‹Master…I believe I am nearing my limit,› Treant panted, clearly in pain. It sounded like that fourth shot was going to be a close one.
The Origin Matter shrouded itself in black light again. But this time, instead of Black Hole, it was using Wormhole. I noticed a black mist appearing in the air near us.
‹You’re coming for us, huh?! Well, that skill is much less scary when I know you’re using it!› I moved away from both the Origin Matter and its Wormhole destination. As I did, another Dimension Slash sliced into my body.
‹Urgh…!› Needing to avoid two specific spots seriously limited my options for evading. The Origin Matter must have known that—it’d set up the Wormhole to make me back off, then used Dimension Slash right where I’d be flying.
The blow threw me off balance, preventing me from dodging the Dark Ray that now seared through the sky toward me. Treant had just taken a hit, so instead I caught the blow with my right side.
“Gaaaah!” I screeched in pain as the ray blew a huge hole through the right side of my stomach. The impact sent me flying, but I managed to somehow turn around and quickly right myself. Treant clung to my left side in armor form, while Allo was safe inside my jaws. It was a good thing too; otherwise, I would’ve probably thrown them both into the air when I flinched with the pain.
Suddenly, I felt the pull of Black Hole on my weakened body.
Activating such a large-scale skill multiple times in quick succession had to be doing a number on the Origin Matter’s MP. It must’ve given up on trying to preserve it for later and decided that wiping us out was its top priority now.
I needed to dodge the Dark Rays, but Black Hole was stopping me from moving freely. And once the Origin Matter shifted through its Wormhole, I’d have to deal with Dark Rays from two different directions at once. My head was starting to spin. I looked over at the Wormhole again, expecting to see the Origin Matter appear there at any moment. Gotta calculate where the Dark Rays will show up based on its location, and…
Suddenly, the black light gathering in the air for Wormhole dissipated. But the Origin Matter was still exactly where it had started.
I gritted my fangs. The Origin Matter had used Wormhole to fake me out! It was never going to actually warp through it!
I never thought that stupid skill could be used for such an effective strategy!
The Origin Matter shot another round of Dark Rays at me. They caught me off guard; I didn’t have time to block. The rays gouged through my shoulder, hind leg, and back. Cursing, I immediately used Regenerate to repair my injuries. I’d managed to avoid getting hit this entire fight, and now that the Origin Matter was almost dead, it was hitting me head-on!
No, it was okay. I still had some MP left. And I didn’t think the Origin Matter was planning its attacks that far ahead. Turning Black Hole on and off so much had to be draining its MP like crazy—and that just showed how desperate the Origin Matter was. Getting attacked didn’t feel great, but that severe MP drain had to be even more painful.
The Origin Matter activated Black Hole again before I was done healing. I struggled against its pull with my half-reformed body. This Black Hole felt more powerful than the others; the Origin Matter was clearly trying to finish me off.
Here comes its finisher…! Now that my HP and MP were a little bit lower, the Origin Matter was clearly pulling me in to unleash its high-power, wide-range Big Bang and kill us all. I really didn’t want to get hit with another Big Bang, but I couldn’t avoid it. The key would be how quickly I could recuperate after the blast and whether I’d be able to avoid its follow-up attack. Unfortunately, I needed to take that hit first.
This fight would end a lot faster if Treant could turn Big Bang back on the Origin Matter with Fairy Curse, but the Origin Matter had complete fire immunity. And even with Eternal Regrowth, I doubted Treant could endure a Big Bang on its own.
But if we could all survive it, we were all but guaranteed to take the Origin Matter down. I clenched my fangs and looked back at the Origin Matter behind me. We’d make it through this… We had to!
The gravity from the Origin Matter’s Black Hole was still pulling me in.
‹Treant… End your Barkskin Armor and go back to your tree spirit form,› I ordered. In its current state, Treant was somewhere between its normal and tree spirit states. It would be too heavy to carry in its World Tree form, but its defense would be too low to take a hit in its tree spirit form. But if Treant took a direct hit from Big Bang in its current form, it could die.
