Behind me, I could see the defenders panicking, but I didn't care about it as I used my favored tactic of dealing with a boss monster.
I climbed on the back of this maddened, rocking beast, which counted as the craziest rodeo of my life … yet.
Even without the assistance of the spear skill, the climb had been smooth, a reward for my Dexterity. Soon, I was at the top of the beast, my hammer glowing with mana as I slammed it down to its neck, each blow accompanied by bursts of mana.
The attacks were stronger, as I was relying on a beautiful old mana blow trick, courtesy of my Forge skill, just like I had first used during the leveling trip in the wilderness.
Fighting like that wasn't as good as relying on Hammer of Avalanche overall, as the skill came with a lot of strategic considerations, allowing me to fight better. However, surprisingly, when it came to damage dealt, Mana Forge was actually superior.
Yes, the transformation of mana from Avalanche was an important part of the attack power, but where Mana Forge lacked that, it compensated for it by sheer presence. It allowed me to use the full capacity of my mana pool, pushing it outside immediately, which then I took control of with Advanced Mana Control and transformed slightly to maintain a sharp edge.
Wasteful in terms of mana, certainly, but still devastating. If I had full access to my external skills, I could have killed the raging boss by spending far less mana, but it wouldn't have been faster — at least, not from my current position.
[+5 Vitality, +4 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +5 Essence, +3 Wisdom]
Ten seconds. Ten seconds was all it took to take down the dungeon boss, before the enemy forces could even react to my presence. As I jumped down, I meditated for a moment. Thanks to the constant fighting, the flame-based tainted energy had covered the area to a suffocating degree, not helped by the fact that the constant area attacks always damaged the claws.
The sudden loss of cohesion when I killed the mutated warrior meant I didn't have to return in a hurry. I activated my meditation, standing still while I absorbed the tainted energy that covered the area, absorbing it to replenish the dungeon.
Soon I ended up moving away from the boss. The tainted energy from the boss was stronger than the one the smaller lizards let out, slowing down the absorption significantly. Moving deeper helped, as tainted energy had reached a devastating amount, covering the area.
After passing the critical level, tainted energy didn't evaporate, instead sticking around together. If it wasn't for my ability to absorb it, it would have been a true and persistent environmental disaster like an oil spill. Instead, it made it much easier for me to solve my biggest problem.
I stayed there for five minutes, which, with the assistance of my Wisdom, went a long way to solve my lack of mana.
Too bad I was interrupted by a signal from the defenses, warning me that there was a significant amount of enemies approaching from the other side.
Unfortunately, I decided even as I prepared to return without accomplishing all my objectives. But, I wasn't returning empty-handed. I moved to the huge boss monster. Dragging it with me would have been hard. Luckily, the ground was covered with metal. A flare of mana was all that was required to turn the metal into a primitive cart, complete with wheels, allowing me to drag it with me.
As I returned to the defensive line, I could see the fascinated gaze of the soldiers, which was a nice benefit. As much as I didn't like their hero worship from a personal perspective, it was hard to argue that it was useful considering the circumstances.
"Keep an eye on it, it'll be useful," I said to Harold as I dropped the large lizard there. The corpse of a boss monster was a valuable research subject in many ways. The energy it radiated, the potential to forge material.
Whether they still contained those crystals that appeared once they had been destroyed…
I left it behind as I went to the center, where our scouts watched the battlefield with a spyglass in hand. "What happened?" I asked.
Their leader turned to me. I could feel his tenseness. "Once you left the base, a flying team started to approach … but they retreated when you returned, sir," he admitted. "We didn't expect it to be a bluff."
That explained his tenseness. Technically, his alarm ruined my strategy, which could be argued as a mistake. "You made the right call," I said instead. "It was not a bluff. If I wasn't approaching, they would have attacked the base. Keep up the good work,".
Yet, I couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that my little trick with the fake mana barrier had worked, and they were convinced that not only were my External Skills available once more, "but that I also had a way to repel their trick".
I would have found it more surprising if it wasn't for my training with Eleanor and Maria, who, despite their power, never bothered to truly examine and explore how their skills worked and, therefore had no chance to replicate it if they suddenly found themselves lacking.
With that, I left the platform they were using as an observatory, and went back to the carcass of the boss monster, leaving the defense to the others. The chaos at the line was still ongoing, so it was a good opportunity to examine my big catch.
Once I returned to the hulking remains, I turned the cart into a metal dome, wanting to hide what I was doing.
First, before doing anything else, I climbed on top of the boss monster, and started absorbing the tainted energy, testing its limits. It was denser, which made it harder to digest, but it provided more mana as well.
Then, I started butchering it, separating meat from the scales, each carrying a much more condensed expression of the flame concept, and just like its ordinary variants, the claws contained a particularly dense expression.
However, even the auxiliary scales were stronger than the claws of ordinary lizards. As for the two claws, I wondered if I could forge a superior weapon out of them.
Meat, I separated it in large chunks. A few, I sealed in separate containers for further examination, but the rest, I smashed completely, releasing both the mana and tainted energy they contained. It provided enough of both to make it worth the effort.
Then, a surprising notification popped.
[Meditation of Decay (Mythic) 100 ->101]
My eyes widened as I finally saw a hint of improvement in my strongest skill, though I suspected the challenging nature of the tainted energy was the reason for it. It took most of the energy a boss monster could provide without destroying the claws, to trigger a mere one-point upgrade.
I faced a temporary temptation to crush the claws to gain another upgrade, but I kept myself back. Instead, I sealed them and continued butchering the behemoth.
The claws and scales were too valuable as a crafting item to be wasted, especially since there was a chance I could use them to push my Mana Forge into the next stage.
I continued butchering until I came to the heart, where I finally found the last thing I had been searching for. A crystal … and an unstable one, already half melted. "Let's see," I said as I pressed my hand, and activated Meditation.
What I met was an even stronger variant of the tainted energy. No, I corrected myself a moment later. It was not stronger, it was just solidified. I absorbed it … only to feel the flicker of a connection, similar to what I had with my dungeon, but the connection felt untethered, like there was nothing holding on the other end.
But, even though the tether had disappeared, the crystal had left a lingering sense of warmth somewhere inside, one that had been drowned by a more familiar energy.
"Interesting," I said as the crystal disappeared in my hand, wondering where the sense of rejection had come from. Unfortunately, there were many options. My Meditation of Decay, my connection with the dungeon, even all the boss crystals from the dungeon I had consumed…
Unfortunately, with the enemy having endless numbers, I didn't have the option to sit down and consider that fascinating question for hours. I had to be happy with the benefits it provided.
I destroyed the dome, revealing myself, surrounded by several boxes. I immediately turned to look at the enemy, their temporary chaos about to come to an end as a new group of lizards climbed, but there was no boss monster nearby.
"You three," I ordered, pointing toward the three from reserve forces. "Carry the boxes to the first-floor workshop, and no one touches them without my express order."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison and started working.
I once again started circling around the base, throwing mana attacks, wondering what would be the next step for the enemy.