288 – Abyss Collapse

“Veeh!” VeEeehh!”
“Veh!” “Veah!” “Veaah!”

A huge number of abysses, heavy abysses, and mother guards assemble in front of the mother.
They pile up on top of each other to soon form a wall of abysses.
It seems they intend to protect the mother no matter what it takes.
The sight of so many abysses crawling over each other is, needless to say, traumatising, but I force my emotions away and push on.

I’m going to end the battle as soon as possible.
In my head, that’s all I can think.
As if I’d waver in the face of a wall of abysses after all this time.

Finally, I slam into the wall.
I trample through and feel them squished beneath me.

【144 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 144 experience points have been acquired.】

【156 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 156 experience points have been acquired.】

I hear unpleasant sounds and feel unpleasant sensations.
In this way, about ten message windows appear and disappear one after the other.

【138 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 138 experience points have been acquired.】
【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 83 to 84.】

It’s strange… My level’s rising quickly, but for some reason I’m not pleased at all.

But the wall of abysses has more mass than I expected, and my rotational speed slows as I roll up the wall, soon coming to a stop.
This is the worst.
I couldn’t have stopped in a worse place.
Suddenly, abysses cling all over my body.

“VeaaaaaaaAAH!”

The mother roars.
A point-blank tentacle whip penetrates the wall of abysses and slams into my chest.
It’s a direct hit.
My scales are gouged, and blood flies.
Succumbing to the impact, my body floats in the air.

I spread my wings, flinging away abysses and holding myself in the air, while twisting to bite at the mother’s tentacle.
It seems like I was blown away by the tentacle whip, but now the tentacle is stretched out like a kite’s string and I’m able to escape far away.
As I pull on the tentacle, the mother’s huge body trembles.
Since I’ve closed the distance this much, I want to deal a ton of damage in one go.

『Shouldn’t we fly further away to put some distance…』

No, let’s do it from here.
A good few of the mother guards mobilised to make that wall of flesh.
They were swallowed by the collapsing wall and can’t move.
Before they can reorganise, I want to strike the mother.

『By strike, you mean…』

Please use [Soul AppendmentFake Life] to startle them.
It’s not a skill I want to get used to using, but in this situation, I can’t afford preferences.

『To revive an abyss? I don’t think that’ll have much effect though…』

No, what I want you to move is the dragon-god’s skeleton, near the mother.

“Gaah!?”

A good number of mother guards have taken position on top of it, after all.
Anyway, do it now, please.
We can’t afford to miss this opportunity.

“……”

She nods, and uses [Soul AppendmentFake Life].
Wrapped in black light, the dragon-god’s skeleton abruptly rises to its feet opposite the mother.

“……?” 

The dragon-god’s skeleton points its eye cavities towards the mother.
The abysses and mother guards on top of it slide down in confusion.
Some of the abysses scatter in every direction.
The elite mother guards scramble to jump at the skeleton.

Of course, the only-just awoken dragon-god only level 1, so it’s no match for the mother guards.
It crumbles apart in the blink of an eye, once again collapsing into sleep.
Sorry for waking you up.
But even though it was just a momentary distraction, the protection around the mother has grown thin.

I stretch out my neck and open my mouth wide.
As though seeking the light, Aro crawls along my tongue.
Though she falters for a second upon seeing the disastrous seen in front of her, she fires off the most powerful magic she can.

“U, ugu… Ea…earth magic, [Clay]!” 

Countless needles erupt from the ground.
Though they don’t pierce the mother, the footing of the battlefield is made unstable.
The mother guards that remained in front lose their stances and are flipped over.

Assault by [Roll], panic from the dragon-god’s revival, and Aro’s [Clay].
Between these three attacks, I’ve finally created a huge opening in the mother’s protection.
I can’t let this chance slip.

Pulling on the mother’s tentacle, I use it to launch myself towards it.
The tentacle tears off, and the mother flinches back.
I put all my weight behind my foreleg, digging into the mother’s forehead with my claws.

“VeaaaAaaaaah!”

Crushed, its head splits open, scattering body fluids.
Sensing a crisis, the larvae that were parasitising its back squirm along its body towards me.

G-gross! Can they fight too!?

As I’m thinking that, the surrounding mother guards regain their footing.

Aro jumps down from my mouth, standing on top of the mother.

“Wind magic, [Gale]!”

The swarm of larvae are blown away by her wind magic and fall to the ground.
Nice, Aro.
With this, I can devote myself to finishing off the mother.
With the departure of the larvae, the mother’s back is gross and pitted, but I look away and pretend I didn’t see.

I hold down the mother with both forelegs.
Partner, let’s bite into it together, as deeply as possible!

『Eh… A-are you serious?』

If we miss this chance, we’ll be soon fighting while covered in abysses again!

