Chapter 242

Neo stood beside Veya at the edge of the spring, the water dark and still under the heavy canopy. Monsters moved through the mist beyond the trees, their shapes thick and solid, twenty-six-star strength clear even from a distance. He let out a long breath.

"Alright, Veya," he said. "You think I should kill all those monsters so I can mine the mana stones in peace?"

She nodded once. "That’s the only way. Getting hit by a twenty-six-star demon in the back while you’re trying to mine means you wouldn’t even be able to stand still. You’d take massive damage."

Neo nodded. He raised one hand and tried the multi-target skill. The energy built, then snapped back with a sharp rejection. The system message was clear: target strength level too high. The skill would not work.

He sighed and turned to her. "Do you have some kind of suit that protects you?"

Veya nodded. She lifted both arms. A suit like a second skin flowed over her body in a single smooth motion, covering her from neck to ankles. It clung tight, showing the clean lines of her shoulders, the curve of her waist, the strong shape of her legs. "This suit can tank a full-power hit from a twenty-seven-star demon," she said. "Don’t worry about me. Fight with everything you have."

Veya had only one main desire: to make one choice that changes everything. A flaw that haunted her was the tendency to wait for a perfect moment. An inner conflict pulled at her—wanting transformation while fearing that no decision could guarantee the life she imagined.

Neo nodded. "I’ll do it."

He ran straight at the nearest demon. It stood twenty-six stars, skin dark and hard, horns curved forward. Neo entered Lord of the End mode. Power flooded his arms and legs. His shoulders broadened under the strain, muscles in his thighs and calves locking tight as he closed the distance. Near the monster he pulled a sealed dense box of TBATE energy from his storage. After the fight with Astrid he had learned how strong that energy was. In quiet moments since then he had prepared two hundred of those sealed boxes and kept them ready.

He used the teleport skill. Space folded. He appeared right beside the monster and drove every bit of force he had into one strike. The blow landed solid. The monster’s skin did not break. It glowed metallic for a second, then the creature’s hand shot out, clamped around Neo’s head, and slammed him into the ground.

The impact drove him ten feet under. Dirt and rock closed over him. It was the first time a fight at close levels had crushed him so completely. Even though their ranks were near each other, the monster’s strength was something else.

Neo pushed the earth aside and felt the difference. Normal monsters he had fought always leaked only a faint thread of mana, careful, almost thrifty, drawing from their own cores and wasting nothing. This one was different. Its skin drank mana straight from the rich air around the spring. It attacked with the force of two cores at once. That explained the crushing power.

His mind raced. He needed an idea fast. He climbed out of the hole the monster had made with his body. Dirt slid off his shoulders and the hard lines of his arms. He glanced toward the bushes where Veya hid, watching. She was still safe. The monster had not seen her. Relief settled for half a second, then he turned back.

Neo pulled the unbreakable rope from his storage and threw it. The loop caught one of the monster’s horns and locked tight. He yanked hard, using the rope to haul himself forward, and landed on the creature’s back. His muscled legs clamped around its thick neck. The monster charged, slamming its back against trees, trying to scrape him off. Bark and branches cracked. Neo held on, shoulders burning, arms locked. After a long stretch of pounding impacts the monster finally understood it could not throw him. It stopped, tensed its powerful legs, and leapt straight up. At the peak it flipped, falling backward so its full weight would crush Neo against the ground.

Neo cursed as the sky and earth traded places. The impact hit like a mountain. The demon’s many tons of weight drove the air from his lungs. He shoved with everything in his arms and chest, muscles standing out in hard ridges, and managed to roll the body just enough to breathe. Ideas flashed through his head. One stuck.

He pulled a sealed dense TBATE energy box free, then a dozen more. He threw them high into the air. Mana threads shot from his fingers and caught each box. He practiced the control for a few heartbeats until the boxes moved where he wanted. Then he guided them into a wide circle around the monster. Once the ring was set he threw a huge empty seal box above the creature’s head. The energy from the dozen dense boxes poured into it. A massive sealing array snapped into place. Light and pressure locked the monster inside a tight prison of force. It could not step out. It could not break the walls.

Neo had only one main desire: to love without fear. A flaw that haunted him was the instinct to pull back emotionally when things grew serious. An inner conflict lived in him—wanting deep connection while believing distance was the safest way to survive loss.

He raised both hands and made the sealing motions. The huge box responded. It pulled. The monster was drawn upward, compressed, and locked inside. The lid sealed with a heavy final sound.

Neo let out a long breath. Veya stepped out of the bushes. She walked up and patted his shoulder once. "That must have been hard."

He nodded.

She looked at him, voice steady. "How about this plan? I will give you a device that can draw the monsters’ attention and make them rush at it. You just need to lift the box device and then fly as far as you can away from me. The monsters will follow the device."