Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleyer
Chapter 169 Next Time (2)
I jumped a few times to observe the situation and prevent everyone from getting entangled in the vines.
I considered taking a shot at the Skyflow Tiger as it seemed it couldn''t move while using its skill… but after seeing those quickly growing vines everywhere, I gave up.
If I tried to cut down those things while airborne, I might suddenly lose my footing and fall. Right now, watching my step amid all those purple vines growing like mushrooms was more important.
Craaack.
Still, it seemed they couldn’t grow infinitely, given that their growth rate had drastically slowed.
Now, I finally had the time to look around.
I checked my surroundings to see how far those damn vines that had formed something resembling a wisteria tree had spread.
At least they hadn’t pierced through the cloudyer.
“…Looks like they’re shorter than Jack’s beanstalk.”
Still, they wereparable in height to a decently sized skyscraper. Based on experience, they gave simr vibes to that 100-floor building I once had to climb.
From that, I could assume those vines were about 500 meters tall, right? Well, it was much better than thousands of meters in the air likest time. Still not on the ground, though.
I looked down and wondered when a Raid that exclusively took ce on solid ground woulde again so I could properly take part in it.
It was so far away, and with the vines covering everything, there wasn’t much I could see… but it was clear the entire forest was now covered in these vines, at least. I was just d the others hadn’t gotten dragged into this.
Deb and Young Lady Camborough had retreated to the rear, but since they had Young Lord Ednium with them, they should be fine anyway. No matter how concerned I was about them, I couldn’t check on them right now.
If I had to pick someone who deserved my immediate concern, it would probably be those fighting alongside me.
While I had caught a glimpse of the Archmage being taken care of by the Inquisitor earlier, I hadn’t seen Bers since losing track of her halfway through the battle.
“Uwaah! That’s one massive tree!”
I took that back. It had been stupid of me to be slightly worried about Bers.
“Thank you. If not for you, Inquisitor, this old woman’s life would’ve been over today.”
“Don’t mention it. I couldn’t not do it.”
“But where are the others…?”
“Ah, I think they’re over there!”
I also managed to determine the location of the Archmage and the Inquisitor.
Seeing them safe a few vines below me, I pulled my sword out from the tree trunk. I had stabbed it in there earlier to stabilize myself.
Swish!
The silver de emerged, breaking the purple wisteria tree-like bark.
“But where did the tiger go?”
“Berserk’s also over there. But the Skyflow Tiger…”
“I don’t know for sure where the Skyflow Tiger is. I can feel Negative Energy from all directions…”
Hmm. It seemed this was the starting point.
I lightly spun my longsword between my fingers, switching from a reverse grip to a regr one.
‘It’sing.’
My instinct seemed to whisper to me. I quickly turned my sword arm to position the de vertically in front of my body. My right forearm supported the center of the sword.
Bang!
A massive force struck my de immediately after. Had I not reinforced it with Arcane Power, the sword might have broken. That was how great the impact was for such thoughts to appear in my mind.
“Demon Knight!”
Whoosh.
Fortunately, the force only pushed my back and didn’t give pursuit. The blow was so strong that it sent me flying for a bit as well.
Spinning my body midair, Inded on a vine that had grown vertically in my path. Thud. My body, feeling light despite jumping forward so heavily, surged back toward the thing that had attacked me.
“Did you really think a sneak attack would work?”
> [I’ll make you regret not having died from that blow…!]
ng!
My sword shed with the Skyflow Tiger’s ws. It seemed the Skyflow Tiger had awakened to ‘Skyflow Tiger - True Form,’ seeing that its strength had grown significantlypared to before.
Its other hand was still free, so it was very eager to strike at me.
“Here Ie!”
Before the Skyflow Tiger’s ws could reach me, Bers charged in. She swung her halberd in a wide arc across from me, attacking from the Skyflow Tiger’s rear.
I was also in her range of attack, but thanks to Bers, I managed to avoid the Skyflow Tiger’s strike.
I retreated, stepping onto another vine. As for the Skyflow Tiger, it leaped upward, drilling its ws into a vine and clinging to its underside.
> [Know your ce and begone!]
