Chapter 54 – I Still Remember

「Alright, let's do this.」

I started walking toward the『Heaven-Rending Lightning Dragon』. The trees in the area have been burned to the ground by lightning and reduced to ashes. It would be difficult to dodge its attacks if there were still trees around so this is actually advantageous to me.

Then the dragon let out a deafening cry. A familiar one. We had Heaven-Rending Lightning Dragons in BBO, after all. Afterward…

「I knew it.」I murmured, head turned toward the sky.

Above was a tiny rain cloud. The cry just now was a sign for one of its Skills,『Divine Lightning』.

Divine Lightning has a small AoE, but it's powerful enough that some light defense won't be able to handle one attack. Death will be inevitable. But it's easy to dodge since you'd know where lightning will strike just by looking above.

「Whoops.」

As soon as I rushed to step away from under the cloud, lightning struck and the ground burned red, wisps of smoke rising into the air.

「…If that hit me, I'd be dead.」

Magic Anti-Electric won't be able to withstand an attack that powerful. Not just the Divine Lightning, either. All of the dragon's Skills have enough power to kill me in one shot.

Fortunately, the monster doesn't have wide AoE Skills. As long as it doesn't perceive me as an enemy, it won't follow-up with a different Skill as well.

If I can dodge its attacks properly, I can get close without a scratch. Its powerful Skills don't matter if they don't hit.

As I was inching closer, it let out a shrill cry once more. Again, a familiar sound. A sign of the Skill『Lightning Current』.

「So that's next, huh? It's been a while. Let's try this.」I muttered to myself as I kept on dashing toward the dragon, not stopping.

Then it swung its head downward toward the ground. The next moment, with a booming roar, countless lightning currents ran across the ground. They were fast – too fast for the eye to follow – and seemed to move at random. There's no way I could dodge them. However…

「…I guess the body still remembers.」I whispered to myself as I took quick steps as if dancing, and dodged them all.

I didn't see currents, for the record. I just remembered the pattern and moved accordingly. In BBO, I died several times just to memorize the steps. And once I've memorized them, I still died hundreds of times.

The Heaven-Rending Lightning Dragon was a boss that dropped a great item. So I killed tens of thousands of them in BBO.

My body has remembered the pattern of the currents from fighting the same enemy for tens of thousands of times. Once memorized, dodging them is just a walk in the park.

Then again, I'm putting my life at stake right now so it's actually frightening. Unlike in BBO, if I die here, there's no respawning.

As I was carefully advancing, the dragon cried once again. A cry I didn't want to hear the most.

With its screech, dust began to swirl to the air. My vision impeded by a sandstorm, I couldn't see past a few meters.

『Static Storm.』

A Skill that summons a sandstorm to rob vision.

Now I won't be able to see the enemy. It doesn't affect the dragon since it just fires at random anyway. So I'll have to dodge the incoming attacks with only extremely limited vision.

「It's okay. This is a piece of cake.」I told myself and trotted forward.

The Static Storm is also one of the Dragon's Skills in BBO. Even if you can't see, you can still dodge attacks if you stay calm and move accordingly. What I need to do is just the same as collecting materials which I've done tens of thousands of times.

This is not a game. My life is at stake here. Which is why I have to move like I'm just looting materials. If my movement dulled because of fear, I'll surely die. I've made it this close. There's no turning back now.

Once again, the dragon screamed.

It's the Skill Electric Current.

The monster was hidden from view by the sandstorm. Just from the sounds of its cry, I guessed its location, the direction it was facing, and gauged the proper timing of my next move.

Then with quick, deft steps that I've repeated tens of thousands of times, I dodged the dragon's Skill. Gradually, the sound of the electric currents running through the ground became distant. I did it.

「Good. I still remember.」

I sprinted toward the creature once more. In BBO, the average interval between its attacks is 12.6 seconds. There's only one way to go with this. And that's to do what I've done tens of thousands of times before.