Chapter 660: Zenis (4)

Chapter 660: Zenis (4)

Zenis fired those toward the group while using Acceleration Manipulation, and they were forced to do the same to dodge. What they didn't expect was the fact that those would cause them. Meryl managed to prepare some arrows and fired them to block those, and while the impact slowed them down, the effects hadn't been that powerful.

"We aren't going anywhere at this rate…" Billy thought.

Billy summoned three spears using his mana to block the three that were chasing him, and then he charged toward the enemy. The projectiles collided and then stopped each other from moving. Still, Billy could tell that they were losing more durability over time and thus more mana.

While ignoring that, Billy approached Zenis and tried to punch him, but the enemy made a sphere of magic mercury leave his body and then fly to smash his head. Billy was forced to block the attack with his arms… and his bones began to crack a bit.

You obtained 800 experience points.

You obtained 800 experience points.

You obtained 800 experience points.

…

"That is smart… it prevents me from using my powers efficiently," Billy thought.

Zenis quickly retreated from the sphere before Billy could steal any more mana from it. In the end, stealing the mana for himself wasn't going to do it, and at least not for experience's sake. When the enemy wasn't using his speed, he could take some from the dungeon, and Zenis couldn't do anything about it, but all that mana ended up being used right away to keep up with his speed.

Fortunately, Zenis' sense of self was weak, and he couldn't find any reason to go all out from the beginning. So, in any other situation where he had all the mana of the dungeon at his disposal and the power of Acceleration Manipulation, he could do a lot more than Icarus could.

"I need to focus and use experience master, Magic Absorption, and Absolute Thievery at the same time… I have to," Billy thought.

Magic Absorption y wasn't supposed to be used alongside other skills. Still, Absolute Thievery could, so perhaps Billy could find a middle ground between them. He didn't have any other choice in order to keep up with someone that had nearly infinite mana.

Zenis noticed Billy's aura changing as his focus increased. The mana around began to move a lot faster toward him… So he assumed that he either got a lot better suddenly, or he just was using other skills to improve that. The effectiveness of his actions increased even more, when he used Destructive Aura.

Zenis lowered his head a bit, and his expression darkened a little as well when he saw that… As expected of someone who had similar powers as him. His ability to adapt and come up with countermeasures to most situations was off the charts. Moreover, since his experience learning skills and spells by himself was greater, he still had a lot of room for improvement.

"As expected, you are a problem…" Zenis said. "You make me feel like I didn't work hard enough even after reaching this far… I see Magic Absorption can't be used along anything else, but since you learned the skill by yourself, you can bend the rules of the system a bit."

It seemed that Zenis used the system to learn that skill… which made sense. He never solved his issue of mana until he got the dungeon core. As for the other means that he used to clear the dungeon, he probably relied on his creations and power to create them.

"Well, I suppose I need to try as hard as you," Zenis said.

Billy thought that the enemy would copy him. Still, instead of that, he made his armor move, and then it created some humanoid shapes using the magic mercury. Eventually, they turned into copies of Zenis. Aside from the fact that the copies were too silver-like, they were pretty much identical.

"No way… I wasn't the first one to obtain the shadow clone technique here in this world…" Billy said.

Actually, Billy wasn't that mad or surprised about it, and he just felt like he needed to say that since he had searched for the skill for so long. Despite that, the others got pretty pissed since they were busy dealing with the mercury projectiles while Billy was spouting nonsense. Still, they changed their minds when they saw the four clones that Zenis made.

All of a sudden, the four clones charged toward Billy. He wondered why they just didn't attack him from a distance… it would be a lot more effective… Regardless, he used Mana Shield and Reflect when they almost punched him. He lost tons of mana, but at least the enemies were stopped and were sent backward while their fists cracked thanks to the power of their own attacks.

"The magic mercury must have a core somewhere in his body, and only that armor can produce that endlessly," Billy thought. "That is why the clones can't use long-ranged attacks."

While they couldn't use long-ranged attacks, they could repair themselves… Zenis was probably sending them his mana… which would make things easier for them. Despite the failure of the first attack, the four clones dashed with all their might again. As expected, Zenis knew the weakness of Mana Shield, and it consumes a lot of mana when it is used.

"He knows that my actions will be limited once my mana is gone…" Billy thought.

In the end, Billy deactivated his spell and then used Flash and instantly approached Zenis. The clones quickly approached, but Billy used Palm Cannon before they could do anything and made the whole mercury armor vibrate. Zenis also moved backward a few centimeters.

"Now, this is much better…" Billy thought.

Zenis didn't like that as much as Billy, so when he tried to escape, he closed the paths he could use to escape and then made spikes move instantly and pierce Billy's whole body…