Chapter 147: No Clean Way In

Gray waited until the crystal pulsed brightest, right as the Guardian fired its second beam at Cindy. In that instant, the creature’s entire attention was locked onto its target.

With that opening, Gray immediately used Void Reaper’s Lance, the crystalline blades blazing along his eight tentacles and forming a spear aimed straight at the crystal on the Guardian’s forehead.

The crystal on the Guardian’s forehead flickered, and Gray knew instantly that it had detected him.

[Crystal Pulse — ACTIVATED]

Its pale light surging as a wave of raw mana erupted outward in every direction, filling the entire basin within a fifteen-meter radius so that there was nowhere to dodge, and the shockwave slammed into him before he could pull away.

[-164 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 1186 / 1350]

[MANA DISRUPTION — SKILLS DESTABILIZED]

Gray was hurled sideways, his Void Reaper’s Lance scattering before it could connect. The mana inside his body shuddered violently, the channels he’d absorbed from the Xytheris surging like overloaded circuits.

’The wave is scrambling my mana!’

The Guardian spun, leaving Cindy behind for a moment, and aimed its crystal at Gray. The light shifted from blue-violet to white-hot.

[Crystal Lance — CHARGING]

’Not a chance—’

Gray activated Current Dash, his body dissolving into the current and reforming fifteen meters across the basin. But the moment he reappeared, something felt wrong.

The water around him was heavy. As if something was holding back every movement.

Cindy shouted from across the basin. "Gray! It’s trapped you in a dense mana zone!"

Gray looked down. The seafloor beneath him shimmered with faint, iridescent light residual mana that had leaked from the Noblesse Bloom over years. The Guardian didn’t just guard the flower. It bathed in the mana that seeped from it and now, it was using it.

[Crystal Lance — FIRED]

The white-hot beam shot from the crystal, faster than before. Gray pulsed sideways, but the dense water slowed his movements. The beam grazed the side of his bell.

[-196 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 990 / 1350]

[BURN — 8 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

’Damn it! One hit nearly took a fifth of my HP!’

The Guardian turned, its crystal already charging again. It simply circled the center of the basin, keeping its distance, firing from range. Every time Gray tried to close in, the dense water slowed him. Every time he tried to attack from a distance, the Crystal Pulse scrambled his skills before they could land.

Across the basin, Cindy raised her hands.

"[Water Vortex]!"

A whirlpool formed around the Guardian’s crystal, trying to disrupt its concentration. But the Guardian only blinked. Its crystal absorbed the vortex, drinking in the mana that formed it, converting it into fuel.

[Crystal Lance — CHARGE ACCELERATED]

"My mana... it’s absorbing it!" Cindy gasped.

’Don’t use magic near it!’ Gray shouted. ’Its crystal absorbs mana!’

Cindy pulled her mana back, her face pale. "Then I can’t do much. This is all on you, Gray."

The Guardian aimed its crystal at Gray again. White-hot light gathered.

Gray stared at the creature, his breath heavy, the dense water holding his every movement while the Crystal Pulse scrambled his skills and scattered each ranged attack before it could land, so that every attempt to close the distance meant pushing straight through Burn and shockwaves.

’There’s no clean way in. I have to make one.’

He took a breath. Then, instead of dodging, he activated Phantom Cloak and vanished.

The Guardian stopped. Its crystal flickered in confusion, losing track of him. It swept the basin with waves of mana, searching.

Phantom Cloak was still draining his MP at ten per second, but he kept his movements slow and silent, spending nothing else, closing one meter at a time.

The Guardian’s crystal pulsed restlessly. It knew something was wrong, but it couldn’t find him.

The Guardian activated Crystal Pulse blindly.

The wave exploded outward, hitting Gray before he could react.

[-148 HP]

[PHANTOM CLOAK — BROKEN]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 842 / 1350]

’Tch! It’s guessing!’

But this time, Gray was already too close.

Before the Guardian could recharge its crystal, Gray pressed his bell against it and fired Arcane Burst at point-blank range.

[ARCANE BURST — 202 DAMAGE]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 3398 / 3600]

[SYMBIOTIC LINK — DISRUPTED]

[CRYSTAL — CRACKED]

The Guardian convulsed, its crystal flickering wildly. The dense mana zone around Gray shattered, the water returning to normal. The beam charging in the crystal sputtered and died.

’Cindy! Now!’

Cindy was already moving. She raised both hands, and a spear of ice formed above her palm larger and sharper than any she’d cast before.

"[Glacial Lance]!"

The spear shot across the basin and struck the cracked crystal dead center.

[GLACIAL LANCE — 328 DAMAGE]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 3070 / 3600]

[CRYSTAL — CRITICALLY DAMAGED]

The Guardian screamed, a sound like shattering glass. It thrashed, its massive body coiling through the water, its jaws snapping at nothing. Without the crystal’s power, it couldn’t fire beams. It couldn’t absorb mana. It was just a very large, very angry shark.

Gray didn’t give it time to recover. He drove all eight blade-tentacles into the cracked crystal.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 236 DAMAGE]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 2834 / 3600]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[CRYSTAL — DESTROYED]

The crystal shattered, shards of multicolored light spraying through the water. The Guardian convulsed, its body seizing, its connection to the Noblesse Bloom severed.

[SYMBIOTIC LINK — SEVERED]

[MANA REGENERATION — DISABLED]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — WEAKENED]

The shark turned toward Gray, its cold eyes burning with fury.

Gray met its charge head-on.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 228 DAMAGE]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 2596 / 3600]

The shark’s jaws clamped onto his bell, teeth grinding against his carapace. Gray grunted through the pain, wrapping his tentacles around its head.

[-142 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 700 / 1350]

Overcharge slammed into the Guardian’s skull and detonated inside the cracks. Blue-white lightning erupted from Gray’s bell and poured into the cracked crystal, flooding the Guardian’s head with raw current that lit its eyes from within and sent a shudder down the length of its massive body.

[OVERCHARGE — 218 DAMAGE]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 2378 / 3600]

[STUN — 5 SECONDS]

The shark went rigid, its jaws springing open. Gray tore himself free and pulsed backward.

’Cindy! Finish it!’