Stargazer and Lev's armor were overloaded to the limit as both he and the monster stared each other down.

  There was no intelligence in its gaze, only a deep well of insanity hidden behind a calm facade that sent shivers down Lev's spine.

  The monster opened its mouth, the movement faster than Lev could react, and screamed. He didn't even get a chance to defend himself with his shields as the sound overwhelmed all his senses.

  Lev didn't realize when he hit the ground. Telling up from down became an impossible task, yet his mind stubbornly continued to power his armor. That was the only thing that saved his skin as a boulder crashed into his left arm.

  A wail of agony escaped Lev's lips as he felt the bones in his arm crack, but the pain brought him out of the dazed state.

  When he looked up, several more boulders were rushing at him. His shields sacrificed themselves to stop the nearest one as Lev darted away, barely avoiding the ivory blurs of death. The speed of the attacks was barely trackable for even his high Perception.

  Where is it… Lev's gaze darted everywhere. The monster was nowhere to be seen, even above or below him.

  Senses strained to the limit; Lev still couldn't sense the moment a pillar of stone erupted from right behind him. It hit him with the force of a train, shattering his barrier armor and sending him hurtling through the air.

  The illusion armor held, but several of Lev's bones almost didn't. Cracks spread through his ribcage as he righted himself in the middle of the cavern. Ignoring the pain wracking his body and the cold sweat flowing down his back from the class call, Lev floated in the center of the cavern with his eyes peeled as his armor and shields reformed.

  There-

  An echoing screech washed over him again from a small opening in the cavern's ceiling, rattling his teeth and organs. Knowing what to expect, Lev was able to brace himself better against the sonic attack.

  That did nothing to save him from the next barrage of boulders though. They came from all sides, intending to turn him into a bloody smear. Lev dashed to what he perceived as the only opening, only to run into the monster standing there in all its sculpted glory.

  With ivory skin, two horns, and four red, slitted vertical eyes, it was nearly two meters in height, considerably taller than Lev in his illusion armor, and ready to launch another sound attack at him.

  He didn't slow down. Stargazer raised and overloaded with lightning mana, Lev swung it down and released the strongest mana slash he ever had.

  It reached the monster in a blink, but a boulder reached him much the same. He only had a single instant to empower his armor to the limit as the boulder collided with him head-on. Lev felt the air being pushed out of his lungs as the barrier armor shattered and the illusion armor caved in, further damaging his chest and ribs.

  Pain and lack of air were all Lev could perceive as he rolled on the ground for dozens of meters. He didn't even get a chance to get up as the boss descended on him.

  Lev dodged at the last second, barely avoiding getting skewered by a jagged stone spike for an arm. It hit his cracked left arm still, breaking it in the process. He couldn't have cared less and abruptly charged the unsuspecting monster.

  His right fist connected with its face as a huge amount of lightning mana was released from his gauntlet. The cavern was shrouded in bright flames but Lev was already charging forward, knowing this was his only chance.

  The boss was nowhere to be found, however. When the flames cleared, there was only blackened stone in its wake. Not a single indent in the floor marked where it may have entered the stone from.

  More than a fourth of my mana gone, Lev thought while ascending, constantly spinning around to detect the monster. The extent of damage remained to be seen but he was confident that even the boss wouldn't remain unscathed from such an attack.

  His theory was proven correct when the boss emerged from the ceiling. Half of its face was slightly cracked and burnt, and a long gash ran down its body from the previous slash. The previous calm persona was nowhere to be seen as it stared at Lev with open hatred, no longer playing with its prey.

  Lev gulped. The monster's aura was much stronger all of a sudden, and he knew the time to make or break it was near, but at least the downtime let him recreate the empowerment formation on his newly summoned armor.

  Dozens of arrows formed around Lev just as several-meter-long stone pillars emerged from the ivory cavern's ceiling and hurled themselves at him.

  He weaved between them to the best of his ability, blowing up any he couldn't dodge with fire arrows. His mana steadily dwindled as the stone boulders joined into the mix while the boss seamlessly sunk into the ground without any sound, mana, or visual indication.

  This can't go on, Lev concluded, eyes desperately darting around to find the boss again. It has more mana than me, for sure.

  Since it was not willing to show itself, Lev fired arrows randomly in every direction in an attempt to lure it out. Several boulders flew at him from below, but before he could dodge, another screech stunned him in place.

  With not enough time to move out of the way, Lev crossed his arms in front of him. Sacrificing his arms was the only option when the alternative was death.

  Boulder after boulder slammed into him, yet Lev continued to imbue earth mana into his armor. It cracked with every impact but he repaired it before the next.

  He eventually crashed into the cavern ceiling and formed two shields in front of him to block the last boulder. It barreled through both of them before hitting Lev's mangled and broken arms, eliciting a groan of pain and pushing him deeper into the ceiling, where he remained stuck.

