Return Of The Strongest Player

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each second, a rock the size of a human's body fell to the ground. It caused shockwaves to run through the ground and caused craters as deep as five to six feet to appear. It was a true rain of Earth.

Arthur, Gary, and Evan desperately utilized their footwork techniques and skills to avoid being the victim of such a devastating attack. Considering the sheer scale of attack, it wouldn't be a surprise to witness a portion of the entire forest being wiped out.

Caroline backed away quite easily, as she hadn't approached the elephant in the beginning. However, she maintained a fair distance so that she could use her blessings on her comrades, strengthening their body and mind during battle.

While preparing the blessings for her comrades and curses for the elephant, Caroline suddenly spotted a boulder heading straight towards Evan, who was unbeknownst to its approach. "Evan!" She called out.

The elephant revealed what seemed like a smile for beasts before swirling its trunk around, attempting to force more boulders towards a single target.

Evan, although belatedly, spotted the approaching boulder. His eyes widened as fear corroded them, following a period of time in which he simply stared at the potential cause of his death. "Fuck…"

Thud! Thud!

A split second before the boulder bashed Evan's head like a watermelon, two blurs shot past the man, forcing him back several meters. When the boulder landed, there wasn't a single entity beneath.

Caroline sighed in relief.

"Dumbass," said Arthur and Gary simultaneously, smacking the back of Evan's head before revealing a faint smile. They then shot towards the elephant, whose rage increase by the second due to continuous failures.

The Earth Rain, however, continued in a timely fashion and displayed no signs of ending any time soon.

'How much mana does this… thing have?' Arthur wondered, gazing at the falling boulders up above. Considering the scale of the attack, regular beasts wouldn't have been able to continue the rain for more than a few seconds, or a minute at best.

But it had already been over a minute.

If the boulders continued for another minute, it would be too much for mere first-year students to handle. Although Arthur, Gary, Evan, and Caroline were the brightest of the bunch along with a few others, it didn't allow them to perform massive feats…

Like eliminating a deity of the forest.

Usually, in both Heaven's Spire and the planet Arthur resided upon, certain locations had guardians or gatekeepers, who were also known as 'deities' for their immense power. They were also referred to as deities due to their territorial tendencies.

Like a guardian, the megathirio elephant seemed to be a deity of the forest. Although not the strongest one, he seemed like a fairly decently-ranked deity.

Slash! Slash! Thud! Slash!

For now, Arthur decided to ignore such possibilities. Although his mana was being sucked at a rapid rate due to continuous use of [Mana Step], it wouldn't face a problem to be touched once or twice by the boulders.

[Judgment Regeneration] would heal such minor wounds.

On the other hand, Arthur was having trouble implementing [Judgment Regeneration] to the elephant, since as a guardian of the forest, its Sin and Virtue values were quite equal. The slight weakening hadn't served much purpose, but had consumed a lot of mana.

"At this point, we'll be suffering from exhaustion soon," Gary suggested, to which Arthur nodded belatedly.

If they couldn't deliver powerful strikes soon, they would be exhausted. After that, it would only be a matter of time before the elephant gained the upper hand, considering its massive reserve of mana.

"Carol, blessings!" Evan shouted, to which Caroline snorted.

"Wait patiently, will you?" She replied adamantly, but from her strained expression, one could tell she was on the cusp of preparing a powerful blessing.

"Have you gotten a hit on the trunk yet?" Gary asked, narrowly avoiding a kick.

"Yeah, several of them!" Arthur replied, delivering another shallow cut on the elephant's trunk, drawing a significant amount of blood nonetheless. "But this guy… it's like he doesn't feel things in his trunk."

A few seconds of silence descended upon the area.

"Arthur!" Caroline shouted from a distance. "Try… attacking its tusks instead."

"Its tusks?" The crimson-eyed man asked, narrowing his eyes. Suddenly, realization struck him like an epiphany. "Carol… don't tell me…"

Caroline nodded meekly.

"What's going on?" Evan and Gary asked simultaneously, continuing to hack away at different parts of the elephant's hide. It was tough, and quite difficult to deliver cuts and bruises to. It was like the elephant was made of rocks.

Arthur sighed, shaking his head in suppressed frustration. "This isn't a megathirio elephant… It's a Tuskim Elephant."

Gary and Evan tilted their heads, as if unbeknownst to the meaning of the word.

"Tuskim Elephants look strikingly similar to megathirio elephants," said Arthur, parrying a strike from the elephant. "They have similar properties and similar affinities… they have only one striking difference… they're weak to attacks on their tusks, not their trunks. Also, their balance is not weak."

Silence.

All heads turned to face Caroline.

"I'm sorry!" She protested, clasping her hands together. "In return, I'll cast the strongest blessing in my arsenal, despite the mana cost."

Silence.

At that moment, Caroline's eyes shone white, and the mana in the atmosphere condensed, encompassing the bodies of her comrades. It was like a thin sheet of comfort was embracing their bodies.

[Target (Caroline)'s Blessing has been activated.]

[User is experiencing a 20% increase in perception.]

[User is experiencing a 15% increase in attack speed.]

[User is experiencing a 15% increase in strength.]

[User is experiencing a 5% increase in mana reserve.]

[This Blessing is temporary, and its effects will fade soon.]

With a sense of invigoration, Arthur and the others turned to face the elephant, whose eyes suddenly turned bloodshot. An enormous amount of dark mana cloaked its body.

"Is that… supposed to happen?" Evan asked, glancing at Caroline, whose face was distorted.

"No… Tuskim Elephants don't have an affinity to dark mana…"

Arthur and Gary suddenly turned pale. Suddenly, the crimson-eyed man turned around.

"Remember when Ms. Gomez said Invisible Venom Lizards were parasitical?"