SWNOVELS Chapter 671: Surprise Ending
The ymir repeatedly swings the noroi tree at me. I desperately fly in every direction to dodge.
“[Gale]!”
Aro deflects a particularly dangerous attack, pushing the tree off course.
『Nice, Aro!』
I’ve gotten the hang of the ymir’s tree attacks now. I was a little startled at the intensity, but the movements are simple. As long as I stay calm, it’s not difficult to dodge.
I slip past another swing and close the distance to the ymir.
I’ll use the last of my MP to attack and defeat it.
…If I fail to bring it down right away, it'll be uncool, but I'll have no choice but to run away with all my might. I'll take a detour and sneak back to the tower.
I’m not sure what skill to use. The ymir is a quintessential attacker type, specialising in speed, attack power, and health. Ever since I lived in Noah's Forest, I've always thought that this sort of monster was the most dangerous.
However, its low magical strength is also a weakness. In this world, resistance to status ailments is directly linked to magical strength. From what I saw, the ymir has a decent array of resistance skills, but they aren't very high level.
Attacking through status conditions seems totally viable here. Even if the attack doesn’t work out, as long as I can apply the status condition, there’ll be plenty of chances later. Perhaps here I should use [Curse Knight], since it can apply status conditions and move autonomously as a distraction…
【Characteristic Skill [Headlong Charge]】
【Movement restrictions and stat decreases resulting from status conditions such as poison or paralysis are suppressed through willpower. 】
【While this characteristic skill is active, attack power and speed are raised.】
…Is what I thought, but I was forgetting about the [Headlong Charge] skill. That was close, I almost stepped on a landmine. I thought it had an easy-to-exploit weakness, but I guess that skill is there to compensate.
[Curse Knight] applies multiple status conditions. I'm almost certain it would trigger [Headlong Charge]. Even if I were to try attacking with other status conditions, it’s unclear what what interact with [Headlong Charge], so it’s best not to touch them.
In that case, I need to attack with enough power that it can’t be endured through [Herculean Strength].
I fly up to the ymir and circle behind it. It drops the noroi tree and swings towards me with a heavy arm.
『[Cocytus]!』
Ice freezes over the ymir’s foot. Its thick leg becomes pale as ice wraps around it.
The ymir’s mobility is dependent on its one leg. As long as I stop its leg, its ability movements will be significantly disrupted. This doesn’t count as a status condition, and it can’t be resisted through [Herculean Strength].
The ymir’s leg turns from pale blue to red as its muscles swell up. It’s planning on breaking free with [Herculean Strength].
『I won’t let you! [Gravity]!』
Black light expands out from me, engulfing the surroundings. Suddenly much heavier, the ymir is unable raise its leg.
『Now for the last of my MP!』
I swing my forelegs to shoot two [Wind Slashes]. Struggling, the ymir raises its arms to block. One of the blades of wind cuts its arm, while the other gouges its chest.
The ymir’s entire body blushes red. It must have realised I’m about to go all in, and has used [Herculean Strength] to endure it.
『This is the end, ymir!』
I swing my arm up clawing through face as hard as I can.
It’s taken the full brunt of an Upper Legendary attac. My claws carve huge tracks through the ymir’s face, scattering flesh and blood. Its neck is tilted at an impossible angle. Its neck is broken for sure this time.
No matter how tough the ymir is, if it takes the full attack power of an apocalypse, its HP will drop to zero in an instant. That’s what should have happened.
However, no experience point message arrives.
The ymir’s bloodshot eye open wide. The wound from my claw has carved a straight line to centre of its pupil.
『N-no way, it endured it!?』
It must have deduced that I would go all-in after I froze its leg, so it used [Herculean Strength] and [Autoregeneration] at full power to prepare. No, that’s not enough to explain this. I’m pretty sure its [Flesh Armour] skill reduces the damage taken at its surface, but I guess it must have been more effective than I was expecting, so the damage from [Wind Slash] was healed right away by [Autoregeneration].
The ymri’s endurance has surpassed my expectations. My limited MP only gave me the one chance, so I should have chosen a skill combination that would have dealt enough damage to kill it for sure. If I had put less mana into [Cocytus] or [Gravity], I could have dealt more damage with other skills.
…No, that wouldn’t have worked. To stop it long enough to get a good attack in, I couldn’t afford to be stingy with my MP.
