"Oh I leveled up."
I walked through the village and checked on my status. I had Shasha go and finish off any Lizardmen that I found with my mud scouts. Soon enough, I reached the cave entrance that I scouted out earlier. Inside the cave was a wide area similar to the room the Cockroach Queen appeared in.
"It definitely looks like a boss room. If so, then where is the boss? Did someone kill it before I arrived?"
Because of my different system, I couldn't hear any dungeon announcements. I wouldn't know if the dungeon boss was killed or its respawn time. I spread my little scouts out to thoroughly search the boss room. Suddenly the ground started shaking and a mound rose up in the center of the room. With a boom, a giant turtle with a shiny, menacing spiked shell popped out.
"UUUAAA!"
It roared and caused my scouts to burst into steam. It fully crawled out of the ground and the dungeon boss, Steel Turtle, showed its 3-meter-tall figure.
"Damn. I didn't have time to set up any traps."
I made Shasha return by my side so that we could face this boss together. I absorbed some mud from her and restored my MP to full. With all the lizardman corpses she dissolved, she was like a walking mana battery for me.
We walked into the boss room and Shasha immediately charged toward the boss with her sword in hand. I stayed in the back and started creating multiple mud spears.
Name: Steel Turtle Lv. 25
Race: Reptilian
Class: Heavy Tank
Shasha dashed around to the boss's side and slashed while applying mana coating to her sword. The slash only made a scratch on the steel shell. The boss didn't look bothered at all and payed no attention to Shasha. Instead, it focused on me. It opened its mouth widely and I could sense mana gathering there.
"Not good!"
I threw 2 of the mud spears I created at the turtle's mouth but before they could even reach, a dense mana sphere was created and launched toward me. It obliterated my spears that I threw and was quickly approaching me. I did a jump roll to avoid it, but I wasn't quite fast enough and the mana sphere destroyed 3 more of the spears I created along with my left foot. It smashed into the ground and disappeared after leaving a crater.
"Shit. A direct from that and I'm a goner. Isn't this thing way too strong for a beginner area dungeon boss?"
Even the Cockroach Queen started off in a cocoon state which was a major disadvantage for it. If it wasn't for Danae and Jaimar awakening it beforehand, it wouldn't have been able to spawn that cockroach army before I ran into it.
I still had 4 more mud spears. I restored my foot and moved to the side away from the Steel Turtle's head. Shasha was still working on attacking the side of the boss. I threw one of my spears toward the left eye of the boss while using mana to correct the trajectory. The reason I was preparing these spears in the beginning of the fight was because I was using my [Mana Designing] skill on them. Before the spear hit its target, I activated the mana coating I placed on the spear.
"Uuuaaa!"
The turtle tried to close its eyelid before the spear hit but my enhanced spear managed to pierce through it.
"Spread!"
I controlled the spear to branch out and made it drill through the boss monster's eye. No matter how tough its defense was, it should die if I can pierce the brain.
"UUUAAA!"
The boss roared again and caused all my spears to evaporate like it did with my scouts earlier. Shasha and I weren't unaffected either. We were blown back in opposite directions. She lost a large portion of her form and I wasn't faring any better. My mud armor and clothes were gone and I had to dissolve some magic crystals in order to restore them. I controlled Shasha and reformed her as well.
"Ugh. I need to keep that thing from roaring again."
The roar that the Steel Turtle used was some sort of mana disrupting skill. It's super effective on me since my mud body is practically 75% mana. I moved to the boss's right side and made Shasha go to its now blinded left side. It kept its sight on me wary of my spears since I was able to hurt it badly with one.
I kept running along its side steering clear from its mouth and that's when I figured it out. This boss was extremely slow. In exchange for overwhelming defense and attack capabilities, it became as slow as… well, a turtle.
I threw a spear I just made at its remaining eye. Seeing this, the turtle retreated into its shell. My spear bounced off the shell even though it was enhanced with mana. While it was inside the shell, Shasha climbed onto its spikey shell and started to spread out my mud. I waited for the head to pop out again with a spear in hand. I started pouring more mana into the spear I was holding. Just then, the turtle finally revealed its head. I was about to throw my spear, however, it came out with a mana sphere at its mouth ready to launch.
'That's cheating!'
It fired the sphere at me and retreated back into its shell. This mana sphere was smaller than the previous one but still posed a danger to me regardless.
I was in a pinch as I wasn't prepared for it. I was still in a spear throwing posture with my right hand holding the spear and my left arm facing toward the mana sphere.
"Shit!"
I cursed as I quickly controlled my mana with my left arm and created a mud shield. Using [Mana Designing], I created a layer of mana on the shield and condensed it to form a sort of mana barrier. I tilted the shield at an angle so that I wouldn't be facing the brunt of the attack head on.
