115 Spider vs. Fire Dragon ③
The battle must be decided before the gathered monsters enter the fray.
With the current situation demanding all focus to evade the Fire Dragon's attacks, there is no room for distractions.
The poison pellets fired while avoiding the Fire Dragon's assault vanished before reaching its body.
The flames of Flame Mantle, weakened by the counter-effect of the Reverse Scales skill interfering with magical construction.
The diminished potency of the poison pellets was entirely consumed before the Flame Armor.
The Fire Dragon itself did not initiate any countermeasures, yet the poison pellets were nullified.
Defense of such caliber that even mediocre attacks cannot inflict damage, let alone deal fatal harm.
Speed surpassing my own as well.
With sufficient intent, the current poison pellets could have been avoided—through evasion and a probability bonus skill, aided by superior speed.
Utterly tiresome.
Thanks to the curse of the cursed eye, the target’s HP is diminishing steadily.
Yet the reduction is offset by the sustained healing effect of gluttony.
Unlike me, the fire dragon’s HP, boosted by its own enhancement, remains at 1200—maxed out to the limit of its skill level.
MP is identical.
SP was not fully stockpiled, but still held a substantial reserve.
Frankly, depleting that amount through the cursed eye alone is impossible.
I would exhaust before the effect could take hold.
No meaningful reduction in status attributes expected.
A slight decrease occurs.
But even that decline is significantly slower than that of other monsters.
It would take an exceptionally long time for the effect to manifest visibly in status drops.
In any case, I would perish before that point.
Paralysis-inducing curse with potential for sudden reversal.
Even this may not be worth much hope.
The Fire Dragon’s status resistance skill level had risen to 2.
If its proficiency were near maximum, that might be acceptable. Otherwise, the opponent’s resistance would increase faster than my paralysis effect could accumulate.
I doubt it’s completely nullified, but relying on the Fire Dragon being paralyzed felt like an unreasonable convenience.
This won’t work. That won’t work.
With options narrowing, my remaining choices are few.
Of those, the most effective method is clear: overload the target’s resistance with poison.
My spider venom is the deadliest skill among my offensive capabilities.
Even a fire dragon with high status effect resistance cannot survive spider venom unscathed.
But it likely won’t die from a single hit.
Lucky Punch would be ineffective.
A more reliable, precise attack is required.
Yet the flame aura obstructs this.
Even a glancing touch drains HP through intense heat.
I cannot launch a meaningful attack without breaking through it.
Without doing so, any offensive attempt will only result in being burned.
While thoughts repeat, the body maintains desperate evasion of the fire dragon’s attacks.
Abandoning offense entirely, focusing solely on dodging—only just managing.
Even the magic caster’s counter spells are effortlessly blown away by the combination of wrath and flame aura.
The toxic fog that previously slaughtered countless monsters is meaningless before the Flame Mantle.
The fire dragon ascends into the air.
I immediately adjust the poison composition, focusing on the target toxin.
Moments later, a torrent of flame erupts from the fire dragon’s mouth.
A massive breath attack strikes the ground.
The Hellfire Breath, learned at Fire Dragon Skill Level 10.
This wide-area annihilation breath dissolves and vaporizes the terrain, transforming the surroundings into a new sea of magma.
I leap instinctively, activating the weakened poison via synthesis upon the ground.
I generate the maximum possible quantity, retreating into the large droplet.
Damage parameters were reset to minimum; HP loss remains negligible.
My entry into the weakened poison droplet and the fire dragon’s breath saturating the land occurred nearly simultaneously.
Even the residual shockwave causes the weakened poison to evaporate.
HP decreases despite not taking direct impact.
Before the poison vapor dissipates, extend a thread to the ceiling and evacuate hastily.
She fled along the ceiling without glancing sideways.
The fire dragon flew after them, but they succeeded in escaping onto newly formed magma before it could catch up.
A fireball approaches me.
She kicked off the ceiling, leaping into the air.
The fireball detonates at the spot where I was standing moments ago.
My body, hurled into the air, fell downward under the pull of gravity.
As if waiting for it, the fangs of a fiery dragon closing in from the air.
I drew the thread silently, slipping it along the ceiling to remain unseen by the fire dragon.
Simultaneously synthesized spider venom with paralysis effect.
The body of a fire dragon passed beneath me.
The dragon’s body slices through the air.
Enhanced vision registered my evasion of poison as the fire dragon closed its mouth—just in time.
The strategy of using my body as a poison vessel, effective against mid-tier monsters, had failed.
Yet I exploited the dragon’s opening and succeeded in descending back to the ground.
That was a miscalculation.
A gathering of monsters summoned by the fire dragon awaited me on the surface.
Surrounded, immobilized, I could not move.
Then came the fire dragon’s second狱炎ブレス.
My body was consumed by flame—no resistance permitted.
No chance to resist. The form was incinerated instantly. Not even ash remained. Disappeared entirely.