Chương 265: Chapter 254

The mana in the air was continuously pulsing, but the steady rhythm didn't change even after the few seconds they spent staring into each other eyes.

'Probably waiting for a trigger…' Sam mused as he took in the situation while at the same time trying to discover what the hell the man did to himself. It was clearly a blood magic-fueled transformation, but aside from giving his enemy more power and increased defenses, he had no idea what it did. Whenever he directed his mana senses at the giant muscled monster all he got was a well of blood magic gushing up and then falling down, collecting in a pool where it would be launched into the air again.

'Sometimes… the devs are a little much…' thought Sam as he tried to ignore the disgusting image. However, before he could make a decision about how to handle it, the player doing his best rage monster expression took the decision out of his hands. THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP The monster began running at him, his heavy steps sending up small clouds of dust as his face turned into an amalgamation of sadistic glee and anger.

Clearly, the amount of bounty on Sam's head blinded the guy to everything else. Not that Sam could blame him. Tim kept him abreast of the happenings, and the number was already substantial and increasing every few days. Sadly, his known associates were already banned from taking the bounty, so there was no chance of them collecting with a friendly murder between friends. Thankfully, while the ritual or skill the player used distinctly increased their power, in exchange, it reduced their speed.

Sam barely had to move to get out of the way of the powerful swing aiming to pulverize his head and upper torso. Bin lids would have been jealous of those mittens… As he kept dodging slightly, conserving energy and allowing his mana to recharge – those stone spells did a number on both his mana and armor spell – he had a wicked idea.

"STAY FUCKING STILL YOU!" the player roared as Sam dodged once more.

"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT TAKING YOUR HEAD!" Then the monster grinned.

"And if you flee, I'll just kill those sweet nuns! HAHAHA! YOU ARE TRAPPED HERE WITH ME!" Sam tilted his head to the side, looked directly into the man's bloodshot eyes, and smiled. Then he raised his sword, the edge and most importantly the tip of the weapon, glowing with a mix of green and blue mana. Wind to increase the cutting force to the maximum, and the clean-type mana to see if his idea had merit. It was at the same time his opponent realized that they had access to magic of their own.

The player parading as a hulking beast raised a muscled and veiny leg and slammed it down.

"STONE PRISON!!" Instantly, a line of stone began rupturing out of the ground, originating from where the foot touched the ground, charging toward Sam. He simply launched himself forward, aiming his sword right at the elbow of the monster, intending to cut it off. However, his enemy still had their wits about them and managed to step to the side enough that he only nicked the skin. To his complete lack of surprise, the player in monster skin didn't bleed. However, he got much angrier.

"HAH! That's all the great Solar can do?" came the mocking laughter from the guy.

"Wait until the guys see the recordings!" Sam just continued to smile, his attention on the minuscule amount of clean-type mana he left in the monster's bloodstream. The monster beat his chest twice and continued to laugh.

"COME ON! DO YOUR BEST YOU NOOB!" Sam shook his head a little.

'A little success and it instantly goes to their head… We are clearly not playing the same game…' Reaching out with his mana, he suddenly activated the rune tablets he scattered, just as his opponent was lowering his hands after their masculine expression of imagined superiority. Chains made of pure mana sprang forward, instantly latching onto the big body of his enemy, quickly winding around the biceps and thighs the diameter of a small tree, immobilizing him.

This caused the healers behind his heavily damaged shield to cheer while his opponent hissed. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, he launched himself forward, intending to cut a more substantial wound on the humongous body, but to his and the healer's dismay the giant man just flexed once and the chains shattered while the runic tablets crumbled into dust. Sam had to do some in-air maneuvers with the aid of wind mana to avoid the fist heading for his head and the spike of stone aiming for his posterior.

Even then, he managed another small nick, injecting his own mana. And that's how the next minute was spent. The roided-out player used all of his earth magic and improved body to throw everything at Sam including one kitchen sink quickly fashioned by some stray debris. That earned the other guy a thumbs up from Sam. They were enemies, but even he could appreciate a callback to the oldies…

By the time he managed to create seven small nicks on the body, focusing on seven small pockets of mana he was straining to hold everything together. His mana was low, and he was exhausted but in turn, his opponent was also panting heavily, using only their body to attack him the last few times they exchanged moves as their mana regeneration was nowhere near Sam's. Plus, he suspected that their new form had some other penalties aside from a decrease in speed.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Once again, he cursed his lack of big guns. If he had at least one ultimate-type spell or something approaching that he could have ended the fight ages ago.

'Because, of course, I had to be smart and focus on utility spells…' he grumbled to himself.

'As soon as this shit is finished, I'm getting a fucking orbital laser…' Holding all those pieces of mana was a pain in the ass and really strained his control, but in the end, his bigger mana capacity won out as his opponent leaned forward, gulping for air in the dust (and debris) filled ruins of the once pristine corridor.

"You…ugh…fucking…. uh…cheat…" he spat out between great breaths. Then he grinned.

"But it doesn't matter! Even if you kill me, the ritual cannot be stopped!" Sam nodded, expecting as much, and threw out one more set of runic plates. These ones were much more high-quality. Made from very expensive materials, so Sam hoped they would do their jobs. Then with a last strain, he activated them, creating a bubble of magic around the exhausted player in the monster's body. Then with a click of his finger, he channeled all his remaining mana into those small motes inside the monster's body.

