Chapter 45

"Hey, why can you use magic, Kohaku?"

"Hmm? No, I can't use magic."

The question I asked, having steeled myself, was met with a disappointing answer.

The Oni clan is a race specialized in physical skills, which is something that goes without saying. While they are not the strongest in all four physical stats—strength, toughness, dexterity, and agility—their total values are overwhelmingly higher compared to other races. On the other hand, they are burdened with the fact that even if they spend all their bonus points on magic, they can't even reach average levels.

However, Kohaku, who is supposed to be of the same Oni clan as me, was clearly using a powerful magical technique. The technique, which she called "Seal Art," had the firepower to easily mow down over a dozen enemies of around level 20 and the defensive power to withstand such attacks. I would like to have it as a card up my sleeve if I could use it. But my question was flatly denied.

"To be honest, that's an item."

"An item?"

Hearing Kohaku's words, I imagined something that would flash light or heal HP when shaken.

"Right. It's a seal that can only be created by those who take on the special job of 'Seal Artisan' in the Kitsune clan. The prices vary, but the one I used just now is a mid-level seal art that costs about 10,000 Iris per sheet."

"10,000 Iris...!?"

"If you think about it, it's a cheap price for us Oni to easily counter magic."

Indeed. Even though it was only low-level magic, the barrier that effortlessly defended against such a large amount of attacks and even repelled a lightning strike seemed worth 10,000 Iris. After all, it had almost no lag in activation. There's probably no more capable item for emergency defense. If it's only 10,000 Iris, it's a bargain. The only downside is that it's disposable.

But the Kitsune clan, huh. The Kitsune clan appears in the game's PV but is one of the non-playable races, meaning they can't be controlled.

They have two forms: a fully quadrupedal beast form and a bipedal beastman form, and they can transform into a human form when they grow up. They are well-known by name because they are listed on the official introduction page, but I have never seen one before.

"I've never seen a Kitsune before."

"That's only natural. They have a strong tribal consciousness and most of them live in hidden villages. I wouldn't have interacted with them if I weren't an Oni."

"Not if you weren't an Oni?"

"The Oni clan and the Kitsune clan have a friendly relationship. Perhaps because the Oni God and the Kitsune God have a close relationship, they have had a strong bond since ancient times."

I see, the Oni clan and the Kitsune clan are on good terms. If that's the case, maybe I can go buy some seal arts someday?

But they seem to be a closed-off race, and I'm an outsider player...

"Scuna, you're the type who shows what you're thinking on your face."

"What?"

"Hehe, I think you'd be well-liked. Both the Oni clan and the Kitsune clan are races that favor the strong."

At that, her gaze returned to my chest. Not in a lewd way, but the "Proof of a Solo Slayer" has that much value.

Before long, a sunlit clearing surrounded by tall trees came into view.

"Alright, we're about to reach the master of the forest. You don't need my help, right?"

"Of course. I'm already used to this."

"This" refers to the gauntlets, not the hammer. With the bonus points from the level-up in the previous battle, I have enough strength to wield the Meteor Impact Zero. I've fought a few times on the way here and have almost mastered its use.

However, just because I've reached the required strength doesn't mean I can easily swing it around. Just understanding how to use it doesn't mean I can handle it well. Seeing this, Kohaku laughed with amusement.

"Hand-to-hand combat, huh? I remember you used it earlier... whether you knew it or not, it suits you well."

With that, she gently pushed my back and led me into the boss room.

"I'm going in."

"Alright, good luck."

The space was bathed in sunlight, not dappled light. As if waiting for me to step in, a large purple snake appeared. It was coiled up, and the height of the coil alone might be about 10 meters. Its body was thick all over. It looked like it would be satisfying to punch.

The name displayed was "Poison Naga Level 27." It had only one HP bar.

Like the Red Ogre in the Trial Cave, the boss names are pretty simple.

"Alright, let's do this."

Facing the Poison Naga, which was hissing, I clapped my hands together loudly.

☆

In WLO, poison-using monsters are not rare. The lizards in the swamp are apparently poison users, and the "Hydro Snake" in the Endless Forest also has poison. Even the Goblin Archer uses poison arrows... so there are this many poison users among the enemies I've faced so far.

Then there's that one. The named monster "Great Serpent Vladiya" that Rau defeated. It apparently appears around Feas, and since Rau got a rare poison skill, it's probably a poison user too.

Thinking about it, the Poison Naga in front of me might be a weaker version of that named monster. Still, I can't afford to be complacent.

This is the "Forest of Magic." What that means is that all monsters can use magic.

"Does this game have a rule that big monsters become fixed turrets?"

The Poison Naga spread a light purple magic circle around itself and shot out a liquid of the same color. It was easy to dodge, but I could see the ground melting where it hit.

"Of course, that makes sense."

Judging from how it melted, it might be more like digestive fluid than poison. I don't understand why it needs to be shot as magic, but it looked painful to be hit.

The large body seemed difficult to dodge, but...

"The movements aren't very fast... good."

After thoroughly dodging for a while and deciding that I could do it, I lightly swung my gauntlets and gathered strength in my whole body. Dodging the flying magic, I punched the thick belly of the giant snake with both fists. A weak sound, "Pac," echoed. The impact was too weak for a clean hit, but that's fine.

At that moment, my fists were slightly enveloped in light.

The characteristic of the "Hand-to-Hand Combat" skill's Arts is that the essence lies in combos. It's a line from the skill description page, but that's about the only way to explain it.

The light-enshrouded fists increase in power with each punch. The initially weak and unreliable impact sounds become heavier and deeper with each repetition. The good thing about this Art is the long window of opportunity. Even with some dodging, the Art's effect doesn't stop.

