Fetch

With a quick chant and a simple wave of her hand, the witch flew off over yonder, eventually moving out of my line of sight. I shift my attention back to the bone-chilling serpentine eye.

Yep, it's totally looking at me. I grip the hilt of my sword tighter than I thought I possible and deactivate my concealment spell and pushing out with my feet and pulling my sword out in a perfect arc at the same time.

「Skill 'Instinct' is warning you」

Mana fills the enormous beast's eye for a second. As it does, the shattered earth clinging to it's scales begin to group up and turn into crudely-made spears with reasonably sharp points.

Malicious intent fills the beast's only visible eye, and multiple earthen spells formed midair and copied the earthen spear with it's deadly point.

「Skill 'Instinct' is warning you」

The offensive earth-type spells flew towards me with surprising velocity, startling me for a second. The earthen spears flew with blinding speed, a couple of them whizzing past me or missing completely. Though not all, as about a dozen of them grazed me in multiple spots, including my neck, cheek and right arm.

I brought up my sword in defense, focusing 「Reinforcement」 on my appendages and vital organs.

*ching*

Metal hit earth, the two alike yet dissimilar elements clashing against each other. I parry one of the earthen spears to my side, gritting my teeth. I do the same for the other incoming spears and redirect them to my side with not much ease.

「Skill 'Instinct' is warning you」

A giant spear formed where all the others originated from, easily twice my size in length. I focus my mana to all my vital organs and imbue darkness onto my blade, turning it ebony-black.

—Focus

I stretch my mind and do my absolute best to predict the giant spear's trajectory, analyzing it's position and predicted speed relative to my position. With a quick burst of mana, the spear flew with blinding speed, too fast for my own eyes to follow.

Luckily, I was prepared. I swing my sword in a vertical cut from my left, feeling the earthen spear's density and cutting through it at the same time. Then, the feeling disappeared.

The beast's eye went wide.

What felt like an eternity was actually just a second stretched by my own desperate mind, rejecting failure of any kind. If not for the quickly approaching floor below me I would not have noticed.

Come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on

I quickly conjure mana around my body, covering me in a semi-transparent black film of barrier magic. I channel even more mana onto it, giving it more density and increasing it's toughness. Even with that…

「Skill 'Instinct' is warning you」

This isn't enough. I might survive the fall, but I doubt I can get back up, not to mention escape, with just this much. There's also the witch's request, though I don't really focus on that right now—I feel like it'll give me a headache. Instead, I should focus more on increasing the barrier's mana density somehow.

I am currently covered in a sphere of mana conjured with as much purified mana as I could. I could channel more mana into it, but I doubt that would make any major changes. I'll keep it as a last resort for now. I could change the magical formula involved…but with the level of insight I have, I doubt that would really make a big difference. It would be a different scenario if the witch was here—I could analyze her barrier magic, and even though it's of a completely different element, I could at least make out the basic workings of it somehow. Sadly, this isn't a  viable option either.

Guess I'll go with that. I focus on the barrier even more, not on the working of it, but on the outer, more physical shape of it. The barrier thins down as it clung more closely to my skin, almost like a suit of armor designed for me. Then, I pour mana into it, same as the first method, but this time with even more efficiency. Since the barrier is closer to me, it is much easier to influence and channel mana into, making it more powerful harder to brake. This was by no means an easy task, but nevertheless one that took precedent above all my current priorities. This is a matter of life and death, and definitely didn't want the latter.

Then…

*BOOM*

I crash into the ground with great force, sending dust, debris, and earth everywhere. I hold my breath.

Pain, so much pain. It was like my body had been crushed from all sides as the shock of falling several meters high sent smaller but more painful waves of pain throughout my body. I felt it deep in my bones. The fact that I didn't hear or felt them break eased my mind a little bit.

Get up, I thought to and ordered myself. It was painful to move even a single finger, but I had to endure, bear through and stand up.

「You have learned the skill 'Tenacity' Lv.1」

「You have obtained the skill 'Tenacity' Lv.3」

…

「Skill 'Tenacity' is activating」

「All combat skills have been enhanced slightly」

I stride out of the small crater I had made and pick up my sword on the way up, clutching it tightly. There was also the satchel that the witch had given me, intact and without even a single scratch…except for the ones already there in the first place.

…

I pick up the satchel begrudgingly and open it carefully. It opened pretty easily and anticlimactically, though the same couldn't be said for the contents of it.

What the…it's intact? All of it? I let out a dissatisfied grumble at the clean, non-broken empty vials. How? I asked myself that question like broken record. I had thought that they would shatter upon impact and this stupid request would be over, bit it seems that simply breaking them is out of the question. I could just break them myself, of course, but I doubt that the witch would be pleased about that.

I put on the satchel and look up, staring at the gigantic snake. It was…well, a snake. Big and tall; strong and mighty; powerful and terrifying. It's scales gleamed with an unnatural shimmer—magically reinforced, no doubt. It's fiery yellow eyes seemingly gazed at the landscape and somewhere further away at the same time, giving it a somewhat benevolent presence.

The sheer size of it, on the other hand, was out of this world. It towered over every other monster I had encountered, even the Rock Serpent. That part of it, on the other hand, gave most of it's terrifying aspect an enormous boost.

「Skill 'Instinct is warning you」

The beast raised it's tail high and slammed it onto the ground.

「Skill 'Quick Step' is activating」