SWNOVELS Chapter 655: [Split Beast]
I’ve closed the distance to Miia. Even though she's is in her thanatos form now, it doesn’t change the fact that we outnumber her.
As long as I have treant and Aro helping me, it’s possible for us to press the attack. The crucial aspect is not letting her get away once we damage her. If she uses [Eclipse] again in order to buy time to recover, Aro and treant will definitely become exhausted. Once that happens, we’ll have no chance of winning.
“My sword isn't as skilled now? Well you’re not wrong. I knew that weakness, but can you handle this, I wonder?”
Miia twists her human torso, swinging her sword as though dancing. The speed and power of her [Shockwaves] increase. She’s throwing away any thought of precise swordsmanship, and is using her power as a thanatos to the greatest extent.
Blocking is impossible. If I try to absorb it with my arm it’ll pierce right through, and if I block with my sword it’ll be knocked away. However, she’s no longer reading my movements to block off my escape, so it’s possible for me to dodge.contemporary romance
I flit around in each direction, focused entirely on evasion. I frantically watch Miia’s movements, predicting the trajectories of each [Shockwave].
It feels similar to when I was dodging Lilixira’s [Aparajita] chakrams. Miia’s attacks are far faster than Lilixira's, but it’s precisely because I fought Lilixira that I’m just barely able to handle Miia’s attacks.
I can’t let them hit me…! Aro managed to bail me out, but it won’t work again. A single mistake means death. If I’m not able to perfectly dodge every single attack that can be dodged, there’s no way someone like me can reach the level of Miia.
『Brute force won’t work any more!』
I shout as I attack with [Dimension Claw]. Miia neither blocks nor dodges, and my claw carves a gash through her centipede-dragon body. Her carapace breaks, and hemolymph flows out.
She didn’t dodge…!?
I attacked assuming that she would dodge or block, but she intentionally took the hit to try and force a counterattack.
Unlike me, Miia is attached to the wall. Even if she’s hit, she wonn’t lose her balance. I didn’t put as much power into my [Dimension Claw] because I assumed she would dodge.
She completely outpredicted me. She let herself be hurt in order to pay it back threefold.
“It looks like this is the end.”
Mana gathers in Miia’s dragon mouth, forming into ball of black light. [Dark Sphere]. Her human upper body also readies her sword. She’s forcefully made an opening, and now will aim to get in a certain hit.
“Die!”
A series of sharp [Shockwaves] fly towards me. They curve up, cutting off my escape upwards. To dodge, I’ve no choice but to fly down.
Then, to crush my last avenue of escape, the [Dark Sphere] shoots up at me.
I can’t dodge this…! Miia’s firepower at medium range is simply too much. Her swordsmanship is a little deteriorated, but her combined [Shockwave] and [Afterimage Sword] is seriously hard to handle when backed by her full stats. Am I not even able to close the distance with her!?
『Master-dono! Please use me!』
Blue glowing moss emerges all over treant's body. This is [Undying Regeneration].
【Normal Skill [Undying Regeneration]】
【Explosively boosts the user’s vitality.】
【When used, the user’s body is covered by blue moss, and their HP is forcibly recovered until their MP hits 1%.】
【The user’s defence is greatly raised, but the other stats are halved.】
At the cost of his other stats, his defence power is massively raised. But it’ll keep sucking away his MP until he runs out. Once [Undying Regeneration] finishes, we’ll have no hope. We'll have lost the moment Miia activates [Eclipse]. We absolutely need to settle this quickly.
It’s true that in his normal state, treant wouldn’t have been able to take a hit from Miia now. His judgement was correct. In the first place, I can’t possibly beat Miia while stuck at this distance.
Treant extend his branches, protecting my left side.
『Thank you treant…!』
Abandoning evasion, I charge forards with the left half of my body. Miia’s [Shockwave] collides with the treant armour.
『Aaarrrrgh! This much won’t hurt meeee!』
He was able to completely absorb the double-layered [Shockwave].
“Hmm… So that’s how tough you are.”
『[Gravidon]!』
I spit out a mass of black light. Miia pulls her body across the wall, dodging my [Gravidon]. It slams into the wall, causing the tower to shake slightly.
Miia is superior to me in her ability to read a battle. No matter how many [Dimension Claws] I send out, she'll watch my foreleg and the direction of my gaze, and dodge with the minimal movements. However, in order to dodge a large attack like [Gravidon], she needs to move more. She also can’t afford to take the high-power [Gravidon] head on.
That’s why I can use this opportunity to close the distance.
I raise my sword ready to strike.
『Miia! Sorry, but I can’t let you go to the outside world! I wanted to fulfil your desire. But your conviction has changed into blind hatred!』
“Don’t think you’ve won. Didn’t I say it before? In order to match you three, I just need to increase my number of attacks.”
From below her giant thanatos body, four lumps of flesh leap up. Like the rest of her body, they are covered with pale carapace. The appearances are all different. They look like a spider, a snake, a bee, and a fly.
This must be [Split Beast]!
【Normal Skill [Split Beast]】
【Crafts a monster out of the user’s flesh.】
【The [Split Beasts] provide no experience on death.】
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Thanatos Beetle
Condition: Kin
Lv: 100/130 (Lock)
HP: 1753/1753
MP: 64/826
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
She can create four high level A rank monsters so easily!?
“[Gale]!”
Aro’s voice sounds in triplicate from inside my mouth. Three hurricanes appear, scattering the [Split Beasts]. The thanatos beetle contorts, and its head is torn off by the winds and falls to the ground.
“Please keep going, dragon-god-sama!”
“They aren’t too tough!”
Miia bites her lip, glaring at Aro.
AN: The publisher of Doratama will be switching to SQEX Novel. For details, please see the activity report. (2020-11-09)
TN: Essentially the author choose to follow his editor (and illustrator) to a new publisher. This took effect from volume 13 of the LN onwards, which was the start of this Ngai Forest arc.
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