SSS Rank: Spellcraft Sovereign
Chapter 125: Drift Core (6)

Chapter 125: Drift Core (6)

No answer. He was breathing. Moving. But slower now. His blade had landed ten feet away, still upright.

The leviathan didn’t wait.

It turned toward Lucen.

Head low. Mouth wide.

Teeth like carved pylons, each taller than Lucen’s chest.

And those eyes?

Still tracking him.

’Shit.’

Lucen didn’t cast right away. He dropped low, circled left, flared [Threadmask] to scatter a decoy, sent it running wide while he built up [Ignition Burst].

The flame shot forward, nailed the creature’s cheek—

And bounced.

No damage.

Not even a mark.

Lucen’s breath caught. "Okay. So that’s not working."

He pivoted, flicked out [Shockweave Bolt], fast, aimed for the eye.

It hit.

The eye didn’t blink.

Didn’t even twitch.

Lucen muttered, "You’ve got to be kidding me."

The leviathan surged forward.

Lucen backstepped three times, threw [Crater Bloom] behind him as a trap and dodged right. The mine burst late, caught the edge of the creature’s side, but it rolled through it like a truck through fog.

Lucen ducked low, slid under another strike, then turned and fired [Burn Logic] wide across the flank.

Nothing.

No scorch.

No slow.

Just resistance.

He finally said it out loud.

"I’m not hurting it."

He skidded to a stop, chest rising fast. His system ticked behind his eyes, mana dropping, cooldowns resetting.

’None of it’s landing. Not one damn spell.’

Another pulse rolled through the ground.

Lucen turned.

Varik was up. Barely.

One hand pressed to his side, dark stain spreading across his coat. He grabbed his sword, breath sharp.

Lucen shouted, "You good?!"

Varik answered without flinching.

"No."

Lucen exhaled.

Then said, quieter, "You’re not supposed to say that."

Varik braced against the wall. "Then stall it."

Lucen stared at the monster.

Thirty meters of scaled death.

He whispered, "’Stall it,’ he says. Like it’s a toddler."

The leviathan growled low,a sound more felt than heard. The glyphs along its side began to glow again.

Lucen stepped forward anyway.

His voice was quiet.

Not defiant.

Just resolved.

"Hey, big guy."

The creature turned.

Lucen raised both hands.

"I’m not here to win. Just waste your time."

He braced.

—

The leviathan’s head lowered. Its jaw stretched wider, enough to swallow Lucen whole. Air twisted with the weight of breath alone, hot and damp and carrying the stench of ancient water and decayed stone.

Lucen didn’t blink.

He planted his feet. Braced himself.

’I’ll throw everything I have if it gets any closer.’

Then the ground behind him cracked.

Not under the monster.

Behind him.

Steel flashed across his vision.

A sound like thunder cracked open the air.

The leviathan’s head jerked sideways, hard, like it had been slammed by a wrecking ball. Its entire body twisted with the impact, momentum torn off-axis, crashing against the lake’s wall with a shudder that sent ripples breaking out from the center of the water.

Lucen staggered back.

Not from recoil. From the sheer force of the thing flying away.

Then he saw it.

Varik.

One arm coated in blood down to the wrist. Sword in the other, still humming faintly with displaced mana. Shoulders squared, legs dug in, but swaying slightly, just enough to betray the hit he’d taken earlier.

Lucen’s voice cracked. "You good?"

Varik exhaled through his nose.

"Would’ve preferred a nap."

Lucen turned his head, watching the leviathan thrash as it tried to find balance again. One of its horns cracked from the angle it hit the wall.

"Thanks for not letting me become paste," Lucen said.

Varik didn’t smile. Just stepped forward again, breathing low.

"You were stalling. That buys time. Time means openings."

Lucen muttered, "I was stalling because nothing I threw did a damn thing."

"You kept it moving. That matters."

The leviathan screamed, more vibration than noise. One of the glyphs along its ribs flared violently, almost bright enough to blind. A column of water burst into the air behind it, twisting upward like a cyclone forming mid-battle.

Lucen covered his eyes. "I feel like it disagrees."

Varik cracked his neck.

"Stay left. I’ll go high."

Lucen blinked. "I don’t go high."

"You do today."

Varik leapt.

He didn’t climb.

Didn’t jump with a prep stance.

He launched, raw vertical force, like his system overclocked just for spite, and hit the monster’s neck like a blade of lightning dropped from orbit.

Lucen flared [Threadmask], darted sideways, caught the edge of the arena’s lake and cast [Frost Spire] to start freezing traction points.

The water locked in patches beneath him.

’Let’s see if I can fake vertical.’

He jumped.

Slipped.

Recovered just enough to cast [Ignition Burst] under his feet and rocket upward in Varik’s direction.

The two of them moved in tandem, one coordinated, clean, and lethal.

The other barely clinging to trajectory and praying to fake it convincingly.

Lucen hit one of the frozen patches just as Varik dug his blade into the creature’s upper spine. Blood, dark and steaming, gushed in arcs across the lake.

The leviathan roared.

This time, in pain.

Lucen flared [Shockweave Bolt] straight into the wound Varik made.

It actually landed.

Sparks scattered, crackling into raw flesh.

The beast reared backward.

Lucen shouted over the howl, "Finally! Something that stings!"

Varik didn’t waste time. He pushed the sword deeper, using both hands, letting the leverage carry his whole body forward.

Lucen cast [Burn Logic] point-blank again. Less damage, more pressure.

The monster bucked, slammed its tail down in a rage.

Lucen dove backward just before it flattened the patch he’d been standing on.

"I liked that one, thanks," he muttered.

Varik called, "Move right!"

Lucen didn’t question it. He spun to the side, took two running steps across thin ice and used [Cataclysm Vector] in a shallow arc just to light up the field.

The beam split wide, fire, frost, lightning, none of it fatal.

But it masked movement.

And let Varik reappear, sword first, at the monster’s jaw.

He didn’t hesitate.

One swing.

Clean.

He tore the lower half of the leviathan’s face open, splitting muscle, glyph, and magic node alike.

The light in the creature’s side blinked, then died.

The body dropped hard. The splash soaked Lucen down to the knees.

He stood there for a second, panting.

Then said, "Okay."