Part 4
I SHIFTED MY ATTENTION to the black sphere above us. For now, let’s just take a look at this thing’s description.
Origin Matter: Rank L (Legendary). A mysterious sphere believed to have existed since the world’s creation. Said to have been brought down to this plane of existence from a higher dimension. Wielder of powerful dimension and light magic. Time stands still inside the sphere; enemies swallowed by the sphere are sealed inside.
What the heck? What’s with this crazy monster… It’s from a higher dimension? And it stops time? Unfortunately, my prediction was correct: I was facing a Legendary rank monster.
I’d underestimated the monsters of Ngai Forest. A Legendary monster appearing out of nowhere had seemed far-fetched until now. But between the giant sky-piercing tower in an endless forest of trees, the swarm of A+ monsters, and the surprise Legendary monster, I was going to have to get used to being caught off guard here.
Was it even possible to evolve into a Legendary rank without a Sacred Skill? No, there was no way! When the slime evolved into a Legendary rank without one, it got the Collapsing God skill and died as a result.
Although…the fact that this Legendary rank was here must mean it’d been afflicted by the Mad God skill. Even as a Legendary, it was tossed into Ngai Forest by the Divine Voice. Maybe that magic skill was its best attack, and it wasn’t that strong otherwise?
I took a look at my foe’s status.
Dorothea
Species: Origin Matter
Status: Mad God
Lv: 140/140 (MAX)
HP: 5524/5524
MP: 6397/6535
Attack: 1852
Defense: 3245
Magic: 4999
Agility: 1721
Rank: L (Legendary)
Sacred Skills:
Beast Realm Path (Replica): Lv —
Preta Realm Path (Replica): Lv —
Special Skills:
Grecian Language: Lv 5
Psychic Sense: Lv MAX
Automatic MP Recovery: Lv MAX
Fly: Lv MAX
Time Vortex: Lv —
Mad God: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv MAX
Magic Resistance: Lv MAX
Debuff Immunity: Lv —
Fire Immunity: Lv —
Water Immunity: Lv —
Earth Immunity: Lv —
Normal Skills:
Hi-Rest: Lv MAX
Human Transformation: Lv MAX
Telepathy: Lv 9
Mirror Counter: Lv MAX
Illusion: Lv MAX
Regenerate: Lv MAX
Dimension Slash: Lv MAX
Black Hole: Lv MAX
Dark Ray: Lv MAX
Wormhole: Lv MAX
Big Bang: Lv MAX
Title Skills:
Primordial Sphere: Lv —
Final Evolution: Lv —
Former Beast King: Lv —
Former Saint: Lv —
Just like that, my hopes of an easy fight were dashed. This black ball had better stats than I did! I had Magic: 4,615, but the Origin Matter had Magic: 4,999. A couple of direct hits, and even I could lose all my HP in one fell swoop. I was still only Lv: 125/150, so there was a big difference there too. The Origin Matter had a bunch of weird skills I wasn’t familiar with, but the ones that caught my attention first were the Sacred Skills.
Sacred Skill “Beast Realm Path" (Replica): Lv —. A replica of “Beast Realm Path.” The skill itself possesses no power, but it prevents those who evolved with the Beast Realm Path from being afflicted with any of its adverse effects.
Suddenly, I understood why the Origin Matter has been able to live this long as a Legendary rank monster. Maybe the Divine Voice had found some way to fool Laplace into making this replica skill? That way they could feed them to guys like me when I ran out of ways to get Experience Points in the outside world.
From the looks of the Origin Matter’s status…it must’ve been the Beast King thousands of years ago. The replica skill had kept it alive all this time, and the Mad God condition took away its mind so that it couldn’t oppose the Divine Voice. So it continued to wander the Ngai Forest, tormented by the nightmares of the Mad God condition, with one day being killed by some unknown stranger as its only hope of mercy.
…And if Allo, Treant, and I didn’t get out of here soon, we’d all end up the same way.
I knew the Divine Voice was a horrible entity. But the more I learned about it, the more traces of it I encountered in the world, the more its flagrant selfishness made me want to hurl. There was no telling how many others it had left roaming this forest, doomed to the same fate as Origin Matter.
