SPIDER VS EARTH DRAGON ARABA
I’ve made up my mind to challenge Araba.
Now I’ll just check my status one last time.
<Ede Saine
LV 26
Nameless
Status:
HP: 3,592/3,592 (green) + 1,700 (details)
SP: 2,413/2,413 (yellow) (details)
Average Offensive Ability: 2,392 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 11,158 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 7,440 (details)
MP: 12,110/12,110 (blue) + 1,700 (details) (blue)
: 2,413/2,413 (red) + 1,700 (details)
Average Defensive Ability: 2,363 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 11,004 (details)
Skills:
[HP Rapid Recovery LV 7]
[Height of Occultism]
[SP Rapid Recovery LV 1]
[SP Minimized Consumption LV 1]
[Destruction Enhancement LV 6]
[Cutting Enhancement LV 8]
[Status Condition Super-Enhancement LV 1]
[Magic Divinity LV 2]
[Magic Power Conferment LV 7]
[Mental Warfare LV 9]
[Energy Conferment LV 5]
[Dragon Power LV 7]
[Deadly Poison Attack LV 6]
[Rot Attack LV 4]
[Heretic Attack LV 6]
[Poison Synthesis LV 10]
[Medicine Synthesis LV 7]
[Threadsmanship LV 8]
[Utility Thread LV 6]
[Thread Control LV 10]
[Telekinesis LV 1]
[Throw LV 10]
[Expel LV 2]
[Dimensional Maneuvering LV 8]
[Stealth LV 2]
[Camouflage LV 1]
[Silence LV 8]
[Tyrant LV 1]
[Concentration LV 10]
[Thought Acceleration LV 9]
[Foresight LV 9]
[Parallel Minds LV 7]
[High-Speed Processing LV 6]
[Hit LV 10]
[Evasion LV 10]
[Probability Correction LV 7]
[Wind Magic LV 4]
[Earth Magic LV 10]
[Terrain Magic LV 1]
[Heretic Magic LV 10]
[Shadow Magic LV 10]
[Dark Magic LV 10]
[Black Magic LV 2]
[Poison Magic LV 10]
[Healing Magic LV 10]
[Spatial Magic LV 10]
[Dimensional Magic LV 4]
[Abyss Magic LV 10]
[Destruction Resistance LV 5]
[Impact Resistance LV 5]
[Cutting Resistance LV 5]
[Flame Resistance LV 2]
[Wind Resistance LV 2]
[Earth Resistance LV 8]
[Heavy Super-Resistance LV 1]
[Deadly Poison Resistance LV 3]
[Paralysis Resistance LV 6]
[Petrification Resistance LV 5]
[Exhaustion Nullification]
[Acid Resistance LV 6]
[Rot Resistance LV 7]
[Faint Resistance LV 5]
[Fear Resistance LV 9]
[Heresy Nullification]
[Pain Nullification]
[Pain Super-Mitigation LV 2]
[Five Senses Super-Enhancement LV 1]
[Perception Expansion LV 5]
[Night Vision LV 10]
[Clairvoyance LV 8]
[Jinx Evil Eye LV 6]
[Inert Evil Eye LV 5]
[Repellent Evil Eye LV 1]
[Annihilating Evil Eye LV 3]
[Celestial Power]
[Ultimate Life LV 3]
[Instant Body LV 7]
[Endurance LV 7]
[Fortitude LV 2]
[Stronghold LV 2]
[Skanda LV 7]
[Demon Lord LV 3]
[Perseverance]
[Pride]
[Wrath LV 2]
[Satiation LV 7]
[Sloth]
[Wisdom]
[Conviction]
[Hades]
[Corruption]
[Taboo LV 10]
[Divinity Expansion LV 6]
[n% I = W]
Skill Points: 0
Titles:
[Foul Feeder]
[Kin Eater]
[Assassin]
[Monster Slayer]
[Poison Technique User]
[Thread User]
[Merciless]
[Monster Slaughterer]
[Ruler of Pride]
[Ruler of Perseverance]
[Ruler of Wisdom]
[Wyrm Slayer]
[Fearbringer]
[Dragon Slayer]
[Ruler of Sloth]
[Monster Calamity]
>
That’s a whole lot of growth, but my magic-related stats are especially crazy.
They’ve broken into six digits now.
Height of Occultism is terrifying.
To be honest, though, I’m still not positive I can break through the earth dragon’s staggering magic defense.
The spider army was a good matchup for me, but with those scales that obstruct magic, dragons are a really bad one.
But with these insanely high stats, I’m sure I can at least do some damage if I just keep casting magic.
On the defensive front, I’ve been smacking myself around with Earth Magic to acquire and improve my Earth Resistance.
I mean, my defense is so low that it kinda feels like trying to put out a wildfire with a water gun, but it’s got to be better than nothing.
Then there’s my new Sloth skill.
As you can probably guess, it’s another one of the Seven Deadly Sin skills, like Pride.
This skill is gonna be my trump card in my battle against Araba.
Pride is a support skill that’s pretty much useless in battle, and Perseverance is a defensive skill.
By the same token, the Height of Occultism skill I got with Wisdom is helpful for attacking, but Wisdom itself is still a support skill.
Out of all the broken, OP skills I’ve gotten, I think Sloth is the first one that’s a proper attack skill.
With this broken skill, I can penetrate Araba’s defenses.
In fact, without it, I don’t think I could challenge it at all.
