A preemptive Dark Lance.
Dodged, naturally.
A retaliatory breath attack.
Dodged, naturally.
Attacks that both sides knew would be avoided.
Attacks that felt like testing each other's feelings.
The whole exchange felt like two long-separated lovers finally meeting again.
Well, forget lovers — I've never even had a friend.
After exchanging attacks like greetings, the real battle begins.
Arava's massive body closes in at gale speed.
What the hell kind of speed is that?
Ark was fast too, but this one blows past that.
I won't lose when it comes to speed, though.
I dodge the claws of his swinging forelegs.
Waiting right where I'd dodge to — the sharp tip of his tail is already bearing down on me.
I dodge even that.
The tail cuts through the air.
But it immediately bends and comes after me in pursuit.
I cast Repulsion Evil Eye on myself and activate the pseudo-barrier.
On top of that, I dodge.
The tail, deflected by the repulsive force, passes just inches from my body.
And then a follow-up kick from the rear leg comes right after.
But the kick stops midway.
Tch — he noticed the threads strung across his firing line.
He picked up on the threads I'd been secretly setting up while dodging.
Arava pulls back.
He might want to reset the fight, but this time it's my turn.
I fire Dark Shot at Arava as he tries to create distance.
It's a surprise attack, but Arava dodges it with ease.
However, the threads waiting behind him are something he can't dodge.
Threads with no adhesive properties, but loaded with maximum poison and slashing attributes.
Arava slams right into that web-like pattern.
And at the same moment, holding the threads, I dash toward Arava's opposite side.
To make the threads cut in deeper.
The result: my body gets sent flying.
Well, yeah.
The size difference is just too enormous.
No matter how much I've enhanced my strength, I can't match Arava's power.
Arava's HP drops — just slightly.
I'm not sure whether the poison or the slashing did the work, but I managed to deal a tiny bit of damage.
Even if it's the kind of wound that auto-recovery heals right away, the fact remains that I drew blood.
Hmm.
If I can inflict damage, then this might work.
I let go of the threads.
Riding the momentum of being launched away, I use Spatial Movement to control my posture.
I face Arava once more.
Based on what I'm feeling — in terms of physical attack power, Arava wins.
Speed goes to me.
Defense goes to Arava.
Magic goes to me.
Something like that.
But if I'm being honest about whether it's even close — I'm losing.
That's simply because one particular aspect of Arava is absurdly high.
His defense.
My attack power can't break through Arava's defense.
Physical attacks are blocked by his Heavy Armor Shell and Divine Steel Body.
Even my full-power Thread attacks only manage to graze him, like last time.
Magic attacks are hard to call effective either.
Because of this skill — a higher-tier ability than Reverse Scales, called Heavenly Scales — magic damage gets drastically reduced.
Still, with my magic attack power exceeding ten thousand, I should be able to deal some damage.
If I hit him.
Arava's evasion is high too.
If the attack lands, it'd be damage all right, but there's a high chance he'd recover before I can land the next hit.
Without Parallel Thinking active right now, shooting magic while fighting is a huge pain.
And given Arava's evasion speed, the recovery would likely outpace the damage.
I won't use Parallel Thinking.
It's pure stubbornness, but I want to be the only one fighting Arava.
If I mobilized all my Parallel Thoughts, I could probably overwhelm him in one burst with gatling-style magic barrages.
Even short of that, if I activated Abyss Magic, I could do it.
But there's meaning in winning this with just me.
There's no finishing move.
Plus, going on the offensive carelessly would just earn him resistances for nothing.
Since I'm not using Parallel Thinking, I can't use the Abyss Magic plan I'd prepared as a countermeasure to Kaguna either.
So there's only one strategy available to me.
And to pull it off, I have to fight with everything I've got right now.
I need to make Arava believe I'm worth going all-out against.
If Arava goes all out, I'll find my opening.
Because that's exactly when my invisible second poison will begin eating away at Arava's body.
Arava takes a stance.
Prediction tells me the preceding motion is for a breath attack.
That same breath attack that once collapsed my home.
Arava's breath comes roaring toward me.
Teleportation.
I teleport directly above Arava's head.
I fire Dark Shot right into his head, the one that's breathlessly still spewing destruction.
Dark Shot lands a direct hit on Arava's head, forcing his mouth shut.
The mouth that was in the middle of breathing fire.
The breath explodes inside Arava's mouth.
Dragon breath apparently isn't just that dragon's own elemental attack.
Arava's HP drops — even though he should have Earth Nullification.
Combined with the Dark Shot, that's legitimate damage.
Oh my.
Could this actually work?
No — probably not.
Even as his mouth explodes, his tail lashes at me like a separate living creature.
That tail is the real problem.
I dodge the tail that bends and snaps like a whip.
The wind pressure as it passes at point-blank range sends a chill down my spine.
Given my HP and MP, I probably wouldn't die from one hit.
Probably — but the force is so terrifying that I can't help but vision myself sliced clean in half by the tail.
I fly backward to dodge the forelegs that swing after the tail.
While creating distance, I fire a restraining Dark Lance.
Arava's feet stop at the Dark Lance.
His HP is recovering rapidly.
Fast.
Yeah — wearing him down with accumulated damage is going to be incredibly tough after all.
But Arava has fully recognized me as an enemy.
From here on, he'll be coming at full power.
My poison begins its erosion.
You've already been poisoned by me.
A special poison that doesn't show up as a status ailment.
Now then — let the countdown begin.
I wonder... when will Arava notice the poison?