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 68

Chapter 68: Decisive Battle in the Spirit Forest (Part 1)

 

According to Shio, ?Leviathan?’s main body has become significantly faster in its attacks compared to the second phase.

 

On top of that, the ?Provocation? skill that had worked so far no longer has any effect, and tactics involving T-Shift, which were effective in the final stages against the Leviathan Generals, no longer work.

 

Given this, Sora and the others were left with only one option.

 

In response to the enemy’s attacks, the knight squad, fully equipped with Sora’s defensive enhancement skills, would block with their shields, while Sora and the other main attackers would strike back.

 

It was a simple strategy.

 

“Haah!”

 

As the knight squad blocked a sweeping claw attack, Sora and the others dashed past, unleashing single-hit attack skills.

 

Their weapons glowed with a blue light.

 

The most powerful single-hit attack in ?Astral Online?, and a favorite of all players, was the ultimate thrust technique.

 

This technique was known as the ?Strike Sword? skill.

 

Since Shin wielded a spear, he used a different skill, the charging attack ?Charge Lance?.

 

The powerful blows delivered by the six players pierced what appeared to be ?Leviathan?’s chest, reducing its HP by 20%.

 

Seeing this, the other adventurers exclaimed in surprise, ?It’s decreased so much!?, ?No way!??, and ?What kind of attack power would cause that much damage?!?

 

But internally, Sora was breaking out in a cold sweat.

 

Because…

 

“Even though I’ve allocated almost all of my enhancement skills to offense, we only managed to take off that much? Is that thing really level 60?”

 

Currently, Sora had one slot assigned to ?Wind Attribute Enchantment II?, with the remaining 14 slots all dedicated to ?Attack Power Boost Enchantment II?.

 

To put it simply, Sora’s basic attack power was equivalent to that of three players. With the attribute advantage, this power doubled, making it strong enough to single-handedly reduce a Leviathan General’s HP by more than half.

 

And yet, with six of them attacking together, they only managed to reduce ?Leviathan?’s HP by 20%.

 

When considering the enemy’s overall HP and high defense, Sora couldn’t shake the feeling that defeating this opponent with straightforward methods might take more than half a day.

 

“But it should be possible…”

 

Shio replied to Sora’s muttered thoughts with a wry smile.

 

“It’s possible that it’s been scaled up to match your strength, Sora.”

 

“The principle where the stage difficulty scales according to the highest-level player, right?”

 

“You guys seem to have forgotten, but the recommended level for this event is 80, you know?”

 

Not a single adventurer present had reached that number.

 

Even Sora, the highest level among them, was only level 33.

 

Given the recommended level, it made sense that the enemy’s stats would be absurdly high…

 

“Here comes a tackle! Everyone, dodge!”

 

At Shino’s shout, everyone jumped to the side with time to spare.

 

Among them, Shino was the only one to dodge at the very last moment.

 

“Hmph, the stronger the enemy, the more it fires me up!”

 

Barely dodging the charging attack, Shino unleashed her ?Dual Nail? skill as she passed by.

 

Spinning rapidly, she struck ?Leviathan?’s left foreleg twice.

 

“Gwoooaaarrr!”

 

Just before she made it through, ?Leviathan?’s tail lashed out in a counterattack.

 

This was an attack not recorded in the data.

 

Realizing she couldn’t dodge in time, Shino decided it was impossible to avoid. She quickly raised her shield in a defensive stance against the tail strike, but Kuro intervened just in time.

 

“Haaah!”

 

The skill Kuro chose was the charging attack ?Sonic Sword II?.

 

However, this wasn’t just an ordinary ?Sonic Sword?.

 

Thanks to the benefit of the ?Wind Attribute Boost EX?, her skill, now strengthened to ?Aerial Sonic Sword?, successfully cut through the giant serpent’s tail, something that would normally require a shield to block.

 

“Grrruooah!”

 

?Leviathan?, now facing the opposite direction, roared and immediately launched a rocket-like charging attack aimed at Kuro and Shino with no warning.

 

At that moment, Aria and the golem intervened, stopping ?Leviathan?’s charge with both hands. Though it didn’t take damage, the golem managed to slam it down with their right fist, causing it to flinch.

 

Sora smiled and dashed forward.

 

“As expected of a level 100 golem!”

 

Sora, Shio, Shin, and Rou moved quickly, exploiting ?Leviathan?’s brief delay to strike its unguarded side with piercing skills.

 

This reduced its HP by another 20%.

 

Now only about 60% of its HP remained.

 

The enraged giant serpent leaped high, putting some distance between itself and Sora’s group.

 

As if the recast time for its two previous attacks had ended, ?Leviathan? spread its wings and emitted a dazzling light.

 

“This is bad. It’s going to use its breath attack again!”

 

“Not if I can help it!”

