Chapter 190: Absolute Soul (2)

The creature's presence was powerful enough to make every hair on my body stand on end. It was perhaps about 20 meters tall. For a raid boss, it wasn't particularly big, but its amorphous mana armor and large eyes shining ominously seemed to take away people's willingness to resist. Almost like malformed arms and legs, dozens of long and half-transparent tentacle-like things were squirming around its body.

[Your mana... seems especially tasty...!]

"Where did this monster come from!? Ren, you should've said something!"

"Kuk! I didn't know either... Rather than that, how can Crown Prince move perfectly fine...!?"

"Lebuik! You too!?"

"Like I said, I got feared!"

Damn, did I have to use it now? Seeing the tentacles closing in on us and the two large eyes of the Mana Eater shining ominously, I gritted my teeth and shouted.

"Kuaaaaaang!"

[You used Frozen Roar! All enemies in the battlefield freeze in place. All allies temporarily become super-armored and all abilities are increased by 50%. Your chance of landing critical hits doubles when fighting enemies affected by Frozen Roar.]

In an instant, the Mana Eater's movements froze. Frozen Roar had affected both its body and its tentacles. However, the Mana Eater was not an SSS rank raid boss monster for nothing. It was already trying to shake off Frozen Roar's effect. I had to move now!

"Ren, protect the children!"

"Got it!"

"Lotte!"

[Ride, Hero!]

Lotte transformed into her wyvern form and I quickly jumped onto her back. The dense forest made it extremely difficult for Lotte to fly. As such, I used Tempest and cleared the trees around us.

[I won't let you disturb my meal!]

"Annoying!"

Tentacles flew toward me from all sides. The thick and long tentacles oozed out disgusting black mana.

I enveloped my spear with chaos flames and ordered Lotte to charge toward one tentacle. I raised my spear up with vigor and struck down. Then, with an immense resistance, I felt my mana being sucked in.

[Kuhaha, truly tasty... Kuk!]

At the same time it happily remarked on the taste of my mana, it screamed. As I thought, chaos flames worked on an SSS rank raid boss too! I smiled in relief and shot my spear at another tentacle. I wanted to sever it completely!

"Crown Prince, be careful! He doesn't just have one or two tentacles!"

"Don't mind me! Focus on protecting the children!"

The children had to use mana just to be in this place. I wasn't sure if I could win against the Mana Eater in a direct one on one fight, much less with the added condition that I had to do it before the children completely ran out of mana!

I shot chaos flame Tempests towards two tentacles flying toward me from behind. Afraid of the chaos flames, the tentacles instinctively backed off, and I used this chance to escape from the tentacles with Lotte.

[T-This flame... A mana I can't completely absorb... Who are you!?]

"I'm a Hero that will end your life, you damned octopus!"

[Try it!]

Dozens of tentacles instantly shot up into the air. The Mana Eater seemed to have shaken off the frost covering it completely. Plus, it did so by absorbing the mana used in the attack. My instincts told me that using chaos flames was the best way to damage it.

"Lotte, can you do it?"

[Of course.]

Lotte's reliable retort cheered me up. Lotte flapped her wings valiantly, shooting out waves of aura from the edges of her wings. The waves of aura then fell the nearby trees and created, even more, space for her to maneuver around.

A few of the tentacles then grabbed some of the trees that fell and threw it at us. I received them with chaos flame aura and shouted.

"Lotte, I'm going to use Gaia Buster!"

[Got it!]

The moment she heard my words, Lotte flapped her wings strongly. With each flap of her wings, she flew higher at an incredible speed.

[You can't escape!]

Along with the Mana Eater's shout, its tentacles shot up into the air towards Lotte. It seemed it wanted to fight with just its tentacles.

With how tall the trees were, even though I thought we had flown up high, I could still see trees all around us. Because we knocked down the trees around us, there was no problem with Lotte moving around, but the trees here were still too strange. Feeling somewhat uneasy, I bit my lips.

"It's on the tip of my tongue..."

[Tongue?]

"Let's descend for now!"

The moment she heard me, Lotte shot down like an arrow. A few tentacles attacked us. It was impossible to dodge them all!

I expanded Mad Typhoon's range as much as I could and created a whirlpool surrounding Lotte and me. Then, I wrapped it with chaos flames. The tentacles hurling toward us didn't seem to mind and fell down after hitting us once. Even so, their attacks had carried an immense force. More importantly, they were stealing our mana every time they hit us!

"Lotte, are you okay?"

[This is nothing! Rather than that, we're almost back down on the ground!]

"Got it!"

I raised my spear. A single tentacle left a heavy injury on my cheek, then fell back from chaos flames. Furthermore, dozens of tentacles had joined together to form a hammer-like arm, as if to prevent us from doing what we wanted.

[I'll suck your mana dry!]

"Lotte, dodge!"

[No problem!]

The tentacle hammer smashed down toward us without warning. As for its size, it was several times bigger than Lotte!

"Shin oppa!"

"Crown Prince, be careful!"

[Kuaaaang!]

