With Alice gone, Keynes was free to do as he pleased, and he decided that his one would act as a test subject. Spiritually-enhanced [Chaos Aura] slammed into the giant’s mid section. Immediately, Keynes took a tight control of the aura and began turning the giant’s flesh into a sludge. Surprisingly enough, nothing else worked.

  Keynes wondered if this was because of the giant’s vitality or innate spiritual energy. Shaper had shown Keynes that spiritual energy was a counter to spells but he couldn’t disregard other possibilities, like attributes or spells.

  So far he hadn’t encountered a monster that possessed a Talent and from what he’d seen so far, he no longer believed would be out of place. Also, wouldn’t that be arrogant to assume that he knew everything about the possibilities of the System? A few years ago, he was a teenager in high school, today he was a leader of a space faring group and owned a real spaceship with technology out of this universe, literally. Not to mention his encounters with Chaos and the Greater Shop, both equally messed up.

  So, yeah, who knew what really was possible out there?

  The giant bellowed in rage and pain, then swung the mace at Keynes. Somehow, despite the bulk of the weapon, the giant used it with astounding swiftness. Something would have to be done about it.

  Keynes dodged the hit, which shattered the ground, then jumped into the sky and flew out of the giant’s reach.

  “INSSSEEECT!” The giant roared and Keynes sensed a hint of spiritual aura coming from the monster. It was a brief sensation and didn’t amount to much other than the realisation that strong emotions caused the giant’s to leak spiritual aura.

  Keynes considered his next step. The spot he had slammed with [Chaos Aura] was slowly healing but the process was slower than the rate of damage caused his aura.

  I will have to get to the bottom of this. What makes the giant so resistant to my best attack?

  Growling and muttering to himself, the giant looked around and Keynes realised what the giant was planning to do. He was looking for a boulder to throw at him. Dodging stuff in the mid air wasn’t something Keynes was looking forward to. [Flight] was an amazing skill but manoeuvrability was its weak spot.

  To buy some time, Keynes used [Conjure Weapon] to create a few swords and immediately started to pester the giant whose limited intellect didn’t connect the dots and temporarily lost an interest in searching for a boulder.

  Another issue was that Keynes couldn’t see the giant’s System interface. It had to be a high level of spiritual energy or whatever the rift monsters had.

  Just to be sure, Keynes used [Chaos Aura] and targeted the mid spot of the wooden mace. It turned into dust without an issue or any resistance as if there was no difference in Levels.

  The giant spun, but his eyes remained captivated by the severed-in-half mace.

  “NUUUUU…” He said, and a spiritual aura started to leak out of him, together with sorrowful emotions. “NUUUUUU!”

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  Something shifted in the giant’s composure. Clearly, the mace had a special meaning to it. Why or how, Keynes couldn’t tell; it likely was important but he found himself indifferent to it.

  Then the giant dropped to his knees and wailed. Energy released by it almost deactivated [Flight]. If I were a normal Level 5 ascender, I’d be in trouble right.

  Keynes moved, pushing [Flight] to maximum speed. He slammed the giant’s neck from behind as the monster seemed to forget about him. Apart from the head, hands, feet and the hole in the mid section it was the only uncovered spot.

  It felt like hitting a concrete wall. Keynes actually lost 10% HP from that. But he learned something as well. The hit was enough to trip the giant over. He hit the head against the rocky ground, cracking it.

  Keynes immediately jumped into the air, readying two sharp spears. The second the giant turned his head toward him, two spears punctured the giant’s eyes.

  What followed was painful. A spiritually-enhanced roar of agony slammed Keynes and threw him to the ground. The fucking scream actually caused him damage. He lost an additional 4%.

  Shit. How the fuck this thing is so strong? I am the Fourth Degree with Vitality II. How can I lose HP to a normal monster?

  With wet squelch, grunts and groans, the giant pulled the spears out of his eyeballs. Keynes dematerialised them, then created new ones and attacked again, but the giant was ready this time and covered his bleeding, sightless eyes with his hand. The spears stabbed the hand, but the damage was likely negligible. Anyway, it was time to end this.

  Once again, Keynes employed [Chaos Aura]. He still had about half his mana but he would have to be careful. If he didn’t manage to kill the giant with it, he’d eventually run out of mana.

  Using it like a skalpel, Keynes hit the giant’s throat. Immediately the resistance returned, fighting Keynes’s aura. But like earlier, Keynes came on top, and started doing serious damage.

  The giant must have finally realised what was about to happen as it threw himself at Keynes who jumped out of the monster’s reach. His panicked scramble yielded no results as Keynes eventually took to the sky, always staying out of reach.

  It became a war of attrition. With unlimited mana, Keynes would have no issues against a legion of such giants but that wasn’t the case so it came down to using [Chaos Aura] in a smart way; going after vital points.

  Just before Keynes’s mana hit 10%, the giant’s stilled and staggering amount of essence smashed into Keynes.

  Keynes landed nearby the giant.

  He could finally see the giant’s System info and while it was a disappointing sight, it was valuable. This was a common rarity monster with a single passive skill. While it had spiritual mastery, its name was adept. How strong would a master turn out to be?

  Keynes suddenly felt uneasy. If he’d ever been stupid enough to cause a Level 6 or 7 outbreak he’d end the world. This single rift would bring ruin on an unimaginable scale. Now, to multiply it by a hundred.

  Speechless, Keynes decided to get back to semi-soul space to replenish his mana. The death of the giant didn’t complete the rift so there were others and he couldn’t sense a single one, while they seemed to sense him without an issue.