Reincarnated as a Dragon's Egg - Chapter 748: Absolute Strongest

I fly in a circle around Baal, carefully observing him.

His six red eyes revolve in their sockets, restlessly peering around. His field of vision is too wide.

It might have been true that he allowed me to get the first hit. Catching him by surprise seems near impossible.

A lot of his skills are ones I recognise.

[Eclipse] was used by Miia. It covers the user in dark power, and shoots high firepower beams in every direction.

It’s dangerous, but the MP cost is high. As long as I can keep my distance, I should be able to outlast it. It’s quite likely that he’ll never use it, but if he does, I know how to react.

[Twilight Thread] and [Tongue of the Water God] are new to me, but I can guess their effects from the names. They’re probably powerful attacks that utilise thread or tongues.

…But, what’s most concerning are the last three normal skills.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

[Tail Whip of the War God: Lv-] [Feline Alibi: Lv-] [Choice of the Quantum Cat: Lv-]

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Spider thread and toad tongues are dangerous, but with such ominous skill names, it might be the cat head that I have to most watch out for.

『Are you not coming, child dragon? Am I too fearsome for you?』

Baal grins scornfully.

『…You seem to be taking this easy. Isn’t a [Spirit Servant] supposed to do everything they can to carry out their mission?』

[Spirit Servants] are incapable of cutting corners with regards to their mission, and if their personality would get in the way, they’re reduced to mindless puppets. I’ve learnt the rules by which they operate from all the [Spirit Servants] I’ve fought before. But Baal seems like an exception.

『Of course. But I have no need for my full strength to crush you. I know this, God’s Voice knows this, Laplace knows this, the world knows this!』

A huge dark magic circle appears with Baal in the centre.

『If you won’t come, then I shall begin!』

Black light spreads out, and my body is pulled downwards by a strong force. He’s using [Gravity]!

His magic stat of 10500 isn’t for nothing. Of all the times I have seen [Gravity] used before, this is by far the widest area of effect, and the strongest force. One way to fight [Gravity] is to use [Gravity] myself so that both of our movements are slowed, but against Baal it’s clear I’d lose if I were to copy him. He’s strong enough that he could shake off my [Gravity] without issue.

Dragged down, I kick off the ground to throw myself outside the range of the [Gravity].

Baal charges forwards to chase me. A simple charge with such monstrously high stats is a threat on its own, but the cat and toad heads are also preparing magic.

『[Cocytus]!』

It’s my skill that summons the ice of hell capable of freezing all things. A wall of ice rises out of a magic circle between us.

『Mu…』

Baal slows down. He must have realised that charging into it would have ended badly for him.

[Cocytus] makes for an excellent barrier. Not only can it hold the enemy in place by freezing them, it can produce a solid wall to control the battlefield. Even Ares’s power as a taotie wasn’t enough to easily break the ice.

It excels at both offence and defence, and among all the outstanding skills I gained as an apocalypse, it would be no exaggeration to call it the most powerful.

The two magic circles in front of Baal’s heads transform into a huge sphere of fire and a huge sphere of water. The spheres are so large that for a moment I don’t understand what I’m seeing, but their size is the effect of Baal’s massive magic stat on his [Fire Sphere] and [Aqua Sphere] skills.

The two spheres shoot towards the [Cocytus] ice wall. They hit at the same time, appearing to combine together for a moment before rapidly expanding.

I gasp. The water is being vaporised, its volume increasing a thousandfold in a massive steam explosion.

With a crash, a blast wave rolls over the area. A shock runs through my body. It feels like my insides are vibrating.

In the moment that my body stiffens, something sharp stabs into me. It’s a fragment of my [Cocytus].

Baal’s skill combo blasted apart my [Cocytus] wall!

“OOOOOOOOOOOh!”

Lunging through the blast, Baal appears in front of me. He slams into me with his entire body weight.

Even though I was able to guard with a foreleg, I can feel my ribs breaking as I’m knocked flying backwards.

My vision goes black for a moment. The power of even a single hit is too much for me to handle. I clench my teeth to keep myself conscious, and try to fire a [Dimension Claw] behind me to ward off a pursuit.

But I can’t swing my foreleg.

“GuoOOOOOh!”

A tongue is wrapped around it.

The toad got me…!

A cross-shaped slash cuts my abdomen. Baal must have followed up with [Severing Thread]. My abdomen feels warm. I can tell that I’m bleeding heavily.

I try to tear through the tongue with my other foreleg, but it quickly retracts. It doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to catch it. But I’ve managed to escape from the restraint.

I quickly curl my body and roll away at high speed. Baal’s [Dimension Claw] carves through the ground behind me.

If I was a moment slower, that would have killed me. Using [Autoregeneration], I slam my tail into the ground to jump into the air, transitioning to flight.

This guy is seriously strong. He’s fast, his attacks come in rapid succession, and each attack has the power to potentially kill me.

