Chapter 206: Sandman (2/2)

If there was any furniture here before, then it must have been buried already. With light steps and cautious eyes, he started making his way through the hall.

As he reached the middle of the hall, the sand began to shift. Arthur frowned and jumped backward as he watched the sand gather.

'A sandman.'

Even though it had the word man in it, it wasn't a humanoid creature. As the sand gathered, the shape of a giant sphere began to form. Whips of sand gathered and condensed into physical tentacles.

Arthur couldn't sense its lifeforce because this monster could hide as sand. It used its core to control the sand to gain a physical form.

In its essence, this was another spiritual parasite like the one that controlled the undead.

The sand hissed as it surrounded Arthur. Standing in the middle of it all, Arthur looked at the sandman that had suddenly manifested. He didn't know what tier this monster could be, but it shouldn't be too higher given it was a part of the exam.

'Truly, Jerano is full of interesting things.' Arthur grinned as he took a step forward. A pillar of sand rushed toward him and Arthur constructed a barrier to block it. The sand spread in every direction around the barrier as it began burying Arthur.

Once the five seconds of the barrier ended, Arthur slipped into his shadow and appeared from within the darkness a few meters away.

The monster seemed to sense his existence despite not having any eyes and it attacked again with another pillar. Seeing its method of fighting, Arthur had a certain idea in his mind.

Earth Manipulation.

The sand began diverting in a one-meter radius around him. Before, this skill was too mana-consuming for him to use, but now it wasn't that bad. Furthermore, he was simply diverting the direction of the sand to the side.

This was the perfect chance to increase the level of this skill, as it was useful sometimes. He didn't have a lot of chances to use it in an actual fight since those chances are rare.

His mana was being drained rapidly because of the constant use of the skill. Despite being of a weaker effect than runes, their mana consumption was a lot higher.

However, Arthur also saw that the skill's percentage was rising rapidly. He came to a realization that the higher his mana became, the more rapidly he can increase the proficiency of his skills.

'Well, I can't keep this going.' Arthur realized that at some point, his mana wouldn't be enough to take the monster down. 'I never learned how to kill a sandman though.'

Such monsters had a core, but with how large the hall was, he had no idea where the core was. It wasn't necessarily inside of its body, although that possibility can't be ruled out. Arthur began walking toward the monster.

It seems the monster realized how ineffective its attack was so it started to control the sand under Arthur. As the sand parted ways, Arthur found himself diving deeper.

”A little shrewd, don't you think?” Arthur muttered as he looked at his sinking feet. Given the right environment, it seems even weaker monsters could pose a threat.

Arthur entered his shadow space as he traveled toward the monster. He appeared right below it and jumped before the monster could react. With a punch, the sand scattered everywhere but there was no core.

”You're starting to annoy me.” Arthur frowned before he used his art. As he became connected to Existence a little, Arthur felt the connection formed between the sand and the monster. Tracing it back to its origins… ”Found you.” Arthur grinned before he rushed toward an inconspicuous part of the hall.

As the sand tried to block him, Arthur used his skill to divert it. He felt the core try to slip away from him but Arthur used another rune, Force, to push away the sand that was surrounding him.

He spotted a blue core floating and trying to slip away but Arthur dashed and threw his arm, turning the sand into a wall around it. With nowhere to go, the core was grabbed by Arthur as it tried to wiggle free.

A violent sandstorm surrounded Arthur all of a sudden as lightning crackled. Luckily, the parasite couldn't control the lightning so it didn't attack Arthur with its first volley.

Arthur injected the core with mana and watched as it turned into a purple shade similar to those crystals. The sand died down as the storm stopped and Arthur was left alone in the hall.