Just as Bers jumped up to sh at it, the Skyflow Tiger roared, and something translucent surged forth from its body.
What emerged seemed like some sort of spirit… However, it appeared to possess substance. The whitish figure mmed into Bers, throwing her off bnce.
Unable to achieve what she had intended to do, Bers fell onto a vine below. The figure, in the shape of a tiger, fixed its gleaming eyes on Bers.
It looked like a shadow clone or something.
Babam!
> [Urgh…!]
Well, that was fine by me. We weren’t exactly specialized for cooperative fights. Rather, we could be called experts in individual battles.
Having noticed the [Arcane Spear]s I had thrown at the Skyflow Tiger when it made the clone—I didn’t know what it was doing at that point but fired them anyway—had hit their mark, I prepared for my next attack.
My sword energy cleaved through the ce where the Skyflow Tiger had been. A heavy vine made a creaking sound, barely avoiding copsing entirely as it was entangled with something else.
Crunch!
“…!”
But that wasn’t the real problem.
I frowned as I suddenly saw weeds grow from the vines, wrapping around my ankles.
Right at that moment, the Skyflow Tiger came charging at me.
“Demon Knight!”
“He’s too far away for me to help…!”
I didn’t really need any help, though.
I tossed up my longsword and drew my Zweih?nder. Was getting the timing right tricky because of the dy caused by switching weapons? That problem was easily solved using my Inventory.
Unlike my usual bag-type Inventory, I also had a contact-type Inventory.
It drained quite arge amount of Arcane Power, so I didn’t use it often, but doing so once or twice didn’t pose a problem.
I touched the Zweih?nder with my right hand, stored it in my Inventory, and then resummoned it in my left hand, which had tossed up my longsword. The Zweih?nder crashed down, embedding itself in the tree trunk.
[Ground Crash]. The Arcane Power spread out in all directions, shattering the vine tform I was standing on and pushing back the Skyflow Tiger.
Crack.
I leaped from my crumbling tform, grabbing the longsword mid-jump and returning everything to how it was before.
* * *
I dashed across the vine, mindful of the nts trying to grab my ankles. The Skyflow Tiger, who had just been pushed away, was also following me, partially in beast form.
“Uwaah! That’s not fair, buddy! You’re hogging the fun one!”
Bers’s voice was growing more distant, perhaps because the clone was trying to lure her to the other side.
At least I wouldn’t have to worry about friendly fire anymore. With the Inquisitor and the Archmage pretty far away, I couldn’t expect any help from them either.
> [Grrrargh!]
The Skyflow Tiger swiped at me. A massive tiger paw struck where I had been standing.
Crack. With just that, the thick vine was split into four pieces. I quickly leaped from the floating pieces of vine and sent out a [sh] flurry in return.
The tangled mass of vines, chopped up too finely to hold themselves together, fell to the ground.
Tatatak.
But that didn’t matter. Both the Skyflow Tiger and I continued rushing forward. This forest of vines was very extensive, with every path leading either up or down.
sh!
I cut down the next tform the Skyflow Tiger had nned to step on.
Then, seemingly in retaliation, the Skyflow Tiger severed the base of all the nearby vines. With their supporting beam cut, they all dangled midair before plummeting down.
This really felt a lot different from the fight with the Sea Dragon.
It was simr in that I had to fight while stepping on thick, cylindrical, twisted tforms, unable to risk falling, but that was where the simrities ended.
I jumped up high, watching the swaying vines. The hem of my coat spread out on both sides like a swallow’s tail, and I saw branches suddenly shoot out as if trying to pierce me.
Furthermore, the Skyflow Tiger was behind me, its beastly maw wide open.
As I spun my body, shing through the vines, my eyes locked with the Skyflow Tiger’s, to which I thrust my sword forward, forcing it to face me like this.
[Bombard]. A beam of Arcane Power pierced through the Skyflow Tiger’s throat. However, it kept moving toward me, as if willing to endure even this much pain just to get me, its fangs getting closer and closer.
Thud.
Did I really have to dive into the mouth of another monster again? That thought crossed my mind for a second as Inded on the tform I had been aiming for.
Boom!
As long as there were still some footholds left, there was nothing to fear. When I pushed off with enough force to crush the tform beneath me, my body shot forward like a beam of light.
