Shimmering fragments that make up the white Ranked-UP Metal Warrior's body reflect off each other as the ground beneath my feet gets sucked away.

A black void surrounds the entire Boss Room, and a dreadful monster's metallic screeches ring through my ears. I try to concentrate and look for a weakness.

I'm sure I can defeat it with brute force, but figuring out how a ranked up golem like this works may help me win further fights. It's best I study every new opponent like they're deadly to me.

Its body ripples like waves and its facial features shift constantly to keep shape.

Fisher is the first to jump into action. He throws an attack at the shimmering white titan.

A thin blue wave of energy clashes with the monster's white sword, then slices right through almost instantly to head at its torso.

The mana holding its fragmented body together is much weaker than that closer to the center.

With a long crash, the attack collides with all three cores at once.

At first, I was expecting this attack to instantly end our boss room battle. I even activated my All-Seeing Eye to watch how the mana blade would leave the Metal Warrior in shambles.

This Ranked-Up Boss seems a bit tougher than I initially gave it credit for.

The blue slash of water magic cracks the two white cores on both sides of its chest but stops instantly once it reaches the middle black orb.

My eyes widen while watching the swirling black aura completely absorb every drop of MP from Fisher's strike.

The water wielder lets out another attack just after with visible frustration, but swift practiced precision.

He mutters under his breath.

"No way! That was almost my full power!!"

The second crescent of light blue mana cracks through the white warrior's sword shattering its blade and full arm to pieces as it heads straight for the cores.

There's another flash of light and I witness the same result.

More damage to the two outer cores is visible, but the middle black core seems unaffected.

It absorbs the entire shot without a hint of resistance. The Boss keeps moving forward as its jagged mouth opens wide to let out a screech.

The two cracked bonded spheres in the creature's lower chest begin to glow brighter as they heal themselves completely with the absorbed mana from Fisher's strike.

There's another frustrated grunt from the blue-haired swordsman as he drinks an MP potion and starts to move away from Lydia and me to face the beast at closer range.

"I've got this, let me figure out how this monster operates. Then, one of you can step in if my mana control really isn't up to par."

Lydia crosses her arms, looking up at the monster then back to the swordsman.

"Two minutes. Then we step in for the kill. These golem types aren't easy to without rapid mana regeneration or a teammate."

He turns while charging up his blade.

"Got it, watch close. I'll have some fun with this Warrior. It's not every day I get to face a ranked-up Boss."

I power down my sword and let him fight his battle. The monster looks interesting, but we all know he'll be guarding the next dungeon.

If he wants to have some fun with this boss, it's all his. It may be the strongest opponent he'll get to face today.

Two take each other on. Blue slashes against a glowing black core in a sea of white metal shards.

The outer cores are destroyed over and over again, but the Metal Warrior keeps absorbing every one of the water weilder's strikes with the miniature black hole in the center of its chest.

Fisher fights harder.

Drinking more MP potions, but never releasing enough shots at once to truly damage the boss before it can regenerate entirely.

It reminds me of the first half of my battle against the Blue Ogre King.

The only difference is, it has a clear weakness.

For a fraction of a second, every time the Metal Monster regenerates its outer cores the strength of the shielding around the middle black life source flickers.

The impenetrable swirling black mass of mana dilutes its power by nearly 70%, sharing MP with the other two cores momentarily mending them.

Fisher completely destroys them every time with ease, expelling 100% of their mana. The only way to heal each one is with the help of an outside source.

The Ranked-Up Core.

It happens 5 times in a row, in a timeframe of under a minute and a half.

Even with the naked eye, I can see that shimmering onyx black core. It peeks through as the mana around it thins.

Fisher lets out two more shots to obliterate the dual cores but fails to slash the 3rd in time after re-upping his MP again. He can see it too, but is too stubborn to ask for help.

Or based on the wide grin across his face, maybe he just doesn't want us to prematurely ruin his fun.

Lydia turns to me.

"That's 2 minutes. Enough wasting time. Would you like to take a crack at it? Or shall I?"

While watching the black core glimmer again, I charge my sword.

"I'll handle it. I'd like to see this monster close up too.

Air-stepping forward as white metal fragments fly around the air, I aim my blade in for a clear shot.

Fisher shows me a smirk as I approach and the white warrior shifts its gaze toward me. The blue-haired swordsman yells out.

"You see its center core right? Try aiming for it after my next attack."

This was already my plan.

I nod without saying a word, just putting up a wall of pink mana shielding to block the glistening white sword made of tiny fragments that comes falling down toward me.

It explodes into pieces as it collides with my shield.

At the same time, fisher lets out two more shots one after another at the creature's chest. Mana and metal fragments fly off in every direction.

The beast lets out a high-pitched shriek as its sword, body, and two cores are all destroyed in fractions of a second.

The final core is exposed, and its shifting face shows an expression of confusion as it struggles to re-form.

Meanwhile, I let out a jet-black flaming blade of energy straight toward the shining core that matches its dark hue.

My mana blade blends in with the sky as it effortlessly glides through the monster's midsection and slices its main core in two.

I air-step forward, absorbing the MP in the air as its expelled from the consolidated black aura.

I'm giving this beast no options for regenerating.

A ranked-up boss like this wouldn't be defeated just from a broken core. It must have more tricks up its sleeve, but there's no reason to find out what they are...

The white and black swirling candle-smoke-like energy flows into me.

The closer I get, the easier it is to fully absorb with my plunderer skill.

In a matter of seconds, the Boss' final cries cease and all of the white shards drop back down to the floor.

The Boss Room is flat and motionless again. Silence fills my ears.

[Level Up]

All 3 of us glide downward, powering down our skills to examine the debris leftover from the brawl.

In the sea of white shards, a fist-sized glossy black sphere rolls to a halt.

I appraise it.

[Ranked-Up Metal Warrior Core][Bonded]

Then a second text screen pops up next to it as well.

[Use Advanced Mana Manipulation]

Advanced Perk: [Temporary Minion]

Enter Desired Level: 0-496

[YES][NO]

I grin and bend down to pick up the item, but Lydia warns me to step.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

I pause, looking back at her with my hand centimeters from the black ball.

"Why not-"

The floor beneath my feet begins to rumble, and the remnants of black mana-imbued aura flicker around the monster's core.

The white-haired mage jumps up in the air, using ice magic to hover off the ground.

"It's always a pain when ranked-up golems drop their cores."

She rolls her eyes, motioning for us to follow her up in the air.

Fisher yells out as the dark core starts sucking in fragments of matter from the floor.

The white shards start to disappear at an alarming rate.

"W-What? How? I even leveled up! I thought we killed that thing!"

Lydia responds as the black hole speeds up its absorption rate, taking more and more of this Boss Room's mass into it.

"We did. It's just being a bit difficult to kill... even after death."

My gaze tightens on the growing circle of darkness dragging dungeon mass into it as all 3 of us hover in mid-air.

The advanced mana manipulation perk screen still floats in front of my vision with blue text.

"Well, two can play at that game."

I choose [YES].