Chapter 362: Astral Dungeon Trial: Astral Monster Encounter
This idea was similar to the first, but it was different still because of instead of carefully manipulating my mana and imbuing it into the environment, I would instead just send it out in waves throughout the spatial layers in here and see what happens, or to see if there’s anything I can find by doing so.
Once again closing my eyes, I focused on my mana and started to attune it to my [Space] affinity and combine it with my seeing skills. Then, I sent it surging outwards in every direction, just to see what I could find.
It didn’t take long for me to sense something. And it was definitely a living creature with the way it ran away from my probing.
Immediately I ran in that direction, only to find myself suddenly blocked off by someone or something controlling and forcing it closed. And I could tell by the fact that the wall had become a completely solid stone like surface.
I slammed my fists against the wall in frustration. But that suddenly gave me an idea. If whatever this thing is could control and manipulate the order of this place, then so could I. I just needed to figure out how.
Placing my hand on another part of the wall, one that wasn’t as solid, I imposed my will unto it with my powers and opened the way for me to follow the being I sensed via the same pathways, which thankfully hadn’t been cut off yet.
Now we were in a cat and mouse type of game where it would try and cut me off through the same methods and I would just go around it. It would then make the blockages even larger, but I simply needed to pull back a little and try again from further back and make another path.
Soon, I had closed the distance, even though distance was relative here, I still felt that I was closing in on it and would soon be able to trap it.
But that’s when I noticed something. We were looping back to the room where I had tested my first idea, and also where I initially sensed this thing. But why was it headed there?
Regardless, I was steadily closing in, and I could almost feel the being getting slower, allowing my senses to get a better look at it.
It had the four-legged taur body of a Litaur, a creature most commonly found with a soft yet short beige fur lower half with an Anthroid upper half and the head of another feline of similar decent, with a large fluffy mane around its neck and snouted face.
That was all I could catch of the thing before it bolted away from my senses. And while I could extend them to reach further, I was hoping to ensnare it by giving it a false sense of security by making it think I could only see so far.
Still, I was able to trace its movements as it left behind a residual mana trail wherever it went whenever it disappeared from my senses.
And then, after just another minute of hunting it down, it had reached the area I suspected it was headed towards, and it had stopped.
But I had noticed something else as it was there. Aside from my earlier theory being correct and the purple crystals, which had grown to be as big as my chest now, had drained my mana away and made the space nearby more unstable than before.
It was now eating the purple crystals hastily, which as I reached the room, looked like some kind of purple lightning nebula.
The question was, why was it eating the crystals? Maybe if I observe it more, I can find out. And to do so, I would have to give it more to feed upon.
Which is what I did. I got down and poured my mana and will into the surroundings and managed to manipulate it to close off so that it couldn’t force its way out with its own powers, as that seemed to be how this place functioned. The only other option it had was brute force.
The moment I started to do this, it tried to get, scratching and clawing away at the blue astral stone walls, but failed. Then it turned to me, snarling in fury, and I got a good look at its appearance.
It had a blue coat of fur across its whole body with some shimmering purple mixed in here and there. With scrawny, yet toned and muscular legs that ended with equally slim but wide paws, tipped with long and sharp claws that easily managed to cut through the blue stone that now encompassed the room.
The only reason it hadn’t used them to escape was because it was too slow and would take too long.
It had a thing tail on its rear, tipped with a sparkling nebula. Literally, there was a miniature nebula on the end of its tail. It looked kind of fluffy also. Its mane shimmering in similar colours as its Therioidian face snarled and growled at me.
*Gggrrrrr*
The eyes sparkled with constellations as its irises swirled with an otherworldly ethereal astral glow. Pearl white fangs laid bare for me to see, and I could tell that those things could also tear through this spatial stone material with ease, seeing as it also ate the crystals made from the mana drained from its surroundings.
Getting back up I prepared for a fight in a low stance, never taking my eyes off of it, observing every subtle movement it made for signs of attack. Of course I wasn’t only looking physically, but magically also, for potential spells it might fling my way.
And I could feel it doing the same, observing my movements and the mana in the air.
We started to circle the room, even as it slowly came apart and the purple crystals grew large, generally forcing us closer lest we bump into it and give an opening to our opponent.
For a few minutes we simply circled one another, the room I’d temporarily sealed us in growing more unstable, yet the purple crystals remained perfectly still.
Neither of us looked away to marvel at this phenomenon. Just staring into one another’s eyes.
Eventually we stopped moving, but not staring, as our surroundings had become deeply unstable. Even the ground we were on, which would normally stabilise when we were on it, was shifting with minor erratic movements, making it hard for me to stay stable and for the feline monster to hold its footing.
This was of course a side effect of the injection of mana into the environment and it being drained by the purple crystals, which were now half as big as the feline monster, which was about two metres long and a metre tall.
Then, out of nowhere, it started crouching in preparation to attack.
And I knew exactly what it was going to do. I’m not sure if we created some kind of bond because of how long we stared at each other or what. But I responded in kind and drew my hand back, ready to claw away and pounce, just as it was.
...
In an instant, we pounced.