[Water Path Level 2: 200/200 (+50)]
Varian felt a feeling of being full, similar to how one felt after a heavy meal, but this feeling was caused by the water mana in his body.
'This can be a breakthrough.' He squinted his eyes and glanced at the giant snake.
Sarah's injuries were slowly increasing. But she could last for a few more minutes easily.
If it was purely a one-on-one, Sarah would've lost quickly—the gap between a magic beast that was just about to reach level 7 and a 4/6-5/6 level 6 was not a joke.
But since the snake also had to keep an eye out of Varian, Sarah's fight was easier.
Varian's telepath powers were also a significant reason.
However, as time went on, Sarah would grow weaker, and eventually, the snake would be able to take down them both.
Varian decided to advance to level 3 before trying to finish off the thing.
But right then, one of Sarah's wounds relapsed and she fell into a dangerous situation.
One hit and she'd be seriously injured.
"Urgh!" Varian teleported right in front of the snake and pulled his arm back.
As the snake's water sense locked onto him like a predator's gaze, he pulled out every trick in his arsenal.
His arm shifted into a sturdy branch, a layer of solidified space covered the branch, which was further covered by layers of telekinetic power and lightning.
Then, his mental power continued to attack the giant snake as the creature squirmed in the water…or where the water was before the fight blew away everything.
"Kaaa!" The giant snake let out a weird cry.
Varian didn't know what it meant, but he knew it was expressing grief.
He grinned and added the final trick.
He poured all his strength into his fist and punched hard.
BAAM!
Kacha!
His fist was like a sledgehammer that slammed into a wall—and perhaps even the giant snake felt the same as it was abruptly slapped across the mini-ocean.
"Shreek!" With a furious scream, the snake witnessed its entire body flip.
"Fucking hell." Varian teleported right before the entire area he was at was drowned by water explosions.
"This thing is too defensive."
Seeing the fresh bruise on the snake's ice-blue scales, Varian clicked his tongue in an equal mix of wonder and frustration.
"How about a combined attack on one spot?" Sarah's voice sounded.
Varian pondered for a moment and shook his head.
If the first combined attack fails, then it'd be way more defensive.
So, they could catch it off guard only once.
From then on, the giant snake would be overly cautious and wouldn't give them any chance.
So, they need to ensure an effective surprise strike when they attack it together at the same spot—which hopefully would break its scales and inflict serious damages, if not directly kill it.
'If it was a bit weaker, I would've used it for training.' Varian mused and said.
"We'll do it once I reach level 3."
Because when he reaches level 3, he could…
'But breaking the bottleneck takes time…no?' Sarah wanted to ask but chose to believe him instead.
With a slight nod, She wove an ice spear into existence. Her figure disappeared the next instant and she had already begun a fierce fight.
Varian was once again targetted by the ice and water attacks—some of which he dodged while others, he was slightly hit.
However, he managed to focus amid this heated battle and channel his mana forward.
Shuaa!
As the bottleneck broke, Varian felt a sense of connection with water all around. It was similar to his lightning path but somewhat different.
He still continued to teleport, but the changes were obvious. The ice layer covering his body hurt him less and the water attacks that he was grazed by inflicted lower injuries.
Varian used this to his advantage as he deliberately started getting injured, but carefully controlled how injured he'd be.
As a result, the water mana of the giant snake entered his body increased. Earlier, its effects weren't significant. But now, Varian could feel his internal organs cooling down to dangerous levels.
His other aura derivatives—chin, prana, and lightning mana waged a fierce battle to stop the foreign water mana.
But they were struggling greatly as Varian felt his body stiffen with each passing second as a dreary coolness began to envelop him.
"Almost there." He muttered and enveloped the giant snake's water mana with his own.
"Grhhh." Varian immediately coughed out blood as a chilling pain spread from his lungs.
What he did was similar to smashing a rock with an egg. His water mana was almost 'devoured', if not for the other aura derivatives saving it.
"Hmph!" Varian kept up his outward activities while he separated a small part of the giant snake's mana and enveloped it inside his own water mana.
"Kreh." The reaction was still violent, but bearable.
As Varian focused intensely on the foreign water mana with his own, he felt a sense of euphoria wash over.
It was like attending a test you never studied for, but just by seeing the question paper, the answers appeared.
And for Varian, he felt more and more proficient in the application of water mana.
[+10]
[+10]
[+10]
But he also knew that if he used too much of the giant snake's style, he would end up in a bottleneck.
So, he drew from his experience of lightning path.
As they were both natural elements, there were a lot of common things and soon, Varian's progress skyrocketed.
"YES!"
With a yell, Varian appeared in front of the snake and punched down again.
This time, along with all the previous powers he put in the punch, there was also a water curtain.
Boom!
The snake was once again blown away, but the injury he inflicted was only a bruise. A more severe one. But still only a bruise.
Varian nodded at Sarah. She instantly understood.
Bloooo!
Sarah appeared above the snake. The creature was already annoyed and opened its giant mouth to swallow her whole.
"Hmph!" With a raise of her hand, Sarah's arm was covered in an ice gauntlet.
With no mercy, she stuck down on the dragon with all her strength.
Kacha!
The ice armor broke like always, but being beaten two times in a row pissed off the creature.
"Kree!" It growled in rage and focused all its power to smash Sarah into pieces.
In its anger, it lashed out with the greatest force so far.
Sizzz!
Sarah was caught off guard and was instantly pierced by two ice spikes. One through her left shoulder and the other through her right lung.
Like a rag doll, she had been blasted away.
Right then, Varian teleported above the snake with chilly eyes filled with killing intent.
As his water path now reached level 3, Varian was more aware of the giant snake's mana condition.
Thus, despite the area where the ice armor was shattered being too large, Varian was able to spot the exact area where water mana's flow was severely lacking, mainly thanks to his level 3 water path.
And he gave the giant snake no time to cover itself up with ice guard again.
Combining all his powers into his fist except his telepathic powers that were directly affecting the snake, he punched down.
It was a simple punch with almost no difference from earlier.
But this punch directly touched the ice-blue scales of the snake.
It was over.
Kacha!
"Kree!"
The snake spun in the water in circles as silver blood gushed out of its massive wound.
His attack had not only seriously injured it but also dealt a fatal blow.
As it was on the verge of death, the giant snake's eyes flared blue and its rage broke all thresholds.
It slapped Varian with its tail tip covered in dense water mana.
Boom!
Varian flew away a few miles and ended up near Sarah.
"Kree!" With a furious cry, the snake died.
A strange silence settled as water began to flood into this artificial void.
[Water Path Level 3: 100/400 (+80)]
"Hmph!" Varian snorted at the water mana continuously injuring him.
But the suffering gave him rewards.
[+2 XP]
[+2 XP]
…
[+2 XP]
As the water mana in his body was slowly expelled, he gained more and more XP until it finally stopped.
[Water Path level 3: 250 (+150)]
"We did it." Varian heard a tired but cheerful voice and turned to face Sarah.
She had a pale but stunning face. Her blue eyes had the color of earth's sky but were more beautiful than any sky Varian had ever seen. Despite her injuries and torn clothes, she exuded a graceful temperament.
"Varian. Varian….Varian?" She waved her hand weakly.
"Huh?" He snapped out of his daze.
"We did it!"
Varian smiled at her and nodded.
Sarah pumped her fist into the air and said. "This is the best fight date."
"Hahaha." Varian started laughing, though laughing with injuries hurt.
Then he looked at her and grinned.
"One day, I'll take you to conquer Pluto back. That'd be the best date."
*** *** ***
A/N: There was a real life emergency. So, the release time was messed up. :(