Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 48
Chapter 48: General Assault Part 3
The Leviathan General positioned its sword horizontally. Sora anticipated the incoming ?Strike Sword? and carefully timed her move.
One, two, three—here it comes!
Using ?Sonic Sword? to accelerate, Sora dodged to the side, avoiding the powerful thrust. She then hoisted her sword onto her shoulder, spun around, and unleashed a ?Dual Nail? from above.
The wind-enveloped sword increased in power, delivering two swift slashes to the side of the giant sword.
The powerful double strike caused the large sword to be violently deflected, pulling the Leviathan General off balance.
“Kuro!”
“Leave it to me!”
The black-haired girl charged forward, her jet-black sword, ?Night Cherry?, glowing with a brilliant blue wind. She darted into the Leviathan General’s reach and unleashed ?Strike Sword II?.
The powerful thrust struck the enemy, shaving off about 10% of its HP and forcing it to stagger backward.
“Shift!”
A non-skill overhead slash targeted Kuro’s small frame. Sora intercepted the blow with ?Sonic Turn? and activated ?Sword Guard II?. She took the direct hit from the massive blade, enduring its weight as she deflected it to the side.
The large sword slammed into the ground.
Sora then activated a buff skill, refreshing the ?Wind Attribute Enhancement II? for both herself and Kuro.
“Kuro, Shift!”
“Roger.”
Kuro dashed out from the side, her ?Sonic Sword II? slashing through the enemy’s left leg as she maneuvered to its rear. Although the HP was only reduced by a few millimeters, the attack diverted the Leviathan General’s attention away from Sora.
—Now’s the chance.
After using 70 MP for the attribute enhancement earlier, Sora had about 200 MP left. He utilized the remaining four slots on herself to cast the ?Attack Power Boost Enchantment? skill. Thanks to her ?Enchantment Magic Reduction? skill and the effects of her bracelet, she managed to reduce the MP consumption to a total of 140.
Now fully focused on offense, with her attack power maximized, Sora prepared for the decisive strike.
“Haaaaah!”
She positioned her sword on her shoulder in a ?Quad Slash? stance. Combining it with ?Sonic Sword?, she swiftly closed the distance and delivered four sharp slashes to the enemy’s torso, carving four lines into it.
‘!?!’
The Leviathan General’s HP, combined with the previous ?Sonic Sword? attack, was instantly reduced by more than 30%. The enemy’s HP was now down to half.
At this rate, we can do it.
Just as Sora thought that, she noticed the enemy taking a deep breath again.
Her eyes widened—this was the same preparatory move for ?Venom Mist? as before.
“I won’t let you!”
I hurriedly tried to delay the attack, but my slightly delayed reaction was fatal.
As I attempted to disrupt it with ?Sonic Sword?, the noxious mist engulfed both Kuro and me.
A warning flashed in the corner of my vision.
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
?Warning?
You have been inflicted with a status ailment.
You have been poisoned.
You have been poisoned again.
Your poison level has increased to 2.
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
Looking back, this might be the first time in this game that I’ve experienced a significant status ailment, excluding curses.
I see, so this is how it feels.
Kuro’s poison level also seems to have increased to 2, causing her HP to decrease by 5 points every second.
Considering Kuro’s current HP is 400, it means she’ll be down to 0 in 80 seconds.
The only relief is that there’s no poison level above 3.
I still have 520 HP, so I have some time, but if I keep taking hits from the enemy, I won’t have a chance to recover. The situation is quite dire.
However, from my perspective, we’re still in a position to fight.
“Sora!”
Kuro shouted as the enemy in front of me aimed to slice me in two with a downward sword swing.
I had no choice but to block it with ?Sword Guard II?.
Shifting my focus to read the enemy’s attack, I was surprised by how smoothly I managed to deflect it to the ground.
The heavy impact caused the massive sword to tremble.
Is this the spinal reflex I honed from ?Swordmaster??
After all, no game is ever a waste, since it helps develop skills. Although, if asked whether I’d want to do it again, I’d definitely refuse.
Feeling a bit moved, I called out to my partner.
“Kuro, Shift!”
“Got it!”
Kuro, aiming to shorten the battle time, activated ?Triple Stream? from behind the enemy. She executed an overhead slash, followed by a horizontal slash, then seamlessly canceled the final strike into a perfectly connected ?Strike Sword II?.
Even from my perspective, it was an impressive chain of canceled attacks.
Moreover, the triple strike, boosted by the enemy’s weakness attribute, quickly reduced the Leviathan General’s HP to 30%.
‘Gah!’
“…Ah.”
The enraged Leviathan General assumed a low stance, its sword glowing red.
This is bad.
That stance means the Leviathan General was about to use the triple-strike skill ?Triple Stream?.
If Kuro takes the hit head-on, her already dwindling HP due to the poison will be completely wiped out.
