Chapter 117
A Powerful Foe — Part 2
Only one thought passed through my mind as I attempted to peek at the manticore's stat page . Holy shit . It's strong .
The gap between our stats was far too large . Analyze was unable to show me anything beyond its race, its class, and its level . And that was in spite of the fact that I used Analyze so often that it had become capable of displaying basically everything . None of the few things that I could see could be interpreted as good news . Its class demonstrated a powerful propensity for violence, and Lefi's aside, its level was the highest I had ever seen .
I clicked my tongue . The circumstances that had led up to my current predicament could only be described as unfortunate . I hadn't been able to detect the threat in time because it had come from just outside the dungeon's boundaries . I wanted to say something along the lines of "sayonara sucker," and run like the wind, but I highly doubted that the manticore would allow us to escape .
Much to my displeasure, the monster gazed at us with a composed, sadistic smile . Its intentions were clear as day . It wanted to torment us, to treat us like playthings until it felt hungry enough to finally consume its next meal . I had no doubt that it would chase us to the ends of the earth if we tried to run away . Welp . If flight's off the table, then fight it is .
A part of me had wanted to challenge the beast regardless . The smug look on its face pissed me off to no end . Fuck you too furfag . You know what? When I kill you, I'm going to skin your dumb ass, turn you into a fucking rug, and use that stupid looking face of yours to wipe the dirt off my feet every time I get home .
The first to attack was Rir . He grasped my intentions the moment I first took up my stance, so he immediately activated Everchanging Chains . Fetters burst from the ground underneath the furfag's feet and attempted to restrain it .
Likewise, the furfag had no qualms springing into action . Literally . It dove at us the moment it sensed the chains appear near its feet . We avoided the attack by splitting up and dodging in two different directions .
Dirt and dust flew everywhere as the monster landed and smashed its paws into where we had been standing just a few moments prior . The simple attack had hit like a truck . It contained so much power that it created a small crater . Hoooooly shit . I do not want to tank one of those . That just looks like an easy way to get myself reincarnated as a lump of ground meat .
Rir corrected his posture the moment he moved out of the furfag's way and retaliated by clawing at the smug-looking asshole, but his attack was evaded . Sir Douchebag had dodged it by taking a small step to the side .
I took the opportunity to get behind Mr . Cockypants and swing my sword at what was supposedly a blind spot, but one of the furfag's scorpion-like tails suddenly began to move like a creature with a mind of its own . There was a loud clang as it caught Zaien's blade head on and stopped it in place . It almost sounded like two metal substances had collided .
A heavy shockwave pulsed through the blade and ran up my arm . The weight of the impact caused me to freeze up for just a second, an opening that the furfag failed to miss . Its second tail immediately darted straight for my heart .
I clicked my tongue as I backed off and dodged the incoming strike . Though I had left my melee range, I had no intention of abandoning my offensive . I quickly channelled my mana and let loose the usual water dragon spell at the sadistic douchebag the moment I landed . It was my fastest magical attack . The reptilian creatures it created tore through the air like arrows and threatened to tear into the manticore's rear .
But they were stopped short .
The beast had manifested a barrier akin to an AT Field and repelled the attack . The fuck!? [1]
Furfag's counter came before I could wrap my mind around exactly what had happened . The asshole suddenly turned around, leapt at me, and drove its claws towards me at an incredible speed . I somehow managed to raise Zaien and intercept the attack, but I hadn't braced myself enough . The force sent me flying .
I groaned as I crashed into the trunk of the massive tree behind me and knocked it down . Only after smashing into a second tree did I finally lose my momentum .
It hurt . Bad .
The pain was so intense that I felt like I was about to pass out, but I somehow managed to bear with it and remain conscious . My eyes were blurry; I had started tearing up, but I did my best to ignore my suffering as I opened my inventory, grabbed a potion, and downed the whole thing in one breath .