I spent quite a lot of time in the Lower Stratum raising my level, but even among all those powerful enemies, the strength of earth dragons is still a cut above.
And among those earth dragons, Araba is the strongest by a long shot.
I don’t think I’d stand a chance without all the preparations I’ve made.
Now I’m waiting in the pit.
All my senses are focused on awaiting its arrival.
My Danger Perception activates.
All the hair on my body bristles.
I remember this feeling.
I could never forget it.
I don’t think I ever will.
The first real terror I experienced after being reborn as a spider.
The symbol of the first time I became truly aware of death.
Slowly, I turn around.
<Earth dragon Araba
LV 32
Status:
HP: 4,663/4,663 (green)
SP: 4,570/4,570 (yellow)
Average Offensive Ability: 4,610 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 4,022 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 4,555 (details)
MP: 4,076/4,076 (blue)
: 4,569/4,569 (red)
Average Defensive Ability: 4,597 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 4,138 (details)
Skills:
[Earth Dragon LV 3]
[Divine Scales LV 2]
[Heavy Armor LV 1]
[Ultra Steel Body LV 1]
[HP Rapid Recovery LV 8]
[MP Rapid Recovery LV 5]
[MP Minimized Consumption LV 5]
[Magic Power Perception LV 10]
[Precise Magic Power Operation LV 1]
[SP Rapid Recovery LV 7]
[SP Minimized Consumption LV 7]
[Magic Warfare LV 9]
[Magic Power Super-Attack LV 1]
[Mental Divinity LV 1]
[Energy Super-Attack LV 3]
[Terrain Attack LV 10]
[Terrain Enhancement LV 10]
[Destruction Super-Enhancement LV 3]
[Cutting Super-Enhancement LV 10]
[Piercing Super-Enhancement LV 8]
[Impact Super-Enhancement LV 10]
[Dimensional Maneuvering LV 8]
[Stealth LV 10]
[Camouflage LV 3]
[Hit LV 10]
[Evasion LV 10]
[Probability Super-Correction LV 4]
[Danger Perception LV 10]
[Presence Perception LV 10]
[Heat Perception LV 10]
[Motion Perception LV 10]
[Earth Magic LV 10]
[Terrain Magic LV 10]
[Seismic Magic LV 2]
[Shadow Magic LV 10]
[Dark Magic LV 7]
[Destruction Super-Resistance LV 1]
[Cutting Super-Resistance LV 4]
[Piercing Super-Resistance LV 3]
[Impact Super-Resistance LV 5]
[Shock Super-Resistance LV 1]
[Terrain Nullification]
[Fire Resistance LV 6]
[Lightning Resistance LV 8]
[Water Resistance LV 5]
[Wind Resistance LV 6]
[Dark Resistance LV 4]
[Status Condition Super-Resistance LV 7]
[Rot Resistance LV 6]
[Pain Nullification]
[Pain Super-Mitigation LV 7]
[Vision Enhancement LV 10]
[Telescopic Sight LV 8]
[Night Vision LV 10]
[Vision Expansion LV 7]
[Auditory Enhancement LV 10]
[Auditory Expansion LV 3]
[Olfactory Enhancement LV 7]
[Tactile Enhancement LV 7]
[Ultimate Life LV 3]
[Ultimate Magic LV 1]
[Ultimate Movement LV 3]
[Fortune LV 3]
[Fortitude LV 3]
[Stronghold LV 3]
[Deva LV 1]
[Sanctum LV 2]
[Skanda LV 3]
Skill Points: 41,100
Titles:
[Monster Slayer]
[Monster Slaughterer]
[Dragon]
[Assassin]
[Champion]
[Monster Calamity]
>
The dragon appears.
It’s as majestic and imposing as ever.
My trauma.
Crazy.
Those stats are seriously crazy.
It’s got all the strengths of Kagna and Gehre, and then some.
This dragon seriously has no weaknesses.
More defense power and defensive skills than Kagna.
More speed and speed skills than Gehre.
And on top of that, higher magic ability than Kagna or Gehre could ever dream of.
Worst of all, it’s even mastered Dark Magic, one of my chief attack methods.
Its Dark Resistance is really not a good sign.
Araba’s a perfect all-rounder.
Flawless attack, flawless defense.
No weaknesses to take advantage of, no weak points to aim for.
You could basically call it the ultimate life-form.
Ha-ha. Honestly, at this point, I just have to laugh.
Ahhh, what a relief.
The fear I felt that time was real.
The fear I felt that time was right.
Earth dragon Araba, you’re strong.
Scary.
And yet, I’m happy.
Ahhh, so happy.
I’ve grown strong enough to fight an opponent I could only hide away from in terror before.
With perception skills like that, you must have noticed I was still alive back then, right?
You noticed, but you overlooked it because I was too small and insignificant to bother about, didn’t you?
I’m going to make you regret that arrogance.
Thank you.
You taught me the fear of death.
That’s why I am the way I am now.
I ran away from you, ran and ran and ran, and now here I am.
So thank you.
And now, die.
You’re the irritating being who gave me my first taste of the fear of death.
Now I’m going to bury you myself.
By doing so, I will overcome my fear.
I’m not going to flee from you anymore.
My long life of running away ends right here and now.
I open with a Black Spear.
Araba avoids it with ease.
Then it counters with a breath attack.
I avoid it with ease.
Each of us understood that the other would dodge the attack.
