Crik frowned when he saw several weapons flying and trying to hit him from all directions. Still, he just shrugged when he saw that those were only short weapons made of mithril. Crik could ignore that. He knew his target was a powerful magician, but only his plasma attacks managed to damage Crik. There was no point in worrying about such weapons that didn't even have enchantments.

Congratulations! The skill Spearmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Swordsmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Spearmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Swordsmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

...

Crik was right. Even though those were mithril weapons, they were far too weak. Still, he didn't notice that Leon was slowly making his attacks stronger by leveling up his weapon masteries. Besides, he also didn't notice that Leon decided to stop the attack at a single point.

"If I had some room to drain his mana, this would end a lot quicker... but he will probably snap my whole body in a single moment if I deactivate Mana Barrier."

There some advantages in changing his body like that, but in Leon's eyes, there were more demerits in doing that. One of them was the mithril itself. If Crik or his underlings face someone who can absorb mana like Leon, they would be in dire straits. Even if someone powerful like Crik is powerful enough not to give any chances to the enemy to absorb the mithril, there was still a way to defeat him a little faster... one just has to keep attacking from all sides. Even if Crik's defense were powerful, his mithril would only work as long as it has mana. Crik had durability, or so to say, he could ignore most damage at the price of the mana stored in his mithril parts.

It took a few hours, but Crik eventually noticed that his body was getting sluggish. Even Leon was surprised by that... eventually, both of them noticed that Crik strength also decreased even though his status was normal. Crik also looked pretty shocked when he saw that his body had lost some color.

"I see now... it isn't the mithril that boosts your strength, is the mana itself that does that," Leon declared. "By the look in your face, you didn't face an opponent who could make your body lose so much mana until now. It can't be helped, since you probably are the leader of the mithril people..."

It was kind of surprising that they didn't notice that their strength and durability would decrease the less mana they have inside their mithril parts. But considering that they have been crossing the space in a spaceship, the number of enemies they could have faced was minimal.

While Crik was contemplating his own mortality once more, Leon attacked him again, and again this time by spamming Prison of Fire. The darts weren't all that powerful, but he imagined that the fire would cause extra damage. Once he received the motivation that the skill was leveling up like crazy, he also used Prison of Ice and Prison of Earth.

Congratulations! The skill Prison of Fire has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Prison of Ice has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Prison of Earth has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

...

Before Leon could allocate those sweet status points, Crik charged again, and this time he looked even more excited. He was a battle maniac through and through... for a moment, Leon thought that his attacks even became powerful again, but even though he got sent backward dozens of meters, he noticed that this time, his mana only decreased by half.

"All right, the plan is working... I just have to endure this for a while longer."

At first, Leon felt quite bothered by the fact that he had to rely on mithril and weapons again, even though it was clear that he was facing the most powerful member of an advanced species. However, such thoughts disappeared when he noticed that Crik was also using mithril to have some advantages.

Regardless, Leon couldn't relax and stop attacking because his own stock of mithril was ending. Little by little, his weapons were losing their edge, and he already had consumed three helmets, Leon still had seven more, but he wanted to keep at least one because those were cool and useful.

However, it looked like Crik finally noticed that he wouldn't win if he doesn't use his head a little. Since he was fighting for his people, it was only obvious that he had to win. Suddenly, Crik stopped his charged and prepared to grab Leon's mithril weapons. Leon noticed that, but Crik still managed to catch all the spears, even though Leon tried to make them retreat. After succeeding in decreasing Leon's weapons by half, Crik suddenly jumped toward the sky with all his power. Much faster than a rocket, he left the atmosphere.

"Son of a bitch... he wants to get rid of my supply of mithril, he is using my own strategy against me! What a coward..."

"Says the man who is safely inside an unbreakable defensive spell," Celsius said.

Leon knew he was unreasonable, but he expected full support from his spirits regardless of his choices or words. Putting such thoughts aside, Leon couldn't let something like that happen again. He would have to deal with Crik using magic alone again. Although it was troublesome to lose some mithril, Leon knew a way to compensate for the loss. Besides, he was pretty sure Crik wouldn't use the mithril to recover his energy, he just left the planet to throw Leon's spears away. He confirmed that because Crik returned after twenty seconds.