Chapter 23 – Determination

Is this it? Really? Out of all the possible ways to die in a world of monsters and magic, my fate is to fall to my death?

As I closed my eyes and resolved myself as I awaited my inevitable last date with the ground. I never knew falling ten meters would take so long. Life really flashes before your eyes when you're about to die, huh...

I've only lived a couple of days of this unlikely existence, but I haven't been a moment alone. It really was a dumb idea to run away...

Ah, dammit. I'm such an idiot.

…

As I finally met with the solid ground below, all I could hear was loud, gruesome splatter.

At the very least I died instantly, without feeling any pain...

...After I was ready to face the afterlife for the second time, I finally gathered the courage to open my tightly shut eyes. But to my utmost surprise, I found myself lying down on the ground unharmed.

I was shaking. I don’t think I can stand up even if I tried to. Hell, I was unable to think straight and properly internalize what had just happened... That is until I looked down at the ground.

My beloved companion was now reduced to a mere pool of glowing goo.

⌈*O-Oi… Master... Are you a-alright?*⌋

The joy in her voice was long gone...

⌈Y-Yeah. I’m alive…!?! I’m so sorry Lime...⌋

⌈*I-It’s ‘thanks’, master... Not ‘s-sorry’, y’know?*⌋

⌈Thanks, Lime. I owe you one.⌋

⌈*T-That you d-do...*⌋

My sense of fear was quickly overpowered by anger. The amount of adrenaline my system currently produced probably far surpassed the amount that I had produced in my entire past life.

I felt like the lights would dim and my legs would give in anytime now, yet nothing of the sort happened.

I hate this. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to die again.

Agonized by the thoughts of leaving my newfound life, filled with everything I had ever wished for, behind, my anger became unsuppressible. There was only one culprit behind my suffering... The now one-handed Great Burning Woodland Spirit.

It seemed like the resentment we felt towards each other was mutual.

Good.

Now I can slaughter the oversized plank without any hard feelings.

⌈Oi, Lime. Are you going to survive?⌋

⌈*Y-Yes... I think…*⌋

⌈Good. Stay safe, buddy. I’ll go and fucking annihilate that stump.⌋

I locked my sights on the runes covering the left shoulder of the beast and started to close in on it again.

A couple of meters in front of the beast, I realized that similarly to the ogre guarding the shrine on the trials, this monster had also recognized the faults in its attack pattern. Instead of raising its arm vertically, it drew it back to the side. It was going to strike horizontally, however, this time it was out of luck.

The problem with the horizontal swing attacks of the huge monsters was the inability to grasp their own height and compare it to the size of their opponent, and as such one could easily dodge the swings by ducking underneath.

Several tons of wood swung right above me...

I aimed for the moment the arm would reach the end of its range of motion and slow down. The second that happened I leaped towards the arm and clung onto the vines covering it. The beast reacted by trying to shake me off, but its movements weren’t nearly erratic enough to make me fall. The abundant growth on the beast made it rather easy for me to hold onto it and climb on top of the arm once more.

As the beast saw me scaling it’s limb once again, it began to hesitate. It suddenly opened its mouth, and as the blazing flames raging inside the beast leaked out.

The behemoth began casting another spell.

⌈【Crimson Breeze】⌋

Contrary to what the name might imply, the following attack was certainly not a breeze. An intense cone of fire drowned me in its deathly embrace. The scalding heat felt like it melted my skin and fused it into my flesh...

...yet I only felt pain. No physical harm was inflicted?

My scarf! It increased magic resistance against Flame affinity, right!? Though all my other attributes were F, my Luck was something else... Now all I have to do is endure crimson scorching headwind blowing against me in speeds enough to throw me off my balance at the slightest misstep. On instinct, I covered my face with my arm and pressed onward. Not that covering my face really helped to ease the pain at all…

The closer I got to the shoulder, the more intense heat I was met with. By the time I was about a meter away from the shoulder and found myself unable to proceed. I was about to suffocate, as Inhaling air of temperatures nearing a thousand degrees Celsius didn’t exactly sound like an inviting proposal.

