Aryan also followed Melvine into battle, leaving Lev alone in the bubble. He channeled a large portion of Stargazer's regeneration into the shadow mana converter for the highest degree of stealth and took to the skies.

  This is a first, he mused, observing Melvine's advance. Similar to how Drakys had once talked about Hakim's prowess, everyone had to back off when the mist warrior joined the fray. Her element immediately encircled the monster, seeping into its tough flesh to slow it down.

  Except, it barely had an effect. Lev pushed his Perception for all it was worth, noting every little detail. The monster was somehow keeping up with Melvine's speed, and even worse, seemed to be rapidly adapting to the icy temperature.

  Understanding just how dire the situation was becoming, Melvine's body erupted with mana, the first time Lev had ever seen her overload her body enhancement so much. Similarly, the mist dome also thickened visibly, finally succeeding in hampering the monster's speed.

  Blows rang out in the mist dome, each disturbing the mist slightly. Her control kept the zone from faltering despite the power on display, and after baiting the monster into a lunge, she rushed in. Even then, the Night Hunter adapted, managing to land an elbow on Melvine's Jaw, just as her sword bit into the monster's side.

  The expected blood shower never came. In a blink, the hunter's muscles hardened, and the sword launched it to the side at extreme speed. Only a gash was visible on its torso as it stood back up a few dozen meters away, and if Melvine's expression was anything to go by, she was just as shocked as everyone else.

  Not even third-threshold monsters could shrug off the sharpness and chill of her element so easily.

  Lev was already moving before things could take a turn for the worse. Around his bubble, a thin film of barrier extended as far as he could send it. His manipulation range, reaching over 250 meters, controlled a single barrier sheet of the same size. It was transparent during formation, and once it was complete, Lev commanded it to become opaque and sever the monster's source of strength.

  Sudden darkness fell upon the battlefield. Melvine rushed the shrieking Night Hunter that was glaring daggers at Lev's bubble, which had to be turned visible again to redirect Stargazer's regeneration towards the barrier sheet.

  Not given a chance to adapt to its lower strength, she capitalized on its slower movements. Mist seeped into its body, finding a small purchase on the wound, and her sword continuously came close to cutting it into ribbons.

  The hunter proved more agile of the two, however. Its thin limbs twisted and bent almost unnaturally, as if made of only flesh and no bones. Several times, the greatsword simply slid off its body, failing to even scratch the flesh.

  In return, Melvine had to weather direct blows for even the smallest mistakes. Most of them were deflected by her arm bracers, but when one of them landed squarely on her temple, Elias and Viktor also rushed in.

  Behind the monster, Aryan suddenly materialized, holding two daggers dripping with the same black venom he had used against the serpent. Alarmingly, the Night Hunter turned around even faster than before, its body glowing a subtle silver.

  The first dagger was deflected with a backhand, and the second was caught by the monster's other hand. A single press shattered it to bits, but Aryan was resourceful. He immediately made distance and launched a blue dagger towards the monster's face. It crackled with lightning, and feeling the threat the dagger posed, the hunter ducked.

  Viktor's axe thudded into its neck, anticipating the movement. The weapon bounced off, though not before unbalancing it slightly. Elias's swords found more purchase as he targeted the spine on its back, and yet, he also learned an ugly lesson as the monster moved unimpeded despite the cut on the base of its neck.

  The hunter's fist shattered four of Lev's invisible shields in quick succession, and Elias just barely managed to raise his swords to block it. Despite the attack facing resistance before that, the swords still creaked ominously, only saved from destruction when the swordsman threw himself back with the attack's momentum.

  Lev wasn't paying attention to that anymore. His mind was latched onto a detail that made no sense whatsoever, yet Identify left no room for doubt.

  [Night Hunter - Level 419]

  … Wasn't that 418 a minute ago?

  He opened a small hole through the bubble before shouting, "It's leveling up!"

  The gash on Melvine's head vanished from Lisa's constant healing and buffs. She exhaled deeply through her nose, her expression carefully neutral. Her eyes, however, harbored a blizzard inside, blazing with cold wrath.

