The group nodded in agreement, understanding the importance of Reign's task. They continued to engage the monster in battle, their attacks relentless as they sought to keep the creature distracted while Reign focused on uncovering its secret.
Reign closed his eyes, his mind reaching out to the surrounding area as he searched for any anomalies or sources of energy that could be fueling the monster's regeneration. He felt a faint, pulsating energy emanating from the ground beneath them, centered beneath the tree that had fallen down.
Reign also felt just how the creature was using the source of energy to heal, there was a vine of sorts that connected the two right under its right foot. It was then that Reign realized that during the entire battle, the creature had not lifted its right foot from the ground, even when it walked, it would just slide the foot forward, never letting it leave the ground.
'The vine isn't a vine, but a mana channel between the core and the monster!' Reign thought as Aethion nodded his head at him, a slight smile present on his face.
"That's right, the monster isn't using anything else but its mana to connect to the energy source, which makes it almost impossible to sever, the best way to disrupt it is to get the energy source, the core," Aethion said before leaning back into his chair.
"But you will find it much more difficult than one would expect, after all, the monster wouldn't just leave the core vulnerable, not when it is that important to it, right?"
Reign nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. If they wanted to defeat the monster, they would need to find a way to reach its core without falling victim to the monster's powerful attacks, or what it had placed in order to keep the core secure.
As the battle raged on, Reign relayed his findings to the rest of the group. They adjusted their strategy accordingly, focusing their efforts on attacking the right foot of the monster and trying to disrupt its connection with the core, at least slightly.
Wolf unleashed torrents of fire, engulfing the creature in flames and forcing it to retreat momentarily. Mia used her ice powers to freeze the ground around the monster, trying to make it more difficult for the monster to walk, and to perhaps even slip if it got hit with a strong attack.
Beast and Aelrinder continued to pepper the creature with ranged attacks, aiming for the right foot in order to try and disrupt the connection the monster had with the core.
Meanwhile, Tanks and Greenie worked together to draw the monster's attention, engaging it in close combat and keeping it occupied while the others launched their assaults. Laura attacked from afar as well, doing her best to try and hit the right foot while healing the others when it was necessary
Shadow, ever the stealthy assassin, waited for the perfect moment to strike, hiding in the bushes and amongst the trees around them, waiting to strike the core when it was revealed.
Reign appeared in front of the monster, slashing with his swords at the chest of the monster that roared in anger and tried to hit him with its numerous branches and vines, only for Reign to have already disappeared from the spot once it did so.
The many attacks that were aimed at its right foot were blocked by even more vines and branches that the monster summoned and coiled around its foot, protecting it against the attacks while constantly creating new ones in order to defend itself.
The core was a pulsating orb of energy, surrounded by a network of glowing veins that seemed to feed into the monster's body. Reign stared at it before slashing down, only to quickly jump back as thin, but very tough and sharp branches came out of the core, going straight for him.
He evaded multiple branches before being forced to block the other ones with his swords, only for one to pass through his guard and stab through his stomach, even his strong armor was pierced through without too many issues.
Reign clenched his teeth before jumping back, but the branches from the core followed him, seemingly eager to stab him some more.
He dodged around as Laura started healing him, helping stop the loss of blood and patching up the small hole that had appeared on his body.
Right at that moment, a shadowy figure suddenly appeared behind the core that was still attacking Reign.
His presence was masked, not even the slightest aura, killing intent, or presence being felt by the others.
Shadow slashed from the side, his darkness-infused daggers cutting through the core with ease.
The monster they were fighting was actually not in its top shape, in fact, it was a monster that had to flee from its previous habitat because of a monster that arrived and defeated it.
The monster had barely managed to get to this place alive and had only recently built the tree, as well as the core.
The core was not only giving it less of power than before, but it was also not as well guarded as before.
The monster was not one that usually walked around the forest, in fact, it was more of a monster that waited for prey to come to it so that it could defeat them and suck out their life force.
It was a monster that was more and more powerful the longer it stayed in one place, which meant that depending on the circumstances, it could be stronger than even monsters who were one or even two grades higher than it.
It truly was a fearsome opponent, and deadly in battle, unfortunately for it, it had come across Reign and the others, who had managed to locate the core, which had only been here for a short period of a couple of weeks, and destroy it.
The most important part was making sure that Shadow stayed hidden so that the core would focus on Reign, thus allowing Shadow the opportunity to attack and destroy it.