novelraw Chapter 62: Severing the Lifeline!
Chapter 62: Severing the Lifeline!
Daniel sheathed his daggers quickly and raised his left hand. He drew upon his mana reserves, which were constantly refilling thanks to [Energy Siphon].
"[Mana Bolt]!"
A concentrated sphere of purple magic shot from his palm, streaking toward the Guardian’s chest. It was a direct hit.
FPZZT!
There was no explosion. There was no damage at all. The Sentinel simply absorbed the bolt. The purple energy disappeared into its white armor, causing the creature to glow slightly brighter.
"It eats magic," Daniel realized with a jolt of horror. "It draws power from the Core, and it can absorb external energy."
He was literally in trouble. His physical attacks were bouncing off, and his magical attacks were only feeding it. The Sentinel seized the offensive.
The Guardian spun the spear, turning it into a wheel of light, and charged. Daniel ran along the curved wall, trying to stay out of its way, but it didn’t let up.
It copied his movements perfectly, cutting off his escape angles.
Daniel leaped onto a console to gain high ground, but the Sentinel simply floated up to match his elevation.
It lunged the spear forward really fast.
Daniel twisted in mid-air, using [Quick Dodge] to move, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid it entirely.
HISS!
The tip of the Light Spear brushed his left side. It didn’t cut, it burned.
The intense heat cut right through his Reinforced Deflector Vest and seared the skin beneath.
"ARGH!"
Daniel cried out, crashing to the floor. He rolled to his feet, holding his wound. The smell of burnt fabric and flesh filled his nose.
The pain was sharp and burning, unlike anything he had felt before.
He looked at the Sentinel. It floated there, with its spear ready for the killing stroke.
Direct confrontation was suicidal.
He couldn’t take hits from a weapon that melted armor like wax, and he couldn’t out-damage a creature that healed by absorbing his attacks.
Daniel backed away slowly, his mind racing. He looked at the glowing symbols on the floor, the ones he had touched to trigger this nightmare. The Sentinel hovered directly over them, almost protectively.
"It’s connected," Daniel realized, his eyes narrowing. "It’s not just guarding the room. It’s tethered to those runes." If he couldn’t kill the body, he had to cut the lifeline.
Daniel wiped the sweat from his eyes, thinking faster than the pain in his side.
He tightened his grip on his daggers, not to use them, but to steady his trembling hands.
"One shot," he muttered to himself, "I only get one shot at this." He couldn’t afford to hesitate, so he triggered [Shadowsteps] once more.
The world seemed to slow down as he charge straight at the entity.
The Core Sentinel reacted instantly, bringing its Light Spear down in a diagonal slash meant to cleave Daniel in two.
It was a perfect interception, calculated to meet him exactly where his trajectory ended. But Daniel didn’t finish the charge.
Just as the weapon descended, searing the air with its deadly heat, Daniel threw his weight forward and slid.
He dropped to one knee, stretching the other leg as he slid across the smooth floor. He arched his back just in time as the spear whipped over his face.
The spear sliced through the air inches above his head, but he had already moved past the guard. He wasn’t aiming for the enemy, he was aiming for the ground directly beneath it.
"Disconnect!" Daniel roared. He slammed his right palm onto the glowing rune that acted as the Sentinel’s anchor.
He didn’t just touch it, he poured every ounce of his kinetic energy reserves into the stone.
"[Forceburst]!"
BOOOOM!
The impact was contained, directed entirely downward into the floor. The shockwave didn’t just crack the stone, it shattered the flow of energy.
The glowing symbol broke, its light flickering and fading as the object holding it was destroyed.
The effect was immediate and catastrophic for the guardian.
The Core Sentinel froze mid-turn. The connection to the Core was destabilized, starving the construct of the infinite energy it relied on.
It made a sound that sounded more like a distorted, electronic screech of a system failing.
"Now!" Daniel yelled, scrambling back to create distance.
As the guardian flickered, caught between existence and oblivion, Daniel raised his left hand.
He didn’t hold back. He drew upon the mana he had siphoned earlier, condensing it into a volatile magic.
"[Mana Bolt]!"
The purple projectile shot across the short distance. This time, it wasn’t absorbed, and nothing could stop it.
The Sentinel’s defenses were down.
CRACK-Zzzzt!
The bolt slammed into the center of the Sentinel’s chest and detonated.
The explosion ripped through the unstable construct, blasting a hole in its upper body and sending showers of light scattering across the room.
The Sentinel stumbled back, flickering wildly as it tried to hold itself together, but the damage was done.
Daniel stood up, chest heaving, watching as the guardian struggled to reboot its systems.
The Core Sentinel was down, but not finished. Daniel watched as the guardian tried to stabilize itself.
White light rushed over its body, sealing the hole in its chest and pulling its shattered armor back together. It was repairing itself, feeding directly on the massive Central Core suspended at the center of the room.
"It heals too fast," Daniel muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He knew he couldn’t keep this up because his mana reserves were dangerously low after that last [Mana Bolt].
If the fight dragged on, he would run dry, and then he would be defenseless against the creature’s heat-based attacks.
However, as he retreated to the edge of the circle to catch his breath, he felt something strange.
The air in the chamber wasn’t just hot. It was thick, filled with white energy coming from the Core.
Daniel remembered the new skill he had acquired after defeating the Regulator. It was C-Grade [Energy Conversion].
The description said it allowed for passive regeneration, but right now, passive wasn’t going to be enough. He needed more fuel, and he needed it now.
"If you can draw from the Core, so can I," he whispered. He put his weapons away and held out his hands, palms facing the massive sphere of light.
He didn’t just wait for the energy to come to him, instead, he reached out with his mind and pulled.
He activated [Energy Conversion], pushing the skill to its absolute limit. The effect was immediate. The ambient white light in the room seemed to bend toward him, flowing into his body like water into a drain.
It wasn’t gentle at all. it rushed into his veins, hot and volatile, refilling his mana bar in seconds. The Sentinel sensed the theft.
Its head snapped toward Daniel, and it let out a low hum. It had finished repairing itself, and now it was furious that an intruder was trying to take from its source of energy.
It raised the Light Spear, aiming the tip at Daniel’s chest, but Daniel was ready this time.
"Thanks for the recharge," he said with a grim smile. The Guardian lunged, crossing the room in seconds, but Daniel used [Shadowsteps] to slide away, leaving the construct to stab empty air.
Daniel knew that attacking the Sentinel directly was inefficient because it would just heal again. To win this, he had to destroy the source of its strength.