"Is this monster useful in some way?" Lev asked, curious as to why Kim had brought them here.

"I can feel a rather potent venom inside," Jay answered instead, intently looking at the plant monster. "Most likely on its teeth, which should be all the way along its length."

That was enough for Lev. A barrier glaive quickly formed above the tree that the monster was hanging from, going through it with minimal trouble. The vine monster thrashed in pain, several mouths now visible on its long body.

Several barrier threads wrapped around its form before pulling it up. The glaive once again flashed, separating each maw into neat chunks of vine, putting down the suffering monster for good.

[

You have slain [Vinemaw - Level 200]

]

All of the chunks were dumped onto a barrier tray before he brought them close to the harvesters. To avoid any accidents, he let them step outside before closing the bubble, keeping the hunters away from any potential harmful surprises.

Jay summoned four long, enchanted tubes. Gloves covered his hands as he grabbed each fang and put them in the tube. The construct's opening squeezed, closing off the air flow before pulling the venom out of the pointy teeth, several drops from each.

By the time he was done, there were two tubes full of the stuff. Lev's mind was also engrossed in all the ways he could inject venoms or poisons in monsters, but explosives outclassed them vastly. Getting his hands on something potent enough to outdo his explosives was impossible, anyway.

Ten minutes later, they were once again roaming the skies to look for anything interesting and valuable when the first flying monsters attacked. Unsurprisingly, they were harpies. Lev didn't know if they had felt hints of all the auras in his bubble or the mana constantly cycling through their enchantments.

[Mature Forest Harpy - Level 332]

[Mature Forest Harpy - Level 329]

…

[Mature Forest Harpy - Level 299]

"Do you think you guys can take them?" Lev sent to the scout, who asked both teams the same question.

"Level range?"

"Three hundred to three forty," Lev answered, keeping his bubbles always a few hundred meters away. Small shields constantly formed at the edges manipulation range, confusing the monsters with the bursts of mana.

It was like toying with a cat with a laser.

"Are there any others than these nine?" the scout asked as all the platinum hunters prepared to fight.

"None that I can see," Lev answered, doing another scan to make sure. "I'll stop whatever else tries to attack you, so get ready."

A large gale immediately disrupted the flight of the harpies, letting the hunters adopt a formation and ready their skills. The warriors in the front, wind mages in the middle, and the rest constantly on the move to not be targeted by more than one monster at once.

Lev kept two dozen invisible shields floating near them, just in case. The hunters numbered the same as the monsters, so the outcome was likely already set in stone.

Within three minutes, a combined wind attack singled out the most damaged harpy and cut off one of its wings. That signaled the beginning of the end of the rather uninteresting fight, too slow for Lev and his Perception.

"Do you two want some of the essence?" Lev sent to Kim, who immediately shook his head. Jay didn't seem inclined to agree either. The fight ended quickly afterwards as the lead snowballed, and the hunters were piling up the corpses to harvest the cores when Lev paused.

Something's here, the doubtful thought echoed in his head, making him wonder if he had imagined it. Regardless, his shields moved closer to the hunters, and it became obvious that something was wrong when even the hunters began looking around.

"Get into the bubble. NOW!"

The scout didn't waste a moment in barking the same order. All the combatants jolted as if awakened from a trance, before sprinting towards the opening in the bubble at full speed.

Not a single one was below level 200, evident by their high speed. It took less than a second for all of them to retreat, yet Lev became acutely aware of something invisible moving in the distance, several kilometers away.

One moment, the forest was still with a light breeze flowing between the large trees, and the next, four of his enchanted shields exploded as long, spindly black tentacles tore through them, slowed just enough to save the final hunter's life.

Dozens of arrows followed in the same instant, finding nothing but empty air and the ground. Lev quickly pulled up both of his bubbles hundreds of meters into the air, giving up on keeping all of his mana hidden.

"Everyone alright?" he absent-mindedly sent to the scout, getting a terrified affirmative in return.

Too close, his eyes darted around, scanning every single tree and its shadow. It took an effort of will to remain calm, knowing that his concealment enchantments were the only reason the monster hadn't attacked again. That would change the moment he moved again.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Do you see anything?" he asked the scout and the harvesters.

"No, sir."

Seconds passed in tense silence as Lev made sure not to let even a whiff of mana escape his bubbles. Nobody used any skills or spoke, understanding the situation without any verbal cues. They only kept their heads on a swivel, looking for the invisible foe.

A warrior's gaze suddenly stopped, before moving ahead, then pausing again. The scout's message had yet to arrive when Lev's eyes found the monster's, finally letting him see what they were dealing with.

[Phantom Thornling - Level 391]

It was small, as far as thornlings were concerned. Standing just barely as tall as Lev, four long tentacles hovered around it, as if floating on an invisible breeze. Their tips were extremely sharp at first glance, and another moment of observation revealed the small barbs along their length, the main reason why his robust defense had pretty much exploded. Even now, it hadn't found the humans flying above.

Either way, Lev let out a relieved breath. The thornling was dangerous, but not a third-threshold-monster-dangerous. He could deal with that, though the thought was challenged a little when the monster vanished without a trace, as if erased from existence.

To test the waters, Lev formed arrows at the edge of his manipulation range in every direction, some closer than the others. It didn't get a reaction from the thornling, so he started infusing his armor with lightning before sending it into the arrows in equal amounts.

