The hero flew up higher and higher into the sky. Just how far does he plan to go? Glancing down…, Haranae now looks small.
For now, I’ll use [[Autoregeneration]] while I’m flying.
The wound on my face caused by his sword quickly mends itself with light returning to my left eye. It’s as amazing as I thought it would be. With Rest and its related skills, they wouldn’t be able to go this far even with a closed wound.
With the wound on my face healed, I once again focus on flying and immediately increase my speed, closing the distance between me and the hero.
“[[Quick]]! [[Power]]! [[Quick]]!”
Light wraps around the hero’s and the Pegasus’s bodies. The rate at which the Pegasus flies increases dramatically, once again widening the distance between us.
The fact that he’s got a pair of legs separate from his own body means that he can concentrate and use magic, which is his strong point, even while running away. Just how far do you intend to fly, geez. Thank god I’ve got automatic recovery skills, since he probably won’t miss since there are no obstacles around here.
“[[Mirage]]!”
The hero’s body splits into three blurry, shaky versions of himself.
“[[Lucent Luna]]!”
The hero raises his sword to the heavens as numerous orbs of light begin falling down from the sky toward me.
Combined with the hallucination effects of [[Mirage]], nearly thirty orbs of light were created even though the skill was one that, when used normally, only produces close to ten orbs. Furthermore, it’ll be hard to clear all these out because they’re moving at such high speeds. Using a blah skill with blah timing. Blagh!
I immediately drop my speed and cartwheel my body, evading the attack by a wide margin. Somehow, I manage to avoid every single one, including the illusionary ones.
In this momentary gap, our distance once again opens up. I crane my neck up and immediately see the hero descending right upon me.
“Gwwaaaa!”
Hurriedly, I swing my forefoot at the hero with as much strength as I can muster. I feel no response. I realize too late that it was a hallucination created by [[Mirage]].
I can’t afford to stop just because I’ve lost sight of my enemy. Between ascending and descending, descending is, of course, faster. It’s pretty tough to fly and keep this huge body defended at the same time.
I nosedive while swiveling my head around, looking for the hero.
A jolt of pain shoots down my back. The hero had descended parallel to my own descent. I stretch my tail out from my blind spot, but he avoids it without breaking a sweat. Damn, this guy’s used to aerial combat.
The hero flies around me, stabbing his sword all over my body. That magic enhanced pegasus is too fast. Because the hero is targeting me with numerous shallow attacks without landing any decisive blows while mixing in his [[Mirage]] skill, I’m having a difficult time catching him.
“GwwoooO!”
I breathe out a sweeping [[Scorching Breath]]. If I can’t catch him, then I’ll have to keep him at bay with a wide range of techniques. At least, that’s what I based my attack on, but the hero dove directly into the fire. The hero’s sword, which he swung upwards as if he was scooping it up from below him, made contact with my jaw.
“Gwu-!”
My head is knocked upward, exposing my now defenseless body.
The hero didn’t have any fire resistance, but he did have skills like [[Spirit’s Divine Protection]] and [[Fairy King’s Blessing]] and whatnot. It might be because of those. Even if I can see his skills, if I don’t know exactly what they do, then I can’t take appropriate measures against them.
“Even if the attacks were just pin pricks, they didn’t do anything. You’re one tough dragon.”
At the edge of my vision, I could see the hero preparing his sword for something big. I feel a strong sense of déjà vu coming from that stance.
“This ends here! [[Heaven’s Drop]]!”
Unlike the last time I was hit, this time a serious blow is driven straight into my chest. For a brief moment, it felt like I was having a hallucination in which my vision had become horribly distorted. All of the air inside of my body escaped through my mouth as if it were all squeezed out from inside of me. I couldn’t even scream.
The hero chases after my defenseless, falling body. Even if I try to straighten out my posture, my body isn’t listening too well to what I’m telling it to do. Though it’s light, I think I might have gotten paralyzed. This is not good at all.
At any rate, I hurriedly use [[Autoregeneration]] to mend the injury on my chest. I somehow flip my body around and, at the very least, avoid falling flat on my back. Shortly after that momentary relief, the hero, who had finally caught up to me, takes his sword and strikes me on the back.
“[[Earth Reversion]]!”
The impact’s excessivity causes the surrounding ground to be tossed up into the air, as if something was pushing it up from below. It was as if gravity had decided to reverse itself just here and nowhere else. The nearby buildings, caught in the shockwave of the attack’s aftermath, get swallowed up into the ground and collapse.
My consciousness recedes into the back of my head. My body won’t move. All I know is that blood is gushing forth from my back.
“Haaa… haaa… Right. That should be…”
“Gaa!”