When I activated [Triple w Strike], the [sh] aiming to cut the tiger apart became three.
> [Aargh!]
Even if the Skyflow Tiger could endure piercing attacks like [Bombard], it couldn’t withstand a [sh] about to split its face four ways.
Clinging to a vine, I watched the Skyflow Tiger turn back into its human form.
The Skyflow Tiger, whose wounds previously hadn’t carried over from its beast form, was now covering its face with its hands to hide the injuries. Blood dripped from the gaps between its fingers.
Craaack.
The ck hole in the middle of its chest seemed to have grown evenrger than before.
Its cloudy red eyes red at me with rage as it let out a thunderous roar.
Its hair, standing on end like a lion’s mane, soon grew long, making it seem like a silken curtain. It looked almost exactly like the <u>Jangsan Tiger</u>.
Swiiish.
What kind of new pattern did it have this time?
I noticed the vine I had been holding on to suddenly withered, to which I hurriedly leaped away.
But the next one Inded on was in a simr condition. More precisely, all the vines above a certain height had begun to wither.
Craaack!
But it didn’t stop there. New vines grew where the old ones had crumbled. Then, they crumbled again. It was an endless repetition of creation and destruction.
‘It’d be a lot easier if we just burned everything to ashes.’
No way, that was just absurd! Back when I used flying creatures as my tforms, while they did move rather erratically, at least I didn’t have to worry about them crumbling apart the moment I stepped on them!
And these vines’ creation and destruction didn’t even follow a consistent pattern! Was it random?! Were these gacha tforms or something?!!
I clenched my teeth at this insane difficulty level, which was high enough to make me want to curse. I was a little curious about what had happened to the others, but even that thought was put on the back burner by the immediate crisis before me.
The Skyflow Tiger, who alone seemed to enjoyplete freedom of movement, ran toward me like a wild dog.
My body spun.
sh!
Even if the vine tforms weren’t on my side, I still had some ws of my own. I summoned three crescent-shaped, ck des to stop the Skyflow Tiger from advancing before stepping onto a copsing tform.
[Survival Instinct]? I activated it as soon as the cooldown was up.
I had never thought my spatial awareness wascking, but I wasn’t confident enough to differentiate which vines were withering and which had just grown in this chaotic situation where pieces of vine kept falling like rain.
If I only had to run, I might have been fine, but since I had to fight the Skyflow Tiger at the same time, things were different.
「Poison: 7%」
At that moment, a notification, something I felt I hadn’t seen in a while, popped up before me, informing me about this poison gauge. It seemed the flowers blooming here and there were the cause. This ce really had all sorts of things.
I clenched my teeth once more as I dodged the tendril-like vines chasing me. I ran along the thickest one.
The parts I stepped on quickly crumbled, but luckily, I was a lot faster.
> [Die!]
I leaped from the vine, shing ws with the Skyflow Tiger. Sparks flew hundreds of meters into the air, while the [Arcane Spear]s I barely managed to create while fighting off my dizziness pierced through parts of the Skyflow Tiger’s body.
I won this exchange of blows. But damn it, now I was about to fall.
「Poison: 10%」
Ruuumble.
The wind hit my body hard, making my clothes and hair flutter violently. The flowers in full bloom on the purple vines scattered reddish pollen everywhere.
The fragrance was so strong that it made my head spin.
After I spun a few times and somehow managed to disperse the impact, my legs mmed into a thick vine below.
Thanks to being strengthened by my Arcane Power, my body didn''t shatter, but the vine beneath me tilted, causing me to slide down rapidly.
It somewhat felt like I was snowboarding, but instead of snow, a storm of vines and wood flew around me.
Wham.
I must have slid down several dozen meters.
I barely made it to another vine and started climbing up again. The Skyflow Tiger was rushing toward me effortlessly, with new vines constantly growing beneath it.
> [Mortal─!]
“Die, vermin.”
As I ascended and it descended, we momentarily crossed paths and swapped positions.
My tightly gripped Zweih?nder shed through the Skyflow Tiger’s side, and its ws scratched across my shoulder.
Shrrrk.
Blood spurted out in all directions.
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