Chapter 42: Survival By Any Means
As I stared down the towering dragon, I felt more than a bit intimidated. She was covered in a pitch-black aura and her eyes stared at me angrily as a thick tension filled the air between us.
For the first time in a long time, I was seriously at risk of death. I knew there was only one way I could make it out of here alive.
I tensed my legs, flinging myself backwards and away from Tiamat as I raised my palm. [Flash] lit up the shady area, blasting full force into her face.
Simply put: I needed to be a bitch.
In an even fight, I couldn't keep up with her anymore. Her stat boost from [Karma Control] was insane and I knew I couldn't match her anymore.
It had taken all my strength and a tight combination of skills to break through her scales before, but now that her END was boosted to the moon? I doubt I'd be able to break through again.
I also didn't know where the [King's Claw] had fallen when she was knocking my body around. I'd lose the rental skills soon, so I couldn't rely on them.
But that didn't mean I was in a disadvantageous situation. Despite her power boost, I reasoned that I had roughly a 50/50 chance of winning the fight or not.
My MP had been drained pretty substantially from healing through her battering me around, but I had also gained a fair bit through my attacks on her, and I was constantly gaining more from [Aura of Devour].
By comparison, Tiamat still had a gaping wound in her chest that was bleeding heavily. She was still moving insanely fast, but it would've been worse if she didn't also have a massive hole in one of her legs.
While I was uninjured, constantly growing stronger, and regenerating my MP, Tiamat was the opposite. She was bleeding out, growing weaker as my [Aura of Devour] sapped at her, and could only expend her own energy.