The Collector knew better than even the elder and its carrier unit the immense threat that this specimen posed. The amount of magical energy pouring out from the specimen, even as it attempted to suppress it to a degree, was overwhelming.
The aura poured out around the creature's floating figure in ripples of deep red. A mana affinity of chaos, indicating that the specimen fought with explosive bursts of volatile but extreme strength. The Collector, too, possessed the greatest affinity with chaos, though it was more than capable of incorporating the other affinities if needed.
All of them aside from the Void affinity, which the female daemon specimen had marked as an anomaly. This, too, the Collector believed it could harness, yet, it would require observing and devouring a specimen that could utilize it in order to give the Collector a framework to learn from.
But the possibilities of future learning became quite dim when considering the severity of the situation at hand.
The Collector estimated that the sheer density of the magical energy emanating from the enemy specimen, especially when it was fully unleashed, could dwarf that possessed by the golden winged humanoid.
This was not a threat that the Collector could face in its current state. It contemplated utilizing its newfound blessing to dive into the dimension of shadows, but this would render the Collector immobile, merely waiting to be killed.
Instead, the Collector waited and observed, parsing the creature for any intent.
The specimen's scales glowed white through the fall of black Grain. Unlike its brethren, it seemed to possess snowy white scales that reflected the translucent white charge of Primal Density to incredible degree.
Beyond the coils of red chaos mana, this specimen radiated a light of unblemished white that made it clear that surged forth the pressure not of a storm, but of winter itself, of a snowfall that would never end until it buried the entire world in its tears.
Approximate Primal Density: 90%. This creature would be nigh invulnerable to any tinkerer utilizing Sorcery or might from the gods.
There was no doubt about it. If these specimens, these 'draconids', were to ever possess a leader among them, a zenith of their kind, this was it.
"You killed him," said the creature, and the Collector noted then that it was capable of speech. Specifically, of the Common language that most tinkerers seemed to be fluent in.
Indicated some measure of familiarity with tinkerers despite likely living in areas where tinkerers were sparse.
The specimen floated downwards, behind the corpse of his brethren, and peered down at the grey scaled body.
The creature's specimen was deep. Raspy. Laced with a guttural rattle, as if inhuman vocal cords were trying their hardest to approximate intelligence and humanoid speech. There was no real intonation in the voice, no sign of emotion at the death of its kind.
"Thur reached the end of his potential," said the specimen. "So, natural he dies. Now-,"
The specimen pointed a white-scaled finger at the Collector. "You. You kill him. I check your potential now. Fight you."
The Collector tensed for battle, and in an instant, the new enemy specimen was upon it.
The white draconid had clenched his clawed fingers into a fist, smashing it right to the Collector's side.
The attack was so quick that the Collector did not have the time for any countermeasure. Instead, it could only deal with mitigating the damage.
Like with the golden winged humanoid, this blow was immensely powerful, and utilizing something like [Guard] which took attacks head on with mana fortified skin would not be inefficient. Instead, the Collector maximized its senses to get the timing right, and used [Dispersal].
By going limp, the Collector allowed the heavy blow to smash into the side of its torso with a heavy, explosion-like impact that sent a shockwave of force driving the fall of Grain away.
The Collector went even further. Even with [Dispersal] mitigating over 70% of the force, the initial blow shattered the remaining arm on its left side, but the rest of the force transferred freely through the Collector's limp body.
Now that the Collector had metamorphosed and grown significantly stronger, it had the necessary reflexes and speed to chain the [Dispersal] further. It used the immense force coursing through its body and rolled with it, swiveling around with a backhand blow.
The Collector's strike was fast. Fast enough that even the Collector itself could not react to its own attack, for it was a blow combined with the force of both itself and the new enemy specimen.
The explosive strike of impact rattled the air once more. The Collector further enhanced this blow with bone binding drawing out shockwave force in its body.
The enemy specimen flew back several dozen meters, past the cliff face, before its wings of pale blue energy flickered, halting its momentum in an instant.
The specimen looked at its left arm where the Collector's counter had struck. The white scales had cracked, but even with shockwave force meant to permeate through scaled armor, its dense, mighty musculature mitigated most of the damage.
"Impressive," said the specimen as he stared curiously at his arm. The cracks on the arm closed up in an instant, fueled by regeneration. "I have not seen that move before."
The specimen flew forwards, air gusting behind it as it returned to its spot on the cliff in a single moment, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Collector again.
The Collector sensed that the goblin swarm was inching forwards. Specifically, the carrier unit, Thokk, had managed to suppress the primal fear of immediate death sourced from facing this enemy specimen. Now, Thokk inched forwards with his purifying light blades.
"No," said the enemy specimen as it fluxed its magical energy, sending out ripples of oppressively heavy mana that kept Thokk and the rest of the goblins from moving any further.
"Weak ones will not interrupt," said the draconid. He looked at the Collector for approval. "Right?"
"Agreeable," said the Collector. It knew that it was vastly outmatched, but it could understand the sentiment from the draconid.
Strangely, the Collector began to note, the glimmer in the draconid's blue eyes seemed faintly familiar. A kindred energy emanated from the specimen.
At first, the Collector felt as if it was in the presence of another Warrior-strain Collector, but no, that was not it.
It was merely that the Collector and this draconid's desires coincided greatly. They had both been born and bred to fight.
And, strangely, though the Collector knew it was vastly outmatched and should have prioritized its survival at all costs, it desired to engage in battle with a likeminded specimen.
At the very least, the Collector knew that this specimen would not immediately attempt lethal maneuvers to enjoy the battle.
"Again!" said the draconid as it launched another punch, this one much faster and aimed at the Collector's head.
Once more, the Collector could not move fast enough to directly counter the blow, but its reflexes and mental processing had always outpaced its physical stats. The moment it was hit, it utilized [Dispersal] again, going limp, and this time, because the blow struck its head, it rolled back the force of the punch and back flipped.
Even so, even with almost miraculous timing, the Collector could not mitigate all damage, and two of its skulls, the one fashioned from crystal and the Flametongue Salamander's, shattered. Yet, its main skull was still intact.
And as long as the Collector was alive, it could fight.
As the Collector completed its back flip, it lashed out its tail, transferring back the blow of the draconid.
Yet, a remarkable occurrence.
The draconid took the tail strike, comprised of the combined power of its own punch and the Collector's own muscles, with an open hand.
The blow was powerful enough to sail the specimen back fifty meters again, but this time, it itself utilized [Dispersal].
The draconid swayed back as the force traveled from one hand, and then as it traveled to the other, it unleashed a counter utilizing the exact same mechanisms as the Collector.
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