You know, there’s this trick old-school computer processors use called time-splicing.
A single-core chip can only run one task at a time. But if it switches between tasks fast enough, it can fake multi-tasking, creating the perfect illusion of running multiple programs at once because the frozen gaps are just too small for the user to notice.
And right now, I was operating no differently.
Ice Pebbles could be formed and shot in a second anyway.
That left me to juggle between the currently active spell set of a 58 MP Ice Reinforcement + 2 MP Pricognition and Temporal Step.
The roots sealing the chamber were already strong enough to hold the tsunami of goblins outside for a good while.
"Okay, Pookie... Let’s do this mano a mano!" I grinned at the fiery behemoth as it let out a deafening roar, before lunging across the moss-lit chamber with a flaming fist arched back
I instantly cut the mana feed to everything before slamming my entire capacity into Temporal Step.
And the microsecond I did, the world slowed down to a crawl.
Dragging the Exit Point with my eyes to the far right, ten meters away, I locked it in before-
-Kzzzt!
I popped into existence on the other side of the room and immediately dumped mana right back into Ice Reinforcement and Precognition.
Neither even registered the fact that I had cut the mana feed. My time-splicing exploit had worked flawlessly.
And the second-
-BOOM-!
The flaming behemoth’s fist violently slammed into the ground where I had just been standing just a second ago.
Taking 20 MP from Ice Reinforcement, I raised both my hands like a pair of finger guns, instantly forming four Fragmentation Ice Pebbles over my fingertips, all the while those phantom centipedes relentlessly chewed on every inch of my flesh.
Gritting my teeth through the ravaging pain, I pulled the mental trigger.
-Ta! Ta! Ta! Ta!...
Each with a sonic crack of its own, the Fragmentation Pebbles slammed directly into the monster’s side before-
-Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The rapid concussive force of each pebble’s detonation violently staggered the massive monster.
But the sheer heat of the flames rolling off its body flash-vaporized the ice into a cloud of steam.
As the beast caught its balance with a heavy stomp, it let out a deafening roar of absolute fury, spinning around and unleashing a tidal wave of flames straight at my face.
I spliced my magic and glitched right through the blast.
-Kzzzt!
Popping back into existence just outside the blast radius, I instantly slammed the mana back into my loops and re-created the four Fragmentation Ice Pebbles before levelling my hands at the monster.
And the ensuing fight devolved into an absolute, chaotic blur of shattered space-time and blinding explosions of ice and fire.
I blinked around the chamber in perfectly timed stutters, leaving a continuous trail of crumpled reality in my wake while painting the charging behemoth with an endless, supersonic barrage of detonating ice.
But my failing body was screaming louder and louder with each passing second.
[This isn’t working!]
The explosive ice staggered its massive frame, but that concussive damage simply wasn’t lethal enough to do anything more while my cells were actively turning cancerous.
[Need to end this right now!]
I unslung the Shotgun from my back, instantly dumping my entire capacity into it.
The runes engraved inside the barrel lit up with a white glow as my mana began saturating the gun with Virtual Mass.
I needed to pump four hundred mana into the gun to hit a massive two hundred grams of phantom weight. That meant 4 to 6 straight seconds of surviving purely on Temporal Steps.
I frantically spliced my magic and blinked around the chamber in perfectly timed teleports, dodging the behemoth’s massive flames and fists.
And the exact microsecond the shotgun maxed out at two hundred grams, I pressed the dull walnut stock against my shoulder and aimed the glowing barrel directly at the charging monster’s face before-
-THARD!
The Devastation of fifteen thousand joules of raw kinetic energy slammed directly into the behemoth’s face, shredding its massive head clean off its shoulders, and pulverizing the skull into a fine spray of green gore.
Its massive, headless body swayed for a split second before crashing hard onto the ground with a loud thud, while the roaring flames snuffed out.
And the very next second, all the strength instantly drained from my legs while my own active magic completely fizzled out as I slumped backward, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.
The adrenaline finally bottomed out, leaving behind a deep, hollow exhaustion that sank straight into my very being.
My eyes felt like they were packed with sand. I just wanted to close them. Just for a brief second. I needed the phantom centipedes to stop chewing on my nervous system, even if just for a second, before I dealt with the screaming horde of goblins outside.
But the exact millisecond my eyelids fluttered shut, a blistering waft of heat violently slapped across my face.
My eyes snapped open to the massive, headless goblin sitting straight up with the flames roaring to life.
Thick, pulsating vines of green muscle actively wove together, stitching a brand new head onto its shoulders at a terrifying rate.
And as the flames roared to life, a massive blast of fire erupted from it in every direction, along with a deafening roar that tore out of its still half-formed throat.
-GHAAARRR!
Pure, unadulterated panic completely hijacked my failing brain. I didn’t even think. I dumped everything into Temporal Step and blindly chained three rapid, back-to-back teleports away from the beast.
-Kzzzt!
-Kzzzt!
-Kzzzt!
I popped into existence against the far wall of the chamber, barely escaping the expanding wave of fire before my knees hit the ground hard as a fresh wave of absolute agony tore through my body, making me gag on empty air.
"How the hell is it still alive?!" I screamed as the blistering heat instantly turned the room back into a suffocating oven.
Watching the monster stand back up, I couldn’t help but curse under my breath.
-Ding!
{Warning: Host, cellular degradation is reaching critical threshold. Immediate cessation of magic is advised.}
"Not helping!" I gasped out loud, dragging my back up the wall while across the room, Pookie locked its newly formed, red-glinting eyes right onto mine.