My inspect skill picks up a reading as the black armor of the 5th Ranked Dark Guard falls away.

[Lv. 1572]

Its status is just like every other one of them, with no skills or items, but a [Curse of The Lich King] branded in orange lettering on its Buffs section.

The immense amount of heat that erupts from the broken armor and crimson glow leads me to believe that there is some kind of fire-wielding monster that is now emerging.

This will be the perfect opponent for Maria to test her new abilities on. Fire is her exact opposite element matchup. If anything, her weakness.

Just from her display moments ago, and my spar with her earlier, I know she has the strength to take this Guard on, but the real test will be seeing how she fares against actual combat with a genuine A-Ranked monster aiming to kill.

The monstrous roar echoes through our ears and the red humanoid form beneath the armor grows larger and larger in size until it reaches over 5 meters tall.

Its silhouette is bright red, but as it grows larger jagged rocks begin to stick out of its body.

Once it reaches just under 10 meters in height, dark black obsidian colored glossy stones have protruded all over it to create what looks to be a golem's form.

It has two glowing red-orange eyes that just look like circles, and a slit for a mouth that glows the same color of its deadly soul energy.

Another roar, that sounds like a static screech mixed with rocks crashing together erupts from its being as the red light in its eyes pulses.

Hairline fractures in its obsidian body show red energy swirling beneath its surface, and the monster's hands manifest long thick blades just like the ones it held in its human form, but over 5 times as large.

Blood red flames erupt from the golem creature's back and arms, spreading immense heat throughout the desert and melting the surrounding area of sand just for existing nearby.

It tilts its head down at Maria while she swallows a Qi pill from her item box to replenish her stores.

After her session in the isolation pod, it looks like she's used up most of the Qi gifted by Monk, but I count 9 more in the small silver tin left after the one that she just consumed.

Ice magic is activated and her Qi barrier is let down to reveal her true mana control to the Dark Guard.

Only portions of Qi are used around her heart, head, and blind spots while the rest is focused in her footsteps and channeled into the silver sword.

As the heat from the monster's release of power nears her, the melting of sand stops in its tracks and a wave of ice challenges it, freezing the desert floor in a circle that only increases in size the longer Maria activates her ice magic.

She points her blade toward the obsidian golem and releases a royal blue aura of her own that clashes with the monster's in the air. It's an energy made of mana, but my senses pick up trace amounts of Qi within it.

Whatever this power is, it's a step closer to awakening Soul Energy than anything I've ever managed to manifest before.

Two domes of lights hit each other from nearly 100 meters away as both of them declare battle on the other, then they both charge forward.

The golem's echoing footsteps show off its immense strength, and the constant flames and red glow that comes from it show its magic power is considerable as well.

Maria steps through the air with blue-tinted Qi increasing her movement speed, closing the gap between them much faster than expected.

Her sword glows the same light blue as she swings it through the air, leaving behind a trail in the sky that leaves a faint stain the air just like the Red Hydra's Buff.

She gets faster and faster as she gets closer, and jumps straight into the dual incoming blades of the golem without an ounce of fear in her movements.

Maria spins her body between the two blades, dodging their sharp crimson edges just by a hair on both sides.

In a single swing, the monster's right shoulder is sliced through.

An enormous blue slash line is visible on the monster's body as Maria continues to fly past her target unharmed.

As she touches down on the molten desert floor, it crystallizes into solid ice. Soon after, the loud thud of the black rock falling off of its body can be heard.

Maria doesn't take a moment to admire her work, lunging back around to release another light blue slash at the creature's left arm while she's standing in the blind spot behind it.

Another bright blue line is etched into the golem's opposite shoulder as she slices through it and Qi-steps higher into the air to get a better vantage point away from the monster to assess its real damage.

Another loud thud reaches her ears as the second arm of the monster falls to the floor, but her senses are put on high alert from an unexpected incoming attack.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Maria swings her sword back to block two crimson blades coming her way from the Soul Energy Manifested arms that still carry swords where the physical obsidian body was cut off.

This reminds me of the technique the 7th Ranked Dark Guard used when I managed to cut off one of its limbs as well.

The technique is very similar, however, this monster's power seems to act a bit differently.

As the red and blue powers clash, the energy released into the atmosphere is nearly equal in strength.

Two of the monster's blades that harness all of its power are being repelled with an equal and opposite force as the Ice mage in the air follows through with her icy slash.

They stay in the same place, battling it out over a single exchange in mid-air for over a second.

Maria's eyes open wide as she sees a thin black line of rock forming in the center of both of the energy manifested arms that connect back to the golem's main body.

Every fraction of a second that passes, more and more of the monster's arms regenerate and reform into the old form it had just moments ago before Maria cut them off.

She pulses with a blue aura at the sight of this and shoves the crimson blades backward a few meters. This gives her enough leeway to dodge to the side as the momentum of the blades continues downward and slices through the air where she just was.

Taking advantage of this moment, she slices through both of the golem's legs, leaving a light blue line across its upper thighs.

