Point-of-View: Rosary Farndrey

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I quickly ducked backwards to avoid the rapid slash aimed at my throat, narrowly evading it as I used my momentum to flow into a backflip, swinging my feet up rapidly.

My right heel struck the chest of the Monster I was fighting with a thudding impact, sending it stumbling back as I flipped backwards and landed, taking a few swift steps back to gain some distance.

"Whew, that was way too close," I muttered warily, as I let out a slow exhale.

I was fighting a Scythe Mantis, it had already killed a couple dozen Adventurers, including two Platinum ranks, along with over thirty civilians that I could see in this area. I’ve fought a few of these before, but it was always with Larrk and the others...I’ve never taken one on by myself before, this is turning out to be pretty challenging.

I’m covered in shallow cuts and scratches all over my arms and sides, I’ve been able to just barely keep avoiding any serious hits, but this is starting to really wear me out. If this drags on for too much longer, I’ll be at a serious disadvantage.

Well, no point in complaining or worrying about it, I’ll just have to pull it off and kill this thing before it can kill me...I then swiftly chanted to fire out a powerful bolt of lightning at the Monster before I shot towards it as it regained its balance.

I steeled myself as it responded by leaping up to easily evade the lightning before kicking off the ground with immense force as it landed back down and raced straight towards me at top speed...it’s so fast, it’s closing the distance at an alarming rate, it’s just a few meters away from me!

"Initiate Skill: Bind!" I quickly chanted, extending out six golden chains towards the Scythe Mantis as it closed in on me.

It abruptly halted and sprang back with immense force, a small shockwave bursting out as it kicked off the ground, several cracks spreading out from that spot.

I swiftly moved my back leg further behind me to keep my balance as the shockwave hit me, focusing on trying to catch the Monster with my chains.

Five of them missed, a fraction too slow to catch up with it, but it wasn’t in the clear...it let out a sharp chitter as one of my chains managed to wrap around its left leg, it began to slash at the chain with one of its blade arms, before I quickly gave the chain a powerful yank, pulling the Monster towards me rapidly.

It started to try and aim one of its blade arms at my throat as it closed in on me, I braced myself as I waited for the right timing to strike...at this level of speed, I have no margin for error, just a fraction of a second off could mean death.

Right as the blade arm got within a few inches of my neck, I swiftly tilted my upper body back as I shuffled my feet forward, the Monster’s blade gliding through the air right above my face, missing the tip of my nose but nothing more than a few millimeters.

I then spun my feet across once I was clear of the blade and snapped my upper body forward, turning around while rising as I draw back my left arm and drove it towards the back of the Monster.

It simultaneously swung its other arm back and across while twisting its body across in midair, slicing through my right shoulder deeply as I simultaneously pierced my claws through its exoskeleton and into its body, paralyzing it before it could cut into my shoulder any further.

I let out a sharp gasp as I took a firm step back to pull its blade arm out of my shoulder, blood pouring out as the wound throbbed with pain. I took deep breaths to try and compose myself as I stumbled back a couple of steps, my vision blurring.

This is bad, I’m losing a lot of blood...I’ve paralyzed the Scythe Mantis, but it’ll wear off if I lose focus and the manifestation of my Soul Weapon fades. So, naturally, I can’t afford to pass out...I gritted my teeth as I raised my left hand towards my bleeding shoulder, hissing in pain as I placed my hand over the wound.

"Elemental Lightning:...Lightning Bolt!" I exclaimed, letting out a sharp gasp as excruciating agony erupted across my shoulder, my body tensing up as I collapsed onto one knee.

O-okay, I’ve closed the wound...I need to hurry up and finish off this Monster, I don’t think I can maintain focus for too much longer...

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Point-of-View: Argent Stryker

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Well, this is a troublesome creature to come across. A Wild Blossom, the only Magic Plant that’s also considered to be a Monster. Most Magic Plants are just like normal plants that happen to have special properties, like healing and antidote effects.

But this one’s different. A Wild Blossom is a Catastrophic Grade Monster, a mass of thorny vines taking the shape of a humanoid figure. It can extend those vines, often sending them underground to sneak up on and snare its prey from below.

It’s done considerable damage to this area already...well over fifty people dead that I can see of, and it’s collapsed a couple of buildings as well. It must have spread out its vines right throughout the area...this one’s gonna be tricky to take down.

"Elemental Flame: Jet Soles," I chanted quietly, flying off the rooftop I was hiding in and swooping down towards the Monster.

The only way to kill it is to destroy its core, a hollow, balloon-like sphere in the middle of its torso. But when it’s ruptured, it expels a mist of dangerous spores, which if sufficiently inhaled, blocks your throat until you suffocate to death.

So, it’s a pretty difficult Monster to deal with. Well, I’ll just have to figure out how to finish it off without letting it kill me in the process. Should be easy enough.

As it noticed me coming, several vines burst out from the ground, shooting up towards me as the Monster simultaneously extended out more vines towards me from its body.

"Initiate Skill: Intangibility!" I swiftly chanted, the vines passing right through me as I shot towards the Monster undeterred.

Intangibility just may be my most powerful ability, there aren’t many targets that I can get close to without fear of sustaining any damage. I picked up the pace by intensifying the flames shooting out from the soles of my feet, shooting out a barrage of powerful fireballs at the Monster.

It quickly burst out dozens of vines from its body, which caught ablaze as they got engulfed by my flames, before the Monster detached the vines and flung them away.

It whipped several vines at me as I closed in on it, but it was no use, the vines just passed through me harmlessly. I then swiftly slashed both my blades outwards at the Monster as it got within reach, the blades passing through its outer body before I turned them tangible again, slicing its core into pieces.

Instantly, all the vines in the area slumped and plummeted down, as an explosion of white, powdery mist burst out from the Monster’s body. I quickly unleashed a wave of fire Spells in ceaseless, rapid succession, in an effort to burn up all the spores before they spread out too far. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

While Wild Blossoms can cause widespread devastatation in a short amount of time and potentially kill hundreds, the main body isn’t all that fast.

It’s definitely faster than any Disastrous Grade Monster, but for a Catastrophic Grade, it’s on the slower side. So, if you’re used to facing that higher level of speed and you’re fast enough to get past all the vines it’s spread out, plus if you’ve got a way to safely get in close and destroy its core quickly, along with the means to wipe out the spore cloud it emits when killed...then defeating one is actually pretty easy.

Alright, then, that takes care of that. I might have missed some spores since the force at which the core explodes when ruptured is pretty strong, but so long as I got most of it, it shouldn’t be a problem. Inhaling a small amount is fine, you’d still feel some discomfort, but it won’t be fatal.

This should be close to done soon, I can’t imagine that that woman released too many more Catastrophic and Disastrous Grade Monsters into the town. I hope Larrk managed to kill her...most other places would be completely wiped out if such a force of Monsters was unleashed upon them...

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