The moon hung high over the jagged cliffs of the Southern Coast, but its light failed to touch the ground here due to the shadows of large trees.

  A squad of twenty elite knights moved silently through the rocky terrain. Among them was Alaric.

  They were hunting a Nightmaw.

  The beast was a nightmare of biology. It was strictly nocturnal, sleeping in deep caves during the day and emerging at night. Under the cover of darkness, its power doubled, sometimes tripled. Its fur absorbed light, rendering it nearly invisible to the naked eye until it was right on top of you.

  "Split into groups of three," ordered via a hand signal. "Use sensory techniques. If you make contact, do not engage alone. Use the Wind Whistle."

  The Wind Whistle was a magic artifact that created a high-pitched alarm audible for miles.

  Alaric broke off with his assigned unit, Knight Captain Sir Bristane and Knight Orban.

  They moved into the dense treeline. The knights were tense, their hands on their hilts. Alaric, however, closed his eyes.

  He expanded his mana field.

  "Mana Pulse Sonar."

  He sent out invisible ripples of mana, mapping the terrain in a 100-meter radius. Trees, rocks, small animals... nothing.

  Minutes passed in suffocating silence.

  SCREEEEEEE!

  Suddenly, a piercing, high-pitched alarm shattered the night air from the east.

  "Contact!" Bristane shouted. "Move!"

  The two knights sprinted toward the sound, their armor clanking. But Alaric didn't wait. He wasn't wearing a heavy plate.

  He channeled mana into his legs. "Confirma Overload."

  He became a blur. He left Bristane and Orban in the dust, tearing through the underbrush at speeds no human should possess.

  He burst into a clearing and came into a halt.

  What he saw was grotesque.

  Standing over the mauled body of a scout was a creature the size of a carriage. It looked like a wolf, but that was where the similarity ended. It was jet black, not just dark but a void in reality. It absorbed the moonlight so completely that it looked like a hole in the world. Blue sparks of electricity crackled violently along its spine.

  Alaric stepped forward. The beast turned its head.

  Its face was a nightmare. It didn't have a jaw; its entire face split open into four petal-like sections in a grotesque "plus" shape, revealing rows of serrated, metallic teeth and a throat glowing with blue energy.

  It sees me.

  The maw opened fully.

  SCREEEEEEEECH!

  It wasn't a roar. It was a concentrated beam of sound, a sonic weapon resonating at a frequency designed to shatter bone.

  "Gah!"

  Alaric clutched his head. He had forgotten. He knew about the claws and the lightning, but the dossier hadn't mentioned a sonic attack. He hadn't cast a wind-dampening spell.

  Pain exploded in his skull. His eardrums felt like they had burst. His balance vanished.

  Before Alaric could recover, the void-black shape vanished.

  It moved with a shockwave. It was on him instantly.

  Alaric’s instincts screamed. He couldn't dodge. He raised his left hand.

  Buzz-Buzz-Buzz.

  The glove activated. Layered Null Barrier.

  Twenty panes of green light snapped into existence just as the Nightmaw’s sword-like fangs clamped down.

  The first 16 barriers shattered instantly, but they bought him a fraction of a second. Alaric used the impact to slide backward, the beast’s jaws snapping shut on empty air inches from his face.

  "Alaric!"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Sir Bristane and the other knights burst into the clearing, weapons drawn.

  The Nightmaw hissed, turning its attention to the new threats. The distraction had allowed the scout to crawl away, but now the beast was cornered.

  It began to hum. The blue sparks on its fur flared white.

  Alaric, shaking the ringing from his ears, felt the air pressure drop. His Mana Sense screamed a warning.

  "Back off!" Alaric shouted, his voice hoarse. "It’s charging!"

  He raised his right hand and activated the layered barrier again.

  Too late.

  KRAKOOM!

  The beast didn't shoot a bolt.It exploded with electricity. Arcs of blue lightning chained from its body in every direction, moving faster than human reaction time.

  "Argh!"

  "Shields!"

  Three knights were blasted backward, their armor smoking. The lightning ignored their physical shields and cooked them inside their mail.

  Bristane and the remaining knights faltered, terrified by the speed.

  "Don't let up!" Alaric yelled. He raised his hand toward the sky.

  "Creo Aqua: Burning Rain."

  He conjured boiling water. A localized downpour slammed onto the beast.

