700 – Victory

I’ve managed to defeat one of the [Spirit Servants] of God’s Voice, the Saint Jornes.

She was only Legendary and not Upper Legendary, and yet she was far more fearsome than her stats would suggest.
I wish I could have saved the Holy City that Lilixira worked to protect, but it looks utterly destroyed, with piles of rubble and monster corpses scattered throughout.

I look at my status to check my condition.

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[Irushia]
Species: Apocalypse
Condition: Poison (minor), Paralysis (minor)
Lv: 131/175
HP: 1068/12237
MP: 98/9904
Attack: 10578

Defence: 5837
Magic: 6971
Speed: 6782
Rank: L+ (Upper Legendary)

Divine Skills:
[Human Realm: Lv-] [Asura Realm: Lv-] [Hungry Ghost Realm: Lv-] [Animal Realm: Lv-] [Naraka Realm: Lv-]

Characteristic Skills:
[Dragon Scales: Lv9] [God’s Voice: Lv8] [Grisha Language: Lv3] [Flight: Lv8] [Dragon Scale Powder: Lv8] [Dark Attribute: Lv-] [Evil Dragon: Lv-] [Automatic HP Recovery: Lv8] [Presence Perception: Lv7] [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] [Butterfly Dream: Lv-]

Resistance Skills:
[Physical Resistance: Lv6] [Fall Resistance: Lv7] [Starvation Resistance: Lv6] [Poison Resistance: Lv7] [Loneliness Resistance: Lv7] [Magic Resistance: Lv6] [Dark Attribute Resistance: Lv6] [Fire Attribute Resistance: Lv6] [Fear Resistance: Lv5] [Oxygen Deprivation Resistance: Lv6] [Paralysis Resistance: Lv7] [Illusion Nullification: Lv-] [Instant Death Nullification: Lv-] [Curse Nullification: Lv-] [Confusion Resistance: Lv4] [Strong Light Resistance: Lv3] [Petrification Resistance: Lv3]

Normal Skills:
[Roll: Lv7] [Status Inspection: Lv7] [Scorching Breath: Lv7] [Whistle: Lv2] [Dragon Punch: Lv4] [Plague Breath: Lv7] [Poison Fang: Lv7] [Paralysing Claw: Lv7] [Dragon Tail: Lv4] [Roar: Lv3] [Heaven’s Drop: Lv4] [Return to Ground: Lv2] [Humanisation Technique: Lv8] [Wind Slash: Lv7] [Neck Breaker: Lv4] [High Rest: Lv7] [Autoregeneration: Lv6] [Travelling Companion: Lv-] [Death: Lv8] [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: Lv7] [Mirage: Lv8] [Gravity: Lv8] [Dimension: Lv8] [Hellgate: Lv6] [Gravidon: Lv8] [Mirror Counter: Lv8] [Ideal Weapon Lv9] [Wormhole: Lv1] [Curse Knight: Lv4] [Limbo: Lv4] [Dite: Lv4] [Cocytus: Lv4] [Doomsday Tone: Lv-]

Title Skills:
[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: Lv8] [One Who Knows Eternity: Lv-] [Ant King: Lv-] [Hero: LvMAX] [Dream Dragon: Lv-] [Demon Lord: Lv6] [Final Evolution: Lv-]
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…The curse was lifted with the death of the source, but some of the poison and paralysis remain.
I had thought I had effectively seized the initiative when I used [Hellgate] to counter [Gravidimension], but my MP was closer than I had realised.
I’m down to less than 1%.

I dealt with it with full confidence, but it could have quite easily gone the other way if I didn’t have enough MP to break through the [Karma Mirror] and [Ritual of Immortality] combo with [Flash That Drives Away the Darkness].
I shudder to think what would happen if things had gone a little differently and Jornes got off her her 50k damage [Wheel of Karma] attack.
It would have been many times more than my maximum HP, so let alone me, this entire city might have been erased by the aftereffects.

During the battle, I wondered why Jornes didn’t fight with [Gravidimension] as her main weapon from the start, but I was able to counter it quite effectively from the second time, and since my MP was so low by the end, her strategy might have been the best available to her after all.

In the first place, [Gravidimension] isn’t ideal for finishing off an opponent.
Jornes was specialised around whittling down her opponent in a counter-laden battle of attrition, and then when that stops working, scoring damage through [Gravidimension] before finally finishing off the exhausted opponent with [Wheel of Karma].

Now that I understand her tactics, it somehow doesn’t feel like I’ve won.
I got the impression that Jornes wanted to send someone strong enough to defeat her to kill God’s Voice.
But I’m not confident I scored passing marks in that regard.

『Well… There’s no use thinking about that.』

I will defeat God’s Voice.
That’s all there is to it.
Whether or not I have the power to achieve that doesn’t matter any more.
I will simply do everything I can.
There’s still a lot that’s unknown about God’s Voice, and I don’t have even the vaguest sense of what their true nature could be.

But, there’s no way they can be allowed to stay in this world.
That is the only thing I know for sure.

I know too much and have taken on too many wishes and hopes to surrender and ingratiate myself now.
Lilixira, Miia, Hecatoncheir, Jornes… All of them held more resolve than a person can be expected to have in a lifetime, and entrusted it to me. 

“Dragon-god-sama! You won!”

Three Aros fly up to me.
They turn into black light and merge in the air, returning to one before my eyes.

『…It was a tougher fight than I was expecting, but fortunately she wasn’t Upper Legendary.
If she had those skills while being the same rank as me, there’s no way I could have won.』

“She was Legendary rank…?”

Aro says, putting a hand to her lips in thought.
I-I might have made her anxious.
I’m about to fight a bunch of strong opponents in a row, and yet I already struggled this much against a lower rank opponent, so it’s no wonder she’s worried.

『It was a tough fight, but umm, it was only because of her strange skills…!』

“T-that’s not it! I was just thinking about something!”

Aro hurriedly refutes, waving her hands.

『So… Is Miria safe?』

“I took her to the palace they’ve been using as a shelter, and left treant-san with them.
I’ve been flying around the city and hunting those strange monsters, but I think I’ve gotten them all now.
They don’t seem to ever try and hide, so there shouldn’t be any left.”

『Nice, good job.
All that’s left is to pick up treant-san then.』

After that, we’ll go searching for the other three [Spirit Servants].
There are several places I imagine they could be.
It’s the doing of that shitty God’s Voice, after all.
They’ll be in places that have a connection to me for sure.

The problem is where to go first.
I’m going to have to prioritise.
The places I go to last will probably suffer the worst though…