A giant fucking crab. That's what was scaring everything away. And honestly, I couldn't really bla any of the animals that didn't want to be around. Crabs already were weird looking, but at this size, they beca truly horrifying.
Not to ntion, I rember Pops talking about how things kept evolving into crabs. Which didn't really make sense to . But it could explain why there was nothing nearby. Maybe the System decided to say to all its particles 'hey stay away, otherwise you're going to beco a crab.' Either way, that wasn't sothing I could think about right now.
The Matriarch was running together with the two village elders, the head fisher and the foreman of the building crew. While Astrid and Michael were just watching Emperor Flathead approach and Pala was passed out on the table. But their reaction didn't really make sense to . Alia was the one who called the monster here. She was the one who used the whistle that lured this monster towards us. Wouldn't it chase after her?
That's when a gust of wind ca from Michael's direction. There was a unique sll coming from the Hawaiian man, one that I didn't realize before. I couldn't be sure of this, but it seed like the dress that they were wearing was made out of so sort of material that, when wet, would function as a lure for this gigantic crab. Which ant that the monster would follow Michael no matter where he went. It was even worse for Pala, as she was currently unconscious. Then again, all of that was just an assumption. But I couldn't think of any other reason why the Matriarch was so confident she could just run away from it after calling the monster and why there was this strange fishy sll coming from Michael.
That was all the ti I had to think about what was going on. The monster got too close and if I waited any longer, then it was likely that I would be part of the nu. I groaned and dashed for the creature, triggering {Compression}. I had grabbed a rock and threw it at the monster, letting my skill increase its size at the very last mont. It worked, and the pebble beca a boulder even if its weight wouldn't have changed. The sudden appearance of a projectile like that could be enough to distract the creature.
The boulder hit the monster, causing it to turn around and face . I could see two long eyes shining in the moonlight along with its deep blue carapace covered in barnacles. And the lower half of its body being illuminated by the light of the lamps, they brought a softer beige color revealing the less armored parts of its body. But that second part wasn't really sothing I wanted to see. Especially when the monster opened its mouth, revealing a strange-looking maw that reminded of an Eater.
"Shit," I yelled while jumping to the side just as one of its legs slamd the location where I was just standing. The crater that was left behind was very familiar, but I didn't have a chance to think about it now. The monster swiped at again and I jumped to the side, narrowly evading another of its legs. Now I was really missing the cloak made with the Ice Devil fur, but I wasn't even sure if that kind of armor would be enough to stop this.
I saw Michael rushing towards Pala and picking her up before he looked back at the monster, who was chasing .
"Take her out of here," I yelled. Not because I was confident I could handle the creature on my own, but because if I had to fight while protecting soone, I was sure that things would go south.
On the opposite end of the creature, near the table filled with food, I saw Astrid swinging her hands as if she was holding sothing, but I couldn't see any weapon. Yet the particles that were created every ti she used one of her abilities were covering her arm and the mont sothing slamd on the crab's back leg, a layer of ice covered the creature, causing it to roar in pain.
The monster swiped with its claw back, trying to hit Astrid, but the Frosted Lumberjack was already running towards .
"How can you use a skill without your axe?" I yelled in anger. Rembering that her class was supposed to be weaker if she wasn't holding the Frosted Axe.
But she just smiled and said, "Not this one." She swung again this ti I could see the weapon she was using. If it could be called that. It was a butter knife. Not even that, it was just a lump of tal in the shape of a knife, but despite my annoyance, I had to admit. It was an effective strategy. The attacks were dealing so damage, much more than I could hope to deal with my compressed branch.
Suddenly, another gust of wind hit us, bringing more of that strange sll. And this ti it was compounded since Michael was carrying the unconscious body of Pala. The monster shivered and its eyes moved to the side, tracking the two of them who were now heading towards the tent. Looking at it, the material covering the tent also seed a lot like the sa material in the weeding dresses.
The monster tried to attack again, this ti aiming at Michael. At the sa ti, Astrid sent out another {Frost Chop} hoping to catch the monster's attention once more, but even the attack wasn't enough to pull the beast away from its target.
"Don't go there," I yelled. Praying it would be enough of a warning to gain so ti, but my voice was not loud enough to reach the Hawaiian. Michael continued rushing towards the tent and placed Pala inside before walking back while holding sothing. But the mont he stepped outside of the tent, Michael realized the creature was already towering over him, raising its arm as if it was about to strike.
Without any other ideas, I activated {Mind of Possibility}. I needed ti to find a solution in order to save the man in those precious few monts we had. I tried throwing the branch, but the creature squashed Michael before the projectile even arrived. Blood and flesh splattering all over the white tent. Yelling again, louder and with different words, also didn't work. No matter what I did, the creature just continued to focus on Michael. I tried {Firestarter}, and it also resulted in nothing. Stepping in different directions, they didn't make any difference. All options ended up with the sa results.
I was about to give up and accept that we couldn't save him when sothing else popped into my mind. I tested it and it worked, but {Mind of Possibility} was about to run out. And this new chance, this new option, would make sure no one died now, even if it was extrely stupid of . Especially considering what happened after it. But I couldn't see any other result where Michael lived, so picking the choice, I took a deep breath and yelled like a rooster praising the sun in the morning. My voice echoed and carried, and the monster stopped. Freezing for a second before snapping its body back towards .
There was nothing that could prove this and, as a matter of fact, I wasn't even sure if this creature was capable of feeling anything else aside from hunger. But the way those giant elongated black eyes stared at , I could only think they were full of hatred as the Giant Crab moved in my direction and rushed as fast as it could.
