613 – The Flames of a Vain Struggle

The hecatoncheir swings its sword at my waist.
I receive the blow without attempting to block.
I don’t counterattack, but continue to wait.

The hecatoncheir swings again.
Now! I grab hold of its sword with my arms.

I can’t win at this rate.
But, there’s one last skill I want to try.
The oneiros’s highest firepower skill, [Hellgate].

【Normal Skill [Hellgate]】
【A type of spatial magic.
It calls out to the world of the dead to immolate the enemy with hellfire.】
【The hellfire does not affect the caster.】
【Raising the skill level will expand the scale of the effect.】
【The attack power is high, but an equivalent cost is required.】

Holding tight to the sword, I activate [Hellgate].
Black flames dominate the area.
A giant black skeletal arm and skull reach out from the flames to try and drag the hecatoncheir into the flames.

“GuuOOOOh!”

I open my mouth and bite into the hecatoncheir.
It immediate turns into a dark shadow and retreats backwards.
My claws close on empty air.

I can’t hold its weapon down either…!

I can feel my HP and MP draining to feed the [Hellgate].
I kick off the ground and lunge forward, chasing the hecatoncheir.

『You aren’t getting away!』

It can’t double back.
I slip behind the materialised hecatoncheir, and activate a second [Hellgate].
It’s once again wrapped up by black flames.
Its figure shifts into shadow once again as it begins to flee.

The surrounding area is covered in the flames of [Hellgate].
Its possible escape path is limited.
It hates to waste MP, so it’ll no doubt take the shortest route out of the flames.
I can hit it now.

I open my mouth and gather as much mana as I can into it.
A black sphere takes shape.
As an oneiros, my magic is stronger than my physical attacks.
The stone surface and some HP should have been shaved off by [Hellgate].
Before it can recover, I’ll crush it with [Gravidon]!

“GuuOOOOOOOh!”

The black sphere shoots out of my mouth in a straight line.
It hits the hecatoncheir directly as it rematerialises in the path of the [Gravidon].

『Get destroyed!』

The black light explodes.
A cloud of dust scatters.

I fall to my knees.
The light of [Hellgate] fades from my surroundings.
At the same time, the light around my body fades, and I shrink.
Maintaining my diabolos form with [Dragon Mirror] has become too hard.

I quickly heal myself with [High Rest].
The price of repeatedly using [Hellgate] is severe.

…I can’t go on any longer.
I put all my power into this one attack.

The dust settles, revealing the hecatoncheir is standing dauntingly behind.
Cracks are visible in its surface, but they’re rapidly sealing closed.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
[Hecatoncheir]

Species: Hecatoncheir
Condition: God of Madness
Lv: 140/140 (MAX)
HP: 9435/10000
MP: 8628/10000
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

…What? After all of that, this is all..?

I already faintly knew.
My stats are too low to take on the hecatoncheir.

From when I saw its skill list, I already knew the simplest way to beat it.
The hecatoncheir is best at forcing its opponent into a straightforward fistfight.
If I had a status powerful enough to control the battle, defeating it would be simple.

In short, it’s not an issue of lacking the perfect countermeasure, but rather of my fatally insufficient stats.
There are probably any number of strategies I could use to more efficiently shave down its MP.
But, I wasn’t even able to reduce its MP by twenty percent.
Even if I were to triple my efficiency, it wouldn’t be enough.

At this point, it’s clear what I should do.
I kick off the ground and leap into the air.
I don’t have any means of defeating the hecatoncheir currently.
So, I just have to retreat and raise my level.

The hecatoncheir’s broken neck looks up at me as I fly.
I think for a moment it’s about to give chase, but it instead turns around and heads back to the tower.

…I suppose it’s not a gatekeeper for nothing.
It’ll beat up anyone who approaches, but won’t chase them.
It didn’t seem to show much offensive actions, and didn’t seem at all interested in killing me.

Its role seems to be to protect the tower from the divine skill holders that come to this forest, and force them to succumb to [God of Madness].

Well, my speed is higher.
It’s not like talent with swords or ability to take a hit matter in a chase.
Though I suppose wouldn’t have been impossible for it to chase me with [Shadow Dance].

Before the fight, I didn’t think the hecatoncheir would be this strong.
For all its offensive power is weak, it’s no doubt the strongest monster I’ve seen in this forest.

It’s protecting the suspicious sky-piercing tower, after all.
There’s no way it could be a weak, easy to defeat monster.

But, this wasn’t entirely fruitless.
I was able to learn how effective various skills are against it.

I can’t fight again right away.
For starters, all the experimentation has drained me of my MP.
But, it shouldn’t be impossible for me to beat it.