novelzi Chapter 39: One Down, Hundreds to Go
Chapter 39: One Down, Hundreds to Go
Both sticks Levi threw flew simultaneously toward the black cocoon with speed. He watched them go, fully prepared to react to the cocoon's response. Just as expected, when the spears reached a certain distance, one of them suddenly stopped, as if held by an invisible hand. Under Levi's watchful eyes, the spear turned around and jolted back in his direction.
Already poised to dodge, Levi leaped aside, and the spear embedded itself into the ground, missing him. But this time, there was a change—only one of the two spears had been halted. The other continued its trajectory, unaffected, and struck the black cocoon.
"Noice," Levi muttered, a smile spreading across his face.
His plan had succeeded. When he first saw the cocoon control the spear, Levi had been taken aback, but after calming down and thinking it through, he realized that the ability must have limitations.
First, the cocoon's telekinesis likely had a limited range, which is why it could only throw back the spear instead of controlling it to strike Levi. Second, there must be a cap on how many objects it could manipulate at once. Though Levi wasn't entirely sure, it was a risk he had to take.
And the risk paid off.
It seemed the black cocoon could only control one object at a time, allowing the other crude spear to strike it. But there was one more problem Levi hadn't anticipated.
"What the...?"
The smile faded from Levi's face as he saw the crude spear hit the black cocoon only to bounce off without causing any damage. The spear fell to the ground, and the cocoon hung there, unscathed.
It seemed the black, feather-like material covering the cocoon was tougher than Levi had expected.
"How am I supposed to damage that thing?"
Levi was weaponless—well, technically not, but thanks to his dark twin, he'd lost his weapon somewhere in the wilderness. Nor did he have any abilities that could help him damage the black cocoon.
Although his strength and constitution had increased somewhat after his contract with the Demon King, it wasn't enough to obliterate monsters with brute force alone. The boost was slight, hardly noticeable, and Levi knew it wasn't sufficient to harm the cocoon before him.
He was in a situation where he had no idea what to do, and to make matters worse, frustration was building inside him. Perhaps it was a side effect of the Lunacy, he didn't know for sure, but ever since using it, his emotions had become more intense, almost to the point of being detrimental.
"Calm down, Levi," he told himself, staring at the untouched cocoon. As he continued to observe it, he suddenly noticed something.
"The essence... why is it swirling around the cocoon?"
[You have killed a Nasant-essence monster—Cocoon of Lunacy.]
A smile spread across Levi's face as he collapsed, completely drained of essence.
"One down, hundreds to go," he mumbled, closing his eyes. Even though what he had just accomplished was a small victory, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
However minor the improvement, he was stronger than he had been moments ago, and Levi felt an incredible elation and was addicted to the feeling of growing stronger.
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Lore Snippet 09 - Monster Ranks
The Providence classifies monsters using two critical aspects: the number of cores and their ability to impose their will on reality.
Core Classification(Main Category):
Dormant->Essence->Vile->Fallen->Terror->Behemoth->Overlord->Mythical Colossal
Willpower & Intelligence Classification(Sub Category):
Nasant->Inept->Wicked->Exalted->Zenith->Infernal->Diabolic
It's important to note that beasts of certain core ranks are restricted to specific sub-ranks within the willpower classification. The overall hierarchy might look like this:
Dormant
Nasant-Essence-> Inept Essence
Nasant-Vile -> Inept-Vile-> Wicked-Vile
Nasant-Fallen -> Inept-Fallen -> Wicked-Fallen -> Exalted-Fallen
Nasant-Terror -> Inept-Terror -> Wicked-Terror -> Exalted-Terror, Zenith-Terror, etc