BXBX NOVEL Chapter 469: Troll Mandragora
Emboldened by the success of my new [Dragon Mirror] against the killer queen, I press on through the fog in my [Baby Dragon] form. I come to a forest of twisted trees and keep walking, wary of any treants in disguise.
At one point I come across an unsuspecting fenrir and, thinking I could perhaps take it on, shoot a [Wind Slash] into its rear. As expected of the level difference however, the damage is minimal. The fenrir charges towards me, its face flushed red and its four eyes shining dazzlingly. Even though the MP cost is beginning to stack up, I decide to vanish again until it leaves. It loiters around for a while but, it soon leaves in confusion.
…This skill really is convenient. Of course, it leaves me vulnerable before and after activating it and I can’t move at all when I completely vanish, so its usability is limited against intelligent opponents.
Having moved as a [Baby Dragon] for a while, the muscle memory of a [Baby Dragon] is starting to return to me. The sensation of walking around while vigilant of my surroundings feels nostalgic. Since the MP consumption of [Dragon Mirror] is setting my time limit, I’ll switch to [Roll] to cover more ground however.
While [Rolling] downhill, I accidentally slip between a pair of cliff walls and into a crevice. The fog prevented me from seeing it coming. The slope rapidly steepens, almost turning it into a slide.
There’s no way I could fit through this narrow passage in my original size. I was hoping to find a good place to level up Aro and the others, but with how steep this slope is, getting through here without [Roll] would be dangerous. I suppose I could fly them there as long as I have a general idea of the location…
As the earthen slide comes to an end, I arrive at an area covered by grass, flowers, and ivy. The fog is as horrible as ever, but it’s a calm and quiet place.
I look around… I can’t quite see the far side, but I wonder if this place might be surrounded on all sides by walls? It feels like a hidden glade, or a secret flower meadow. Hmm… It seems like it’d be a nice place to pass some time.
If it really is completely surrounded by walls, monsters might not be able to get in. If I could find a stable source of water, it might not be a bad idea to move everyone here… Is what I thought, but then I notice the scattered half-eaten flowers and tree roots… It seems this place already has residents. I need to be on guard.
After walking around for a bit, I come across some a patch of sparse shrubs, about three metres tall. In my current size, they’re tall enough that I have to look up at them. They look like they might be a kind of legume, each having two-or-so large plain flowers.
It seems like a fascinating plant… While I’m admiring it, all of a sudden, it grows upwards… No, it stands up. An ogre-like face appears from its knotted bundle of roots, and its huge mouth reaches towards me.
A-all of these plants are monsters!? D-damn it! The mimicry and complete lack of a presence made me lower my guard! I can’t rely on [Presence Perception]!
I kick off the ground and leap backwards. The huge mouth crunches closed right in front of me.
Its appearance is incredible. It’s easily over six metres tall. Combined with the vegetation on its head, its height is almost ten metres. Its main body is a mass of tangled roots with a gigantic ogre-like mouth.
Its status is…
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Species: Troll Mandragora
Condition: Normal
Lv: 52/80
HP: 531/531
MP: 184/184
Attack: 416
Defence: 247
Magic: 344
Speed: 216
Rank: B
Characteristic Skills:
[Earth Attribute: Lv-] [Automatic HP Recovery: Lv7] [Photosynthesis: Lv-] [Soft Steps: Lv6] [Ultraregeneration: Lv6] [Hyper Recovery: Lv6]
Resistance Skills:
[Petrification Resistance: Lv8] [Paralysis Resistance: Lv8] [Confusion Resistance: Lv7] [Sleep Resistance: Lv7] [Instant Death Resistance: Lv7] [Poison Resistance: Lv7]
Normal Skills:
[Bite: Lv6] [Hole Digging: Lv3] [Autoregeneration: Lv5] [Ground Tremors: Lv4] [Weak: Lv4] [Clay Wall: Lv3] [Paralyzing Bite: Lv2] [Acidic Saliva: Lv4]
Title Skills:
[Rare Monster: Lv-] [Major Delicacy: Lv-] [Elixir of Longevity: Lv-]
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Alright! This can work! I can easily beat such a plain array of stats. It doesn’t have any scary skills, either. If anything, it looks like it might be an endurance-type that relies on healing and resistance skills, but it’s nothing I can’t deal with. It’s also a fairly high level B rank, so I can expect a good amount of experience.
The troll mandragora grinds its mouth as though lamenting its failure to catch its prey, and then once again sets its sights one me. I cancel my [Dragon Mirror] and return to my oneiros form. The troll mandragora flinches back. Too bad, the one who will be preyed on is you!
I’ll test out my new [Dimension Claw] skill.
【Normal Skill [Dimension Claw]】
【A skill that warps space to cut the target with a claw attack, irrespective of distance.】
【Proficiency is required in order to use it reliably.】
A claw attack that ignores distance… It sounds interesting. It might be faster and more powerful than [Wind Slash].
I pour mana into my claws, then swing them. Even though my claws should have been far from touching it, a huge gash appears on the surface of the troll mandragora and its body rocks backwards… I was aiming for its centre, but missed slightly. It feels like there might be a knack to this.
