Reincarnated as a dragon’s egg ～Lets aim to be the strongest～ - Chapter 609

609 – Mudslinging Contest
The hecatoncheir and I glare at each other. After a few seconds of rigidly staring at each other, I break the pause by leaping towards it.

In order to earn damage efficiently, I should avoid using skills. The hecatoncheir is spending all of its resources on defence, health, and recovery, so if I spend MP to deal damage, I’ll be the one to run out first. The best strategy is to rely on my speed and attack advantage to damage it at no cost to me.

I wanted to avoid a battle of attrition, but the hecatoncheir’s greatest strength isn’t its power in a mudslinging contest. It’s in its ability to force its opponent to fight on its terms. The more I fight it, the more I see how its skills limit my options.

I kick off the ground, rushing towards it at low altitude. The hecatoncheir raises its sword to match me. I slip past its sword, raking my claws against its side and carving scratches through its stone surface.

Turning around in the air, I fly back at it.

The hecatoncheir is strong against repeated attacks. That’s because as soon as it is forced into a bad position, it can escape with [Shadow Dance]. So I have no choice but to steadily earn damage, one hit at a time.

Seeming to think it can’t keep up with my speed, the hecatoncheir holds up its sword in front of it like a shield. I try to slip past its sword and cut its body again, but it just barely manages to defend.

My claws are blocked by the sword. Immediately, a storm of punches fly towards me. I curl up to defend while kicking off it to leap backwards.

Just as I think I got away, a black shadow materialises in front of me. It’s chasing me with [Shadow Dance]!

I close my wings to block, but take the hit directly. The sword stabs through my wing.

Oww. I was too unwary of its attacks. The hecaoncheir’s attack is low, but it’s still Legendary class. Its skills are all high-level, and its swordsmanship is excellent. It’s a former Hero, after all.

I use my tail to flick it away. I fail to completely destroy its balance, but the recoil lets me regain some distance.

[Shadow Dance] really is a nuisance. It cancels out unfavourable positions, and creates favourable ones. It’s well suited for protracted battles like this. The longer a battle draws on, the wider the difference it will make. It prevents me from getting lucky or use strategies to land heavy blows, while it steadily keeps pressing me.

To be honest, I haven’t been feeling much danger because its attacks are so plain and the damage is so small. But, it’s gradually pushing me towards certain exhaustion. It feels unsettlingly like my life being gradually worn down.

Even though I now understand how it fights, I strangely still don’t feel a sense of danger. That is what scares me. The hecatoncheir has no decisive blows to attack me with. But, if anything, its an opponent I need to fight even more cautiously than normal.

Keeping my distance from the hecaontcheir, I fly in an upwards spiral.

The hecatoncheir’s focus seems to be on using counterattacks to make up for the difference in speed. So, I should pressure it from just outside its range and force it to move. As long as we move at the same time, my speed advantage should allow me to safely attack.

I fly one loop around the hecatoncheir. It doesn’t move. I fly another loop. But, it still doesn’t move.

It’s almost as though it simply doesn’t feel any pressure from my movements. I thought it might choose to attack with [Dimension Rend] instead, but it simply does nothing.

When I raise my claws threateningly, it raises its sword in response. But, that’s all. And, while I’m doing this, it’s gradually healing with its overwhelming recovery ability.

It has completely taken statue-like stance of patience. I’ve come to realise that inviting it to attack is fruitless. It probably knows that attacking would only put it at a disadvantage, too. Trying to taunt it with an occasional [Dimension Claw] seems like a bad idea, and if it were to see an opportunity, it’d just respond with [Dimension Rend].

A single clever plan isn’t going to work. It’s impossible for me to deal a lethal blow in one fell swoop, and any damage I do manage will quickly be healed. To beat it, I need something reliable.

To be specific, I need some way of repeatedly and safely dealing damage to it. But, no matter what I try, the hecatoncheir seems to already know how to respond.

Its abilities seem like an impregnable wall. It really is an ideal guardian. Even though I’ve come so far, I’m still not able to deal decent damage to it.

I’m slowly but surely being worn down. This isn’t working. I had a feeling I could leverage my stat advantages to win, but I’m certain now that winning that way is impossible. Looking at its status properly, it’s clear that, at this rate, I’ll run out of strength before even reducing its MP by half.

I need to switch plan. I should try and find a way of somehow bypassing its defensive abilities to aim for repeated large damage. I had thought it would only permit a slow slugfest, but I can’t keep fighting on its terms. Spending MP on attacks will cost me, but I need to try different fighting styles. I’ll experiment with my skills one by one and search for a way through its defences.