'Fuck me sideways, my initial assumptions were wrong. A monster this big only needs one step to close in and one strike to kill me. It has no reason to waste time with magic.' Lith thought.
'It's worse than that. It can use fusion magic and there's no telling how much it boosts the enemy's physical prowess. We never faced such a creature before, so I have no idea how big is the gap between you two.' Solus said.
Lith instantly dispelled the useless array that drained his focus and jumped back while activating his tier five magic holding ring. The Final Sunset spell it unleashed was focused into a powerful beam of black flames that struck the Meneos like a truck and propelled Lith backward, boosting his dodge speed.
He managed to avoid the change and put some distance between them again, yet all the damage dealt by a fully charged Final Sunset barely amounted to a burn mark on the creature's muzzle.
To make matters worse, the injury started to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye the moment the spell exhausted its mana.
'What the actual fuck? Final Sunset is comprised of fire and darkness magic that Mogar itself referred to as the elements of destruction. Not even golems are that tough. Solus, is it really a living being?' Lith asked.
'For alive it's alive.' She replied. 'Its mana core is really odd, but that's hardly a novelty with monsters. It's similar to that of trolls since I can sense an imbalance in the darkness element, but there's something different. Try changing approach.'
By the time Solus finished speaking, the Meneos was already in front of Lith, trying to bite his head off. Lith managed to catch the maw with his hands and activated his gravity field ring.
The creature was too big for the gravity sheath to affect its whole body, but the ring still managed to make the Meneos light enough so that Lith could exploit the momentum of its charge to execute an overhead throw.
At the same time, he unleashed all the spells he had at the ready down the monster's throat.
'This is supposed to be a test of wisdom, not a slugfest.' Lith thought. 'Maybe the creature's skin is nigh-invulnerable whereas its internal organs are frail.'
The fire scorched the soft tissues and made the air so hot to be unbreathable while streams of electricity coursed through the monster's bloodstream, reaching all of its internal organs at once.
"Remarkable nerve." Feela said from the stands. "Usually when facing something that big, people are too shocked to think clearly. Makes you wonder what kind of horrors he's used to facing.
"Why didn't you mention any of this in your request for an apprentice, Faluel?"
"Because I hate having competition." The Hydra replied with a smile.
'Good move! This time it took some solid damage.' Even though the opponent seemed to be down, Solus kept collecting data to understand the real nature of their trial. 'Its life force plummeted after taking those spells.
'Maybe this thing is really capable of absorbing the darkness element like a troll. Fire and lightning seem to be- Drop it!'
The Meneos had managed to twist its body so that its hind legs hit the ground first. Its claws dug deep into the pavement, allowing it to have a strong foothold and throw Lith away like a ragdoll.
The speed and might of the head alone sent Lith flying even though he had released his hold before the Meneos could complete the motion. The creature resumed the chase without a second of delay and attempted a second bite while its prey was spinning in mid-air.
'So much for the weakened life force.' Lith spread his wings, using air magic to gain a speed superior to that of his enemy. 'This dome is too small. I can't get vertical distance and that thing runs like a train.'
'The life force was indeed weakened. The problem is that it recovered so fast that I almost failed to warn you in time.' Solus said.
'That makes no sense!' Lith hurled a stream of blue Origin Flames that struck the Meneos's head and turned it into a ball of fire.
Yet the flames disappeared as if they were just a bucket of water and dealt about the same damage. The Meneos kept chasing Lith who could only fly around while breathing one burst of Origin Flames after the other.
'Stop that. You're only harming yourself. Neither the mana core nor the life force of the creature has taken any damage. I know it sounds impossible but it's true.' Solus's brain spun at top gear, yet the answer kept eluding her.
Lith unsheathed War, hoping that the cold Adamant would succeed where all kinds of magic at his disposal had failed him. The angry blade screeched its challenge, making the Meneos falter for the first time since its appearance.
Yet the creature's hesitation didn't last long. The giant lion slashed horizontally with its claws, forcing Lith back on the ground. He couldn't go up due to the golden ceiling nor stay in mid-air due to the creature's pincer maneuver.
'Dumb move.' Lith used earth magic to make the pavement under the Meneos's hind legs sink and throw it off balance since the forelegs were still hitting where he had been a second ago.
The creature fumbled, allowing Lith to slash deep into its defenseless paws and draw the first blood. He then used gravity magic to turn the fall into a crash. The sudden acceleration made the Meneos's head plunge on top of the blade that Lith had planted in the ground with its tip pointing upwards.
War pierced through the jaw and reached the brain, yet Lith could see with Life vision that not even that kind of wound seemed to affect the creature's vitality. He flew back without retrieving his blade, in hope that it would buy him enough time to solve the riddle and beat the test.
'Magic doesn't work and neither does physical attacks. The cuts War inflicted on our enemy healed a second after being opened. What are we doing wrong?' He thought.
'I could feel War's World Mirror ability activating.' Solus said. 'The skin of that beast must be infused with some elements that make it impossible to harm it with conventional means, just like a golem. The problem is that as soon as War's jamming effect fades, the wounds close.'
'Let me get this straight. Imbalanced like a troll, shielded like a golem, and heals like a ghoul since no matter the damage it takes, it doesn't need nutrients. What the fuck is that thing and how are we supposed to beat it?' Lith asked.
'Maybe we are about to find out.' Solus shushed Lith to make him focus.
The fact that the wounds healed didn't mean that the Meneos didn't feel pain or that the brain damage didn't impair his movements. The creature had clawed off its own skin in the attempt to take War out of the jaw.
Unluckily for the giant lion, he had just succeeded. The hilt of the blade was now stuck in the space between two claws, triggering the unwanted ability Orion had warned Lith about and that he had experimented on an unwise thief in the past.
