Wait, there's no way, right!?
I landed a direct hit with Shukai on its head, and that's all the damage it dealt?
And Pochi-type's bite didn't do that much either.
Among the Shadow Demons I can summon, Pochi-type boasts the highest attack power.
There are others — Piyo-type, which is suited for detection, or Chuu-type, which excels at assassination — but in terms of raw attack power, none of them compare to Pochi-type.
Shadow Demons are summoned bearing several of my own Skills, and Pochi-type has a Skill build specialized entirely for physical attack power.
Even after taking Pochi-type's attacks head-on, the oni barely sustained any damage.
Am I underestimating the Status gap too much?
Things seem to be going in my favor so far, but it could be bad if it manages to close the distance.
If only the Eye of Stasis would work — but until it does, the question is whether I can keep the oni pinned down with suppressive fire.
That might be a tall order.
If it were Master's Evil Eye, that might have done the trick, though.
Magic Eyes are a Skill you can only acquire if you belong to a specific race or possess special talent. In my case, I managed to get it because my race is Vampire.
Master's Evil Eye is an enhanced version with far greater power, while mine is the inferior knockoff by comparison.
Still, even the inferior version is devastating enough — just the fact that acquiring it is so difficult speaks to how formidable the effect is.
And even that Magic Eye has no effect on the oni.
My current options for defeating it are either sealing its movement with the Eye of Stasis, or grinding it down with chip damage over time.
Either way, I'm going to have to commit to a long battle.
Sure enough, the oni charged in, fully prepared to take the hits.
Right.
If neither Shukai nor Pochi-type can deal a killing blow, then rather than dodging everything, it makes more sense to trade damage and drag this into close quarters.
I'm sure it understands that a protracted fight works against it — and conversely, that a quick decisive encounter puts me at a disadvantage.
But do you really think I'll let it have its way?
I release the magic power I'd been holding in reserve.
Parallel Will activates.
On top of Shukai, ice and darkness magic rain down upon the oni.
Lances of ice and shadow pierce through the air and stab into the oni's body.
Oh — they didn't actually pierce through.
Blood is flowing, so some damage was dealt, but it wasn't enough to penetrate the body.
As expected, the high Stats, the resistance Skills, and above all, Dragon Power's magic interference effect are a pain.
The damage dealt is negligible relative to the cost.
But it's not zero.
The relentless barrage is steadily eating into the oni's HP.
Even with auto-recovery kicking in, my damage output is slightly higher.
Plus, the multi-pronged attack has successfully slowed it down.
If this keeps up, I win.
But I doubt it's going to be that easy.
Look — swords are materializing from the spatial rift.
Wait, there's a lot of them!
Hold on, hold on, hold on!
How many hundreds of swords are there!?
Are all of those exploding swords!? If that many swords blow up at once, this entire area will be obliterated!
That's bad.
Even though we've kept our distance, there are still fellow academy students nearby.
I suppose I have no choice.
I'll have to use the trump card I've been saving for when I truly needed it.
Swords fly toward me.
They form, quite literally, a wall of blades — a deadly weapon that slashes, pierces, and then detonates.
I activate a magic spell aimed straight at the swarm of swords.
Ice Hell Magic — "Glimmer Mist."
A brilliantly shimmering white mist.
Its true nature is a death fog that freezes everything it touches and shatters it to pieces.
Mixed with my own Blood Mist, it becomes a radiantly crimson fog.
My ultimate attack — one I've never even shown to Master.
If I had to name it, maybe "Glimmer Blood Mist"?
The swarm of swords and the Glimmer Blood Mist collide.
The swords detonate, and the shockwave surges into the Glimmer Blood Mist.
But even that shockwave can't blow away the Glimmer Blood Mist — a mist that freezes, melts, and reduces everything to dust.
Before the radiance that can freeze even the blast wave itself, everything is powerless.
I should say — as expected — more than half of the Glimmer Blood Mist was worn away, but roughly 30 percent remains.
I send the remaining Glimmer Blood Mist surging toward the oni, who stands dazed after being denied its signature sword technique.
The oni snaps back to its senses, draws a new sword from the spatial rift, and swings it.
At the same time, the ground surges upward, forming a massive wall to block the Glimmer Blood Mist's path.
But do you really think you can stop my ultimate technique with a wall of dirt?
The Glimmer Blood Mist dissolves matter with acid, rapidly freezes it, and shatters it.
A mere earthen wall won't serve as any shield.
The wall crumbles without the slightest resistance, and the Glimmer Blood Mist bears down on the oni.
The oni tried to neutralize it by colliding it with fire.
The result — the fire was overwhelmed, and the oni's right arm was ripped away.
At the very last moment, the fire did reduce the power considerably, so only one arm was taken.
I was half-hoping that would settle things, but it seems it's not that easy.
Still — having lost an arm, can it withstand my follow-up attack?
Chasing right behind the Glimmer Blood Mist, Shukai and Pochi-type pounce on the oni.
And on top of that, I myself begin constructing a new spell, pressing the attack further.
And on top of THAT, one of my Parallel Wills begins preparing Glimmer Mist once more.
Drown in Shukai, get crushed by Pochi, or get pierced by magic.
And once it has survived all of that, if another wave of Glimmer Blood Mist bears down on it — will it hold?
At the exact moment I was half-certain of victory, Shukai burst apart, Pochi was sliced to pieces, the magic shattered — and a blade was driven into my body.
What... just happened?
I took damage? I actually took damage?
Me — who was protected by the Celestial Scale?
I was sent flying, rolled across the ground, and when I staggered to my feet and checked my body, my right arm was sliced halfway through.
This much will regenerate quickly, but the real problem is twofold: something managed to deal damage to me at all, and I couldn't understand what the oni had done.
But when I looked up at the oni, I saw the answer.
All Stats: 99,999.
Impossible.
Am I losing my mind?
That's the kind of absurd thought that crossed it — but it might not be far off.
"GRAAAAAAAAH!"
The oni lets out a roar.
There's no trace of reason in that howl — nothing but frenzied, unrestrained will to destroy.
Only one thing comes to mind.
Fury.
The Skill I'd been on guard against.
It must have activated.
What miscalculated is that the Stat increase far exceeded my expectations.
I thought a two-fold boost would be within the range I could handle, but this is beyond anything I can manage.
This... might actually be bad.