Luckily, from the pure force of the brute's attack, I'm thrown flying backward through the air, and the intensity of the lightning shocks lessens the further away from the golden glowing man I get.

I quickly increase my momentum away from him even faster using airsteps, then activate stealth while simultaneously creating a body double to send back down at him.

While my copy plummets back toward the golden ball of electricity and soul energy, I dungeon walk even further away, activating my new extreme stamina skill to heal some of my lost HP instantly. Then, use self-regeneration to heal up all minor wounds like the slashes across my chest and fix up the holes in my blood-bonded armor.

However, the tingling sensation of electricity buzzing through my entire body stays longer than expected. I have to push my self-regeneration skill to its limits to mend the burnt flesh and shocked organs from head to toe.

Meanwhile, my senses are severely dulled. Getting hit by one of its lightning strikes again in a more compromising position could easily have ended much worse. I cannot let that happen a second time.

Even when carefully going for the kill shot, I severely underestimated my opponent.

A loud explosion of white light erupts from below me as the self-destruction skill of my body double creates a shockwave of mana over 40 meters wide in diameter.

I hear the man's loud yell from within.

Even if there was no Qi imbued in that attack, it must have hurt a bit. These new body doubles of mine equal my mana control exactly, and letting out a full force attack with no regard for my life would be a devastating move.

However, the aura of golden light continues to glow from within the white shockwave of energy from my fallen double. I feel the size of the man in the center of the blast begin to expand and expel more energy.

His form begins to shift and grow, similar to when I watched the Ranked-Up Dark Guard shift from his human body to one of a massive monster.

"He's transforming already...?"

Huge arcs of lightning begin to shoot out, reaching further and further away from the man's position in the middle of the boss room.

They begin to reach out over 100 meters away from him, arcing toward me.

I go into full battle mode again, boosting my perception skills to their limit and watching the electric arcs come my way.

The first instinct that comes to mind when I see this electricity is that there's no way for me to dodge them. I've encountered a lightning user one time before, back in the C-Class exams, and the only way I could get away from the attacks was to not be seen.

The other was to take them head-on and tough it out.

Based on the near paralysis-inducing feeling I got after just one split-second hit from this monster's extreme version of the skill, I'm sure muscling through isn't an option...

It also saw straight through my stealth skill the instant I made it within its inner aura's range, so I'm fairly certain sneaking away from its attacks isn't going to work either.

I summon another body double and send it at the growing ball of golden light again to act as a distraction while I rack my brain for more answers to my predicament. My All-Seeing Eye is doing full scans of the boss room, watching arcs of electricity move closer and closer to me as they somehow get stronger the more the Soul Energy Ball grows.

Another pulse of golden light erupts from the center of the boss room as my double explodes using a kamikaze style attack again, and this sparks the beginning of an epiphany.

My eyes track the fast-moving, nearly invisible shockwave of soul energy as it fills the air, and following it at the exact same speed are multiple arcing lines of electricity.

This phenomenon captures my interest, and I push all of my mana control into my perception skills, leaving my attack and defenses limited while another body double is produced to make for a distraction and catalyst to run this test again.

As the next pulse of mana and soul energy comes out, lightning follows.

My eyes adjust to the small fluctuations in mana, and every rogue lightning strike I see arcing through the boss room is traveling on waves of mana.

"It is just a skill after all..." I whisper under my breath.

The lightning strikes aren't just a natural occurrence, they are summoned from mana, so they have to follow the natural rules of the system and dungeons. The arcs of energy can only flow as fast as the waves of mana a caster pushes them.

These invisible waves of mana, just like the simple mana arrays sent out into the air when I use skills like enemy detection or my all-seeing eye; are usually mana readings I neglect to watch closely during battles, because they never directly affect me or have any offensive abilities.

Now that I see them, however, there's no going back.

I stop sending in body doubles as distractions, and allow the dust and energy to settle, revealing what is underneath.

A massive black wolf, with glowing golden eyes, a gold collar, shimmering claws, and sharp teeth all dripping with dense soul energy, stares at me from across the dungeon.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Its hair stands up with static as arcs of electricity come off of it, and it bolts my way instantly.

From nose to tail, the beast is almost 7 meters long and covered in a Barrier of Soul Energy equal to if not greater than the density of the Ranked-Up Colossal's shielding that I was unable to pierce through even using all my Qi. Its muscular legs rip up the hard dirt ground with every step, and its increasing static waves leave a 10 meters wide trail of blackened soil behind it.

I'm outmatched in every aspect.

It's faster than me, stronger than me, has far more Soul Energy and Mana stores; and worst of all it has nothing to lose. The monster's footsteps are rhythmic and nearly silent, all I can hear is the buzz of electricity in the air and the low growl building up in its throat.

If I want to beat this creature, I'll have to do it right now, and with a well planned out attack where I have a technical advantage.

I take a deep breath in and out, pushing all my buffs to their limits while plundering mana from the air, activating my swordsmanship skill, and focusing my Qi into just 3 points.

The first is my eyes to aid my perception.

