Directions became muddled as Lev plummeted. Up and down would have been indistinguishable if not for the fact that he was falling uncontrollably, which allowed him to arrest his flight a few moments before impact.

  Crashing to the ground wouldn't really have hurt him, but the monster slithering towards him definitely would've. Mana Perception recovered the fastest, and he unleashed a large wave of lightning after noticing several stone constructs heading his way.

  Most of them were destroyed, but without sight, he couldn't tell what he had just accomplished. All he could infer was that more stone was rushing towards him. Not wanting to be caught between that, he flew straight upwards.

  The serpent was waiting for him there. It dove, jaws open wide, and spat out a blistering wave of light. Much of Lev's dense armor was peeled off by the heat, deactivating its enchantments.

  Melvine's presence pulsed a few hundred meters away, signaling him that she was ready to intervene. Lev didn't give her any such indication. His focus narrowed to Stargazer's enchantments.

  The glaive's weight rose to an extreme degree, and after enlarging its blade to a similarly ridiculous scale, he hurled it towards the monster. Infused with a ton of lightning, the serpent also realized the danger the improvised meteor posed and swiveled to the side.

  Lev escaped using that narrow opportunity. His sight also returned after a few seconds of healing, and that let him see the elaborate trap that had almost restrained him.

  Root-like stone constructs joined together from every direction to restrain him under a large net. It was hundreds of meters wide and just as tall. He was stuck right in the middle of it, though luckily, Stargazer also crashed into one of the roots. Trying to stop her momentum would've rended his mind, but now that she was stationary, he recalled her into his hands.

  Now, this is unexpected, he thought to himself, mind whirring to come up with solutions. Any large-scale explosions might just kill me, too. Smart creature.

  The net wasn't just a means to hold him. It was also the serpent's home turf. Spikes grew randomly around his location, all aimed to skewer his head or heart. Lev strained his mind to notice the mana buildup, just barely dodging them while repairing his armor. They proved to be way stronger than the previous spikes. Each impact tore through his armor platings, tossing him towards other protrusions.

  Stargazer's blade sheared through them. Lev desperately hacked and deflected the spikes as the monster closed the distance with alarming agility. For all its size and mass, the stone roots held admirably as it weaved through them.

  His range of manipulation was way lower than the monster's. The invisible bubble followed him without being targeted, but he could see more roots spring out of the ground in whichever direction he fled, extending the trap.

  Then he abruptly came to a halt. Stargazer was infused with a lot of converted lightning, and all of it was fired towards the monster in a fracturing wave. The slash cleaved stone in its wake, yet before it could reach the monster, all resistance in its path vanished. Roots retreated, letting it pass unimpeded, and the monster was already ducking under its trajectory.

  Lev's willpower reacted in that moment. For the first time, he had infused a large portion of it in the attack itself. The command given to it was simple, and it obeyed the moment the slash reached the edge of his manipulation range, making it explode right on top of the serpent.

  A torrent of lightning and flames rushed toward him despite the distance. Shieldwalls were already arrayed, stabbed into the ground as Lev created a second bubble around him. It was enchanted with difficulty, housing both cooling and durability formations.

  Willpower was an integral resource as it helped with all manner of mana manipulation. Consequently, firing off a bunch of it with an attack left him feeling winded and dizzy. Doing something like that for the first time also didn't help.

  The constructs in front of him weathered the first wave. He stubbornly remained in place, wincing as the serpent's pained roars reached him. The sound was extremely loud.

  Pushing past them, he focused all his Perception to track the monster's location. Gaze of the Marksman was pushed to its limits, letting him see an outline of stone mana surrounding the monster. Its protective coating, no doubt.

  Identifying the head wasn't that difficult, for it was shrouded in the highest density of stone mana. Lev floated a few meters above ground and started spinning while holding Stargazer. The blade was constantly infused with lightning mana, and after gaining enough momentum, he let it go towards the monster while increasing its weight exponentially.

  It exploded forward through a hole in the shield walls and the bubble. The serpent noticed the glaive's approach, though Lev couldn't tell if it landed or not through the curtains of flames. A shockwave dispersed the remains of his previous slash, revealing the results of his finisher.

