382. One Who Pierces the Moon

Volk holds his greatsword tight and charges straight at me.
The glint in his eyes can be seen shining brightly past his swaying silver hair.

“I will take you down, Ouroboros!”

He’s fast.
His fighting spirit must be rubbing off on me somehow since he’s moving faster than what his status shows.

Let’s calm down first, in terms of stats, I should be faster.
If I just deal with this calmly, I can break through his defenses.
I tell Alo and the others behind me to stand back as I brace myself from Volk’s attack.

“Ha ~a~a~a~ah!”

As Volk runs at me, he swings his sword sideways three times.
The wind force from the swing creates shockwaves heading towards me.
I respond by spreading my wings open, gathering magic power at my claw, and with a flap, I parry Volk’s〖Shockwave〗with my own〖Wind Slash〗.

Just as I thought, Volk’s skills let him overwhelm the opponent with attack after attack.
As proven by how Volk continues to charge at me even though I blocked his earlier attack.
Volk jumps left and right to confuse me, but I was still able to evade the slash of his sword.

I really want to use〖Ground Upheaval〗to make him lose his balance, but since we’re in a cave, I could accidentally bury us all alive.

Right now, we’re at medium distance. There’s a chance he’ll use〖Shockwave〗again.
I’ll need to stop Volk’s movements so I can take the fight up close without worry.

Partner, ready〖Demonic Eyes of a Ruler〗.
That skill may be low-leveled, but try to use it when you see the chance.
And yes, I know Volk’s〖Magic Resistance〗is high, but his magic stat is low despite his level.
He should still get affected somehow.

【“It wont work if I cant look at his eyes”】

If you pretend you’re about to unleash a breath attack, won’t he be forced to look at you to keep his guard up?

【“…… But, I cant use breath attacks. Isnt that yours?”】

Just make pretend, we’ll make it work somehow.
Oh, and, use〖Death〗at the right timing too.
But don’t hit him, we don’t want him dead. Just make sure he’s at the right position to dodge it before you use it, so we can limit his movements.

【“Y’know…… ya kinda play dirty sometimes”】

Partner lifts her chin up and looks down at me, appalled at my plan.

N-No, it’s just, you know, if there’s a safe way to incapacitate him, wouldn’t you go with that?
I’m a pacifist first before a brute.
Besides, diversions and distractions still count as good strategy, do they not?
Unfortunately for you, my dragon brain doesn’t just think about frontal assaults when fighting enemies.

Even though she made me think that she wouldn’t go through with my plan, Partner bends back and takes a deep breath.
The image of Partner, an Ouroboros, preparing a (pretend) breath attack looks so imposing, I can see why it’s regarded as legendary.
The base of Partner’s neck begins to swell.
Look who’s giving it their all in the acting biz.
Partner notices me staring at her then looks back at Volk.

Volk’s attention is turned to Partner.
Of course, he’s still keeping an eye out on me, but his attention is mostly focused on Partner.
Volk has the〖Dragon Slaying Champion〗title. That means he must be accustomed to fighting against dragons.
As a swordsman, there’s no way he can ignore the danger of an incoming breath attack.

Slowly, but surely, I move my head away from Partner without letting Volk notice.

Wary of a breath attack, Volk doesn’t take his eyes off of Partner, and thus he falls victim to her crimson glowing eyes.
Volk gets astonished and stumbles on his feet.
But, he immediately cartwheels and protects himself from hurting his knee.

Volk sweats in anticipation and hurriedly faces Partner, who’s still intaking in air.
He must’ve been expecting he’d get hit by the breath attack.

“Guh…… I will not be stopped by this petty trick……”

Volk thrusts his sword to the ground, raises his quivering knee, and attempts to stand up, staggering.
He struggles to walk to the side, even dragging his feet if he must, despite still being numb from Partner’s control.
He’s trying to avoid Partner’s breath attack with the little strength he can muster.

