Leveling up the World

Chapter 957: The Gorgon's Duel

Two more bolts flew past the armadil shield. Despite his best effort, Gem proved incapable of effectively stopping the White Moon’s attacks. Vihrogon had been a lot better at the job, but then again, he had an eternity to learn. The aetherfish, despite putting it all, was merely acting as an additional obstacle. Thankfully, that was all Euryale needed. Twisting her upper body, she let the projectiles avoid her, after which she summoned two crossbows and fired all eight rockets at the deity.

Aware of the Moon’s skills and abilities, the aim wasn’t to hit her outright, but have four pairs of explosions temporarily disrupt her.

“Dark, back!” Euryale ordered.

Attuned to her way of fighting, the green dragon immediately swooped down. Aurun, confident in his own strength, remained where he was, taking on part of the explosion’s force.

AVERAGE WOUND

AURUN’s health has been reduced by 10%

Having the ability to heal, the massive creature snorted as if to himself.

A bolt that flew through the balls of fire quickly made him reconsider.

MAJOR WOUND

AURUN’s health has been reduced by 50%

With a roar, the dragon let out a torrent of fire, then flapped its wings, effectively retreating from the scene.

“Idiot,” Eury said beneath her breath. The so-called-great imperial dragon was just like its owner: arrogant, overconfident, yet surprisingly prone to unforced mistakes. It was almost as if he had something to prove by taking as much abuse as possible on the battlefield.

Magic symbols appeared on Dark’s scales, causing dozens of illusory copies of him and the gorgon to emerge, all flying off in different directions.

“Dive into the shardflies,” Euryale ordered. “The Moons won’t fall for tricks.”

As if to confirm her point, two more bolts emerged.

The first was deflected, impressively enough, by Gem. By extending the armadil shield to its limit, the familiar managed to stop one of the projectiles. The other, though, struck the real Dark in the left wing.

MAJOR WOUND

DARK’s health has been reduced by 50%

“Dive now!” Euryale ordered.

Roaring in pain, the dragon did just that, descending beneath the shardfly cover. The creatures, aware that she was the wife of their domain ruler, formed a bubble of space, avoiding the gorgon and her mount.

You okay? A voice asked.

A single red shardfly flew out of the mass of green, landing on Euryale’s shoulder.

“Ruby.” The gorgon instantly recognized it. “You shouldn’t be this close.”

Gleam’s still weak, the shardfly replied. I must lead.

“You shouldn’t be this close to a Moon.”

Barely had she said it when a line attack ripped a section of the shardfly cloud, revealing Emion. The White Moon had switched her dartbow for a pair of gauntlet claws.

“Every pretender gets a chance,” the Moon said. “If Tiallia had chosen the other side of the continent, you’d have been leading the party and Dal would have been your subordinate.”

“I don’t have magic.” Two blades emerged from Euryale’s own gauntlets.

“Not every pretender has the magic trait. Besides, you’d have had Dal and everyone with him,” the Moon continued. “You could have taken Priscord, possibly with some support. That would have provided you with enough Moonstones to get Simon to approach. After that…” Emion looked around. “You know the rest.”

“Ruby,” Euryale whispered. “Fly away.”

The shardfly, which had used its natural illusion to grow three times its standard size, started shrinking again. Having lived with Euryale and Dallion for a while back in Nerosal, it could tell when she was dead serious.

Gradually shrinking to his usual size, Ruby flew off. A large part of the shardflies in the area followed him, increasing the empty space within the cloud.

“One attack,” the White Moon said. “Your move. That’s all the advantage I could allow.”

It was a tempting offer, almost too good to be true. The difference in strength was obvious, but if Euryale managed to succeed, she’d reduce the number of Moons by one. Not that that was the most important, though. Doing this increased Dallion’s chances of survival. Jeremy’s plan left a lot to be desired, but he was right—they had a greater chance of defeating the Blue Moon than all the rest. With luck, that would prove enough to complete the challenge.

A mountain slowly rose up from below. Reaching ten feet beneath Dark’s current location, it stopped. The offer was clear—the challenge was meant for the gorgon alone, not friends, allies, or Dallion’s familiars.

“Lux, Gem, go back to Dal,” she said.

No, big sis! The firebird chirped. We’ll help.

“I know you want to, but there’s nothing you can do. The same goes for you too, Dark.”

“You can use a dragon,” the White Moon said. “Being unable to fly is too much a disadvantage.”

“Why the mountain, then?”

“You won’t use this dragon,” the deity clarified. “In a few seconds, the fast one will appear. Your husband has started his fight with Astreza, so he sent the fast one to assist.”

Euryale shook her head.

“Sweet.” The snakes on Emion’s head swirled. “But also fragile. I see why you stuck with him.”

The green dragon let out a low growl, but allowed the gorgon to jump off of it onto the mountaintop. The surface was absolutely level, and almost as smooth as a floor.

“Get out of here, kid.” Eury patted the large creature.

Things will be fine, right? Dark asked.

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Eury only smiled.

In the distance, another explosion took place. Apparently, Dallion and Jeremy had also resorted to using rockets in battle. It was unlikely that it provided as large an advantage as they hoped, but there was always a chance it did.

