Weapons of Mass Destruction

I hope I’ll never be as easy to provoke as this guy. Now that their strongest member is dead, this should be doable without losses on our end.

I sidestep using Wraith Dance, bringing myself in line with the path of the demon carrying the corpse of their leader. I switch to Breaker Style and release the kinetic energy I’ve been collecting.

He, in defense, thrusts the body he holds into the path of my attack, and with its lowered natural defenses it explodes into flesh and bones but blocks most of the force.

The demon grabs a thigh bone and a rib bone into his hands, oscillating mana coating them in addition as he uses kinetic energy to move towards me.

My crown releases a pulse, disrupting all his mana, and before he can reactivate his skills, [Eclipse] cancels them out. The bones in his hands find themselves colliding with a pair of daggers woven from my mana and boosted with his own kinetic.

Two arms made of mana take shape, extending from my back and reaching out to grab him, but he moves incredibly quickly, avoiding them and attacking me again.

I dodge with Pulser Style, and he takes the opportunity to pursue the group still fighting the fish.

I teleport through one of my Ley Lines and then use Wraith Dance, catching up to him and absorbing the kinetic energy of his movement. But he modifies the field protecting him and pushes through, turning his attention back to me after launching one of the bones at Lily, who simply raises her axe to deflect it as I send her a warning through our link.

I grab the demon's wrist, kinetic energy roaring through my body as I pull him to me, and my knee crashes into the arm he lifts in defense.

His fist becomes coated with violently oscillating mana, but [Eclipse] disrupts it again, just as it does with every other skill he tries to activate.

Time after time, I forgo efficiency, disrupting his skills before they can fully form, my reserves showing no sign of strain.

He hisses, and something pierces the hand I use to hold his wrist. There are sharp bones growing from underneath his skin, stabbing into my arm.

I hold on tightly and pull closer, driving my knee into the arm he raises to block the attack.

His skin ripples as sharp bones begin erupting from his forearms, knees, chest, and shoulders. He strikes again, using his own bones as a weapon, eventually managing to pierce the hand holding him in place.

I slam my head into his nose, breaking it and drawing blood.

But that makes his smile broaden as he licks away the blood pooling on his upper lip and spits it in my face, making me move to avoid it.

He makes another desperate attempt to activate skills in a last ditch effort to unleash something powerful, at least going by the way he tries to manipulate the structure and flow of his mana. But I don't let him; I ruthlessly push through his natural defenses, destroying them, obliterating them with the sheer amount of mana I use.

And as for his kinetic energy, It's nothing I can't match. He doesn't even come close to the white-haired demon I normally spar with.

Gradually, armor starts to form around my body, woven from dense threads of mana that his bone attacks just can't seem to pierce.

His arms, pierced with extremely sharp and durable bones, keep slamming against me, breaking and healing, each attack showing incredible physical stats, regeneration, and bursts of kinetic energy.

And yet I maintain my grip on his arm and grab the other as well. With a strong pull, I grab it and tear it off. His desperate attempts at activating whatever strong skill he may possess intensify. Even in this state seems to be cycling through all his options, running through every skill he has.

But there’s nothing he can do.

[Eclipse - lvl 12 > Eclipse - lvl 13]

His mana pool can't compare to mine, and I'm drawing on it like a bottomless well, with no concern for efficiency, just to disrupt even the earliest sign that he might be activating a skill.

I pull off the other arm as well, and he staggers back.

Even now, he fails to show even the slightest hint of hesitation and continues to laugh, even with the situation. Instead of restoring his flesh and bone arms, he skips the flesh entirely, choosing instead to weave a web of bone from the ends of his stumps.

He doesn’t run; instead, he attacks me again to the same result as before. Before his arms can regenerate, I pierce a hole in his chest with kinetic energy, his own failing to counter the strike.

As he stands there dying, he doesn't lose that maniacal look in his eyes. "That was a beautiful use of kinetic energy..." he coughs up blood, "For a human."

As his eyes glaze over and he falls, he steals a final glance at the remains of the demon Tacita killed, sinking into the lake. Fixating on that sight, he takes his last breath.

[You have defeated Bone Reaver - lvl 315]

[Lvl 298 > Lvl 299]

I support his body with my mana so it doesn't sink and look over at his group. The last demon stands back with the group of C and D-ranks. Even though he used his skills, he didn't attack unlike the demon I just killed, and instead moved back to the group.

And now he stands smiling shamelessly at me. "I didn't like that guy anyways, but he and Myrril were pretty tight, so there was no way he wasn’t going to attack you, human."

"That’s not the kind of behavior I’ve come to expect from demons like you."

"So what? Given the way, you guys killed Myrril so quickly, even if we did manage to wipe out your entire group. However, I’d likely die in the process since you’d target me, leaving these assholes behind me to get all the loot. Miss me with that shit."

I can't deny that logic.

[You have defeated Fish - lvl 368]

With that, part of my group moves closer, Lily joining me by my side, the axe threateningly in her hand. There are some parts of it that are damaged, but looking at it, it's from[Disintegration]. She might have tried to channel through the axe rather than the fish.

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I don't even have to check; I trust Tess to watch my back, and Sophie’s probably making her own moves somewhere in the distance.

Jean is doing his best to keep the body of the fish from sinking into the water with some help from Gareth and Leticia, who’s created a set of chains from her mana mana for the men to use.

Luna joins my side soon after, the biggest size I've seen on her yet. Her legs have grown longer, and her face has elongated into a gaping maw filled with teeth and covered in blood.

Once again, I observe the group arrayed against us. A B-rank demon, who probably saw what I did and the way I fight, and another eight C and D-ranks.

I don't think we would lose; I'm even fairly confident I could take on this demon, maybe even easily and on my own if my skills counter his in a similar way to the demon before.

