“GYUOOOOHHH!”
The three-eyed Red Lizard roared and leaped at me.
It still had quite a distance to cover, but its leaping power was insane.
“(Electrification, and another Explosive Arrow!)”
I quickly fired a second arrow, but it was defended, or rather, it would be more accurate to say it was intercepted.
It collided with a fireball the Red Lizard spat out, causing a misfire in the middle of the distance between me and it.
The Red Lizard flew through the blast of flames.
“(〖Replicant Form〗, 〖Slash〗!)”
If that’s how it is, I had no choice but to mimic the Forest Turtle’s halberd and unleash a slashing 〖Weapon Skill〗.
My current 〖Armory〗 has added effects of enhanced sharpness and 〖Weapon Skill〗 enhancement.
I was about to cleave through the Red Lizard’s wide-open maw, orange fangs and all—
“(Huh?)”
—when the halberd passed right through the Red Lizard’s body.
It was like cutting through a muddy swamp, all slippery.
It wasn’t because of the defense-ignoring effect.
Even the original Forest Turtle wasn’t completely defense-ignoring, and the performance is slightly reduced when converted into a weapon ability.
So, this wasn’t something I did…
“GYA!”
“(Tch, damn it!)”
It’s the Red Lizard’s ability!
It turns its body into magma to let slashes pass through, then instantly returns to its original form and slams into me.
I use 〖Unyielding〗, but I can’t withstand the mass of the 〖Feral Beast〗 and the boost from its 〖Charge Skill〗, and we tumble down the slope together.
Incidentally, it’s biting me in the confusion, but I’m fine.
It seems the Red Lizard doesn’t have a defense-ignoring ability.
“(Let go of me, 〖Replicant Form〗!)”
“KYAAH!?”
I thrust a replicated Hydra’s poison spear into its gnawing mouth.
The resistance suddenly disappears when the tip pierces to a certain extent. It slipped through by turning into magma.
The Red Lizard kicked me with its non-magma legs, creating some distance.
And then we reached the bottom of the valley.
“SLASH!”
“GISHAH!”
We glared at each other from a distance of several dozen meters.
With the 〖Speed〗 of a 〖Feral Beast〗, that distance could be closed in an instant.
Between us, as we sized each other up, two types of 〖Zone Control〗 were clashing.
The Red Lizard’s 〖Zone Control〗 must be the power of heat.
The ground beyond the halfway point was red-hot, and the air was shimmering. On the other hand, the ground on my side was creaking and turning into weapons.
“(〖Throwing〗!)”
I threw a nearby rock that had transformed into a spear, and then I dashed after it.
The flying spear was about to reach the Red Lizard, but it was deflected by magma that erupted from the ground.
“GYUO!”
“(Whoa, this is hard to read!)”
The Red Lizard’s 〖Mana〗 spread, and magma began to erupt from various places in the ground.
Not only that, but the magma that rose into the sky warped its trajectory and came crashing down on me at high speed.
I could probably withstand the heat of the magma with both myself and the Forest Shackles, but I chose to evade to be safe.
I zigzagged while keeping my awareness on the sky and the ground.
“KYUFUU!”
“(I’ve seen that before.)”
While keeping an eye on both above and below, I also remained vigilant against the Red Lizard itself.
I easily dodged the fireball that was launched at my predicted movement point, and with that momentum, I 〖Rampaged〗.
“(〖Charge Thrust〗, 〖Slash〗!)”
As soon as I closed the distance, I attacked with the poison spear and the halberd.
They certainly caught the Red Lizard’s body, but it slipped through again by turning into magma.
If it were normal water, the weapons would have shattered if they hit at this speed, but this magma is too viscous for that.
The Red Lizard, having evaded the attacks, solidified only its head and opened its jaws at point-blank range.
Its 〖Mana〗 was rising. There was no way to evade from here.
With a dazzling flash, a torrent of magma was unleashed.
“(Ouch, two of my Forest Shackles got taken out, huh?)”
The Forest Shackles at the very front were both burned to a crisp by the direct hit, turning into necrotic flesh and evaporating in an instant.
The magma was at a temperature that was incomparable to what had been erupting from the ground earlier.
If you were to be hit by that at point-blank range, even the Forest Shackles wouldn’t stand a chance.
I flattened my body, making myself like a puddle, and evaded the lava flow.
Taking advantage of the fact that the line of fire was lowered as it chased me, I activated 〖Blink〗. I advanced, passing by the opponent’s side.
“(〖Cross Counter〗, 〖Compact Swing〗!)”
In the process, I mimicked a poison hammer and swung it quickly.
A sticky, watery sound echoed, “Dopan!”
“(If slashes and thrusts don’t work, then how about a blunt strike to the face!)”
The hammer had broken the Red Lizard’s foreleg and gouged diagonally through its abdomen.
The magma body was split into two pieces.
“GYUROLOLO…”
“(I’ll finish it in one go, 〖Charge Swing〗!)”
Seeing that, I immediately leaped out.
I kicked off the red ground with my re-mimicked eight legs.
I aimed for the piece with the upper body. I swung the poison hammer at its head, but this time it slipped away with a unique movement.
The magma body is ever-changing.
“(But its body is already split in half. There’s no way it can come back from this—what!?)”
The Red Lizard, having dodged the blow, headed for the other piece that had been separated earlier.
The Red Lizard plunged its head into it, and in an instant, it melted back together into one body.
Is that even allowed!?
If a slime’s body is severed, it immediately becomes necrotic!
“GYUO!”
“(Whoa!)”
The fully recovered Red Lizard puffed out its cheeks like a squirrel, and the next moment, I was hit by a tremendous impact.
“(This is… a volcanic rock?)”
I deduced the nature of the attack from the rocks that hit my body and the smoke rising from the Red Lizard’s mouth.
It seems like rocks were launched at an incredible speed. Even with the visual correction from 〖Blink〗, I could only see afterimages.
I was hit directly because I couldn’t even dodge in time… but as always, I didn’t take any damage.
I felt power comparable to the Forest Turtle’s charge, but without defense-ignoring, it’s nothing much.
“(Phew, calm down. It’s not unscathed either.)”
I stared at the Red Lizard, which had retreated significantly during the gap.
If I observed carefully, I could see that there were more fine wounds on its body compared to the beginning.
“(…I see, from the splashes.)”
It’s just a guess, but it shouldn’t be too far off.
Just like how water splashes when you hit the surface, when I struck the Red Lizard’s body, many magma splashes scattered.
Even if it can recover the mass, it can’t pick up the fine splashes. That might be it.
“(Come to think of it, that’s obvious.)”
If attacks really didn’t work, it could just breathe fire or spit out volcanic rocks nearby.
The fact that it’s keeping its distance and glaring at me now means that it definitely has some kind of weakness.
“(And it’s not like there’s only one weakness, right?)”
Having grasped a clue to its weakness, I mimicked the Queen Ant’s spear.