Chapter 77: Danger (3)
Lucius and Clara continued to fight against the paralyzing poison.
One from the outside and another from the inside.
Within an hour, they made surprising progress.
But the fog also made surprising progress.
It was so thick in this place that Lucius could barely see the bodies of the beasts less than two meters away from him.
Amid the thick fog, it was difficult to sense other beasts, so Lucius remained on high alert. However, he didn’t notice that a strange metallic substance was already moving around him.
It was too difficult to detect without the necessary tools, but that metallic mist began to exert pressure on their bodies.
’I’m so tired... I haven’t fought that hard,’ Lucius thought as he noticed the strange sensation in his body.
He looked away from Clara’s body and gazed at her face. She closed her eyes completely and collapsed, overcome by exhaustion or the poison.
That caused the magic to deactivate.
However, the poison inside her suddenly began to react strangely. This poison was metallic. It reacted differently to peculiar particles.
It suddenly began to spin inside her body and then shoot out of it, twisting and turning as if a force were activating it.
"A metallic reaction?" The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Mercury metal!
He immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out the vial of the drug he had prepared earlier. Without a second thought, he smashed it and scattered the powder in all directions.
Instantly, the metal began to react. Three different types of metals were suddenly activated, one of them spreading rapidly through the thick fog.
All around him was the mist of the Quicksilver Medusa!
’That much? Where did it come from? What rank is it?’ Lucius clenched his fists and remained on high alert, knowing he couldn’t count on Clara’s help.
He had to deal with this on his own.
Fortunately, thanks to the fact that his drug spread rapidly in all directions and the poison had been flushed out of Clara’s body, he was able to feel at ease.
On the one hand, Clara was safe from the poison. She would wake up soon.
On the other hand, his poison would help him pinpoint the Medusa’s location, which would inevitably lead him to victory.
The problem was...
Zap!
Lucius quickly pulled his arm back when he felt an electric shock hit his bicep.
"Bastard," he grumbled, but there was nothing he could do.
He began to notice those same electric sparks on Clara’s body and knew he had to hurry.
The Quicksilver Medusa’s mist emits a very powerful electrically conductive metal, which it uses to transmit the electrical energy its body naturally possesses.
That is its primary attack—a unique characteristic of the Quicksilver Medusa. That’s why getting caught in its mist is so problematic.
And the worst part is that the only way to counter it is, precisely, by using an electrically conductive metal of equal or greater potency.
So right now, everything around him was conducting electricity!
Zap!
Zap!
Lucius endured the pain and remained alert, waiting for his moment.
1 minute...
5 minutes...
Lucius frowned. He hadn’t been able to sense it because the mist’s radius was too wide.
If the beast was Rank E, its radius should be between 5 and 10 meters.
Given the power of the spark, Lucius ruled out the possibility that it was Rank D or higher—it didn’t have that much strength.
With a radius of 5 to 10 meters, the Medusa could very well be operating at the very edge of its range, attacking him from a distance. Because of the thick mountain fog mixed with the Medusa’s mist, Lucius would have a hard time detecting it.
He could barely see two meters ahead—it was simply too difficult.
’If I move, it’ll attack me even more frantically... But staying still is a death sentence.’
’If I move, it’ll be able to get close to Clara... But if I don’t move, it’ll electrocute us from a distance until we’re incapacitated.’
Lucius found himself facing a dilemma he never thought he’d encounter while fighting such a low-ranking beast.
"Tsk, you’re clever enough to use your surroundings to your advantage, you damned jellyfish," he grumbled.
But there was still a way.
’The Cricket died to the north, right in the direction the undead is. My sword should be there. If I could get there and obtain the Echo-Locating Mark from that kid, tracking this thing down would be easy.’
’The problem is that I can’t use standalone spells. Would it work to combine the location spell with one of my current spells?’
’Damn, what a dilemma.’
He sighed helplessly.
’I have no other choice. Maybe I could find that bitch there and solve the problem once and for all,’ he thought.
He immediately began to move—not to get away, but to grab Clara in his arms.
Zap!
Zap!
Electric sparks began to strike his body. Just as he’d expected, moving was dangerous.
All the highly conductive metal particles were all around him, laid out like mines on a battlefield. Since they were so small, he couldn’t see them. Therefore, he could only endure the sparks and groan in pain.
Although they were small shocks, they were quite powerful, and when dozens or hundreds of them came together, it was inevitable that they would cause real damage.
Lucius grabbed Clara’s body and began to back away.
Slowly and deliberately, he kept his mind on high alert in case he discovered anything about the metallic drug.
After enduring hundreds of electric shocks while shielding Clara’s body to prevent the shocks from entering her, he bumped his back against a tree.
He cautiously looked back... his calculation had been correct.
To his left stood the headless undead.
To his right lay his sword, stuck in the ground, with a frozen, dead cricket beside it. The cricket’s Mana Mark glowed there, waiting to be collected.
Very carefully, Lucius laid Clara’s body on the ground next to the undead creature and turned toward the cricket.
He pulled the sword out of it and held the mana mark in his hand.
’I just need five minutes to process this thing.’
’But this thing is cunning. If I lose consciousness, it’ll attack head-on.’
’Should I take the risk?’
Although he had no alternative, he considered trying to find the Medusa without the echo to prevent anything from happening to Clara.
He just needed to see it once, since Medusas are quite weak.
But would that be enough?
’I can already feel part of my body going numb from the electric shocks. I won’t be able to withstand too many of them in my current condition.’
He took a deep breath and made a decision.
He gripped his sword firmly with his left hand and hid the mana mark beneath his clothes. He planted the sword before him and assumed a posture with his gaze fixed on the ground, still holding the sword.
It looked as if he had prostrated himself before a king... but it was just a distraction.
Inside, he was already unconscious, absorbing the Mana Mark.
Since this was his third Mana Mark, saying he’d only need five minutes was arrogant, and he knew it. If his core were healthy, five or even three minutes would be enough in his case.
The problem was that his core wasn’t working properly. The first two marks could be integrated correctly, but he realized that the third would need something more. He would have to force it.
And forcing a mana mark... was no easy task.
And in front of them... or behind them... or above them, was a dangerous creature that had already zapped them many times. Their bodies wouldn’t hold up if they kept this up.
Now his life and Clara’s depended on his race against time... or against his own core.
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