“Electrification.”
I channeled lightning into the two Ant Spears I held, one in each hand.
The spears, crafted from the Steel Ant Queen, gleamed with the blessing of Earth Enhancement.
The Red Lizard, seeing my new weapons, grew more wary.
Ignoring its caution, I aimed the spear tips and poured in 〖Mana〗.
—In an instant, two torrents of raging energy burst forth.
The concentrated acid laser pierced the distance of several dozen meters in a single breath.
Thanks to the 〖Precision Shot〗 correction, neither shot missed its mark, hurtling towards the Red Lizard with its three eyes wide open.
Realizing it couldn’t dodge in time, it tried to endure the attack by turning into magma, but—
“Gyurgh!?”
It cried out in pain as the torrents pierced its body.
It hadn’t even made a peep when I stabbed it with a normal spear.
“(Looks like liquids mix together after all.)”
The strong acid mixed with the magma body was rapidly evaporating, but at the same time, the volume of the magma was also decreasing.
Whether it was dissolved by the acid or the heat consumed to evaporate it, I couldn’t tell.
The Earth Affinity of the Ant Spears might also be having an effect.
Chuckling to myself, I aimed at the Red Lizard as it frantically tried to escape.
It twisted and turned, dodging my line of fire repeatedly, but each time I adjusted my aim. I steadily chipped away at its health.
“(Alright, as long as I’m careful about its escape…)”
Just as I thought that, I felt an intense pulse of 〖Mana〗 from below.
“(What!?)”
“GYURAAAAH!”
Suddenly, I was swallowed by magma that erupted from the ground.
Thanks to 〖Unyielding〗, now 〖Last Stand〗, I managed to stay in place, but the tips of my Ant Spears were knocked upwards.
This attack must have been prepared during our earlier standoff.
While I was plotting, it was also making its own moves.
“(Guh, 〖Leap〗!)”
I leaped to the side in a flash. With the boost from 〖Blink〗, I was able to escape the magma’s range in one go.
I immediately aimed my Ant Spears at the Red Lizard… but it was gone.
I couldn’t see the Red Lizard anywhere, not in front, behind, to the sides, or even in the air.
“(It disappeared… Did it escape? …No, 〖Zone Control〗 is still active.)”
Following my instincts, I used 〖Clairvoyance〗.
I looked through the ground, through the magma… I found it!
I witnessed the Red Lizard, now in its magma form, bursting out from the base of the geyser where I had been just moments ago.
Its attack as it emerged missed—obviously, since I wasn’t there—but its defenses seemed to be perfect.
“(A magma armor, huh?)”
The erupted magma enveloped the materialized Red Lizard.
As a result, its body had grown about twice its size.
“(A 〖Skill〗 that manipulates magma… Was that how it was flying earlier?)”
As if answering my question, the Red Lizard leaped into the air.
A part of the magma surrounding its body took on a whip-like shape, attacking with unpredictable trajectories.
“(Acidic torrent!)”
I shot it down with a torrent of acid.
At the same time, I aimed the other Ant Spear at the Red Lizard’s main body, but it dodged.
It seemed to be using the manipulated magma to push its body and move.
It was gradually getting closer to the sky.
“(It’s bad if it keeps gaining altitude…!)”
I hastily used 〖Leap〗 and chased after it.
While enduring the magma whip, I flew straight, using 〖Air Jump〗 twice to close in on the Red Lizard.
I unleashed a horizontal swing with my Poison Hammer.
I knew from our previous exchange that its magma-manipulating 〖Skill〗 couldn’t control its magma-fied body.
If I could blow away half of its body, it would have to return to the ground to recover.
“(〖Compact Swing〗!)”
“Kyuroro.”
But it dodged it.
The Red Lizard, which had been ascending until now, suddenly dove down to evade.
My swing, aimed at the Red Lizard’s torso, missed, and—
“(〖All-Out Throw〗!)”
I immediately launched a follow-up—I threw it.
I had understood the Red Lizard’s cunning nature well enough in our short battle. I had anticipated that it would dodge the Poison Hammer.
However, the thrown arrow never reached the Red Lizard.
It was blocked by the magma surrounding it… no, that wasn’t it.
It detonated immediately after being thrown, unable to withstand the load of 〖All-Out Throw〗.
“Kyuooh!”
“Slash!”
—GOOOOOOON!
The sound of the exploding arrow drowned out our voices.
The attack itself was almost the same as the one I used at the start of the battle, but this time, thanks to the enhancement from 〖Storm Strike〗, the damage was greater.
In fact, the magma barrier was scattered by the blast, and the Red Lizard itself was sent crashing through its magma foothold.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that it couldn’t turn into magma in time, it took the full force of the blast in its flesh.
“(〖Air Jump〗, 〖Rampage〗!)”
I rapidly descended to slam it with my hammer this time.
Thanks to the effect of 〖Falling Strike〗, I caught up just a fraction of a second before landing. I’ll crush it this time!
“(〖Heavy Swin—Wha!?〗)”
—KYUIN!!
I was pierced by a Heat Ray, and my Poison Hammer turned into necrotic cells.
In that moment of shock, the Red Lizard turned into magma, nullifying the fall damage. It then smoothly created distance.
“(So that eye was for shooting beams…)”
I muttered in disbelief, creating a crater in the ground.
The Heat Ray from before had been fired from the third eye on its forehead.
However, that eye was currently bloodshot red.
It was probably a technique that couldn’t be used in rapid succession.