The massive sword was unleashed, ready to cleave through Kuro’s defenseless small frame as she landed.
A sharp blade loomed, filling Kuro’s vision.
“This is it… I’m going to die once,” Kuro thought as she tightly shut her eyes.
But then, at the very last moment, Sora, who should have been on the opposite side, dashed in using ?Sonic Turn?.
“Hah!”
With ?Sword Guard II? activated, she intercepted the upward slash coming from below, deflecting it upward.
As the sword howled in protest, she blocked the powerful horizontal slash that followed, forcing it away. Finally, timing her movements perfectly, Sora deflected the massive sword’s powerful thrust that aimed to skewer her.
The ground was gouged out.
The massive sword screeched as it scraped against the earth.
Even though Sora had successfully defended, the strain still caused his HP to drop by about 30%.
On top of that, the reckless defense had taken about 40% of the durability of his ?Silver Sword?.
If it weren’t for the reinforced ?Sword Guard II? and the sword’s durability specialization, it likely would have broken midway through the defense.
Though it was painful, this was the duty and fate of a makeshift tank.
Seeing Kuro standing in shock, Sora spoke with a cheerful tone.
“Kuro, are you okay?”
“…Why did you come to save me?”
“There’s no way I’d abandon my partner.”
“Part… ner…”
“You did well to bring it down that much. Leave the rest to me.”
Standing protectively in front of her, Sora faced the Leviathan General.
With the level 2 poison, her HP was dangerously close to the red zone.
At this rate, they were bound to lose.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, her body began to glow green. To her surprise, her dwindling HP suddenly recovered to 80%.
The one responsible for this miracle was a jade-haired girl at the edge of her vision, holding out her hands toward her.
…Thank you, Aria.
Sora silently thanked her. She could see Giorl and the others, who had finished recovering, rushing towards them.
If they could hold out in a war of attrition, victory wasn’t far off.
However, now that she had regained some strength, a bit of greed began to stir within Sora.
In this situation, wouldn’t it be more “romantic” to finish it off in a one-on-one duel?
Don’t you agree?
But just as if to reject Sora’s idea, the Leviathan General shifted its target from Kuro to Aria, who was far off in the distance.
“Hey, are you serious?”
Determined to at least take someone down with it, the Leviathan General ignored Sora and accelerated towards the knights with a ?Sonic Sword?.
“Giorl, its target is Aria! Use ?Provoke? to change its focus!”
Sora hastily chased after the Leviathan General with ?Sonic Turn?, but due to the poison, her fatigue had already risen to 40%. Overusing the skill could halve her movement-related stats, which would be fatal.
“Knights, protect Lady Aria!”
At Giorl’s command, the knights activated their ?Provoke? skills. However, shockingly, every one of them failed.
More than ten of them missed? Just how high is the Leviathan General resistance to ?Provoke??
Cursing inwardly, Sora was about to catch up to the Leviathan General when her fatigue hit the critical zone. She had no choice but to cancel the ?Sonic Sword? and kneel on the spot to recover, watching as the knights formed a defensive line in front of Aria.
“We’ll protect the princess with our lives!”
The Leviathan General’s ?Guard Break? attack crashed down on the frontline, Team C. Though the damage was halved by two skills, it was still a skill meant to break defenses. The four knights couldn’t fully absorb the impact and were sent flying, tumbling across the ground.
Team B tried to stop the Leviathan General next, charging at it with their shields.
The serpent merely glanced at them, then activated ?Dual Nail?, the sword glowing a pale green as it slashed twice, sending the knights flying, shields and all.
This is bad.
Dealing with a large boss’s techniques, whether deflecting or parrying, requires a high level of skill.
Without proper coordination, recklessly charging in will only get you scattered like this.
The Leviathan General was now almost upon Aria, with only Giorl’s Team A standing in the way.
Sora’s fatigue was gradually decreasing, but it felt agonizingly slow. She desperately wished for an item like those portable energy snacks to recover fatigue instantly. Unfortunately, no such item existed, so all she could do was wait.
Hurry, hurry!
Suppressing her impatience, Sora offered advice to the knights.
“Other than ?Guard Break? and ?Strike Sword?, stay together and focus on defense!”
Giorl nodded deeply. If it’s a series of strikes, grouping up should make them manageable. They should be able to handle it. But the Leviathan General defied Sora’s expectations and positioned its sword horizontally.
“This is bad, the ?Strike Sword? is coming! Everyone, dodge to the sides!”
Sora shouted, but Giorl and the others didn’t move to evade. Sora instantly realized they were staying put to protect Aria, who was frozen in fear behind them.
“Sora-sama, Lady Aria—”
Giorl’s words were cut off. A massive, sharp thrust enhanced with a blue flash spun violently, and with overwhelming force, it sent Team A’s shields flying.
Giorl, who was at the front protecting the others, had his right arm caught in the thrust, sending him airborne, still clutching his shield.