"Whew…" I heaved a sigh of relief . Thank god for pots . These things can basically let me fight like a zombie so long as I don't actually die .
I glanced downwards as soon as the pain began to recede and confirmed that Zaien was still doing alright . Welp . That's immeasurable quality for you . This thing just took a super heavy attack but isn't even nicked or anything .
After inspecting my weapon, I turned my gaze back up towards the battlefield . Rir was still fighting the manticore . In fact, he was in the midst of casting a spell . The sky right above the cocky furfag had started to glimmer .
Not even a moment later, everything, everything turned white . There was a deafening roar as the earth was blown away by the attack .
It was a lightning spell, a spell that he had refrained from using because he hadn't wanted to get me caught in it .
His spell would have taken any normal monster from full health to nothing . It was so powerful that it had torn the earth asunder and burnt the area around the strike so horribly that it looked like the site of a munitions experiment gone wrong . And yet, the douchebag remained unharmed .
The sight that I was greeted with once the light finally faded was that of its AT Field . Sir Douchebag was standing right where he was before with his grin as cocky as usual . He went out of his way to make a show of "curiously" gazing at his surroundings . It was a clear display of provocation . The asshat was asking Rir whether or not his spell had done anything at all . That thing's defence is fucking ridiculous .
Seeing the AT Field in action made me want to swear at the furfag until I exhausted every last curse word in my vocabulary . But rather than wasting my time, I directed my efforts into contemplating its weaknesses . I highly doubted that the creature's AT Field was powerful enough to provide it with straight invincibility . I mean, it defended when I tried using Zaien, and dodged when Rir tried swiping at it with his claws . There's no reason it'd bother if it didn't have to, right?
There was a single common point that all the attacks the manticore had consciously avoided shared: they used physical force . Does that mean that its stupid barrier can only defend against magic?
I observed the sadistic asshole as it engaged Rir in a classic Godzilla vs . King Kong style clash of the titans . And its behaviour seemed to coincide with my expectations . It either avoided all of Rir's physical attacks or fended them off with its tail whilst repelling all of his spells with its AT Field . …I think I've got an idea .
Maintaining the status quo didn't seem to be in our favour . The manticore clearly wasn't feeling any pressure despite the two on one scenario, which meant that things would only get worse for us if nothing changed . We needed to act and utilize a power that was neither of our own .
"Rir!" I shouted . "We're getting the hell out of here and heading back over to where we were earlier!"
The wolf paused for a split second to think before dashing over . He had caught onto my plan . I leapt onto his back as he passed me, and the two of us made a hasty retreat .
Sir Douchebag narrowed his eyes in a manner akin to a cat tormenting a mouse before taking off after us in order to chase us down .
***
TL Note
[1] Evangelion . An absolute terror field is the thing that stops regular weapons from murdering angels .
Editor's note (Joker): Hey, guys! Joker here, coming atcha live from Anime Matsuri in the sunny, sunny city of Houston, Texas . God, it's so damn hot…how do they cope with it? I've had to drink copious amounts of water just walking to the car and back, let alone being out in it constantly . But yeah, if anyone's at Anime Matsuri this weekend, (June 13-16 2019) hit me up on Discord and we can see if we can meet up . That'd be cool, aye? Getting noticed by senpai IN REAL LIFE? All right, all right . Enough shameless plugging aside, let's get to what everyone wants to see, Joker's Question Corner! Lessee… 7 lovely letters for me today, and multiple Nirvash headpats to get through, so thanks to zekkendo, جهاد السعيدي, Karmarov, CaTastrophy427, Sylphian, Mischa, and kx for your lovely letters . Nirvash would like to thank Head parts for everyone, جهاد السعيدي, Mythical_Supremacy, Anime Dragon, Karmarov, Tonatsi, Sylphian, Grauncher, and kx for all the lovely headpats and would also like to thank crismofern for his question . If you'd like to ask me a question, or headpat Nirvash, leave it below in the comments and get featured here! See y'all in the next chapter!