When she touches down to the floor behind it, the expected reaction to this attack would be a moment where the creature stumbles or falls as it tries to regenerate its legs.

However, underneath the hard obsidian stone is a red energy form that moves on its own without the need for a physical body at all.

It turns around, leaving its severed legs behind, carrying its upper body on just a soul energy manifested lower half and swings its two crimson swords again right at Maria on the ground.

Although this wasn't what she expected, it was in the realm of possibilities.

Maria jumps out of the way again and analyzes the creature while its glowing red eyes track her movements too.

The impact of the red blades with the ground sends a shockwave of molten sand her way that towers over 3 meters high and grows in speed and power the more Soul energy is channeled into it from the monster's blades stuck into the desert.

She jumps in the air again, and the golem's legs begin to regrow just the same as its arms did, standing as small black sticks in the center while more black rock is summoned to fill the empty space.

The waves of molten sand die down once the monster takes its energy blades from the ground and starts sending out crescents of soul energy in the air for Maria to dodge.

Her Qi-aura gets much weaker while she soars through the air dodging these crimson slashes, but it isn't because she's getting weaker. Her attention has shifted from attack to one of pure analysis.

Every shot the creature throws at her adds to her ideas on what to do next, and I see her eyes channeling over 50% of the Qi that isn't protecting her vitals.

She's watching where the energy flows in this monster to try and figure out its weakness.

Clearly, taking off its limbs doesn't hurt it at all, and getting in close to try and land another attack without a proper plan is just taking an unnecessary risk if she doesn't know where to aim.

Out of curiosity, I copy the Qi-flow she's using, and channel a large portion of my available energy into my eyes to watch the golem meticulously throw slashes at her while she gracefully dodges through the air.

At first, all I can see is the silhouette of red-orange soul energy in the form of a massive human outline.

However, the longer I look, and the closer I focus on its release of slashes, the more I see there is a distinct direction of its energy flow.

The flow is so fast, and instantaneous, it's like a heart pumping blood at 1000 beats per second, but there is clearly a point where this power is coming from.

It is all coming from a central point deep inside its chest. Similar to golems I've faced before, this one has a core of its own, it is just hidden within layers and layers of dense soul energy to make itself look like a pure energy being.

As I come to this realization, a shift in Maria's movements makes me surmise she's come to the same conclusion.

Her movements in the air become faster, and her blade glows blue again.

Instead of going for the available openings on the monster's arms and legs that it allows her to take between every few dozen slashes, she bides her time and doesn't go for the easy shots.

After every attack, the monster's blades come back into position to protect its chest before anything else. This is exactly where Maria's gaze is locked onto as she continues flying circles around the golem waiting for it to slip up.

In return for its slashes, she sends her own blue ice attacks littered with Qi down toward the monster.

They are never aimed to hit it directly, but to freeze the battlefield below and limit its movements to a select few areas.

The more she throws, the larger the massive ice crystals form like obstacles in its way, and its attacks become more predictable to the trained eye.

Like a rat in a maze, every new ice structure guides the golem to an endpoint that I can see as clear as day.

Maria is setting up her finishing move, and the rage-filled golem that believes it's invincible to her slow-moving attacks can't see it coming at all...

After 3 more Qi pills, and nearly 100 dodged crimson slashes, the semicircle barrier of ice behind the golem is created, and it has nowhere else to backpedal to now.

Maria's sword charges brighter blue than ever before in this battle, and her body radiates with a light that I've only seen happen when she activates her ranked up buff.

The last time I saw her use this with the Red Hydra's power at a far lower skill level it decimated multiple layers of A-Grade shielding and destroyed the entire arena back in Valor City.

If she uses it now with her newfound strength, imbued with Qi as well, the result with be catastrophic...

A bright blue glow erupts off her as her aura expands to envelop the entire battlefield including the cornered beast below her.

Waves of cold ice magic freeze the entire area solid for over 200 meters in diameter.

It believed it had the upper hand the entire battle, as Maria made it seem she was running from its attacks in fear once she realized she couldn't hurt it.

The frozen ground shakes beneath the obsidian golem, getting louder and louder until Maria whispers the name of her ability.

"Ice Age..."

Enormous blue crystals of ice erupt from the ground towering over the 10m tall golem, expanding faster than it can think to move.

They drop the temperature of the desert air instantly and encapsulate the golem in a massive prison of ice.

At the same time, Maria dives in at it with her blade swinging across her body.

She slices through her own solid blue prison, shattering the towering structure to pieces the moment it's formed, disintegrating the monster's black stone body entirely. It only leaves behind the shocked red inner form and a singular black orb in the center of its being that desperately tries to reform the rest of its physical body.

However, it's far too late.

A bright blue flash of light, and a single dense Qi and ice infused slash slices the core in half.

Maria makes contact with the icy ground behind it, turning with glowing eyes and a charged sword ready for more, but ringing notifications in her head tell her the battle is already over.

Both sides of the core fall to the frozen desert and the red energy slowly dissipates into the air.