  The serpent was still alive.

  On its side was a long, charred gash, starting from its maw. The ground had been destroyed from the impact, and a small hill of dirt and stone rose behind the serpent's body. It didn't take long to understand that the serpent had been dragged for dozens of meters, and the hill behind it had slowly stacked up.

  He reached it too late. The barely breathing serpent tiredly slumped and sank into the ground. It paused and shivered when Stargazer tore her way out of its body, both whole and clean due to the lightning still rushing inside. Crackling arrows landed around the hole it was burrowing into, further slowing it down.

  Stargazer's blade cleaved through its flesh and scales as it doggedly continued. Lev stubbornly hacked its body, releasing more and more lightning inside. The amount of destructive mana and blood loss slowly added up, and after nearly a minute of furious slashing, he received a wall of notifications. Only a tenth of its body was still above ground, and if the tail had also retreated underground, the eerily intelligent monster would've escaped.

  [

  Your Group has slain [Light-Bending Serpent - Level 589]

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 286

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 287

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 288

  Arcane Barrier Authority has reached 4th Level 5

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Unerring Volley has reached 4th Level 5

  Wrath of the Arcane has reached 4th Level 5

  Arcane Protection has reached 4th Level 5

  Arcane Protection has reached 4th Level 6

  Superior Senses has reached 4th Level 6

  Arcane Passage has reached 4th Level 4

  Mage Conduit has reached 4th Level 6

  Gaze of the Marksman has reached 2nd Level 9

  Gaze of the Marksman has reached 2nd Level 10

  Advanced Barrier Carving has reached 2nd Level 5

  Fracturing Wave has reached 2nd Level 3

  Self-taught Beginner Glaive Mastery has reached 2nd Level 7

  ]

  The gains were enormous, but the pain was far worse. His body was burnt and mangled from its light attacks, and the final exertion had emptied his pool to dangerous levels. Barely a tenth of it remained, courtesy of Stargazer's thoroughly drained core.

  Lev did a cursory scan of his surroundings and, after deeming that safe, promptly lay down on the ground. Healing mana coursed through the hole in his body. The blood loss was stemmed by a thin barrier sheet, keeping it inside where it belonged. Granted, he didn't really know what he was doing, but halting any air from going into his veins and routing all the blood towards the vessels seemed like a correct course of action.

  Then he closed his eyes and summoned a pillow below his head. Healing continued in the background as he meditated, slowly but surely pushing all the pain to the back of his mind.

  ****

  Watching Melvine in action was awe-inspiring, yet it paled in comparison to the explosions and tremors Aryan could constantly feel beneath his feet. They all ran towards where Lev had lured away the monster, and by now, there were many wildfires and other obstacles in their way.

  Melvine didn't care about any of those. Debris was frozen, fires were doused, and shockwaves from the barrier mage's assault were similarly halted by packets of dense, frozen air. Her skill was incredibly intricate, and her quick and absolute applications also left no doubts about just how much stronger she was than Lev.

  Yet, she still had to be careful and not get too close to his battle. Aryan didn't know either's exact level, but it was still mind-boggling how Lev was somehow still stronger than her in a few aspects, despite the massive gap between him and Melvine.

  Then the tremors lowered in intensity, and she immediately ditched the company. The ice warrior blurred, leaving an obvious frozen trail in her wake to let the others follow.

  Everyone picked up speed, and Lisa even cast small buffs on everyone with visible strain. Aryan also followed while pushing all of his buffs to the maximum. Like that, the sprint continued for another two minutes before the world paused.

  Ambient mana was the first indication. It shifted towards the ongoing battle, probably affected by the monster's or Lev's skills. Then came the brightness for a brief instant before an explosion rocked the world.

  Isabella's whips wrapped around everyone to keep them stable. Curiously enough, the fire wasn't hot to the touch, only warm. Aryan didn't let them distract him and began running again when the ground became stable.

  Another half a minute later, he almost halted in surprise, caught off-guard by the deluge of notifications.

