Ben laid on the ground after being attacked by Mreye's petrification beam. He coated his hands in solar energy, so they wouldn't be turned to stone.

However, the petrification beam had another effect. It caused his hands to become numb. Crashing into the trees also caused his body pain.

Ben attempted to get up. His body was in pain, so he gritted his teeth and forced it to move.

But before he could get up, Mreye appeared and snagged his left leg with a tendril. Then Mreye lifted Ben into the air and pulled him closer.

"You covered your hands in your magic, huh? Fu fu fu, sure it can block the petrification effect, but even with magical protection, my curse will pass by it a little and cause your nerves to become numb."

"Heh, you say that after fighting a lone mage. Say it after facing several mages of high caliber. Or maybe, you're afraid to do that?" Ben mocked Mreye.

"Afraid? Me? I was created by Lord Zeref and I will return to his side. There is no way I'm scared of anyone." Mreye glared at him.

"Maybe you're fearless, but you're not careful and seem to be overconfident." Ben noted.

"Huh?" Mreye was confused.

Suddenly in front of Ben's face, a bright orange magic circle appeared. He gathered his magic power while talking to Mreye just now. Ben created a magic circle and then took a deep breath.

"SUN DRAGON ROAR!"

"GRARRHHH!" A roar of solar energy struck Mreye at close range. He wasn't able to move his hands because they were numb, but his mouth was a different story.

Mreye was engulfed by the attack and screamed. The tendril wrapped around Ben's leg was burned and he falls to the ground, but he still tried to aim his attack at Mreye.

Ben used most of his magic power in the hopes of defeating Mreye with it. He used the maximum amount of heat that he could reach with his spell, 3150 degrees Celsius. It's a very high temperature, more than half the temperature of the Sun's surface.

Ben's roar also struck the trees in the forest and burned them. When his roar subsided, the trees had disappeared and the ground turned red. There was some melted soil too because Ben used his Sun Dragon Roar longer than normal.

He looked around while still lying on the ground. He didn't see any trace of Mreye, but he didn't drop his guard. Ben scanned the area using his magic sense and felt something far from the direction of Sun Dragon Roar.

"You're really pushing your luck, human." Mreye sounded really angry now.

Mreye was in a very sorry state. All it's tendrils were gone and it's body was broken apart. Only it's mouth and eyeball were left, but it was still alive.

"How can you survive with only a eyeball and mouth?" Ben gritted his teeth.

"No, wait! It's mouth is still regenerating, only the eye is intact without a scratch. Could it be that it's core is it's eye? So I need to destroy the eye?" Ben realized what he needed to do.

Ben assumed that the core of Mreye's life was it's eyeball. It's curse power is also generated from it's eye, so this is a high possibility.

'But there must be something that protects it's eye to survive that attack. My guess is the curse power.' He thought.

"Human, I won't show any mercy again. I intended to kill you fast so you don't suffer, but it seems you want to suffer, so I'll grant you that." Mreye angrily said.

Ben gritted his teeth and tried to stand up. The numbness in his hands has started to fade, so he can use his hands to help him stand up. He kept looking at Mreye who regenerated a tendril even when it's body hadn't reformed completely.

Then his eyes widened when Mreye stabbed the tendril into the ground. Ben thought Mreye would use it's tendril to attack him from underground, but it didn't. The tendril just connected Mreye to the ground and then it's regeneration sped up.

'Did the connection to the ground help him regenerate faster? A.I Chip, scan it!' He mentally called.

[Understood.]

A.I Chip scanned Mreye to see if the tendril that was connected to the ground really helped it speed the process up.

[Scan complete, suspicion confirmed. The enemy uses it's tendril to absorb liquid, and Ethernano to build it's body again. The concept is similar to how you eat elements. The earth in this area has a rather high amount of Ethernano, so it uses it to regrow it's body.]

'It can even absorb Ethernano directly?! Damn, wouldn't it keep replenishing it's energy? I can't let it happen.' Ben thought.

He tried to move forward and attack Mreye, but he is low on magic power, so he can only use his physical power. Ben ignored his injuries and took his knife before rushing forward to attack Mreye. Mreye was still regenerating, so it was his best chance to attack.

Mreye saw him rushing forward to attack, so it generated another tendril to disturb Ben. The tendril attacked him like a whip and he prioritized dodging it rather than blocking it. He's not sure that he can block or parry the tendril in his current condition.

Mreye also just used a single tendril to attack because it needs to focus on regenerating it's body. But when Mreye saw that Ben could dodge rather easily, it grows another tendril. Mreye grew 2 more tendrils to attack Ben and it really made the fight a lot harder for him.

Ben wasn't able to get close and was hit several times by the tendrils. He finally decided to use his knife's ability now. He activated the knife and it started to heat up again.

"What? I thought you didn't have any magic power left." Mreye was shocked to see this.

"It's not my magic power. This knife is a magic item, so it doesn't need my magic power again. I've charged it with Ethernano and it can absorb Ethernano from nature, so I'm not using my magic power." Ben explained.

After Ben activated his knife's ability, this fight became a lot easier. Now he can chop the tendrils, make Mreye produce more and slow it's regeneration down.

"If you have something like this, why didn't you use it earlier?" Mreye demanded.

"I didn't need it before." Ben smirked.

"Damn, you're underestimating me." Mreye muttered.

Ben actually didn't use it before because he couldn't. This knife is still not perfect and it has a time limit. This knife can only remain active for 3 minutes before it runs out of Ethernano.

To reach a high temperature, the knife needs a lot of Ethernano as fuel. The longest it can be used is 3 minutes without the user's magic power supply. That's why Ben needed to use it wisely and not waste the 3 minutes.

Ben rushes forward with more ferocity and kept getting closer to Mreye. He cut all the tendrils that came his way with fierce and sharp moves. After some time, he finally appeared in front of Mreye.

"THIS IS THE END, YOU ONE-EYED BASTARD!" Ben hollered.

"SHIT!" Mreye cursed.

He raised his hot knife and used it to stab Mreye's eye. Mreye used it's remaining short tendrils to block the knife and protect it's eye. The knife almost hit the eye, but then...

Pshhh*

Ben's knife suddenly ran out of Ethernano and didn't generate heat anymore. But it is still hot enough to cut through the tendrils that block it. However, it wasn't able to pierce Mreye's eye due to it's curse power being used as a last defense.

"Damn!" Ben swore.

He looked at his failed attack and now even his knife started turning to stone because it touched the curse.

"Ha-Ha ha-HA HA HA, YOU'VE RUN OUT OF LUCK NOW, HUMAN!" Mreye laughed wickedly.

Ben's weapon was gone and he was almost out of magic power. He gritted his teeth and covered his hands with solar energy with his remaining magic power. Ben punched Mreye, but it hardly did anything because of his low magic power and didn't even damage Mreye.

"HA HA HA, YOU LOOK MISERABLE, HUMAN. LET ME MAKE YOU MORE MISERABLE." Mreye sneered.

Mreye used it's tendrils to grab all of Ben's limbs and it also covered his mouth, to prevent the same thing as before. Mreye started to beat Ben up with it's tendrils while laughing evilly. Ben wasn't able to fight back and could only take the barrage of attacks.

After a while, Ben was seriously injured and he had some broken bones. However, he was still conscious and had a fighting spirit in his eyes.

Mreye smirked and raised Ben into the sky, then it threw him into the ground really hard until it left a crater. Ben laid on the ground, completely still.

"This should end him for sure." Mreye smirked.