I’d already decided: I was going to tank the blast from Big Bang the same way I did last time. And when it was over, I’d end the Origin Matter with my own two hands while it was out of MP. This marked the end of Allo and Treant’s involvement in the battle.
‹Master…be safe.› With that, Treant retracted its Barkskin Armor and returned to its birdlike tree spirit state. I reached for Treant before it could get sucked into the Black Hole and managed to catch it in my mouth.
When I was a few meters from the Origin Matter, its Black Hole stopped. The swirling patterns on the Origin Matter’s surface began to undulate and distort as the light from inside it began to glow brighter and brighter. I remembered this pattern: It was the same one I saw before Big Bang last time.
‹All right, Origin Matter!› I cried, eyes blazing. ‹Let’s have one last endurance battle, just you and me, shall we?›
Like last time, I used Ideal Weapon. Thick, bluish-purple armor covered my entire body.
Oneiros Armor: Value L (Legendary). Attack: +190. A large suit of armor that glows with a faint bluish-purple light. Made from the scales of the Dream Dragon, who rules over the world of dreams. In addition to high resistance to various types of skills, it completely nullifies the effects of illusion skills on its wearer.
With that out of the way, I used Mirror Counter to create a barrier of light between me and the Origin Matter.
‹Master…it may not do much, but I can use Give Life as well.› Give Life was a World Treant skill that healed everyone inside its radius.
‹Sure… Anything helps. Thanks, Treant.›
A prismatic, rainbow light enveloped the Origin Matter. Then it exploded.
In an instant, I could see nothing but flames. The blast from Big Bang felt like being punched by a gigantic, flaming fist. It took mere moments for both my Mirror Counter and Oneiros Armor to burn to crisps and crack into dust. My entire body was engulfed with blistering heat. My vision went black as my eyeballs burned out of my head.
Yeah…can’t say I love that sensation. But I needed to repair my body and recover my HP before the Origin Matter chased me down.
I spread my wings, healed them with Regenerate, and caught the Big Bang blast underneath them to shoot forward in a steep dive.
Once I land on the ground, I’ll escape with Roll! Although it meant letting the Origin Matter automatically recover some of its HP and MP, I needed to be careful here. If I didn’t, it could kill me.
But right before I hit the ground, my wings began to slow. ‹Huh…?›
I looked behind me to find the Origin Matter using another Black Hole to pull me toward it.
Uh-oh. This thing is dead set on killing me!
I’d thought the Mad God effect would mess with its ability to think rationally, but it seemed like the Origin Matter remembered that I’d survived the Big Bang and escaped from it last time, and was keen on making sure it didn’t happen again.
Thankfully, I still had the speed boost from the Big Bang blast behind me. I used Dragon Mirror to enlarge my wings and ride more of the undercurrent. But eventually, my body slowed, stopped in midair, and then began being pulled back toward the Origin Matter. Maintaining such a powerful Black Hole for this long was probably draining the Origin Matter’s MP like crazy, but it likely knew it would lose this fight if it let me go now.
I hurriedly regenerated my Oneiros scales, knowing they’d make a big difference in the raw damage I took.
‹Hi-Rest! Hi-Rest!› Warm light spread from my mouth as Treant used the last of its MP to help heal me.
‹Thank you, Treant!›
I figured the Origin Matter would in all likelihood try and hit me with Dark Ray after it pulled me in with Black Hole. If I survived that, I could probably take down the Origin Matter with Dimension Claws now that it was basically out of MP. It seemed unlikely it could afford to keep continuously shooting Dark Ray anymore either. Even with its fairly low MP consumption rate, the Origin Matter probably couldn’t use it over and over if it was down to less than a tenth of its max MP. If the Origin Matter kept sucking me in, and I did my best to stay away, it would run out of MP sooner rather than later.