533 – [God-Felling Myriad Slash]

Howgrey has finally closed the distance. Beelzebub is flying around me. It’s not a good situation – I still understand too little of Howgrey.

“Dragon-god-sama! That woman…!”

Following Aro’s line of sight, I see the zephyr Lilixira is riding is almost here. Now that Howgrey’s in range, it seems she plans on attacking herself. Is she planning on using Howgrey and Beelzebub to settle this here and now…? 

…No, that’s not all. While I’ve been distracted by Howgrey, Alphiss’s dragon has picked up the bloodstained Aruane and is now flying away. She’s probably acting on Lilixira’s instructions. If Lilixira’s going out of way to save Aruane, then does this mean she still has plans for her?

I had hoped to prioritise finishing off Aruane, but I haven’t got the leeway for that now.

“This is no time to be looking away, evil dragon.”

Howgrey springs up towards me.

I also jump, hoping to escape into the air. There should be a limit to how high he can get with [High Jump]. If I can escape beyond that, his sword shouldn’t be able to reach me… But then, his body appears to blur in the air, and his velocity suddenly increases.

Wh-what was that just now!? Was there some footing I couldn’t see due to the fog!? Or, is one of his skills capable of doing that!?

He readies his shortsword. He’s finally about to attack… Don’t panic, me. I am much faster. My precision isn’t so good with [Dimension Claw], but hand-to-hand combat is another matter.

I carefully follow his movements with my eyes, and then swing my foreleg.

I got him…is what I thought. Instead, I see him standing atop my claw.

Why…? My stats should give me a massive advantage, but no matter how much I struggle, none of my attacks land… Is it really a problem of my precision?

The fact that he was able to somehow avoid taking any fall damage can’t be explained by sheer competency alone. I have complete immunity, so it should be impossible for it to be some kind of illusion… There must be some sort of trick behind it. The secret to his power must be hidden somewhere in the blind spot of my thoughts.

I swing my foreleg up to try and toss him into the air. But, just before I move, Howgrey kicks off my claw to leap up towards my head. I open my mouth wide to snap at him. He kicks off my fangs and then my shoulder, clambering up behind my neck.

On my back are Aro and the treant. I can’t let them face Howgrey for even a second.

『Aro! Please!』

“Got it! [Gale]!”

A tornado billows across my back. As expected of Aro. She understood what I wanted immediately.

If this can hit Howgrey, should force him into the air where he’ll have a harder time dodging. There’s still his unidentified damage nullification to consider, so I don’t think I’ll be able to end with just this, but this seems like my best chance.

I feel Howgrey kicking off my back and jumping into the empty sky. I had thought for sure he’d use [Exorcising Blade] to stop the [Gale], but I’m glad he obediently dodged. Right now, he’s midair… I should be able to hit him. I suck in my breath and arch my head back.

I breathe out an immense [Scorching Breath] towards his position. Howgrey tilts his body to the side, and then, with a strange movement, suddenly jerks below the flames.

I open my eyes wide. H-he did it again. His strange twisted movements seem to ignore gravity. What did he do just now…? Until I know the true nature of that movement, I don’t think I’m going to be able to deal a serious wound to him in the air.

I have no idea what to do to get an attack to land. It’s the first time I’ve felt this lost in a battle.

Would [Hellgate] work…? No, the scale is wide, but the activation time is far slower than [Dimension Claw]. I need to specify the position, create the magic circle, and then only after that can I summon the hellfire.

Since he’s able to dodge my fastest [Dimension Claw], I doubt he’d patiently wait in place while it activates. If there’s any way forcing [Helgate] to land, it would be to fully seal off all his avenues of escape with other skills first, but that would cost a lot of HP and MP. The cost is too high for the chance it might work.

I glare up at Howgrey. He holds his shortsword ready and looks down at me. Our eyes meet.

“Here I come. [God-Felling Myriad Slash]!”

Howgrey tilts forward to roll through the air as he falls towards me. I swipe at him, but he easily slips between my claws. While rapidly rolling through the air, he delivers innumerable slash wounds to my shoulder.

It seems repeated cuts while rolling through the air is that skill’s means of attack. It’s a sword technique that specialises only in increasing the number of blows.

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“Guuh!”

A huge number of thin lines have been carved through my scales, causing blood to well up. It’s the effect of his [Shortsword of Empty Dreams]. From how it feels, the damage is more severe than it looks. Each hit is doing about five damage apiece. It’s only a little damage, but if he keeps this up it’ll quickly add up to more than I can shrug off.

