559 – [Holy Naga]

Slithering along the cliff wall, Lilixira closes in on me.
Her speed is incomparable to anything I’ve faced this far.
This chill… It’s not A+ rank.
This woman’s reached as far as Legendary rank.

【[Holy Naga]: L (Legendary) rank Monster】
【A bizarre human with half the body of a snake.】
【The sacred being meant to destroy the King of Monsters that heralds the world’s descent into evil, according to the legends passed down in the Holy Country.】
【It freely wields an array of unique skills that utilise magical power that lies dormant in nature.】

My bad feeling was dead on.
This is the worst.
Lilixira is the first Legendary rank monster I’m squaring off against that’s in perfect shape.

From what I’ve seen up to now, I faintly understand that, in exchange for not being able to evolve, humans level up slower than monsters, and the impact of level ups on their stats increases at higher levels.
The [Metamorphosis] magic probably lets the user transform into a monster of rank befitting their level and latent potential.
Having reached level 100 and acquired two divine skills, Lilixira must have reached the requirements for transforming into a Legendary rank monster.

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[Lilixira Liarm]
Species: Holy Naga

Condition: Normal
Lv: 100/140
HP: 3592/3592
MP: 3956/3956
Attack: 2337
Defence: 2047
Magic: 3440
Speed: 2299
Rank: L (Legendary)

Divine Skills:
[Hungry Ghost Realm: Lv-] [Animal Realm: Lv-]

Characteristic Skills:

[God’s Voice: LvMAX] [Light Attribute: Lv-] [Grisha Language: Lv7] [Mage Talent: LvMAX] [Presence Perception: Lv8] [Soft Steps: LvMAX] [Clothes of Light: Lv-] [Eye of Truth: Lv-] [Reincarnation Moult: Lv-] [Automatic MP Recovery: Lv9] [Sacred Scales: Lv8] [Flight: Lv7] [Immortal Qigong: Lv7] [Body Alchemy: Lv7] [Chakra Awakening: Lv-]

Resistance Skills:
[Physical Resistance: Lv9] [Magic Resistance: Lv9] [Dark Attribute Resistance: Lv9] [Illusion Resistance: Lv9] [Poison Resistance: Lv8] [Curse Resistance: LvMAX] [Petrification Resistance: LvMAX] [Instant Death Resistance: LvMAX] [Paralysis Resistance: Lv8]

Normal Skills:
[Status Inspection: LvMAX] [High Rest: LvMAX] [High Cure: LvMAX] [Holy: LvMAX] [Holy Sphere: LvMAX] [Holy Spear: LvMAX] [Telepathy: Lv9] [Spirit Servant: LvMAX] [Float: Lv8] [High Quick: Lv8] [High Power: Lv8] [Mirror Counter: Lv8] [Gravity: Lv8] [Gravidon: Lv8] [Gravillion: Lv9] [Confusion: Lv8] [Mirage: Lv8] [Fire Sphere: Lv8] [Charm: Lv8] [Slow: Lv8] [Dimension: Lv8] [Stone Curse: Lv8] [Holy Wing: Lv8] [Metamorphosis: Lv2] [Poison Fang: Lv8] [Immortal Step: Lv8] [Aparajita: Lv8]

Title Skills:
[Chosen One: Lv-] [Snake Goddess: Lv-] [Saint: LvMAX] [Magic Beast King: Lv3] [White Mage: LvMAX] [Black Mage: Lv9] [Staff Combat: Lv9] [Tiny Hero: LvMAX] [Spirit Relief: LvMAX] [Cunning: LvMAX] [Liar: LvMAX] [Laplace Interference Authority: Lv5] [Final Evolution: Lv-]
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…My advantage in stats has finally been broken.
She’s gained a whole bunch of new skills, too.
What makes it worse is an extremely aggravating bonus effect that came with it.

Even though she should have been on the verge of death, her HP and MP have completely recovered.
Normally, HP and MP don’t recover with evolution or level ups.

I now understand why she waited so long to use her last resort and kept up her seemingly pointless resistance.
By letting me think it was a one-sided battle, she dampened my concentration, and aimed to shave away at my mana as much as she could.

I didn’t intend to be careless.
However, in the face of her pitiable facade of a resistance, I undoubtedly stayed my hand.
‘She’ll collapse any moment now’; I allowed myself to be deluded in such a way again and again.
With all that in mind, I’ve been dancing in the palm of her hand until this very moment.

However… for her full recovery to be entirely the power of [Metamorphosis], it would be far too overpowered of an ability.

【Characteristic Skill [Reincarnation Moult]】
【By shedding and discarding the old body, a new one is obtained.】
【The mana consumption is extreme, but wounds and missing body parts can be recovered.】
【In addition, by just being in possession of this skill, the user’s status will make a full recovery upon evolution.】

It was this skill’s fault! Normally it would just suppress the usual risks that come with evolution as a minor bonus, but because [Metamorphosis] counts as evolution, it effectively acted as a broken skill that let her make a single full recovery in the midst of battle.

There’s no way this is a coincidence… She must have known she could use [Metamorphosis] to reach [Holy Naga] while fighting, and would make a complete recovery as a result of [Reincarnation Moult].
It’s made exceedingly obvious the advantage she’s gained by making use of Laplace.

I had believed Lilixira would challenge me by relying on hostages.
I was wrong.
In addition to stacking up multiple layers of insurance, she precisely planned out how to fight me.
The case where it becomes a pure one-on-one fight without any hostages was entirely within her expectations.

I didn’t expect her to not only evolve into a higher-ranked being, but to also fully heal with what looks like an exploit of the system.
Because of [Reincarnation Moult], she’s gained a huge advantage.

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[Irushia]
Species: Oneiros
Condition: Normal
Lv: 109/150
HP: 2985/4397
MP: 2287/4534
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From all the repeated conflicts up till now, my mana has been reduced to half.
Lilixira also has plenty of skills that are unknown to me, yet she probably has already grasped how to fight me.
It doesn’t seem likely that she’ll expose many openings.