  Where… where is it…

  Blinking through the tears and pushing the excruciating pain to the back of his mind, Lev kept his eyes open for the boss that would no doubt rush in. Lightning streamed into his gauntlet, the weapon now holding more than 15% of his total pool, while he waited patiently.

  The boss didn't disappoint as it emerged from his right, fangs bared to bite his face off. Lev thrust his broken right arm forward into its mouth with a scream of agony, grabbed its long, stone tongue, and released all the stored mana down its throat.

  A howling screech crashed into him with enough intensity to blow the surrounding stone to dust, dislodging him from the ceiling. Lev's consciousness flickered as the monster vanished again but he knew it was far from dead.

  The same couldn't be said about him. Ribs cracked, arms shattered, body and mind in a world of pain, Lev could barely even move after crashing on the floor. Adrenaline kept the liquid fire coursing through his nerves at bay as he looked for Stargazer.

  She was resting on the ground ways off, and he darted toward her before the monster could bury the glaive underground. A concentrated jet of sound slammed into him the moment his hands gripped Stargazer's haft, sending him flying into the distant wall again.

  Several stone pillars followed, and Lev barely avoided them by flying out of the way to his right. The boss was waiting for him there. Its clawed fist crashed into Lev's face with a crack as the barrier armor almost shattered again.

  The monster tried to pull back but Lev was gripping the arm as tightly as he could with his right hand. Grinning a bloody smile, he released another huge chunk of lightning mana through the gauntlet.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Lev didn't let up this time. Every single movement sent ripples of agony reverberating through his entire body but he still charged the momentarily stunned monster with Stargazer.

  The glaive crashed into the boss' raised arms, effectively blocking most of the next lightning slash. Lev pressed the attack, forming and firing tens of fire arrows while it tried to make distance.

  With a burst of mana, he swung his glave to cleave its neck but the monster vanished into the ground in the nick of time.

  He screamed in frustration at his inability to kill the monster. The boss screamed back, not in an attack but to convey its bloodlust and insanity.

  "COME THEN," Lev shouted, a manic giggle escaping his lips. "WHY IS IT SO HARD TO PUT DOWN A HUMAN 100 LEVELS BELOW YOU?"

  Mana noticeably coalesced in the ceiling for the first time throughout the entire fight. Lev instinctively swallowed. Death was taking form up above, yet he was no closer to finding a way to kill the boss.

  Waves of boulders, pillars, and spikes came through the ceiling in a final large attack to end him. Lev removed the enhancement formation from his armor in the meantime and enchanted it with a durability rune.

  When his Perception slowed down to a crawl, Lev knew this was the last chance to make a difference. Three huge boulders were falling down above him side by side in slow motion, blocking his view of the ceiling.

  The whereabouts of the boss were unknown. Lev hastily scanned his surroundings, yet it was still nowhere to be seen. He had to give up as the massively slowed second was coming to an end.

  Out of options, he let out a sigh of resignation and prepared to launch a massive fire slash above him. There was nothing else he could do except try to prevent being turned to paste.

  Halfway through the motion, a face emerged from the centermost boulder, lips parted to let out a sonic attack.

  The fire slash and concentrated sound attack clashed in that slowed instant, neither giving way at first before fire mana overwhelmed the opposition. Weakened, it powered on and smashed directly into the monster's head.

  Lev couldn't observe the aftermath as the explosion sent him flying in the path of the descending stone barrage. Without the empowerment formation, Lev tried his best to dodge and weave but a pillar of stone grazed his left leg.

  The speed from the falling projectile alone shattered his thigh and ruined all attempts at dodging further.

  Dome after dome of barrier formed in layers over him as Lev gave up on flying through the descending attacks. He finished the construct with a large durability rune on its surface and sent a large stream of mana into it.

  Two boulders crashed and shattered on the dome before a pillar pierced through. Time seemed to slow down as Lev watched it slowly move forward before he closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

  …

  Taking a peek, the pillar had stopped mere inches from his face. Lev didn't waste a moment and dismissed the dome and flew up and out, and not a moment too soon.

  Cracked claws swam through the surface, missing his side by a hair's breadth. The monster let out an unholy screech overloaded with mana, but Lev was beyond caring as he descended.

  Blood streamed down the sides of his face as his ears ruptured, doing nothing to stop his mad scramble on the ground. The boss was faring no better, meeting his charge without any semblance of strategy.

  Stargazer in hand, Lev slapped away its first swing before a stone pillar slammed into him from behind and pushed him into the waiting punch of the boss.

  The barrier armor survived its much weaker physical assault but the monster paused as the lightning mana imbued in the armor jolted it.

  Lev's gauntlet found its face without wasting a moment, sending shards of stone flying as the monster's head deformed further. Fire followed, blowing it back in an explosion.