After about 10 consecutive hits, the initially weak sound had turned into a loud "Boom!"

The Art "Ten Cherry Blossoms."

A 10-hit combo skill that deals maximum damage against large, slow monsters.

With my high strength value, the power of the heavy metal gauntlets, and the synergy of the Ten Cherry Blossoms, the Poison Naga had already lost about 30% of its HP.

The Poison Naga flinched from the final blow, but before I could recover from the stun, it writhed and tried to sweep me away.

"Ugh!"

I let out a slightly suspicious sound as a woman and was blown away by a direct hit to my unguarded belly. The damage wasn't significant. I could tell from how the attack went through that the large body was mostly a facade.

"Phew, the stun is big..."

I didn't expect to be hit so unguarded. While I was catching my breath, the Poison Naga also repositioned itself.

Ten Cherry Blossoms is powerful and has a long window of opportunity, but it has two drawbacks. One is the stun time. The post-attack stun is quite long, taking about 5 seconds to recover. The other is that all 10 hits must be landed on the same monster. This makes it unusable against small enemies, but it's not a significant drawback.

There are actually more practical skills with fewer openings and fewer hits, but they are hard to use against large monsters... to be honest, it's more like a romantic cannon. But thinking about it, I might have died if I had been hit by magic. I'm satisfied that it activated, so from now on, I'll be more careful.

I combined the "Double Dragon" with a full-force punch, the "Three Clouds" with a 3-hit combo within 0.5 seconds, and the "Four Leaves" with a combination of left, right, spinning kick, and backflip spinning kick.

The advantage of this skill is that you can connect Arts with increasing numbers to extend combos, which is why it's said that "the essence lies in combos."

However, the post-attack stun is added with each connection, so if you get carried away, you might end up in a bad situation.

"Alright...!"

After about 3 seconds of stun, I tried to dodge the four incoming spells with a backstep, but my foot got stuck in the ground and I was momentarily immobilized.

I managed to pull it out and dodge, but upon closer inspection, some of the ground hit by the dissolving liquid-like magic had turned into mud. At first glance, it just looked melted on the surface. There were no holes, so I didn't notice, but it might have been a magic that softened the inside.

I can tell where the magic landed because the ground is bald, but...

A bad thought crossed my mind. What kind of action would they take after taking away my footing and narrowing my escape options, and reducing my mobility?

"Of course, that's what they'd do..."

Up until now, I've only seen mid-level magic, no matter how powerful it was. It was a different timing from the panic, but the "Earth Javelin" that the Goblin Mage took about a minute to cast was much faster than ball-type magic. I could dodge it because it took time to prepare and the angle was clear, but I think it would have been quite dangerous if I had been caught off guard.

Considering that, the magic array the Poison Naga is preparing with its large open mouth is at least larger than the Earth Javelin. I don't know what will come out, but if I get hit by something like an Ice Ball, I'll probably die.

Fortunately, it seems to take time to activate. From the way the magic circle is glowing, it looks like it will take about 20 seconds to charge.

"If I have that much time!"

The Naga's HP is about 60% left. Rather than taking a gamble on whether I can dodge or not, I had something I wanted to try.

I kicked the hard ground with all my might and plunged into the Poison Naga's body, delivering the "Double Dragon." 2 seconds.

I ignored the recoil damage and delivered the "Three Clouds" and "Four Leaves" more sharply than before. 4 seconds.

The 5-hit combo with a hand strike, "Five Harmony." 6 seconds.

The high-speed 6-hit punch, "Six Paths," prioritizing speed. 7 seconds.

"Here it is!"

Starting from the last hit of "Six Paths," I activated "Ten Cherry Blossoms."

The damage of "Ten Cherry Blossoms" increases with each hit, with the final damage being equivalent to 55 times the initial hit.

The initial hit was powerful, so the recoil was uncontrollably strong.

By the third hit, it had already reached the power of the last hit.

From the fourth hit, I couldn't withstand it, and my HP started to decrease.

With each hit, my HP was being chipped away, but the Naga was suffering even more.

"Ha... ah!"

On the seventh hit, a punch with power that I couldn't control even while activating it pierced the thick body of the Poison Naga.

The Poison Naga collapsed, convulsed for a while, and then dissolved into polygons and disappeared.

It took only 15 seconds. Even though I was a higher level, I managed to cut down more than 50% of its HP in less than a minute. Maybe this skill has broken damage efficiency...

"Phew..."

The 8th hit, which was too powerful to control, swung into the air, and my avatar froze.

I couldn't move, but there was no enemy left. I slowly exhaled the breath I had been holding during the combo and sat down on the ground when I could move again after a few seconds.

I won't tell you that my butt almost got stuck in the mud, will I?

Art "Ten Cherry Blossoms"

One of the 10 Arts that the "Hand-to-Hand Combat" skill has from the start.

A combo Art with a 3-second window of opportunity for each hit. As long as you hit with your fists, the combo will continue. The damage calculation starts with the initial hit and increases by 2x, 3x, 4x, and so on, with the 10th hit being 10 times the initial hit. The total damage is equivalent to 55 times the initial hit.

If you complete the combo, you will have a 5-second post-attack stun, but if you miss and the combo is interrupted, you will receive a 15-second stun penalty. However, if you are blown away by an enemy's attack and the combo is interrupted, no stun will occur.

Additionally, if the initial hit's power exceeds your toughness, you will take self-damage.

What happens if you connect all 9 Arts from "Double Dragon" to "Ten Cherry Blossoms"...?