Chapter 358

358 – Pair of Unparalleled Adams

As I focus on the adams and eve, a light shines from the treant’s nose and shoots towards me. I’m wary for a moment, thinking the treant is confused again, but as the light touches my body it spreads out and sinks into my skin. C-could it be!?

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[Irushia]

Species: Ouroboros

Condition: Defence Correction (minor)

Lv: 99/125

HP: 2586/2586

MP: 2498/2498

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I-it’s there! The defence correction is from the [Physical Wall] skill! That’s right. Treant-san’s own stats might be a bit too low to act as a tank, but its support skills can be used on allies too. It’s might only be minor, but it’s still far better to have it that not.

That’s right! This is the sort of thing you should do! Right after evolving you got turned to stone, and you were confused after that, so you haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Feel free to use it more, treant-san.

Perhaps pleased by the praise, it straightens its trunk. Then, perhaps thirsty for more, it similarly casts [Physical Wall] on Aro and the nightmare… Even if those they get a slight defence boost, they’d still die in a single hit from an adam, so it might be a waste of MP. Aro strokes the treant’s trunk in praise, but the nightmare just glances at it as though troubled.

The two adams simultaneously speed up and leave the eve behind… I see, I thought one might hang back, but they’re betting on the eve’s speed and relying on it to protect itself.

What would be best now would be to take advantage of their strategy and kill the eve. I glance back at Aro and the others and instruct them to stay back with my eyes. They are important forces for this battle. But if they’re targeted, they won’t even be able to take two hits. Careful selection is needed for their positioning and roles.

I lunge forward and try and trample the two adams underfoot. They split left and right, preparing to pincer me from either side. I fire [Wind Slash] at the eve through the gap.

The eve began moving from the moment I started my technique and makes full use of its speed to dodge to the side, evading by a large margin. My triple [Wind Slash] hits the floor, cleaving open the stone. The eve then runs in an arc away from me, stopping when it’s the other side of an adam from me. So that’s how it’ll position itself.

The adams leap at me from either side. Partner, please watch that one and give me directions.

『On it.』

I shoot a [Wind Slash] to keep the adam rushing towards me in check. The adam kicks off the ground, dodging to the side while continuing to close the distance, then when it enters range, leaps towards my head.

『Coming this way too! Need a tail swing!』

I twist my tail towards her side. At the same time, I swing my claws towards the adam in front of me. It avoids my foreleg by a paper-thin margin and lands on it, then swiftly kicks off to leap towards my face.

Adams are fast as well as strong. Against two of them at once, opportunities to attack unilaterally will be hard to come by. But if they come into close-quarters, then it’s easy to land a hit on them if I’m prepared to take some damage.

I bare my fangs, and the adam shifts its stance midair. It appears to be ready to kick my nose above my open mouth. But my fangs are a feint. Without a moment’s delay, I ram my forehead into the adam. It slams into the ground, but uses the rebound to quickly regain its footing.

Oww… The bastard kneed my forehead. It managed to protect its body at the same time as attacking me.

『The other one is jumping! Coming from above!』

Yeah, I know. It seems my parnter tried to bite the one behind as it landed on my tail, but then it kicked off the tail to dodge upwards. I didn’t see, but as we share a sense of touch, I have a general sense of what happened.

Aimed at the ceiling, I release a [Scorching Breath]. The adam that fled above had its leg held ready to kick me, but stops moving with a twitch of its shoulder. A moment later, it’s wrapped in my [Scorching Breath] and disappears from sight.

At that range, it shouldn’t be able to evade. I don’t see it slipping out of the fire anywhere either. Even with the adam’s stats, if it receives my [Scorching Breath] head on it should take considerable damage.

However, what emerges from the scorching heat is the adam riding a hemispherical mass of earth. It seems it quickly made a shield of [Clay]. I see, so you could use it that way too. I’ve learned something.

As I move to strike it with my foreleg, the adam kicks off the shield and escapes to the ground. Struck by me, the earthen shield is cleanly split in two.

Before the adam can regain its stance, I stretch out with my claws and swing with my foreleg wide. It springs up to dodge backwards. I then use the momentum of my foreleg to spin around and slam my tail into its side. It seems this was unexpected, as the face in its chest receives the hit directly, causing it to blast away and slam into the wall.

The eve rushes up to the staggering adam. A sphere of light spreads out from the eve’s centre and the adam’s wounds heal. It’s [High Rest].

As I look away from the adam receiving treatment, the other adam approaches from my blind spot and kicks my foreleg. I try to pursue it with my tail, but it backs away too fast, distancing itself. It seems its objective was only ever to keep me in check rather than to deal damage. The kick was also lighter than before. It doesn’t seem like it plans to attack by itself.

“Gaah!”

My partner uses [High Rest]. The pain in my forehead softens.

『Hey, is okay to leave them alone? If it keeps getting healed, there’ll be no end.』

Right. The other adam is sticking to us, so if we try and approach forcibly, we’d just take heavy damage. As long as the eve is moving around freely, healing won’t take that long. I just wanted to see how they operate. This time, I’ll let them finish healing.

I’ve learnt that I can just about fight the two adams at once. They’re a lot easier than the adam I fought before. The level difference is big after all. However, thoughtlessly chasing after one and showing an opening to the other would be bad. As long as the eve is in perfect condition, the adams will just switch places if I manage to damage one of them. But if I aim at the eve, both adams will get in my way. Breaking up their formation is too much for me to manage by myself.

『So we wait until the head is out of magic power?』

No, I’m going to kill the two adams. We’ll leave that jumping head to Aro and the others.

『Oh?』

She shifts her eyes towards the eve. The creepy, single-eyed head is hopping around with its tongue lolling out.

『…They’re taking it on?』

Yeah, that’s the only option here.

I look at Aro and the others. Aro looks at the eve anxiously for a moment, then nods despite her apprehension. It’ll be okay. I’m not throwing you into battle without a plan. Don’t worry.

The treant stretches out its trunk as though to say 『leave it to me』… Treant-san being raring to go somehow makes me more anxious though… Where does that confidence come from? Hanging back would be fine as well.

I have Aro and the others take on the eve. Thinking about it plainly, the eve is an A- monster. As they struggled against the sirens, even with the three of them it’ll be hard.

But the eve is entirely a healer type. It has hardly any attack-type skills. It’s got status condition and instant death skills, but those won’t be effective against Aro. Its attack power is also a lot lower than the adams’. Even if they take a hit, they should be able to survive.

And the most important point is that they don’t have to defeat the eve. All they have to do is keep it occupied. If they can manage that, the eve won’t be able to meet up with the injured adams and heal them. Just by eliminating its stable waiting area, the eve’s function as a healer will be reduced. All that’ll be left for me will be to quickly beat up the adams that have lost their means of healing.