It’s like we were testing each other’s feelings.
The events unfold as if we had arranged them beforehand, like lovers who have been separated for a long, long time.
Not that I would know, since I’ve never even had friends, never mind lovers.
After we exchange these initial attacks like greetings, the real battle begins.
Just as I planned in advance, I use Dimensional Maneuvering to rush up into the empty air of the pit.
That way, I can keep away from the ground and render Araba’s Earth Magic useless.
Araba does have Dark Magic, too, so it’s not like it can’t use magic at all now, but this gets rid of its home-field advantage for a fair fight.
Araba seems to understand this and kicks off the ground to follow me.
As I hop through the air, I shoot Black Bullets at Araba.
Paying no mind to how much MP I’m using, I fire away like a machine gun.
And yet, like an expert player of bullet hell games, Araba easily dodges around the hail of projectiles mid-approach.
Thanks to Divine Scales, a high-class version of Imperial Scales, the power of my magic is drastically reduced.
Still, with my six-digit magic attack power, it should at least deal a little damage.
If it hits anyway.
Araba has exceptionally high evasive power.
I don’t just mean skills. There’s also the dodging techniques Araba has honed over countless years of battle.
Its movements are honestly elegant.
I was confident in my evasive abilities, too, before, but seeing Araba’s with my own eyes, I realize my evasion just depends on the brute strength of my skills and stats.
After all the tough fights I’ve been through, I was starting to think of myself as a super-experienced fighter, but I guess my movements are still ultimately those of an amateur.
I mean, I definitely don’t have any martial arts knowledge or anything.
In terms of pure stats, my speed is much higher, but Araba closes that gap with actual technical ability.
If my magic lands a hit, I’m sure it’ll do some damage, but chances are Araba will recover from it before I can land another one.
And since I’m not using Parallel Minds right now, fighting and firing magic at the same time is pretty tough.
My Parallel Minds are currently engaged in a critically acclaimed mental battle with my mother.
If I could engage them, I could probably use a barrage of magic too big for Araba to avoid or recover from and bulldoze my way through for the win.
But I can’t do that now, so there’s no point in thinking about it.
I have no such ace in the hole.
So there’s only one tactic I can take right now.
I have to make Araba think I’m worth fighting at full strength.
If Araba goes all out in this battle, my shot at victory will come into view.
Because as soon as that happens, my second, invisible form of poison will start to eat away at Araba’s body.
Araba prepares an attack.
My Foresight skill tells me it’s about to use Breath.
The same attack that once destroyed my home.
Araba’s breath attack flies at me.
I use Short-Range Teleport.
Landing directly on Araba’s head.
As the defenseless head continues to emit the breath attack, I fire a Black Bullet at it.
It lands a direct hit, forcing Araba’s mouth to close.
The mouth that’s still producing Breath.
With nowhere else to go, the breath attack explodes in Araba’s own mouth.
Apparently, a dragon’s breath attack isn’t just the Attack attribute of that dragon.
Because although Araba has Terrain Nullification, its HP decreases.
Combined with Black Bullet, I did a pretty decent amount of damage.
Short-Range Teleport takes a few seconds from preparation to invocation, so I can’t just use it constantly, but if I prepare it in advance like this, I can pull off a decent surprise attack.
Although I’m sure Araba will be on guard about it from now on, so it won’t go quite this easily.
Even as the mouth explodes, the tail attacks me like it has a mind of its own.
This tail is going to be a real pain.
I avoid it as it lashes out like a whip.
The powerful whooshing noise it makes as it flies just past my face makes me shiver.
Considering my HP and MP, I don’t think I would die from a single hit.
Still, it’s so powerful that I can’t help picturing myself being sliced in half by that awful tail.
Following the tail, a front paw comes swinging at me, so I jump back.
Putting some distance between us, I fire a Black Spear as a feint.
Araba stops for a moment to avoid running into it.
Araba’s HP recovers at a rapid rate.
So fast.
Just as I thought, defeating it by whittling down its HP would be next to impossible.
As I sigh inwardly, several black balls appear around Araba.
Is this the Dark Magic spell Dark Bullet, maybe?
Spurred on by Araba’s will, the Dark Bullets come flying at me.
I could dodge them, but then I’d make an opening for Araba, who’s speeding toward me along with the spells.
Time to fight darkness with darkness!
I activate the same spell, canceling out the approaching Dark Bullets with my own.
At the same time, I avoid Araba’s gnashing fangs and fire a Dark Bullet as a counterattack.
However, Araba’s paw knocks the bullet away, and the tip of its tail whips toward me at the same time.
Giving up on attacking for now, I focus all my power on dodging.
I flee even higher into the air.
Close combat is definitely not ideal for me here.
Araba has all kinds of attack methods—fangs, claws, that tail, and even a body slam with that enormous body could be dangerous if Araba felt like using it.
It’s like its whole body is weaponized.
We’re nowhere near the ground, and that last round proved that Araba’s Dark Magic is no big threat, so my best bet is probably to keep as much distance between us as possible and engage in a long-range battle.
Just as that thought crosses my mind, Araba’s mouth creaks open.
Then, with almost no charge time at all, it fires a No Motion Breath.
Wha—?!
I didn’t know you had that move!
I invoke Repellent Evil Eye and generate a repellent force all around myself.
The pseudophysical barrier it forms protects me as I hurriedly dodge to the side.
Araba’s breath passes by narrowly, practically grazing me.