“OOOOOOOOO!”
While I’m still overbalanced from my all-in attack, the ymir launches a quick counterattack. I desperately dive down, but the ymir’s fist chases after me.
I can’t shake it off…! I also don’t have enough MP for any skills that could save me. I should have avoided it from the start and taken the long way to the tower! There was no way a maximum level Legendary could have been weak.
I need to pour the dregs of my MP into [Autoregeneration] to fulfil the conditions for [Perseverance of a Champion], and then I'll do my best to fly away.
『Master-dono! Leave it to me!』
『Treant…? What are you doing!?』
Leaping off me, he returns to his world treant form. In an instant, a huge wall appears between me and the ymir.
『Now for [Undying Regeneration]!』
Treant’s entire body is wrapped in blue light.
【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.】
He used it against Miia and against the despairs, so this will be the third time he’s used [Undying Regeneration] today. It uses up almost all his MP each time, so this has got to be having a serious mental strain on him too.
But even though he took some mana from me, his MP definitely is far from high. The HP recovery effect will soon run out. In the first place, it’s doubtful whether his defence is high enough to take a hit from the ymir’s stupid strength. Becoming a huge target in front of the attack-specialist ymir is equivalent to suicide.
『Treant! Run away! I can take the hit!』
『Leave it to me, master-dono! I can defeat it! Now that time and experience are so precious, we can’t afford to falter before this one-eyed giant!』
The ymir’s giant fist punches into him. His massive body rocks back, violently scattering leaves. Even the blue moss of [Undying Regeneration] seems to have fallen to the ground from the impact.
『Hnngh!』
Treant’s anguished thoughts leak out. A-as I thought, he won’t last long!
『Don’t worry, master-dono! I have a skill for this! That was a powerful hit, but now I’ll pay it back! [Wood Counter]!』
His trunk twists, swinging a heavy branch into the ymir. A thunderous crash resounds, and the ymir’s body is pushed back more than ten metres. A huge groove is carved in the ground from its foot.
He struck back with all the ymir’s strength! Even for the ymir, that hit must have been fatal. It's got to have hit its limits now…!
The dust cloud clears, revealing the ymir protecting the left side of its body with its two arms. Its bloodhot eye glares at treant. It returns its arms to an offensive stance. One of the arms seems to be broken, but it’s quickly repaired with [Autoregeneration].
Then, the blue light covering treant’s body fades.
『…[Undying Regeneration] has worn off.』
As I thought, he didn’t have enough MP to use it. I hurriedly turn around to fly back to him.
『Treant! I’m coming back, so turn into your tree spirit form and jump on me!』
On the opposite side, its whole body red with [Herculean Strength], the ymir leaps towards him.
『Master-dono! It’s too late! Please run away…!』
『Don’t say something so stupid!』
But, the ymir reaches him before me. Treant's mouth opens wide as though to scream as the ymir’s fist flies towards him.
Suddenly, the ymir freezes in place. [Herculean Strength] seems to have stopped, as its skin is returning to its original yellow-brown colour and the muscles are shrinking. Its whole body begins to convulse and shake.contemporary romance
As I try and work out what’s happening, several tree roots burst out from inside it. The ymir's body is ripped apart from the inside, scattering chunks of flesh, before collapsing to the ground.
Eh? Eh? What was that? That was [Death God Seed]…right?
【22910 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the title skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 22910 experience points have been acquired.】
【The level of [Apocalypse] has risen from 92 to 104.】
We defeated it…
I see, the ymir’s weak magic wasn’t its only weakness. Its maximum MP was also low.
【Normal Skill [Death God Seed]】
【Implants a seed that steals the target’s mana.】
【The closer the user is to the target, the faster the target’s mana will be sucked up.】
【Once the [Death God Seed] has absorbed all the target’s mana, it grows rapidly, destroying the target’s body.】
In order to fight me, even though it didn’t have much MP, the ymir was forced to keep using [Autoregeneration] and [Herculean Strength], which steadily cut into its MP until it could no longer resist [Death God Seed]. It must have hit its limit when it used them to endure treant’s [Wood Counter].
『Hm…? H-huh? Did I win…?』
Treant moves the branch covering his face.
…I want to honestly praise him, but somehow it doesn't feel right…
done.co