Slowly, the heat started to dissipate, and the spell had run its course. With the heat blasting towards me now gone, I felt weightless. Though there was a problem...

The runes would explode once destroyed, and I currently stood near 8 meters off the ground. Landing on Lime once more was out of the question, as she was currently in the process of regenerating from being a pool of goo.

⌈Lime! If I have any Health Potions left in reserve, down one! Try to take it easy and regenerate. Just in case I fall again...⌋

⌈*Y-Yes…*⌋

What a sad little slime she had become. I don’t blame her, though. I don’t exactly feel all that enthusiastic either.

Maybe I could jump down on the vines growing on its body after destroying the shoulder!? No, not really…

I wish I had more time to think, but if I ponder for a second longer, I’ll miss my opportunity.

A nimble step and a swift stab were all it took for the giant to let out another rumbling scream of agony, as I ran my blade deep into the runes on the shoulder, the streams of magic started blazing brightly once more.

Now I just need to get down...

No, that wasn't it. I needed to get away from the explosion. I could probably use the huge body of the beast as a shield. That’s probably the only thing I can do right now…

Against my instinct, I kept on running towards the monster’s head, and for a brief moment, as I used its dumb giant head as a mere stepping stone, I probably let out the smuggest grin the world had ever seen. Now, I’m no sadist, but I’ll admit, it felt weirdly good to trample on the head of such a monstrous giant with my dirty boot.

I clung onto the growth on the right side of the beast. Since the right arm was already cleanly blown off, hiding there proved easier than one might have thought. The beast once again howled out the words of the explosion spell.

⌈【Blaze Bloom】⌋

I felt the beast itself quaking as a result of the monstrous explosion that threw me into the air a few moments ago. This time, I managed to avoid falling by clinging onto the vines on the side of the blazing beast, yet…

How am I going to get down from here!?

Oh right, I can probably just climb down, as the beast doesn’t have arms to hit with. My smug grin kept widening uncontrollably. I never thought overpowering a hulking chunk of firewood would feel this good. Now all that’s left was its legs. I’d need to somehow strike the weak spots before the beast could get in position to protect them.

If I correctly remember, the beast had to stop moving to protect those vitals. I’d have to time my strike for when it couldn’t suddenly stop its movements in order to protect itself. However, I have no idea how it’ll act now that it has severed both of its arms.

I got into the beast’s range to see how it would react, but no matter how much I tried to taunt it to attack me, it never did. It seemed to have become harmless, though I didn’t dare to boldly just jump in. In my old life, I used to have a bad habit of throwing boss battles on accident in the last seconds because I was sure of my victory.

This time it wasn’t just a boss battle. It was a matter of life and death, so I’ll play it safe... If just this once.

Now, how do I go about attacking the runes on the knees? Do I circle around it, and wait for it to turn around and strike when it does? No, that won’t do. Once I disable one of the legs, the beast will probably be unable to move and can then permanently protect its other leg, and I'm not about to whack away at rock solid roots for half an hour while showering in blazing carnage.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to hit both of the vitals on the legs in succession, but it isn’t like I have a say in the matter.

If the sigils on its knees are the same, or at least similar, as the ones decorating the shoulders, I should have a few seconds of time between striking the weak point, and the runes on it overloading and exploding.

Alright.

I circled around behind the beast and awaited its reaction. The beast soon began turning around, counterclockwise, as I expected.

Instead of dashing towards its right, as I did when trying to slash the roots, my target was the vital on the knee of the left leg. I didn’t have enough time to stab, so I had to settle with a swift slash.

I jumped up and struck my blade into the red crystalline essence forming the sigil on the knee. The cut wasn’t nearly as deep or damaging as the stabs to the shoulders, yet it seemed to work well enough. The agonizing yell of the giant unarmed monster roared across the burning plains.

Just one more to go...