Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eren looked at Ivor and the snake who returned his cold gaze with hostile intention. Things were going to get messy again for Eren.

But Eren wanted this. This was his prime chance to closely observe the effects of a genuine beast contract spell. He had told Reen to pay attention to his opponent's every move and any minor details he leaked in front of them.

Reen obliged. Her C-Rank mana sense could be made discreet to lower-ranked entities if she wanted to be. She just needed to be wary of entities who were of the same ranker as her or higher.

Since no one of that rank was in the vicinity, she spread her mana sense across the entire battlefield, sharing its feedback with her owner.

Eren observed that Renita was huffing. She had tried her finest and had performed beyond what she could normally do in keeping Jason out of Eren's way. But it was only a matter of time before she got either neutralized by her opponent or turned unconscious after overdrawing on mana.

Steve had joined Renita and was also trying his best to give Renita a breather every once in a while. She had already cast her AoE spell twice. She used her long-range mana bullets to keep the prodigy away from her and her teammate, if only barely.

Steve wasn't all that effective in dealing with Jason. He was helping Renita, yes. But he knew he would have been taken out by their opponent long ago had it not been Renita helping him with her cover fire.

But the duo was running on fumes while their opponent adopted mana conservation strategy. All Jason needed to do in dealing with those opponents was dodge and wait for them to run out of their mana.

It was not like Jason didn't try to leave the battle with Renita. The girl was very persistent with her attacks and thanks to her wind affinity, managed to keep up with his speed. Jason wasn't helpless against her. But he knew that a battle with her was going to waste his time.

So Jason tried to storm out of his duel with the ranger. But Renita wouldn't let him go. She had been instructed by Eren to keep the guy out. And she had decided to try her best to fulfil the expectation her crush had on her. So the battlemage was helpless. He could neither advance nor retreat.

Eren had made Alephee deactivate the spell combo after Ivor had executed his AoE. but he knew it was soon going to have to be activated again. That's because the ranker-beast duo was just about to attack him.

The purple snake attacked first. It slithered its way towards Eren in such a way that one could believe that it had flown towards its target. Eren made Alephee activate his time-element spell combo just when the snake was about to bite him with its long and sharp fangs.

The shape of the snake's fanger was as real as real could get. It was just that Eren could partially see through them. Observing the beast closely in the stagnated world, he and Reen observed its mana body and the way it responded.

'What do you think, Reen?'

Eren asked while changing positions so the snake would miss its target. Reen observed some more for a while before saying:

'We can give you an appearance that would state that you are using the beast contract spell. But we cannot do anything about the beast manifestation.

Mana bodies are one thing. I'm sure we can find a way to manifest it the way we see in front of us if we look hard enough. But we can't do anything with the soul that resides in the tattoo.

I kinda have an idea about how we can deal with the soul part. But I'll tell you that after the battle gets over. Let's concentrate on the battle for now.'

Reen commented and Eren focused on what was in front of him. The latter nodded at her opinion and got out of the snake's attack zone.

Eren knew fighting the beast was useless. It had a mana body that could generate endlessly as long as the caster's mana could support the consumption.

Eren needed to target the caster himself. As long as he could take care of him, the snake's mana body would dissipate on its own. So he prepared to launch his assault on Osan Jr as soon as he got out of the snake's attacking zone.

Eren triple-stacked Blitz Steps and approached his opponent. He started with his kick-work this time. His legs were already wrapped in lightning. But with triple stacking of the movement spell, the lightning streams looked like they had come alive, flying in every direction they could think of.

Ivor smiled at the incoming kick. Because unlike before, he could see and pursue his opponent's attacks just fine. That was because his body stats had risen as a result of the Beat Contract spell.

Plus, Ivor's time-element artefact was still working for him. That gave him the confidence and skill to deal with Eren's insane speed. He had to admit that Eren was better than him in executing lightning element spells. The reason he thought Eren was fighting normally was that he was dependent on his artefact.

Ivor didn't like there was a better lightning element user than him. He subconsciously wanted to harm Eren because of jealousy and envy.

Ivor acted on those thoughts. He used his artefacts to their limits and made Eren get off balance with his own footwork. Then aimed a punch at Eren's neck, targeting Eren's Adam's apple.

Eren was again shocked by how deep Ivor had hidden his trump cards, not unlike him. The guy had shown only a portion of his artefacts' full potential. He saved that effect to be used with his beast contract spell, giving him the much-needed edge he was looking for.

'Ok. That's enough to get a sense of how things are. Reen, prepare yourself.

Faux beast contract spell.'

Eren shouted in his head as he saw the fist drawing close on him.