Chapter 31: Living Dread

My sister and I ran towards the east and dove deeper into the forest. Along the way, we've been killing strong monsters escaping from the source and also including monsters of high value lurking in the vicinity. We've been looking for the source of this stampede, and it seems that I've found it.

"I detect something powerful ten kilometers east. And it is emitting a powerful, intimidating aura."

"I feel it, too. No wonder why those monsters desperately ran for their money."

Using Level 1 Space-Time Magic: Foothold, we sat atop it and flew freely in the air. Travel by air is faster and easier than on land. There are no obstacles and fewer monster encounters. Running in the dense forest was exhausting.

For comfortability, I laid a rectangular carpet on it and made a magic carpet ride. To withstand the inertia, I grip my hands and hold the edges of the carpet. I am coaching the carpet while my sister is sitting at the back. With nothing to hold on to, she just wrapped her arms around my waist.

(So soft. I hope Sophia will grow like this.)

"I can detect the entity now. It's even more powerful than every monster that I encountered."

Sister had already sensed the monster and distinguished its strength. Same as her, this is the strongest monster I've encountered so far.

We've been flying in the sky for only several minutes at the speed of 300 kph, and we immediately pinpointed the location of the cause of the stampede. The closer we got, the more intense the aura was.

A couple of seconds, and we can now take a glimpse of the entity, no, the monster. I stopped the carpet and gazed at it from afar.

"Do you know what it is, Sis?"

"I haven't seen that kind of monster before. It is definitely the most powerful monster that I have ever encountered."

"Me, too. It is entirely different from the monsters that I encountered so far, in terms of appearance and strength."

"You're right. The one is really ominous and creepy."

From afar, the monster was surrounded by a thick condensation of miasma, making it hard to see. But when used with vision-enhancement skills, we can clearly witness its frightening appearance.

The monster is a quadrupedal reptile of fifteen meters length. It had ashy gray skin covered with black hairs. A row of bony spikes were erected along his spine. I don't know what monster it is, so I used Analysis on it.

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Race: Indestructible Lizard

Title: Dragon Slayer, Fearbringer

Condition: Starved

LV: 682

MP: 12860

STR: 8096

DEF: 4052

MAG: 14744

MDEF: 15558

AGI: 10162

Unique Skill: Fear Incarnation

Racial Skill: Infinite Regeneration, Cursed Body

Skill: Magic Sense, Danger Detection, Detection, Heat Detection, Enhanced Senses, Claw Attack, Bite, Nocturnal, Spine Bullet, Resistance Boost

Magic Skill: [Elemental: Dark: 5, Fire: 4, Earth: 3, Water: 2] [Non-Elemental: Acid: 6, Poison: 4]

Resistance: Pain Nullification, Exhaustion Nullification, Asphyxiation Nullification, Physical Attack Nullification, Fear Nullification, Corrosion Nullification, Poison Nullification, Natural Effect Nullification, Temperature Nullification, Magic Attack Resistance, Mental Attack Resistance, Hunger Resistance, Impact Resistance, Blast Resistance

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(What the hell!)

I can't help but scream in my head. It had a Unique Skill. Let's check it out a bit.

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Fear Incarnation - a skill that makes the wielder the definition of dread. It consists of the following subskills:

Dread Fascination - a gaze that immobilized the target by inflicting fear.

Fearscape - creates an atmosphere filled with fear.

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"What the heck are these skills and resistances?! Not just that, but also nullifications!"

"Is it really that bad?"

"It is! It even had a Unique Skill that inflicted fear and Infinite Regeneration which heals faster than Regeneration."

"In that case, then—?!"

"?!"

As we are having a conversation, a great chill runs through my veins. Not just me but also my fearless sister. We desperately and slowly turned our heads to find out that the monster was glaring at us with its hair-covered eyes.

Engulfed in fear, I reflexively stopped the flow of my mana and accidentally released the Foothold midair. Me and my sister fell several hundreds of meters from the surface.

"Ack…! Telekinesis!"

Being dropped from five hundred meters might hurt us. To save ourselves, I desperately resisted the fear and cast Level 3 Force Magic on the carpet. Wrapped it around us and made it descend slowly to the ground.

We dropped it lightly in the air and it landed on the ground safely. Even though we had Fear Resistance , the monster's Dread Fascination was so powerful that we got immobilized.

"This is greater than Mother's Intimidation… Orped Field!"