I dungeon walk around the Boss room and continuously track the waves of mana and soul energy that pulse in waves of varying strengths. The closer it is to the ravenous wolf, the denser the energy is and the stronger and faster the lightning that flows along it becomes. These are the most visible waves to me, and even a single shock could put me completely out of commission.

Based on their strength, one hit wouldn't kill me, but it would freeze my body and dull my mind for possibly a full second or longer. I'd be put in a compromised position that could lead to something far worse.

The further away from the wolf the waves get, the weaker they become. These waves of dispersing energy are much harder to see without total concentration, but also the lightning that follows them is less dense with mana and in turn will give a less deadly strike.

The waves come in set patterns and intervals, easy for me to track and predict now that I know where to look.

So, the second place where my Qi aids me is in the soles of my feet.

Whether it's to push off the ground with greater force or to give myself an edge in the sky when airstepping out of the way, boosting my movement speed with Qi is essential to carrying out my plan.

Lastly, the remainder of my Qi is channeled into my sword.

The first attack I threw at this floor boss's base form was a strong one, but I didn't put everything I had into it.

I still left most of my Qi in my shielding to protect from a counterblow.

This turned out to be the smartest decision at the time, as it blocked some of the blunt force attack on my chest, but at the same time it limited my pure force that could have been used to finish the battle before it started.

I allow enough concentrated Qi into my sword to the point where it begins to drip from my blade. If not used soon, I'll be wasting its full potential and an attack like this won't be possible for me to do again without more backup Qi pills.

Once all of the variables are set in place exactly how I want them to be, I let my instincts and Legendary Swordsmanship skill take over.

The thuds of the wolf's footsteps fade away, and the dirt arena around us begins to disappear too. I'm left in a void of darkness.

The only thing I see and feel is my opponent coming toward me and the now slow-moving waves of energy and yellow static electricity that arcs around it, sizzling and moving through the air slower and slower relative to my perception.

I dungeon walk forward, watching an arc of electricity move past me on my right side so slow I watch it make shifting sharp angled changes in direction, following the paths of least resistance, and I'm able to predict exactly where it'll flow to next by watching the mana fluctuations with my Qi-infused All-Seeing Eye.

A bright crimson thread of certainty protrudes from the tip of my blade, twisting and curving around the black empty space in front of me. Its path becomes more erratic and jumbled the closer to the wolf it gets. At some stages, the thread disappears, stopping short and reappearing tens of meters away. I understand this just means I'll have to dungeon walk to dodge many more lightning attacks and teleport with perfect accuracy to follow the plan to its exact point landing right between the eyes of the wolf.

Every square centimeter of this creature is protected with shielding denser than I can possibly dream of breaking through in my current form. However, that doesn't mean I can't pierce through the one point where it is weakest.

As soul energy is used to boost the monster's vision, and a majority is used to send out lethal lightning attacks, the rest of the Soul Energy at its disposal covers its vitals. The most dense shielding is over its heart, next around its neck, and lastly its brain.

Every time another pulse of lightning is released, there's a small fluctuation between these points, leaving openings of weaker shielding for a fraction of a second. It feels like the sea pulling back water to reveal fresh sand that doesnt see the light of day right before an enormous wave.

I allow my subconscious to take over and I begin weaving through the waves of lightning in a predetermined path, airstepping and dungeon walking through the ever-increasing storm of electricity.

It feels like a dance that I've been practicing for years, but finally get to perform for the first time.

Every time I disappear and reappear, sections of the boss room's mana get sucked away by my plunderer skill that is pushed to its limit, burning through MP like a furnace to keep the graceful display of precision and timing alive.

Arcs of electricity brush by my legs, back, arms, and face as the crimson thread gets shorter and shorter, bringing me closer to the deadly wolf.

Once I'm close enough to be within its inner aura filled with bloodlust and dense arcs of electricity. It's ranked up buff sends waves of intense intimidation deep into my psyche, but I don't let it slow me down.

If anything, the increasing pressure makes me move even faster, relying more on my subconscious battle instincts. I begin dungeon walking multiple times a second, shortening the thread further until my blade glowing with Qi lands its sharpest point dead center between the wolf's eyes.

In this exact moment, one of the creature's Soul Energy pulses is triggered right on cue. It's shielding fluctuates and my opening is made available for less than a tenth of a second. I release a wave of Qi from my sword's tip dense enough to melt through the weakened golden aura and pierce right through the wolf's skull, cooking its brains with a violent release of every drop of energy I have to wager.

The Qi in my core is drained by over 75% in a single strike, then the wave of Soul Energy and electricity that produced the fluctuation allowing me to land this attack hits me like a tsunami.

I feel the full power of its concentrated extreme lighting summoning attack flow through my veins.

The last thing I see is the flowing white Qi burst from its eyes and the golden collar around its neck begins to disintegrate and fade away. An explosion of energy sends me flying into the air, ripping the outer layers of my shielding, armor, and skin to shreds, but the ringing in my inner ear and the fading sensation of electricity going away tells me that everything worked out.

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Combat Magic [Extreme Lightning Summoning]

[YES][NO]

[Use Absorption]

MCP: 77,801,424

[YES][NO]

[Rank Up]

[YES][NO]