Dark looked at the White Moon, then back at Eury. The usually talkative creature had nothing to say either, so it flapped its wings, quickly disappearing into the surrounding swarm of shardflies.

“Does it matter?” Euryale asked, watching the dragon vanish. “Does it matter who reaches the awakening gate?”

“Everything matters until it doesn’t,” the White Moon replied. “There’s always a benefit to your champion crossing the finish line.”

A series of lightning flashes emerged in the sky, constantly moving closer until it finally stopped in the oasis of space among the shardflies.

You can see the future, Euryale thought.

“And you can try to defy my expectations,” the White Moon countered. “Facing us was never meant to be easy.”

No, nothing was meant to be easy, although some people made it appear to be.

“Aquilequia, be my wings.”

Why should I? the orange dragon instinctively asked. She remained rebellious, as well as eager and frightened at the same time.

Flapping her wings demonstratively, she puffed up her chest, then slowly flew towards the gorgon. Once she reached fifty feet, Aquilequia vanished in an orange flash, reappearing moments later as a pair of orange wings on Euryale’s armor.

“Win or lose, you’ll let her go,” Euryale demanded, rising into the air. “I’m the one fighting.”

“For a while,” the White Moon replied. “She’s still Dal’s familiar.”

That was a fair point. Euryale nodded, concentrating on the other’s motions.

All the snakes on her head, along with the eyes on her face, followed every minute movement, using it to build up outcomes in her mind. Emion was likely doing the same, with the difference that she could also predict the future. The latter was unlikely, though—there was no challenge in winning a fight that was already decided. Even someone with such an overwhelming advantage would want to have a chance of failure. It was the nature of the gorgons.

“If I don’t make it, tell Dallion that he made life worthwhile,” Euryale whispered. “Go.”

Both gorgons darted at each other simultaneously. The space between them filled with hundreds of markers: guard markers, attack markers, acrobatic markers… Neither even considered using magic or music. Neither summoned any additional weapons, estimating the attack of their opponent.

It was said that the first to make a move was the first to lose. Eury had never followed the principle, even back before she had entered the awakened world. Her entire body bent and twisted, leaving echo after images.

Emion met her approach with a spiral strike directly forward. Avoiding it at this speed and distance was going to be difficult, which was why Euryale didn’t even bother, performing a series of point attacks, instead.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by EMION’s.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by EMION’s.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by EMION’s.

Attack has no effect.

Red rectangles stacked up. The gorgon didn’t slow down. Each of her attacks was individually weaker, yet in world or realm, there was no such thing as a wasted attack. Like a drop of water wearing away a block of marble, the strikes continued until a different rectangle emerged.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by EMION’s.

Attack has no effect.

A single hole had formed in the middle of the spiral attack, allowing Euryale to fly through unscathed. The two were twenty feet from each other now.

Sun Gold tendrils shot out of the gorgon’s armor. Only to be consistently sliced off by a series of slashing attacks.

Euryale spun around in dance-like fashion, aiming to strike the deity with a one-eighty kick.

AVERAGE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 10%

A red rectangle emerged as the gorgon’s leg struck the claw gauntlet of the deity.

MINOR STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 10%

MINOR STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 10%

MINOR STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 10%

Three new red rectangles followed as the armor of Euryale’s leg extended, piercing the Moon’s right arm.

“Got you,” Euryale whispered, mentally laughing at her comment. She’d definitely been spending too much time with Dallion.

The armor covering her right arm transformed into a massive blade. She immediately swung in an attack that caught the deity by surprise. The target wasn’t Emion, but the gorgon’s own leg, severing it from the knee down.

MODERATE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 20%

The experience was painful, but allowed her to regain her freedom of movement. A multi-attack followed, causing dozens of more rectangles to fill the air.

There was no way to tell how much the remaining health of the Moon was, but there was no denying that it was continuously decreasing.

After a tenth of a second the Moon was able to react, blocking the strikes, while also engaging with several of her own.

Without warning, the attacks on both sides turned into line strikes, cutting into the mass of shardflies around their combat area.

“It’s over.” The White Moon’s palm touched Euryale’s stomach.

TERMINAL WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 100%

A point attack drilled through the gorgon’s armor, sending chunks of her flying out. There was no surviving this.

“I know…” the gorgon managed to say.

While lethal, the final attack had made the Moon vulnerable, allowing for Euryale to use her armor to drill spikes of sun gold through her enemy. There was no way the deity hadn’t foreseen this, and that was exactly what made it worth the risk—the uncertainty of whether the single blow would manage to kill without response or not. Now, both had their answer.

The aria on Euryale’s arm glowed. Thousands of thoughts and memories went through her mind in the last instants she had. There was a lot she wished she could have said to Dallion, yet not for a single moment did she feel pity or regret. She had gone through life achieving her goals, which was what any gorgon could hope for. The only thing left was to cherish the journey.

A blue rectangle emerged, displaying the achievement of defeating a Moon. For the first time in her life, Euryale found she didn’t have the perception necessary to read the full text.

Elsewhere in the battle area a blue rectangle emerged.

EURYALE has left your party.