No, not practically. It did graze me!
That was close! Too close!
Because it wasn’t charged up at all, it wasn’t very powerful, but a direct hit would probably still do some damage.
Damn. I might not really have the advantage in a long-range fight, either.
Since Breath is some kinda pure energy, not really physical, I guess my pseudobarrier won’t really work to fend it off.
Dammit, my Evil Eyes are practically useless here!
I’ve been using all my Evil Eyes on Araba since the battle began, of course.
But none of them seems to be working very well.
It’s not that there’s no effect whatsoever, but it’s not enough to be significant.
I can barely tell if Jinx Evil Eye has lowered Araba’s stats by even 1 percent, and judging by Araba’s movements, I doubt Repellent Evil Eye’s gravity attack is causing it any trouble.
Inert Evil Eye?
That one’s probably least effective of all, isn’t it?
I definitely can’t picture Araba being paralyzed.
I do have Annihilating Evil Eye, which I haven’t tried yet, but I don’t really want to use it, since it seems more like a last resort kind of move.
I automatically acquired the skill when I evolved into an Ede Saine, but as you might guess, it’s an Evil Eye that carries the Death attribute.
Right, the Rot attribute, which controls death.
Rot attacks tend to be suicide-bombing techniques, and this one’s no exception.
When I activate it in one eye, that eye becomes useless.
Not only that, but it even gives me a nasty headache.
It’s super-strong, of course, so I’m sure it could damage even Araba, but I don’t know if it’d be enough to make it worth it.
Not to mention, the damage it’d cause my much lower HP would be relatively big.
If I’ve got the enemy down to the point where using it would finish them off, I could get away with using it then, but otherwise I’ll be the one in a pinch if I use it.
By nature, Evil Eye attacks can’t be dodged as long as the target is in my line of sight, but that doesn’t matter if they don’t work properly.
Ugh, my attacks don’t hit, and even when they do, they hardly do anything!
Seriously, I knew this, but what an aggravating enemy.
Fleeing farther upward, I keep firing magic.
Araba chases after me, fighting back with Breath.
I keep going farther up, but Araba stops abruptly.
Damn! It noticed the spiderweb I set up in advance.
Once I decided to make this pit the site of my showdown with Araba, I set up one or two traps for good measure.
But it saw right through them.
Just above the spot where Araba stopped, a network of my thread blocks off the vertical shaft.
With a hole just big enough for me to pass through, of course.
I fire magic at Araba, careful not to hit the thread.
Araba dodges the attacks, moving left and right without coming any higher.
I was hoping Araba would get caught in my web so I could fire a load of magic at the dragon while it was stuck, but this is still hindering Araba, so I guess that works, too.
Undaunted, Araba fires back with Breath.
Our firefight of Breath and magic continues through the barrier of the web.
Araba avoids my magic.
Then a waterfall of poison rains down on the dragon.
I made it by using Poison Synthesis at its max production amount, multiple times in a row.
The rain of deadly and paralyzing poison is blown away by a single blast of Breath.
The drops of poison scatter harmlessly.
I didn’t really have high hopes that it’d do damage, but blowing it all away that easily? No waaay.
Araba keeps shooting more breath attacks up toward me.
The repeated barrage is starting to create a hole in my web.
I avoid the antiaircraft fire with the help of Dimensional Maneuvering.
In the process, I use Utility Thread to make a net and shoot it at the hole with my Expel skill.
Heh-heh-heh. That’s right—I finally got the Expel skill I’ve always wanted!
Or rather, it emerged from Throw once I maxed that out.
Well…it does use MP, and it’s too low-level to be very fast, so honestly, just using the regular Throw skill would probably have been better. But it’s the thought that counts.
I clumped the net into a ball before Expelling it, but then I use Thread Control to spread it back out into net form right before Araba’s eyes.
The dragon dodges the net with almost exaggerated caution.
That’s totally the right way to react, though.
Even Araba won’t have an easy time of escaping if it gets caught in my web.
But if the dragon’s going to be that wary of my thread, that’s actually a good thing for me.
I start spraying thread down from the sky.
Araba recoils from it, dodging or destroying the thread with Breath.
Then, at last, a hole large enough for Araba to pass through opens in the web.
Araba promptly comes up toward me with Dimensional Maneuvering.
Come on in, pal!
At first glance, it might seem like I was scattering the thread at random, but they’re all connected with thread so thin, it’s practically invisible to the naked eye.
And I’m holding the thread that’s the source of it all right here.
I use Thread Control to reel in a bunch of the thread at once.
At the same time, I fire Black Bullets toward Araba.
Spider thread coming up from behind.
Black Bullets approaching from the front.
If the dragon dodges the Black Bullets, it’ll get caught in the thread.
But if it doesn’t dodge the Black Bullets, it’ll take damage.
So, Araba, which will you choose?!
Araba chooses.
But it’s not either of those options.
Araba uses Breath to eliminate the Black Bullets.
Then, ignoring the aftermath, the dragon charges right toward me.
Shit!
I barely manage to avoid a fang attack.
It grazes me slightly, decreasing my Satiation stock of HP.
That was close.
I almost failed to avoid it because I was holding this thread.
Naturally, pulling on all that thread limits my movements.
Araba’s actions just now were a little unexpected.
I was sure that either the thread or the Black Bullets would work.
I guess I’ve still been underestimating Araba.
Okay, gotta focus.
