When she reached point-blank range, she readied her fighting stance. It didn’t exactly look cool or powerful—what with her arms and legs being so short—but it was still oddly intimidating.
“Diiiie!”
Just then, Veld-Draco’s giant claws came down on her!
“Nice try, bawk!”
Bshhhh!
“She blocked it, bawk!” Kokoru marveled.
“Whoa!”
Dark Lord Veld attacked.
But Mommaru guarded the attack!
Whoa, she guarded it perfectly! Wait, they seriously named her Mommaru?!
It didn’t end there. After blocking the blow, she shoved Draco’s arm off to the side and forcefully broke his posture.
“Nngh!”
“Now, bawk!”
There was a glint in Mommaru’s eye. She stepped in so close that she was almost touching the enemy. Then, she aimed some round part of her back or shoulder—I wasn’t sure which—at the enemy and charged.
Pow!
Her body slam struck a clean hit on him. Veld-Draco’s massive form was bent at a forty-five degree angle as he was blown backward.
“Graaargh?!”
CRASH!
He smashed into the wall, breaking a hole in it. Her terrifyingly powerful body slam had tossed that giant dragon so far away.
“Ooh! Great job, bawk!”
“Wow, I was right!”
Mommaru was too strong for Veld to control!
Mommaru activated Tie Shan Kao.
Dealt 6,888 damage to Dark Lord Veld!
What insane power! She didn’t even have to throw her money away to deal that much damage!
“Unnngh...” Veld-Draco groaned, lodged in the wall.
He was immobilized from taking so much damage, so I wondered if her attack had a temporary stun effect.
“I thought I would never have to use my fists again after I got married, bawk. But a martial artist’s blood naturally attracts battle, bawk...”
Mommaru murmured something that I didn’t quite understand, but sounded deep nonetheless.
Seriously, though! Holy crap! Tie Shan Kao, huh? That’s a really popular move in fighting games. So that’s in this game too? That must mean it’s a striking art, right?! Could I learn it as an art or an ultimate?!
The Deadly King, strongest and fanciest of the undead, had a Crimson Calamity skill book. I was dying to know if Mommaru had something like that for Tie Shan Kao.
If she went down, would she drop it?! Well, I don’t have it in me to hurt her, but... man, I want to learn it! I wanna see that combo’d with the drama cannon! Is there a way to make this new dream of mine a reality?!
“What do you think, Ren?” Mommaru asked me. “Did that help?”
“Yeah, um, let’s see!”
I took a look at Veld’s HP bar. It had fallen by about 40%, which probably meant that he had around 10,000 HP or less remaining. Was that within range of being defeated with a Peregrine Stone-infused ultimate? This boss didn’t spew out seeds like the Hadean Rose, so he was way easier to deal with.
“I’m a little sore. It’s been so long since I used my full power, bawk. Can I leave the rest to you, bawk?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Now it was my turn! I quickly crafted the Peregrine Damascus Sword into a Canesword.
“Give my boy Draco back! The cute little one, that is!”
I readied myself to activate Vermilion Wing. Actually, the two strikes made Dead End into Dead End V, so Vermilion Wing would be... Vermilion Twin Wings!
Behold! My strongest ultimate yet!
“Take this! Vermilion Twin Wings!”
You don’t have enough AP, so the ultimate didn’t activate!
Huh?! Why’d I get this?!
Vermilion Wing was made up of Turnover, Explosive Tackle, and Quickdraw. Of the three, Turnover was a simple HP-MP swapping skill. It didn’t require AP to use. Quickdraw had an AP cost of 0. As a striking technique, Explosive Tackle cost 75 AP.
Vermilion Wing itself ought to cost 75 AP. I thought I had a decent amount of AP from our battle before, though?
I took a look and found that my AP was only at 20.
Huh? Shouldn’t I have more? Gah, it’s going down again! Now I only have 10 AP!
“What the heck?!”
Ugh, never mind that! I really need to finish off Veld!
Whether Vermilion Twin Wings would work or not, I could still use Dead End V. It didn’t require any AP at all!
I ran up, closing the distance between us. Vermilion Twin Wings came with a lot of forward motion, so I had attempted to use it from afar. Throughout all this, however, he would not stand there and wait for me.
“Graaah! Damn you! How could such a fat little chicken harbor this power?!”
He stood up, destroying the walls around him. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on Mommaru.
“Judging others’ strength is part of what it means to be strong yourself, bawk. You’re just a little weak in that regard, bawk.”
So am I! Sorry!
Regardless, I was here to put an end to things. It was time to deal the final blow before he could heal himself.
“You’re up against me, buddy! Hand over my son’s body and never come back!”
“Hmph! I know your moves from when I fought you as Froi! I shall retreat from the range of your ultimate attack and recover my strength!”
Veld-Draco spread his wings wide. What a coward. I couldn’t let him run; if he healed, I wouldn’t be able to OHKO him with my ult. It was only because Mommaru clocked him that I could finish him off with just one.
I watched as his massive form soared into the air. Just when all seemed lost, a system message popped up.
You don’t have enough AP, so the dragon cannot keep up its growth state.
Grow Up will now be canceled.
“Bwugh?!” he blurted.
At that moment, Veld-Draco’s body began to glow and shrink. The necklace around his neck fell off, and both my adorable little boy and the necklace fell to the floor.
“He’s back!” I yelled with delight.
Now I see what happened!
“It all makes sense! Even when he was controlled, I was still using Grow Up!”
Grow Up cost 200 AP when it was activated, and it also required a stream of AP over time to maintain the growth state. The reason I couldn’t use Vermilion Twin Wings was because my AP had been sapped by Grow Up when I wasn’t looking!
While Grow Up’s description mentioned the 200 AP cost and the 900 second duration, it didn’t include the part about its continuous AP cost. If I couldn’t keep supplying AP, its effect would run out early.
Okay, then. If I wanted to keep up his transformation the whole time, I would need to build up AP fast. Grown-up Draco may have been a foul-mouthed monster, but he was really strong. I could see why they added that limitation.
Also, based on my skill list, Grow Up’s cooldown was one hour. It was like fifteen minutes of free rein once per hour, as long as you could maintain it. Convenient, but not overpowered.
Well, I don’t mind sealing this away at all! If it’s too overpowered, I’ll start wanting to rely on that little potty mouth!
Anyway, with my AP drained, Grow Up had been removed. Now that Draco was so much smaller, the necklace had fallen right off of him.
“Whoa, so I don’t need to use my ult! Aww man, I already used my Peregrine Damascus Sword too!”
I couldn’t make another Canesword without using an ult, but it would be a waste to use it against small-fry monsters! What was I supposed to do?