The mana sphere and my shield collided. My shield didn't even last a second before being disintegrated. Fortunately, it was able to deflect the attack to a certain degree and I was knocked to the side from the impact. My left arm was gone, disintegrated along with my shield but my original body was unhurt.
"Haa… haa… That was a close call."
The stressful situation made me lose my breath but I quickly recovered. Dissolving more magic crystals to recover mana, I ran towards the turtle's backside. Shasha had now completely covered the entire top layer of the turtle's shell and was working her way down.
At the turtle's behind, where its tail would pop out, I readied my super mana infused mud spear in my right hand and an enhanced one as backup in my newly reformed left hand. I waited a few seconds, and then with all the force I could muster, I thrust my spear at the boss. I calculated the timing from before when it came out. And just as expected, the shell opened up as the turtle appeared with another mana sphere. Too bad, I had already changed locations.
I wrapped my spear with mana and stabbed right into the Steel Turtle's behind. The magic on my spear activated and turned the tip into a spinning drill that dug further into the boss's flesh.
The pain made it shoot the mana sphere towards the ceiling.
"Now Shasha!"
"UU-"
Shasha had completely wrapped around the shell of the turtle by now and was using [Dissolve] to slowly corrode the shell. Before the boss could roar again, I made Shasha extend around the head and jaw of the boss. I made mud rush inside of its open mouth to choke it and prevent the roar. The mana of the boss started to stir up and then...
*Boom*
Unexpectedly, the mana that the boss was using for the roar exploded while it was still stuck at the throat. The explosion caused my mud to shoot out of its mouth into the distance. The head of the boss was also detached from the body with the neck that held them together blown apart. The body of Steel Turtle limply fell onto the ground.
"…Damn! I wanted to use [Assimilate] to get its skill."
I was slow to react to what just happened. I had been preparing to fully encase this boss in mud and slowly dissolve it. Mana sphere or mana interrupting roar were great skills. I had a tough time dealing with these two. If I got my hands on them, I bet my combat capabilities would skyrocket. Who could have known that the skill would blow up on its user?
"Haaa… whatever. Things won't always go as I planned."
I sat down to take a rest and waited for the boss monster to evaporate. I returned Shasha to her Lizard Swordsman form. When the steam dissipated, a rare magic crystal and a smaller version of the boss's shell was left behind.
"With this, along with the rare magic crystal I got from the village chief, I only need one more and lightning-struck darkwood to finish the two bounties."
Without knowing how long it would take for the boss to respawn, I left the boss room. I looked around the dungeon to search for another strong lizardman like the chief. I found a level 20 Lizard Spearman after a while of searching and obtained the last rare magic crystal I needed. Unfortunately, I don't know where to get the darkwood from and it was getting late. I had to turn in the crystals before the deadline so I left the Dark Swamp dungeon.
###
I returned to Lam City, taking a detour to enter through the south gate. I didn't see Sir Hamish this time but the other guards already knew about me so they let me in without a fuss. I made Shasha turn into the robe I currently had on. People fight freak out if they saw a Lizardman walking out in the open.
"Hi Lia. I've come to turn in a bounty."
Inside the Craftsman Association building, I greeted Lia who had just finished speaking to another person.
"Ah. Ms. Krim. Welcome back. Unfortunately, the client of the bounty came by earlier today to cancel the bounty."
"What? Why?" I asked.
"It seems that he had been kicked from his guild due to constantly failing to meet deadlines."
No wonder the bounty was an urgent one. What a waste of effort. I sighed inwardly.
"Can you at least tell me where I can get darkwood from? I already obtained the Steel Turtle Shell."
I showed her the shell I got from the dungeon boss.
"Certainly. Darkwood can be obtained from the Night Forest dungeon. Um…"
"Is it run by the Adventurers Guild?" I saw the change in her expression and made a guess.
"Sadly, yes. Why don't you try to join up with an Adventurer party as a helper? That way you can enter without an ID." Lia suggested.
"Hmm. Good idea. I'll try tomorrow since it's getting late. Thank you."
I left and headed back to the inn I stayed in with my classmates.
"It's a good thing I earned some money from Grandpa Max earlier." I thought.
CHAPTER END.
Name: Ruby Sen Lv. 14
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
Class: Half-Magical Creature
Job: - Lv. 14
HP: 11 [45%]
MP: 15 [100%]
STR: 11 (+5)
DEF: 10 (+25)
INT: 19
WILL: 15
SPD: 10
<
Assimilate
Mana Manipulation
Physical Resistance
Weaponized Limbs
Foresight
Shapeshift
Mana Absorption
Novice Blade User
Novice Pole User
<
Dissolve
Body Enhancement
Mind Enhancement
Sensing
Camouflage
Sculpting
Detonate
Appraisal Analysis
Lesser Heal
Cloning
Mana Designing
<
Tongue Enhancement