Overlimit Skill Holder (Web Novel JP)

Vain Struggle

The world in front of me turned pure white.

A beam of light was about to hit me.

(……Kuh)

I had been thinking about the nature of this attack for a long time.

What kind of energy is it?

An attack with a high-class destructive power even among all the battles I have faced so far.

However…

I have seen other attacks with high destructive power as well.

A dragon’s breath.

The mediator’s destructive beam.

Asha’s【Fire Magic】.

Forest Eater’s charge.

End Fang’s magic.

Is the goddess’ attack something that stands apart from those?

(No. Absolutely not. It’s some sort of means of attack that exists in this world.)

Learning that the goddess had reincarnated, just like me ― solidified it even more.

The goddess is neither a god nor a creator.

She is just using what already exists in the world.

Which means–

It’s a means of attack that can be obtained by “Skill Orb”.

In that case–.

「OOOOOOOOOOOO!!」

I expanded the opposite of “White” – “Black”.

The【Shadow King】used by Lark.

I unleashed a black slash with the maximum output I can.

The black and the white collided, but–

(Not enough……!!)

The【Shadow King】, which I was not used to yet, couldn’t extinguish the light.

I twisted my body to the side, but the beam still hit my left shoulder and sent me flying.

I bounced across the ground like a ragdoll.

Crap…….

I almost lost consciousness for a second.

I felt the heat from the beam spreading across and burning my body.

I activated【Healing Magic】immediately, but the pain did not subside easily.

Also, my stamina was greatly reduced due to the use of【Shadow King】.

「I can’t believe you’re still alive. You’re like a cockroach that won’t die.」

The woman slowly approached me.

Not wanting to stay still, I stood up.

My dagger had been blown off somewhere.

「You have been a thorn in my side, but it’s over now.」

「Kaah!」

She swung her scepter, but I couldn’t dodge it. It hit my arm, sending me flying again.

「Just how long do you think thousands of years is… Once you live that long, you will lose your emotions.」

「…………」

I stood up again.

I glared at the woman as she slowly approached me. The woman was still smiling.

「What’s wrong? You’re not going to attack me? Oh, that’s right. I can revive any number of times. That’s why there’s no point in attacking me. I want to see your despairing face again!」

「Kuh!!」

She swung her scepter around casually.

This time, I blocked the attack with both my arms, but it still blew me backwards and I rolled across the ground.

「It’s time to end this. I will kill you and descend to this world. With this, there will be no irregularities.」

「…………」

I summoned what little strength I had and stood up.

「…You should just stay down.」

The woman said in a disgusted tone.

「What’s the matter with you? Do you enjoy being hit?」

The woman approached me while dragging her scepter across the ground.

「…Shoot me.」

I said, in a raspy voice.

My whole body was in pain.

I don’t want to stand up either. I want to just lie down and go to sleep.

But this is not the time for that.

「Huh?」

「Shoot me with that light beam from earlier.」

I came here to kill this woman.

「…………」

「You can’t shoot me, right… That’s why you keep hitting me with that stick. Or is it your hobby to hit someone with a stick?」

「Just the grumblings of a loser!」

「Fire Magic.」

I shot magic at the goddess.

The amount of mana I had remaining was low, so the killing power was also low. I was only able to blow the woman away. I guess she didn’t think there would be a counterattack as her body rolled across the ground.

「…There is no point in your vain struggle. You are fated to die here.」

The woman immediately got up and picked up her scepter.

She suffered almost no damage.

「Don’t say “fate” when you’re not even a god.」

The woman stopped in response to my words.

「And it is not “vain struggle” when someone is trying their hardest to live.」

The smile disappeared from the woman’s face.

「You are not a goddess, not even a fake god. You’re just a long-lived, self-conceited woman.」

At that moment, the woman’s face crumbled.

「SHUT UP!!!!!」

Her eyes slanted and her mouth distorted as she emitted a high-pitched voice.

She had an exhausted face that suddenly looked like it was twenty or thirty years older.

「As you wish, I’ll kill you in one shot!!!!!」

The woman pointed her scepter at me.

The same stance as before, and the same light as before–.

「…?」

The light did not shoot out.

「Fuh… finally.」

I let out a sigh of relief.

「What did you do? What did you do to me?!」

「You still don’t get it yet? You’re just a human, after all.」

「Tell me!」

She threw her scepter at me, but I easily deflected it with【Wind Magic】.

「That beam uses a lot of energy, doesn’t it? …Not only that, reviving your body over and over again surely uses a lot of energy too. Whether it’s vitality or mana, I don’t really know.」

「What are you trying to say!! Stop acting like you know it all!」

「And what is supplying you?」

「…………」

The woman looked at her own hands curiously.

It was as if an inexhaustible spring of water should have appeared just by looking at it, but she seemed to say no.

「…………Power……doesn’t flow in…………?」

「Even the scar on your forehead that you got when you fell just now hasn’t healed.」

「!」

With a start, the woman put her hand on her forehead.

There was blood on her fingertips. But more than the pain, she was shocked by the fact.

「Do you know why?」I asked.

The woman was now turning pale.

She stared blankly at the blood on her fingertips.

「Do you know why ”power doesn’t flow in”?」

「…W-What did you do? Destroying Brunstalk Cathedral shouldn’t change anything…」

At that moment, I was convinced that the operation was a success.

This woman was keeping an eye on Brunstalk Cathedral alone.

Because I made it so.

Flashily appearing while riding a dragon.

Confrontation between the mediators.

A battle in the white space together with Silver Balance.

It was all for the sake of attracting the attention of the goddess.

「!!」

The goddess seemed to have noticed at that moment.

「N-No way, you couldn’t have…」

I nodded in response.

「I joined forces with the people who were insignificant to you, and struggled in vain with them. I — we destroyed the goddess temples all over the continent at the same time.」