I circled the large black orb at top speed, keeping my distance. Countless black beams of light shot out at me from the orb’s center, skimming past me and then falling to the ground. That had to be the Dark Ray skill I saw in its status. I could avoid them all from a distance, but I doubted I could get much closer.
Origin Matter was the same type as Allo; its attack and agility lagged behind, but it could put up a good fight with its many skills so long as it had MP, so those weaknesses were hardly holding it back.
“Dark Sphere!” The three Allos called, releasing three more black orbs at our foe. But from this distance, I couldn’t do anything to cover her attack; the Origin Matter dodged the orbs easily.
‹Take this!› I slashed at the evading Origin Matter with my Dimension Claws and felt my claws connect. But even an Oneiros’s Dimension Claws barely made the Origin Matter budge.
It’s not like it doesn’t take damage at all…but still, this guy is crazy tough. I was spending all my energy evading the Dark Rays, so I wasn’t in much of a position to counterattack at the moment.
As I pondered how to attack it while staying clear of its Dark Rays, the swirling pattern on the Origin Matter’s surface changed. Suddenly, I felt a sharp, stinging pain in my shoulder.
Crap! That must be the Dimension Slash skill I saw earlier!
Turning to the side, I somehow managed to avoid letting the slash cut deeper. Shoot, that was close… If I took the full force of that slash, we’d all have a one-way ticket to the ground.
With the nature of Dimension Slash, and the fact that the Origin Matter didn’t have any visible slashing instruments or indicators of the direction it was facing, there was no way for me to tell where it was aiming. Not that I could stay in one place for long anyway if I wanted to dodge the continuous Dark Ray onslaught.
As I kept evading, I glanced back at Allo and Treant on top of me. We…shouldn’t be fighting the Origin Matter right now. My level is too low at the moment; I can’t fight on equal terms with it. It’s not like there’s no chance of beating it, but if I want to win, I’ve gotta fight dirty. And Allo and Treant won’t be safe if I do that.
I swooped around the Origin Matter again, threading between its Dark Rays. One of the rays flashed across my tail and I drew in a sharp breath of pain. Between its power, range, and rapid-fire attacks, this felt like a totally broken skill. The worst part, though, was that despite the many attacks, the Origin Matter’s MP hadn’t decreased much at all. Taking on such a powerful monster at this point would be way too reckless.
The pattern on the Origin Matter’s surface changed again. I shot straight up; a moment later, another Dimension Slash tore through the sky beneath my legs. I’d been avoiding them pretty well so far, but between the Dark Rays and Dimension Slashes, if I kept trying to fight, I was bound to get hit at some point.
The Origin Matter’s attacks were a brutal combo against my close-combat specialty. Worst of all, its true strength wasn’t its long-range attacks but its crazy high HP and defense. This monster was more tanky than anything I’d ever fought before. I’d only be able to take it down if I found a way to subdue its attacks enough to fight back, or if I got up close and personal to deal some close-combat damage where it hurt. But both options seemed out of reach for the time being, and even if I did find a way to attack, I’d be the underdog in that fight. The Origin Matter still had plenty of skills in its roster I knew nothing about, and my stats were lacking in comparison to begin with.
‹Allo, Treant! We’re falling back!› There was no reason to continue this fight right now. I could easily outrun it. Dodging its long-range attacks was a daunting task, but still, it felt smarter to run than stay and fight.
I flew around the Origin Matter in a wide arc to escape the Dark Ray. Then, as soon as there was a pause in the onslaught, I swooped toward the ground to make my escape.
‹Origin Matter…once I get stronger, I’ll come back and free you from this forest prison. You have my word.›
I glanced behind me; the Origin Matter came chasing after me, firing another barrage of Dark Ray.
‹Dang… Just can’t let me go, can you!› I dodged from side to side, weaving between the many beams as they shot past me. They slammed into the ground beneath me, knocking down dozens of the huge trees as they went. That skill had some crazy range. This one monster could’ve wiped out the entire world if it were still there. And who knows… The four Spirit Servants who were there right now could be even worse.
I needed to get strong enough to take down the Origin Matter and get my friends and I back to our home world as soon as possible.