Araba and I both still have energy to spare.
The battle is far from over.
Both of us are fighting ferociously.
However, the stalemate continues.
I have high enough evasion power to dodge Araba’s attacks, and even if I get hit once in a while, I recover quickly.
Araba is so focused on catching up to my speedy evasion that it can barely attack.
It’s not that neither of us has any way of winning.
My winning move is my thread.
If I catch the dragon in my thread, even Araba will need some time to escape.
If I fire magic at it for all I’m worth in that time, I can win.
But so far, Araba has been very cautious of my thread.
Apparently, the dragon knows as well as I do that it’s the one thing to avoid.
So Araba’s been responding carefully to any attacks involving thread as it chases me.
With that perfect guarding stance, I can’t seem to hit Araba with my thread.
On the other hand, Araba’s winning move would be its max-power breath attack.
If Araba uses all its power, its breath attack would be even more powerful than the time that it destroyed my home in a single blow.
A hit from that would be enough to turn even me into dust.
Even with Perseverance invoked, if I get hit with that once, I’ll keep getting roasted until I completely run out of strength.
But Araba isn’t firing that.
Since it takes so long to charge Breath to its maximum power, it creates a huge opening, making it that much easier to dodge and counterattack.
That’s why Araba’s using only single-shot Breaths without charging them up.
A single-shot Breath is no slouch, either.
But it’s inevitably got a shorter range and less power.
I’ve been able to dodge all of them so far, and even if it hits me, it’d be far from a fatal injury.
So even though we both have moves that would clinch our victory, we’re not actually able to use them.
So naturally, the battle’s getting dragged out.
We exchange feints with the occasional serious attack, carefully avoiding letting the other take charge, keeping our eyes out for an opening.
As it stands, I’m at a slight disadvantage.
My attacks don’t work at all.
They do hit on rare occasions.
But even then, they don’t leave any lasting damage.
Any damage they cause is healed almost immediately.
Even if I hit a few times in a row, Araba withdraws for a moment or even attacks to stop me from firing, buying it enough time to recover from my attacks.
As a result, despite how long and hard we’ve been fighting, Araba’s damage is still at 0.
On the contrary, its resistance has actually increased.
Araba’s Dark Resistance, which started out at 4, is now at 5.
At this rate, the already small amount of damage I’m dealing will get even smaller.
On the other hand, if any of Araba’s attacks hit me, I’ll be in trouble.
A single blow isn’t enough to deplete all my HP and MP, of course.
But Araba’s attacks are definitely powerful.
If I get hit with a single attack, it’ll easily send my small body flying.
As soon as that happens, there’s a good chance it’ll create an opening for Araba to attack even more.
If that happens, I’ll be toast.
The difference in our chances is too large.
I specialize in evasion, but if I mess up even once, it could easily end up in victory for the dragon.
I have no intention of going down so easily, of course.
But the scary thing is that it’s not entirely impossible.
On top of that, this situation can’t go on indefinitely.
After all, this pit isn’t endless.
I keep fleeing higher and higher.
Naturally, that means I’m getting closer to the ceiling.
Once I reach the ceiling, I’ll have nowhere left to run.
Not to mention that the ceiling is also made of earth.
Anywhere there’s dirt means we’re in Araba’s domain.
So not only will I be out of places to run, Araba will have the home-field advantage again.
I’ve put up a few webs in the pit, but that’s only stalling for time.
At this rate, I’ll eventually hit the ceiling.
So on top of being at a slight disadvantage already, I’m gradually being driven into a corner.
Naturally, this fact is drastically increasing my tension.
Sharpening my senses.
I focus on the images Foresight projects for me.
In the slow-motion world of Thought Acceleration, I heighten all my senses, taking care not to miss even the smallest piece of information.
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Thought Acceleration LV 9] has become [Thought Acceleration LV 10].>
<Condition satisfied. Skill [Thought Acceleration LV 10] has evolved into skill [Thought Hyper-Acceleration LV 1].>
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Foresight LV 9] has become [Foresight LV 10].>
<Condition satisfied. Skill [Foresight LV 10] has evolved into skill [Future Sight LV 1].>
At this exact moment, my skills evolve.
Perfect timing.
The already-slow-motion movement of the world gets even slower.
The sporadic images Foresight showed me become constantly visible.
I can see it. Araba’s next move.
And now, with Thought Hyper-Acceleration, I can see what’s coming after that unfolding in slow-motion.
Like a game of chess.
The flowing combo attack of claws, fangs, and tail, which I’m sure Araba intended as a killing move, is easy to dodge for me now.
Damn, I’m good.
If Araba wants to land an attack on me now, it’ll have to move at a speed beyond my perception, right?
This is good.
That’s it. Go ahead and come at me. I don’t feel like anything could hit me now.
Dodge. Dodge. Dodge.
Evade. Evade. Evade.
And as I go, I keep firing counterattacks.
Before, the dragon had a slight upper hand in evasion, but now the scales are tipped in my favor.
Even though Araba was able to dodge my attacks with its expert techniques before, now that my skills have evolved, I can see right through its movements.
I already had the overwhelming advantage in speed.
Araba’s ability to make up for that by dodging my attacks with sheer ability was, in a word, incredible, but now that I have skills that give me an additional advantage, the dragon can’t handle it so easily.
Araba’s HP slowly begins to go down.
Sensing the increase in my evasion and hit rate, Araba is starting to get desperate.