  A single step shattered and froze the ground beneath her. The next made her accelerate to the maximum, and the third landed squarely on the monster's face. The hunter's jaw froze, encased in a thick layer of ice. Her next step took her close to its still-flying form, and the greatsword in her hands landed on the frozen jaw yet again, biting much deeper than anyone else had managed while smashing the hunter into the ground.

  Under the cover of dirt and debris, the hunter vanished. Not even a trace of its passage remained as it dug underground, nor was there any indication as it burst out behind Melvine. She reacted in time, slowing it with a compressed blast of icy wind and bringing her sword in a full circle while taking a step back.

  The hunter elbowed the flat of the blade, using the absorbed force to leap over it. Aryan appeared behind it before it could cover any distance, and this time, the monster was forced to expend some form of energy to protect itself.

  A bright silver glow emerged from its body as it slapped away the approaching dagger with contemptuous ease. Then it looked up, and Lev's brain halted instinctively when their gazes met.

  And they met through the now-invisible bubble.

  Before either Melvine or Aryan could react, the hunter crouched. Then it exploded upwards, straight towards Lev's bubble. Getting the construct out of the way was impossible, so he created two large holes for the monster to pass through, only realizing a moment later that he had played into its hand.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The Night Hunter barreled through the thin sheet blocking the moonlight. Lev made it transparent, and his fear was proven right again.

  [Night Hunter - Level 420]

  Shocked silence met the hunter's gluttural roar. It glared at the gathered humans as its wounds healed at high speed, and the moonlight around it twisted unnaturally as the monster absorbed it with reckless abandon.

  Once again, it gazed upon Lev, who was very much not ready to deal with such a creature. A leap upon his barrier sheet let it power straight into his bubble. The hunter's claws met Stargazer's blade, and while neither lost out in durability, the glaive's massive weight smashed it out again.

  All of Lev's partially healed body protested in a vile bout of pain. Bones creaked, and wounds reopened from the impact. He dropped to a knee, eyes never leaving the monster's form. Barrier ropes uncoiled from around the bubble, and an infusion of lightning from his own pool made them fast enough to hamper it.

  Isabella's whips also joined in. Her Perception wasn't enough to catch it, but she didn't need to. The whips exploded upon the smallest impact, subtly guiding the monster towards Rena's fireballs and waves of flames. Hidden behind them, Zack managed to close the distance, and twin lances from his Epic gauntlets finally did some real damage as they tore large gashes on its torso, charring it in the process.

  Subsequently, the moment the hunter landed on the ground, it shot forward like a bullet. A kick rose, aimed straight at the chin. Even rattled and in pain, Lev's arm still moved with speed beyond anything he had ever managed, and Stargazer's heavy blade collided with the kick, just barely saving Zack's head from being torn off his shoulders.

  His eyes remained wide as Stargazer was pushed back. Sure, the monster's leg hit the ground hard enough to cause a large crater, but the rebound was way higher than Lev expected. Enough so that his armor's limbs trembled dangerously despite being empowered to the limit from the absorbed kinetic energy.

  Viktor darted behind the monster, preventing its escape. Lisa's buffs empowered him with enough intensity to make him glow in Mana Perception. Combined, the sweep of his axe was enough to push back the monster. A shield bash deflected its claws, the skill-based move just barely enough to accomplish that, and before he could attack again, the monster accelerated further.

  Its knee smashed into Viktor's sternum, and even with one of Lisa's barriers trying to keep him in place by pushing against his back, the warrior was still sent flying. Elias, who was about to dart in, kicked the ground to stop his stride, leaning back to let a set of claws sail over his face while hastily retreating.

  That move bought enough time for Melvine to rejoin. Her greatsword was thrown first. It tore through the air while producing frigid gales. The hunter decided it was too big a threat and dodged to the side, unable to avoid a debuff from the sheer mana wafting off the sword.

  The greatsword also halted mid-air. It then flew back into Melvine's hands just as a zone of dense mist formed around her. Everyone else immediately created distance to give her space. The monster screeched as it found itself isolated and slowed to a crawl. Its direct contact with moonlight was also severed.

