"That’s one problem solved... now for the other one..." a complete miss yet again, as with the path of the Shadow Slime’s attack read by Novus, he has more than enough chance to take precautions so as not to allow himself to be hit by said attack.

The lesson that is beaten to him time and time again by the Evolution Domain is engraved to him in the direst circumstances as well, as despite feeling safe from the attack, he still refuses to let his guard down, keeping his senses up as he allows its input to gradually silence the delayed tone from his instinct, making it all more controlled to him.

"Now."

He mutters to himself as he sees the path of attack yet again, a thought in his mind as he sees how violent the fourth and final attack of the Shadow Slime’s sequence is, the crisscrossing inescapable net making him inhale air as he admires how crazy it is.

’Man, that’s why it hurts that much...’ he remarked as he watched, just as predicted, the Shadow Slime reveals itself once again, but he knows it all too well; this thing will just use up more of his precious stamina and strength if he just attacks blindly when it reveals itself.

’Tsk, what a fucking troublesome opponent...’ he told himself in an annoyed tone as he really did click his tongue, several thoughts on how to deal with this creature appearing in his mind, but none of them seemed to be plausible given that right now, he could just barely see the attack before it came for him.

’Should I just use ’that’ to deal with it? Nah, it’s too dangerous, who knows what sort of shit the Evolution Domain will pull up when I let myself get charred again...’

Thinking of using his last resort, detonating multiple volatile fireballs simultaneously and letting himself, along with the Shadow Slime that is surely just lurking near him, be caught in its explosion, logic, along with instincts, immediately kicked in, telling him not to.

This is just as high as the chance he will be able to deal with this problem like that; he will also expose himself to dangers that normally shouldn’t be a problem for him at all.

’Besides, there’s no point to it then... this is such a good chance to hone whatever I am doing is... god knows how long it will take for me to search for another E-Tier creature again...’ he added in his mind as he decided against this suicidal approach to dealing with the E-Tier Shadow Slime.

His face maintained that maniacal smile that, despite its twistedness, still suits his handsome features, the blood stains covering most of his body not helping him from anyone painting him as a homicidal maniac should they see him like this.

The slime appears, the slime attacks, he dodges, the slime appears again.

The cycle repeats.

And with each cycle repeating, he is getting the hang of detecting things more and more, the lines forming earlier, more clearly, than when and what he sees when he just starts utilizing this method.

Left, right... a massive feint as the third one is delayed, but his trust in his developing senses allows him to feel this delay as well.

Not only the delay, but the sudden burst and change in tempo of the final, most brutal attack of the Shadow Slime’s four-chain stealth combo was picked up as well, his legs already prepared to move even before he finished avoiding the third attack, allowing him to avoid it once more.

"Hup... hup... oof... that was close..." still, albeit quickly absorbing the method on how to use his entire sense to see through the attacks approaching his being, Novus still couldn’t help but be reminded that he still has a long, long way to go.

A fine example is what just happened, as instead of going in for what it mostly did during their entire fight, the tricky angle in which the Shadow Slime launched its final attack forced him to leap awkwardly, causing him to lose his balance and skip a few steps before regaining stability once again.

Still, he felt a bit safer as it is also the period of time that the slime will have its guard down, allowing him to shortly recover a bit of the immense mental expense from using this sensing technique, all without needing to worry about interruption as he prepares for the next exchange where he still couldn’t see a path to deal back damage to the creature in front of him.

’Fuck it, if I can’t deal with you when you show yourself, then I’ll destroy you when you don’t’ he shouted in his mind as he breathed deep to calm himself from the frustration piling up from not being able to get back on this opponent, a burning spirit hidden deep beneath his calm gaze as he waits for his enemy’s next move.

Senses expand, that familiar feeling of being one with the surrounding engulfs him whole in an attempt to pick everything up.

This overwhelms his mind with all sorts of redundant information, like the number of blades of grass he can detect, how fast the wind is moving, how these blades of grass move along with the wind, how the wind changes its movement as it hits all sorts of things, and how mana wraps and guides all of these interactions into a singular flow.

’Times like this I’d like to thank how fucking ridiculous thirty times the pain did, it helps me enduring shits like this one, hahaha’ he thought to himself as he continues waiting for the slime’s next attack to come, knowing that the first three simpler attacks will be his greatest window to counter the moment he picked up its movements from the massive amount of information his brain is analyzing.

This is what proves this technique to be so exhausting, the computational ability to take everything into account not really a problem as a mage’s brain is far more advanced than that of a normal man, however, the endurance to take into account all these factors that changes each passing second to try and predict a path of attack something that only one with monstrous amount of will can achieve.

And Novus’ will, tempered by repeated excruciating amplified pain from his body being shattered, sliced, burned, and torn apart by each dangerous fight he has within this domain, is proven to be more than enough to handle such a task.

There, in his vision, he saw it once again, a path of attack towards himself, this time not targeting any limbs, but rather, going straight for his neck.

He raises his arm up, reinforcing it with mana from his bones and muscles all the way to his skin, his muscles tensing, prepared for something, but not to use it to attack, no, as it would only result in mutual destruction between the two combatants.

He still wants to hunt more.

Hence why he braced for the attack, using his raised arms, moving towards the path of the slime’s attack in an attempt to stop it and set his counter up.

Flesh pierced, bone smashed, however, he smiles amidst the pain, as there, in his battered arm, he can still feel it, the Shadow Slime giving him problems, still having its body lodged deep within his arm.

[Immortal Energy: 50/200]

"Finally~~’ he said with that same bone-chilling smile on his face as he looked into the nothing in front of him, mana surging as he reinforced his other arm, this time, with the intent to finish it all.

The slime flickers once again, the sensation of its body lodged in the bleeding wound slipping away, but still...

He saw it, the window of opening, sending it in before hesitation takes root.

His first confident attack of this match.