 

At Rou’s shout, Shin sprang into action, consuming 200 MP to cast a spell, generating four wind spears ?Wind Lance? around them.

 

?Leviathan?, spewing lightning from its mouth, braced its forelegs to avoid being blown away and opened its mouth wide—

 

Just then, Shin’s four “Wind Lances” struck simultaneously.

 

?Leviathan?, which had been about to use its ?Breath of Light?, had its mouth explode, reducing its HP to just 40%.

 

Seeing the HP drop below half, ?Leviathan? seemed to unleash its true power, growing four additional wings for a total of six.

 

Its scales transformed into an armor-like form, and its level indicator, visible with ?Insight? skill, surged from 60 to 100.

 

“Is this a joke!?”

 

“Ahh!?”

 

?Leviathan? flapped its six wings forcefully, creating a fierce wind that blew away all the lightly armored adventurers nearby.

 

Additionally, with its level increase, ?Leviathan?’s attack power rose even further.

 

Attacks that were previously blockable with shields now overwhelmed the knight squad, sending them all flying backward.

 

With the situation becoming dire, targeting the enemy’s delays with shields became extremely challenging.

 

However, defending against the enemy’s attacks wasn’t solely the role of the shields.

 

Sora looked at everyone and said:

 

“We’re almost there. Kuro and I will finish it off.”

 

“Okay!”

 

The two of them, armed with swords, dashed forward, with the other four running alongside them.

 

“The highest damage output is from big brother and Kuro, so leave neutralizing the enemy’s skills to us.”

 

“Supporting two angels is quite exciting in its own way.”

 

“Since it’s likely we’ll be overwhelmed alone, let’s go in pairs.”

 

“In that case, the best pairs would be me and Shio, and Shin and Rou.”

 

?Leviathan? glared at the approaching Sora and the others, lifting its massive body and sweeping its right hand from left to right.

 

The first to respond were Shin and Rou, who had been paired up earlier.

 

They synchronized their movements to launch their piercing skills, targeting the side rather than the front, altering the path of their arms.

 

“No matter how powerful and fast it is, targeting the unguarded side makes changing its direction possible for anyone.”

 

“That’s a basic principle in VR games.”

 

Still, deflecting a boss monster’s high-power and high-speed attack with skills wasn’t something the two could manage without consequences.

 

They were momentarily immobilized by the recoil.

 

However, the enemy quickly recovered from the delay, retreating and generating a swirling purple effect from its mouth to keep them at bay.

 

That’s ?Venom Breath?, which inflicts damage and severe poison on targets in front.

 

Having read the prelude to ?Leviathan?’s attack, Shino opened the menu and changed her weapons.

 

Summoning two swords, she instructed Shio:

 

“I’ll handle the breath attack for a moment. In that gap, Shio, close its mouth.”

 

“Got it.”

 

As the serpent completed its preparatory movements, it released a massive cloud of poison.

 

With both hands on her sword at her right hip, Shino waited for the right moment to draw her blade.

 

Activating the initial katana skill ?Iai-jutsu?, the blade imbued with ?Wind Attribute Enchantment II? momentarily sliced through the poisonous breath.

 

However, ?Leviathan?’s ongoing breath attack did not lose its momentum even after being sliced.

 

As Shino watched the advancing poison, she immediately grasped the other sword and continued with another draw.

 

The subsequent ?Iai-jutsu? attacks from both swords briefly cleared a path through the serpent’s breath.

 

Seeing this, Shio activated ?Sonic Sword II? and dashed through the opening, smoothly transitioning into ?Strike Sword II?.

 

Soaring like a single arrow, Shio forced the giant serpent’s armor-like jaw shut with a piercing skill from below.

 

Purple smoke billowed out from the edges of ?Leviathan?’s mouth.

 

Wow, what a powerful move…

 

Seeing this scene, Sora felt an impulse to internally comment that it shouldn’t be possible, though he was also slightly amazed by the girls’ extraordinary power play.

 

“Big brother, please take it from here!”

 

“Go, both of you!”

 

After hitting the hard part, Shio was momentarily stunned by the recoil.

 

As she fell, Shino quickly picked her up and they immediately withdrew from the battlefield.

 

Nodding back at the two, Sora readied his sword.

 

He switched his skill setup from attack-focused to a configuration with seven elemental attributes and increased attack power.

 

What was needed this time wasn’t just the image of seven different attributes coming together.

 

It was the imagination of pouring all his power into this sword.

 

“Sora!”

 

“?!”

 

I came to my senses upon hearing Kuro’s shout.

 

The six wings of the enemy were glowing brilliantly.

 

As Sora confirmed the effect of lightning bolts erupting from the newly opened mouth, and an extremely powerful breath attack—

 

The ?Envy of Catastrophe? was unleashed at exactly the same time.