719 – [Hungry Beast’s Flame Prison Wind]

I think as I stay airborne.

…The taotie has the [Heavenly Father’s Rage] lightning attack.
If I try and escape to the air, there will be nothing I can do to avoid those attacks.

These four were chosen by God’s Voice as the strongest divine skill holders of all time.
There’s no way any of them would have such a glaring weakness.

But, even so, I am the same Upper Legendary as the taotie, and I have a significant advantage in speed.
The reliable strategy would be to keep my distance and attack with long-range skills.
I grappled it out of the city, but I don’t want to casually get close to an opponent with such insane strength.

I speed up and fly away from the taotie.
It gives chase, fortunately still fixated on me.
If it were to turn around and head back to Harenae, I’d have to rethink my strategy.

The way this is going, it might be surprisingly easy for me to win… Now that I’ve gained so much distance, magic skills are difficult to aim.
My best bet is to use [Dimension Claw] as usual.

Turning round, I release a [Dimension Claw] at the taotie.

To avoid a direct hit, the taotie twists its body and uses its tentacles as a shield.
The tentacles are shorn in two as a deep gash is carved into the taotie’s side.

The difference in our speed is showing.
Most of my opponents as of late have had the ability to fly, so I’ve had to aim my [Dimension Claw] both horizontally and vertically.

But, the taotie can’t fly.
It has no way of dodging my [Dimension Claw].
The most it can do is fend off some of the damage by using its tentacles as a shield.

It’s a bit cowardly, but if I keep my distance at an altitude that lets me dodge [Heavenly Father’s Rage] and attack again and again with [Dimension Claw], the taotie should be the first to fall.

However the taotie clearly still has some awareness as Hero Ares, and even Saint Jornes, who seemed to lack any awareness at all, had some intelligence to her actions.
If my plan is seen through, there’s a good chance the taotie will turn back to Harenae.
Though I’ll keep this up until it shows signs of turning back.

I fly away again and then turn around, releasing another [Dimension Claw].
The claw attack cuts through the vast distance instantly, slicing off more tentacles and inflicting a deep wound on the taotie’s body.

Unlike last time, the taotie made no attempt to reduce the damage, so the wound is much deeper than last time.
Without turning away, it has planted its feet in the ground and is sucking in a huge breath through the mouth on its chest.

…What skill is that? My instincts are screaming alarm bells.

There is easily an entire kilometre between me and the taotie.
What could it possibly do from so far away…?

It chose to go through the skill’s wind-up motion, despite taking heavy damage.
I can’t imagine it’s pointless.

I turn at a sharp right angle and speed up.

『 [Hungry Beast’s Flame Prison Wind]!』

A dark vortex of flames spews from its mouth.

Everything I can see is engulfed by the billowing sand and black flames.
The scale of the attack is a magnitude above anything I’ve seen before.

Dodging is impossible.
My entire body is impacted by the blast directly, and I’m sent hurtling away hundreds of metres, tumbling over the desert.

“Oo… Guh, gah!”

The heat from the black flames is one problem, but the force of getting knocked into the ground has also broken the bones in my wings and legs.
I quickly straighten them out and begin healing with [Autoregeneration].

Looking up, as far as I can see is engulfed in black flames… The scale of the attack is way too extreme.
A single blast from that skill could have destroyed Harenae entirely.

All of the taotie’s attack skills are too far outside the norm.
It was too early for me to feel relieved that it didn’t have any bullshit combos like Saint Jornes had.
The taotie’s skills a simply too stupidly powerful.
I should have known that the skills of an Upper Legendary wouldn’t be anything weak.

I can see the taotie dashing through the flames, heading towards me.
This is no time to be lying around… I get to my feet and prepare to fight.

『[Earth Mother’s Lament]!』

The taotie rasies its forelegs high.

That movement… It’s the same skill it used to rampage in Harenae! This really is no time to be lying around!

I kick off the ground to escape into the air.

The taotie’s front paws slam down.
The desert shakes violently as a huge shockwave travels through the ground and passes below me.
A giant fissure is left behind in the shockwave’s wake.

…Apparently the skill that caused that fissure in Harenae was [Earth Mother’s Lament].

Having seen its skills now, I’m starting to get the picture of how to fight the taotie.

If I stay too high, the huge column of lightning from [Heavenly Father’s Rage] will hit me.
If I stay on the ground, the fissure from [Earth Mother’s Lament] will swallow me.
If I keep my distance, I’ll have no way of avoiding the  [Hungry Beast’s Flame Prison Wind].

The taotie really is like the incarnation of a natural disaster.
It’s way too strong, even for a power type.

It was impossible for me to have avoided [Hungry Beast’s Flame Prison Wind].
But, that skill has a weakness.
Before it activates, the taotie has to suck in a large breath, leaving it defenceless for a few seconds.
So it might be possible for me to stack up enough damage to kill it before the skill activates.

The other option would be to circle behind it the moment it fires.
The skill covers a wide area and the range is insanely long, but as long as I’m close enough, it’s not impossible to dodge.

In other words, the taotie can’t use [Hungry Beast’s Flame Prison Wind] unless I’m far away.

I’ve ended up taking quite a lot of damage, but the effects of [Heavenly Father’s Rage] and [Hungry Beast’s Flame Prison Wind] weren’t immediately obvious from their descriptions.
What’s important is how I respond from now on.

In addition, I’ve spotted a common weakness in all its high-power skills.
The skills have incredible range and firepower, but they shouldn’t be usable as long as I stick close by.

…In other words, I’ve no choice but to throw away my plan to fight at long range, and aim for a close quarters brawl.
I had thought that close quarters was the worst option against the taotie’s overwhelming HP and strength, but it turns out to have been correct.
There’s no way it’ll be easy to win a brawl against such a power-focused opponent, but it’s simply impossible for me to win a long-range firefight.