Chapter 3:
The Guardian of the Skypiercing Spire
Part 1
AFTER ROLLING through another few kilometers of forest, we managed to successfully throw Ymir off our scent and took to another tree branch to rest. There was no telling what kind of monsters might suddenly show up if we stayed on the ground. So far, I’d managed to steer clear of any danger with Psychic Sense, but I knew we were going to come across a monster who’d slip past it sooner or later. And besides, there could be other monsters like Ymir that’d just barrel toward us so fast that I wouldn’t catch them in time.
‹I would rather not come across that monster again…› Treant sighed. Both it and Allo were exhausted after another bout of Rolling.
But all in all, despite Ymir’s surprise appearance, the battle with the plague toads had been a total success. Treant went from Lv: 1/130 to Lv: 69/130, while Allo went from Lv: 72/130 to Lv: 76/130. Leveling up would only get tougher for them from here on out, but at this point, they were already strong enough to be powerful rank A+ contenders on the battlefield. I could pretty much cross leveling Allo and Treant up off my task list. I’d still like to get them some levels here and there, but it felt safe to make that less of a priority now.
All that was left was to find a way to raise my own evolutionary limit…and then get the heck outta Ngai Forest.
‹Hold on… What in the world is that?› We were getting close to the sky-piercing tower now, close enough to really take in its size. While the tower reached up into the sky, far beyond my field of vision, its diameter also stretched about a hundred meters across. From a distance, it seemed like a long, pencil-thin tower—and it was, considering its ratio of height to width—but now I saw just how massive it really was.
But right now, the tower wasn’t the issue. The issue was that in front of the tower’s massive door, an armored statue stood tall and motionless, as if in wait.
The figure was nearly ten meters tall. Around thirty arms stretched out from its sides, one carrying a massive greatsword in its grip. The armored giant looked humanoid, save for one missing piece: a head.
It’s not moving at all, but…it’s gotta be a monster, right?
Hecatoncheires: Rank L (Legendary). An ugly titan statue. All that remains of a once-revered Hero. After losing sight of his humanity in blind pursuit of his mission, he lost his head—the very symbol of his humanity—and grew dozens of arms to symbolize his inhumanly superior military prowess. He sacrificed everything he had to attain the power to protect others, and his wish was granted. However, he no longer had anything to protect.
Th-there you have it… A Legendary rank. And it looks like he’s guarding the tower. I don’t think we’ll get in there without a fight.
But man, that description’s weirdly specific…
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Hecatoncheires
Species: Hecatoncheires
Status: Mad God
Lv: 140/140 (MAX)
HP: 10000/10000
MP: 10000/10000
Attack: 1500+200
Defense: 4000
Magic: 1500
Agility: 1500
Rank: L (Legendary)
Equipment:
Weapon: Colossus Blade: L
Sacred Skills:
Human Realm Path (Replica): Lv —
Demi-God Realm Path (Replica): Lv —
Preta Realm Path (Replica): Lv —
Special Skills:
Grecian Language: Lv 5
Psychic Sense: Lv MAX
Automatic HP Recovery: Lv MAX
Automatic MP Recovery: Lv MAX
Super Regeneration: Lv MAX
Recovery+: Lv MAX
Sixth Sense: Lv MAX
Swordsman: Lv MAX
Mad God: Lv MAX
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv MAX
Magic Resistance: Lv MAX
Magical Decomposition: Lv MAX
Halved Physical Damage: Lv MAX
Debuff Immunity: Lv —
Seven-Type Resistance: Lv MAX
Normal Skills:
Hi-Rest: Lv MAX
Regenerate: Lv MAX
Dimension Slash: Lv MAX
High Jump: Lv MAX
Blade of Exorcism: Lv MAX
Contemplate: Lv MAX
Shadow Dance: Lv MAX
Nature’s Mana: Lv MAX
Title Skills:
Guardian of the Skypiercing Spire: Lv —
Unwavering and Unbeatable: Lv —
Final Evolution: Lv —
Former Hero: Lv —
Former Demon King: Lv —
Wh-wh-wh-what the hell? This guy’s a freakin’ monstrosity!!