  [

  Your Group has slain [Light-Bending Serpent - Level 589]

  Veiled Stalker has reached Level 247

  Veiled Stalker has reached Level 248

  Veiled Stalker has reached Level 249

  Veiled Stalker has reached Level 250

  You have earned a Title: Titan Challenger.

  ]

  Hardened instincts demanded that he not stop his stride, so Aryan continued following the others while going over the changes. The option to evolve was already available, and his skills were also as advanced as they could be.

  How the hell did I get so much essence from the kill? Was the venom that effective?

  The guild had assured him that it would be effective on most weaker third-threshold monsters, provided he was able to deliver it with a deep stab. In comparison, he had bathed two whole daggers with the venom and then plunged them into the monster's body.

  That begged the question of Lev's survivability. The notifications proved that the monster didn't specialize in anything related to Constitution, yet the battle shook many kilometers around them. Just how strong was it overall to survive all those explosive attacks without even having any potent defensive skills or high Constitution?

  More importantly, why is that idiot facing it by himself?

  Unfortunately, he already knew the answer pretty well. Aryan had seen what even strong second-threshold monsters could do to unsuspecting humans. For someone who attracted even stronger beings to his position, staying weak was never a possibility. Even worse, the circumstances were only going to get worse for Lev as his aura grew stronger and became even easier to detect.

  By the time they reached the aftermath of the clash, Melvine was already strolling towards Lev's prone form. The mage had his eyes closed as healing mana wafted off his body, and it didn't take long to piece together just how badly he was hurt.

  To begin with, the mana wasn't slipping out of his control. It literally escaped the wounds in his body, for they were too numerous and deep. Secondly, the flesh itself was actively rejecting the healing, too badly burnt and borderline dissolved from mana poisoning.

  Around them was a large net of stone, the pillars reminding Aryan of some long-dead giant skeleton. Most of it was ruined and charred, probably from the last blast. The ground around the monster's corpse was also blackened, and its corpse still sizzled as lightning arced across the cut on its scales.

  "How many did you gain?" Lev's voice suddenly reached everyone. Evidently, no one had seen Aryan sneakily stab the serpent as it chased the barrier mage, as made obvious by the confusion on their faces.

  "Four, and I also got a title."

  "I'm assuming it is related to killing a monster two thresholds above you?" Lev hazarded a guess, oddly sure of himself. There was only one real explanation.

  "You have one?"

  "Yeah. I faced a third-threshold monster alone before evolving."

  "How the fuck?" Isabella interjected. "What is the resulting title?"

  "That, young lady, is extremely classified. I don't trust anyone but Hakim with it. All of you should also never bring it up with anyone."

  "Why did you reveal it, then?"

  "Just to tell you that it's possible," the prone mage shrugged. "And that sometimes a few risks go a long way. Be prepared for them. I don't doubt that Aryan's evolution is about to blow us all away."

  Deducing that he was ready to evolve wasn't that hard, but they had more pressing matters at hand. Namely, the cooked human lying on the ground, unable to even open his eyes.

  "… Are you alright?" Aryan finally asked and decided to add some humor in case he sounded too worried. "You really weren't lying when you talked about killing yourself to use your class."

  "Remain still," Lisa added, and a trickle of mana reached Lev. His eyes squeezed shut tighter from the healing, though he slowly started to relax when the pain lessened, settling on what seemed to be a constant discomfort.

  Melvine also made things slightly easier for him and cooled the air. Lev let out a relieved breath and mumbled a quiet thanks.

  "I have to say," Elias broke the ensuing silence. "I really wasn't expecting you to win."

  "Neither was I," Lev replied with a snort. "If Aryan's venom wasn't as effective as it was, Melvine would have needed to rescue me."

  "It made that much of a difference?" Aryan piped up, eager to get feedback.

  "The venom hindered its mana manipulation, right?" Lev questioned, to which he sent an affirmative. "Its control on light slipped several times, and the illusions weren't able to hide the stone manipulation properly, either."

  "I'll be damned. This is the first time a merchant has downplayed the effectiveness of his products."