With Thought Hyper-Acceleration, even that emotion is an opportunity for me.
And I’m not lenient enough to let a mental gap like that slide.
Heretic Magic spell: Phantom Pain.
Araba reacts with visible surprise.
That’s only natural.
With Araba’s high level of Pain Super-Mitigation, the dragon probably hasn’t experienced intense pain like this in a long time.
And the illusion of pain created by Heretic Magic can’t be relieved by a Pain Mitigation skill.
I know that for a fact, since I experienced it myself with the pain Detection caused me.
Well? How do you like your first taste of pain in who knows how long?
Araba grits its teeth and withstands the pain.
Heretic Magic is fairly easy to resist if you set your mind to it.
A monster like Araba with immense mental power should be able to shake off the effects of the magic after a moment.
But a moment is all I need.
The second Araba is distracted by the pain, I cover its body in thread.
As the dragon tries to writhe free, I keep wrapping it up.
Bound by countless layers of thread, Araba’s body finally stays still.
I don’t want to let it fall back to the ground, so I stick the thread to the wall, suspending Araba in midair.
I’ve done it!
Now all I have to do is mow Araba down with magic before it can escape!
But Araba’s next action totally crushes my expectations of victory.
Come on, now.
That definitely can’t be right.
I mean, it did occur to me I might not be able to beat Araba just by catching it in my thread.
It might figure a way out, like using Breath on itself or something.
A full-powered breath attack would be too much for even my thread to withstand.
If the dragon did that, I’m sure it’d damage itself, too, but since Araba has Terrain Nullification, I’m sure it wouldn’t be enough to fatally wound itself.
That’s probably a much more realistic means of escaping than just letting me fire magic at Araba to my heart’s content.
And if I can come up with that plan, it wouldn’t be that surprising if Araba actually did it.
But what Araba does is far beyond anything I anticipated.
In fact, it catches me totally off guard.
In the worst possible way, too.
See, you get skill points when you level up.
But apparently, there are other ways to get them, too.
Looking at the skill points of, say, an arch taratect, which should be roughly on par with my own species, I clearly have way less.
The difference in our stats can be explained away by the difference in how long we’ve lived.
Even without leveling up, your stats go up gradually just by going about day-to-day life.
Unlike wild monsters, I’ve been actively working on leveling up, which is why I’ve grown rapidly in a short amount of time.
That’s why my stats outside my level haven’t gone up as much.
But I don’t think other monsters go out of their way to fight other than when hunting food.
So they level up more slowly.
I don’t know how long that arch had lived, but judging by the difference in our stats, I’m guessing it was a fairly long time.
Other than magic and speed, the arch’s stats were more than 2,000 points higher than mine.
Even if you assume stats go up one point a day, that means it’s lived more than two thousand days longer than me, or six years.
And I don’t think stats go up once a day at all, so it’s entirely possible it lived much longer.
Which means if you live for a long time, maybe you get a certain amount of skill points, too?
Otherwise, I have no idea why there would be such a large difference in our skill points.
Unless there’s some other condition for acquiring skill points that I don’t know about.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is this: Since earth dragon Araba has probably been alive for a ridiculously long amount of time, it has a ridiculous number of skill points.
Like most of the monsters I’ve seen, Araba has probably never once used those points.
I don’t see any skills that look like they were acquired with skill points, and most of all, Araba’s got that massive stockpile of points just sitting around, so I think that’s a safe assumption.
Seems like a waste to me, but it’s not like I can tell other monsters to use their points, and their not acquiring extra skills works out in my favor, so I never really worried about it.
But now…Araba’s skill points have decreased.
Not just a little, either. Araba has used practically all of them.
The 41,100 points the dragon started out with have dwindled to a mere 100.
And seeing what skills were acquired makes my breath catch.
[Fire Magic LV 10] [Flame Magic LV 10] [Inferno Magic LV 1] [Flame Enhancement LV 1] [Flame Resistance LV 1] [Black Resistance LV 1] [Space Perception].
My weakness is fire, and Inferno Magic is the highest form of Fire Magic there is.
Then there’s Flame Enhancement, the advanced version of Fire Enhancement.
In order to avoid being hurt by its own magic, Araba has improved the Fire Resistance it already had by acquiring Flame Resistance.
Black Resistance to counteract my main weapon, Black Magic.
Space Perception is probably to deal with my teleportation.
All these skills have been chosen specifically with me in mind.
Araba acquired them for the sole purpose of defeating me.
After spending such a long time piling up these skill points, the dragon used them all on me.
And on top of the ones acquired with points, there are the skills Araba’s gained in the process of our fight to the death.
[Concentration LV 1] [Prediction LV 1] [Parallel Thinking LV 1] [Arithmetic Processing LV 1] [Heresy Resistance LV 1]
Araba must have been thinking very intently about how to get out of this crisis alive.
Of course, there’s no way those skills will evolve all the way up to my golden combo of Thought Acceleration and Foresight over the course of this battle, but that doesn’t change the fact that Araba just became a lot more dangerous.
With the addition of Heresy Resistance, too, it might be safer to assume Heretic Magic won’t work at all now.
Rend Soul might be different, but I don’t think I dare to use that.
This is bad. I mean really bad.
Up until now, I’ve faced enemies with an advantage over me several times.
But I’ve never had one come up with a countermeasure specifically for me.
Araba was already a strong opponent with various advantages.
