Moving in concert with Klauthsura's spell, Renato surged forward and swept his longsword across, beheading the Mind Flayer left disoriented by its failed spell.
As for the Mind Flayer rooted to the spot, it stood rigid, only its needle-thin pupils moving from side to side in their sockets.
Renato walked up to it and, after confirming that it could not move, reached out with his right hand.
Dense shadow power gathered over the Mithral Gauntlet, covering the Mind Flayer's octopus-like face.
Renato's fingers pierced its deep purple skin, broke through its fragile skull, and touched the soft tissue beneath.
The Mind Flayer's body shook violently, its already slender frame visibly deteriorating. Its tentacles drooped limply, withering and shriveling.
The psionic light in its eyes flickered wildly, then faded like a candle guttering in the wind.
An immense surge of vitality flooded into Renato's body.
Yet the sensation was not warm as it had been before. Instead, it was icy cold, like gulping down a chilled drink in sweltering heat-refreshing and cool.
His thoughts had never been clearer. The tumultuous emotions stirred up by battle faded as well, leaving his mind perfectly lucid.
This strange state reminded Renato of how he had felt after drinking the Mind Flayer Cerebrospinal Fluid.
The same clarity, the same calm, the same... detachment.
The parts of his body struck by the electrical arcs began to itch. He knew this meant his dead nerves were recovering, his charred flesh sloughing off as new flesh grew beneath.
As his injuries healed completely, the vitality supplied by Touch of Dakoul was exhausted, and the strange sensation slowly faded.
Renato withdrew his hand and raised his head.
Just as he was about to ask Klauthsura, who stood atop the statue, what exactly had happened, the tall Mind Flayer suddenly