The kobold mastodon didn't wait.
It roared, spraying foam from its mouth, and swung a diagonal arc from above with the full weight of four meters behind it — the kind of strike that doesn't aim for precision but to erase anything in its path.
Gareth threw himself left. The blade grazed his shoulder and sheared clean through the rock fragment behind him.
'Rage...? Did I make it angry somehow? But I didn't do anything.'
He countered straight at the right shoulder joint with both daggers.
Three centimeters. The Mastodon twisted its arm, launching him backward in a movement that had nothing defensive about it — pure aggression in every direction at once.
Gareth landed rolling and got to his feet while still in motion before the giant finished repositioning.
The Mastodon was already on top of him.
Vertical strike from above — he threw himself to the ground, sliding underneath, felt the blade's impact against the stone centimeters from his head. Dust and rock fragments flying in every direction. He rose behind the giant and drove both daggers into the shoulder joint before it finished turning.
Four centimeters this time.
The Mastodon howled — a sound that came from deep inside the armor with that specific frequency of real pain — and swung its elbow back trying to crush him against the wall.
Gareth jumped back, landed on his knees, was back on his feet before the next strike arrived.
'The joint is giving. A little more each time. But it's not enough.'
'I need the sword.'
He spotted it six meters away.
Enormous. On the ground. Exactly where it had fallen when the Mastodon dropped it to draw the axe now lodged in the outer corridor wall — the same axe Gareth had dodged by throwing his head back.
No sword. No axe.
'All it has left are its arms and the armor.'
'And I've got its sword six meters away.'
The Mastodon shifted tactics — short, direct strikes, cutting off the flanks Gareth had been exploiting. One grazed his right side and spun him a meter to the left. Another came from below and he blocked it with crossed daggers, feeling his arms protest with a pain that Predator's Instinct barely managed to compensate for.
'It's boxing me in again.'
He faked left.
The Mastodon anticipated it and cut the angle — exactly what Gareth had been counting on. He reversed direction at the last instant, slipped through the giant's blind spot at full speed, and reached the sword before the Mastodon could close the distance.
He grabbed it with both hands.
Spun with all the momentum of the sprint behind him.
The first blow struck the Mastodon's torso before it finished processing what was happening.
The black bone armor — the same armor that had batted away the Claws of Marveth effortlessly throughout the entire fight — gave.
A diagonal crack split the giant's chest from end to end with a dry sound that rang through the entire chamber.
"Interesting." Gareth muttered it without stopping. "Your own armor can't hold up against your own sword."
The Mastodon roared and brought its left arm crashing down trying to slam him into the ground. Gareth threw himself to the side, let the arm graze his shoulder as it passed, and countered into the right flank with every ounce of force available.
Another fragment of armor hit the floor.
The Mastodon took one step back.
'First step back in the entire fight.'
Gareth gave it no time to recover.
Strike to the left shoulder — the plate split into two pieces that flew in opposite directions. The Mastodon tried to dodge right. Gareth was already there — diagonal strike that caught its side and made it spin. Rising strike from below that connected with the jaw at full power from the Absolute Edge still unactivated and sent it two steps back toward the wall.
The giant raised both arms trying to protect its head.
"Too late."
Gareth went for the knees.
Strike to the left — the joint crunched. The Mastodon lost its balance for an instant and Gareth used that moment to reach the fully exposed right flank and bring the sword down with his full body weight behind it.
The impact sent the Mastodon three steps into the wall.
What remained of its armor was half of what it had been at the start of the fight.
'Almost there.'
"Almost there." He repeated it out loud this time, not directing it at anyone in particular.
The Mastodon tried to grab him directly with its hand — no weapon, no armor in that zone, just the desperate instinct of something that knows it's losing and has no options left.
Gareth ducked under the fingers closing around the air where his head had been a moment before, slipped beneath the outstretched arm, and struck the elbow joint from the inside.
The arm buckled outward at an angle it shouldn't.
The Mastodon howled.
And in that moment of pain and distraction Gareth stepped back two paces, looked at the giant standing before him — no weapons, half its armor scattered across the floor, one arm compromised, retreating against the wall — and felt something settle in his chest.
[Activation Buff Available]
'Ready.'
"Time to activate the buff."
[Absolute Edge — +65% base damage for 3 minutes — Activate?]
[ YES ] — [ NO ]
He pressed YES without thinking.
The change was immediate.
