Rise of the Limitless One

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"Cezar, you'll lead the assault on the Apex Panther. Elaine, control its movement by limiting the area it can operate under," Matthias instructed. At the same time, he tapped his foot against the ground, retreating atop the Guardian Stone. This gave him a bird's eye view of the battlefield, spanning 5-meters into the air.

Simultaneously, Matthias nocked three arrows, aiming them at different positions on the panther's body. Unlike the prior enemies, this beast was much harder to face due to its rapid movements and agile maneuvering.

Since it was a cat type monster, it possessed feline traits, extreme flexibility and pristine balance. Hence, without accurate marksmanship, it would be a chore to hit him. Alongside the accuracy, both speed and power were needed to account for the panther's reflexes. At least, this was true for a "normal" person devoid of abilities.

Matthias extended his hand, holding it in line with the panther's body. "Gravity Manipulation - Intensify!"

Based on his actions, it appeared Matthias' ability wasn't as simple as a gravity break. It seemed as if the control of gravity itself was his ability! No wonder the others were always wary of him.

This type of ability was insane to possess. It also meant Matthias fell under the most unique category—Force Wielders.

A pocket of intense gravity bore down on the panther's body, reducing its speed by a severe amount. An angered snarl sounded from the panther's throat due to the drastic decrease it felt. Seconds later, a collection of Mana gathering in its mouth.

An undulating wave of Mana then fired towards Matthias, intending to disrupt his actions. Unfortunately for the panther, this was a team effort. Cezar appeared before Matthias with startling agility and shredded the ripple to pieces with relentless claw attacks.

If one looked closely, they'd realise his eyes were silver and a bluish shade appeared around them, with sharpened canine teeth. While his transformation wasn't complete, it was clear that the basis of Cezar's true ability was in fact his beast transformation ability.

Afterward, Cezar didn't idle. He rushed forward and tracked the panther's suppressed speed. Because of Matthias's actions, Cezar and the Panther were on par with each other.

Concurrently, he also kept note of the remaining time. There was a reason the trial released the panther so late; it was to test their ability to deal with spontaneous danger in little amounts of time.

After all, there were often times wherein a Guardian would face unprecedented dangers, even without preparation. It was mandatory for a Guardian to possess the skills to overcome those difficulties.

Meanwhile, Elaine deluged the area in flames, forming a controlled ring of fire that didn't spread under the use of her exceptional Mana Control. Although controlling a released ability was taxing on the mind and MQ, it was well within her limits, remaining calm throughout.

Finally, Elliot and Priscilla finished their beasts off as well as the other members; Ragna and Blair. Compared to the other two, Blair and Ragna were lackluster but still strong nonetheless. Blair's ability was related to the wind, wielding a wand to create powerful gales.

On the other hand, Ragna wore 2 cm spiked knuckles, crackles of lightning appearing at each point of contact. The reason the others didn't pay much mind to them was due to the current close-quarter advantage of their abilities.

Each of them fared well on their own without the support of the others. Furthermore, since their rank was lower than the others, it was the perfect time to close the gap and increase their future usefulness.

As this happened, Lucian continued to spectate the way they dealt with a stronger monster. Elliot effortlessly redirected the panther's strikes and kept it at bay. With his Endurance amplified to D+, accompanied by a shield, it was disquieting to bypass his defenses.

Not to mention, when he used his ability, it synergized with his already ironclad vessel. While he continued to defend against the enraged panther, Elaine kept the monster contained and continually split pieces of the ringed prison into fireballs and attacked the panther when the gravity holding it down weakened.

After all, they were human and their reserves were bound to face exhaustion after operating their abilities at their limits for too long.

A faint green mist enveloped Elliot at times, recovering the accumulated fatigue to his vessel. Unmistakably, this was Priscilla's healing ability. As an S Rank Ability, it did more than just recover health, even resolving the other hidden injuries acquired in battle.

Of course, abilities like these came with heavy limitations. Compared to everyone else abilities, Priscilla's was much more costly. First and foremost, it wasn't a single activation like most offensive skills, it was a channeling ability. In other words, it required a sustained expenditure of Mana to complete its process.

