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nThe creature, or monster, looked like a shapeless mass of darkness; taller and wider than Eldrian. This formless darkness seemed to ebb and flow in the darkness, causing its outlines to constantly change, like ripples on water. Even with the light from Vivian's sword, they could not see more than darkness.

nIt seemed like the creature absorbed the light coming into contact with its body, causing only pitch darkness to remain. No other features were visible. Looking at it, Eldrian could not help but compare it to a slime. Its body seemed very similar, being formless and constantly flowing. He had no idea what it was actually made out of though.

nIt seemed that the creature feared the light coming from Vivian's sword. It quickly moved away from it and towards Eldrian. The word 'run' could not describe how the monster moved. It was more like the creature simply floated on the ground, no movement visible to betray its actions.

nAs it approached Eldrian its shapelessness took form. Arm like spikes quickly grew from its body and aimed at Eldrian. Not knowing what this thing could do, Eldrian had decided to focus on defense. Enhancing his speed with Accelerate as soon as he saw the monster approach him.

nOnly thanks to this did he manage to react in time and dodge the attack. After which he instinctually moved towards Vivian's light. Mostly because it is the only place where he would actually be able to see the creature's actions.

nNaturally the creature did not wish for Eldrian to make it into the light. However it could only stop Eldrian, it could not stop Vivian. Running over she swung at the creature, who seemed to become shocked as the light fell onto it again. Its body visibly vibrating as its actions slowed for a second or two.

nHer attack hit solidly into the creature, cutting it in half. The flames of her sword burning all the darkness it touched. That which the flames and blade did not touch did not seem to be affected. It simply formed back together in the blink of an eye, as if the cut never happened.

nThe remaining darkness even attaching to Vivian's sword and trying to feed on the flame. Only to burn into nothing as it failed in overpowering the flames, after which it quickly retreated.

nWhile it seemed exactly the same as before, the creature seemed to be shocked. Reacting slowly as Vivian managed to land two more solid hits before it actually started dodging.

nShe could not help but frown as she felt the strain attacking the creature placed on her. With each hit, she could feel the sword crying out. Calling for her to send more mana to keep it 'alive'.

nEldrian took this time to gain some distance and place himself behind Vivian, who the creature seemed to be weak against. He already assumed that the monster was weak against flames and as such Vivian was the perfect candidate to take it on. Eldrian also took this time to use Observe on the creature, gaining a pleasant surprise as he did.

nNychterninos Tromos; Demon

nTier 3 ; Level 17

nHP: 643

/ 732

nAttack: 80

nAgility: 180

nA creature of the night, a demon who feeds on unwary travelers. If you ever face one at night, pray that you have light. A source that can not be extinguished in a gust of wind. One which will burn even in water. Else pray for a swift death, as this is what a Night Terror will certainly gift you.

nEldrian was shocked by the extra feedback from Observe, yet he only took them in with a sliver of his attention. Most of it remaining on not letting the Night Terror leave his sight.

nFrom the information, Eldrian knew that it was fast, really fast. He did not know why he had gotten more information than normal, he did not care. The speed and attack kept him warry enough to not let his thoughts wander...

nOne good attack and they were certainly dead, or close to it.

nVivian did not waste any time. While Eldrian had been repositioning and using Observe, she had been constantly trying to attack the creature. Pressing onwards she swung her sword with grace and elegance, yet she only managed to cut small pieces off of the creature. Shallow wounds which did not do much to the creature as it became accustomed to the light of the sword.

nFocusing on her, it did not allow another large attack to land. However, these small attacks from Vivian counted up. Each only did five to ten damage, but she attacked quickly. Multiple cuts in every second as she pushed herself to her top speed.

nEldrian quickly recovered from the slight shock, only a second or two having passed by then. Not wishing to interrupt Vivian's rhythm, Eldrian decided to take on a more supportive role. He did not know many useful spells, even so, he would do what he could.

