I dodge the fireball the eel spews out.
Another fireball comes flying from where I dodged to.
At this rate, fleeing isn't even an option.
The shockwave from the explosions chips away at my HP.
At top speed, it's not impossible to dodge, but the yellow gauge drains fast.
If I keep pushing for maximum speed, the yellow gauge bottoms out in no time and I run out of breath.
Once that happens, it's game over.
Using the power of Foresight and Thought Acceleration, I predict the trajectory of the fireballs and get ahead of them to slip past.
But the eel reads my movements too, adjusting its trajectory to counter my anticipations.
It's a battle of who can out-think the other.
A tension that demands reading the opponent's mind, then reading the mind behind that mind.
But here's the critical difference: even if the eel guesses wrong, it barely matters. If I guess wrong just once, I'm dead.
《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill 'Thought Acceleration LV1' has become 'Thought Acceleration LV2'》 《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill 'Foresight LV1' has become 'Foresight LV2'》 A skill level-up at this timing is incredibly welcome.
The incoming fireballs start to feel just slightly slower.
Of course, my own perceived speed drops proportionally, so I have to be careful about that.
I dodge a fireball.
Then, Foresight picks up something different in the eel's movements — something I haven't seen before.
The breathing motion itself hasn't changed, but the wind-up is bigger than usual.
I release the top speed I'd been holding in reserve.
I tear through the air at a speed that leaves the scenery behind.
Behind me, violent flames scorch everything in their wake.
『Flame Breath: Exhales a wide-area flame breath attack』
A technique unlocked at Fire Dragon Skill Level 4.
I shouldn't have been hit directly, but the residual heat alone makes my back burn.
My HP is creeping downward too.
At this rate, it's a slow death, and one direct hit means I'm finished.
But I can't see any effective way to turn this around either.
All I can do right now is keep dodging and wait for an opening.
There's a suffocating frustration to it — having your life chipped away bit by bit.
Another fireball comes flying.
With the eel's Accuracy Level 10 skill and its probability-correction skill, its aim is absurdly precise.
Without my combo of Evasion, Thought Acceleration, and Foresight, I doubt I could dodge all of these.
《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill 'Evasion LV5' has become 'Evasion LV6'》 Good!
It's not enough to turn the situation around, but right now I'll take any small advantage I can get.
I dodge fireballs while checking the eel's remaining MP.
It's dropped quite a bit, but there's still more than half left.
The Flame Breath, being a wide-area attack, seems to burn through far more MP than the Fireballs.
If it can't spam the attack carelessly, that's fine by me — though ideally I'd want it to keep holding back.
Foresight doesn't necessarily activate every time, and if it doesn't, I'm not confident I can dodge everything.
I need to keep a close eye on the eel's behavior as much as possible.
No sooner do I think this than Foresight catches the eel preparing to unleash Flame Breath.
I blast forward at top speed once more.
But this time, the eel doesn't breathe straight ahead — it sweeps its head sideways, spraying the breath in a horizontal arc!
An attack that was already wide becomes even wider.
Guh!
It grazed me.
Just a graze, yet my HP drops by ten.
The graze caught part of my back and one of my rear legs.
The leg stings a bit, but it seems functional enough for movement.
That said, there might be a slight drop in speed.
This is bad.
《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill 'Fire Resistance LV1' has become 'Fire Resistance LV2'》 At last, the Fire Resistance that had been stuck for so long finally levels up.
Perfect timing.
With higher Fire Resistance, the auto-recovery should be able to outpace the terrain damage.
The healing amount is probably tiny, but having it versus not having it is a world of difference.
I check the eel's MP.
Good.
It's dropped below half.
MP consumption seems to be roughly ten per Fireball and around fifty per Flame Breath.
Even below half, the eel could still unleash about four more Flame Breaths if it chose to.
That's not good.
I create distance between myself and the eel.
Unwilling to let me go, the eel pursues while spitting fireballs.
Exactly what I wanted.
While on the move, it probably can't use that Flame Breath.
Now, if I can keep running and keep forcing it to expend fireballs, eventually it'll run dry on MP.
If I can survive that long, there might actually be a chance.
For now, I just dodge relentlessly.
I try to pull back as much as possible, but evasion comes first above all else.
I carefully choose my escape route so I don't get cornered at the edge of the magma.
One wrong step and I'm dead.
It's like walking a tightrope.
《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill 'HP Auto Recovery LV5' has become 'HP Auto Recovery LV6'》 Nice, nice!
Real combat really is the best way to focus — skill levels seem to climb faster in the thick of it.
The skill I'd been waiting on alongside Fire Resistance finally levels up at this moment.
My elation lasts only an instant.
But that instant is all it takes.
The eel's neck coils into a breathing stance.
Completely unexpected.
Prediction didn't even trigger.
There's no way I can dodge this.
Flame erupts from the eel's maw.
In the split second that follows, I slam my foot into the ground and launch myself into the air.
The breath grazes past beneath my feet.
I endure the pain and extend a thread toward the ceiling.
I quickly reel the thread in and land on the ceiling.
《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill 'Three-Dimensional Maneuvering LV4' has become 'Three-Dimensional Maneuvering LV5'》 I look down at the eel from the ceiling.
The eel gazes up at me from within the magma.
I managed to dodge the breath, but now the question is — what do I do from here?