Upon the activation of a Level 4 Light Magic spell, the area within a kilometer radius shone with a pale white luminance. Afterwards, Sister began to move her muscles and stood up.

"Are you okay?" I inquired.

"Yeah. That's a lot of help, Raphael. The fear had lessened, and I can now move like normal." Sister responded while stretching her body.

"Good. I just set up a field within a kilometer radius, so don't step out of that area."

"Okay. Looks like it's coming here."

"You're right."

Just as Sister said, sounds of falling and snapping of trees vibrated in the forest hundred of meters away.

"From its pace, it will reach us within seconds."

"It might have just woken up from hibernation. It's looking for food. Because we didn't run away from it like the others, we are its first meal."

"Let's get ready and subjugate it before it gets closer to the entrance," she said as we unsheathed our katana from the scabbard.

A few seconds later, the lizard finally snapped the last tree between them and displayed its dreadful appearance to us.

(It's the embodiment of fear itself!)

My sister and I charge ourselves, and so does the lizard. We immediately clad ourselves with yellow streaks of lightning from Attribute Armor skill to increase our raw speed and reflexes.

"Blue Lightning! Lightning Blade!"

"Blue Flame! Thermal Blade!"

Reciting the spells of Lightning and Fire Magic respectively, our katana were enveloped with attributes and transformed into magic swords. With a skill that we inherited from Mother, the Weapon Enchantment, we can apply attributes and cast magic spells on our swords.

My sister's Attribute Armor changed its hue from yellow to sky blue, which made her faster and more reflexive. The deep blue blade of her katana was wrapped in flickering blue lightning, which sliced the right torso of the lizard.

Physical attacks won't work on the lizard. Even though it has a low defense stat and is as soft as butter for us, it will instantly heal and restore. Magic is effective against the lizard, but it tolerates it. That's why we get serious from the start and cast high-leveled spells.

Lightning Blade was a Level 7 Lightning Magic spell in the form of a blade. It's weightless and inflicts paralysis and burns upon contact. Level 8 Blue Lightning spells make the next Lightning spells turn their color to blue and drastically increase their temperature and voltage.

As for me, the lightning around my body remained yellow. But my sword was now wrapped in blue flames, and it blows like a blowtorch. I slash my sword and slice the left torso of the lizard after my sister.

Same with Blue Lightning, Level 8 Blue Flame changed the hue of the flames to blue with waxing temperature. Level 7 Thermal Blade was actually my original spell, just like Lightning Blade.

It was inspired by the thermal lances from my previous world. I imitated its concept and successfully created a 7000°C Thermal Blade. With Blue Flame, it reached the whopping temperature of 10000° Centigrade.

The heat produced by the Thermal Blade can only travel via conduction. So others cannot feel its burning temperature unless they touch it directly.

We were fine despite holding a sword in scorching heat because the caster cannot be harmed by their own spell unless it's intentional.

The lizard remains undaunted after our first attacks. The burnt flesh caused by Sister's lightning sword and my flaming blade instantly healed and closed up.

The lizard took a turn to face us. It opens its acidic mouth and fires the Level 5 Black Spear. We avoided the spell with minimal effort and attacked the lizard again.

"Take this! Hundred Slice!"

"Burn in flames! Cremation!"

Sister charged at the lizard and minced it into a hundred chunks. Before it healed from the lightning burns, I cast a Level 8 Fire Magic spell and locked the lizard inside a blazing sphere of blue flames.

"…"

The lizard had Pain Nullification and doesn't feel any pain. It doesn't produce a cry of agony or even a sound. But we know that our attacks deal damage to it.

"Did we kill it? This combination could even kill a physical and magic-resistant Gargoyle, you know." Sister asked with weight on her breathe from using a high-leveled sword technique.

"Let's wait until the flames subdue."

After a minute of incineration, the sphere of blue flames finally flickered and subsided. Crispy, burned chunks of flesh unfolded in front of our purple eyes after the smoke vanished in the air.

"It looks like it's still alive."

"Yeah. But our attacks are effective. It heals a lot slower than before."

Seconds later, the burned chunks began to move slowly over the scorched earth. The chunks merge with each other and take the form of a reptile. The burned skin gradually turned to its former gray tone, and black hairs grew at a fast rate.

"Grrrrr…"

The lizard growled in a low voice as it stared at us. It's just standing menacingly, increasing its awareness of us. Will we be able to kill it?