Taog slowly crept through the clearing, stepping as quietly as he could. The Aelea Drake was breathing heavily, possibly even snoring, but Taog didn’t want to risk waking it. He wanted to start by getting a good hit in, if at all possible.

But it turned out it was not, in fact, possible.

The drake slowly stirred and sniffed the air. Taog froze in place as the drake swung its head around, until one of its eyes landed on Taog. The eye narrowed. The drake rose to its full height, forcing Taog to crane his neck upwards, and pulled back its head.

Then it let out a massive roar that shook the forest.

Taog’s stomach dropped at the sight. He couldn’t help but gulp. But he gripped his swords tighter, and stirred up his mana.

The drake growled. It crouched down, and then sprung forward, bounding towards Taog.

And Taog…stepped to the side with ease. He blinked.

The Aelea Drake…was even slower than he expected. And the creature’s sheer weight gave it equally great momentum…so it could not turn easily either. It careened past him, barely stopping itself before smashing into the treeline.

Taog started to grin, and then he rushed forward as the drake started to turn around. He coated his swords with Dark Slashes and swung into the monster’s exposed flank.

CLANG!

His swords bounced right off the monster’s scales, sending tremors through Taog’s arms. He barely kept a grip on his swords. The Dark Slashes scattered as he failed to complete his slash.

And the drake’s HP barrier didn’t even bother to block the attack.

Taog had no time to worry, however, as the Aelea Drake swung its head around and snapped its jaws. Taog leapt back to avoid being bitten in two.

Taog frowned as the drake prepared another charge. He put away his original sword, holding the new one from Consul Noxisius with both his hands. In this instance, the control and stability of a two-handed grip would serve him better.

He concentrated as the drake began to charge him once more. He dodged again, but a bit closer this time, and swung his blade with another Dark Slash as the drake passed him by. This time he struck the monster’s scales with just the tip of his sword, gritting as the impact nearly tore the blade from his hands. But he held on, and the Dark Attribute mana jumped from the blade and struck the drake. Its HP barrier flashed briefly as it took the blow.

Taog smiled. He could do this after all.

Though, while the appearance of the HP barrier indicated he could deal damage to the creature, his attack had not left a noticeable effect on it. And he could still feel the impact of the strikes in his arms.

This would be a long and difficult process, requiring his full strength to wear the monster down with minor scratches. Under normal circumstances, he’d abandon this fight immediately.

But as Mighty Victoria warned, this was the sort of thing it would take if he was going to fight along Ateia and Seero’s sides. So Taog steeled himself and readied his stance as the drake began to charge him once more…

Taog was breathing heavily, sweat drenching his entire body. The sword felt slippery in his hands and grew heavy; his arms and legs burned as they begged for respite.

How long had he been fighting? How long had he been dodging blows that could end him in an instant, throwing all his strength into his tiny counterattacks? A few minutes? An hour? A day?

Taog wasn’t sure, save for the fact that the sun still shone in the sky.

And for all that effort, the Aelea Drake was no worse for wear.

Taog grimaced. The HP barrier continued to appear, so he knew his strikes were doing something. But he had no way of knowing just how much of it was left. Was the creature’s HP critical, with Taog on the verge of victory? Or had he barely even begun? His attacks didn’t feel any different and the HP continued to appear, so he had a feeling it was the latter.

If this kept up…Taog would be forced to retreat. He grit his teeth.

But Taog wasn’t the only one frustrated with this situation.

The Aelea Drake growled, unable to squash this tiny insect buzzing around it, yet also unable to drive it away. In its frustration, it lumbered straight towards Taog without preparing its stance, swinging its head and tail from side to side, lashing out all around it.

Taog’s eyes widened. He was caught off guard. He quickly jumped to the side but he stumbled, throwing out his hands to balance himself. His sword arm swung out towards the drake’s path.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The drake’s jaws clamped down.

Taog fell to the ground, but managed to roll forward. He quickly rose to his feet as the drake passed him once more. He lifted his sword and readied his stance…

Then his eyes widened.

His blade was gone, just a bit of jagged metal left above the hilt. The drake had bitten down on it when Taog had stumbled, and tore through the Mana Iron with ease.

Taog scowled, gritting his teeth. But he had no choice now. His other weapon was his father’s old blade, well-maintained but even weaker than the broken blade had been. If he was barely making progress with the better weapon, he doubted he’d do anything without it.

So Taog crouched down, waiting for the drake to charge him once again. He dodged once more, landing in the creature’s blind spot…

And then he ran.

The drake spun about, searching for its foe once again. It paused as it saw Taog running.

It growled…and then it roared with all its might and started after him. After all this, it was not content to just let him get away.

Taog glanced behind him and winced. The drake pursued him straight into the force, knocking over the trees in its path. He tore his eyes away and put more strength into his feet. He grimaced as he glanced at the hilt of the broken blade still in his hand.

He was about to toss it away. If only he didn’t need a sword to use Dark Slash, the physical blade wasn’t doing anything here, after all. Then he would have had a chance in this fight.

But then, his eyes widened.

He remembered a moment on the boat ride from Turannia. When Seero had been practicing her spells. She had formed blades out of mana, light, and water.

With no sword in hand.

He shook his head and focused on making his way through the trees and bushes. Yes, SEERO could make magic blades without any weapons to guide her. But Seero also didn’t need blades in the first place. She’d fly through the sky and rain death from above with a strategic spell.

But…it did mean it was possible. If only he knew how to do it himself.

As he ran, a conversation came to his mind.

“Don’t think of the status, or the activation. Think about the motions of your body. Think about the movement of your mana. And think about the effect of the skill. Think on what you want it to achieve. Once you have a clear image in your mind, try to replicate it.”

He thought of Ateia’s lessons with Colleöne, and of both their lessons with Miallói.

He glanced back. The drake had fallen behind. He rushed to the side and out of view. Perhaps the drake could track him by scent or some other means, but it was not like it could sneak up on him while knocking over the forest. He had some time now.

He looked forward, and down at the broken hilt in his hand. He took a deep breath.

Well, it was worth a try, wasn’t it? If he couldn’t figure this out, he’d just have to run away anyways, so no different than if he didn’t try at all.

He held the hilt in both his hands and stirred up his mana. He tried to form a Dark Slash…but the skill failed. He frowned before thinking to Colleöne’s words once more. He closed his eyes.

“Ok, don’t think about the skill. Think about what the skill actually does, how the mana actually moves.”

Taog thought back to when he had learned the Dark Slash, when he had manually infused Dark Mana into an unenchanted blade. He thought to his training with Seero, when she had infused Dark Mana into him so he could get the feel for it. He remembered dungeon diving, when Seero had infused their weapons and Ateia learned to channel Holy Mana. He thought of how he had learned Mana Infusion by replicating the feeling of what Seero had done.

He imagined giving his mana the Dark Attribute, and then forming it into a blade. He imagined holding a complete blade in his hand, wrapped with Dark power.

The mana resisted him, not wanting to leave his hands. But he pushed it through, as he did when learning Dark Slash. It tried to scatter, and go every which way. But he held it together, remembering the precise flows of Seero’s mana when she infused it for him.

And then…something clicked.

He opened his eyes…and they widened.

In his hands was a complete blade, made entirely of Dark Mana. A nebulous, pure black weapon, like smoke trapped in the form of a sword.

You have learned the spell Dark Blade!

You have learned the skill Dark Magic!

The skill Dark Magic is now level 5! Spell choice available!

You have learned the spell Dark Bolt!

You have accomplished the feat Magic Swordsman!