Free Web NovelChapter 34: Investment 34— Fierce Battles in the Dungeon(Part Three)
A dry and desolate breeze blew, carrying sand along with it. The huge crab, resembling the height and size of a twenty-foot mountain, cast its shadow on Elliot and the Four Seasons, covering them whole.
Its mouth was fuming with green-coloured foaming radioactive saliva. The drops that landed on the sand grains melted them away in an instant.
Its jagged exoskeleton looked tougher and stronger than the other giant crabs.
"Edith... what’s its threat level?"
Elliot called out to Edith, who was currently the most efficient in gauging a beast’s threat level just from the mana they emitted alone.
What was even weirder to them was, "How did the giant crabs just gain a fusion regenerative ability just like that when it wasn’t a part of their original skill set?"
This very discovery greatly bugged Edith. A-rank lesser giant crabs, according to the Dungeon Beast Ability Manual, did not have regeneration in their ability set, nor fusion, let alone both happening at once.
This manual had been carefully created by the Mage Tower over three hundred and seventy-six years of research, which had been proven time and time again, so there was no room for errors.
Edith flipped through the manual in her hands as if she were reading a book. It was currently a perilous situation, yet she took her time to properly glance through every page as if the humongous crab would wait for her to finish.
"Found it!"
She raised a hand up to signify that she now knew the crab’s threat level.
"From the amount of mana it’s giving off, this big guy must be a C-rank Elder Giant Crab."
Her words sounded surreal to the others. Not even she could believe it. (An Elder-class beast was only found on Floor Six and below.) But yet one birthed from fusion was standing right in front of them in an "I’m super angry at you for no reason, I’m gonna gobble you whole" manner.
"Finally, a worthy foe."
Taumus jammed his fists into one another as wisps of flames surrounded them. (The real question here was, wasn’t he supposed to be terrified and running for his life? Then why the heck was he happy?)
The answer was simple. Unlike other ordinary students that would just piss their pants at the sight of such a monstrosity, Taumus was one of the Four Seasons. Four special children blessed by the highest of the gods, the Four Vassals of Creation.
And to him, an Elder-class beast just made for a good punching bag.
"Elliot, why don’t we take this big ugly guy out? I’m sure the ladies here have had their fill."
He wasn’t wrong; Deria and Seria pretty much single-handedly demolished the crab hordes.
Elliot took a step forward, which clearly meant he had agreed to what Taumus said. But Seria immediately grabbed his arm, holding him back. Her glittering crystal-blue eyes were filled with worry. (She knew he was pretty strong, so what was she worried about?)
That’s right, this Ice Queen was worried about Elliot leaving her side to fight alongside Taumus.
"What’s wrong, my Seria?" He turned towards her, eyes filled with compassion and confusion.
"I just can’t stand the sight of you fighting alongside or doing anything alongside anyone that isn’t me. Do-Does that make me weird or over-possessive?" fгeewebnovёl.com
Something stronger and cruder than jealousy was written all over her face, but Elliot couldn’t care less about paying attention to that. Instead, he blushed, taking her words as some kind of confession of love.
"Don’t worry, Seria. I’m all yours."
The meaning of those words he intended to pass on to her was entirely different from what she understood.
"You can back us up if you want."
His words quelled her unnecessary worries, and she let go of his arm. Elliot let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings and was very much glad that his message was passed along well.
The first step to battling any opponent was assessment of their capabilities, especially newfound threats. Instead of charging headfirst in and trying his luck, Elliot fetched out a plan. He needn’t relay it to the others; knowing them, they would catch on quickly.
"Ladies and my sweet Seria."
He tightened his lids, brown sharp eyes like that of a tiger ready to consume its prey.
He latched a finger out and pointed to the unsightly and repulsive-looking radioactive giant crab.
"Help a gentleman bind that bastard."
At the end of his statement, a flurry of binding spells began the next course of the battle.
Deria flipped her back down. The absence of any bones cracking just showed how fluid her body was. She shoved her hands beneath the sand. When she raised her hands up, it wasn’t just normal sand that sprayed.
Brown tape-like sheets made from firmly binded grains of sand burst out from beneath the crab and wrapped around its eight legs and pincers.
Before it could calculate how to break out from the sheets, green thorny vines flew out from emerald spell circles that surrounded it like a dome. There was no way to dodge and no way to run since its legs were firmly held by sheets of sand.
The vines spread out like a huge spider-webbed net and pinned the humongous crab to the sand. This once terrifying creature was trapped and rendered immobile like a mouse caught by a rat trap.
Just when the beast thought the series of attacks had stopped and maybe it even had a fighting chance, unfortunately, the presence of the Ice Queen had already set its fate in solid stone.
The sand that the giant crab lay upon was turned into a bed of ice in an instant. Jagged ice crept up its legs and pincers until they were completely frozen, rendered useless by ice.
Its body was held down by a net of vines, pincers and legs strapped down by sand sheets and frozen over by ice. All its means of escape were utterly diminished.
Once Elliot and Taumus had delivered the final blow, the battle would have ended.
At the dying minute, something sinister and utterly wrong within the almost finished beast awakened. Acts of black lightning sizzled from the humongous crab’s body. Purple shrieking light shone from its body.
As if it was being pumped full of power, it kept on getting bigger in size until it eventually destroyed all of its constraints and shattered the ice beneath its feet.
Cour 3 had begun, and this beast was ready to pull out all the stops.