The monster's body went rigid instantly, the areas around the nicks quickly drying up and beginning to flake away as the redness started to vanish. His enemy looked up at the sky and let out a silent scream as Sam clicked his finger once more. WHUMP And then, the inside of the bubble was painted solid, though disgusting, red. Unfortunately, it wasn't the end.

As the blood dripped down from the frictionless walls, he saw it gather in the middle where the body used to be, where now stood a red spirit, in the shape of the original body of the player who was looking around in glee.

"Man, Solar! You're awesome, but so fucked!" he declared with a shit-eating grin.

"This spell grants me invincibility until the ritual finishes. It doesn't matter if you kill my body." Sam nodded and grunted with a little admiration. That was indeed a useful spell.

"The sink was a nice touch!"

"Thanks, I practiced a lot!" For a long moment, they stared at each other before the guy let out a sigh.

"Boy, you really are a bore. Name's GrindHog!" he introduced himself. Sam nodded again, but his attention was on the spirit and the pooling mana that seemed to be multiplying quickly, filling up the crater that was left behind by the explosion. He tried his cleaning mana a few times but it simply slid off the spirit who was just watching him happily.

"Not going to work! We made sure that the ritual couldn't be interrupted!" came the unhelpful explanation from GrindHog. Sam was about to try something with runes when he heard a yell.

"Hey!" Turning around, he saw the healers in the protective dome watching the spirit with intense looks, and their leader, Asa, calling out to him with a determined look. With a wave of his hand, he deactivated the shield, allowing the healers to finally be free. They began to spread around, awkwardly climbing over all the debris he and his opponent created. With agility belying her age, Asa quickly arrived next to Sam. She stared at the spirit and sighed.

"What happens when the ritual finishes?" she asked quietly. GrindHog just grinned and spread his see-through arms wide.

"Explosion, baby! Originally, the death of the healers would have been the catalyst, but our death also works in a pinch."

"How big of an explosion?" The grin on GrindHog's face widened even further, his eyes alight with enjoyment of the situation.

"Let me put it this way, old lady. By the time we are finished, the sun is going to illuminate an entirely different landscape." Sam watched silently, as Asa considered the words spoken before she nodded to herself. She turned toward Sam with hardened eyes.

"Lower the shield, my friend. It is time to end this." Sam looked over the gathering blood that was at least a few inches thick at the bottom of the shielded area and then back into Ara's eyes.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered before slowly lowering the shield around the spirit who was looking at them confusedly.

"My grandchildren are worth it…" she answered, quiet enough that only Sam could hear it.

"Sisters! Lend me your aid!" she called out, her voice strong, though Sam thought he could detect a little warbling at the end.

"What the hell is happening?" GrindHog asked as he watched the other healers gather around Asa who simply went down on her knees, ignoring the dust mixed with bubbling blood that should have coagulated a long time ago as it began to soak into her robe. Sam saw them look at each other with confusion and indecision before one of them shook herself and stepped forward with confidence, the others following behind them. The healers all raised their hands and as one, their hands began to glow with the warmth of the sun.

Soon, the same light spread to Asa. Which in turn caused the symbol on her robe to light up with the same light, bathing the area with the warmth of the morning sun. Soon the area was filled with the soft and soothing sound of a prayer, but instead of listening, Sam watched the player in the spirit body.

"What the hell is happening? What is the old hag doing?" Sam thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.

"There is only one thing that can counter the sacrifice of lives."

"What the hell are you on about?"

"A life for a life."

"Huh?"

"Selfless sacrifice against your selfish ones." GrindHog snorted.

"Yeah, but we sacrificed dozens. That's just one frail old lady!" Sam's eyes crinkled as the light of the sun kept increasing.

"We shall see…"

"Fuck you, Solar!"

"Not my type, sorry…" As GrindHog began to verbally abuse them and wave his incorporeal arms at them ineffectually, Sam watched as the mana charged with the sun's warmth clashed with the rotten and dank blood mana that had gathered during the fight. He watched it for a moment, he also raised his hand and began channeling his own mana toward Asa. It wasn't much, as he was still almost empty after the fight, but he thought every little counted.

As soon as his mana touched the older woman, she looked at him with a small smile and a tear fell from her eyes. For some reason, Sam felt compelled to follow that lone tear's journey as it fell toward the ground. Then it splashed into the pool of blood under the woman, creating ripples. As the ripples spread, a gentle, delicate chime sounded. Its sound echoed all around them, drowning out the verbal diarrhea coming from GrindHog.

Then, just as the monster's body did so before, Asa's body froze before she threw her head back and she roared one last sentence before the screaming started.

"LET THE SUN CLEANSE YOU, ABOMINATION!" The scream bounced around as the light began to gather around her body. Her helpers weren't that 'lucky'. They were lit up with intense heat and light and before Sam could even blink, they were gone in a flash of light. Then light began to shine out of Asa's eyes, and mouth, creating beams of sunlight that burned away the darkness. Sam watched as she slowly stood up, limbs trembling, robe flaking away into motes of gold, skin cracking with energy.

For one last time, she turned toward him, nodded, and as he spied one last crystalline tear rolling down her cheek, she stepped forward with unsteady legs. GrindHog, in his spirit body, tried to move away, but he was bound to the location. He watched in fascination as Asa reached forward, touched the spirit body of GrindHog, and hugged him tightly.

Then a flash and the sound of something enormous sizzling, not unlike cold water, falling on a rock that spent an entire day under the summer sun and he was flying backward. FWOOOOSH The only thing he could do was to use his remaining dregs of mana to cover himself in a shield and hope he landed somewhere safe. Or at least safe-ish…