  Steam rose instantly as the water hit the creature's super-heated fur. The beast shook itself, unharmed. Its hide was too tough and boiling water was just an annoyance.

  Then Alaric again casted , "Creo Aqua: Mist Stream"

  Fog exploded everywhere hiding the knights in the deep mist.

  But Alaric smiled grimly. That wasn't an attack. That was the setup.

  "Circle it!" Alaric commanded, using the rising steam as cover.

  The knights obeyed, moving to flank the beast. But the Nightmaw’s senses were superior. It tracked them through the steam, lashing out with a tail that whipped like a steel cable and used its claw to keep them at bay.

  The beast charged up again, static electricity crackling through the damp air.

  Alaric watched the ground. The heavy rain had created puddles around the beast's feet. The creature was standing in water, generating massive amounts of electricity.

  Alaric knew his chemistry from life before , Electrolysis.

  When a strong electric current passes through water , it rips the molecules apart. It separates them into Oxygen gas... and highly flammable Hydrogen gas.

  The beast was unknowingly turning the air around it into a bomb.

  "Hold..." Alaric whispered, watching the steam thicken.

  The Nightmaw prepared to discharge another lightning nova. The mana buildup reached its peak.

  Alaric manipulated the fog with subtle Wind Magic, not to clear it, but to form a dense dome around the beast, trapping the rising gases close to its body.

  The beast opened its four-part jaw to scream.

  "NOW!" Alaric screamed. "JUMP BACK!"

  The knights didn't hesitate. They dove behind rocks and trees.

  Alaric snapped his fingers.

  "Creo Ignis."

  A single, tiny spark flew into the hydrogen-rich fog.

  BOOM!

  It wasn't a normal fire explosion rather a thermobaric detonation. The air itself caught fire. A massive sphere of flame engulfed the clearing.

  The knights, protected by wind barriers, watched in awe.

  But the Nightmaw had tough skin. Fire alone wouldn't kill it.

  However, Alaric knew something else. Just before the spark, the beast had inhaled to scream.

  It had filled its lungs with pure Hydrogen gas.

  A muffled, wet explosion echoed from inside the beast.

  The Nightmaw thrashed wildly, vomiting black smoke. Its internal organs were scorched and lightning aura flickered and died. It collapsed to its knees, wheezing.

  "Finish it!" Bristane roared.

  The knights surged forward, unleashing their strongest attacks on the weakened monster.

  Alaric joined them. He drew his sword, channeling mana along the blade. He remembered the move Roland had used during the selection exam and trained himself the magic.

  "Creo Ventus: Sonic Blade."

  He slashed upward. An invisible blade of compressed air sliced through the beast’s neck, bypassing its tough hide and severing the spine.

  The Nightmaw collapsed. Dead.

  They dragged the massive carcass back to Ironhold at dawn.

  The courtyard was buzzing. Duke Thorne and Vice Commander Selzer inspected the body.

  "It burned from the inside out," Selzer noted, poking the creature's chest.

  This mission was to test Alaric planning and leadership abilities and to give him actual battle experience ordered directly by Duke Thorne. When he suggested his battle plan, everyone was unsure if it would work or not but Thorne had ordered the knight to follow him.

  Alaric explained the concept simply. "I will use its own lightning to separate the air from the water, creating a flammable gas. Then I will make it breathe it in."

  Thorne stared at the boy. Most mages would have tried to overpower the beast. Alaric had turned its greatest strength into a fatal weakness using... science.

  "We might have struck gold with this one," Selzer muttered to the Duke.

  Thorne nodded, a rare smile touching his lips with pride. "Indeed."

  That evening, the great hall of Ironhold was filled with laughter and music. The knights were celebrating Alaric's first successful subjugation. Alaric was the hero of the hour, patted on the back by men three times his age.

  But Alaric sat at the edge of the table, staring into his goblet.

  He wasn't celebrating rather thinking.

  The Nightmaw used lightning, he thought as his brow furrowed. It generated high voltage and current.

  Lightning magic doesn't exist as a type of spell. You had Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, and Dark. But the beast did it naturally.

  If he could understand how the beast used mana to create the charge... he could replicate it.

  If I can replicate the charge... I can make a Railgun.

  Across the table, Lucia was watching him. She held a cup of juice, her eyes fixed on his intense expression. She wondered what could possibly be making him think so hard in the middle of a party.