The Black Water Devourer’s body is reminiscent of a giant eel, with sleek, black scales that glisten under the dim light of the crimson moon. Its razor-sharp teeth and multiple rows of fins give it a menacing and predatory appearance, and its eyes were like black holes, sucking in everything around it.
And that very monster now stood in front of the four participants, looking at them.
They were in its territory, giving them a massive disadvantage, and yet none of them backed away.
“Domination!” they all activated their powers and got ready for battle.
[3…2…1…]
[FIGHT!]
The water was shaking because of the Devourer’s appearance, but it still remained fairly possible to navigate.
“How is this thing even fitting inside the water if it only reaches our knees, it’s literally giant,” Dreamer wondered, and it was a very good question.
“Don’t think too much about it, trial magic I guess…” Hero shrugged, his nonchalant attitude never went away.
Dreamer was right though, the eel-looking guardian was at least fifteen meters tall.
In the end, Stark shook his head, and like he always did at the start of any fight, he activated [Perception] to analyze his enemy.
…
[Name: Black Water Devourer (GUARDIAN)]
[Level: 25]
[HP: 120000]
[Strength: 738]
[Stamina: 1271]
[Speed: 1128]
[Defense: 213]
[Skills: Tail Whip, Bite, Absorb, Reject, Toxic Coating, Reinforce, Evolution, Water Bending, Black Storm, Tidal Wave…]
…
Hero, Dreamer and Orasio looked at Stark as he analyzed the monster, waiting for him to speak like he did the first time.
“…?” after a few seconds, he turned his head and saw them staring.
“120000HP, it has high strength and extremely high stamina and speed, but a very low defense, we should focus on killing it as fast as we can dealing damage,” he gave them the information they wanted all the while adding a strategy.
Everyone nodded as they prepared for the battle.
The devourer’s black eyes glinted, and the boys could see themselves in the reflection.
“Tail Whip!”
The fight began as the Black Water Devourer lunged at them with its tail, sending a succession of attacks. They all dove to avoid the attack except for Orasio who used his shield to block the tail.
“Just how strong is your shield?” Dreamer wondered, he was able to take on so many attacks and receive zero damage.
“Haha… I don’t know…” Orasio shrugged, clearly hiding something.
“Bite!” seeing that its attacks were doing nothing, the devourer used another one of its skills and jumped from the water, at least ten meters in the air in Stark’s direction.
“Focus!” like always, he activated the skill that helped him see the attacks before they even hit.
But this time, it seemed different: he was able to see more, and the afterimage of the devourer was more clear than ever before.
~SPLASH~
The guardian opened its mouth as it was about to snatch Stark, but the boy jumped out of the way at the perfect moment.
However, the eel-like guardian swiftly changed its strategy and lunged at Dreamer, its massive tail cutting through the black water towards him. He tried to dodge, but the tail’s momentum proved too strong, and he took a direct hit.
“Argh!” Dreamer cried out, the pain radiating through his body. Even with his magic, he wasn’t invulnerable to such attacks.
“-1251!” he was injured, but quickly got up and used some of his books to cast [Healing Prayer] on himself.
“+1000!” he regained most of his HP.
‘Interesting…’ Stark observed from afar, gaining information on the other participants was always a plus.
In response, Dreamer got angry and started using his most basic skill [Spell Fury], and all the books around him began to cast spells at the devourer, who was unable to avoid them all.
“-462! 449! -536!” it was hit at least a dozen times.
“Aura Smash!” Stark didn’t waste time either and used his skill, and this time it wasn’t only his right fist that was surrounded by that aura, but his left one too.
He punched the air twice in the devourer’s direction, and it was hit by the attacks.
“-8371! -7263!”
[Enemy stunned!]
[Dealt massive damage to GUARDIAN, regaining 271HP!]
The Black Water Devourer fell into a brief stupor, unable to move its body around the water anymore.
“It’s stunned!” Stark shouted again, and immediately all of them took advantage.
Hero slashed the guardian with his swords three times.
“-18387!”
Orasio used his most powerful skill (that Stark knew off), [Explosive Shield], and launched it at the devourer.
“-16283!”
Dreamer’s [Spell Fury] had a cooldown, so he wasn’t able to do anything but launch simple spells.
“-3634!”
After that, the devourer was able to move, but injuries could already been seen on its body as it received a massive amount of damage.
“Stunning enemies sure is convenient,” Dreamer sighed.
[Black Water Devourer HP: 58432/120000]
‘My god, it’s already down to half of its health.’
It seemed like the devourer really had nothing on them, the fact that it was alone also made it much easier to hunt.
Maybe the order of the paths really meant nothing, huh?
…
“ABSORB!” The devourer roared and used this skill, putting its head inside the water and absorbing some of it.
And after a few seconds…
“REJECT!” it used a follow-up skill, and a ray of black water came rushing toward the four boys, almost as if it was following them.
Hero cut the water using his swords, Orasio used his shield, Stark kept avoiding the rays as he saw them before they even came close.
But Dreamer… it seemed like LUCK wasn’t on his side.
“FUCKING HELL,” he shouted, forced to use his last skill to save himself, “BARRIER!”
All the books around him placed themselves in front of the ray, blocking all the damage.
Information was important in this place as there was no saying when any of them could betray each other, so hiding a skill or two was essential, yet now he had been forced to use all his tricks because that stupid guardian was targetting him.
“Tidal Wave!” not giving them any rest, the devourer disappeared into the water.
After the eel-like guardian disappeared, a giant wave could be seen coming in the distance.
“A tsunami?” Hero questionned.
The wave was at least twenty meters tall, and was sure to hit all of them if they didn’t do anything.
“Come close to me,” Orasio suddenly spoke, the nervousness in his voice disappearing.
All the participants listened, and suddenly, Orasio lifted his shield in the air and activated [Ally Protection].
A giant green sphere surrounded them all, and when the wave came crashing…
~SPLASH~
~CRACK~
The shield cracked, but it survived the attack.
“Thanks buddy,” Hero patted Orasio, without him they would have probably all died.
“…” Orasio didn’t answer.
“Aura Smash!” Stark sent two crimson fists at the devourer, who came out of the water after using its skill.
“-7382!” but only one hit as it avoided the second.
[Dealt massive damage to GUARDIAN, regaining 129HP!]
The devourer was at half HP, and the boys a bit exhausted.
But that’s when it decided to use its ultimate skills.
“EVOLUTION! REINFORCE! TOXIC COATING!”
And suddenly, the devourer’s appearance began to shift.