『……』

She closes her eyes, then opens her right eye a crack to peer at the mother.

『…Let’s look for another way after all.』

Okay, all together now!

She opens her mouth in a hurry.
I open my mouth, and we dig our fangs in at almost the exact same time.

My mouth fills with bitter liquid.
I get the feeling that there’s something wriggling inside my mouth.
I hope it’s an illusion.
I want it to just be an illusion.

“VeaaaAaaaaah!”

Dan, dan, don, dandon!

The mother’s tentacle whips slam into my back.
Healing through [Self-regeneration], I kick off the ground and jump up into the air.
Though unstable, I manage to fly in the air with it in my mouth.
At this rate, Aro would be dragged in and crushed, so she kicks off to jump down to the ground.

Midair, the mother frantically resists as it pounds its forelegs into my head.
Blocking its tentacles with my tail, I desperately continue to fly up.

After flying about thirty metres up, I use [Roll] in the air to forcefully flip over.
My centre of gravity is horribly unbalanced, so my rotation is unsteady, but I’m just barely able to raise my rotation speed enough to push through.

Matching my timing with my partner, I open my mouth to release the mother, flinging it downwards forcefully.
I use the same centrifugal force to chase after its back with my tail.
With a tremendous crashing sound, the mother’s huge body is propelled to the ground.

【Normal Skill [Heaven’s Drop] has risen from level 3 to 4.】

Stretching out my wings, I chase after it.
I kick off the wall to accelerate, then stomp on it with both of forefeet just as it hits the ground.
With a massive thud, the entirety of the cavern bottom shakes, and huge fissures open up in the ground.
Unable to bear the impact, body fluids gush from its mouth.

【Normal Skill [Return to Ground] has risen from level 1 to 2.】

Its body convulses with a twitch.
As expected, this is the has decided the battle.
The combo of [Heaven’s Drop] and [Return to Ground] really is scary.
I don’t have the tiniest bit of gratitude for that hero, though.

“Veeeeee…”

The mother cries out feebly, its legs crawling.
The abysses all bustle past each other to gather.
They’ve already lost their will to fight upon seeing their boss’s defeated figure.

“VeeeeeeeEeeEh!”

At that moment, the mother bares its teeth at an abyss that had crawled close.
Panicked, the abyss tries to avoid, but the difference in speed is too great.
In the blink of an eye, three abysses are reaped by its teeth and eaten.
All that remains are their legs and a splashes of body fluids.

H-how nasty… That reminds me, it had [Food Regeneration].
The ball rabbit had that too.
If I remember correctly, it lets you heal by eating.

Dragging its crushed body, the mother moves to attack another abyss.
I put strength into my forelegs to stop it from moving.
Its teeth grind to a halt a few centimetres away another abyss.
All at once, the abysses break up and scatter away.

Th-those guys… No, it’s fine I guess.
With this, I’ve stopped the culprit behind their abnormal multiplication.

“VeEe… VeeeEe…” 

Unwilling to give up, it stretches out its tattered tentacles towards nearby abysses.
I step on the source of the tentacles, its head.
The tentacles and legs twitch, until finally they stop moving.

【3240 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 3240 experience points have been acquired.】
【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 84 to 87.】

Ooh… That’s a lot…

【Title Skill [Brave Hero] has risen from level 5 to 6.】

Brave Hero went up? So I should get a new skill in a moment…?

【Normal skill [Holy: LV1] was acquired.】

I-It’s here! Isn’t this the one that can cancel out curses? As long as I have this, I no longer have to worry about [Dragon Scale Powder]!

Let’s test it out! [Holy]! [Holy]!

…Huh? It doesn’t look like I can use it? 

“Gaah”

With my partner’s cry, a ball of peaceful light appears before gently scattering apart… Eh, ah, I see.

Aro walks up beside me.
I ought to check how much her level’s increased from this.
She’s mowed down quite a few of them after all.
Though saying that, she might not be participating in a lot of battles from here on…

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Name: Aro
Species: Revaana Lowlich
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 24/65
HP: 116/252
MP: 32/276
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Sh-she went up 23 whole levels… She killed a good number of them when they were gathered together after all.

After checking the mother’s corpse once again, I shift my eyes to the dragon-god’s skeleton.
Aro stretches her hand out towards it.

“…[Clay]”

The earth swells up to cover it.
Aro closes her eyes and tilts her head forwards, taking a stance as though offering a prayer for the dead dragon-god.
Copying her, I bow my head towards the buried dragon-god and close my eyes.

With this, the cause of the abysses’ mass breeding is taken care of… First of all, I want to wash my body.

Looking up, I see something small and green, peering down over the edge of the cliff.
Straining my eyes, I’m able to make out ten forest children.
The forest children point in the direction of the Lithovar village, then disappear as though dissolving into the air.

Wh-what is it?