CH 206

Did I make it?

I think as my body staggers and I unconsciously put my hand on a wall.

I take a mana potion from my pouch, drink it in one gulp, and throw a magic energy infused knife at the confused cockatrice.

I thought it hadn’t noticed me yet, but it senses danger and immediately tries to dodge, and the knife explodes before it can.

After the blast, I see the cockatrice standing unharmed. Maybe it was because magic energy is being jammed, but it looks like I screwed up the timing.

One thing I did manage to do, was make it so I’m now its target, so it actually worked out fine.

I slowly walk and close the distance between us, and try to gesture for the others to get away. Can they see me?

Leila and the others are behind the monster, so I can’t attack carelessly. I need them to get away as quickly as possible.

I don’t know if the monster can tell what’s going on, but it tries to threaten me without moving from that spot. If I move left and right, it shifts its body just a little to follow me, without any major movements.

All I know about cockatrices is that they attack with their breath to petrify.

What other attacks do they have? Do they attack with their beaks, talons, by tackling, and nothing more? I can picture them doing those sorts of normal attacks, but not much else.

I don’t know, so I can’t just jump in either.

Leila and the others are stepping away slowly.

Luilui has a bow drawn, but she’s not going to attack unless the monster turns its attention that way.

The moment I take my eyes off the cockatrice to see where the others are, it moves.

It flaps its wings and actually flies. It flies over to my side, and I swing my sword when I feel like I can hit it.

But it looks like it saw that coming, and it glides and tries to tackle me.

I avoid a direct hit by using my sword as a shield, but my feet aren’t on the ground, so the impact sends me flying back.

Still, I somehow manage to land on my feet, and now we’re where the other was before.

The cockatrice turns around, and looks like it’s laughing.

It opens its beak widely, and starts getting ready to fire its breath.

It looks like it doesn’t understand why its breath didn’t work before, but wanted to change positions so it will hit the others if I dodge.

It would be pretty hard to make a barrier wide enough with the MP I have right now. It might actually be better to just make a wall with Earth Magic, but there’s not enough time. Normally it would activate immediately, but not on this floor.

Then there’s only one thing I can do. Get close and stop the breath from spreading.

Cockatrice’s breath doesn’t just petrify people, it also works on their equipment. It doesn’t work as well, but the more the equipment is exposed to it, the less it can resist it until it breaks.

Do I have anything to block it? I think I do.

One of my options is magic energy coating. I can use the general idea of making magic energy flow into weapons to envelop my clothes. I won’t work forever, but it should hold for a short time. And unlike something like Fire Arrow, I can activate it relatively quickly.

I get close, and the cockatrice looks at me like prey that fell into its trap, as it fires its breath.

It hits me directly, but strangely enough, it doesn’t hurt at all. It looks like its effect as a physical attack is low, and it doesn’t carry a lot of wind pressure either.

And so, I manage to advance despite the breath, and push aside the breath to move right in front of the cockatrice.

Our eyes meet for a second, and it looks surprised. I don’t believe it! It can’t be! It’s like I can hear it thinking that.

But that doesn’t matter, and I hold up my sword and use Sword Rush.

I don’t feel any resistance on my sword as it slices the cockatrice’s neck.

My attacks worked so well that it ends up feeling anticlimactic. Was it so confident in its breath attack that it neglected its defense?

Its head falls to the ground, followed shortly by the body that held it.

I see that, and fall to my hands and knees.

My body feels heavy as a side effect of running out of magic energy. I feel something like a confusion inside my body that I’ve never felt before.

“A-are you all right!?”

I look up, and see Leila running this way. What about you? Your footing looks off, and dangerous.

Luilui is next to her, looking anxious. I feel like if Leila did fall, she’d immediately catch her.

“I’m just feeling a little, well, a lot sick.”

I say how I actually feel, and see an expression on her face that I can’t describe. Is she about to cry? Is she worried? Astonished? Confused? It’s like a whirlwind of emotions.

“How come you’re here, Sora?”

Luilui asks instead of Leila.

I take a deep breath, and look at the way I came from to explain.

That reminds me that Hikari and the others are still fighting. I try to get up, but I can’t.

“D-don’t push yourself. You’re looking very unwell.”

I guess I look more worn out than I thought. Even someone looking from the side can tell.

“Hikari and the others are probably still fighting. They stayed back so I could run ahead.”

Leila is taken aback after hearing that, but she just bites her lip in frustration.

“Luilui, can I ask you to do something?”

She asks while bowing to her.

“It’s all right big sister. I’ll run back if it’s dangerous. Can Anne call Talia and the others?”

And then, they run in different directions.

I’ll have to leave the rest to them for now.

All I can do is compose my breathing, and wait for my MP to recover with the help of Natural Recovery Boost.