thanks to the bountiful number of ants nearby, my regeneration gland is already almost full, so I trigger it again immediately.

Man, this fight is really exposing just how weak my defences against magic-based attacks are. I’ve been fighting them so far by using my mind to break down the mana, but this monster just has such a weird mana signature.

Nevertheless, I commit my minds and reach out, trying to take hold of my opponent and break down their energy. It’s immensely difficult. I feel like I’m trying to take hold of a fish coated in butter inside an ocean of maple syrup. When I do manage to get a ‘finger’ on the lousy thing, trying to draw out any of the power is like ripping a mountain up by the roots.

[Surrender to me. Your efforts are in vain.]

Seriously, the attitude on this guy.

[You aren’t exactly getting far yourself. How long can you afford to sit around here failing to beat me?]

[You will not be able to heal yourself forever.]

The voice is calm, confident. It seems to believe it's done this dance before and will triumph eventually. I’ve got bad news for this monster, I can do this all day, but explaining why would be a right pain in the thorax, so I don’t bother replying and instead lunge forward for another bite.

Only this time, I inject gravity mana as my mandibles snap shut.

Once again, the storm breaks apart and reforms, but this time, it looks a little unbalanced, a little more… chaotic. The lightning contained within the azure clouds sparks and spins with increased agitation, leading me to believe it didn’t much enjoy the added gravity mana.

In gratitude for my generous donation, the cloud unleashes another blast of lightning, bathing me in the crackling energy for a good five seconds. When it fades, I’m steaming, quite literally, but the damage is already healing. I didn’t even bother trying to dodge this time, instead I preemptively used my minds to try and divert or deflect the oncoming attack.

It’s just… weird. This monster is dumping so much energy, so fast, it’s almost as if it isn’t playing by the rules. How in the heck can it do it? There must be some sort of Skill or organ involved. To unleash the amount of mana this thing is cooking me with, I would need a significant amount of time, and the build up of energy isn’t exactly difficult to detect. My opponent is just throwing a bucket full of water in my face, but I never see them fill it up!

However, what they can’t seem to do is move all that fast. Or perhaps it just doesn’t feel the need to? Regardless, an empowered dash puts me right in front of the monster and I lunge once again, mandibles blazing as I inject it with concentrated gravity mana once again.

[Do not pollute me!] the agitated ball of lightning roars. [Keep your foul taint away!]

[Excuse me? First of all, gravity mana is amazing. Second of all, keep my what away from you? I’m not sure I have one of those.]

The monster doesn’t reply, but roils even more violently, blasting me once again with lightning, which I endure. I’m starting to suspect this monster isn’t as evolved as I first thought, or is running underpowered for some reason. Perhaps it didn’t move through the fifth completely unscathed and has lost a great deal of its power? Considering I’m not even deflecting these lighting blasts, simply healing through them, I really shouldn’t be sitting pretty as I am.

I mean, it hurts like heck, but I’m in no danger of dying any time soon.

[Let’s see if you like gravitational mana after this!]

After compressing the mana and cooking up the spell, I unleash a gravity well, empowered with the full force of the Altar behind it, directly on top of the uppity monster.

What I hoped would happen is that it would be smashed to smithereens on the floor of the tunnel, crushed under the weight of the well. What actually happens is that it sinks down, fairly rapidly, and is then pressed into the ground, dispersing against it.

[Release me!]

So… underwhelming, in the end. I approach and look down at the cloud and lightning, slowly spreading out over the floor, largely with confusion.

[Shouldn’t you be like… crushed?]

[I will escape and return this humiliation a thousandfold!]

It’s only then that I finally twig to what’s going on.

[You’re mostly just energy, aren’t you? Not much of a physical form at all. Darn.]

Look, I never finished school, but I’m fairly sure that energy still has mass. Not much, but a little. Sort of. My overwhelmingly powerful gravity well is enough to flatten most things, but to this monster, who appears to be… basically just energy, its physical components likely hidden in a pocket dimension, it’s barely enough to press it down to the ground.

But that’s enough? It can’t really move under its own power that well at the best of times, so within the gravity well, all it can really do is spread out and float off, cursing me as it retreats.

Dumbfounded, I just watch it go. Such a strange interaction….