"Human, don't even think about it," Janryc interrupts, bringing my attention back to him. "I have no interest in fighting you or the girl, no, I’ll simply avoid both of you, and trust me, one or two of your team members will die in the process, and what for?"

His words still make sense, even though I think he’s still underestimating us.

But what for?

Without saying a word, I simply turn around and head back to the others. He doesn't say anything either; I sense his group leaving, returning their attention to their own fish.

Meanwhile, I send the body of the demon I fought to the house we’ve been staying at.

Even as Gareth continues to help Jean pull the fish towards the bank, I notice him releasing that wide-area healing aura of his, increasing our regeneration. Jean is already fully healed, thanks to Lucien, who refuses to heal anyone else, so Lily starts making the rounds, checking on everyone and healing even the smallest of wounds.

"Human, you might not be as crazy as I thought you were," Luna says by my side. "I expected you to attack them."

"Well, we'd better leave here quickly in case they come back with reinforcements. I’m guessing that this isn’t the kind of fish that should be appearing out of season."

"It's our fish, human; we will defend it, for it was our prey," Luna growls with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Cute. The doggo likes her fishie.

I reach out and give the side of her neck a scratch, taking advantage of her currently huge frame.

She then rushes towards the others, grabs one of the chains in her teeth and starts pulling alongside them, her tail swinging excitedly, almost as if she were playing tug of war.

We struggle to skin the fish for over an hour, looking all the while for any interesting materials we might use, but it's a messy process all around, all of us clearly lacking the necessary experience. That's why I go to the outpost and bring back Duncan along with a few of the other natives. Each of them pulls out a set of specialized tools, making us help all the while, given the way our skills allow us to make sharper tools and serve to make us stronger.

First, they dig through the chest and head for the bulk of the innards, and soon, they pull something free.

Pale Blue Core (Arcane)-A spherical core within a fish's body that pulses with mana. This core serves as the source of its power, capable of amplifying mana fields or fueling high-tier constructs.

Some of them shout in excitement, and the older ones start bickering about when the last time they saw such a big Pale Blue Core was.

Apparently, there are even bigger ones, but they tend to be different colors. For example, one can also find Pale Purple Cores, Pale Golden Cores, and Pale White Cores, which seem to be the rarest.

This one still has a lot of value, though, with Pale Blue Cores tending to go for around 200-500 thousand shards, depending on size, age, and other parameters.

Not bad at all.

There are also some upper epic materials—mostly the flesh, tendons, scales, and bones, plus more besides—but there are a few more valuable ones as well.

Pristine Mana Stones (Arcane)-Naturally formed gemstones found within a fish's stomach and refined by its unique processes of mana consumption. They are highly sought after for their purity and potency.

Reflection Membrane (Epic)- A layer of semi-transparent tissue near a fish's torso that reflects physical and mana-based attacks. Ideal for crafting shields and defensive barriers.

Energy-Hardened Skeleton (Epic) - The durable skeleton of a fish, laced with absorbed mana. Its fragments can be used to craft high-tier weapons and mana conductors.

Overall, our fish is estimated to have a value somewhere between 300-700 thousand shards at most. For a converted value of 3-7 low arcane weapons or 1-3 mid arcane.

For a fish.

Sure, it took ten of us to take it down, but I'm sure we could pull it off with less, and if you could catch a few in a row, you would certainly end up with a decent amount of shards.

And from what I’ve heard, some of the more powerful B and A-ranks have been known to take out similar fish on their own with minimal effort and damage to the materials.

The problem is that even Pale Blue fish are extremely rare, not to mention the higher “tiers” of them.

I want to see it. I want to fight more of those guys. I want to try hunting a fish on my own.

And now we find ourselves standing around that loot, splitting the parts amongst ourselves based on their potential usefulness. I even got some Pristine mana stones and a few pieces of membrane out of the deal, and Lily got some more bones, as usual. She also got the body of the demon I killed, along with a few small pieces from the other demon’s body.

That makes me wonder if a lurker could still grow from the pieces left behind after we take our share with us when we leave. Is there a minimum amount of material required for the process to take place? Or does the process start the moment someone dies? I’m not entirely certain it’s the latter—that would probably be governed under the authority of the system, that means that whatever’s in the middle of this floor probably needs some pieces left over to rebuild a body in the first place.

As usual, the questions never end.

Jean juggles the Pale Blue Core in his hand, it being as big as a basketball, and tapping on it with the tip of his finger. "So how do we sell it? I did my part, so I better get paid."

Leticia takes it from him and holds it for a moment, seeming surprised by its weight. "If it sells for around 400 thousand, that means Noname gets 200, and each of us will get around 20 thousand. When we factor in the other items, it should climb to somewhere between 30 and 40 thousand each while Noname will get away with around 300 to 400."

"He didn't even help that much in the fight against the fish; he just floated there and attacked a bit! I saw him watching us," Lucien complains.

I'm almost amazed by the degree of his shamelessness; this little shit barely did anything and basically just focused on healing Jean toward the end.

Gareth steps forward. "We made a deal, and it would be dishonest to change the terms now. Think of it as an extra influx of shards you didn’t even expect in the first place. As for Noname, without him, we wouldn’t have even attempted this. He even held the other guys off while we fought."

Lucien just snorts in response, but he doesn't complain anymore.

So this time it's me who grabs the core and puts it into Duncan's hands, but it falls to the ground as the native finds himself too weak to even hold it.

He giggles nervously and quickly rolls it closer to him while checking for damage. "It's nice."

After that, he attempts to roll it to me, but I stop it with my leg. "You sell it and the other items. You can take five percent for your trouble."

For a moment, a look of surprise flashes across his face, but then he smiles. "Ten percent, or you can do it on your own."