That finally earned him a screech that echoed all around him, reverberating several times before dispersing fully. Lev was about to launch them when three of his arrows exploded. The assailant was already gone before he could even turn towards them fully, only able to see a vanishing hint of tentacles.

It can fly.

Just the single thought changed everything. The channel of lightning increased exponentially, and he hapahazardly started firing the arrows down below to try and bait it out. Dozens of crackling blasts rang out in the next second, revealing a shadowy blur for a single instant right below him.

Stargazer was already ready, her blade brimming with lightning mana. As the thornling flew up, a lightning slash flew out of a small opening that formed for a brief instant.

Unsurprisingly, the monster stopped completely mid-air before effortlessly dodging the probing slash, turning invisible again. Now that it knew he was hovering above, there was no more reason to stay hidden lest he risk the platinum hunters and the harvesters.

Lightning rushed into his armor and the orbs in his secondary bubbles, all of them shining bright under the invisibility enchantments. Lev kept his mind prepared, and the thornling didn't waste a moment in pouncing on him the moment he flew out of the main bubble.

A wave of lightning burst out of his armor, once again stopping the assault. Lev still didn't feel a single whiff of mana from the thornling, constantly finding himself trying to look everywhere to find it while flying a few dozen meters above ground.

No sounds, no mana, no lingering trails, Lev moved another dozen invisible shields out of his bubble. And it's not using shadow mana either.

Just to be on the safe side, he moved the remaining hunters as far away from himself as he could and let loose some of his presence. There was no chance that the thornling would prioritize the weaker hunters over him.

Once again, the tip of two barbed tentacles materialized right beside his head, too close to avoid fully. They landed on his armor with dull thuds, unable to gouge it out when Lev guided the infused lightning into the appendages, causing the thornling to pull them back with an ethereal growl, somehow originating close to him despite the monster having moved dozens of meters away in a blink.

Nothing more for me to observe either, Lev decided, and slowly powered up the enchantments on his stored projectiles. Raising Stargazer in front of him, he took a deep breath, feeling the passage of time slow down even further.

Then he waited. The thornling was almost smart, not attacking immediately even when presented with clear openings. But it was still a monster, and Lev spun around just in time to deflect the tentacle aiming to skewer his head, releasing another burst of lightning from his armor.

It engulfed the monster long enough to stun it for a split second. Dozens of arrows were already on their way, brimming with both lightning and fire mana, almost bursting at the seams.

The thornling's eyes widened in alarm before it vanished again, appearing two meters to the right. Its tentacles smashed through several ropes that whirled onto its new location, trying and failing to catch it despite their lightning-imbued speed.

Teleportation too, Lev grinned to himself, finding the experience oddly thrilling. There was nothing for him to learn from the fight, but the monster's skills were so exotic, he didn't want to end it quickly.

Alec and many other researchers were banging their heads against the wall that was space mana, yet this random second-threshold monster could teleport around without a single puff of wasted mana.

Oh well, he channeled lightning into Stargazer's blade again, remembering the harvesters watching the fight in his invisible bubbles. I've got a quest to finish.

Dropping to the ground, he waited for the thornling to make its move again. The monster didn't disappoint, this time appearing above him with its claws outstretched. Twisting his glaive, he pulled her towards himself just enough to fire a lightning slash above his shoulder, the crescent attack hitting the thornling squarely in the chest.

A dozen ropes immediately shot down from his bubbles, only two of them coming in contact with the monster. They carved deep gouges on its sides as the monster weaved between them all, displaying a savage grace Lev wasn't used to seeing amongst the mindless creatures.

And it's still not going to retreat.

He simply stood there, feeling the thornling's gaze always on him. Much of its strength was packed in its ambushes and barbed tentacles, both of them too weak to overwhelm him.

With a deep breath, Lev crouched, feeling one of its appendages pass inches over his head, right into Stargazer's slashing blade. A painful roar washed over him from behind as the monster's invisibility flickered from losing the tentacle, and the lightning dumped into it from the short contact, dispersing entirely when Stargazer went through its head.

And that was that, he exhaled, bringing the corpse back into his main bubble again. It seemed rather worthless, so he harvested the core before throwing it back outside.

[

Phantom Thornling Core

Possesses decent Mana Capacity and extraordinary Mana Conductivity.

Shows lesser properites of stealth.

]

Lev stored the core in his ring and lowered the harvesters, who had their eyes locked onto the dead thornling.

"It's dead," he sent to Kim, who was holding the barrier pole hard enough that his knuckles were white.

"I know," came the reply, strained despite being mental communication. The man was too stressed, and the hunter who almost died from the thornling was borderline hyperventilating.

In a burst of speed, he dragged the corpse back to his bubble with barriers before storing it.

"Did you see anything else from above?" he asked the scout, the calmest of the hunters.

"Three harpy groups that ignored us," she replied. "Also, some large red bird that fried one of the groups before gulping them mid-air. Can we please change directions?"

"Kim," Lev messaged the harvester. "Where to now?"

"East," he answered instantly. "This place isn't supposed to have anything more dangerous than low second-threshold monsters. Let's not risk it."

Hmm, Lev didn't question the man with way more experience than him, too amused at the wording. I wonder why the thornling was here. Totally not because of me.

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