I swing my forelegs towards him. He kicks off my shoulder to clamber up to the blind spot of my neck, still swinging his shortsword. Then, before I know it, he springs away again. The difference in size is working against me. If he keeps clinging to me like this, my HP will be seriously shaved down.

Trying to overpower him through force isn’t working, so should I try using [Humanisation Technique]…? His stats are low enough that even a graze is enough to defeat him, and so neither a halved defence nor a halved attack is at all a problem when fighting him… No, while Beelzebub and Lilixira are around, I can’t expose weakness like that.

『Aro, treant, get down!』

I activate [Gravity]. A black sphere of light bursts out of me. I’ll use this to get him off me and onto the ground, then kill him while he’s immobilised!

“…It’s here, the [Gravity].”

Howgrey kicks off my shoulder, moving again to the back of my neck. I feel a line of sharp pain running down my back.

“Guu…!”

This guy… He used the gravity to raise the force of his sword swings! But, now he has no choice but to be forced to the ground. He should be momentarily immobilised as he hits the ground. I’ll aim for that chance!

I swing my foreleg down to his head. But, just as he hits the ground, he seems to slide away.

He should be being weighed down massively, yet his movements seem even faster than before… No way, is he completely unconstrained by the gravity!? He’s been wielding his shortsword with fine, irregular movements. The idea that he could have used [Exorcising Blade] to cut through the [Gravity] crosses my mind, but there’s no way he should have enough MP to do that.

I don’t understand his status or his actions at all, and as a result, he’s completely shutting down my skills. But, now one thing is clear. The experience of fighting Howgrey is completely unlike anything I’ve done before.

Suddenly, I sense a wicked presence growing behind me. I can tell what it is even before I look. Beelzebub has shed his human form. I completely lost track of him!

『Hahahahaa! That’s right, I can’t give it my best if I’m not like this!』

Beelzebub’s swollen abdomen splits open to form a giant mouth, which he immediately uses to bite into the base of my wing. Together with a feeling of sharp pain, I hear the sound of my flesh being torn.

“Ga-ah!”

I swing my foreleg wildly, slamming into his side. His abdomen dents, and he’s sent flying. The impact knocked some of the teeth from his mouth, which scatter to the ground. But the shock also tore off a part of my wing.

…This is the worst. I let myself get distracted by Howgrey and so Beelzebub was able to land a point-blank attack in his giant fly form. His attack power while he’s not humanised is a match for Eldia’s. He was easily able to pierce my scales and get a huge hit in. This was the attack that I most needed to be wary of.

Both Howgrey and Beelzebub I could probably take alone. But fighting them both at the same time is difficult. Now that my wing’s torn, I can’t keep my balance in the air. While falling, I recover as fast as I can with [Autoregneration], careful to maintain a battle-ready stance.

『M-master-dono! That wicked woman’s casting magic!』

Just as I finish repairing my wing, a mass of black light plunges towards me. It’s Lilixira’s [Gravidon]! She’s starting to fight me for real!

“[Clay]!”

A barrier of earth forms from the air, protecting a portion of my body. Lilixira’s [Gravidon] bursts against it, immediatly shattering it. However, it was able to hold back most of the [Gravidon]’s force. I’ve still taken some damage, but had it hit me directly, I would have suffered a serious injury.

『…Thank you, Aro.』

Not only have I had to endure Howgrey’s continuous attacks and a direct hit from Beelzebub, but I also almost took a serious hit from Lilixira’s magic. It could have gone worse, but… The situation isn’t good.

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[Irushia]
Species: Oneiros
Condition: Normal
Lv: 109/150
HP: 3125/4397
MP: 2724/4534
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…I’ve lost quite a bit of HP. Howgrey’s sword alone took out about two-hundred. It’s still not much compared to the firepower of Beelzebub or Lilixira, but what makes it so bad is that I have absolutely no countermeasures for him.

I’ve also lost more MP than I expected. I wasted too much on trying to hit Howgrey with [Dimension Claw]. The fact that Beelzebub’s [Darkness Rain] is so easy to land in this many-against-one fight also painful. Lilixira’s choice to use him mostly for hit-and-run tactics since the first battle with Eldia isn’t doing me any favours.

Too much about Howgrey is illogical. It feels like he has a whole bunch of separate abilities, but there’s no way that’s the case. There must be some single strength underlying everything he’s done.

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