Partner cries. The weight of my body is alleviated. My ability to think returns. I immediately use [[Autoregeneration]].
“Gwowaa!”
I aim my forefoot to the sky where I could hear the hero’s voice, swing it, and let loose a [[Wind Slash]], raising my head as I do.
“Woah!”
I could see the hero clinging on to the pegasus as it flies up further into the sky to avoid the blade of wind.
Are the hero’s physical abilities weakening? Looks like the hero had to endure the recoil from the two powerful attacks as well. While body strengthening magic is convenient, It is and should be expected to put a burden on one’s body. The large flush faced ape also had the same reaction to using it. If that’s the case, would now be a good opportunity for me to counterattack while he’s still suffering from the physical backlash?
“Wha-? How!? How are you not dead after what I just did to you!? Dammit!”
So this, from the beginning, was the infinite endurance of the Ouroboros as described. About the only thing that could exhaust me at this point would be going and “cooling off” with [[Voice of God]]. That could’ve ended badly if I didn’t squeeze in an [[Autoregeneration]] between his [[Heaven’s Drop]] and [[Earth Reversion]].
“You’re too annoying for mere small fry!”
The pegasus once again ascends up into the sky and runs away. I want to land a decisive blow on the hero before he recovers from the backlash. I once again chase after the hero and fly up into the sky.
“Gaa!”
Partner uses [[High Rest]] on me. The rest of the damage that had not been recovered disappears. While I do appreciate the restoration that [[Autoregeneration]] does on lost body parts, [[High Rest]] does seem to be fundamentally more efficient. The latter, though, is relegated to the other neck, so I don’t really have any immediate say in using it.
I fire out a [[Wind Slash]] to where it would graze past the hero’s head. I send out a second one with a small delay and aim it at the Pegasus’s leg.
“Hey! It’s going to hit me!”
Upon hearing the hero, the pegasus drops the speed at which it was flying. The first shot, which looked like it was going to hit the hero, instead grazes past the top of his head. After that, the second shot hits the pegasus at the base of their leg.
“Whi-hiIN!”
The pegasus’s white thighs are gouged deeply with blood spraying out. Aiming at both of its wings, I send out a third and forth shot in quick succession.
“M-move! Hey! You useless-! Hurry up and move!”
The pegasus’s wings are torn off by my blades of wind, causing it to start falling towards me as it loses the ability to fly.
“God dammit!”
The hero readies his sword. His arms are trembling. He probably still has some residual backlash.
I rise just above the hero, who’s riding on the pegasus’ back, bite into his back, and pull him away from the pegasus. The pegasus continues to fall away from me, alone, without the hero.
“L-let go! Let me go!”
I rise up into the sky with my teeth still clenched down on the hero. After that, I change course, steer my head downwards, and immediately descend.
“S-Stooop! I said let me go!! Someone kill this evil dragon!”
“[[Physical Barrier]]! [[Physical Barrier]]! [[Physical Barrier]]!”
My head slams into the ground with a mighty force. Clouds of sand are thrown up in and around the vicinity.
My neck hurts. Did I overdo it a bit just because I have recovery magic?
“Gu- Gaa!”
Thanks to Partner’s [[High Rest]], the damage I received is immediately recovered.
…For some reason, I hear what sounds like pained crying. What’s going on?
If the hero’s gnawed up figure isn’t where I think he is, then he must be lying in a puddle of blood somewhere in the distance. Just when I thought it was over, the hero got up while using his hand to leverage himself on the rubble.
“Ah- ah- guh- shit… Why, what did I do to… huh? What?”
The hero looks confusingly at his hands, then around him, then finally at me before stopping and wrinkling his nose. No… he’s not looking at me, but Partner?
I follow the hero’s line of sight to its destination and see… Partner holding the hero’s sword in her mouth.
[Holy Sword Radim: Value A+]
[Attack: +112]
[A sword that eradicates evil with the power to wipe away darkness. Many demons have met their decaying end before this sword.]
[For a long time, this sword was kept safe within the confines of Haranae’s basilica.]
Ooh, this positive modifier value is rather attractive… NOT. Why do you have it?
It seems like she managed to snatch it when I pounded the hero into the ground and sent him flying.
“That’s mine! Re… turn…”
Partner tilts her head back, and when she does, she drops the sword into the back of her throat. And with that, she gulps it down, following it with a deep, satisfied breath.
…Wait, is… is it okay to eat that? What about the darkness wiping? Evil eradication??
The hero looks at Partner with eyes that can’t believe what they were seeing. After that, the hero drops his gaze. Before the hero’s gaze was the pegasus, lying in a pool of its own blood.
“Every one of them, nothing but useless rubbish…”
The hero turns his back to me and starts running.