Muku and the ED stared at each other intensely. The former was thinking of the ruined plan while the latter was wondering how the former survived.

....

A few moments before...

Just before the ED's attack smashed down on him. Muku was suddenly pulled to the ground by a grey hand just before he was struck down.

In the group, he was completely encased in the grey metal. After that, it took on a bullet shape and dug deep into the ground then went to the side avoiding the devastating attack.

Since the pillars went deep into the ground, despite his quick reaction, Muku was still slightly burned while making his getaway.

What happened was that he was just dodging the ED's attacks before. He was preparing his counterattack. And that counterattack was in the form of Mithril, the same devastating metal that even Monarchs feared.

However, Mithril had a major drawback. And that was obviously the long period needed to create it. And that was just normal Mithril, not that weird sword with unknown characters on it.

Anyway, while reaching R4 didn't reduce the time needed to create it in any significant way, it did however give him the ability to create it some distance away from him. And he could also clock its energy after extensive training.

That was a very crucial component in his plan otherwise he would have been discovered instantly if he tried to use it without it(clocking). After all, Mithril caused quite the scene when being created before.

And so, he was able to quietly create it in the ground. Interestingly enough, the two were doing the same thing in the sense that they were using the ground to prepare strong attacks away from the sight of the other.

If either of them had moved a bit from the area where they were preparing their attack, they might have discovered the other. That would have been quite the scene...

Unfortunately for Muku, the more experienced ED finished preparing its attack first. And so, he could only use his Mithril to escape.

After all, if he had used his normal metal. He might have died. That stuff had long proved useless against the beast when it melted before even touching it...

Anyway, while he successfully managed to get away by using Mithril. It ruined his initial plan of ending the battle with one insanely strong sneak attack.

After all, there was no way the ED would still remain relaxed after seeing him survive such an attack. The fact that he had metal which could resist its attacks was enough to raise its guard. His previous attacks couldn't even reach it. But now, that would clearly not be the case.

While it felt that he was more of a threat than it expected, it still didn't panic or feel too threatened. His secret had been exposed so there was no element of surprise anymore. And it was sure it could handle any frontal attacks.

For that reason, it didn't acknowledge him by speaking despite the shock...

....

Present time...

"To think you bastard was actually so sneaky. I really would have died there if I didn't have anything prepared!... Tsk. It doesn't matter. A secret attack wouldn't have been fun anyway. Let's do this the right way" Muku spoke resolutely.

He decided to attack the beast head-on. He no longer had the mana to keep on playing around anyway. He had to finish the battle in the next few minutes or he would be the one who would be finished.

Just using his Domain Amour was quite taxing. And he created Mithril on top of that, which was like a black hole for mana. If it wasn't for his larger-than-most mana core dude to his high class. He might have long died from mana exhaustion alone...

As he spoke, the metal which was thin in some areas due to the fire, recovered. In fact, it had been worse than that initially. It was the reason why he delayed getting out. He wanted to recover as much as he could before going out. In fact, he would have preferred to stay there until he fully recovered.

Unfortunately, the problem with using Domain Armour is that you don't recover while it's still active. You will keep on losing power until everything is gone and it deactivates on its own.

So, while he was using his mana to recover his Mithril armour. He was losing more mana with every moment which passed by.

In fact, at that point, his Domain Amour and Mithril Armour were one thing since he switched the DA energy from normal metal element energy to Mithril mana.

His normal mana was clearly getting outclassed by the ED. It made him realise that one shouldn't stop improving their mana quality after meeting the qualification point for ranking up to R2. It was something that should continuously be done. Otherwise one would find their mana getting dominated by those who are technically the same as them in terms of strength. This was the very situation Muku was in.

The ED's mana quality was much better than his own. For that reason, it was dominating him despite its strength having been reduced to match his own.

Just being talented or having a higher-level class didn't cut it in the apocalypse. One also has to put in the work. No aspect of improving strength should be ignored. Which was something Muku was learning the hard way.

Anyway, because he was losing mana. Muku couldn't stay underground any longer. After all, his current body was fragile as hell. If he loses the protection of his Domain Armour, then he is screwed.

He would have pretty much dug his own grave and buried himself since there would be no way he would be able to make it out without mana...

Boom!

With time not on his side, Muku forward targeting the ED's head. The scene was quite interesting. Like a little rat or even smaller than that flying toward a grown human's head with conviction on its face.

Of course, since humans are wimps, chances are they would scream and run away. But the ED wasn't human now was it? No, it wasn't.

It was a creature from the Beast World. A creature which managed to reach PR4 in the Beast World. Which was a lot harder than one might think. After all, not many survive the period in-between R3 and R4.

The numbers only seemed high due to the unreasonably large population in the Beast World. If one looked at the statistics, they'd realise that only about 5% successfully reach R4.

Which was reasonable with the weakened period they go through when they reach Pseudo-R4.

Anyway, the point is that the ED wasn't scared. It would never back down from a fight. Especially from such a little creature.

"Rooooar!"

The ED let out a fire breath as Muku got closer. It was predictable. But it was effective. This was proven by how Muku dodged to the side. He couldn't take the heat...

Bang!

BOOM!

Muku was caught by surprise as the ED swiped at him which knocked him out of the sky.

"Rooooar!" The beast didn't pause as it roared more attacks into existence.

This time it didn't throw a fire breath. It created multiple giant fireballs in the sky and...

BOOOM BOOOM! BOOOM!...

One explosion after the other went off as it tried to hit Muku who had recovered quickly and flew back into the sky. Its fireballs followed him wherever he went barely missing him due to his great dodging skills.

BOOOOM!

His just when Muku dodged the last attack. A fire pillar exploded out from the ground in front of him. He barely managed to evade it.

Despite evading all the attacks Muku wasn't happy. After all, his time was running out and he hadn't even scratched the ED yet!...

"Damn! Why did I not improve my mana's quality? This sucks" Muku complained about his element as he dodged another attack.

If his mana's quality was as good as the ED. They would be duking it out. Exchanging an attack for an attack. Instead of him running around like a rat a he searched for an opening which just wasn't appearing.

Sure, he could do that with Mithril... But where tf would he have gotten so much Mithril from??

"Wait... I guess I can try that..." Muku spoke to himself as he flew closer to ED.

This time he chose to take some attacks head-on. Then...

Whoosh!

A two-metre-long blade flew towards the ED. There was something about the blade which seemed weird. It seemed a bit different from his usual metal attacks. It also seemed different from his Mithril even.

The blade seemed to be a phantom as it looked somewhat ethereal. It was white in colour and released a gentle aura.

If the girls were present they would recognise it. But they weren't...

Anyway, the ED looked at it with ridicule in its mind. It let the little blade get close while looking on in disdain. After all, it sensed no danger from the blade.

It was when the blade reached three meters away from it did it made a move. It created some flame in front of it and encased the sword.

It wanted to show Muku just how useless his efforts were. Unfortunately, something unexpected happened...

The blade wasn't burned away as it expected. Hell, it didn't seem to have even been touched by the flame.

It passed through the flame. Entered its body and then...

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"

A monstrous cry of pain rang out...