Refusing My God’s Advances

After Scarlet and I finished eating, I stretched a bit after changing into my normal clothing. Part of me had considered trying to use my Character Lottery to get another outfit set, but I decided that I was going to try this fight out as I was.

There were going to be times in the future when I wouldn't be able to back down from things or have the time to look for a solution. I also wanted to work on the strange hidden skill I had that let me gain an upper edge. I hadn't messed with my skills, but I also didn't plan on trying to use any of them on the first try except for my Time Dilation Stance.

"Are you going in now?" Scarlet asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah. I don't expect to win the first time, but we will see," I said, and was about to walk into the cave, but Scarlet grabbed me and pulled me into a kiss.

It was a strange feeling to be the one pulled, but I didn't resist, enjoying the sweet taste of the peach she had just eaten still on her lips. After a moment, she let me go, and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel some kind of boost. I even checked my stats, but nothing had changed, yet I felt more confident.

"Just be careful," Scarlet said, and I walked into the cave.

The moment my foot stepped through and touched down in the cave, the cloth-covered man rushed at me. I barely got through before having to block two spinning kicks aimed at my head. Then in a flash, one foot planted on the ground, and the other foot swung around in a vicious arc, aimed directly at my midsection. The force behind it was tremendous, far more than I would have anticipated from someone with their stats supposedly debuffed by 80%. I managed to sidestep, but the sheer speed of the attack sent a clear message: underestimating the Blind Seer of the Abyss would be a grave mistake.

The Blind Seer's movements were fluid and unpredictable, a stark contrast to the cumbersome appearance suggested by the red cloth binding him. Each kick was delivered with precision and devastating power, forcing me to rely heavily on my agility and reflexes. Despite the significant debuff to his stats, his attacks seemed unaffected, hinting at an underlying ability or mechanic that I hadn't accounted for.

Realizing that brute force wouldn't be enough to overcome the Seer, I decided to adopt a more strategic approach. Drawing upon my Technical Knowledge and Arcane Insight, I began to analyze the patterns in his movements, looking for an opening or weakness to exploit. It was clear that to progress to the next stage, I needed to land a strike, but doing so against an opponent who could attack with such speed and agility, even while heavily debuffed, was no small feat.

As the battle raged on, I noticed a pattern: after every third attack, the Seer would pause for a fraction of a second, likely as a result of the constraints imposed by his bindings. It was a minimal window, but it was all I had. Timing my movements with precision, I waited for the next sequence of kicks, dodging them with calculated movements before exploiting the brief pause to counterattack.

My strike landed, and the Seer's bindings loosened slightly, allowing him access to one pair of arms as we moved to Stage 2. The debuff to his stats decreased to 50%, and I braced myself for an escalation in the intensity of his attacks. Now, not only did I have to contend with his lethal kicks, but also the strikes from his newly freed arms.

The change in the debuff was nothing short of cheating. My eyes had been keeping up with him before as I watched him, but I barely got my arm up to block a jab. I was sent hurtling back into the wall, but I caught myself in the air, Using Restore on my arm he had broken. I landed on the wall and then launched my body out of the way.

The blind seer slammed into the wall where I had been a fraction of a second later but then darted at me. I used my Time Dilation Stance to slow time and then changed my direction by kicking off the wall. I let go of the stance and was able to barely avoid a flying kick.

For the next thirty seconds, I played cat and mouse with the seer, slowly regulating myself to match the monster. Then another minute passed and I was able to stop running and openly deflected the blind seer's attacks. This continued for about five more minutes until I felt that I could almost predict the attacks with my eyes closed.

At that moment, I put a good amount of strength into a punch that I drove into the creature's covered face. The impact sent it flying backward into the far wall, but even as it was flying, more of the cloth unwound, and two more arms appeared. I had hopped back to the far side of the cave, and prepared to see what the next faze was going to be like.

I had made the mistake of the first round by not taking the time to get used to the creature's speed before striking it. I had to remember that normally, a monster like this would need five people all my level to take it down. I had thought that the stats were a direct representation of the monster's power like mine, but it was clear to me that monsters were in a different class of their own.

The blind seer landed on the wall, but just dropped down, and didn't rush me this time. Instead, it moved towards me at a normal walking pace. I had hoped that it would rush me like before, and we could play cat and mouse again. That didn't look like it was going to work this time. It seems that the creature must have figured out what I was doing. If it walked at a normal pace like this until it engaged me, I couldn't really learn anything about it.

Since it wanted to play that way, I would just have to play along.

I didn't wait, and I rushed the creature, but it seemed to understand and rushed me as well. Suddenly the air was a flurry of fists and kicks that I was barely able to keep up with. I had to use Restore numerous times before I could even partially defect any of the strikes.

If I didn't have my cheat ability, Restore, I might not have been able to make it through this part, but even so, my mind was on the next and last stage. Even as my mind and body started to match the speed, I questioned just how long I would have to fight like this before I was satisfied to overcome the final stage?