Master Of None

Chapter 2327: 2327. Crushing Ancient Stone

'Ancient stone mimic

This monster was known as the human hunter by ancient humans. They would follow traces of ancient humans due to the fact that the iron and other earth related elements within their blood were delicious to them.

They can survive for thousands of years in dormancy while mimicking stones or statues, they will always be identifiable by the red markings on their body though. These red markings form from the human bodies that they have consumed, some ancient humans believed this was the world cursing them as a horrendous monster undeserving of further growth.

They will often be brought in to ancient human settlements as stones for building. From there, they will take the form of a statue or another human in stone form to hide in plain sight. Over the course of months or years, they will move and kill humans to eat before resting again in wait.

The older they are, the more accurate their stone mimic skill becomes and the harder their stone skin becomes. This ensures that they can fight monsters much larger and stronger than them without being crushed. It all comes at the cost of being unable to manipulate earth mana outside of their own bodies however...'

As much as Onyx wanted to immediately attack with his full strength, he was forced to listen to this all around appraisal scroll result and ground his teeth. He couldn't easily use his force to defeat them right away. Instead, he had to keep the researchers safe.

Even the soldiers that were fighting the ancient stone mimics were being pushed back. Many had already been injured since there were five of these things all around them attacking from different directions. And they had barely been scratched by the physical attacks used against them.

When it came to monsters, these ancient stone mimics were exceptionally dangerous. The strength that they possessed was all about defensive earth skills. Their skin was malleable to move and change to take the forms of statues but they were not taking any damage. Worse off yet, Onyx noticed that they were aiming to grab and break off any part of a human near them. They were targeting the human soldiers and researchers!

As Onyx encircled most of the researchers with his body expanding to a larger size, he felt that he was still being held back. He couldn't take his full size from his shadow because he would crush the researchers instead of becoming defenses for them. He also called the human soldiers to retreat to him.

At the very least he knew that he could protect them with his defensive skills. The light and dark mana he made his armor and his tough scales might be enough to defend him for the time being. That would allow for the mages to take time and target the ancient stone mimics better. Their magic would be the best way to defeat these things.

The pained hiss that Onyx released came as one of the ancient stone mimics stabbed at him with the statue dagger it held. His scales cracked again. The stone body and dagger that the ancient stone mimic had made didn't even have a dent or chip on them. A worse result than what Onyx wanted to see right now.

The dark mana and light mana becoming his armor was shredded away. He felt way too weak even as he tried to think of how he could use dark mana to make dark spikes without hurting anyone else around him. The positioning of these monsters and the soldiers was too scattered. One wrong move and he would kill his own men!

Breaking the air and causing every soldier to leap back, a roar echoed through the ruins.

The next sound was a brutal shattering of stone and guttural growling as Midnight's full dragon form broke in to the scene. "Sister!" Onyx had no idea why Midnight had arrived or what she had planned on doing. But right now, he knew that she was exceptionally angry and was prepared to tear these monsters to shreds.

The evidence was right there, one of the ancient stone mimics had been torn asunder by her claws wreathed in dark mana. She had enhanced her attack force with the dark mana that Onyx was trying to gather and wait for an opportunity to use, but since she had trained with him so much, she had easily made it her own for an attack.

With another growl, Midnight leaped over the heads of a few soldiers and bit in to the shoulder of another ancient stone mimic. A small dark dragon breath had gathered while she was in the air and was released while her teeth pierced the tough stone skin that others had struggled with.

That was when Onyx realized that she was using more than just dark mana. She was using earth mana to strengthen her claws and teeth. Then on top of that, she was letting a layer of dark mana cover them to deal more damage. Both strengthening her body while also allowing for a more destructive attack. Her control over two manas without them interfering with one another had greatly grown.

This sudden slaughter of two ancient stone mimics had allowed the soldiers the time to regroup and Onyx to allow them a place to guard the researcher he was protecting. It also allowed him to take the offensive as well since there was not a single person at risk for being struck down by him.

Dense dark mana formed at the tip of his tail before he launched forward. The tail stabbed through the air with incredible force. While midnight had grown and he was awestruck by his older sibling, Onyx was not weak either. He was out for revenge right now, and his well trained dark tail pierce was just the improvement on his tail slam skill that he needed right

now.

The ancient stone mimic didn't even have the ability to react as the dark mana pierced through its arms and in to its chest causing the stone its skin was made of to decay rapidly. The remaining two ancient stone mimics finally felt the natural fear that came when their lives were at risk.

In a single swift motion, Onyx and Midnight targeted them. Their instincts as natural predators told them that their prey had no chance to survive. The attacks from both of them caused the shards of stone and the sounds of shattering to echo through the cavernous ruins. Leaving the hustles of healers and the sounds of recovery spells being cast to be heard over all else.

"Sister, I'm glad you came to see the ruins we are researching." Onyx didn't say anything else as Midnight sniffed him and looked at his damaged scales. She growled slightly while looking at the ancient stone mimics. If she could, she would have gladly destroyed them a few more

times.

"It's not your fault. They attacked out of nowhere. We should have used the all around appraisal scrolls sooner. I didn't even think about using the general appraisal skill I gained from using the scrolls. Brother will be angry with me." he did understand his failings, but Midnight huffed a little before nudging him with her head.

She could care less about him getting yelled at. She only cared that he was safe and sound.

After taking a little more care in checking his wounds, Midnight took her dragonkin form again. Onyx also returned to his smaller size after drinking a healing potion. They both understood that they couldn't occupy so much space with everything going on right now. It was better to have the room to clean up and help the injured.

"These are the ancient human ruins. Many statues here show off ancient monsters and have some information carved below. Humans even wrote how they fought or hid from them in some places. We will be able to help a lot more if we can record it all." Onyx pointed out the researchers who had been working without rest. He was proud to show off their efforts. "Came to help you." She pointed at Onyx and then looked around for anyone that appeared to be struggling. While Midnight did not have healing skills, she knew she had strength and that was enough to move some broken statues or clean up the remains of these ancient stone mimics.

"I missed you as well Sister. We have been very busy lately." Onyx spoke before slithering off toward the injured. He wanted to check on them and see if he could help with anything while

the healers were rushing about.

Midnight just smiled a little while she began to move the large bodies of the ancient stone mimics. She was sure that they would be valuable crafting materials for Genesis and research materials as well.

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