  Stargazer flashed in an arc as a lightning slash flew out of its blade. A stone wall rose from the ground and blocked it, and stone pillars collided with the lightning lances flying at the monster from behind it.

  20% mana left. Lev quickly swapped out the durability rune for his empowerment formation before the monster charged again. Lightning continuously streamed into his armor and Stargazer while they clashed in melee.

  Eight arrows formed above him. The boss instantly took notice and sought to destroy them with small, precise stone spikes. Lev took advantage of that and divided its attention by moving the arrows out of the way, making the spikes miss before launching all of them downwards.

  Pillars rose out of the ground again to block them, leaving the front of the monster momentarily open to attack. Lev threw an overloaded lightning slash its way but the monster reacted in an instant, raising a wall to defend against the extremely fast attack.

  The defense cracked but held for a moment before Lev himself smashed through it and grabbed the monster in a bear hug. It screeched in his face, only succeeding in making Lev give it a last bloody smirk before all but a few puffs of his mana streamed through the lightning converter and was imbued into his armor.

  Unexpectedly, the gauntlet disintegrated after that last push of mana. Lev wasn't even aware it was strained to such a degree. The attempt did its job, though.

  The monster was stunned much more thoroughly this time. Pushing it on the ground, Lev sat down on top of it and punched it with his shattered right hand. There was no mana or empowerment taking place, only his mental strength and the natural weight of the gauntlet were responsible for the force.

  Screaming in pain, Lev punched again, cracking the boss' face even further. A second punch flaked off a large chunk of its jaw. The third and fourth broke several fangs before the monster weakly tried to get up.

  Lev was having none of that and punched it down again, this time putting a bit of mana into the enhancement formation.

  Its head rocked back and hit the floor hard enough to send cracks running through the ground.

  Again and again, Lev punched its oddly majestic face until it was barely held together. With a loud, triumphant howl, he shattered its skull with one last strike.

  Strength left his limbs and mind the moment notifications announced the monster's demise. The desire to curl up and fall asleep was extremely inciting but Lev wasn't done.

  With an effort of will, he pushed himself to his knees and punched the monster's chest.

  I…

  Two more followed, cracking it open.

  Will be damned if…

  With one last punch, the core was revealed, and Lev pried it out with his right hand.

  I don't get loot out of you before the dungeon teleports me outside, he finished the thought with a pained grin and stored the core. It could be identified later. Storing the illusion armor, Lev summoned a healing potion. He opened the tube with a barrier hand that formed in a split second before holding it to his lips and gulping it down.

  The illusion armor appeared around him again. It was extremely uncomfortable with the dented chest and made healing even more painful, but he didn't know when he would be teleported outside.

  Unlike the previous times, he was prepared for the pain to hit. The burning ache from mana poisoning was targeted first, for it was affecting his entire body.

  Lev was making an active effort not to use mana through only his arms, which meant his entire body was in pain.

  The broken ribs and arms were mended next. Lev couldn't quite hold back a scream as bones readjusted themselves, and flesh was repaired. The potion kept going still, surprising him with its quality.

  Or perhaps just constitution alone did little in terms of making him tougher; he didn't know.

  Slowly, all the different aches and bruises on his body vanished over the next ten minutes. Nothing could be done about the headache from mana overuse, though. He wasn't teleported outside the entire time, so Lev just kept waiting while checking his notifications.

  [

  You have slain [Core Guardian - Level 271]

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 156

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 157

  …

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 161

  Barrier Carving has reached Level 3

  Barrier Carving has reached Level 4

  Barrier Carving has reached Level 5

  Barrier Carving has reached Level 6

  Arcane Barrier Manipulation has reached 3rd Level 2

  Colorful Destruction has reached 3rd Level 1

  Colorful Destruction has reached 3rd Level 2

  Rapid Infusion has reached 3rd Level 2

  Heavier Lifting has reached 3rd Level 2

  Mage Conduit has reached 3rd Level 3

  Advanced Mana Manipulation has reached 2nd Level 10

  30 Free attribute points

  Your title has evolved

  ]

  Daunting steps had evolved once again, going from +10 to +15 for each attribute. Many of his 3rd rank skills had leveled as well. Lev wasn't sure if he wanted to level them anymore if he had to risk his life every time.

  Fuck that, I will keep doing that till I don't have to anymore, one way or another.

  Finally, he Identified the core.

  [

  Core of the Guardian

  Exhibits lesser properties of stone and sound. Excellent conductivity and mana capacity. Useful in crafting.

  ]

  … Wow. This might just sell for multiple platinum, Lev thought, mouth slightly ajar. Lesser was the next step of progression in qualities, just under 'ordinary.'

  Rarities above that didn't matter to someone like him. It would take some obscenely strong second-threshold monster to drop something with a higher rarity, and only a few humans could ever manage that.

  Right after the fifteen-minute mark, Lev was teleported outside.