Staring at the object, or rather, the creature in front of him, Novus couldn’t help but get his perception thrown off, and for a mont, he couldn’t help but question whether what stood before him was truly the sa creature he had grown so familiar with.
The waist-high blades of grass shift as the blob moves aimlessly, similar, even reminiscent of a jellyfish in the ocean, only this one exists, even thrives on land. Light shining down from the skies above is mostly reflected away from its body, so absorbed, revealing its amber glow that shifts to brighter, then darker colors every now and then as it shifts across the ground.
It expands, stretching its mass forward before it compresses itself once more, allowing movent to great distances without any appendage to assist its motion, with each of its motions leaving behind a trail of viscous, transparent fluid that is both slick and sticky at the sa ti, forcing the blades of grass it touches to fold under its weight.
Indeed, it is, in all shapes and forms, a sli, yet despite having slaughtered swathes of said creature during his ti in the academy, Novus still holds the doubt of whether this is truly the sa kind of sli as the one he is familiar with, as despite sharing the sa properties, the sa motion and even that sa trails that make one feel a queasy feeling when they touch them, all the sa with that ones he know, except for so things.
For one, instead of the clear, with a slight tinge of either blue or green that is exhibited by any sli in the outside world, this one is covered by a complete, almost solid amber color all the way to its core; the featureless monster not only sports a different color compared to the slis he knew.
Not only that, but it wields an extrely heavy appearance as well, for while the regular slis outside of this domain only reach a size of up to his own ankle, this one reaches nearly his chest, making him question whether what he is seeing is real and all.
"Thinking about it, I guess it really fits being in the ’Evolution Domain,’" he laughed to himself as he eased up a bit, knowing that no matter what sort of difference this sli has over the sli he knew of, it wouldn’t be all that difficult, given that it is still a sli after all.
And there’s just no way he can find a sli dangerous, no matter what the circumstance is.
Still, being instilled with the mindset of a good hunter in the first place, years of training in the academy forces him to maintain a basic sense of caution at the very least; no, he doesn’t allow himself to completely let his guard down, not even against sothing this familiar to him.
With extensive knowledge of this creature and the caution that he keeps to himself, he believed that he was already well prepared for anything that his current opponent could throw at him.
A big mistake on his part.
’A fireball should be enough.’
With no weapon in hand, the young man believes that utilizing mana in the atmosphere to cast a spell is more than enough to deal with the sli in front of him, a bit more powerful than his usual output, perhaps, but still manageable with his current strength.
Hence, taking the mont he is still undetected by the target in front of him, he raises his arms, putting his palm in front as he starts focusing, his confidence in his repetitive use of this fire-elental spell surpassing most of his peers by magnitudes, as compared to said peers who can wield multiple spells; this is the only thing he can use.
As he starts channeling the destructive spell, mana begins surging from the atmosphere around him towards his hand, making him smile, seeing that it is going pretty well. A big ball of fire conjures itself in front of his palm, prepared to strike the mont it fully realizes itself.
The first mistake.
Different from the slis that grow outside, the slis within the Evolution Domain are blessed with mana since their ergence into the world, aning that compared to the slis outside, practically a blind target practice for beginners of both sword and magic, smiles in the Evolution Domain are completely different kind of beasts, ones that is capable enough not only to defend themselves, but to hunt those they deem prey as well.
In that near-instantaneous mont that mana starts converging towards Novus’ palm, the target was also notified of the existence of a threat, its body previously just grazing around the grass, curling up into a defensive ball, its previously springy, gelatinous body turning into a solid mass without any point of weakness all throughout.
What’s even worse for Novus is the feeling of having soone staring down at him despite this sli’s clear lack of anything close to an eye, making this all the more unsettling as only now did it dawn upon him that maybe, just maybe, he had underestimated this sli a little.
Luck would seem to be on his side, too, as despite sensing that he is preparing for an attack, the sli did nothing; the only thing telling him that the sli truly is aware of his intent is the fact that the sense that soone is staring at him is still there, never going away.
The second mistake.
Perhaps it is due to him being thrown off by the fact that a sli detected his attack, or maybe it is due to him being even more confused due to the sli not acting against him despite detecting his intent, but the young man proceeds completely differently from what he will usually do.
There are only two possible causes for a creature to stop in front of an attack about to descend upon them: it is either sheer terror towards sothing threatening their life, or absolute confidence that what they are facing cannot even leave a scratch on their body.
This is sothing that doesn’t seem to be taken into account when Novus releases the ball of fla floating in his hand, a mistake that deviates from his usual antics during battle, sothing that leads to his third and final mistake during this battle.
The third mistake.
It is launching the fireball at all, as the mont it leaves his palm, the spell surges at an incredible speed towards his target, almost as if a burning arrow prepared to pierce through his opponent, whistling as it rips through the air while scorching every blade of grass it passes through.
Normally, it would’ve pierced the sli, burning it from the inside out, what Novus expected to unfold as well.
Sothing goes completely wrong though as contrary to his expectations, the ball of fire exploded outwards at the mont of impact, completely rendering the young man’s attack useless as he just stood there frozen, watching as that fireball which should’ve been more than enough to deal with dozen or more normal sli was completely tanked by the sli in front of him, without sustaining any damage at all.
And almost as if mocking how weak his attack is, the sli once again softens, clearly taunting him to try attacking once more.
Of course, he won’t be able to, as the next mont, the sli pounces towards him as well.
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