“(But this situation is pretty bad, isn’t it?)”
What was bad was that I had gained the upper hand too easily.
The initial anger from the exploding arrow and 〖Bewitching Glimmer〗 had kept it fighting until now, but the Red Lizard had no reason to fight me in the first place.
Now that it had used its trump card-like Heat Ray attack, its thoughts might have shifted to escaping.
If it focused on escaping with that ability, it would be more than just troublesome. I needed to finish it quickly from here.
“(〖Replicant Form〗)”
I mimicked Hydra’s Poison Bow. It seemed the Red Lizard had 〖Poison〗 resistance, but the most powerful bow was the Poison Bow, so I had no choice.
I nocked an arrow and stared at the Red Lizard.
On both sides of my body, the Ant Spears also gleamed with their sharp tips.
A third stalemate.
It was probably stirring magma beneath the ground again.
“(Then it’s better to make a move from my side, 〖Heavy Shoot〗!)”
I released an arrow with high power, which required time to charge.
As if waiting for that moment, magma erupted at the midpoint between me and the Red Lizard.
It must have learned from our previous battles that my arrows explode.
Unfortunately, that was a miss.
“Gyaah!?”
The Mana-Absorbing Arrow I released seemed to have pierced the magma pillar and hit the Red Lizard behind it.
“(〖Leap〗, 〖Replicant Form〗)”
I dashed out without a moment’s delay to prevent the Red Lizard from escaping.
I passed by the edge of the magma pillar, and the Red Lizard I saw was just melting the Mana-Absorbing Arrow.
If it pressed the magma it was wearing against something, it could melt most things.
“(〖Quake Swing〗!)”
I anticipated that the Red Lizard would try to escape when it saw me approaching, so I had prepared to unleash it at any time.
I slammed the hammer into the ground, violently shaking the surroundings.
I closed the distance further with 〖Air Jump〗 towards the Red Lizard, which was losing its footing due to the shaking, and also fired acid with my Ant Spears.
It nullified the shaking by turning into magma and skillfully dodged the acid, but in the meantime, I had gotten close enough to the ground.
The range of the spears was about ten meters.
I took a stance to unleash a slash with both Ant Spears,
“(Acidic torrent, 〖Slash〗, double!)”
I stepped forward sharply and swung both spears. With the added bonus of spewing strong acid.
I was just hoping to cut its torso, but the Red Lizard skillfully twisted its body, leaped, and dodged the acid slashes.
With a great leap reminiscent of an athlete’s back jump, it was trying to jump over me as I charged.
I had shown the length of the Ant Spears’ range many times.
It was clear that if it tried to escape normally, it would be targeted from behind, so its intention was to get behind me and buy even a little time.
—It was within my expectations.
“(〖Air Jump〗! Go, Chain Shovels!)”
What blocked its path were my hind legs—two pairs of Chain Shovels.
The concept of front and back is ambiguous for a slime, but this time, I was positioned behind the Red Lizard, making it difficult for it to see me.
Just as the Red Lizard was about to land, the Chain Scoops, with their sharp and wide blades, gouged into its body.
Thanks to the corrections from 〖Perforation〗 and others, I felt almost no resistance.
“GYUAAAAAAH!?”
I had already realized that the Chain Scoops were effective against that lava-like body.
However, using them head-on would have surely put it on guard.
That’s why I actively used the Ant Spear.
To give the impression that the Ant Spear was my trump card, and that even if it tried to escape, I could still snipe it.
“(Limited, Lightning Strike!)”
I followed up by striking the Red Lizard, which was shocked by the massive chunk taken from its body, with a Lightning Strike.
The lightning pierced through its entire body, and its lava form dissolved.
Whether it was electrocuted, or whether it was simply shocked by the unique pain of being struck by lightning for the first time.
Either way, it was a great result for a low-powered Lightning Strike.
“(〖Thrust〗!)”
I quickly thrust the Ant Spear into the head of the Red Lizard, which had lost both of its hind legs.
It couldn’t revert to its lava form in time, and the dull-colored giant spear pierced through the Red Lizard’s skull.
~Unidentified Information Recording Area~
…
War-Inducing Weapon Creation, Fue Toukouya’s 〖Soul Accumulation Value (Level)〗 has increased to 201.
War-Inducing Weapon Creation, Fue Toukouya’s 〖Zone Control〗 has grown. A new additional effect and an additional effect slot have been acquired.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“(Phew, that was quite a struggle.)”
I muttered my thoughts on the battle, feeling the significant increase in my 〖Level〗.
I was a bit optimistic, thinking that since I had easily defeated the Queen Ant, this would be an easy win too, but I ended up struggling quite a bit.
“(Well, it was refreshing, so I guess it’s fine.)”
Honestly, the fight with the Queen Ant felt a bit unsatisfying, but this time I was able to fight with all my might, and it was fun.
My 〖Level〗 went up, and I got some materials too.
“(Even so, what was the Red Lizard running from in the first place—)”
“Magnificent… magnificent power! To think you would defeat the one known as the strongest in the Goronomua Mountains, the ‘Flame Sea’ sama!! When ‘Flame Sea’ sama escaped, I didn’t know what would happen, but what a stroke of luck…! I thank the Demon God sama for his guidance!”
A voice filled with rapture.
But more than that sudden voice, what caught my attention was…
“(…!)”
It was an eerie presence of 〖Mana〗, like being exposed to a thousand gazes.