The Dreamer's POV

'Just what is this thing?'

One thing that was clear was that I wasn't going to easily topple over it as I had done with other opponents, I couldn't afford to have this go longer.

I looked at my hovering rocks and turned my head, signalling to them to attack, and they did— zooming right at the hybrid thing.

They bounced off once again, the golden shield thing that protected the creature phasing into view.

It was swift, great with offense and defense. Was there any weakness to this creature? I backflipped and hovered, looking down at my still kneeling opponent. It stood immediately, perhaps from not wanting to look weak.

That blow was close—for the both of us. My brows were furrowed, my hands clenched, and I drove to it, lunging clenched hands forward like a Superman.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The hybrid clenched its massive hammer even stronger, seeing the opportunity, and then swung down right at me. I made it think I was going to come straight at it that way, that I would leave an opening for it to exploit.

The hammer came at me at the time it took to blink, and there, I activated teleportation, avoiding the blow just barely, and then appearing behind it. A part of me believed that it would react to my following move quite easily as well, that a sudden surprise attack wouldn't work.

I drove my fist down at it, energy flaring on my arms, boosting me many times over.

I sent a punch with my right hand, intending to hit it directly on what might be its spine. Its body suddenly twisted, slouching to the side. It turned, swinging its hammer, and I ducked, escaping the blow to my head, and then I followed up with a punch to its face.

Again its face slouched back, almost as if there was no mechanical structure beneath it—none holding the ethereal mass.

And just then, I felt a blow to my gut, and I arched in pain, the food I had eaten almost spilling from my stomach. Before it could hit me with the hammer however, I teleported away, appearing just by a wall.

It had attacked me with the bottom of the hammer when it evaded that now. It had been so quick that I didn't see it coming, I only felt it, and it was gut-wrenching and incredibly painful. It was a miracle that I didn't fall over from the pain alone.

The blow created a massive gaping blow in my abdomen, that my regeneration swiftly fixed.

'Fuck.' The pain still lingering after regeneration. I could have gotten an item that would just cut off the pain of injuries in battle, and I wish I did then, but pain was an integral component of battle, some were exciting to receive–the satisfying ones that just pent you up with the urge to keep going, pain to help you reminder to be careful, and most of all, pain as a remainder of being alive, and as long as one was alive, there was hope, and there's no driving force to make a man rise up greater than hope.

Black flames burst on my hands, and I thrust them to the hybrid, repeating an earlier strategy, and once again, it was unarmed, its golden transparent shield brightening up the room.

It claiming the first hit was not a matter of luck, not at all, and it made something clear. We were close but we weren't equal in strength, and I believed that it had a superior combat ability compared to me.

It was obvious that I couldn't defeat it from a distance, I would have to close the gap between us, deliver fatal hits and somehow be out of harm's way in the process. And by every passing minute, It seemed like doing just that was only getting more difficult to accomplish.

I hastily scanned the room, <Dragon Eyes> quite active, I was looking for clues that would give me something to defeat this thing, but I couldn't find one, not yet.

'Should I just leave?' 'No.' I shook my head, I hadn't run from an opponent ever since coming to Mage'Earth, and I wasn't going to start now.

With <Visualize> I could see five seconds into the future, and to be honest, that was what had kept me alive against this thing.

I equipped my blades once again, accepting that there was no way to do this than to move close and fight, I had to put my body in harm's way and use the opportunity to deal a decisive blow. Yes, that was what I needed to do. Stay tuned for updates on empire

My rocks hovered by me, they would be my support on this. The two of us maintained a state of silence for about a minute, and then I broke the stillness, disappearing from my spot, and there was a clang. I had arrived in front of my opponent, and swung my two blades horizontally at him, and easily, it brought its large hammer with its handle and blocked the strikes.

My rocks zoomed in at that moment to dig into its head, and it quickly backstepped. I didn't give it the opportunity to collect itself, I followed immediately, my blades held at my sides, energy overflowing and powering me.

I saw as my rocks were once again about to strike just as it was backstepping. It ducked, the rocks whistling past it. Unfortunately for it, it was just by my legs, and I delivered a knee to its face, and its boby bobbed up. I followed with a swing but it spun, attacking.

I backstepped swiftly, avoiding the strike, but it was another story for my rocks as they were struck directly by the blow. It was almost like the ghostwave hybrid anticipated my escape.

I held a loud crack and then crashed. The crack had sounded like an egg dropped on a boulder and then cracking and spilling its contents.

And there, I knew, my rocks were gone.