The sword in his hands felt different — lighter, more precise, as if its weight had found exactly the right balance. The edges of the blade caught the chamber's light in a way they hadn't before, radiating something that wasn't exactly light but the specific absence of all resistance.
Gareth felt it in his arms, in his shoulders, in every point of contact between his hands and the weapon.
'This is what it feels like to have the right buff at the right moment.'
He charged.
What followed was a complete reversal.
Strike to the right shoulder — what remained of the upper plate disintegrated into fragments. The Mastodon tried to cover itself with its left arm — Gareth redirected the arc toward the exposed side and drove down with the full Absolute Edge behind it.
The giant folded forward.
Gareth didn't stop.
Diagonal strike across the back — the last torso armor fragment fell. Rising strike that connected with the jaw and straightened the giant back up. Lateral strike that spun it one hundred and eighty degrees.
The Mastodon was completely exposed.
No armor. No weapons. Body still rotating from the last impact.
Gareth went for the legs.
Strike to the left knee at full available speed — the joint gave with a sound that filled the chamber. The giant staggered left. Gareth was already on the right — strike to the right knee with his full body weight and the active Absolute Edge behind it.
The Mastodon fell.
Four meters of black muscle and bone crashing into the stone floor with a thunderclap that shook the entire chamber, sent dust flying in every direction, and snuffed out the few torches still burning in the corners.
Near total darkness.
Gareth stood before the fallen giant.
Sword in hand.
Breathing fast but controlled.
The Mastodon tried to rise, pushing off with the one arm still functional.
It couldn't.
Gareth looked down at it from above for the first time in the entire fight from that specific position — the position he'd been waiting for since the moment the axe had grazed his forehead in the corridor.
"End of the fight."
He raised the sword.
And brought it down.
The Mastodon's body dissolved in three seconds.
The black bone armor crumbling to dust. The muscle mass disintegrating until the chamber fell into complete silence.
As if the fight had never happened.
Except for one thing.
The core.
A black sphere with veins of red light pulsing slowly at the exact center of where the body had been. Perfect. Uncracked.
[Kobold Mastodon eliminated]
[EXP gained: +380]
[Total EXP: 1185/1500]
[BUFF UNLOCKED]
[Dragon's Breath: +18% base damage — Permanent]
[Minor Boss Core obtained]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 17 → Level 18]
[Stats updated]
Strength: 60 → 68
Agility: 67 → 76
Endurance: 49 → 55
Perception: 78 → 88
Dexterity: 62 → 70
[Buff Master bonus applied: +15% to all stats]
Gareth picked the core up from the ground.
The size of his fist. Pulsing slow against his palm like something alive.
'Professor's assignment. Done.'
'I'll keep it and—'
Something made him stop.
The kid's eyes.
He was still pressed against the back wall — exactly where Gareth had left him after the rescue, not having moved a single centimeter through the entire fight — and he wasn't looking at Gareth.
He was looking at the core.
With that specific intensity of someone who knows exactly what it means and what it would cost them not to have it.
'Damn.'
'If I keep it, it'll raise suspicion. Questions. Attention I don't need from someone who's already seen my face.'
'I guess it doesn't matter anymore.'
"You... You want this, don't you?"
The kid blinked. Nodded — once, slow, still in that state of someone who hasn't finished processing what they just witnessed.
Gareth looked at him for one more second.
"Here."
He tossed it without force.
The kid caught it with both hands and held it against his chest, staring at it like he still couldn't believe it was real.
"And be more careful about where you wander off to next time." Gareth turned and walked away. "There might not be someone around to save you."
Corvus landed on his left shoulder before he reached the exit.
"You're very generous."
"I'm not in the mood to answer you."
"Such a grouch." A pause. "By the way — that was a very entertaining fight to watch." Another pause. "Though it was obvious you'd be the one to win."
Gareth smiled.
Just a little.
"Y-you!"
He stopped.
Both he and Corvus turned their heads at the same time.
The kid was still pressed against the wall but now he was looking directly at them — the core clutched against his chest with both hands, eyes wider than at any point during the entire fight.
"You're a hunter, aren't you?! I don't recognize you! What's your name?!"
Gareth looked at him.
And lowered his head.
'Whatever... If I've already exposed myself this much, I might as well make a good first impression.'
He turned to face him completely.
Raised his thumb, pointing it at himself.
"I'm Mourgare."
The kid's eyes lit up.
He was standing in front of the person who had saved the world.