I swing my arm twice more. I overcorrect for the second attack, but the third hits dead centre.
【Normal skill [Dimension Claw] has risen from level 1 to 3.】
The troll mandragora collapses to the ground. I’ve gotten through the hardest first level.
【1353 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the title skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 1352 experience points have been acquired.】
【The level of [Oneiros] has risen from 1 to 46.】
Nice… My level shot up by a lot. If only my level always increased this fast…
I’d have won this time even if I had fought normally, but I’m glad I was able to test out my new skill. Being able to one-sidedly rain down attacks from range makes a huge difference. From how it felt, the maximum range is fairly long, too. Of course, it doesn’t come close to the broken range of [Ruin] skill, though…
Now then, let’s check my status.
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[Irushia]
Species: Oneiros
Condition: Normal
Lv: 46/150
HP: 725/2255
MP: 231/2329
Attack: 1620
Defence: 994
Magic: 2087
Speed: 1042
Rank: L (Legendary)
Divine Skills:
[Human Realm: Lv-] [Asura Realm: Lv-]
Characteristic Skills:
[Dragon Scales: Lv8] [God’s Voice: Lv7] [Grisha Language: Lv3] [Flight: Lv8] [Dragon Scale Powder: Lv8] [Dark Attribute: Lv-] [Evil Dragon: Lv-] [Automatic HP Recovery: Lv8] [Presence Perception: Lv5] [Automatic MP Recovery: Lv8] [Perseverance of a Champion: Lv-] [Dragon Mirror: Lv-] [Demon Lord’s Favour: Lv-] [Demon Eye of Terror: Lv1] [Domination: Lv1] [Magic Brainwashing: Lv1]
Resistance Skills:
[Physical Resistance: Lv5] [Fall Resistance: Lv6] [Starvation Resistance: Lv5] [Poison Resistance: Lv6] [Loneliness Resistance: Lv6] [Magic Resistance: Lv5] [Dark Attribute Resistance: Lv5] [Fire Attribute Resistance: Lv5] [Fear Resistance: Lv4] [Oxygen Deprivation Resistance: Lv5] [Paralysis Resistance: Lv6] [Illusion Nullification: Lv-] [Instant Death Resistance: Lv4] [Curse Resistance: Lv4] [Confusion Resistance: Lv3] [Strong Light Resistance: Lv2] [Petrification Resistance: Lv2]
Normal Skills:
[Roll: Lv7] [Status Inspection: Lv7] [Scorching Breath: Lv7] [Whistle: Lv2] [Dragon Punch: Lv4] [Plague Breath: Lv7] [Poison Fang: Lv7] [Paralysing Claw: Lv6] [Dragon Tail: Lv2] [Roar: Lv3] [Heaven’s Drop: Lv4] [Return to Ground: Lv2] [Humanisation Technique: Lv8] [Wind Slash: Lv7] [Neck Breaker: Lv4] [High Rest: Lv7] [Autoregeneration: Lv5] [Travelling Companion: Lv-] [Death: Lv7] [Soul AppendmentFake Life: Lv6] [Holy: Lv5] [Telepathy: Lv4] [Wide Rest: Lv5] [Ligne: Lv5] [Holy Sphere: Lv5] [Flash That Drives Away the Darkness: Lv1] [Dimension Claw: Lv3] [Mirage: Lv8] [Gravity: Lv8] [Dimension: Lv8] [Hellgate: Lv2]
Title Skills:
[Son of the Dragon King: Lv-] [Walking Egg: Lv-] [Clutz: Lv4] [Simple Fool: Lv1] [Infighter: Lv4] [Pest Killer: Lv8] [Liar: Lv3] [Evasion King: Lv2] [Chicken Runner: Lv3] [Chef: Lv4] [Gutsy: Lv4] [Big EaterGiant Killer:: Lv5] [Pottery Craftsman: Lv4] [Group Leader: Lv1] [Laplace Interference Authority: Lv4] [One Who Knows Eternity: Lv-] [Ant King: Lv-] [Hero: LvMAX] [Dream Dragon: Lv-] [Demon Lord: Lv6] [Final Evolution: Lv-]
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My stats have gone way up… Eh? Wait, am I ridiculously powerful now? My maximum HP and MP used to be about 3000, so that part is a bit disappointing, but all my other stats now eclipse what they were.
In particular, my magic that was at about 1300 has climbed all the way to the 2000s. My attack also easily beats out Eldia’s attack of 1500. So this is what it means to be Legendary class. Th-this can work. My stats are high enough to take on both Beelzebub and Lilixira at the same time.
There are still plenty of troll mandragoras growing here. The scraps of torn vegetation I saw earlier might have been the result them eating each other.
I’ll return to the waterfall cavern for now. If I bring everyone back here, their levelling should go smoothly. Bearing my remaining MP in mind, it’s better if I fly out of here. The fog is so thick that I could easily lose my position, but… It should be fine to just only use it to get me over the walls.