Dodge.

Novus’s instinct is screaming at him to do so as soon as he senses that eerie feeling once more, and follow his instinct, he does, as it is really the only thing he can do to deal with the attacks from this sneaky slime.

Mana wrapped around his legs as he swiftly moved away from his current spot, confirming that it was the right decision as he saw what happened to the blades of grass just standing on his previous location.

It was cut into pieces, falling to the ground without any resistance as if it was slashed multiple times in that one instance, this making him gulp as he had come to realize that he had yet to witness the entire arsenal of this slime he is fighting against.

As he looks at that patch of grass cut short by his opponent, he couldn’t help but feel something amiss as he notices a patch of crimson stained all across it, only for him to realize the source of this stain a second later as he starts feeling pain from somewhere in his body.

His right arm twitches in pain as the amplified sensation of his hand being completely cut off from his body starts hitting his mind, enduring it with gritted teeth as he knew full well that if he allowed himself to be distracted during this fight, it could only end in him being finished by this slime once again.

And enduring it to pay attention to his opponent paid him off really well, as a moment later, the sneaky slime appears right where it ended its attack once again, having the same defenseless, frozen form that invites the opponent to attack it for a guaranteed hit.

As if provoked by this opening shown by his opponent, Novus decided to follow through with an attack once again, but this time, it wasn’t a simple punch that brought him close to his opponent, but rather the unstable fireball spell that he often uses to reinforce his punch.

Only this time, he doesn’t deliver it by hand.

He throws it.

Fast, as fast as his limbs can allow. Not only fast, but stable as well, as he knew full well that the moment this unstable fireball left his hand, it was now in the hand of chance to allow it to explode before it hits its target or not.

Instinctively thinking of ways to stabilize the fireball’s motion, the young man appears to go to the deepest part of his mind, trying to find a familiar way to stabilize the fireball about to leave his hand, but nothing seems to hit anything close.

’Had I been throwing a lot of things before in my life, maybe I could’ve found a way, but well, looks like experiences still beat theoretical knowledge more often than not...’ he thought to himself as he began releasing the unstable fireball in his grasp, recalling the only time that he had been playing with things.

Just like any normal kid that feels impressed with all the little things in life, Novus also has those moments during his childhood, and one of the most memorable experiences to him is one way back when he was just a toddler, a small pond in their home, where both his parents often took quick rest, being an extremely interesting place to him back then.

To be precise, it wasn’t actually the pond that was of interest, but rather, how to throw rocks at this pond so that they bounce and skip its surface, travelling farther than they should.

"Father!! I already picked a flat rock, why does it still sink when I throw it?" a young, curious Novus asked towards a figure towering over him at that time. Frustration could clearly be found on the child’s face as he stared at the man who gave him the advice, a bit of grievance apparent as he felt like he was tricked by his father’s words.

"Haha, this kid..." looking at the inquisitive, slightly aggrieved expression on his son’s face, this man couldn’t help but smile entertained as he stood from the tree him and his wife is resting on, picking up a relatively flat rock near the pond before throwing it with grace, the rock skipping a few times before it finally sank on the bottom of the pond.

"Where did you look, at this old man, or at the rock?" the father asked as the son approached, new thoughts appearing in those wide, innocent eyes of his.

"I was looking at father, maybe there’s also something with the motion as well."

"Hmm, good observation, what did you see?"

"I throw it above my head well, you throw it from the sides... hm... It’s like father’s arms turn into the horse whip you’re using when we’re riding a horse..."

"Hahaha, that’s true, now that you’ve seen it, why don’t you try it as well?"

"Mn!!" the curious kid enthusiastically nods before he hurriedly attempts to replicate his father’s movement, taking a few times to do it right but arriving at a success nonetheless, making him excited as he watches all the succeeding rocks he is throwing skip, twice, thrice, then more times as he gets a feel of how it is done.

"So? What do you think helps other than the rock being flat?" Seeing the smile of excitement in his child’s eyes as he makes rock upon rock skip the water surface, the father asked with a gentle tone, encouraging the young boy to think. The boy then, hearing the question, stopped his activity altogether to think of a proper answer.

Unlike other children his age who will just let out the first thought that appears in their mind, it does take him a solid few minutes of thinking, but eventually, he found his answer as well, staring at his father as he asked a question back.

"The rock feels like it’s spinning when it leaves my hand... Father, is it that spinning that helps??" the boy asked, his answer making the smile on the father’s face grow wider as he lifted him before laughing loud and proud.

"Right, that’s right, my boy, it takes a good rock to skip, but the spin is important as well, it stabilizes the rock by—"

’Let’s try it, nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess...’ returning to the battle in front of him, Novus couldn’t help but feel surprised that such reminiscing that feels way too long happened in the span of just a moment, the fireball still barely in his hand, allowing him control over it.

Mana surged, seemingly wanting to fuel this burning ball of fire element even more, but the one who wills this surge of mana has a different plan, allowing this energy to wrap around the fireball in an attempt to stabilize it.

Normally, the already formed fireball would’ve just used the mana wrapped around it to fuel itself even more, but once the caster incorporated a continuously spinning motion, a rotation in that shell, the fireball stops treating that mana as fuel and starts treating it as a container instead, following the form of the container whether it likes it or not.

At that moment, it is formed, that fireball made from an unorthodox method of magic is no longer just a volatile mass of explosive energy.

It is stable.