Chapter 23 (2/2)

It wasn’t as if I was completely unscathed, but the fight was similar to a cat driving a mouse into a corner, and the mouse desperately taking a bite . The cat might be hurt, but the mouse was still liable to die in the exchange . If only I’d been at full health back then, I could’ve killed Yumis along with that bastard .

But as soon as the witch noticed that she was at risk, she used her already accumulated mana and forcefully changed the spell into one of teleportation . She escaped . If I hadn’t let that happen, I could’ve killed them some more in my 1st run .

Of course, I didn’t exactly have the capacity to have my revenge so easily as I’m having now .

“Since it turned out to be a Backup Copy, guess I’ll just have to have YOU experience it too . You worms can do nothing to me without gathering all your numbers . ”

I instantiated two 【Pilferblades of the Adversary] .

“! Enough with your nonsense . You can’t beat me!!”

“Hah!! Showing your true colors are you, YUMIIIISSSS!!”

She commanded the Tenebris Ignis Giants to attack while forming further spells .

First, as a test, I went with normal strength and clashed swords with one of the behemoth’s own purple flaming bone greatsword .

“UGHKAAAA”

“Tch!! Thing’s like a boulder . ”

I’d say, as a monster, the Tenebris Ignis Giant wouldn’t rank at anything below C .

It felt as tough as Blackorc hide, and with the amount of power it was exerting, even while using the 【Pilferblades of the Adversary] I was put at a slight disadvantage in strength . On top of that, its fire that grazed me in such close quarters had the effect of draining my MP .

This kind of made me want to use other soulblades, but then they’d lack the strength to take these things on .

“ Tri Lightning!!”

“Woah . ”

Streams of lightning magic headed towards me from different directions .

The other golem was also coming from behind . This one apparently preferred blunt weapons as it had a giant mallet in its hands .

I loosened the strength in my arms to end the sword-lock, used the golems own force to twist out of the way, and then created a thin, cylindrical bar in the air using sky walk and grabbed on to it .

In the same motion, I swung up, dodging the oncoming lightning strikes, and like an acrobat, I placed my feet on the other golem’s hammer, in that instant, I was positioned between the massive weapon and my own bar in the air that wouldn’t last much longer .

“GYUURAAHHH”

I let myself be sent flying by the momentum of the hammer and after doing a spin in the air to steady myself, I landed some distance away .

“Hah, pathetic . The old you could’ve stopped those attacks with pure strength . ”

“I could say the same about you . You used Demon’s Fire when you already know much more powerful spells . Of course you did, your status simply isn’t caught up to your knowledge . ”

“Impudent fool… You’re being an eyesore . Golems!!”

Yumis probably thought she could win with this strategy, she kept the sword golem by her side as a guard and made the hammer golem dash towards me . She also began gathering mana for her next spell .

I took some distance, careful not to let the golem out of sight, even though with its large body it could only move slowly .

“… … …”

“O great diverging spirit of wind, O lord whose aim is truest of all…”

It was the aria for Multiple Lightning . Her actions, counter-actions to my actions, they were so easy to predict .

I let out a small chuckle at how utterly simple she was .

I readied the technique that let me solo the mountain of monsters just the other day, a method to quite literally surpass my bodily limits . I began filling the 【Viridian Sword of Crystal] with mana .

“That was enough warm up I guess . ”

“Come to life for that single moment, Streak in lightning that denies elusion, Multiple Lightning!!”

“… … … … Overlimit ”

As I muttered the name, confirming its activation, a pale green light enveloped me .

Everything turned gray, slow . I could see the beginnings of lightning bolts racing towards me .

Lightning attacks produced by spells were different from the naturally occurring feat of nature . True, this type of spell is quite a bit faster than your average fireball, but the lightning produced by the laws of physics was much faster . That’s why it was possible to do fantasy actions like directing the magical lightning in a desired path .

I leapt away from the fast approaching lightning and rolled in towards the hammer golem on my tail .

This feat was a step above and beyond what my stats allowed for . A technique to draw out power without concern for the body .

It wasn’t on the edge of not breaking my body, but on the assumption that it’d break, and in exchange for the damage, I could squeeze out tremendous power that defied stats for just a few moments .

And by using 【Viridian Sword of Crystal] I constantly healed my overexerted, torn muscles, extending the little time I broke through all potential .

“Wha!?”

“HOAAAAA!?”

“Too slow ain’t ya!!”

Once, twice, three times, four, five .

Now facing it one on one, before the bone creature could even swing down its hammer, I struck down with 5 sweeps of my blade, each crushing its body .

My attacks that were more like cannon fire than sword slashes, blasted away at its left shoulder blade, right upper arm, right thigh and left calf, making those areas look as if they were gouged out .

“ORAAAAA!!”

“Damn!! Go-, No, hah!!”

Yumis tried to send her other golem in to aid, but then thought better of it, and fired off a silent fireball .

She of course realized that her hammer golem was at a disadvantage, but she didn’t want to risk leaving herself with no guard .

That was the correct choice . The sword golem wouldn’t have made it in time anyway .

For these golems, if you destroyed their center, their core, they would immediately stop functioning, and crumble into dust .

Even if she sent in the other golem, I’d destroy this one’s core long before the other came close .

“Fuck off back to hell!!”

I dodged Yumis’ fireball and broke the now unbalanced hammer golem at the legs .

Now practically done for, the golem attempted a last struggle by intensifying its weakly lit coat of flames .

This was an action akin to suicide .

The violet fire was the golem’s life force, and if it was used too intensely, the remaining time it could operate would rapidly decrease .

“Give it up, stupid golem . ”

I felt my MP draining from the intense violet flames, but I destroyed the core under its thick torso anyway .