And now that opponent has taken countermeasures against me.
The thread binding Araba burns away.
Inferno Magic level 1, Scorched Earth.
It’s a wide-range spell that covers the ground in flames, transforming it into a hellscape.
Since it’s been activated in midair, Araba’s body is being treated as the ground instead, flames surging across it.
In the center of those flames, Araba isn’t exactly unharmed.
Unlike a nullification skill, resistance doesn’t mean you won’t take any damage.
Even if it’s from your own spell.
Flame Resistance is the evolved form of Fire Resistance.
It’s impressive to have gained such an advanced skill so quickly, but that’s still not enough to reduce the damage to zero.
Now, Araba is literally on fire as it seeks a chance to attack me.
Thanks to its Rapid Recovery skill, its HP isn’t going down very quickly.
But still, its body is slowly being burned by the flames.
Maybe if I keep running away, Araba will eventually just destroy itself?
Nope. I know it’s not gonna be that easy.
The fire disappears. That’s inevitable, since Araba probably canceled the spell.
Araba’s HP starts to rapidly recover.
Over the course of our fierce battle, the dragon’s HP Rapid Recovery skill has leveled up, too.
Now its HP’s getting restored so quickly, it makes you wonder if Healing Magic is involved.
Ugh. Growing in the middle of a battle like this? Who do you think you are, the protagonist?
Only the protagonist is allowed to have such a cool moment of development like that, you know.
No fair! This is totally cheating. Seriously, gimme a break.
Araba puts one foot on the wall.
A moment later, the wall is burning up.
Flames spread across the walls of the pit at a frightening rate.
It’s like the entire hole is on fire.
Araba runs along the burning wall.
Rapidly arriving at a spot diagonal to where I am in the air, the dragon charges right at me.
Bringing the blazing wall along with it.
A chunk of the blazing wall detaches from the surface.
Excuse me! Why would you cause a natural disaster like that so casually?!
I escape upward, but below me, Araba’s created a bridge of burning earth.
I guess since Araba can make spears of earth, it’s only natural it can increase the scale of that to make a bridge…?
Yeah, right!
Seriously, what the hell?!
Araba runs around the walls, building one bridge after another.
As if closing off my escape routes.
Burning earth is starting to fill the air.
The structure is almost like a spiderweb.
I never thought an enemy would use my own strategies against me.
Araba sprints at a high speed across the countless burning bridges.
Despite the extra weight I’ve been inflicting on the dragon with Repellent Evil Eye, it doesn’t seem to be moving a single bit slower.
Araba runs across the bridges and leaps into the air. Claws at the ready.
There’s nowhere I can go below me. My only choice is to flee higher.
Araba soundlessly lands on another bridge and starts to charge again.
It jumps at me from another spot. I dodge.
It lands and, with some MP recovered, starts increasing the number of bridges again.
The flaming earth seems to chase me higher and higher.
The heat from the flames alone threatens to decrease my HP.
Then those flames start to attack me as if they have a will of their own.
Araba’s fire magic lights up the air as if to close off any chance of escaping.
You’re supposed to be an earth dragon!
How come you can use fire even better than a fire dragon, huh?!
Without any space to fight back, I run around fleeing from the pursuing fire.
A bit of flame brushes my body, and I catch fire.
I immediately produce medicinal water with Medicine Synthesis, putting out the flames.
At the same time, the medicine recovers some of my HP.
That’s right—I don’t have to douse myself in poison and cause damage to my own HP anymore!
Plus, even after reaching the Upper Stratum, I’ve been practically bathing in magma to increase my fire resistance!
I’m still weaker to it than any other attribute, but still!
Oh, the ceiling.
I’ve finally reached the ceiling, the literal end of the road.
Araba’s flames are covering the ceiling now, too.
I’ve got nowhere left to run.
I glance at Araba’s stats.
Not yet. It’s still not quite there yet.
I’ll have to face off with Araba in this cage of burning earth.
Araba starts to attack.
Gathering my resolve, I avoid Araba’s attack and land on a bridge.
With nowhere else to run, this is my only option.
In the next moment, Araba brings a breath attack down on me and the bridge alike.
I dodge it.
Behind me, I hear the sound of the bridge collapsing.
But I have no time to worry about that.
Flames burn my body mercilessly.
Even with Rapid Recovery, my HP is going down at a pretty fast rate.
I want to put it out immediately, but Araba refuses to give me a chance to do so.
Avoiding the dragon’s attack, I start Medicine Synthesis, but Araba bears down with another attack right away.
As if our positions have now been reversed, I half jump, half fall down between the bridges, with Araba chasing close behind.
I plunge my way through the burning earth, the fire scorching my body.
While I dodge Araba’s attacks desperately, I resign myself to being hit by the rest of the flames.
I activate Medicine Synthesis to try to heal my wounds and put out the flames, but the fire immediately spreads across my body as if mocking my efforts.
Crap. I’m freaking out.
I can’t focus enough to use Teleport in these circumstances.
This is bad. My HP’s going down.
My Satiation stock runs out.
But Araba’s attacks still don’t let up.
My HP reaches 0.
Perseverance activates.
My MP starts to decrease little by little.
Thanks to the combination of HP Rapid Recovery and the MP recovery effect granted by Height of Occultism, the damage I take is reduced somewhat while Perseverance is in effect.
Still, my MP’s definitely going down.
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh craaaap!
But just in the nick of time, it’s working!
