564 – [Ouroboros Breaker]

Lilixira’s crawls with her snake body across the cliff face, trying to escape from the black flames.
But, countless skeletal arms grow from the flames, holding her in place.

The arms aren’t large, but have a huge number of joints, making them look like ropes.
They firmly pin down her snake body and her arms.
The parts they grip begin to scorch black.

Five giant black skeletons rise from the flames.

“This is…!”

As expected, Lilixira seems panicked.
She should already know about my skill through [Status Inspection].
This isn’t the fear of the unknown, but alarm over the known.

【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.】

It’s hellfire that burns away fenrirs without trace, and even turned the Legendary armour with high magic resistance, [Evil Ahriman], into cinders.
I feel the unpleasant sensation of a huge amount of MP burning away inside me.

Though powerful, [Hellgate] is slow to start and costs a enormous amount of MP.
It’s not a skill I wanted to rely on, but if I don’t defeat Lilixira now, I’ll gradually fall behind in a protracted battle.

With how cautious she is, there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to catch her again.
If she gets away, she could also power up with [Chakra Awakening].
If I don’t defeat her now, I probably won’t get another chance.

“Aah, aaah…!”

Lilixira’s face burns, and her body goes limp.
Her four arms are pinned down by the skeletal arms.
The five giants are leaning down towards her, but it’s still possible that this attack won’t kill her.
It doesn’t seem as though this black hellfire damages its summoner, so I should attack alongside the giants.

Her [Immortal Step] won’t work if she can’t move her body.
Her other skills also require some movement.
In this situation, I should be able to hit her without being counterattacked.

…Is that really true? If I can land this attack, I should be able to defeat her.
As I think that, a chill runs down my spine.

Would Lilixira really fall so easily? The cost of [Hellgate] might be severe, but I didn’t think the skeletal arms could be this restrictive.

For a moment, I hesitate.
Suddenly, a blade of light cuts through Lilixira’s snake skin and skims past my chest.

“…I was too early.”

From the tear in her skin, Lilixira’s face appears, followed shortly by the rest of her body.
This is her [Reincarnation Moulting] skill! At the cost of a huge amount MP, it can fully heal her while also producing a cast-off skin as a decoy.

No wonder her body seemed to burn so easily.
It was already partially shedded.

She hid inside her moulted husk to hit me with [Aparajita] as a counter.
If I had approached carelessly, she would have cut straight through me.

Lilixira holds a large [Aparajita] sword in one hand and chakrams in the other three as she crawls out of her cast-off skin.
She’s going to try to force me back with the [Aparajita] weapons so she can get out of the range of [Hellgate].

I can’t let her get away.
But, it’s too dangerous to approach her while she has weapons ready.
She’s already raised the chakrams, about to throw them.

Then I should just make my own weapon!

Using [Dragon Mirror], I transform my forelegs into arms and my forefeet into hands.
At the same time, I use [Ideal Weapon].

A weapon that’s simply strong won’t be enough.
I need something that can repel her [Aparajita] and crush her escape.

A light appears between my arms, which then splits in two and gains mass and colour to form into a pair of beautiful swords. 

The design is similar to the [Ouroboros Blades] I used previously, but these swords are shorter.
The blue sword has a harsh curve to it, and the right sword’s blade splits in two before intertwining in a complicated pattern.

【[Ouroboros Breaker]: Value A】
【[Attack: +75]】
【A pair of giant swords that are said to endure until the end of the world.】
【Made from the bones of a double-headed dragon that is the symbol of eternity and taboo.】
【The blue blade ignores the resistances of the target and poisons whatever it cuts.】
【The red blade possess strong magic resistance, and disperses magic that it cuts.】

It’s another pair in the series of twinned ouroboros swords.
The blue blade seems to have the power to destroy life, while the red blade has the power to destroy magic.
With the red sword, I might be able to deal with her [Aparajita].
Once she has more space, she’ll throw the chakrams in arcs and hide their trajectories with [Immortal Step], but right now the most she can do is throw them straight ahead.
As a result, I should be able to deflect them.
No, I will deflect them.

Lilixira throws the three chakrams.
Using [Immortal Step], she adds slight delays into their timings.
But, all of them are flying straight at me.

I brace myself and swing out my left sword into the first incoming chakram.
It’s should disperse the magic, but it looks like the effect is incomplete.
I wasn’t able to hit it dead on, and the mana contained within [Aparajita] might be too dense.

But as long as I can push it away though, it’s no problem.
I thrust forward, repelling the second chakram.
But I fail to predict the third chakram’s timing, and it slips past my sword to slice through my side.
But this level of damage won’t stop me now!

With the [Hellgate] behind her, Lilixira has no choice but to come forwards.
Since I’m blocking her escape route with my body, she can’t use [Immortal Step] to get away.

Lilixira shuts her eyes for a moment, and takes a deep breath.
She’s probably strengthening herself with [Immortal Qigong] in preparation for fighting me with her last [Aparajita] sword.

“I can’t let this be the end!”

She swings her sword of light towards me.
I catch it with my magic resistant sword, but get pushed back by the force of her blow.
Her blade cuts deep into my shoulder.

『That’s enough!』

I thrust the sword in my left hand out.
It pierces deep into her navel where her human and snake bodies join, impaling her against her cast-off skin.