Redo: Grimoire System in the Apocalypse

Chapter 134 - (134) Cat And Mouse

Geth opened his eyes and pushed himself away from the crater he'd been standing in. His eyes glowed with a golden light as his Mana quickly depleted.

He looked at the Demonic Skeleton, and its arm suddenly stopped moving. It was almost as if the beast were frozen solid.

Geth heaved a sigh of relief and allowed the Restoration to finish healing him before jumping onto the beast's arm.

He deactivated Time Delay and stood as the fist crashed harmlessly into the wall. Dust and debris splattered everywhere, but Geth remained unharmed.

He waited for the dust to die down and studied the creature. He had noticed something rather odd about it while it was sitting still a moment ago.

:Demonic Skeleton, Lvl 70 (World Boss); HP- 974,362/1,000,000:

Even while it wasn't moving, the beast was losing health constantly. Every second it dropped by close to a thousand health.

'This being is made from the Mana of someone else. It has no Mana of its own,' Albus stated.

'To use any abilities, or even to exist, it has to feed on the same Mana that gives it life. I'm sure that Draug expected us to die long before it killed itself.'

Geth looked at the monster with a dull face. He would have found a way to beat it anyway, but the things life was ticking away.

Another hand was quickly racing towards him. Just when it almost struck him, he activated Time Delay again.

He stepped backward and allowed the creature to crush its own arm before jumping onto the back of its hand.

The Skeleton's health dropped by almost 15,000 when its attack hit. Geth waved to his own Skeleton and had it start firing arrows from behind the monster.

The damage wasn't much, but it would add up after a drawn-out battle. A cry of rage escaped the Demonic Skeleton as it realized it had been avoided again.

Geth wasn't freezing the beast in time. It was more like a lapse in thought.

It was closer to the monster going into a cryogenic state. Its mind was still working, but it had been slowed to a point where one thought could take days or weeks.

Three or four seconds had passed for Geth, but almost no time had passed at all for the Skeleton.

It was dangerous. The momentum from the creature's swings could still cause the strikes to hit. 

That is... if the creature wasn't just a puppet. Albus speculated as much when its fist stopped the first time.

'This won't be easy. We need it to go down fast.'

Geth tried casting Restoration on the monster and found that it didn't work.

'This is a Demonic creature, not an Undead. Most of your magic will have zero effect on it.'

Sigh

Geth couldn't help but be disappointed. Now, his only choice was to kite and hope that the puppet gave out before he did.

'My best options right now are Wisdom and Strength.'

He cast Mass Invocation on himself, keeping the vast Wisdom boost and gaining an immense amount of Strength as well.

'The first thing I'm doing when the Tower opens up is buying attack magic.' 

He slammed his staff down on the Skeleton's wrist and used the force to propel himself out of its immediate reach.

:Demonic Skeleton, Lvl 70 (World Boss); HP- 942,366/1,000,000:

'We can use its size to our advantage.'

Geth watched as the crouched figure tried to turn and follow him. He could tell that it wasn't slow, but there wasn't much that it could do in that hunched-over position.

He stayed on the edge of the monster's vision while making sure that his tame stayed out of sight. A giant hand swung in his direction, but he nimbly avoided it.

The three figures continued this game of cat and mouse for many minutes. Geth could tell that the creature was getting flustered when it started flailing its arms about, destroying the room as it did so.

'Shit. It must be Draug. He's giving us fewer places to run.'

Dodging the giant fists became much more challenging amongst the rubble. Even more so because the Skeleton quit aiming for him and persisted with making debris rain down.

****

"Ah, I see. This young man has some sort of mind manipulation ability."

Draug continued staring through the Demonic Skeleton's eyes. It was apparent that whatever the man had been doing before didn't work on inanimate objects.

The falling debris almost crushed him multiple times, yet that ability wasn't used again. If he could, he would likely use it to move away from the wreckage.

"Let's confirm that theory, shall we? Attack him directly."

The giant arms quit flailing about as a balled fist flew towards his opponent. The man suddenly appeared a few feet away, as if the Skeleton had only hit an after image.

"I see," Draug mumbled. "It seems that he's causing the puppet to lose time. It's obvious now."

The stones and debris that had been falling before the punch were all lying on the ground. Even the dust had started to settle down.

It seemed as if four or five seconds had passed since the beginning of the punch. And the puppet had no way to perceive that it had happened.

"What a dangerous ability. It seems that Albus has gotten lucky in choosing his host. No normal human could learn something like that."

There was no need for him to continue preserving the beast. He would lose this battle if he continued attempting to utilize its size and power.

'Only half of its health is left. It will die quickly, but maybe it can take out the runt.'

Draug drew Formations in the air with both hands and chanted in a dark and unknown language. The red Mana inside of the puppet went wild, erupting from its body.

"Even if he does survive, he's likely to be buried under the rubble! Hahahaha!"

Draug continued laughing as his connection to the puppet was severed.. He remained in high spirits throughout his trip to the southern continents.