It’s no wonder he’s the strongest in history. I don’t have the time to slowly figure out how he fights and learn his skills.

In my previous fights, I discovered just how well-suited my stats and skills as an apocalypse are for fighting. Even against the taotie Ares, it felt like I was the powerful species. But against Baal, even considering the difference in levels, it feels like his species is far stronger than mine. There are no weaknesses for me to exploit in his stats or skills.

『Oh? This toy is surprisingly sturdy. This is a valuable diversion.』

『You pest on the leash of God’s Voice!』

『What’s wrong with that? By becoming a [Spirit Servant] of God’s Voice, I have escaped the bounds of time and space, allowing me to reign forever as the absolute strongest. As my defeat is impossible, I shall last for eternity!』

Three magic circles appear in front of Baal. Red, black, and blue. They transform into fire, dark, and water spheres.

Triplicate magic… He plans on testing me again.

I catch my breath.

I can’t fall behind. If I focus on defence, I’ll be crushed. No matter how dangerous it is, I need to keep pressing the attack.

Despite the difference in stats, there’s no way an attack from another Upper Legendary won’t hurt him. My attack power as an apocalypse is plenty high. If I attack hard enough, I should be able to kill even Baal.

『You seem to be obsessed with being the strongest, but don’t forget, human faced-spider.』

『What?』

『It was because you had no potential as a vessel for the sixth divine skill that you were given up on and made into a [Spirit Servant] incapable of growth.』

No matter how strong he is, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s an obstacle that God’s Voice put in front of me to be overcome.

『Everyone has their own talents. Yours seems not to be fighting, so is your talent riling your opponent?』

The six red eyes glare at me.

『Get out of my way, you relic of the past. I’m not a loser like you. I’m going to bring down God’s Voice!』

『You fool! It’s impossible to fight this world’s system itself!』

Baal howls. Because his mind still remains, my provocation is working.

But even to this prideful strongest Demon Lord in history, God’s Voice isn’t seen as something that can be fought…

Baal’s three magic spheres shoot towards me. Aiming for a gap between them, I dive towards Baal.

As I dive, I attack with [Dimension Claw], but our claws clash against each other between us. It seems our [Dimension Claws] cancelled each other out.

I’ve no choice but to go all-in at point blank range. Otherwise, there’s no way for me to deal damage to him.

Moreover, I have that skill.

【Characteristic Skill [Butterfly Dream]】

【Revival skill that switches dream for reality.】

【When the user’s HP becomes zero, the border between dream and reality becomes blurred.】

【On that occurrence, the user’s death is made into a dream, causing them to revive in perfect condition.】

【This skill disappears once used.】

I didn’t want to use it against a [Spirit Servant], but in a hand-to-hand combat against Baal, [Butterfly Dream] should be quite effective. After all, it effectively doubles my HP and MP.

…However, when I obtained this skill, the letters were strangely garbled. There’s a good chance it’s a trap set by God’s Voice. It would be better if I didn’t have to rely on it, but this battle isn’t one I can hold back on.

『[Dite]!』

The fires of hell shoot towards Baal. He easily dodges them and charges towards me. The ground where he stood erupts in a pillar of flame.

He dodged, but the fires of [Dite] should be effective against him. If he were to now carelessly retreat, he’d fall into those black flames. I’ve limited one of his movement options. This should give me an advantage.

I reach out with my foreleg, ready to tear into Baal with my claws. But suddenly, I feel my foreleg being pulled. The toad’s tongue is wrapped around it again.

It’s the third time now, but I still can’t track the tongue’s motion. It’s ridiculously fast.

『You can’t escape this time, can you? Continuing this torment would be cruel… So I shall end it with this.』

Three magic circles appear in front of Baal’s heads again. He plans on blowing me up with a triple-attribute magic attack while I struggle to escape his tongue.

『Why do you think I want to escape?』

Gripping with my foreleg, I pull the tongue with all my strength. At the same time as I’m propelled forwards, Baal’s body floats up towards me.

I’ve given up on running around. It’s time to commit to a close-range brawl!

Aiming at the approaching toad face, I dive with my forelegs held straight in front of me.

『Cheh…! Idiots are hard to read. I don’t know if you think you’ve outsmarted me, but don’t think such a straightforward strategy will work for long!』

The toad’s head cuts off its tongue and leans back, dodging my forelegs. Using the momentum from my dive, I twist, slamming my tail into the side of the toad’s head.

『I don’t need to keep it up for long! Outsmarting you now is enough!』

A claw mark gouges up through the toad’s face. I followed up with a [Dimension Claw]. The toad’s eyeballs revolve wildly.

AN: [Other Work Information]

The web manga “Hidden Class <Gravity User>”, for which I’m responsible for the original draft and script, has reached the top 20 in the half-year rankings on LINE Manga!

TN: Mangadex link if you want to read it:

https://mangadex.org/title/97cf06a0-1cc7-4c46-be08-daf1b7040178/reborn-ranker-gravity-user