36. Never Give Up

Ben is laying on the ground after getting attacked by Mreye's petrification beam. He has covered his hands with solar energy, so he doesn't get petrified into stone.

However, the petrification attack seem to have another effect that numbed his hands. The crash to the trees & the big boulder also makes his body hurt.

Ben tries to get up while holding the pain that he gets. His body feels hurt now, so he grits his teeth and forces his body to move.

But before he can stand up, Mreye arrives and grab his left leg with a tendril. Then Mreye lifts Ben to the air and takes him closer to it.

"You have covered your hands with your magic, huh? Fufufu, sure it can block the petrification effect, but even with magic protection, my curse will pass by it a little and numb your nerves. Curse is truly more superior than magic."-Mreye

"Heh, you say that after only fighting one mage. Say it after you fight many mages of high caliber. Or maybe, you're afraid to do that?"-Ben grin

"Afraid? Me? I was created by Lord Zeref and will 'return to his side'. There's no way I will be afraid of anyone."-Mreye

"Maybe you're fearless, but you sure are not careful and seem to be overconfident."-Ben

"Huh?"-Mreye

Suddenly in front of Ben's face, a bright orange magic circle appears. Ben has gathered his MP while he talks with Mreye just now. Ben created a magic circle and then take a deep breath.

"SUN DRAGON'S ROAR!"-Ben

"GRAARRHHH!"-Mreye

Ben makes a roar of solar energy to attack Mreye at a close distance. He can't move his hands because they're numb, but he can move his mouth.

Mreye got engulfed by the roaring attack and scream. The tendril that holds Ben's leg gets burnt and Ben falls to the ground, but he still tries to aim his attack at Mreye.

Ben use most of his MP on his roar attack, in the hope to defeat Mreye with it. He uses max heat that he can reach with his spell, 3150 celsius. It's a very high temperature, more than half of the Sun's surface temperature.

Ben's roar attack also hit the trees of the forest and burn them. When Ben's roar stopped, the trees have disappeared and the ground turn red. There are some melted soil areas too because Ben uses his roar spell longer.

Ben looks around while still laying on the ground. He didn't see the trace of Mreye, but he didn't lower his vigilance. Ben scans the area using his magic sense and feel something far, from where the roar spell was directed to.

"You're really pushing your luck, human."-Mreye sound really angry

Mreye finally appears in a very sorry state. All its tendrils are gone, and its body is broken apart. Only its mouth and eyeball are left, but it's still alive.

'How can it survive just with eyeball & mouth?'-Ben grit his teeth

'No, wait! Its mouth is still regenerating, only the eye is intact without a scratch. Could it be that its core is the eye? So I need to destroy the eye?'-Ben find out a clue

Ben assumes that Mreye's life core is its eyeball. Its curse power is also generated from its eye, so this has a high possibility.

'But there must be something that protects its eye to survive that attack. My guess is the curse power.'-Ben

"Human, I won't show any mercy again. I intend to kill you fast so you won't suffer, but it seems you want to suffer more, so I'll grant you that."-Mreye

Ben grits his teeth and tries to stand up. The numbness in his hands has started to fade, so he can use his hands to help him stand up. Ben keeps looking at Mreye who regenerates a tendril even when its body hasn't formed completely.

Then Ben widen his eyes when he see Mreye stab the tendril to the ground. Ben thought Mreye will use its tendril to attack him from underground, but it's not. The tendril just connects Mreye to the ground, and then its regeneration process speeds up.

'Did the connection to the ground help him regenerate faster?! A.I Chip, check it!'-Ben

[Understood.]

A.I Chip scan Mreye to see if the tendril that connects to the ground really helps it speed up the process.

[Scan complete, suspicion confirmed. The enemy uses its tendril to absorb liquid, and Ethernano to build its body again. The concept is similar to how you eat elements. The earth in this area has rather a high amount of Ethernano, so it uses it to regrow its body.]

'It can even absorb Ethernano directly?! Damn, wouldn't it just keep replenishing its energy? I can't let it happen.'-Ben

Ben tries to move forward and attack Mreye, but he is low on MP, so he can only use his physical power. Ben ignores his injuries and takes his knife before he rushes forward to attack Mreye. Mreye is still regenerating, so it's the best time to attack.

Mreye sees Ben rushing forward to attack, so Mreye regenerates another tendril to disturb Ben. The tendril attacks Ben like a whip, and he prioritizes to dodge than block it. He's not sure that he can block or parry the tendril with his current condition.

Mreye also just uses one tendril to attack because it needs to focus on regenerating its body. But when Mreye sees that Ben can dodge rather easily, it grows another tendril. Mreye grows 2 more tendrils to attack Ben, and it really makes the fight a lot harder for Ben.

Ben can't get closer now and even got hit many times by the tendrils. Ben finally decides to use the knife's ability now. He activates the knife and it starts to heat up again.

"What?! I thought you don't have any MP left."-Mreye

"It's not my MP. This knife is a magic item, so it didn't need my MP again. I've charged it with Ethernano, and it can absorb Ethernano from the nature, so I'm not using my MP."-Ben

After Ben activates his knife's ability, his fight becomes easier. Now he can chop the tendrils, make Mreye use more tendrils, and slow its body regeneration process.

"If you still have something like this, why don't you use it earlier!"-Mreye

"I don't need it before."-Ben smirk

"Damn, you're underestimating me."-Mreye

Ben actually doesn't use it before because he couldn't. This knife is still not perfect, and it has a low time limit. The knife can only be activated for 3 minutes before it will run out of Ethernano.

To reach a high temperature, the knife needs a lot of Ethernano as fuel. The longest it can be used is 3 minutes without the user's MP supply. That's why Ben needs to use it wisely and not waste the 3 minutes.

Ben rushes forward more fiercely and keeps getting closer to Mreye. He cut all tendrils that come his way with fierce & sharp moves. After some time, Ben finally arrives in front of Mreye.

"IT'S THE END, ONE-EYED BASTARD!"-Ben

"SHIT!"-Mreye

Ben raises his hot knife and uses it to stab Mreye's eye. Mreye uses its remaining short tendrils to block the knife and protect its eyes. The knife almost hit the tendrils, but then,

*Pshhh*

Ben's knife suddenly run out of Ethernano and didn't generate heat anymore. But it is still hot enough to cut through the tendrils that block its way. However, it can't pierce Mreye's eye because it is covered with the curse power as its last defense.

"Damn!"-Ben

Ben looks at his failed attack, and now even his knife starts to turn into stone because it touches the curse.

"Ha-Haha-HAHAHA, YOU'VE RUN OUT OF LUCK NOW, HUMAN."-Mreye

Ben's weapon is gone, and he almost runs out of MP now. He grits his teeth and covers his hands with Solar energy with his remaining MP. Ben attack Mreye with his punches, but it is very weak because of his low MP and didn't give damage to Mreye.

"HAHAHA, YOU LOOK MISERABLE, HUMAN. LET ME HELP YOU TO BE MORE MISERABLE."-Mreye

Mreye uses its tendrils to grab all of Ben's limbs and it also covers Ben's mouth, to prevent the same thing as before. Mreye starts to beat up Ben with its tendrils while laughing evilly. Ben can't fight back at all, and he can only accept the barrage of attacks.

After some time, Ben's body is full of injuries and he has some broken bones. However, he is still conscious and has a fighting spirit in his eyes.

Mreye smirk and raise Ben to the sky, then it throws Ben to the ground really hard, until it creates a crater. Ben now is laying on the ground, unmoving.

"This should end him for sure."-Mreye smirk

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