"Fuck," I yelled and started running away. Astrid seed to understand what was going on or at least understood that staying wasn't a good idea and took a step away from the creature, dodging its legs as it passed by her. While , I had to continue running into the forest. And to add to my stupidity, every ti the monster seed to be giving up and going back after Michael and Pala, I decided to cockadoodle do again. Making it get even angrier while chasing after .
At least the tree line was giving so semblance of protection. It was clear the monster struggled to pass. Even if it could break down the larger trees and step over the smaller ones. For so reason it didn't want to. But that didn't solve the problem. I was stalling. Eventually, the creature would either decide to focus on or Michael, or Pala. And there was nothing to do to change that. I had serious doubts that a monster this big would give up a prey. And without any decent weapons, I didn't know how to kill it. Maybe using compression on a rock? Or on its shell. But those were all far-fetched ideas.
I didn't have many options. At least my companion didn't abandon .
"Cassandra!" I heard Astrid's yell echoing through the woods. It was the first ti I heard her do sothing like that and I assud she was asking to go after the voice. Which is exactly what I did. Even if that ant I had to jump under the crab to get out on the other side. I tried thinking of so way where I could even go around it, but the range of the pincers was too wide. If I went under the monster, I would be able to hide myself from the creature for a mont.
I waited for one of its swipes before dashing backwards, trying to reach Astrid. It was a close call, but the large creature was too slow to get with its legs. Not to ntion it was too big to know exactly where I was. And its eyes didn't seem to be the type that could twist under its body. Once I passed the monster completely, I just sprinted as fast as I could to reach companion.
The Frosted Lumberjack was holding sothing in her hand. A large barrel that seed to be dripping with a liquid.
"Please tell that you have an idea," I said.
"Michael does."
"Okay then, what do I need to do?"
"Wait."
"What do you an, wait?" She didn't say anything else. She just kept staring at the Giant Crab that approached. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to know the plan or not, but if she wasn't going to run, neither was I.
Each step caused the ground to rumble. Each movent of its legs left another crater on the ground and each second that went by, that giant creature was getting closer and closer and closer. But Astrid was resolute. She wasn't going to lose this ga of chicken. If that was what she was doing.
It didn't take long for Emperor Flathead to get close enough to Astrid so that she could continue this plan that I didn't know anything about.
"Cass, co here," Michael shouted. I looked back and saw him on top of a large rock, aiming a bow and arrow at the creature. "Co here. Quickly."
"Go," Astrid added, with so worry in her voice. I still wasn't sure what was going on, but they seed to have sothing in mind. So I just rushed towards Michael, following their orders.
Before I reached the man, I saw him firing an arrow. An arrow that was aid at the barrel that Astrid just tossed. The barrel was flying above the creature but, thanks to the arrow, it shifted forward and smashed on top of its carapace. Liquid spilling out making the entire surface a bit more reflective. A mont later, I reached Michael and Astrid was running away from the Giant Crab.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Can you make fire?" Michael asked. "Astrid said you had fire."
"Yeah I can, why?" I frowned.
"Here," he pulled up an arrow with a rag soaked in sothing tied to the tip, "Light this up!"
"What?"
"We don't have ti, just do it," Michael pressed, and I gave up trying to understand. Just accepting whatever plan they were cooking up.
I ignited the arrow and watched him fire the projectile, hitting the top of the monster's face. It was a pitiful attempt at doing any damage. That half-baked arrow wouldn't do anything against the shell of the crab. But the fla was another story. And that was sothing I only realized when the sll hit .
Astrid threw a barrel of fish oil at the crab. And with the arrow that Michael fired, we now had ignited it. The monster roared the second the top of itself was engulfed in flas. We could see as the eyes started to bubble and boil over because of intense heat. The monster tried to shake the flas, dancing from side to side. While it moved, I spotted a set of trees that had been broken but were still standing up. When the monster moved to the right, it got right under them.
That gave an idea.
Going for a risky maneuver, I rushed under the monster and triggered {Compression} on both of those trees once only the corner of its body was on top of them. Making those as big as I could make them. The impact as they grew caused the monster to tip to the side and topple over. Pinning its eyes deep into the ground while leaving its belly completely exposed.
Astrid quickly understood the idea and jumped into the soft underbelly of the creature, prepared another {Frost Chop} and brought the knife down on its shell. And using a compressed rock, I did the sa, triggering {Formless Ice Devil Lunge}. The two of us continued to hack away at the creature as it tried to tip to the side again, but crabs, much like turtles, couldn't really do that. If they ever were flipped on their back outside of the water, there was nothing they could do to regain their footing. Not without so help.
We continued to hack away, attacking the most vital parts of the monster that we could find. Even long after we had run out of Energy to use skills, we continued hitting the crab with everything we got. The fires were starting to spread to its underside due to the oil that dripped from its back. And the creature got more and more panicked as it realized we were not stopping. It got to the point where it was using its own legs to try to attack us blindly. Piercing its own body with its massive talon-like feet that kept creating more craters on its body and revealing more of the soft at underneath the shell. A couple of tis its legs got close, and I was hit by them twice, one that cut my leg and the other my arm. But even then, I didn't stop. {Body Regeneration} could wait. Killing the Emperor couldn't.
Halfway through that process, my stomach started to rumble because the sll coming out of the monster was simply delicious. I never had crab before, but it seed like this ti I would have an actual feast of it.
After almost 20 minutes of the creature struggling and the flas spreading across the forest, Astrid and I finally felt a rush of particles going into us. We had killed the Emperor Flathead and were now the true rulers of the lake.
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