Hecatoncheires’s status was so insane that I could barely even comprehend it. I’ve never seen anyone with stats in the five-digit range before… His total stat points are off the charts! Even at max level, I’d be nowhere near that jacked. He’s gotta be using some kind of cheats…
Even so, aside from HP, MP, and defense, my stats were much higher. Both his attack and magic stats were the lowest of all the Legendary ranks I’d seen. Hecatoncheires would be a real danger to Allo, but Treant could likely sustain a few hits from him, at least. Still, Treant probably couldn’t deal much damage in return. As a general rule of thumb, if your attack stat was half your opponent’s defense stat, your attacks wouldn’t do any damage. Hecatoncheires had Defense: 4000, so any attack from someone below Attack: 2000 wouldn’t even scratch the stone statue. I wasn’t sure even Allo’s magic would damage it. Maybe if she sucked up a bunch of my magic and landed a direct hit with her strongest attack, but even that felt questionable.
Not to mention those crazy Resistance Skills… If I fought this guy, was I really gonna be able to beat him? The Resistance Skills were bad, but he seemed pretty straightforward otherwise. He didn’t have any wild-card attack skills that could kill me in an instant if I wasn’t careful, like the Holy Naga and the Origin Matter had, at least. He could actually be one of the easier Legendary class monsters to take down.
Maybe I could smack him with Treant’s Meteor Stomp from above? Nah, I’d have to drop Treant from way up high to hit him hard enough, and while Hecatoncheires’s agility wasn’t great for a Legendary rank, it was high enough to dodge that. I doubted Treant would actually hit him. And even if we approached the tower from above, he might spot us and use High Jump to attack.
Taking him on at a distance with Dimension Claws wasn’t a good idea either. That was a long-range skill, and I doubted I’d be able to take down an even tankier monster than Treant with just that. I could try it, but he had Dimension Slash anyway. Rather than trading blows at a distance, I’d be better off getting up close.
‹Allo, Treant…wait here for a minute,› I told my friends. ‹I’m gonna go try and blast that big statue guy to smithereens. If you run into anything you can’t handle, shoot some magic into the air to let me know, and I’ll come right back.›
They still weren’t strong enough to do any real damage to Hecatoncheires, and if he saw them, he could kill them instantly. But his attacks shouldn’t hurt me much. He might be a weird, scarily strong opponent…but in reality, I didn’t expect he’d be that hard to fight.
Part 2
AFTER PARTING WAYS with Allo and Treant, I flew toward the tower alone. When I stepped into the clearing, the stationary Hecatoncheires suddenly raised his greatsword in anticipation, as if a switch inside him had flipped from off to on.
So he really was alive… Even after I’d looked at his status screen, I had a hard time imagining this headless stone statue with a bazillion arms in action until I saw it for myself.
‹You’ve been robbed of your own self and identity and forced to guard this place for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. But that ends today. I’m going to end you, Hecatoncheires, and free you from this prison!›
I bounded toward Hecatoncheires and swiped at him with Dimension Claws. My claws scratched his stone skin, and he reeled back slightly. I followed that up with three more Dimension Claws. Hecatoncheires swung his greatsword to counter the attack, but he swung slowly, and far too wide. Compared to my fight with Lilyxila, his counters were clumsy and ineffective; having to block while more attacks kept coming probably didn’t help.
I shot higher into the sky, then spun in midair and veered to the side. A slash tore through the air behind me. Nice. I dodged Hecatoncheires’s instant Dimension Slash attack on the first try.
But just because I did it the first time didn’t mean it was a guarantee. I knew that all too well after my battles with Howgley and Lilyxila.
I swooped toward Hecatoncheires again, closing the distance, and unleashed another round of Dimension Claws. This time, I focused on the gouge I’d made on the right side of his lower stomach. Even a tank like this guy could take some major damage if I got through his outer shell and attacked his insides.
Hecatoncheires had already suffered five rounds of Dimension Claws; my attacks were met with a lot less resistance than I expected. His stats looked scary, but maybe this’d be an easier fight than I thought. If I could keep up a steady flow of damage, I might be able to take him down by just flying around and whittling away his HP with Dimension Claws.