And, depending on the strength of the vessel, it determined just how much Mana would be exhausted. Fortunately, they had yet to reach a level where their body became frighteningly resilient akin to a diamond body, amplifying the amount of resources needed to move forward.

Soon enough, there was just 15 minutes remaining in the tutorial, and due to the momentum of the fight, the Panther still possessed some ability to fight.

"Damn, what's wrong with this thing?! It just won't go down!" Cezar scowled. There were innumerable lacerations on the panther's fur, yet not a single wound was bleeding. Seconds after it received the wound, the innermost layer was sealed, reducing the amount of strength lost.

"What do you expect? It's not called an Apex Beast for no reason. Granted, we brought this upon ourselves, but there haven't been any issues thus far," Elaine responded. "Now, continue to assault. Or, could you already be tired?"

"T-tired?! Just who do you think I am?" Cezar scoffed. However, Elaine's remark wasn't without reason. Since young, Cezar's shortcoming was stamina. While he was strong and fast, it was only in short bursts. Once he exhausted himself, his usefulness plummeted dramatically.

Hence, contrary to what one would expect due to his personality, he had actually been using a few points to raise his Endurance to be on par with his other stats.

With a disgruntled expression, Cezar sped forth, delivering several more deep lacerations to the panther's limbs. However, he didn't stop there. Straightaway, he activated another one of his abilities, an image of a feral beast opening its maw enveloped the panther.

In his anger, Cezar has exhausted quite a bit of Mana to do so. His MQ has finally dropped under 20%. With his quotient of over 205, that was a shocking expenditure.

"Heh, always a hothead," Priscilla chuckled with an amused smile.

All of a sudden, a massive undulation of Mana occurred. As Matthias drew back his bow, he started to gather uncharted amounts of Mana at the tip of the arrowhead. The bow in his hand shimmered with a radiant light as tiny cracks appeared down the side.

"Tch, show off. Look at you overloading a weapon again," Cezar grumbled while immobilizing the panther, dodging its gale-producing swipes in the process. The disturbance continued to grow concerning as even larger fractures appeared on the bow.

Right before it shattered completely, Matthias lifted his head, "Everyone, retreat."

Without a second thought, Elaine opened a space in the flame prison, allowing everyone to retreat quickly.

Once they were gone, Matthias released the horrifying arrow in his possession. However, if one looked closely after the bright light of Matthias's arrow flashed, another arrow followed behind.

Ziinggg!

As the arrow flew, it created a sonorous ringing peal that pierced everyone's ears. Additionally, except for its arrowhead, every piece of the hidden arrow disintegrated under the pressure of the undulating mana waves.

For a moment, there was nothing but disorientation. But, when they regained their senses, a gaping hole was left from the panther's forehead through its torso. As for the signs of the other arrow, it disappeared after being lodged into the wound.

In the silence, its body made a loud thud as its lifeless carcass fell to the ground.

〈Alert: You have killed an Apex Panther (C Rank). [Reward: 14.0 points]〉

Lucian was astonished by the number of points, but he did his best to conceal it. As an F Rank, receiving points from a C Rank monster was akin to a fortuitous encounter! After some time, Lucian dispelled the notification and inspected the objective.

Behind them, while the Guardian Stone was still in one piece, the barrier surrounding it possessed nothing but fractures. While some of it was acquired from Matthias's attack, most of it was a result of the panther's mana-infused roars.

〈Alert: Objective «Kill the Apex Panther» has been completed. [Reward will be issued to your Monolith interface upon Tutorial completion].〉

Shockingly, even Lucian received this message, but the others weren't aware. Since he was registered as an official member of the team, he too was entitled to the rewards.

However, truth be told, they actually preferred him to not get involved. If there was a chance to lessen the portion during the division, then most of the party was willing to do so.

Meanwhile, with all of the monsters now dead, and the Guardian Stone in one piece, everyone moved to relax, propping up against the stone.

Uneventfully, the last few minutes passed, bringing about the alert everyone was awaiting.

〈Alert: Tutorial «S&P - UTED» Success! [Now returning you to the Proximal Space.]〉