Sorry, but you’re not going anywhere!
Without him noticing, I had already placed my head on the ground, with my chin touching the earth, right near where Volk is standing.
I also already prepared my〖Scorching Breath〗beforehand while he was busy with Partner, and so, with a simple open of the mouth, I release.
Fire quickly spreads upward and all around Volk.

“W-What?! A simultaneous breath attack?!”

In response to the unexpected fire from out of nowhere, Volk uses most of his strength to jump out of the way.
Then, he looks at Partner, fearing her breath attack will be released next.

“Gra~a~a~a……”

Partner exhales in a calm, relaxing manner, as if she just had morning tea.

【“Finally, I can breathe again”】

And with that, our bluff has been exposed.

“This can’t be! The prideful dragon who knows eternity, the legendary two-headed dragon, Ouroboros…… using such underhanded tactics……!”

Volk’s face frowns, and anger fills his eyes.
…… He has more of a dragon brain than me.
Well sorry for not living up to your expectations. I’ll start doing it your way, then.

Mimicking Volk’s previous frontal assault, I rush towards him, ignoring the blazing ground that I ignited with my fire.
Volk’s reaction was late and by the time he raised his sword to guard himself from my attack, I was already right at his face.

Since we want him alive, I aim, not at Volk, but at his sword.
The impact of my claw and Volk’s sword creates a clanging sound.
While Volk is busy trying to push back my claw swipe with his big sword, the fire spreads near us and is currently burning us alive.
Because of my tough scales and high HP, Volk’s the one receiving more damage.

I’m impressed he can still stand despite being roasted in literal fire, but it’s time to end this.
As the one with higher attack stat, I effortlessly push down Volk with my claw.
But then, Volk tilted his sword at an angle and my claw slid past it.
Damn! He used my force against me and stuck my claw unto the ground!

And with a quick change with the hold in his sword, Volk swings upward, almost hitting my chest, but he was actually just raising his sword up.

“I will show you the power of the skill I obtained together with this sword,〖Moon Piercer〗”

Volk’s hold in his sword tightens.
It’s coming! He’s gonna unleash a big attack!
Volk’s attack stat, plus his own sword, is already high enough to bypass my defense.
I panic, and swipe Volk with my other claw to stop him from whatever he was about to do.

I’ll hit him with my〖Paralyzing Poison Claw〗.
While it’s true that with Volk’s〖Paralysis Resistance: Lv5〗, he could just shrug off a scratch, but a direct hit should still leave behind a〖Paralysis〗status condition.
Let’s just hope it’s enough to really incapacitate him.

“Gra~a!”

Partner, who has been waiting for the right timing the whole time, unleashes her〖Death〗skill.
An eerie black light makes its way to Volk.
H-H-Hey, Partner! The timing is really, really good and all, but you’ve got it all wrong!
While we don’t even know if the skill would work or not, I believe I told you that you were supposed to not actually hit him!

【“He’s comin at us with intent to kill, Im just returnin the favor. Stop being too soft all the time”】

“W-Why you!〖Exorcism Blade〗!”

Volk quickly manages to regain his stance and swings his sword at the black light.
The light from〖Death〗then scatters into small particles.
So it’s a skill that cuts through magic, how convenient.
I’m glad he was able to deal with it since I don’t want him dead yet.

Because he shifted his attention to Partner’s〖Death〗skill, he was unable to guard against against my claw swipe.
Pushed by my palm, Volk’s body flies into the air.
My claw pierced deep into his shoulder.

Volk’s grip on his sword weakens, and just as he was about to let go, he immediately regains hold of it with his other hand.
As expected from a master swordsman.
His battle instincts are telling him that letting go of your only weapon means death.

“L-Leral! My, one and only, Leral……!”

Volk pulls his sword close to him and hugs it dearly.
Nevermind, this is clearly something different. He’s developed a kink for that sword of his.

Volk crashes into the cave wall and dust scatters everywhere.
When the dust cleared, a bloodied Volk is seen stuck on the wall. His eyes are open, but Volk himself is unconscious.