  Lev waited with bated breath, redirecting all of his own regeneration into the lightning converter. Stargazer's regeneration went towards healing his body, and the process was still horribly slow and inefficient.

  A few seconds passed. Blows rang out, failing to disperse the thick mist. More time elapsed in tense silence, broken only by the clash of hardened flesh and metal. Over time, the mist began to thin, and after nearly a full minute of furious combat, a titanic blow made it scatter.

  The scene inside made Lev's heart leap to his throat.

  The Night Hunter was on the ground, a greatsword sticking out of its torso. It was embedded deep within, continuously releasing more and more of the cold mana inside.

  Melvine was leaning over it, her strength flagging by the second. A clawed hand was buried in her lower torso, and despite her best efforts, the hunter wriggled out of the death trap.

  Even slowed and severely wounded, it managed to dive into the ground, just barely avoiding her hand that tried to grab onto its thin body. In a blink, the monster vanished, leaving behind nothing but the aftermath of their battle.

  Lisa's healing was already bringing Melvine back into the fight, yet everyone could feel that she was struck by something insidious. The hybrid warrior, however, was dauntless. In seconds, she froze the hole in her torso, stopping the harmful substance from reaching her heart.

  In tandem with the healing, she slowly guided the frozen chunk of her body outside of the wound. A sickly grey blob of flesh erupted with a shower of cold blood. Lev didn't take any chances. An orb grabbed it, and after infusing it with a relatively large amount of lightning, he chucked away the construct, where it exploded, evaporating the foul substance.

  He recalled his bubble and got to work. When the enchantments were functional, everyone stepped inside while constantly scanning the surroundings.

  Channeling both his own and Stargazer's regeneration into the shadow mana converter, he activated the stealth enchantments and ascended. Only then did the group breathe a sigh of relief. It was a far cry from being relaxed, as the monster could reappear at any moment, but they had survived.

  Somehow, the group of strong Masters had just barely survived. Against a monster of their own threshold, no less.

  Lev slowly floated towards where the monster had vanished. Somehow, the very air had calmed down, as if confirming that the hunter had truly retreated. The mana was more peaceful, and he noted the phenomenon to dissect it in his mind later.

  "Everyone alright?" he asked, not letting his own pain show.

  "Yeah…" Aryan gulped. "That thing… what was that, even?"

  "We need to report it immediately," Isabella piped up. For once, her eyes trembled slightly, betraying her panic. "Someone like Hakim will deal with it way before it becomes a problem."

  "We can discuss that later," Lev interjected. The bubble's repairs were finally finished, mainly the two large holes due to the hunter. Through one it had entered, and the other had formed when he had slapped it out with Stargazer. "Let's get away from the ground."

  The silence persisted for a few moments before questions came forth, and with them, a heated debate.

  "Monsters don't just grow in strength so rapidly," Kora explained, both rattled and morbidly curious. "Just like us, they need to kill to see such progress. What we witnessed was so unbelievable that many might not even believe us."

  "No one will disregard the matching opinion of so many Masters," Lisa added, frowning and healing both Melvine and Lev. "Besides, we have yet to ascertain if the monster requires us to retreat so early into the expedition."

  "Is there still any doubt?" Isabella countered.

  "We were all caught unprepared," Lev voiced. "I also couldn't partake in the battle. If I had full reserves, I could have at least overwhelmed its movements. That would've let Melvine finish it off."

  "Sure, that holds true for now. What about the next time we face it? How much stronger will it be then?"

  "Most likely the same level," Melvine answered, silencing them. "It started absorbing moonlight only when Zack engaged it. That is the same as the System's combat classification."

  It took a moment for Lev to realize what she was talking about. Similar to how his Perception was automatically pushed to the maximum during combat or how his armor turned from passive to active to protect him from sneak attacks, the monster's absorption also started after that combat threshold was met.

  That particular detail also stumped them all. To date, none of them had ever heard of a monster with such a sophisticated trait.

  "Umm… guys," Aryan slowly began under everyone's gaze. "I can track the monster's residues if we want to chase after it."