nFirst, he cast Anthizo on Vivian, helping her recover some energy. Next, he cast Floga, making sure to form it as large as he could. From the description Observe had given him, he realized that the only weakness of this creature was light or flames. He was not certain which and felt it might be both.

nContrasting this, it actually seemed like the creature fed on light, making it seem like this would actually improve its strength. This was only when looking at how the creature would absorb Vivian's flames. If you paid more attention, you would see the creature stuttering each time it did this.

nConnecting this to the description, Eldrian felt that it only meant you needed a strong enough source of light. Something which the creature could not quickly feast upon. He did not have any good spells to try and weaken the creature. Hence Eldrian simply chose to use Floga, waiting for when Vivian finished an attack to send it over to help.

nAs she managed to get another rather deep wound, the Night Terror formed a spike from its body. Aiming it for Vivian, who was caught unprepared by such a strange attack from such a low angle. Having focused mostly on the already formed limbs which amounted to five already. Luckily attacking them resulted in the same effect as hitting the creature's body, hence it did not use them aggressively.

nJust in time, Eldrian's flame landed on the side of the creature. The flame had been almost as large as a basketball, yet it simply dissipated on landing against the creature. Quickly absorbed into the darkness. It did not even do any damage.

nHowever, it caused the spike the creature had formed to stutter, stopping it from moving forwards towards Vivian. Giving her the few precious seconds she needed to recover and avoid it as it finally launched after recovering from the feast.

nSo it really is weak to light and fire. But it did not do much... Eldrian thought to himself as he looked at the creature's HP which has only just gone under 600. They were doing almost no damage to it.

nThey did not despair though, slowly both Vivian and Eldrian learned more about this creature. While it could seemingly form any attack in any shape at will, doing so took some time. The brighter the area wherein the creature was, the longer this seemed to take.

nSlowly time passed. First, a full minute where they slowly chipped at its health. Then a second as they managed to bring it HP down to 400. Eldrian using every second to try and figure out another way in which he could help. Feeling useless only supporting help through minor spells.

nHe would constantly use Aoidos's ability to recover his mana whenever it was off CD, not able to seemingly double this through his hidden class bonus. He would also cast Anthos or Anthizo onto Vivian when he managed to spare the focus.

nEldrian, at this stage, was sweating as he focused on the spells he had going on. After realizing that more light weakened and slowed the monster he had started thinking of what more he could do. For the first time, he tried dual casting.

nDoing this with simply Tier 0 spells was not too hard, but two flames did not do much. So Eldrian pushed himself further.

nMore time passed and now he had three flames rotating around the fight, with two balls of pure light floating over them. This caused the area to almost look like daylight. The agility of the creature had dropped to 130 thanks to this, and Vivian was able to hit more and more good hits.

nAs more time passed and the creature's HP fell to 100, it seemed to panic. It was now only half as big as Eldrian and seemed to stutter with every movement. Instead of trying to fight, it now focused on trying to get away.

nIts small frame helped in this as it gave Vivian fewer areas to target. Allowing it to fully dodge almost every attack.

nThis continued for a few seconds and Eldrian could feel his concentrations breaking. Seeing the monster try and run away he sent one of his fireballs down to stop it. It worked and allowed Vivian to shave another piece of.

nJust a little longer! Eldrian shouted at himself as his body trembled. He had long since moved his arms forwards in an attempt to better control the spells. It seemed to work, though why he was not certain. However, Eldrian could feel that his mana was running out along with his concentration. And this was not something he could overcome through simple willpower. At least not without a miracle spark of inspiration.

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"Finish it!

" He shouted as he felt the headache, which had been growing for some time, suddenly explode and cause him to lose focus over his spells.

nWith the light gone, the creature regained its speed of 180 Agility and darted away. Vivian unable to kill it in the last attack she used, leaving the creature at 46HP. As it ran its speed became more and more the further out of the light it went.

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