22

Attempting to neutralize toxic substance. 

I gripped at my midsection as if I could grab the pain, and toss it away. I ended up curled up with my full weight on my knees, and the top of my head. Life was a cruel thing though. Just because I was in pain didn't mean the dungeon would pause for me as I recovered. I was forced to run while in unimaginable pain or die. 

I didn't know what was going to happen, but I had learned to trust my instincts. I rushed forward as a massive worm much larger then all the others I'd fought popped out of the ground. I couldn't see this massive creature's entire body as it turned it's attention to me. It didn't have eyes like the others, but it's massive bulk was another thing entirely. Were these massive floor bosses going to become a regular thing?

Part of me hoped not, but another part knew that only having to deal with one massive boss was convenient. There was no guarantee that it would stay that way, and that meant I could end up with smaller smarter bosses eventually. I needed to increase my skill with blades, and my strength as quick as possible. I ran faster, and faster as the pain pounded away at my guts. Stopping really wasn't an option at the moment though. 

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would die if I stopped. My speed increased suddenly when the pain suddenly started subsiding. 

Calculation complete. Dragon egg is absorbing harmful monster blood. Dragon egg is being strengthened by monster blood. 

I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It didn't really matter to me. I didn't feel like I was being knifed anymore so I could look at the notifications later. I had to survive this first. I ran as fast as I could. 

I could only sprint for so long, and my legs were getting tired. The creature was catching up to me. The damn thing was far too fast for me to keep ahead of it for too much longer. I used my high jump skill to get above the monster. Landing on it's hard body, and wedging myself behind a spike on the side of it's body. 

The spine constricted down on me as the beast moved. I allowed myself to be pushed down. The space in the spine was more then large enough for me to sit in. Those spines all moved in unison as the beast buried itself once again. I gripped the hilts of the soul blades as I dug one of them in to keep myself lodged in place as sand was thrown past me. 

Only the outer edges of this massive spike needed to grip for this creature to move at unbelievable speed. The darkness, and claustrophobia was broken up by the brief moments the massive beast would randomly decide to surface. My world became dark as I was peppered with sand. I needed to figure out a way to take down this massive monster. I wasn't going to be able to cut it like I had the other smaller ones. 

I was certain the key to beating opponents like this lay in overwhelming strength or skill. I placed my hand on the spine, and started feeling out the creatures mana. Now that the pain had subsided I was able to focus. My focus was heightened by the danger of the situation. My dehydration had even been sated to a small degree. 

I started trying to feel for chinks in the beast's mana defense. I couldn't sense anything that didn't look like white noise in my mind. I needed to improve my ability, and control over mana. I focused on forcing more of my mana veins open so far I'd only opened maybe ten percent of the mana veins I could feel. My control over mana improved by leaps, and bounds each time I opened up more mana veins. 

Improving my control seemed to be key in improving my spell casting ability. It also helped in lowering the amount of mana I was using for each spell. Not that I was doing anything that could be considered spellcasting. Throwing around elemental mana couldn't really be considered spellcasting. Not that it wasn't a useful ability. 

Right now I wanted to disrupt this creature enough to create a weak point in something I considered way to powerful for me to stop on my own normally. Energy ran through me as I was completely revitalized. The seven o'clock healing had finally hit me. I could feel strength being added to my body as my stats all rose by five. I couldn't wait for my strength to rise to the point of being able to kill this thing using brute strength. 

I'd probably die before I gained the strength required to do what I wanted. Probably through a combination of starvation, and collective injuries. That is if the lack of water didn't get me first. I continued to work on my mana veins one by one. Creating a pinhole through the clogged long unused part of human evolution, and pushing it to thrive once again. 

It wasn't easy or pleasant to do while I was clinging to life. I dug my blade in a little deeper. Making sure I had good purchase for what was going to happen next. Stuffing the hilt of my other blade in-between my breasts where it would be safe from being jostles loose. I only needed one good hand to hold myself in place even with the sand battering me as long as I remained in the hollow of this beast's spike. 

As long as I didn't let go, and kept myself hidden in the hollow then I would be fine hiding here for now. This thing wasn't as sensitive to sound as the others, but it seemed to have an unbelievable amount of stamina for it's size. I would open as many of my mana veins as I could in the next few hours. I might be sitting still, but I wasn't resting. I was racing against the clock to open as many mana veins as I possibly could before I was noticed or I ran out of mana.