Reincarnated as a Dragon's Egg
Chapter 425: Combination Attack (side: Thermal)

I chase the fleeing red-eyed girl and the masked spider carrying Miria. I draw out a map of the castle in my mind, with an aim to use my terrain advantage and narrow down their possible routes.

Perhaps extrapolating from my attempts to corral them, they occasionally make strange turns in an attempt to throw me off. But, having no way to know the layout of the castle, their haphazard movements do more to hinder than help them. For a moment, the possibility that they’re intentionally leading me somewhere crosses my mind, but that’s not possible. This is their first time in the castle.

It would be possible for Irushia to be communicating with his allies by some skill or other, but he should be locked in battle with Rogueheil currently. Volk and the magiatite heart are fighting Mephisto. The only one I can think of that remains is the Saint, but it’s hard to imagine that she would throw away her concealment just to dispose of me.

It's no more than vain struggling based on guesses from my movements. Anything else is unthinkable.

Within a short span of time, I catch up to them. The passage ahead leads only to a private room, and there’s no proceeding beyond that. It’s a dead end.

“It's unfortunate for you. You should give up. It’s impossible for you to get away from me. Though if your objective was to draw me away and die, then you’ve already accomplished your duty.”

If I gave them time, they’d escape through a window, or tear out the ceiling or floor to escape. The ideal is to defeat them here, without giving a chance to escape. With my physical abilities, that should be easily doable.

Closing the distance to me, the red-eyed girl steps forward to protect the masked spider.

“[Clay]!”

A lump of earth shoots toward me.

An attack with earth is only the first step. She plans on manipulating the earth with other skills.

“Give it up, I’ve already seen your attack pattern.”

I stoop low and raise my speed, dodging the under the lump of earth. Immediately, I then close the distance. I’ve entered range. Now that I’ve gotten this close, my speed advantage is insurmountable. I touch a hand to the red-eyed girl’s face.

“This is the end. [Poison touch]!”

I feel a response. I might have killed her, but there’s no helping it. Making absolutely certain she can’t move is most important. This red-eyed girl is more dangerous than I had thought.

But, she immediately stands up tall. It’s almost as though the damage didn’t go through.

“H-haah!?”

That’s impossible, my level and stats are far above hers. Suddenly, the complete failure of the pointblank [Sleepis] crosses my mind. The only possibility I can think of is that she has a complete immunity to status conditions.

“Undead…! There was no blood because it was a revaana’s temporary body!” 

Just once before, I have laid eyes on a revaana-type undead. The undead I saw that time was like a shambling mound of earth, but a revaana of the lich class could have a body even more beautiful than a real human.

The cost of my mistake is a single heavy blow. While I was still under the assumption I had won, she grotesquely grew her arm and swung it toward me viciously. Her claw gouges out a section my abdomen from the left.

“Don’t fuck with me…!”

This level of attack won’t deal much damage to me. But her being an undead and having complete immunity to status conditions is unexpected. Most of my skills are devoted to status conditions. All that really remains is [Tentacle Whip].

“Drop dead this time!”

I bend my arm, swinging it down forcefully. As my [Tentacle Whip] flashes, the red-eyed girl dodges backwards with an unbelievably smooth movement. My [Tentacle Whip] smashes into the ground, causing cracks to appear and the surroundings to shake.

The red-eyed girl’s movement was from the masked spider’s thread. It pulled her back to its side.

“Nothing but restless movement and cheap tricks…”

I quickly give chase and swing my arm up. As long as my aim is true, [Tentacle Whip] can hit even at this distance.

“[Fog of the Dead]!”

The narrow passage fills with grey fog. Another cheap trick. Irritated, I swing my arm down. I had intended to aim at their presence, but because of the distance, it doesn’t hit. With visibility this poor, even mid-range attacks are hard to hit with.

I close my eyes and focus on my senses. Even in this thick fog, sounds can be picked up on. I won’t let them get away.

I hear steps, and swing my [Tentacle Whip] to the side. It hits dead-centre, and pulverises through her. For a moment, I feel certain of my victory, but soon realise that it was no more than an earth puppet made to distract me. They’re stalling for time.

“Give it up already!”

I swing my [Tentacle Whip] vertically and horizontally. I destroy the walls and floor, but not once do I feel the sensation of hitting them. As my irritation grows, I finally hear them.

Looking towards the sound, I see the silhouettes of the spider and the red-eyed undead jumping into a crack that I made. They plan on escaping to the floor below under the cover of the fog. There are no other signs. I'm confident that it’s really them this time. If they go to floor below, this fog will clear up.

Her MP can’t last much longer either. If she uses more of it to extend this fog, then that’s fine. She’ll use up her MP and gradually run out.

I jump into the crack after them. A little fog has leaked into the floor below, but it’s almost nothing. The visibility is no worse than normal.

I search around as I fall to the floor below, but don’t see any of them. Another feint? But that shouldn’t be…

Suddenly, my foot catches in something. It’s the masked spider’s thread. I flip around midair, my foot yanked above my head.

“Guh…!”

Even though there’s no force on the thread itself, it still has a massive effect while I’m immobile in the air. I bend my body to try and cut the thread, but as I'm reaching up, I lay eyes on them.

The red-eyed undead, the masked spider, and Miria are stuck to the ceiling. They must be using the masked spider's thread.

“…[Clay], [Clay], [Clay].”

The red-eyed undead stacks up earth magic, growing a sphere of earth in her hand. But what does she plan on doing after making it that big? As I'm wondering, she pulls her hand away. The huge lump of earth rushes towards me, drawing a curve through the air. From a glimmer behind it, I’m able to make a thread attached to it.

They’re using thread to swing it towards me like a pendulum. My posture still broken in the air, the lump of earth obeys gravity and rushes towards me. These two, they’re not only making good use of their skills, but also the terrain inside this castle.

“Sh-shit, you!”

I swing a [Tentacle Whip] to cut the thread attached to the ball of earth. But the released ball of earth doesn’t stop. Without deviating from its trajectory, it accelerates under gravity and falls towards me.