Lotte roared and flapped her wings weakly. The mana contained within that flap was overly complex for what a monster could have, but I already realized that we were now only a few meters away from the ground. Dear god, Lotte just used Blink!

[Hero!]

"Gaia Buster!"

After Lotte successfully dodged the tentacle hammer with Blink, her shout snapped me out of my shock. I immediately struck my spear wrapped in black lightning into the ground. At that moment, the tentacles, which had separated from the hammer form and were hurling toward us once again, were all thrown back. The ground exploded and large boulders had shot out. Furthermore, the trees that had their roots in the ground were pulled out along with their roots.

"Protect the children!"

"I know!"

Boulders carrying black lightning clashed with tentacles. The Mana Eater screamed and squirmed its tentacles, but even an SSS rank boss monster couldn't help but be paralyzed after beingfrom repeatedly being hit by the boulders. However, even after successfully dealing an attack, I couldn't relax. I could tell that the Mana Eater's boundless mana hadn't decreased in the slightest!

[Kuhaaaa...!]

The change occurred the moment Gaia Buster ended. Black sSticky black mana began to spread out in all directions, forming a thick fog that made it hard to see. Even with my eyes that had far surpassed the limits of human eyes, I could not see through the fog.

[You are the first human to injure me... You must pay for this humiliation!]

I could feel its tentacles getting farther away. On the other hand, its killing intent shot up to a peak. This only meant one thing.

[I'll eat the others first! You will have to face me alone!]

"You bastard!"

[Hero, his presence is continuously changing location! If we rashly attack...!]

"I know... Ren, Lebuik!"

"I can't die when I've come so far!"

"Before you take Ren-nim's life, you'll... you'll have to take mine!"

The tentacles had already begun their attack on the others. I didn't think that Ren and Lebuik would lose, but if even a single tentacle reached the children... I urgently materialized Sharana.

"Take away this fog!"

[Ek, what an unpleasant fog. Master, I'll get right on it!]

Once materialized, Sharana was truly powerful. As the elemental storm she wielded pushed back the Mana Eater's fog, I gulped down a highest-grade Mana Potion. The amount of mana I had used and had been absorbed by the Mana Eater was no joke.

[Kuhaha! Beastmen, how impudent!]

"Lebuik, be careful!"

"I won't let you hurt Ren-nim!"

The fog dissipated, and I could see once again. With Lotte, I quickly charged toward Ren, Lebuik, Ruyue, and the children. At the same time, I summoned Peika and infused her into my spear.

"Die! Lightning Spear Storm!"

A powerful whirlpool erupted from my spear and attracted the tentacles that were aiming for the children. In addition, the Mana Eater's body was slowly being pulled toward me. It seemed to have realized my skill's power as it joined its tentacles together to form a hammer once more.

[Let's see if you can take this!]

"Try it!"

The spear I shot out consecutively stabbed into the tentacles and discharged powerful electricity. Even so, the tentacle hammer didn't waver in the slightest and slammed down on me from above. Regardless, I had successfully taken the tentacles away from the children.

"Ruyue, take the children and run! Ren, Lebuik, go on ahead! I'll go after I take care of this guy!"

"I can't!"

[No!]

"Protect the children! Ruyue, listen to me! Everyone here is just getting in my way!"

"Rookie, how can you win against that thing by yourself!?"

"Like I said, all of you are just burdens!"

The moment the hammer slammed down on my head, Lotte used Blink and dodged it. Because of it, Lightning Spear Storm was interrupted, and the tentacles freed themselves from the whirlpool. Seeing the tentacles aim for the children once more, I gritted my teeth. They really didn't know when to stop!

"Peika, Sharana! I need a big one!"

[Why with this wind woman... But since it's Master's request, it can't be helped.]

[Worm-ssi, hurry up and attack! I'll strengthen it!]

Peika left the spear for a moment and raised her hand. The entire forest was instantly brightened and all the trees burnt up. Sharana also raised her hand and strengthened Peika's attack, after which the dozens of tentacles hurling towards the children were obliterated.

[Kuaaaaaaa!]

"Well done! Ruyue, run! Lotte, let's run too!"

[Understood!]

The children were already in trouble! Ren and Lebuik gritted their teeth and smacked away a couple of tentacles near them. Along with Ruyue, they then began to run.

[Kuhaha, foolish! You can't escape from here!]

Just when I thought Ruyue had escaped the tentacles' range, two thick tentacles sprung up from the ground in front of her! Flustered, I urged Lotte to use Blink. At that moment...

[I've been waiting!]

"Kuk!?"

With a blunt sound, my chest plate shattered. Feeling vision shaking for a moment, I closed my eyes and opened them.

Five tentacles had skewered through my chest.

"H-How...!"

[You still don't understand!?]

The Mana Eater shouted triumphantly. I could hear its voice from all sides. I raised my head and was amazed when I saw that the tentacles piercing through me had sprung up from the trees above. Right, the thought that had almost crossed my mind before was...

[This entire forest is me! Foolish Human!]

It was the start of a nightmare.