Araba’s movements rapidly deteriorate.
The strengthening skill it was using comes undone.
Its momentum from moments ago is totally gone now, its movements slowing to a stop.
The poison I’ve been preparing all this time has finally put Araba’s life in checkmate.
The poison known as Sloth.
<Sloth: n% of the power to reach godhood. Drastically multiplies the amount of decrease in surrounding system numerical values, excluding the user’s. In addition, the user will gain the ability to surpass the W system and interfere with the MA field.>
In other words, the decrease of HP, MP, and SP have increased for every living thing in the area except for me.
HP and MP have automatic recovery.
But there’s no such thing for SP.
The more Araba fought against me, the more it used up its strength and the faster its SP decreased.
Since fighting in midair requires constant use of Dimensional Maneuvering, and having Mental Divinity active continuously consumes SP, it was easy to make Araba fall victim to Sloth.
And without Appraisal, Araba had no way of noticing.
Only when it’s gone so far that the body begins consuming itself has the dragon finally recognized its own starvation.
Araba has almost no SP left now.
The battle is over.
I destroy the burning bridges around me with Black Bullets.
Then, keeping away from the flames surrounding me, I activate Medicine Synthesis to put out the flames on my body.
Araba can’t move anymore.
It has no strength left to move.
Its HP hasn’t changed yet, but if it runs out of SP, its HP will run out, too.
And now, if the dragon moves even a tiny bit, it’ll use up the last of its SP.
At this point, I can basically do whatever I want to Araba.
Heh-heh-heh. It was a lot harder than I was expecting, but it still ended just the way I planned for.
I knew from the beginning that it would be impossible to reduce Araba’s HP to 0.
Dragons’ magic-canceling scale skills are extremely inconvenient for me.
And if I tried to physically attack Araba, I feel like I’d just hurt myself more.
Araba’s defense power is far, far higher than my attack power.
Besides, Araba is a hardened warrior who can avoid all my attacks with ease.
So I gave up on the dragon’s HP altogether.
If I couldn’t reduce its HP, I’d just have to reduce its SP.
And the key to that was Sloth.
The fourth broken skill I’ve acquired.
I picked up Sloth as soon as I evolved into an Ede Saine.
Honestly, I didn’t really understand the description, so I didn’t think much of it at first. But when I got it and tested it out, I was surprised by what a perfect skill it was for me.
With Jinx Evil Eye, not only HP but all other stats go down more quickly.
That didn’t have much effect on Araba, but for any opponent without Status Condition Resistance, I can basically win with this nasty combo alone.
Even against enemies that it won’t work on so easily, if I just get them to fight me with their full strength, it’ll eventually become a powerful disadvantage.
It’s only because Araba fought so desperately that the dragon used all its strength and I managed to make its SP go down so quickly.
If Araba had been more relaxed, the outcome might’ve been different.
The fact that the dragon never paused or let down its guard is exactly what led to its downfall.
A pretty dirty strategy, if I do say so myself.
On top of that, forcing it to use Spatial Maneuvering made its SP go down that much faster.
I didn’t just choose this pit as the site of our battle so I could keep Araba from using the earth as a weapon. It was also to force the dragon to expend more SP.
Although, thanks to Araba’s unexpected resourcefulness, that first part ended up failing regardless.
Anyway, now that Araba can’t move, I can fire as much magic as I want.
Will I run through its HP first, or will it run out of SP first?
What’ll it be?
Mentally wearing a smug smile, I look down at Araba, still lying on a burning bridge beneath me.
Araba slowly raises its head.
Our eyes meet.
I can’t believe it.
Its eyes are astoundingly clear. Calm, even.
What’s with those eyes?
I beat you, you know.
At least act frustrated about your loss!
As if in defiance of my rage, Araba slowly lays itself down on its side.
Only its head stays in place, looking straight at me.
Then, something strange happens to Araba’s status as I Appraise it.
The text displaying its skills starts to turn gray.
That can only mean Araba’s turning off its skills.
If you turn off a skill that’s normally activated, it turns gray in your Appraisal results.
Araba’s skills turn gray one after another.
The Divine Scales skill that caused me so much trouble.
All its resistance skills, too.
Still surrounded by flames, the rate of Araba’s HP reduction rises sharply.
“I’m not going to resist,” is that what you’re saying?
What’s up with that? Seriously…what is this?
Who said you could just decide to be satisfied?
“I fought my hardest, so I have no regrets,” is that it?
Is that what you’re trying to say, huh?
Don’t give me that crap.
Come on, get desperate here. Beg for your life or something. Struggle a little.
How can you just throw away your life so easily?
Once you lose your life, that’s it. You know that, right?
I know that might not be convincing coming from me, since I’ve been reincarnated and all, but normally, when you die, that’s it.
How can you face your own end with such dignity?
Why am I struggling so hard to refuse to let it end, then?
Or could it be you know that in this world, dying doesn’t mean the end, and that’s why you can be so calm about it?
If that’s the case, that just pisses me off even more.
Ugh, forget it already.
I’ll kill you if you want to die so badly, then.
I activate all my Evil Eyes.
Jinx, Inert, Repellent, and…Annihilating.
Araba’s body crumbles into dust and disappears, without the slightest hint of resistance.
The Divine Voice (temp.) announces my leveling up, but it rings hollow in my ears.
I finally won against the opponent I was so eager to defeat, but it left a terrible aftertaste.
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